kruzerci

Cove beach at one time was crew only. Not sure if it is right now or not. 

6 hours ago, mugtech said:

        Guess I should be glad that the Grandeur Tampa to Boston cruise this August/September was cancelled.  Although it sounds like the ship will be all fixed by then.  We were gonna do  consecutive cruises, Western Caribbean, then change ships to sail to Boston.  We are not gonna fly to Tampa to do 7 days Western Caribbean on another old ship then return to PA in August, so gonna cancel soon.

Frankly it likely will not be fixed by then. With these old ships, the dry docks have been primarily technical, not passenger area enhancing. 

9 hours ago, Morecruisesplz said:

To be fair? Bribe those on free cruise nights with unreasonable expectations of the dining experiences so they media, etc say great things about them? How is that fair to anyone... especially the customer who are paying 🙄. 

I didn’t mean fair in that respect, I think it is BS also. I meant to be fair, it isn’t like they are doing that on every sailing. They’ll have the same slop stew as the rest of the ships once normal service begins. 

1 minute ago, amby6063 said:

I’m newly diamond and was wondering the same. Quoting out a trip for next January and no difference booking a balcony if I use my c&a number or not! 
 

we have another sailing coming up in April (haven’t hit final payment yet). I called and they told me they would credit $275 for the diamond discount and then emailed me after saying I would have to refare to add it so it’s better to not do it. Very confusing. 

A lot of time whatever bogus sale they are running is not combinable with the balcony discount, so you pay whichever is cheaper. 
 

If you book a group rate with a TA for example, the pricing is more straightforward, so you will always get the balcony discount.

2 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Enjoy the change of scenery. 
It is common k owl edge in the industry that Royal’s loyalty program is the best in town. 
 

4 drinks a day for a couple is an $800 value ($1000 for my wife and I at D+)

 

I’m good with that 

On a 10 day cruise….? That’s a stretch. 

6 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We did 9 nights on Radiance during NYE and while I think the ship was in very good shape - actually better than our cruise last February on Serenade, we’re finding the food is getting worse and worse, and that cruise was way more than I usually would spend (I guess because of the holiday) so I was very disappointed.

We did 27 nIghts on Odyssey in October-November and even the WJ food was very good! Lots of choices, no red or brown gravy with mystery meat…real meat!

I just saw a post in FB posted today showing the spread in WJ on Icon. It’s disgraceful that Royal has gone so much downhill with their food on older smaller ships, and then has an elaborate, enormous display of foods including mounds of king crab legs that we’ve never seen on any a Royal ship, ever!

So what’s the message Royal? I guess out with the old, and in with the new….and that goes for food and loyal customers.

Agreed. But to be fair, they always do this on pre-inaugural and inaugural sailings due to the presence of media and travel partners. 

5 hours ago, blueslily said:

 

Which other older ships look like what was shown in the posted pictures? Thanks so much!

Enchantment and likely the other Vision class (Rhapsody and Vision).
 

Serenade, not sure if she had any work done prior to World Cruise, but she was rough in March.
 

They have really seemingly started to neglect all the ships below Freedom class. Even the ships that had been refurbished, the general cleanliness and TLC seems neglected and much lesser than prior to 2020. 

40 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We have cruises booked on Royal for this year and next year, and finally we booked a Celebrity….and have hesitated to jump ship but each time we get on the older ships it just chips away from our loyalty and I find I’m looking around at other upscale cruise lines more and more.

Will you share which lines you’ve moved on to other than Celebrity?

We did a Ritz Carlton cruise last summer which was excellent however was to be expected at the price point. 
 

Celebrity has experienced a decline, but is still far and away better than Royal and we have almost exclusively been sailing their newer ships and revolutionized ships. I usually find big box travel agents with a group rate that includes drink package and internet at about the price listed without perks directly through Celebrity, so that has been another good reason to keep sailing them

I did do a HAL and the food and service was much better for the same price as Royal but the crowd was very very old. 

2 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I’m sorry to say I sadly agree on the condition of their older smaller ships, because we love them.

 

Royal is showing us that their focus is huge amusement park ships and they won’t be spending much money or effort on smaller ships that go to other locations other than the Caribbean. 

We’ve been cruising Royal for many years, but our satisfaction has been slowly lessening and we’re looking at other lines that give better quality and food for the prices they charge.

 

I never thought we would leave Royal, but after 25 years, we have largely moved on. An occasional 3 night from our backyard, but never again for a “true” vacation type trip. It’s really sad to not be able to continue those traditions and not to be able to have the experience we used to with RC. 

I hate to see this because I love the older ships, but this is on par with our last experiences with Royal. It is very disappointing and disheartening because they used to take such pride in their ships condition. The food I agree has become unacceptable also. 
 

