jencruzin

UGH...seriously? Paying that much for that type of entertainment ON TOP of paying for the MSC cruise experience? Thanks for letting us know this!

Apparently there are SIX different MDR menus. The others represent French, Italian, American, Caribbean, Mexican, nights. This is the 6th one, perhaps?

It was the only cruise we did with them, a new england cruise. Left a bad impression. Bad service onboard based on many instances from table seating to cabin issues to bad dining service...among others. However, that was many years ago - we might change our minds. Just after that one cruise, we said "never again Carnival" but maybe we'll give them another chance, who knows.....

Or, you can just be another sheeple, go on a price gouging cruise, and obey!

Best response yet. Cheers.

Our upcoming cruise next year was $5645.42. Now, the same cruise is....$7050.42. That's a $1405 price hike. Air2Sea, flights were $1175.36 for both of us, now it is $1829.70. That's a $654.34 price hike. Of course, grand total of our savings (so far, without checking on excursion, meal package, etc) is now $2059.34. Have these massive price hikes/GOUGES made any of you think....NEVER AGAIN yet?

Earlier on, right after they jacked up the gratuity fees, we decided - no more tipping the cabin stewards or wait staff extra money UNLESS they do something extraordinary for us. We no longer "extra tip" head waiters (WHY) but we DO tip the bartenders each time. Our upcoming cruise might be our last one with RCL for a while - it's just that it's time for us to try the other lines (EXCEPT Carnival), but we're expecting to see similar quality cutbacks as well.

Definitely agree on everything here. Fees up, service goes down! You had me thinking about #4...we go through two sets of towels a day...meanwhile, someone worries about global warming...they're the "dirty towel" people.

I now see your point. It's the wifi inside the ship that hits us more. I forgot about that factor!

Looks like Anthem being our next ship doesn't have Starlink. We've had unfortunate luck with Internet onboard our past two sailings, but we did get a good return back from the terrible experiences.

For me, it came back up around 9pm yesterday, all good now.

HERE THEY GO AGAIN. Three hours down, currently. While the website comes up, logging in hangs and does nothing but spin.

That sounds like a great idea. DH one time at Chops ordered the Branzino, instead of a decent steak. Avoid that one if you can!

I'm just wondering if anyone has read this, and said to themselves, "wow, what a nightmare that might be."😆

If you have a planned time away, you can get out of it. They might want proof, just show them your itinerary. This happened to friends of ours, a short trip to the courthouse took care of it!

Never really enforced, the table waiters take care of it....that equates to cash tips from us.

Hubby deliberately answered the HW's questions to him one night when his mouth was full😁

You're the kind of people we like meeting on our cruises. Cheers!

Perhaps not 100%, but I have seen this happen from the "head waiter" who kept on interrupting the table discussion telling us things that her waiters at our table had already told us. I mean, she would just cut right in and start flapping her jaw impolitely - no "excuse me" just would cut in. Now, the excuse for this is problably her having to say this spiel about the following day's events at every single table, but she could've handled it better. Overall though, Royal's MDR, especially their menu and the decrease in food quality, needs much improvement. Perhaps this is their way of trying to see from you how things are going from your viewpoint. Maybe the dining staff identify you as someone who is good at communicating.

We've never actually bothered with "the key" until I just looked at it after reading your post. I guess it's whatever we all want - and there are people out there that differ in preferences - and you're right about customizing on RCL but BE CAREFUL. But for us, here's the thing on Internet (part of the key program). We really just need ONE Internet access for the cruise (VOOM surf n stream) so for our 12-day coming up next summer for VOOM, it's $167.88. With The Key, it doesn't give me a choice, both of us have to get it, so that's $647 total. I looked at it carefully, Royal fluffs it up, IMO, this is a nothing program - lunch for two at Chops, VIP seating at shows, dropping off carry on bags to room, rock climbing, flowrider, etc. In comparing what we have now, a single Internet access for what I mentioned, and the additional fees, that's a difference where we would be paying an extra $479.12 for, honestly, items we really don't need. So, in conclusion, (for US anyway) we see no intrinsic value in "the key" but you know, some people enjoy it. There will be many different inputs on this - but we all have our reasons!

probably just bad timing since your cruise is in 2024, I'd think. But, perhaps the good news for you is to wait until black friday sales in 2023 and then you might see some deals. Happy cruising!

We usually just call once we're cleared of customs and off the ship.

It finally works now. I noticed some significant cuts in prices on excursions for our upcoming cruise out of Southampton next summer. I was not only able to purchase more excursions and activities onboard, but also cancelled some excursions and re-booked them at a cheaper price. I maintain a spreadsheet that displays differences in prices and do price checks almost daily.

Thanks, this just made me hang up with them...ridiculous, isn't it? Now, let's say this so-called BF deal expires. I feel that the cruise line needs to grandfather it for everyone.

You're definitely not the only one, TD....I'm on hold for 32 minutes. Betting it's their payment system. We tried canceling an excursion, no dice. All excursions on our upcoming booking went down in price and I cannot cancel the current ones booked.