HeidiAmsterdam

Funny enough, I notice RCCL has a shore excursion self guided to Capri, which basically amounts to them transporting you there and back...

at $90 per person....

Just wondering if that is their own boat or ???? doubt it is their own. Their tender boats are not fast...

So there must be something scheduled as there is a ship docked...

#me thinks

But how to confirm?

Just wondering if anyone has concrete information on DIY trip to Capri from Salerno?

Special Ferries that run when a ship is docked? How to find out?

Seriously.

There has been so much misinformation going around, part of the problem.

I was on the ship, and I agree with most of what he said.

These are objective observations.

But, I still had a great time, even though lots of thing didn't meet expectations. And they didn't meet expectations.

But hey, I'm a big skier, and I don't always get the snow conditions I want either, and sometimes it exceeds my wildest dreams, but I always have a great time.

They couldn't have cancelled it.

But they could have tested their technology systems, and the bloody thermostats that got stuck on 71,2 and wouldn't cool to that temperature anyway. They could have used old systems where they could, things that were tested, minimize the confusion and chaos.

Too many changes at once when it comes to technology is a sure fire recipe for disaster. Just look at all the headaches people had with booking the bloody restaurants ahead of time... it is pure incompetency to run your technology like this.

Changes need to evolutionary, not revolutionary. This has happened to every company that has introduced so many changes at once.

You see, that's what I was wondering about OBC and the 25% off.

By the time we got that, I personally wasn't bothered by the boarding process because I didn't get there until 13.30 and had only had 8 cups of coffee without half and half, and was still thinking it would be there next time I went for coffee.

And anyway, I didn't go on the cruise to get OBC or 25% off, I was really hoping they would have been MUCH further along.

It wasn't until day 6 that all the provisions were put in the computer so they could find things like half and half, honey, sour cream and Ranch salad dressing. I would give them 1 star on their logistics competencies, and a big fat 0 for Technology.

But, still I had a lovely time, even if there wasn't any ice cream to compensate for their otherwise crap desserts. Oh, and give them 1,5 stars for desserts, the 1,5 stars comes from the chocolate chip cookies and those mud pie thingies, and the lemon tartlettes until they ran out of those.

I expected glitches, but I hadn't expected the number of mishaps as there were.

This tells me, there is a cowboy somewhere calling the shots, who has likely ignored the advice that to deliver the quality we expect wasn't going to happen. Is likely also someone without a clue about IT matters. The check-in process was in fact a live first test on real customers. That just isn't done, because there is the highest risk that the result will be what is was 2 November in Southampton. It is the most predictable outcome, I'm sure they were told, and did it anyway, and that's disappoints me. The prebooking on the DD should have given them a HUGE clue that the technology had too many bugs. It was just a series of high risk decisions that for the most part didn't pan out.

but ho-hum, I'm not a share holder anyway.

and anyway, I had a great time, met great people, and relaxed. I'm just a bit sad I couldn't walk off the ship and tell you all how RCCL against all odds pulled a brilliantly run sailing off...

And for my two cents worth, I hope they pull at least 3 of their desserts with peanut butter mousse, yuck!

I was told that DD will only be on the Quantum series and the Allure series when they go to get refitted, the rest will stay traditional...

so maybe a bit of hope for those who like traditional Royal Carribean

I was on the same sailing.

My stateroom attendant was excessively mediocre, which exceeded most of the restaurant and cafe personnel. Clearly a lot of personnel was lacking training and experience.

I did not get an upgrade, and the thermostat was broke, and it took a couple of days for them to get to it, in the meantime, my husband started in on an asthma attack due to the 79 degrees in the room.

I was also insulted with the service charges on room service. Also, for the dinner entrees that were complimentary, were not provisioned, and they didn't have a substitute, and offered me the entree's you had to pay for, for the price on the menu, and thought that he was doing me a favor.

The ship was flogged with issues as the OP mentioned, the only one I missed was the drunken VP, darn!

That said, I would hope the service and construction issues will get solved over time.

So it looks like Anthem will start sailing in April 2015 and will spend the summer sailing Europe...and her first transatlantic sailing will be Oct 2015.

There will be a price drop though. I'm paying about 1/3 of that for the Quantum sailing doing the same itinerary.

That's anyone's guess. Definitely a bizarre turn of events.

Was rumored elsewhere that it has been chartered :eek: Can't fathom the idea.

It was rumored that the Eastbound Anthem TA was being chartered out...

if true, that's madness!

It's anyone's guess what is going on behind the scenes. Shall sell tickets and popcorn when the finally do announce it's true whereabouts!

In fact, I believe you could preorder breakfast delivered to your room the night before...presuming you knew when you wanted to wake up, presuming you wouldn't lose track of time 8 days at sea.

It will also be my first TA.

I'm so excited too! I will be taking something to throw on quickly to get my coffee.

I'm wondering if it will be too cold for coffee on the balcony though?

I was quite sad to not have traditional dining. Having one scheduled point in the day gave a sort of structure, which I appreciated.

Plus I have kids, and took an early dining time.

The IT issues above are well explained, and is a likely depiction of the situation.

Having said that, the website itself has a lot of glitches, and doesn't lend itself well to having faith that online reservations with iphone or ipad will actually work. Not to mention, part of the relaxation was leaving the devices locked up in my safe.

Further, having spend more than 20 years in the IT industry, the glitches, the functional issues, price loading issues, erroneous errors, errors without error code, capacity and load planning issues speak to a low level of IT maturity that doesn't align with my overall professional perception of RCCL. They should be able to do better, unless of course they've outsourced it all to India, in which case it makes total sense the IT picture doesn't have it's i's dotted or t's crossed. Managing off shore programming, or development is skill and competency unto itself, and most companies are poor at it. Meaning, RCCL IT is mediocre, at its' best.

Fortunately, staff on board smile. I do hope they have a back up plan if this dynamic dining pre planning goes pear shaped.:eek:

This is my understanding, though I can not recall all of the sources, as I have read bits and bobs in various places.

Quantum arrives in NJ Nov 10 and sails away May 2, 2015 on an epic 52 day journey to Shanghai where she will, until further notice, service the Asian market.

Meanwhile, Anthem will set sail in Europe for summer of 2015. The port at Southampton is presumably undergoing similar renovations to properly home Anthem. That said, Anthem is, until further notice, is scheduled to have her winter home in NJ.

Interesting enough, both transatlantic crossing for Anthem have been canceled, which is a sever disappointment for me, as I was rather looking forward to spending some sea days on the Anthem Beauty. I will be doing the Maiden voyage with Quantum, and plan to sail her back May 2, 2015.

Presumably this is why Liberty is coming to NJ, to stop the gap between Quantum and Anthem.

My guess would be, RCCL ordered three ships, one for Asia, one for Europe and one for North America. Now based on more current demand planning, moving the 1st of the Quantum series to Asia makes more economic sense. Sadly enough for CC followers, as we are primarily North Americans and Europeans. Can't say I've really come across an associate CC poster from Asia...

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I just got off the phone with Royal Caribbean, I called them to see if there was something happening with this cruise.

 

The man I spoke with advised me I was not able to be booked on it, and won't be able to book it as it has been chartered.

I don't know how to say this any more polite, but that sucks!!!

Chartered the whole blinking ship for a TA? If anyone comes across more info on this, would be curious to follow this story.

Also, no info on the TA coming back either...what's the story there?