I am surprised they offered anything- they are well aware of all of this and based on this being the norm for their older ships now, they don’t care. They’re betting on a new clientele with apparently next to no expectations or standards. 

2 hours ago, Myrtle Ave. Mayhem said:

This ship encapsulates everything I hate about the current mass market line cruise ship design. Spending a week at a mall isn't my idea of a cruise vacation. Major pass for me. Thank goodness there is a line & ship for every cruiser. 

100%

9 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

I've heard it all before when Oasis came out...same criticisms, same claims of "I'll never sail that behemoth"  Now 6 of them all sailing full, and a seventh now booking!  All those naysayers are now sailing the ship they swore would break RCCL!  Time will tell.  I'll put my money on Icon.

That was also a very different situation. 
 

Oasis was truly revolutionary and people could wrap their heads around the sheer size, neighborhood concept, open air of some interior spaces, etc. 

There is nothing really revolutionary about Icon except that it is LNG. It’s a similar overall design as Oasis. They redesigned and moved some stuff around, but at the root, it’s a completely kid-centric Oasis 2.0, some new concepts, more passengers, and removing some long time favorites. 
 

Somebody said they jumped the shark with Icon and I think they hit the nail on the head. If anybody isn’t familiar with the phrase, look it up- it fits Icon to a t. 

You got scammed

With all the colors and cheap furnishings, so much of ship just looks cheap and sterile. Colossal f-up having the adults only area above the children’s surfside neighborhood and a floor below the water slides. 
 

It’s all way too kid-centric. Even when our kids were younger, we wouldn’t have booked a ship like this for the kids at the expense of our adult experience. 

Be prepared. The food and overall quality is nothing like it was 17 years ago. Don’t go in with the same expectation. IMO the crowd has also changed. The price for a cruise is roughly the same now as it was 17 years ago combatted with inflation. That that as you may. 

A few weeks ago, there was NOWHERE to get a chocolate fix after the first few days! Aside from very artificial box consistency cake from OVC, there was nothing. No chocolate tart, no chocolate chip cookies, brownies etc. When you find some early in the week, stock a couple in your fridge!

It is sad to see Grandeur and Enchantment in port recently. They have clearly been very neglected. It really seems like they need to put some major money into rehabbing these ships or get rid of them.

It is sad to see that even the Fantasy class ships are in better shape than Grandeur and Enchantment. 

Absolutely not. The Serenade is a very bare bones gym with old equipment and I have never seen ice packs in any cruise line or hotel gym. Bring plastic bags and get ice from a bar or the Windjammer. 

I have an open booking (which the T&C states will be refunded if not used within 6 months). 
 

I want to apply it to a sailing with a TA in a group block, (I know I will have to pay the additional $300 deposit to get into the group space). But the group deposit is refundable until final payment. 
 

If I apply the open booking to a group, will the full $500 deposit still be refundable until final payment or just $300 (500 less the 200 open booking). 
 

Thanks for any help

I hope you enjoy your sailing. We were on the past two sailings. Really enjoyed everything other than the MDR food. Very small portions and the quality was just abysmal aside from the lamb t-bone night. 

That’s hardly close. Lol…

We are 5 minutes from Tampa’s terminal, 1.5-2 hours from Port Canaveral and 3.5 from FLL/Miami and usually opt to fly to South Florida 😏.

On 9/8/2023 at 2:32 PM, CruisinShips said:

Our upcoming California coastal on the Eclipse is very close to being sold out and it was no bargain.

It’s almost sold out now because they were selling OV and balcony cabins for $349-$449 p/p not long ago…

Unfortunately. The Mexico and Pacifical Coastal seasonal cruises on Solstice and Eclipse have sold very poorly and sailed for less than price of the comparable Caribbean sailings this and last year. 
 

Just returned recently but not the 7/29 sailing. I would recommend going in with very low expectations. I unfortunately have been on this ship a couple of times this year (due to being non refundable bookings or I would have cancelled after the first) and both experiences were pretty poor in terms of onboard experience (entertainment, cabins, and maintenance) and food. Very limited food options and what is available is frankly very poor quality.  
 

We relaxed but they probably tied for the worst cruises we have ever been on. 
 

Not saying this to be a buzzkill, but if you go in with low expectations maybe you will be more prepared and happier. 

2 hours ago, MommaBear55 said:

I feel very badly for all of you who find the food in the MDR better than you eat at home. Since Covid, we've only eaten in the MDR a few times, generally we get the UDP.  The only time we do the MDR is if we are traveling with kids or can't get UDP. We've been known to "snack" our  dinner by getting a few slices of pizza from Sorrento, then the charcuterie plate at Vintages and finish up with salad and dessert in the Windjammer. 

Same. Very concerning…