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I'm not clicking on offsite links for anything so I didn't participate.  CC has the ability to create polls.  I only respond to those if they're set up to not show how specific people vote. 

None of that changes that the trend is to the negative on what customers are saying online.  Online reviews do influence decisions, especially in younger generations.  This is why X has started pushing more PR out there to try to stem the tide IMO.

If the ship was supposed to homeport in San Juan and now is going to be doing some charters from FLL, there will have to be some sort of repositioning cruises in the mix somewhere.  Probably what they are trying to figure out. Could maybe involve maintenance dry dock, too, if it's about time. 

I cannot imagine how much one cost versus the other, though.  You can get a whole lot for the right price.  Prices that I've seen quoted over the years have always seemed outrageous to me, especially for simple ceremonies.

If they weren't worried about bookings, then they wouldn't be doing this PR push.  While it may be true that bookings in the short term are fine, what is the feedback they're getting after people sail?  Not just from long-termers but from new cruisers?  I cannot imagine that it is too positive.  You don't brag about demand and then run the 3/4 person (kids) sail free promotion shortly thereafter if something they're seeing isn't spooking them. 

6 hours ago, cruisingaussies said:

I’m pretty sure this is a standard world-wide clause, they can change the itinerary at any time. 

The last time this happened in this part of the world, cruisers who booked in EU countries were given more options than those who did not when there was this type of significant change.  Different countries, different rules.   The admonishment that many are giving about the cruise line being able to do anything is not universally true depending on the consumer laws you book under.  Not the first time this has been a topic on Cruise Critic.

Again, true for U.S. cruisers.  May not be true if you're from another country that has different booking rules.

What happens when major changes like that occur can depend on where you're from and under what conditions you booked.  Check with your TA to see what the options are.  U.S. customers are bound by the "we can change any port at any time" rule.

On 10/5/2023 at 3:25 PM, kywildcatfanone said:

Not at all.  You would have a point if you could order from the MDR menu, but it's different food.  What's the harm in having one MDR designed smart casual on formal nights.  It would keep people who ignore the dress rules from upsetting those who follow them, since the cruise lines won't enforce them.  Seems simple enough to me.  What's the downside?

Most of X's fleet have a single main dining room. 

18 hours ago, puggymom said:

Can you pre purchase a case of water to be delivered to your cabin?   I looked in my planner and couldn't find anything?  Drink package is very expensive for my cruise so not worth buying that.

 

Thanks

Celebrity does not offer that currently.  You either buy a drink package, pay a la carte, or bring your own from somewhere else. 

Once the minimum wage started rising in the U.S. during the pandemic, call center jobs that historically had paid a few dollars more per hour than other places had to start competing with a new reality.  The available labor suddenly had more choices, and it became increasingly difficult to staff appropriately.  I have had a couple of different friends whose companies wanted to (and were) using U.S.-based call centers but staffing became such an issue that it was causing the corporations real problems with providing reliable service.  Just a bit of background to add to the mix and not offering opinions on right or wrong on the specific situation at X.

Food isn't that subjective, really.  "I didn't starve" is a pretty low bar.  From all of the reports posted over the past month or so, it's very clear that what they're serving today is lower quality than at any other time in their history.  That they keep charging more and more for a lesser experience is what people are reacting negatively to.

It's not a B2B (same ship)....it's a side by side (different ships).  You might ask on the Italy ports board.  Call center agents are not going to know.  I'd be somewhat surprised if there is enough coordination between Royal and X to handle this, but the ones with the experience doing it are going to be the workers at the ship and in that port. 

There could be a certain type of people who book suites to lord it over others.  Those people are boors.  They could also be living well beyond their means to get there.  You never know anyone else's story.

The majority of suite passengers I've met are perfectly fine and don't look down their noses at anyone.

I went to Niagara in 2015 and strayed in the area (in Buffalo) for a few days, going to do the different falls-related stuff on different days.  Boat ride up to (not under) and the walk behind.  All of it was awe-inspiring.  Hard to get a sense of how majestic it is from just photos.  I would highly recommend a visit to Niagara-on-the-Lake when in the area.  Very quaint town about 35 minutes away on the Canada side, situated on Lake Ontario (you can see Toronto on the horizon across the lake).  Lots of wineries in the area too, if that's your thing.  The town hosts the Shaw Festival every summer so lots of theater then.   

