Last day on the Independence - Good, Bad and Strange

It is June 6th and this is the last day of my 7 day cruise. I am Platinum (almost Emerald) on RCCl, but I am not not loyal to any one line. I have cruised many times on many different cruise lines. Here are my thoughts:

The Good

1. The ship is clean and in great shape! Very nice job RCCL.

2. The staff has seemed to be exceptionally friendly this week. This has been the first week of the new increased automatic gratuities and perhaps many are happy about a slight pay raise. Regardless, almost everybody we have encountered this week has been friendly.

3. The food (overall) has been very good. The Windjammer has been consistently pretty good, but occasionally we do have some items that are not that good. The dining room has been great though. Honestly the food this week was one of the better weeks of food I have had in awhile on a ship. Our family really enjoyed dinner with the exception of the third night menu being just so-so.

4. The entertainment was pretty enjoyable. The highlight of the week was a headliner act called voxaudio that was exceptional. They also debuted a new production show called Center Stage last evening that was quite good if you enjoy music.

5. We had one of those 8 unusual oversized Aft balcony rooms this week. We loved it. The room was larger than normal and the balcony was simply huge. We were spoiled and loved it.

6. They have a live full sized poker table in the casino now which was fun.

The Bad

1. The drink prices really are absurd. I have seen other posts on this site from people that have written customer service on drink prices and have received responses that RCCL raised them to be competitive with other lines. Um, no. They are the highest in the cruising industry from my own experience. The drink prices have created two types of drinkers from what I see. Group 1 has purchased the package and power drinks for seven days trying to get their money back. This has been me this week. I think if I got bitten by a mosquito today that poor guy would be hungover for a week. The second group basically no longer drinks. I am traveling with a few diamonds who won't buy a drink on the ship outside their free ones in the evening and these people are drinkers. They do not feel a glass of wine is worth paying $10-18 for and I do not blame them. I think RCCL has really messed up on their drink packages and I won't purchase one again.

2. Vintages - My wife is a wine snob and we actually booked this sailing so that she could enjoy the wines in Vintages. She does not enjoy cruising as much as the kids and I, but does love trying wines from around the world. Well Vintages is no longer a wine bar. It apparently stopped being a wine bar two weeks ago. It is now a full service bar that specializes in $12 martinis. We tried a half dozen of the martinis off their martini list and did not like any of them. The champagne bar is now the only place on the ship with an expanded wine list. The champagne bar has maybe 15-20 wines by the glass that are under $12 and included in the drink package. A few of the wines are quite good and several are just ok. My wife was pretty bummed about the death of Vintages. Wine lovers have nothing to be excited about on the Independence. I am not sure if the other Freedom ships changed over to martini bars or not.

3. We had a scary incident in Labadee. We were just arriving on the island and walking to barefoot beach. I am traveling with three young girls (ages 9-12) in our party and they were running a bit in front of us in excitement to get to the beach. We took some path that ended just at the edge of the Haitian market and three guys grabbed each girl by the hand and pulled them into three separate tents spread far apart to sell them crap. I saw this from a distance and sprinted into the village to find them which I could not. These scam artists asked each girl their name and then started carving their names into the cheap stuff they sell. Suddenly all three girls emerged holding this crap with their names on it and looks of horror on their faces. The venders descended on me demanding $30 a kid. I told them to put the stuff back and the venders said their names were on it already. I was pissed. I yelled at all of them and gave them something much less for this stuff my kids never wanted to get this over with. Two of the girls burst into tears as we left the shake down. This is a premade scam and is dangerous. My daughters could have been assaulted and I could not have stopped it. Yes I clearly should not let them run ahead and I take ownership of that. I have not been to Labadee in many years and did not know the shopping area was unsafe or I never would have gone near it. Regardless, these venders are bad news and it was a horrible start to our day. Parents, keep your kids out of the shopping area in Labadee. I will be writing RCCL on this in detail when I get home.

4. The casino - Remember when I said the ship was in great shape? Yeah well the casino is not included. They have slot machines I played on RCCL 20 years ago. Their are zero slot machines that are "new" with the latest games and features.

The Strange

1. Orange juice is not included in the $49 a day drink package. Apparently to get fresh squeezed fruit you need to pay more that per day. Once again, simply ridiculous.

2. The new wine/champagne bar is not included in the places Diamonds can get free drinks in the evenings. The people I was traveling with were quite ticked about this. That bar simply won't accept diamond drink vouchers. Sorry diamonds, only house wines in other bars for you guys per RCCL.

The Awesome

1. I got to enjoy several cigars in the cigar lounge with "Super Mario" and chat with him. Mario if the top cruiser in the RCCL fleet with over 5000+ points. He has basically cruised nonstop on RCCL for the last 15 years straight he said. Super nice guy.

