Very, very disappointed with the hard sell on Liberty of the Seas

Not just the OP:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=52611040&postcount=77

I will be in Chops on my anniversary this year, I'll be watching for it and shoo them away. If the waiter, assistant waiter, or head waiter mention this as part of their normal, "What's happening tomorrow/or on the ship" I will just ignore.

You make it sound as though the cabins stewards work 24 hrs a day to clean the cabin without any free time.

They don't work 24. They do get 8 hours of rest

.

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Just do it in Vintages. Nobody is ever in there.

I laughed so hard I snorted. Ty:D

Disney is about three times the price of Royal Caribbean I think. they may not need to upsell so much.

Just do it in Vintages. Nobody is ever in there.

[emoji23]

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I will be in Chops on my anniversary this year, I'll be watching for it and shoo them away. If the waiter, assistant waiter, or head waiter mention this as part of their normal, "What's happening tomorrow/or on the ship" I will just ignore.

The only sell if you can call it, was in Giovanni's on the Navigator, my wonderful waiter who brought me nice chunks of cheeses, gave his business card with a 20% off on next visit. There are tables set up, especially on embarkation but one simply ignore them Some paxs who are new to cruising, find these tables and offering educational.

Ps. I can't believe the # of people attracted by the sales in the promenade. This I would not consider a hard sale as they seem to look forward to them.

Yes, I am very excited to try RCI and their very impressive ships, but the recent introduction of room service charge and this hard selling is casting doubts. Hope we will still have a great experience.

 

 

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i have to tell you on all of my cruises 26 + i only used room service once. And that was because i wanted them to bring me wine glasses. I really don't know what your style of vacationing is but i never used the hotel room service either. I guess if that is important to you it may make a difference. But i really feel that they stopped this because the ships are sooooo big now that they want to provide you with the best service but can't if so many people are ordering at the same time. After all there is only so much staff that the ship can have available. So charging this fee will deter some

(y)

This is the best thread ever. 😂

 

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Last cruise we took was approx. 3 years ago. I don't recall any hard sell at the tables in the Promenade or other venues and never at the WJ but that could have changed. A simple smile and no thanks does wonders.

The only time a hard sell was irritating was the usual begging by the waiter for a "10" in the MDR but that's another issue on another thread.

We had to cancel our last 2 cruises. Booking one tomorrow for December on the Liberty. Please keep your collective fingers crossed that three times will be the charm!

We just got off the Liberty yesterday and this sailing was the worst for us as far as "selling". It was everywhere-walking anywhere, while eating in both the windjammer and the dining room, drinking by the pool, etc. It was really bad the first couple days, one morning when I was approached 4 times within a 20 minute period and I hadn't even full woken up yet lol! Now a simple no thank you did the trick most of the time but still very annoying, especially while we were trying to enjoy a meal.

I get that they want to make money and obviously it's working if they keep doing it. My husband just kept reminding me that while we've cruised before and know about specialty restaurants, new cruisers don't and Royal wants as much revenue as possible. Other than that, service was really great and we still really enjoyed our trip.

I do have to say that vintages was pretty empty the entire week and I kind of giggled every time I walked past [emoji6]

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The hawking of merchandise, drinks, and spa services still isn't as annoying as photographers wanting to take pictures. You can be having a nice meal with great dinner conversation, when the photographer comes along and wants people to stand up for a group photo. The problem is that most RC photographers aren't much better than an amateur photographer, in terms of making people look good and avoiding shadows and back-lighting. Other than dinner photos on our first cruise, the only photos we bought were of our son, during disembarkation at various ports. He was young, cute, and knew how to mug for a camera.

Last cruise we took was approx. 3 years ago. I don't recall any hard sell at the tables in the Promenade or other venues and never at the WJ but that could have changed. A simple smile and no thanks does wonders.

 

The only time a hard sell was irritating was the usual begging by the waiter for a "10" in the MDR but that's another issue on another thread.

 

We had to cancel our last 2 cruises. Booking one tomorrow for December on the Liberty. Please keep your collective fingers crossed that three times will be the charm!

Good post, I'll look forward to heading what you have to say when you get back. 3 years is about right, I first saw a "hard sell" in 2014 on Jewel, but I would probably call it a semi-hard sell. It was setup right outside the windjammer selling spa treatments. I was able to walk right by, but we were with another couple who were cruise rookies. That other lady absolutely had to book her formal night facial right there and then, Plus she had to listen to every service and offering. I was being a little uptight about it as we were among the first 100 on the ship and I wanted to get an outdoor table after hitting the WJ. I was too uptight to say, "I'll go ahead and get us a table and wait for you" Instead I obsessed about how long it was taking., My fault for not following my own let nothing bother me rules. I

It's easy when you have one young child. On our next cruise, we will have our 14, 14, 16, 19, and 20 years old with us, who will not be kept captive in the kids club.

