HMR74

that cut off has gone from 9 to eiither 10 or as you say 12, which is not as much % increase as the price of cruising. Meaning they get us for an extra buck or two each time we upgrade a single drink

I can say one thing. The Royal Burger at lunch in RCL's MDR is far far better than the Burger in Celebritys MDR for lunch-at least for s class. . The plated chicken lunch was anemic looking. If X is going to do consistency across all ships then its bench mark for consistency should be McDonalds inot in quality of the product (eg cheap meat) but consistency on presentationa and preparation. X is far from having that nailed down,. I have had lunches ithe VPs of national and local chains where they ordered a few things and if one was unsatisfactory they got up and went to the kitched to show staff how to do it. X said it was going to simlify menues to make it easier. It did accomlish that goal.

I one reached the same rep on same morning when i called once for an x call and once for an RCL issue. but I can tell whether they are experienced or not and i bet most here also. i have hung up on ones early in the call if it was going no where. i have also been hung up on early because the issue was too complex. there are special numbers to call the higher you are booked or status . My kids and wife have been on trips and were getting nowhere with airline to remedy it so they call me and i call airline using my number and it suddenly gets fixed. it was explained to me years ago when i was actively working. Not only did I have big miles, but many if my trips were last minute and big dollars. now they have to figure in credit card mile for status which are not as good as miles flown.

Plus the 20%. i have always had a package so I do not know if a second , or further cups of specialty coffee cost another 6 or more. That can really add up at breakfast, after dinner and late night. Which is one reason I take the package another is San Pelegrino where they serve small bottles snd that has to be per dollar. We drink that stuff like water, and have 2 soda streams at home. anybody know?

Except this rep said he was just on a cruise a couple of weeks ago. and not unreliable, more often they are inconsistent. often you get a very experienced rep and they are really good.

coincidentally I called X today to learn somethign n my Equinox cruise coming up in Jan. I wanted to know if premium coffee for classic was different than premium and was told alcohol in coffee was in premium but not classic. Then my next question was we can get premium coffee in Luninae and Blu , but can we get it in MDR and I was told probaby not, but it was only $6 per cup at El Bacio . The reason was staffing and that the servers in MDR would have to go someplace else to get the premium coffee and they did not have the time. I was told I could go out to BAcio and get a couple of cups and bring it back into MDR. I was in shock, but thanked the person for being honest. Then the rep added that whats included in classic and premium change depending on the cruise but that we would not find out til we were on board. He mentioned mud slides as an example of a drink that changes back and forth but if I have the classic it only costs $1 for a mudslide. I actually do not mind upgrading for the $432 but if I cannot have an after dinner premium coffee with desert in MDR, well, that pisses me off. And we dine late so there is no rush to get us out. We can sit and talk with new friends in a quiet venue and we love it. We were on Oasis last Thanksgiving and could not get premium coffee in MDR which BTW the food was great, choices, size, taste presentation etc. We had to go to one location for premium drinks in the main open area and that was a 30 minute wait for coffee in a paper cup and if you want a refil its another 30 minutes. I am losing patience with X. I just cancelled eh front end of a b2b out of concern that I could have 19 days on a ship where I am not happy, So I cut my potential losses to 9 days and if its a good experience no regrets, I will just book a few other cruises.

Our cooks showed me when the food came in how it was top quality and that then it was up to them to prepare it correctly. One day every week I was DRO and many of the base officers came to our "Mess". My HS buddy signed up for Air Force and was at Lackland, and he did that rather than going to College. He was a trained truck Driver, the type with a long trailer. When he got out in 68 or 69 he went to work for UPS when it was private and got the big big payout when it went public. He chided us college boys who spent money for 5 years then started at the bottom of the corp ladder, and invited us out on his boat regularly after his very early retirement.

I never had the garbage rack, where was Basic? I had Ft Knox which was like a country club. Circa late 1969 after graduation, was 23 at the time.

better than grease traps

Ya know, this big capital spending is coming at a time when banks are raising lending standards and cutting back on loans made, and rates are up.. If a recession is coming, then banks (or insurance compamies or pensions) might be reacting adversly to the highly leveraged cruise industry. Used cruise ships are not all that marketable as collateral. Worse than driving a new car out of a dealer.

I will book based on flexible travel dates. this last trip we went 4 days earlier than we first planned and came back 3 days after we first planned and saved 30% and applied those savings to airbnb extended stays. As soon as I booked the airline raised the prices to "the norm" of other days. So you have to look and hit it right. I wil also use miles to initially book the flights as if I change to another flight the miles are reinstated at no cost (even though they goosed up the miles required to effectively pay a refundable price. The dollars have become so big on airtravel that you need a strategy for that too, money is better in my pocket than anothers pocket.

