kruzerci

11 minutes ago, toad455 said:

 

Not in January though. I love that class of ships, too. The Odyssey Jan 2026 cruises are way overpriced an we really prefer a longer cruise. Guess it'll have to be an 8-day with possible two days at a hotel prior. The Celebrity Silhouette has the ABC itinerary in January though.

The Silhouette is a tremendously better experience, too. A bit higher price, but a nice experience and refurbished ship. 

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

When was the last time you experienced removal of prepaid grats on board?

2023. The only time I have ever removed gratuities. 

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

What is wrong with Allure?

For us it was mostly the cabin soft goods and carpeting through the ship. So gross and musty. 
 

Love the DL/CL and solarium. 

5 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Has anyone actually answered the OP or it it just 3 pages of you must tip, no you dont, yes you do, no you dont,but you must, no i dont.......etc etc

I did. They can be removed whether prepaid or not. 

4 minutes ago, birdofsong said:

I sailed on the Allure twice this last summer.  I saw absolutely no disrepair.

Seriously? The hallways. The cabins. The Champagne Bar. The common areas and cabins are threadbare and musty. Needs serious TLC. 

29 minutes ago, Cruising89143 said:

No it’s not. We cruise on the NV multiple times a year and I can assure you the prices are not cheap. We all know that you have think Royal has hit rock bottom so some of us aren’t buying your stuff. 

I love LA cruises, it’s just a fact it’s not historically been a market that Royal has been able to penetrate. I would, and have, taken advantage of the lower rates out of CA. 

15 minutes ago, Cruising89143 said:

That has not been the case for a while. Not sure why you continue to post this?

It’s 100% true. I see the prices regularly. 

2 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

I’m hoping the Quantum and Navigator drive some really cheap quicky cruises worth the flight for a weekend. 

They will. They’re always practically giving away Navigator sailings. A lot of times they’re half the price of similar Bahamas sailings from Florida. Now they doubled the capacity. 

Just now, not-enough-cruising said:

Neglected ships?  I have yet to encounter that particular issue.

The Radiance class ships, Allure, and Enchantment are all in very poor condition these days. 

Prices? No. 
Prices plus neglected ships and poor quality food and service? Yes. 

3 hours ago, tserface said:

If you get clean up in the morning you have to make up the sofa yourself in the evening, and if you get clean up in the evening you have to put it all back together in the morning.  It's not untenable, but it was a lot more convenient when they did it for you and, they are charging the same gratuity.  It has caused us to start guessing whether it's worth it to leave extra any longer since the crew gets more gratuity from handling more rooms.
t.

MORE gratuity. They increased them to $18 around the time they cut the service in half. 

On 2/27/2024 at 6:34 PM, Mark122 said:

Agree RCL has completely lost its touch and appeal.  On Oasis of the Sea now and multiple people commented on how bad it’s gotten.  We are debating finding another cruise line or just giving up cruising all together.  So many better ways to spend vacation dollars than the disaster RCL has become!  If you are considering a Royal Caribbean cruise, don’t waste your time or money.

Exactly how I felt last week on Allure. We hadn’t been back on Royal in over a year (after 2-5 cruises per year since 2000) and decided to give it another go after a couple disappointing cruises. It was in poor condition, the crowd was appalling, food and service blah. 
 

We have started doing upscale resorts (Baha Mar last month, JW resort in November) instead of cruises and when we cruise stick to the upscale lines, which are now more the experience Royal used to offer. 

The dates make them completely undesirable to me. Short cruises primarily over weekdays. Ugh. 

Yes. You can. Regardless whether prepaid or not. It comes back to your account in the form of refundable onboard credit. 

12 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

RC does it, too.

They don’t enforce it well. Allure last weekend kids filling hot tubs, solarium pool, solarium, etc. 

Couldn’t pay me to do Icon or Star with the kid focus.  

