Just came back from a 7 night cruise on Navigator of the seas. Of course it's awesome to cruise and I always view it as a privilege to be able to do so. I did however notice how much the cruise industry seems to have changed since my last cruise which was over 7 years ago.
I don't know how much is RCCL specific, navigator specific or cruise industry generally, but it was clear that the "decadence" of cruising has been greatly diminished with a lot of cutbacks.
These are not complaints...and they may seem picky...no item by itself is an issue, but taken as a whole, it adds up to a less than stellar experience as compared to those of us who were fortunate enough to cruise in the "good ole days".
In no order, but things that I noticed:
1. Windjammer shuts down at 9pm. It's not that I'm in the habit of stuffing my face at midnight but an aspect of cruising was the selection and availability of food. This 9pm shutdown was made all the more prominent due to the showtimes (see next item).
2. My recollection was that they used to have shows and dinner seating well timed and it didn't matter if you had early or late dining. Now, the late show is 10:15pm so when you finish you second seating dinner by 9pm, you have to wait an hour and 15 minutes for the show. And then if you finish that show it's 11pm so if you decided to have a light dinner and you're feeling peckish, you have no free dining option other than Promenande which isn't much of a selection. We consistently noticed conflicts in show times with our dinner seating. It just didn't flow well.
3. Room service is only once a day now, no turn down service. Again, I appreciate that was a luxury and many hotels no longer even offer daily service, but by comparison, it is a cut back from what they used to do.
4. The cost of the specialty restaurants was outrageous. It used to be that it was subsidized in that you pay something but it was better than "on-land" restaurant prices. Now Chops is $62.99 plus 18% and Jamies Italian was around $55 + 18%. Those are expensive even by traditional shore side restaurants. Feels like more than "inflation adjusted" pricing.
5. Crew/staff is as always fantastic and friendly but I definitely got the feeling of being overworked and overstretched. Service in the MDR was efficient but bar service slow. At times I wanted a second glass of wine but I knew if I ordered it they'd get it to me by the time my main course was done so I didn't bother. And everytime they asked me for my stateroom number, whether I had the beverage package etc. On my previous cruises they would always quickly learn your preferences.
6. Lots of nickel and diming and little cut backs. Something as simple as a tote bag in your room for beach trips etc.
7. Shoe excursions ungodly pricey if booking through the cruise line. And they of course give themselves the upper hand by letting RCCL booked excursions get first tender etc. Side note, I booked the beach getaway ... borderline scam. Shuttled us to a resort in a busy part of town where we ended up having to lie by the pool because the beach was awful (see picture) which we could have done at the ship if that's what we wanted.
I feel the inflection point is being reached of cutbacks affecting the cruise experience, and making all inclusive resorts an attractive option again.
Still to be clear, it's an awesome vacation. Go and enjoy it.
Side note, it's the fellow passengers sometimes that are the hardest to contend with. To wit, the family who let their kid take a big old dump on the pool deck and just quickly walked away, or the guy who sneezed a big old wet sneeze in the buffet, looked at his hand, wiped it on his shirt and proceeded to grab the serving tongs. It's a miracle we survived covid as a species.
The "luxury beach getaway":