Sounds like you've already had plenty of "fun" - take a rest. ;)

14-20 age range would not concern me to be out at night doing their own thing. But yeah, 5 kids is a lot and they were surely young once, so I commend your patience and stamina:)

Seriously? Stamina? Couldn't come up with a better word? LOL ;p

I just got off the Navigator yesterday. I read the OP's comments before we left and was paying attention to the upsell. We were approached a few times. The pitch seemed informational and not a hard sell (I'm a salesman, I know a hard sell). After two days we hardly heard a peep.

BTW, we did take advantage of some specialty dining options because they knocked off a few $$'s here and there.

We chose this cruise because I'd cruised Royal Caribbean twice before, loved it, and have eagerly recommended it to others. Now I'm genuinely embarrassed that I've influenced others to choose Royal Caribbean.

Here's what concerns me.

THE HARD SELL

On Royal Caribbean, here's the first impression. Passengers embark to find crew barking at them to browse tables of plastic do-dads and cheap water bottles. I was completely taken aback by this.

On Disney, passengers enter the ship to beautiful music playing. An announcer says excitedly, "Disney would like to welcome the SMITH family!" as uniformed crew members clap and cheer. The difference in the Royal Caribbean experience is jolting.

After our disconcerting onboarding experience, the hard sell got even WORSE. You could not take a step on the ship without crew interrupting your conversation with your spouse to loudly and aggressively hawk drink and dining packages. A terrible first impression for passengers.

Then it got worse. At the ship's "Welcome Event" in the Platinum Theater at 2:30 pm, the hard sell continued. There was no entertainment, no music, no comedy -- just a bare stage with crew in polo shirts hawking more things that passengers could buy. I'd brought a first time cruiser on this trip, and I was embarrassed.

The "hard sell" continued through the week, with crew members hawking their wares 12 hours per day from tables and storefronts on deck 5, where most passengers had to pass to get from one end of the ship to the other.

The saddest thing about the "hard sell," though, was that the fun daytime activities I remembered from previous Royal Caribbean cruises were nearly all gone. Instead, each day's "Cruise Compass" was filled with shopping presentations, art auctions, and sales events urging us to spend more money. Come on, RC. Even an informal get-together for moms of teens in the "On the Air" Lounge would have been an improvement over that, and could have been done at a low cost with zero crew involvement.

When I asked crew members when Royal Caribbean changed from a very classy vacation experience to the continuous, barking hard-sell, they told me sympathetically that it had happened "in about the last six months" (since approximately September of 2016) when the cruise line's top management began putting extraordinary pressure on those below to increase revenue at all costs. How many passengers will RC lose before they realize that this strategy will not work? One of the biggest topics of conversation among the passengers was: "What's a better cruise line for us to chose next time? Which cruise lines are not doing this?" Next time, I'm trying Norwegian.

Thanks for bringing this up. On Anthem last year, it was the same thing. By our third night we found ourselves avoiding the promenade deck because of the pushy sales staff. Just as we avoided the promenade we were bombarded with demands to eat at Izumi because hardly anyone was going to that place.

It became a big point of concern for us and although I know they do this on all the ships, it just seemed to be MUCH more practiced on the larger ships - so because of that we're no longer cruising the bigger ships. I hope someone from RCL reads our concerns with these hard sells. We're on vacay and don't want to hear it!!!

Good post, I'll look forward to heading what you have to say when you get back. 3 years is about right, I first saw a "hard sell" in 2014 on Jewel, but I would probably call it a semi-hard sell. It was setup right outside the windjammer selling spa treatments. I was able to walk right by, but we were with another couple who were cruise rookies. That other lady absolutely had to book her formal night facial right there and then, Plus she had to listen to every service and offering. I was being a little uptight about it as we were among the first 100 on the ship and I wanted to get an outdoor table after hitting the WJ. I was too uptight to say, "I'll go ahead and get us a table and wait for you" Instead I obsessed about how long it was taking., My fault for not following my own let nothing bother me rules. I

Yes, cruise rookies love to take it all in. You weren't uptight, you were kind. Me? I would have been barreling on to get that coveted outdoor table, never looking back.

Now that I remember, the only "hard sell" outside the WJ was a guy hawking fresh squeezed OJ.

I realize this can vary based on ship/crew...but on the FOS two weeks ago I felt there was zero hard selling...yes there were people who would ask if you wanted a dinner or drink package but a simple no and they moved on...but I am feeling more and more that this is actually a difference in peoples definition of "hard selling" The only times I have felt that I was "hard sold" was in Tijuana, Jamaica and by some boy scouts once over popcorn...but I realize my personal definition of the terms is probably different then others definition...meaning to me if they aren't grabbing me by the arm and pulling me or following me for 5 minutes or actually verbally harassing me I wouldn't consider it hard selling....so I think this will vary person to person not based on actual experience but more our own sensitives'....

