HMR74

Anybody see the Celebrity E mail this last hour, It says tomorrow wi llbe a perfect day, to me it means a perfect day at coco cay. All we will see it X substitute one port for that on future cruises. And then I guess they expect to sell the 1,000 a day cabanas to the upscale X cruisers, that assumes tomorrows announcement is about coco cay. and making it more crowded. That new CEO from RCL side, has all sorts of old ideas. to make X more like Royal. Just my anticipatory opinion

still need a phone or does pressing the qr generate a form My kids think i am a technology dinosaur --til someome has to fix their electronics around the house. I still believe in fairly tales and that computers and other electronics and software should improve life and leave more time for us to do other things not be wedded to technology. eg, it takes less time to speak on the phone than to engage in back and forth texts and or e mails.

Perhaps but I doubt it, How do you access QR codes, special bionic retina?

THe "standard" of being edible should be like a school cafeteria or dorm standard, not an expensive cruise line standard which should be WOW. and frankly those likeing a cruise because they do not have to cook or clean up, while valid, is not a high enough standard for the food.

how about corporate execs going on a 1 week cruise without it being a presidents cruise, and stay in a normal veranduh cabin without priority perks. How would you like to be a captain of a ship where you have an autocratic ceo that may ask your input but thats for show. However massive restrictions are paced on you. LLPs staff loved her too much to be real. My fantasy punishment for corp and govt corrupt execs is ti take away the money ill gained, make them wear an ankle bracelet, and live in subsidized housing and then make them work 40 hours a week as Wal-Mart Greeters, or behind the counter at a very busy McDonalds. Or a cabin steward on a cruise line that works 15 hours a day doing multiple chores. Our Maitre'd on Eclipse worked breakfast and dinner shifts in BLU (thats 9+ hours there with set ups and clean ups) and lunch shift OVC. As did servers. Nothng like working for a CEO who grew up in a company and understood almost everything done, and knew how to coach and mentor, and when and how to be critical.

They may be easy to use, unless you need reading glasses to see the characters on the phone, but my big point is that X or any good company should only get a minimum of comments because it deliveresd a consistent product that meets or exceeds expectations AND is a good value (meaning not necessarly low prics but "good value for the money". I can live with a couple of disappointments over a time of a cruise but not so much that its every day and the X I knew was magical from the time you stepped on board till disembarcation.

Gee-I was responding to needing phones on a regular basis, Menus, use of QR codes, regardless of purpose, so I really did not need a terse reply. So be it. However, thats the direction things are going. and all I was saying was that I do not want to be forced to use technolgy for everything on a vacation or cruise. More than half the time we see conpany tasks transferred to the customer, starting with the telephone systems and the long waits. And disconnection if the company rep answering does not want to be bothered with a tough issue. CEOs shoudl try calling into their own customer "oriented" systems at peak tiems, and then see what their people really know eg, I would call into X 7 times on same issue and get 3 different answers.

lol, you are entitled to do what you like. So am I. I can shed it for a couple hours a day. except when the markets are very active. But I do not want to have it to get a menu. Or have the server go running to get one. or more. Do like having the phone on board to find each other when we do different things I will stipulate its all coming. I use apple pay a lot now and the phones are used for cabin entry now. But it was nice a few years back to just throw the sea pass in pocket You did forget the best reason for the phones. To take pictures, stream music or itunes music, or text everybody you know (yeah, thats sarcastic). another stipulation: cruises with sea days or a lot of repeat ports, is great to read books on ipads.

my last experience with an MDR burger was blah, but that was lunchwhen we were in Aqua. Tried MDR for lunch twice--on was the blah burger and one was blah roasted chicken. Our most recent cruise was Oasis 7 months ago- MDR was impressive at breakfast, lunch and dinner. adults were happy and the kids --the servers brought double portions of fries with their chicken fingers. Eldest grandson knocked off steaks at a rapid pace. The envelope at the end was above normal for the servers and the servers captain cause he brought over the extra steak for my grandson. Thats what makes the cruises special.

