Two Delightfully Unfrugal Idiots sail our White Whale (Oasis OP, 9/24 -10/1/23)

[OCSC Mike]

41 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

I did, and it was exactly as you'd expect. I anticipate zero action taken.

I’d rather get no response than that useless one.

[Neesa]

Pretty sad response. This is what they sent me when I asked why the suites program wasn't streamlined. Not even the Royal Suite on the smaller ships which hit different.  I was specifically requesting an internet amenity. Truth be told I asked why it wasn't included especially now with the upgraded internet provider. At least for grand and above, but more importantly their most grandiose suite on the ship. Made little sense.

 

[SweetPea]

31 minutes ago, Neesa said:

Pretty sad response. This is what they sent me when I asked why the suites program wasn't streamlined. Not even the Royal Suite on the smaller ships which hit different.  I was specifically requesting an internet amenity. Truth be told I asked why it wasn't included especially now with the upgraded internet provider. At least for grand and above, but more importantly their most grandiose suite on the ship. Made little sense.

 

At least my response was noncommittal, but yours was downright insulting. 

"No internet" for older ships was especially selected to make your cruise more enjoyable??

I thought i would get somewhere saying that there is very little that sets them apart from the Haven now. Haven is definitely a better value and if you want all inclusive, they offer that for $49 pp/pd, and even with adding that ... the prices are still often better than Star Class. 

This is how i ended my letter (if i didn't already post this part.)

We are the equivalent of D+ on Norwegian, and while we did have fun on Oasis, there was very little about our past Star Class trip that would cause us to chase Crown&Anchor status with you. There simply isn't enough to set you apart.

[WAAAYTOOO]

38 minutes ago, Neesa said:

Pretty sad response. This is what they sent me when I asked why the suites program wasn't streamlined. Not even the Royal Suite on the smaller ships which hit different.  I was specifically requesting an internet amenity. Truth be told I asked why it wasn't included especially now with the upgraded internet provider. At least for grand and above, but more importantly their most grandiose suite on the ship. Made little sense.

 

OMG that's the worst I've seen yet !  What an insult.  They might as well have said (I guess they did, actually....) that ..."these amenities were chosen to enhance your cruise experience" !!!

[Neesa]

@SweetPea and @WAAAYTOOO the message I read between the lines is at this point like @asquared17 put so eloquently in another post their focus is truly on the new cruisers. I feel like being successful at their going hard taking guests from DCL and examining the cash flow, the company does not care to continue to respect the higher tier Crown and Anchor guest. They don't need us anymore, D+ fantastic...off to the Haven you go. Don't like our suites program, there are many behind you that didn't book on day of release so pay more for our suites with less amenities and they will spend more onboard as they are newbies and don't know what to expect! This is what I get from the Jason Liberty direction. We kept them afloat (pun intended) until and after C, now be gone top tier cruiser, you are really not our future.

A really warm and fun cruise director I follow who loved sailing has decided to not renew his contract after his last one, his joy was impacted and leaving Royal was his decision. Now it may be unrelated for sure, but the tides are changing and sometimes change isn't always for the better. Just my humble opinion TBH. 

 

[LandstromCruise]

35 minutes ago, Neesa said:

 

A really warm and fun cruise director I follow who loved sailing has decided to not renew his contract after his last one, his joy was impacted and leaving Royal was his decision. Now it may be unrelated for sure, but the tides are changing and sometimes change isn't always for the better. Just my humble opinion TBH. 

 

which cruise director is leaving? 

[asquared17]

well and to be fair, if i can keep my d/d+ benefits and sail for relatively cheap in an ocean balcony, that works for me. i’ve no need to pay for sky or star class as it is so wildly inconsistent and the rising costs are prohibitive for us.

but also — not even wanting to TRY to respond a little more promisingly is… troublesome. 

and sad to say, you feel it on board. 

i feel so bad for the crew.

when we sail now, we find our 2-3 places on board we like to frequent, we tip well, take personal interest in our crew and keep to our lane. for us, this is the equation to our cruising success. 

expectations are kept low, and if they’re exceeded — it’s like a bonus. but not expected. 