Well I am off to finish my cruise. I just wanted to share my thoughts. Overall it has been a great week.

Thanks for the review. Disappointing to hear about the changes to Vintages. We had an excellent experience in Vintages on Liberty this past March, and it's sad to think that might be gone now.

Thank you for your honest opinions. I'm going on Indy next March. Enjoy your last day

Thanks for the updates. Sorry to hear about Vintages.

We encountered some of the same vendors in Labadee on the Freedom last June. The guy started carving the name of one of my girls (I have 3 girls), and I asked him at least 5 times how much this was going to cost, he just kept carving, and I kept telling him that I wasn't buying something if I didn't know the price. He continued to do it for the other two girls, and I asked a few more times then gave up. The girls really didn't care about them, they were looking at other stuff that they wanted, so I figured if they cost too much I would just walk away. In the meantime other vendors kept trying to call my girls over and I told the girls not to leave my side. My husband had sat down on the other side of the building, we had been inside buying stuff where they were not pushy at all, so neither of us had any idea that it would be so bad outside. After he finished carving them he tried to charge me $45 for all three rocks. I told him I would give him $15 for all three, as I had asked him numerous times before he started and he refused to give me a price. He kept trying to negotiate. I finally said, I will give you $15 or you may have them back, and I started unwrapping them (he had wrapped them and put them in the bags that my girls were holding with other stuff they had bought inside). He took the $15 and we couldn't run fast enough to get out of there. I think that with this being RCCL's private island, they really should get rid of these guys. That happened at the end of the day and it was a horrible last experience of the island after we had already had a pretty nice day.

I would ordinarily hesitate to recommend this; but your experience and that of the OP indicate a serious and perhaps dangerous security lapse on Royal's part in Labadee.

I suggest both of you email the CEO mbayley@rccl.com to advise him of this situation and demand it be addressed immediately.

That is really sad news about Vintages. I like my wines and enjoyed hanging out there with the bartender while on Liberty. It was usually quiet in there without many paxs....maybe that's why it changed.

Will be on Independence in September in a corner aft on deck 7. I will be one of those diamonds waiting for 5pm to drink on the ship. Prices are now outta control. If i want a drink during the day.....i will have my 2 bottles of sauvignon blanc waiting or will buy in port.

On freedom and vintages is still here. The amount of people that patron the wine bar has been very small. I am in there most nights and do not see many people at all which suites me fine as i wanted a nice quiet place to enjoy. Lack of patrons could be the reason that rci is changing the venue..unfortunately i can see it coming.

I noticed the new Vintages sign last week but didn't go inside. On Indy they put a sign above the Vingages sign that says "The Tavern at Vintages". I wonder if this is a new fleet wide thing.

I would ordinarily hesitate to recommend this; but your experience and that of the OP indicate a serious and perhaps dangerous security lapse on Royal's part in Labadee.

 

I suggest both of you email the CEO mbayley@rccl.com to advise him of this situation and demand it be addressed immediately.

email the CEO, really? You know there are proper channels to report these complaints. emailing the CEO about about every issue is going to accomplish one thing: a dead email address no one checks with an auto-responder.

Thanks for the updates. Sorry to hear about Vintages.

 

We encountered some of the same vendors in Labadee on the Freedom last June. The guy started carving the name of one of my girls (I have 3 girls), and I asked him at least 5 times how much this was going to cost, he just kept carving, and I kept telling him that I wasn't buying something if I didn't know the price. He continued to do it for the other two girls, and I asked a few more times then gave up. The girls really didn't care about them, they were looking at other stuff that they wanted, so I figured if they cost too much I would just walk away. In the meantime other vendors kept trying to call my girls over and I told the girls not to leave my side. My husband had sat down on the other side of the building, we had been inside buying stuff where they were not pushy at all, so neither of us had any idea that it would be so bad outside. After he finished carving them he tried to charge me $45 for all three rocks. I told him I would give him $15 for all three, as I had asked him numerous times before he started and he refused to give me a price. He kept trying to negotiate. I finally said, I will give you $15 or you may have them back, and I started unwrapping them (he had wrapped them and put them in the bags that my girls were holding with other stuff they had bought inside). He took the $15 and we couldn't run fast enough to get out of there. I think that with this being RCCL's private island, they really should get rid of these guys. That happened at the end of the day and it was a horrible last experience of the island after we had already had a pretty nice day.

Even if it's a private place, native vendors have access to it -- many times as part of the contract with the local government. We experienced something similar in Jamaica with lots of vendor hawking their wares. Either me or my wife had to be blunt about them leaving (i.e. "please leave we're not interested") or else we moved to a different part of the beach.

ProTip: *never*, ever ask those vendors for price, they will infer you are interested.