I trust its a high quality cheeseburger

Here is the "deal" When on vacation, especially at a meal, I do not want to have my phone with me at all let alone to get a menu. Ii hate doing comments because now every amazon order and every interaction we get on line or in person generates an e mail for comment. It takes away from my free time. If I do not like whats dealt to me on a cruise ship,or the business does not satisfy my needs, and I am usually an easy grader (or for any other business) then I will not go with that cruise line or other business again assuming of course I can literally do without it. I recenty stayed at 8 Airbnbs over 5 weeks and full reviews wre asked with a time limit. THey must have forgot about the concept of vacation means pretty much decoupling. But I get the distinct feeling X is trying to find out what it can get away with where a lot of customers woudl resist., not caring for about the 20%-30% or so that might have higher expectations , and X must be figuring each year will bring new suckers, err cruisers. X used to have the reputation of a higher class cruise where the crew took care of your every need by anticipation. If they "nail it" like they used to-then the comment is they exceeded expectations. If not you spend a lot of time trying to explain your disappointment, and they either take care of it, or give you OBC on a cruise you booked or give you OBC then reneg --They gave me 1800 of "Goodwill" obc and reneged. At some point you cannot use that much OBC with say the 800 you get in a standard suite, especially if they loaded the full amount into a TA when you are already in a suite. Perhaps go to the spa everyday for a massage. Not how I would want to spend my money. Hoever, ther are probably 100;s of different opinions on this thread.

Is that the QR code many seniors do not want to use on phones, vs getting large enough menus to read. Without reading glasses.

Its absolutely the philosophy of the younger generation. i do not mind shorts in mdr, or luminae for that matter as long as they are dressy shorts and shirts will collar and deck shoes, if you know what I mean. i have no desire to bring coat and tie and dress shows. Just finished 5 weeks in Europe and never wore the dress slacks. And went to nice places for dinner, but we cleaned up if for no other reason than for each other.. kind of like an upscale golf course. No torn shorts or t shirts and no sandals. I have some nice colorful shirts. and especially in the Southern Carrib in winter, its warm, so shorts are appropriate. as long its dressy casual shorts, not just off the pickleball court.

I have given up on contacting X; I just do not care enough. One time I had a good outcome where they gave me a substantial extra amount of OBC on b2b cruises to make up for a problem. Then as I neared final payment date they reneged so I cancelled the b2b. I do not "need" X.

X does not really care about us customers. I am a fund manager and I tried reaching them thru investors relations 3x, no reply. I tried reaching them thru Legal dept, no reply. (Thats the same groups as Royal) Sent e mails to LLP-gets pushed off to someone who does not care. Thats ok, I and my money do not care about X in same way as before. Royal-different story--my ex travel agent screwed up cabin selections for family trip on Oasis last Thanksgiving. We had 4 adjacent balcony cabins where we could open the panel beween all cabin balconys. Price came down but the agent somehow changed my cabin. Agent did nothing, I sent bayley an e mail and next day his office e mailed me to say they were working on it-to have another passenger who got my cabin to switch with me which happened the next day. Made my trip to have grandsons knocking on my cabin sliding door window at 5:30 AM to go get food. Mid morning to johnny Rockets for eggs and chocolate shake with a piece of bacon standing out ot it. It's not always about food or entertainment that one remembers the most. Now, that was a responsive level of impressive service. Got to have something that keeps the paying customers coming .