The sex thing?

OMG, are you serious?

Any parent who travels with kids should not be expecting sex during the vacation. True for a cruise, a land-based vacation, a camping trip, or ANY kind of travel.

Curtains, dividers, privacy screens, whatever - nothing works. Travel with kids = no sex. Get used to it!

 

(although creative use of bathroom time may be worth further consideration..........:evilsmile:)

Hubby and I actually managed. My son, who did sleep above our head on the pullman, LOVED the kids area. He could not wait to get there in the evening. That left us several hours to ourselves to do what we wanted to do. At the pick up time, we would go get our son, take him down for pizza if that is what he wanted or ordered room service and all went to bed.

I realize this can vary based on ship/crew...but on the FOS two weeks ago I felt there was zero hard selling...yes there were people who would ask if you wanted a dinner or drink package but a simple no and they moved on...but I am feeling more and more that this is actually a difference in peoples definition of "hard selling" The only times I have felt that I was "hard sold" was in Tijuana, Jamaica and by some boy scouts once over popcorn...but I realize my personal definition of the terms is probably different then others definition...meaning to me if they aren't grabbing me by the arm and pulling me or following me for 5 minutes or actually verbally harassing me I wouldn't consider it hard selling....so I think this will vary person to person not based on actual experience but more our own sensitives'....

It's all about context. Are they interrupting my meal or conversation to try to sell me something? That's a hard sell because you are effectively trapped. It's easy for me to say "no thanks" when I can just keep walking and I don't have to stop what I'm doing to let them wind up the pitch.

Hard sell? Don't go to India. I once picked up an item to examine it put it back and left the shop. The shopkeeper followed me down the street, you like you buy. Even crossed the road with me.

Don't get me wrong I loved India it is just different.

This has got to be the most entertaining post I've ever seen on here!!!

How dare a cruise line not provide me with adequate privacy for sex, when I book teenagers in the same small room as me! Lol!

I do find all the hard sales going on around ships to be tacky, but I don't give it much of a thought other than to walk on by and enjoy my vacation. I've found the selling on Princess to be more intense than Royal!!!

It never ceases to amaze me. I can go on a fabulous trip, roll with the punches, and be thankful for the opportunity. Another person can be on that same cruise and have nothing but complaints.

Some people just aren't happy... unless they have something to be unhappy about!

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It's easy when you have one young child. On our next cruise, we will have our 14, 14, 16, 19, and 20 years old with us, who will not be kept captive in the kids club.

I can't believe I'm responding to this...we'll be traveling with our 18,19, & 21 year old...if you're with that many kids...surely you have two rooms...our kids are NEVER in the room from 8am-5pm...they never miss a meal...just send them on their way to lunch and lock the door...it's not that difficult.

..but I realize my personal definition of the terms is probably different then others definition...meaning to me if they aren't grabbing me by the arm and pulling me.

Wow, that brought back a memory I have pushed deep into the back corners. Our first time at Labadee, back in 2006, they had a market inside an open air building. There was probably at least 20 booths inside. Several guys grabbed my wife by the arm and pulled her into their booth. If that happened anywhere else the guy would have had a black eye. So glad they cleaned that up a bit.

We had "hard sells" 2 weeks ago aboard Anthem of the seas.Not the regular promenade sales. I'm speaking about being interrupted every single night when dining in MDR to sell backstage tours, restaurante packages, drink packages and so on. Sometimes twice.This happened in windjammer too. This happened several times when we were quietly having our pizza in sorrentos. We were just strolling around and were interrupted to buy things constantly. We had at leats 10 messages per day regarding to sales and promotions.We had also lots of mesages in our phone regarding to sales. Never saw something like this in any cruise we sailed before :)

Regarding to the other OP's complains ...nothing to declare, we love RC, did the transatlantic aboard Liberty, 10 sea days in a row, 15 days of perfect time... Hope they never call us by the name when we arrive, it's a little bit...weird...

(btw: I was in Moroc, Egypt, Tunis...I can recognise hard sells :D just kidding ;) )

I realize this can vary based on ship/crew...but on the FOS two weeks ago I felt there was zero hard selling..

When I was on Freedom, almost 2 years ago, Sabor was new. We walked on to the promenade for the 2nd time. I was taking everything in and saw the guy standing at a small podium making Guacamole. I walked up to him, had a sample, and then he asked us if we wanted to make a reservation, which we did. 2 weeks till Adventure, this will be part of my trip report.