I would ordinarily hesitate to recommend this; but your experience and that of the OP indicate a serious and perhaps dangerous security lapse on Royal's part in Labadee.

 

I suggest both of you email the CEO mbayley@rccl.com to advise him of this situation and demand it be addressed immediately.

I agree that RCI should be contacted, perhaps corporate guest relations. Those vendors have been getting more aggressive over the years, but it sounds like it has finally crossed over the line. It's only a matter of time before there's a physical altercation between a guest and one of these vendors who grabs one of their children, and that's a situation RCI just cannot have.

Not surprised about Vintages. We liked Vintages because it was very quiet, hence usually empty. The wife is the wine drinker. Up until January, if I wanted a cocktail there, I'd walk over to the pub or the waiter would walk out to the promenade, get a pub waiter's attention and order it from there. This past January I was surprised they had a full bar on Indy. The only thing I find disappointing about Vintages on Freedom Class is they're not equipped for the tapas found on the Oasis Class. I think that's a big draw because Vintages was always busy on Allure.

I agree the vendors are very aggressive but how do three young girls get pulled in three different directions into three separate tents long enough to have their names carved into something while you're sprinting from within eye sight? :confused: Yup, I said it. Sounds a little fishy. Flame away.

We always enjoy Vintages but it was always dead in there when we went so this is not surprising. On the Quantum there were never more than 2-4 other people in there with us.

And I would not have given those Labadee vendors a dime.

email the CEO, really? You know there are proper channels to report these complaints. emailing the CEO about about every issue is going to accomplish one thing: a dead email address no one checks with an auto-responder.

You evidently have never used this route of communicating with the company. They actually have a department of what they call Executive Guest Specialists that answer emails that are sent to the CEO email address. And they respond to all inquiries/complaints.

Since the company provides this avenue of communication I would not think it is an improper channel.

email the CEO, really? You know there are proper channels to report these complaints. emailing the CEO about about every issue is going to accomplish one thing: a dead email address no one checks with an auto-responder.

Don't you think the CEO would like to know about an issue of passenger safety? If you want to try to get the people there on the island to handle it - good luck. The time span between the two posters visits indicate a pervasive and dangerous problem. Not asking the CEO to prepare a warm lunch for them, just protect them from intimidation or worse. You obviously do not know that Mr. Bayley's office has a good track record of responding to and addressing issues of merit.

Not surprised about Vintages. We liked Vintages because it was very quiet, hence usually empty. The wife is the wine drinker. Up until January, if I wanted a cocktail there, I'd walk over to the pub or the waiter would walk out to the promenade, get a pub waiter's attention and order it from there. This past January I was surprised they had a full bar on Indy. The only thing I find disappointing about Vintages on Freedom Class is they're not equipped for the tapas found on the Oasis Class. I think that's a big draw because Vintages was always busy on Allure.

 

I agree the vendors are very aggressive but how do three young girls get pulled in three different directions into three separate tents long enough to have their names carved into something while you're sprinting from within eye sight? :confused: Yup, I said it. Sounds a little fishy. Flame away.

I am not gonna flame you, but why on earth would you think I would make up a story like that? What part sounds fishy to you? My kids were dragged into shops by scam artists working as a team in the poorest country on earth. That seems far fetched to you? When I ran into the first few shops to find them, they were not there and I was surrounded by other villagers jabbering at me to come into their tents and buy something. The shops are two stories and if you have been to Labadee lately you will know there are many of these shops in the village. I popped into several more shops with no luck. Nobody answered when I called out their names. Then when I was truly getting panicked all three suddenly showed up together and the money demands began. I will be writing RCCL when I get home. I have also spoken to the shore excursion desk manager which in charge of Labadee shopping about this.

Don't you think the CEO would like to know about an issue of passenger safety? If you want to try to get the people there on the island to handle it - good luck. The time span between the two posters visits indicate a pervasive and dangerous problem. Not asking the CEO to prepare a warm lunch for them, just protect them from intimidation or worse. You obviously do not know that Mr. Bayley's office has a good track record of responding to and addressing issues of merit.

You missed my point. There are proper channels for reporting these incidents that will get attention faster than e-mailing the CEO directly -- which as I have stated, they tend cut loose those addresses once they become public. You can call or email customer service or reach out via their FB page which ensures a human will read it and hopefully funnel it to the right person (and no, the CEO is not always the best person to handle these issues).

You evidently have never used this route of communicating with the company. They actually have a department of what they call Executive Guest Specialists that answer emails that are sent to the CEO email address. And they respond to all inquiries/complaints.

 

Since the company provides this avenue of communication I would not think it is an improper channel.

