LXA350

I think they stoped serving it around 2015 / 2016, it was really delicious and looks like many liked it. Don't know why they got rid of it.

Supposedly there was a other project name around / or still is; "Destination Class". Well let's see but at the end there also has to be a market for longer cruises with focus on destinations for the mass market and not only luxury. Hence a Cruise Ship with a size of around 3000 passengers that can reach all destinations a Radiance Class ship can today seems to be a must.

Lobster night was only offered on North American itinararies on RCL, hence this is nothing new. You have the possibility to purchase Lobster Tails each evening on each cruise in the MDR. What is new is, that on the lobster night, on cruises where it's offered, you are charged if you ask for a additional lobster tail.

It was designed for the Chinese market not the Middle East 😉 The idea was to operate the ship year round out of China where weather gets cold during winter. No matter if RCL or X the fares they are charging for their upper suites are absolutely not worth it for what you get at the end of the day. For that money you can go to the absolute best hotels in the world and you will get much more for your money maybe even for less.

Guys, don't you understand that the Genie is part of the Star Class product. I understand that tipping seems to be a big deal and some like to brag on how much they tip but for using the services of the genie to tip USD 100 a day, wow not bad

Talking about food waste, would also be a good reason to have the food being served by staff at Windjammer at the stations permanently.

Supposedly there was a plan pre covid to build a replacement for the smallest ship classes ( Radiance and Vision) and internally the project was known as "Destination" Class. I guess sooner or later this will come back up again. Focusing on scenic itinararies and places where the largest ships can't go is not only for the luxury high end market, hence RCL would not be inteligent if they will give up this market. Hence by around 2030 when it is time for the Radiance Class to leave the fleet they would need a ship with size somewhere between curent radiance /vision class and Voyager Class that will replace their duties.

The cruiseline is achieving yields probably never seen before hence there are no excuses anymore to delay refurbishments. Eventually there is no point to do those large investments as even the Voyager Class will start to leave the fleet starting at around 2030.

They should instead focus on quality than quantity and have 50% of the current dessert offering but make the products taste better.

It's just the observations people make or when you speak to the crews. A lot of those frequent cruisers with Pinacle status belong to the lowest yielding passengers onboard. Every loyality ambassador, hotel director or the ones that will know for sure, Revenue Manager will confirm this to you. Not all of them are like this, but a large majority. Hence, the whole discussion about kicking out P or D+ from Suite Lounges or CK for P as RCL is much better off with those high yielding passengers booking 1-2 cruises a year than cruisers that take 10-20 a year in the cheapest cabins and at lowest pricing deals.

The ship got amplified in 2018 hence it will likely only be marine maintenance, replacement of carpets etc.

This new approach doesn't look too bad. A bit of cheating in the creativitiy; Creme Brulee and Crema Catalana basically is the same thing haha but ok. I guess the additional charge for additional lobster tails on "Royal night" might bring some inteesting arguments in the Dinning Room. Considering those are not real lobsters anyhow I guess if asking nicely you will get a 2nd one. But obviously some people completely overdid it in the past, hence this will avoid people going crazy on that night thinking they need to eat 5 or 10 of them 😄

Best advise to a first time cruiser I have now a days, don't get hooked up with a brand and try various lines before deciding which line to prefer. With the strategy X is going for, where older cruisers might disapear and it get's time to invest into younger generations not quite smart to go always more premium on pricing but let the product become worse.

Ships that are sailing again at full capacity will experience the issues with wait times for MDR dinner. Depending on demographics on board often earlier times are the most popular hence, when going at around 8pm things tend to get better again.

I fully agree with you, everything has gone down, starting from amenties to the food quality and choices. Given they are charging always higher prices and providing their passengers less value it makes me think twice now if it's time to try a different company, and we are not speaking of Royal Carribbean...

Various cuts over the years are fully understandable and not needed anymore. There is enough to eat on a cruise, why do you need a midnight buffet. Regarding the chocolates, honestly they should cut that permanently and only offer it to Retreat cabins. Then for the towel animals this is not cost cutting but if I remember well is not done anymore due to some other reasons. Looking at the current product, X is charging always more and provding less. Food quality is going down, in particular fresh products such as fruits and vegetables. Then the choices as mentioned in OV and MDR is going downhill. When you complain they come up with excuses of supply issues, well then they need to look for other suppliers and pay a bit more to get better quality. One redicioulous example for Suites, they are providing the Bigelow products now, maybe it changed again, due to "supply issues". Well there are many alternative brands to Le Labo so if X wanted to find a solution it could have been done. The competion is becoming better and if X is not going to get their quality straight, people will start to look for alternatives.