[Neesa]

@LandstromCruise

Here you go, what a loss to Royal

Adventure of the Seas 

[LandstromCruise]

Thanks. I didn’t know him, but yes it is sad if they are losing good people, especially if it’s because of policies. I imagine it is tough for people to live at sea for months at a time so I certainly don’t blame anyone for making a personal decision to do something else. But I do agree that it seems Mr. Liberty is highly focused on the profitability and losing focus on the employee/customer satisfaction side. Him being the former CFO and Royal being a public company that isn’t a surprise. But the job of a great CEO is to be able to do both. It is clear people are willing to pay more if they feel the value is there so taking things away isn’t going to help that. Yeah maybe in the short term there are plenty of people to fill in the gap, but in the long run if you piss off your loyal customers that is a recipe for disaster. 

[SweetPea]

I love that we're having such a great discussion on this without animosity or vitriol. 

In 2019, you couldn't get me to stop bragging about Star Class and i even made a few Haven converts. We LOVED it! It just didn't feel the same this time, although of course the 2 of us have fun together anywhere. I was hoping Royal would see that this was only our 3rd Royal cruise in 15 years, and they had an opportunity for a full-on conversion and they missed the mark. Was anything outright wrong? No, of course not. But there was nothing to really brag about this time either as much as loved Lety. 

[SweetPea]

Ok one last share.  I'm off work for a long weekend and just got back from picking up my weekend wine. I wasn't exaggerating. Conundrum *is* often on sale here for $16.99! And yet there is a $2.50 per glass upcharge.  

Wondering if any other winos agree with me ...Conundrum, like Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, is just ok. They both got popular and inflated their prices accordingly. 

[Neesa]

Thanks a lot, now I'm very thirsty!!!! Now I'm on the search for a duck drinking wine...

[Neesa]

FOUND ONE!!!

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

3 hours ago, Neesa said:

A really warm and fun cruise director I follow who loved sailing has decided to not renew his contract after his last one, his joy was impacted and leaving Royal was his decision. Now it may be unrelated for sure, but the tides are changing and sometimes change isn't always for the better.

I thought the very same. I follow him too and he made a comment a few days before he announced he wasn't going back about management being frustrating. It was long the lines of changes being made and not having enough of a say in his position, or finding out too late about a change and that hampers how well he can do his job, or just simply not agreeing with a change but still needing to follow it. I think it was in response to his "Ask me anything" and someone asked him if there was anything he did not like about his job. To make things more suspicious for me, I could have sworn that when he left Adventure about two months ago, he said he was going back for one more contract. Total loss for Royal.

1 hour ago, SweetPea said:

Wondering if any other winos agree with me ...Conundrum, like Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, is just ok.

Unpopular opinion here...I actually really like Conundrum. Red and white.

 

[MLH]

Thanks @SweetPea.  Your response was far more in depth than the one I received.  Maybe they are looking at it.  

I followed a blogger during covid who left for Virgin and said there was a world of difference on Virgin for employees.  They are losing some great staff and many did not return after Covid.

There are many reasons for the changes to Star Class and people are booking at high numbers so why change for a few people who complain. 

I am recently Pinnacle and find value in cruising.  I traditionally sailed in suites and Star, but we just got back from an Explorer sailing with 12 people and we all had balconies.  I was perfectly content and was treated better on the MDR than in CK.  If I want the Suite experience I will gravitate  to Celebrity or Viking  even though they have no flowrider.  My loyalty has been Royal but they are outpricing and underperforming in their suite programs.

 

[LandstromCruise]

The never ending underpants stories….my father and stepmother just came to IL from Florida to visit this weekend and my stepmothers first stop had to be Tar Ghey because she forgot to pack underpants

[SweetPea]

17 minutes ago, LandstromCruise said:

The never ending underpants stories….my father and stepmother just came to IL from Florida to visit this weekend and my stepmothers first stop had to be Tar Ghey because she forgot to pack underpants

At least she didn't ask to borrow yours?!

[SweetPea]

I promise I'm not reviving this thread for any reason other than to say ...

Hello from Norwegian Getaway where Batman has learned the power of a packing cube for undergoodies, buying cruise-specific undies, and learning to get to the power of 2xN+1 (he packed 11 pairs for 7 nights....) 

I'm sorry I've been MIA on your current blogs. I'll be back soon!

[asquared17]

2 hours ago, SweetPea said:

Hello from Norwegian Getaway where Batman has learned the power of a packing cube for undergoodies, buying cruise-specific undies, and learning to get to the power of 2xN+1 (he packed 11 pairs for 7 nights....) 

BLESS!!!!!!!!!!! 

welcome to the dark side!!

3 hours ago, SweetPea said:

sorry I've been MIA on your current blogs. I'll be back soon!

i was concerned something had happened