So why email the CEO when you can accomplish the exact same thing by writing or calling the customer service, specially when neither the CEO, nor the next 5 layers of execs will lay an eye on what you write until filtered and funneled through CS escalation processes?

I agree with you about the vendors being too aggressive. From now on we won't leave Barefoot beach when on Labadee.

The vendors in Labadee are getting more and more aggressive. I used to find them somewhat amusing but now they are just totally annoying and I can understand how a kid could find it quite intimidating. Parents should be warned about keeping their kids close as they might let there guard down a bit being that they are in RCI's private, fenced, and gated with an armed guard, compound.

So why email the CEO when you can accomplish the exact same thing by writing or calling the customer service, specially when neither the CEO, nor the next 5 layers of execs will lay an eye on what you write until filtered and funneled through CS escalation processes?

Which customer service department to you suggest calling? Do you feel this is an issue that should be discussed with the same people that answer the phone when someone calls to ask a question about booking a cruise?

The vendors in Labadee are getting more and more aggressive. I used to find them somewhat amusing but now they are just totally annoying and I can understand how a kid could find it quite intimidating. Parents should be warned about keeping their kids close as they might let there guard down a bit being that they are in RCI's private, fenced, and gated with an armed guard, compound.

Haiti is the poorest country in the whole american continental shelf. These vendors are trying to make a living the best way they can. Unlike most countries in the New World, there really aren't many opportunities to do something else. You speak of them as if they are a pest. They might be too insistent and high-pressure. But you _can_ be equally high pressure and tell them off. And yes, I know high pressure vendors very well because I've been and actually lived in South and Central American countries. There people are not there to hurt you or your kids, please stop the fear mongering. They want to make an honest living and they see you (and thousands of cruisers) as a good opportunity to do so. The fact they are there can be they are friends of the gatekeepers, or they are on commission, or part of the government deal when RCCL leased that chunk of land.

You missed my point. There are proper channels for reporting these incidents that will get attention faster than e-mailing the CEO directly -- which as I have stated, they tend cut loose those addresses once they become public. You can call or email customer service or reach out via their FB page which ensures a human will read it and hopefully funnel it to the right person (and no, the CEO is not always the best person to handle these issues).

I'm not so sure of this.

We had some major issues May 2014 in the MDR, nothing near as serious as the OP, but major issues. Once we got back home, I wrote a letter to the CEO directly. In less than 24 hours, I received a phone call responding to the situation and within 48 hours, we had resolution that was satisfactory with all 10 of us at the table.

If I had the OP's situation happen to my kids, you can bet your you know what that letter is going to the CEO PDQ!

Tim

I am not gonna flame you, but why on earth would you think I would make up a story like that? What part sounds fishy to you? My kids were dragged into shops by scam artists working as a team in the poorest country on earth. That seems far fetched to you? When I ran into the first few shops to find them, they were not there and I was surrounded by other villagers jabbering at me to come into their tents and buy something. The shops are two stories and if you have been to Labadee lately you will know there are many of these shops in the village. I popped into several more shops with no luck. Nobody answered when I called out their names. Then when I was truly getting panicked all three suddenly showed up together and the money demands began. I will be writing RCCL when I get home. I have also spoken to the shore excursion desk manager which in charge of Labadee shopping about this.

Your a better poster than I. I would flame!!! Im sorry but the panic you must have felt at that second must have felt like hours! We "all" take some comforts and liberties when in some ports that we prob shouldn't take. Being this is a private RCCL port of call there is a relaxed air about it. I hope your girls were not to upset and they were able to get past it fast and enjoy their trip. This is a wonderful place to vent but I would not stop there! I would email and I would send a certified letter to the top dogs!! This will not help the Emotional roller coaster you had if only for a few min. But might help the next unexpecting family. Safe travels home[emoji267]

Haiti is the poorest country in the whole american continental shelf. These vendors are trying to make a living the best way they can. Unlike most countries in the New World, there really aren't many opportunities to do something else. You speak of them as if they are a pest. They might be too insistent and high-pressure. But you _can_ be equally high pressure and tell them off. And yes, I know high pressure vendors very well because I've been and actually lived in South and Central American countries. There people are not there to hurt you or your kids, please stop the fear mongering. They want to make an honest living and they see you (and thousands of cruisers) as a good opportunity to do so. The fact they are there can be they are friends of the gatekeepers, or they are on commission, or part of the government deal when RCCL leased that chunk of land.

Give me a break. I am well aware of how poor the country is. And I am not fear mongering. I'm not afraid of them but I can certainly understand how a kid could be scared. All I said was parents should keep their kids close. I didn't say anything "bad" was going to happen to them.:rolleyes:

If they want to make a living they better get to know their clientele. And I suspect most of us getting off a cruise ship at Labadee don't appreciate strangers touching our kids.