folks, just remember that one strategy as part of the goal was to simplify meals and choices.That cuts down on errors in the kitchen/galley and cuts waiting time for meals. As Henry Ford said, any color as long as it was black. Breakfast tomorrow will be Oatmeal with brown sugar, and orange juice.milk or coffee. Sunday is Cheerios. Monday is scrambled eggs from mix and2 slices of bacon or sausage. Tuesday is Pancakes with fruit topping Imagine how fast we can get in and out of dining room. Same for dinner. BBQ night, hotdogs and hamburgers and fries and a coke whther you have the drinks package or not. Italian pizza night. 1 draught beer included. Bud Lite. The company I worked at hired a bunch of younger (30ish) MBAs as new blood and their aggregate combined cost savings ideas came tdown too reducing benefits. The CEO yelled at them for the idea, saying he did not need you idiots to come up with that idea. I was in room at the time and he yelled at me for letting them even present it. Seriously though, Seasoned CEOS need to be abe to sort out the right things to to and can the dumb things, things that lose market share as once you lose it its darn difficult to get it back.

so much is subjective, vs objective. However, that subjective part plays a big role-see Bud Light. I was upset that X took Crown Royal off the premium list and no longer serves that. But I had an idea this AM-if X would like to serve hamburgers as a MDR main dinner item to save money, , then let it be the great Luminae Burger. I actually would be a happy camper to get soup or salad with a great burger for dinner--but then I cannot have a burger at lunch. Which is why cruise ships need a varied menu especially one servicing 2800 passengers with varied tastes and subjective grading. I would also like Broasted Chicken which I found in Rome last week outside the Palamides metro station but it was 9 AM. Crossroads looked better anyway. However, if X could handle having broasting machines, it could serve more chicken which probably would trim their costs vs beef or fish-I guess depending on vendor pricing. The other thing happening is wheat, soybean and corn costs are headed up (midwest is dry) and in general food prices are moving up. Cocao is up 30% the last few weeks. And Russia is not going to ease restrictions on exporting wheat/grain to US. The cure for high prices, is high prices as that eventually digs into demand. Theory applies to food costs and cruise line prices.

here is an idea for less luggage weight if you are doing land based and using Airbnb or VRBO--rent places with washing machines and dryers. and or terraces with sun exposure with drying racks. No problem leaving washer/dryer on to run full cycle or putting things on terrace to dry and go sightseeing for a few hours. makes packing easier, and walking with the luggage easier. 5 weeks in europe and we did not see anybody we knew! Never needed long slacks. Shorts worked well. And ditch the heavy digital camera, the better phones do a great job.

Was on Aegean for 7 flights the last few weeks and one of their agents walked around looking for carry on that was oversized. We were in business class and that allows us to check bags and do carry on without a problem. Get a tag as we checked in. Also if you have status via miles or first class you get priority baggage (and boarding) and that helps reduce possibility of lost luggage. Also if you change flights make sure you have time, or as I learned from Aegean, they tag it and separate the bags for "quick transfer" along with priority-we had a flight from Santorini to Athens with 50 minutes to change to a flight to Naples and all went well. Planning the right way reduces risks of all sorts. So when checking in do not necessarly do it at kiosks, go see an agent. Explain your concerns and they usually have solutions ahead of time to prevent problems. Aegean competes with the likes of Ryan air, so coach tickets are very reasonable but any carry on or check costs on amy of them running up the total cost, Costs so much its just easier to book business class. Gives you access to Aegeans lounge in Athens which is great.

I will add one issue for specialty dining upcharges. this includes Le Voyage. X and RCCL provision ships at major ports (eg Rome and Barcleona for the Med) . So a 10 day cruise only gets provisiosn when they run out of something. Not iron clad but thats the general operation policy. also the reason logistically why when the restart was being planned, it was difficult to do cruises starting and ending in the Caribbean as food storage facilities were not availabe for any of the cruise lines) So food wise, cruise lines already have a handicap because of provisioning constraints. X and others making it worse by cheapening the food quality (chocie vs prime beef for example) and then downgrading by making a hamburger a dinner menus item. Also, to be honest, we do not need the quantity of food but sometiems we woudl like soup and sandwich or soup and salad , but really good soup and sandwich and soup and salad. The MDR burgers at lunch were disappointing on X yet the royal burger at lunch on Royal MDR was pretty darn good. So when you drop 150 for Le Voyage on night 10 of a 12 day cruise, or 75 PP for one of the "lesser" specialties, you get the main course and sides that were provisioend 10 days earlier. This is unlike the true 5 star places where the chef goes to the local market on a daily basis to make sure he or she gets freshness but the best of the best including specials for that night which get determined at the market that morning. Not only beef or fish or seafood, but all the sides. I chalk this up to poor management. Top noch hands in management sees things before things implode. And do not insult the customers by raising prices and cutting quality, and for the record, treat the premium customers differently than the non premium. and I understand the concept that when you pay more you get more and vice versa, when you pay less you get less, but the stadards that were just a few years ago in place havebeen lowered. And that affects my spendng habits going forward.