8 minutes ago, huntnewt said:

I am slightly intrigued on the Mariner dates released. I see that the last departure date from Galveston is January 29, 2026. I know in these cycles, the dates released are usually May-April. It would be about time for Mariner to go into dry dock considering the last dry dock was in April 2023. Does anyone have any indication as to what will happen to the Galveston 4/5 runs after that date, when we will hear, what ship, etc.?

 

Also, is there any indication that Galveston will get a Long Caribbean ship in 2025-2026, like Jewel is doing in 2024-2025?

Likeely won’t see a replacement to Mariner after she drops in January until fall of 2026, which will be released this time next year. 
 

No indication of anything replacing Jewel. Was likely a trial to feel demand and capacity. 

1 minute ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

I hear you, however I don't believe this is bizarre at all.

RC's target market has become almost strictly for families & tourists... not travellers.

Tourists want the "ship experience", lounge, dining, shows... like an all inclusive resort where you sit at the resort for 7 days and never move... not to see the world and go to different places.

 

If you're a traveller and want to use cruising to see the world, RC unfortunately is, and has been for several years, moving farther away from that.

I don’t think that aspect is bizarre, the timing of the sailings is. Young people, particularly those with families, generally want to maximize PTO days, not blow 4 on a short mid week cruise. 
 

Even the one-off mid week short cruises sail substantially cheaper (usually about 50%) than the Thurs-Monday or Friday-Monday sailings. It’s just not desirable because of the PTO commitment- bc you might as well take a longer sailing. 

It will be refurbished (hopefully) before your sailing but I do not recommend it in the current state. We were onboard last week and it just felt yuck. Our stateroom was very old, musty, and worn, as were the common areas and soft goods throughout. 
 

That said, when they re-did Oasis they didn’t touch the hallways or cabins. That would be a deal breaker for me on Allure. It just felt grungy. 

Just now, Hoopster95 said:

 

Zihuantanejo? Huatulco? Acapulco? La Paz? Loreto? Topolobampo?

RC can do better... but they definitely will not.

 

 

This^

I would book Q in a heartbeat if she sailed around the gulf to Loreto and/or down to Zihuat (like Vision & Radiance used to do 15 years ago) for example on a longer 8-9-10 day sailing.

Or even a 7 day sailing. Literally nobody wants to do a 3 day cruise through the middle of a workweek or split weeks to do a less than 7 day cruise. So bizarre. 

The LA sailing schedule is abysmal. Tuesday-Friday 3 night sailings, mid week to mid week 6 night sailings, nothing longer than 6 nights on Quantum, etc. 
 

I get the port space is limited, but why even bother with these weird schedules? And then they’ll say demand is soft in California 🤦🏻. 

Liberty is newer and larger but both are very dated and overdue for refurb. Liberty was overdue prior to Covid. Original carpets, staterooms, and largely untouched since 2007 aside from the water slides that were added. Not good. 

23 hours ago, bucfan2 said:

In your opinion and/or attempt to stir-it-up.

Those are facts actually 

On 1/31/2024 at 9:40 AM, smokeybandit said:

Half the price? Hardly. Prices there are no different than east coast sailings. Sometimes even more expensive.

That is wildly untrue. Almost every time I have looked, it is cheaper to fly to LA and sail on Navigator than drive an hour down the road to Port Canaveral. They’re definitely filling the ship, but at a much lower price per day than comparable 3/4 night and 7 night sailings from Florida. There’s no way they are going to up occupancy from LA until the market catches up, not to mention the additional costs and regulation of sailing from California. 
 

I love those routes and hope they continue to service them, but it’s always been a hard market for Royal to capitalize on. 

Highly doubtful anything but Navigator. They can hardly fill it at half the price of East Coast sailings and it is an amped ship. 

19 hours ago, cj_one2000 said:

I love bread (amateur baker myself) and I haven’t tried these yet. I do love the dinner rolls with the cheese and herbs on top. Super yummy!! Sailing on Allure in October. Will have to ask for these.

You never will. They no longer take any special requests.