There is nothing discriminating about that. RCL caters to all sorts of passengers including the ones requiring accessible cabins. They are not obliged to offer such cabins for each category as especially for the higher suites it will be very difficult to have enough demand for such. Find me any hotel where you will find accessible rooms in the highest suite categories, very likely you will not find one.

Even taking this into consideration the ship will be around 4 weeks in dry dock, enough time to get the ship back in shape and perform amplification project "light"

Depending on your rational for the trip, if the main purpose is traveling through Israel and you want to combine it by adding a cruise out of Haifa without having any expectations you can go for it. If you are not used to the local culture, especially the lower class crowds there you will get a big shock. One example, due to fighting between guests at the begining of the cruising season last year during dinner you will now have ship secruity staff patroling around the MDR. The crowd is at times very tuff to handle resulting that many staff members are not motivated at their best and expect not to get the same service you would find on other cruises. This year will be the second season and RCL had the chance to learn a lot the hard way about that market last year, hence I am sure they will improve their protocols where possible but as the main issue are the crowds, there is only so much they can do. If you are a loyal cruises of RCL and make yourself known to staff they will do their best to offer you the best possible experience they can. Also food is the usual RCL standard, although there might be no MTD as the dinning Room is split to Kosher and regular Food, but also here the staff will do best to accomadate you. Imagining you want to get married onboard taking all these factors + with Rhapsody being one of th oldest ships in the fleet this will not be the most romantic and memorable place for it. Obviously there are also nice passengers onboard and English is widely spoken there, hence certain activities should be no issue to participate in. However if your particular cruise will not have a significant amount of non Israelis onboard the main language for activites will be Hebrew, shows I guess are more on the international side with local touch such as music in the dance venues also including local songs which of course is a nice thing to get a bit o a local touch.

The ship seems to be at least 4 weeks in dry dock, hence it will be more than marine maintance for sure.

One of the best changes RCL did to the program since years was adding the drink vouchers. Where is the fun of being stuck in a overcrowded space, who needs that. Like this you can enjoy the drinks where and when you want. RCL needs to ensure that the highest paying guests are receiving the service they are expecting and a crowded suite lounge is not what they want. RCL earns much more on guests that cruise with them 1-2x a year in a Suite paying full fare than some low yield cruises cruising 10-20 times with them a year at discounted fares. Hence, a large number of the D and above members are anything but loyal when it comes to the contribution of the profitability for the company.

The "fresh" OJ onboard especially in MDR or CK has always been a mistery to me. The product they serve is either diluted with water or they add sugar or it's some concentrate. Getting simple freshly squeezed juice seems to be a big issue at RCL and X.

If we compare RCL to hotel standards then they are in the 4* sector, hence there you only get once a day housekeeping service and no turndown service in addition. The Suites are more comparable to th 5* sector, so here they will not dare the cut. Looks like going forward this is what will happen all cabins up to balcony once a day and JS and above 2x a day. This will either mean that the room attenant designated to your cabin will be assigned more cabins and will have time to complete them by let's say 4PM or that afer finishing their shift they will use them for the cleaning of public areas of the ship. Can we complain about it, well seing RCL as a 4* hotel then not really. To be fair, service you get on RCL compared to most hotels even 5* still better even with a once a day cabin service, speaking on global level. As the US hospitality sector is not known for providing quality nor service. Best comparison a brand like Marriott. Go to a hotel of that brand in the US, it feels like a 2-3* hotel compared to stay in one of their hotels in Europe or Asia.

RCL had a dessert sampler dish until about 5 years ago of 3 small pieces of cake, one of them was a flowerless chocolate cake that was very delicious. I assume the one you are refering to. At your next cruise you can ask at the MDR if they could prepare this cake for you at some point during the cruise.

Only having megaships will also not the solution. To replace most of the Caribbean itinaries with Oasis / Icon class ships is ok. But you still need to offer "family" adventures where not only the ship is the destination and be able to continue to offer exotic itinararies. Finding a compromise with a size between Radiance and Voyager Class ships that will be able to reach pretty much all destinations could be an option where things might head. i could see them getting 5 ships of such class and the rest will be Quantum Class or larger in the longer term when also Voyager Class and Freedome Class will disapear as of 2030 - 2035 +-