You're speaking from ignorance on this and it comes across as blaming the victim.  This TA gives you paperwork that lists what is included in the transaction between customer and the TA (and in this case, gave it multiple times).  Pretty cut and dry that what they sold her was not what was really booked on the back-end.  Confirming with X is moot to the issue at hand as the problem is between TA and customer.

I had a car rental issue with them a few years ago in which the car rental company moved my pickup from the airport location to one a few miles away on the day I was traveling.  The warehouse people reimbursed me for the cab ride to get to the new location, even though this was not their fault.  It came on a store card.  So, they do have a mechanism in place to do reimbursements and it was all relatively painless (I just provided a cab receipt and they rounded up to the nearest $5 mark with what they sent me).

My guess is that the manager thinks you won't spend more than the drink package costs & it will be easier to resolve by going through this reimbursement route without triggering any additional approval threshold.  I can see pros and cons of doing that, the biggest con being that you have to keep up with it and submit paperwork afterwards.  I'd probably insist that the manager go ahead and escalate it to see what someone with higher authority can do.

I would ask them to review the call and see what the agent said when you were booking.  Doesn't a company have to explain its terms and conditions clearly?  It's fine to point to the details online but that assumes one books online and not through a phone agent.  If the agent misrepresented what the offer was, I think the company owes some consideration. 

@Ferry_Watcher works at the port in Seattle and will hopefully be able to provide guidance on what they've been seeing in practice.

Having to board with your full party was a post-COVID requirement that was enforced during the restart (when testing & health assessment was involved).  Not sure how they're currently handling it.  If they are enforcing it, the policy means you would have to wait for your friends before you could board.

Yes, a lot of what people blame on "IT" is really the fault of someone just not updating content in the systems correctly. 

I actually do think the team approach will work better because it can be an inconsistent service currently, especially if you have a butler whose services are being monopolized by one or two cabins.  However, I do think they need to give people the option to cancel their reservations and walk away as it is no longer what was advertised.  This is a major part of booking a suite and to push a substitute service on existing customers is being penny wise but pound foolish.  Tourism is starting to soften and X is pricing themselves out of a lot of the market; now they are taking away the differentiators and making the product less attractive.

I would start taking the Bonine the day before your cruise starts and take it every day.  Get it in your system and keep it in your system.

Former smoker here who started in the late 1990s and quit in 2010.  Never once in that period of time was I allowed to smoke inside any workplace.  Bars and restaurants in VA got rid of indoor smoking around the time I quit, which was 13 years ago at this point.  People my generation (late 40s) or younger are used to smoking outside.  And vapers have had to follow the smoking rules in every one of these instances, too.  If society has moved to that by this point, I don't understand any argument for regressing to allow this on X ships that have been smoke-free for years and years.  MGM has a non-smoking casino across the river in MD that by all accounts does very well.

I would not rely on the TV as it could have an auto shut-off feature.  The sunrise alarm clock idea is the best I've seen. 

On 6/25/2023 at 6:45 PM, Anne614 said:

I was just on the Zaandam, an older HAL ship and there was smoking in the casino.  It may have been in a non walled off section because it permeated the casino.

Yes, I didn't mean that they only allow smoking in the new ships.  You have to look at their list to know.  Just lamenting that they do allow smoking in their new ships.  I like HAL a great deal but indoor smoking is a big negative that is hard for me to overlook.  

Just now, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

Again, it is ONE OPTION on ONE NIGHT.

 

Even if they have a more casual option every night among the other fancy things, no one is holding a gun to your head to make you order it. 

 

Fussing about it being on the menu as a choice is like going into an ice cream store and saying "I hate chocolate, so no ice cream store should offer that flavor."

I think you fail to appreciate that people are upset that by offering that "one option on one night" that they're downgrading the menu pretty significantly for everyone who doesn't want a hamburger because it takes the place of a more traditional choice.  If you want a hamburger, there are already places other than the MDR to get it.