Yep, good catch, but its Chump change, only 1.2 billion (just being sarcastic) . But I think they still have to make the final payment on Ascent. Has Asent been "delivered". I am not following that. Boy that adds close to 7 billion in debt.

UGH, but we flew this year in premium economy rt 2600 each, into athens return from Rome. In Oct I want to book a trip to Spain and Portugal for Oct 2024, but I think, hope, we already took the higher price hit on the trip this spring. Prices look decent for Madrid Barcelona this oct, not so great for Lisbon.

Here is another “Corporate” issue. RCL is bring up Icon and Utopia. Each costs over 2 billion. thats a lot of debt. 4 billion right there probably at 7-9% and thats using rate for good risk. that is another 300 million in interest. just an educated guess here, that it is RCL corporate, having expanded too fast, too extravagant, needs to find pennies, and it turned to X and basically taking what it can out of X to meet the rcl obligation, as there is no other choice. it is still a management problem, and another guess is LLP fought it, X subsidizing RCL ops, and they split ways, and installed a more corporate compliant CEO at X.

what if the idea emminated from one of the folks we have seen on the captains club videos over the last 3 years. But it has to be signed off by someone at a high evel, if for no other reason for that exec to tell subordinate that we have more important things to do with out time, which is , the management of people to be working on the important things , one of managements main responsibilities

How about what worked for X in the past , like 5 years ago, superb service and food. The magical experience I mention. Come to think about it, why did it change cause it was changing before that C issue we had in early 2020.

here is another issue that exists and while I laugh at it, it should not exist. Almost each time a special sale is announced, you go to check the net price and it's the same as before or higher however .In the past we would see prices go down. They play with gross price and discounts and OBC. OBC is noit a subsitiute for lover prices, in fact its easy to leave OBC on the table. But more OBC means you feel the need to spend on specialty restaurants, or the ships excursions, or the spa, all high prices. Thats management strategy too. As is if you want to upgrade from classic to premium and there is a sale price where the difference is $17 a day between the two , you pay the 20 a day more, (plus the 20% service charge) thereby negating the discounted pre cruise sale price. Some of this policy or strategy can end up being an insult to our intelligence. And its either mgt not being aware, or not caring. And what have created an opening for many to consider other competitors or vacation alternatives. Its not personal, its business.

Just remember, somebody in management suggested a trial for a $2 warm vs cold cookie , inside a company with aboout 20 billion in revenue and 17 billion of debt and interest above 1 billion a year. And the idea was approved. And management is concerned with charging for a $2 cookie? In a trial. Again I ask, what does that say about the priorties of management. or management decisions to go grandiose with ships in both RCL and X. You have to get the big things right as well as the small things. And problems rest with management. First, last and always.

Just thought about this--what if those cookies were something special. For example, a few months ago our youngest and her husband turned 40 and they had a big party. On the back bar they had a bunch of small jars of little gummy bears. Which I troed and they tasted a bit stratge but I felt great a littel while while later. I'd pay 2 bucks for a chocolate chip cookie that made me feel that great!

and let me add another thought. I would like to get a drink and be able to put it down on the deck and not hold it and chugg it down just to get rid of it. I speciifically speak of the S class pool area where you are in the shade and under the walking track. One aspect of getting a suite is to be in the area that they spread the chairs, which I am not sure of on S class. That used to be a nice place, up front on the top level and second down) to find shade with space, But I am not sure if that justifies the upcharge for suites.

Yeah, I saw the quote when it occured, But the bigger comment ws that COSTCO is a very well run company, I do not think X is. But it is decentl well run company. That said , a farely expensicve vacation when you throw in extras and airfare, hotels etc, makes yo want to feel its agica if not "special.

Heck, at 77 YO, I would like to get a lounge chair thats spaced adequately from the next lounge chair, so I do not have to find a way to throw myself onto the chair from the foot of the chair and likewise, try to get up from the lounge chair by pushing yourself forward on the chair. both can be done but it definitely is not a gracious nor elegant move.

yeah, well retail is different than Treavel and Leisuer, but its difficult to argue with Costco having fantastic management.

My analysis is that I shop at Costco not for the samples or BBQ chicken or cheap lunches) hot dogs just went from 1.50 to 1.99-think about that vs a $2 cookie), but that Costco has fantastic management and operations. Who wants to compare RCL/X management to Costco's. Not just the management but shoreside operations including the website. eg, its not easy to compare say Sky suite, to Aqua prices.

lol, ya know, these people get paid huge "dough" to screw up companies with their expertise. . In good times its actually fairly easy to run a company. Do the people actually know how to solve problems o just compound the problems.