leisuretraveler223

Semantics are still semantics.

Easy there with the snark😅. "Lack of funding" can be interpreted as the funds did not exist, or budgeting did not allocate funds. You interpreted his statement as the former, I interpreted it as the latter.

This makes no sense. You disagreed with the previous poster and then said the same thing.

That is true. But technology changes very rapidly over a short period of time. What might not have worked then, may well do so now or very soon. In terms of tech, the launch of Quantum was a lifetime ago.

Oh, it's DEFINITELY a technology issue. A LEAN process would be fine, but simply looking at the operation makes it painfully clear. Even at CocoaCay, at the bar at the lagoon pool, there was a ton of people waiting and the poor bartenders were waiting for each other to finish up on the few POS tablets they had to punch in drinks.

I don't even know what to say. I've been on a dozen cruises in the past few years I've seen it constantly. Now it doesn't necessarily slow down my getting the drink as they tend to make and serve it first. But when I watch them, I realize this is in no way a user-friendly POS system. Things that should be two touches and a card are three to four times that. It absolutely tends to slow things down when the bar is two or three deep and they are spending way more time punching buttons than need be. Honestly, if you haven't noticed this, then either you haven't been watching, or you are in no way tuned in to what it's like to work with poorly designed tech.

I think that's a little bit of a copout to be honest. The logistic involved in booking, filling, scheduling and running these ships is so far beyond the level needed for this basic operation, it just seems nonsensical. What they do, they do incredibly well. It seems that an improved system like this would only be of benefit all around.

Just off Oasis and had a fantastic time. But I continue to have the same observation the last few cruises that I just can’t shake. Royal Caribbean is a HUGE operation, dozens of ships, tens of thousands of passengers, an unimaginable inventory stream to manage. And overall, they really do it impressively well. This requires some powerful technology. They’re basically a logistics company more than anything else. So, what I can’t figure out is with all that ability and technology, how is it that they have possibly the most godawful shipside POS system one could conceive? Go to a bar and order a beer with a beverage package, and it appears to take close to a dozen clicks or movements for the poor bartender to complete the transaction. Wait staff in the MDR still scribbling orders down on paper. God forbid you want a drink on Labadee where they need to manually write down your information. It's just stunning to me that what really wouldn’t be that challenging of a fix seems totally lost on them. Bar service comes to a screeching halt, not because the staff can’t handle the customers or the orders, but because they are trapped tapping away the POS system for liteally half the time. I don’t get it.

You're on a mass market cruise line cramming as many people on as possible. Don't kid yourself, this isn't some highbrow respite on the high seas. It's basically Mall of America of The Seas. You want peace and quiet? Then Royal isn't really where you should be looking. Getting all bent out of shape about this is silly. Do I like it when people play their own music on the pool deck? No. But it is what it is. Choosing to get worked up about it only impacts you, not them. As far as cabanas go, yeah sorry, I'm going to enjoy myself. I'm not letting other people enjoying themselves take away from it.

Because while Diamon Plus members are loyal and dedicated cruisers, Pinnacles are insanely fanatical Royal fetishists worth FAR more $$$ to them.

I think it's funny that all these people have shown absolute fanatical devotion to a particular cruise line, and then act shocked when that line accepts that fact and doesn't unnecessarily kiss their feet.

I love watching people here get their panties in a twist about this. The lounges are all pretty lousy. It's basically like being stuck in an airport lounge. No thanks, I do enough of that when I travel.

This is so unnecessarily complicated. If Royal actually had any interest in rewarding their top tier guests, and really wanted to simplify the system, they would just apply the vouchers retroactively to the appropriate drinks. If the vouchers are valid up until a certain value, it could simply credit that number of purchases to the maximum allowable value each day. Don't use a voucher on a coffee instead of an Old Fashioned. It would take no effort by the on board staff and not waste the time of the bar staff with silly chits. Simple computer programming could do this. But the reality is they are still basically disincentivizing people from getting the most out of their vouchers. And it works- they win. I still buy the beverage package because I simply don't want to think about it.

So, just kind of an observation after a recent Allure cruise. It was just my wife and myself and we were content with MTD, made reservations in advance for the same time every night. The first night, we were give a lovely table that was actually for four, right by the window and had a great time. The wait staff was attentive and friendly, and the head waiter was very nice. He said "if you like this table, we will see you every night!". We were happy to hear this, but had no actual expectation of such. He told us to ask for him by name when we arrived the next night and he would see to it. We did so the next night, and all was good. Night three, we showed up and I again told the woman at the stand to let him know we were there, and she was basically giving that a hard no. She said "we have a different table for you tonight, you're all set". I again asked " is (so and so) available?" and she said they couldn't give us our table (not what I asked), because it was set for a party of fourteen (!). Not wanting to put up a fight, we were led in. We walked past where our table was, and it had two people at it (not fourteen LOL!). They then brought us to a table for four that was three tables away from the window. I told the person seating us we would prefer the window seat, and he stated "I'm sorry, that one is reserved already". I said, "it's my understanding that there are no reserved tables in MTD, which is why we don't have ours tonight, but that is a lovely window table and we are here now, so we would like to sit there". He politely relented and we were seated by the window. Come night four, our original head waiter found us and took care of us the rest of the week. So to me, the issue is, you can't have it both ways. We didn't ASK for a reserved table, but they offered it. If that's the case, great. But make sure you honor it. When they switched us up on night three, in my mind all bets were off. Don't tell me I can't have a reserved table, but then seat me in a less desirable one because another empty table IS reserved. Overall, the service and food were excellent!