Engineroom Snipe

Agree to disagree in a polite discussion which I DO appreciate. You will not change my mind nor I will change yours. But we can discuss and present reasonable thoughts without attacking each other personally. I like that.

The Vision is one of the smaller ships with about 2,400 passenger maximum capacity. I looked fleetingly at an August 8, 2024 out of Baltimore. Decisions not to book for me were obvious. Summer cruises almost always sail full and Royal is advertising the "Kids Sail Free" program for that cruise (this was before the current all ships today). The Vision has only one pool and four hot tubs in the non-solarium area. There is a rock climbing wall and not much else. Just not many activities if the ship sails with a large quantity of children. They will have nothing better to do than run in the passageways if they are bored. I went on an Oasis Cruise out of Bayonne in September, 2023, thinking most children would be in school. If I did not check my calendar, I would have thought it was July with it being heavily booked with children. The time of the month is not predictable anymore like you stated.

I am not so optimistic considering the size of their recently completed ships and those on order. Historically, Royal has only built larger ships as time goes by. I am not ignoring where Royal is putting their major investments and I am not aware of any mid-size or smaller size ships being in the pipe line.

Some people found swimming with the pigs to be "repugnant" so they changed it to swimming with adorable pug dogs. Now charging twice as much. 🤣

I think most of the cruisers posting here do live in the current reality. There is high demand now. Royal is moving its customer base to a younger family demographic. I always weigh the vacation experience against the price point and in their own different style, I see that in every post. Sometimes reality sucks. 😑

Just three post into your CC membership and you ramp up personal attacks. Take it from someone who has been given timeouts by the moderator for much less. Your posts might get deleted and you will get a warning if you are lucky. People cannot read your opinion if it disappears.

I have looked at docking schedules at Coco Bay and I have not found many single cruise ship days. Let me know the cruise date of your cruise because I would like to plan for it.

Noticed that too. 🤔

Again, I have been on many Royal cruises and have never encountered a scooter blocking my passageway. Somehow they are handling this issue well because I would complain if I could. 😁

🎉

@Den7Cruiser Do not give up yet. I am using the Android app. 1. start the app/ 2.Tap the center calendar at the top between the ship and person. 3. It should show a drop down of your cruise days. 4. At the very bottom, tap the "Change Ship/Dates" 5 It goes to "Your upcoming cruises." 6. Finger scroll to the bottom. 7. Select "Browse our ships". 8. Select your next cruise ship . 9. Select the earliest cruise date which will be a current cruise going on right now, today. 10. The menus and activities should appear as if you are on ship at the current moment. Let me know where this fails for you and I will try and give screenshots if needed.

You and I both agree on this. There are a few my wife works with who do a "Power Cruise" weekend. They barely make the ship from the airport, party hard and do a Red Eye flight to "work" on Monday morning. My wife says they are zombies who just exist making others work harder. It does not lend itself to good employee morale.

That is the twist to changing 7 day cruises into three day and four day cruises. What looks like a great three day money maker might be negated by four day midweek snoozers. I would love to be on those midweek cruises. Something for me to think about.

The competing cruise line must not want to do this. What do you think? Saving staff labor hours or trying to create a need to 'register scooters' and get an extra fee to do what you observed?

Darn, someone stole my idea before I could get it out of my head. There go my commissions! 😡🤣

Yes, we can enhance the "KEY" package to "KEY+". Leave your scooter behind as we provide pick-up and drop-off with Royal approved scooters. Tired at the end of a long day? Just tap the 'park' button outside your stateroom and we will have it charged and ready for the next day. Just use the "I am ready button" in the morning and it will appear within five minutes. There is a 50% 'gratuity' added because you expect superior service and that is what you will get.

Overall, I have not noticed scooters outside of cabins on Royal. Just a heads-up for those that need them.

@Den7Cruiser When you follow @lovesthebeach2 line by line instruction on post #10, be aware that it normally will not allow you to go to an earlier day of the cruise. It allows 'today's' menu or a future menu for the duration of that specific cruise. I.E., if it is the last night of the cruise, you will only see one menu and nothing else. Suggestion, use the instructions on post #10 late in the first day of the current cruise. This will allow you menu access for the complete cruise. It has always worded for me.

A small aside. These rooms might be getting more needed if Royal follows the new trend of a competitor cruise line. The competitor is now measuring the size of mobility scooters upon embarkation. If they cannot be moved and stored in the assigned cabin, the guest are being offered a full refund for all of their cruise purchases and being denied boarding while they are at the cruise terminal. The line is sending emails specifically about this policy enforcement to passengers. Not sure if the travel and hotel expenses are covered. One reason is the safety issue of having passageways blocked during normal usage and emergency usage. This has been discussed on CC on other threads to include passengers placing dishes and other items for pick-up by crew. Another thing to plan for as we cruise.

Exactly. You made the point better than I did. It is like a mining company that has mountains of previously processed gleanings that can now be extracted with new technology for a profit. They do not have to physically dig for new data which can be expensive. They just use a new process to get more value out of what they already have.

So yes, demand, is also a huge learning input with enough data points. Along with hundreds of other things, AI will predict your next cruise, how much you are willing to pay for the basic cruise, how much you are willing to pay for onboard packages and the list can go on forever. The most important factor for many companies is if they have to pay to get that personal data. Royal is getting it for free every time we make a purchase.

Completely agree with your view that the price is in ratio to the average cruise price of that particular voyage. Same day, two ships docked: large ship. $59.98, small ship $27.88. Dynamic pricing is an understatement. It will get worse with AI predictive modeling (which is, at its most basic function, the dynamic pricing scheme of algorithms programmed to obtain peak pricing). I will not go into my computer past because the last time I did, I was dressed down as being ignorant to the point of being an idiot. Not the first time I was called an idiot but I was programming in BASIC, FORTRAN, and COBOL when the dinosaurs were inventing the first microcomputers. I kept my feet moving and danced my way out of the the tar pits of programming extinction. I made a fortune when Y2K programs needed to be translated to newer SQL databases. AI modeling is going to squeeze every cent possible going forward as it picks apart your cruising history and cruise purchases. I might be an idiot, but I am well paid for my imbecile attempts when hitting the keyboard.

I think at this point, I will do the following to not get in trouble.......🤐

"I pity the fool..." (A-Team) that would try that with my wife. I have been on the wrong side of her intentions and I have known the 'Fear of God' in her eyes on only a few occasions. It would be similar to the scene from the Waterboy (1998) where Mama Boucher puts a whooping tackle on her husband who abandoned them when he tried to get money from Bobby Boucher's success. 😲

And it always seemed to be the picky, demanding, and overbearing ones that skipped that night. You could just tell by the flourish of the hands and pointing fingers at the food or the servers as they tended to have an elevated voice for those around them to hear.