we just completed a 35 day land tour which was sensational. At a much lower cost. Canned a 32 night b2b2b on Beyond, and spent time in Greece and Italy and immersed ourselves in local custom and tradition and nightlife and local cuisine, and seeing teh got to do sightseeing at our liesure. When I see the postings about the food, all I can think of was the family owned and operated restaurants where meal choices were too plentiful. Drinks were a fraction of the price than a ship and even cokes were far less expensive. We did not come close to spending. 90 a day on premium drinks Only thing really expensive was gelato at 4-5 euro per very small cup. Had sushi for lunch in Rome one day and Chinese 2 days later. All meals outside. Hooked on Lemoncello and Aperol. Was it more difficult than cruising, In some ways yes. 8 stops, 8 airbnbs, and all 8 the host helped us take luggage to apartments. 5 of the 8 had elevators, and we lived out of suitcases for 5 weeks and did not care. Why the change? the per day cost of X has gone way up and I figured we got more bang for our bucks with a land tour and did. In Florence one day at lumch, a tour from a Viking ship came to the same restaurant--they had two choices off a menu, we had that menu and 30 choices. And of course the meals on board have no local flavor. We will be on board X in the not too distant future-we will see how we view it then. We kind of like the Ensemble lounge on S class. Our speed. We were on Oasis in November and the MDR was fine, but that was before the January decline.We wil see but in January, we just want to get away from cold weather. If X no longer serves us to our liking its a simple decision. LIke others I do not like the much higher prices with a decline in service level and quality and choices of food. I could live with the higher prices but at those new prices I want to be a happy camper. There are alternatives and choices for our vacation dollars, and just today I received an Oceania booklet as well as a Regent booklet. The current price spreads over X are not as bad as before. IMHO, X's business strategy, whatever it is, is not going to work for the current and recent past cruisers. BTW--the super fast trains in Italy were fantastic, a lot of folks doing the same thing as we did.

THis can be simple-IMHO the CEO of a company drives the culture of that company. The service levels and attentiveness et all starts at the top. Thats why in this case the best of the best should end up in corporate because they understand what it takes. Otherwise bean counters woudl run companies rather than marketing or engineering people. In this case the leaders on board make or break the experience. if an emergency comes up the Captain of Ship is all over it t handle it coreectly.

if your theory is correct, I should get a $400 reduction for my brother. it was a 600 increase, minue ht OBC take away and the OBC takeaway stands regardess as its the Celebrity OBC thats gone. Whole thing is convoluted--the base fare is down 200 PP, AI is up 50 PP, and refundable is up about 100PP, and OBC from X is down 200. However I have not spent any time really looking at it.

well, it seems to be happening. I am going to call the TA and tell them they should be givng my brother the same price we have.

I used to beleive thata TA held x cabins till this year when I was told they had specific cabins when I was trying to get 2 together. I think a TA can charge whatever it wants to charge. So, if the TA buys a cabin at a 500 discount based on a 5000 list price and in 6 months its 7,000, theTA in my mind can sell it at 6500. Case in point, I bought a group cabin in January and my brother and Sister in law decided to join us and one day they got teh same prices as we received and hte next day when the price of refundable went up, the price of the group cruise to my Bro went up--meaning teh agent was passing thru increases, In addition teh OBC decliend by a couple hundred and the TA said it could not honor the old OBC . The free market at work.