BARNET

Yes, while I consider automatic gratuities part of my vacation costs (I prefer them to be added after) I think this system would have me less likely to additionally tip.

 

To those who claim you don't build a relationship with having the same servers over the week that is horsepucky. They become more committed to providing PERSONALIZED excellent service to you. That is where the extra tip comes in. If you have bad waitstaff that does not interact with you, learn preferences, and take care of you like family why would you ever tip more than is automatically charged?

 

So many of the intangible and unadvertised elements of personalized service are going to be lost and I think it is the waitstaff that will suffer the most.

 

I strongly doubt people are going to tip each evening in the complimentary venues. A few? Sure. But not more than 5% of the people, and even that seems high to me.

LMaxwell I agree with everything that you have said, we always have second seating dining in the main dining room. You can get to know the waiters and ass waiter have a chat and a laugh during the cruise.

We have always pre-paid gratuities and given additional on top both during the cruise and on the last night.

On our first cruise we where amazed how empty the dining room was on the last night friends soon explained why. With this new style of dining will people be able to remove the charges as their can at the moment??

As you say it will be the waiters / ass waiters that will suffer not RCCL.

If you do B2B and buy bottles in the first cruise these are delivered to your room on the last night of that cruise, great for the second cruise.

Rccl at one time allowed you to buy on board and pay corkage and take the bottle back to your cabin, the best bit was if you did this their would also give you a bottle of cheap vodka as well. That was party time. :)

Someone already tried this with EasyCruise in Europe about 9 years ago and it didnt work. Someday in the future, it may happen again, but probably not for a while.

Of course the cruise lines are going to try and make every penny they can, they are a business. And yes, there is a lot less included than there used to be, but go look at the relative price of a cruise 30 years ago. Cruising is much cheaper now than back then.

Easy Cruise was a a low budget cruise where you paid for a cabin and then paid for everything else as you went along from what I Know, Easy cruise ships overnight in most ports to allow people to eat ashore.

These where the party ships of the Med to start then the Caribbean as you say did not last very long. UK tv did a programme called Cruise With Stellos and as I remember everything was orange.

When I saw this post I thought this may be fun to read, Rccl and dress code I know that people case are not always delivered before the first seating, why not pack a change of clothing in your hand luggage.

Jeans and shorts in the main dining room are a no no as far as I'm concerned and Rccl should enforce what is a laid down dress code:

Casual: Polo shirts and trousers for men, sundresses or trousers for women

Smart Casual: Jackets and ties for men, dresses or trouser suits for women

Formal: Suits and ties or tuxedos for men, cocktail dresses for women

There is causal dining is provided at the windjammer where you can wear shorts and jeans if that your wish but not in the main dining room.:eek:

Thanks Barnet - we have done all of this but still awaiting refund. Just was wondering if anyone has in fact actually received their refund or is it still all promises.

Sorry thought you where just asking a general question, question for you how long have you been waiting ??

Similar position here. Has anyone received a refund for art "purchases " yet or have they just been "promised" ? This makes RCCL look very, very poor indeed.

I have contacted RCCL direct both in USA and UK about this, RCCL have set up a team in the USA to deal with this problem, I have also been sent a e-mail with reclaim forms by RCCL. My understanding is that we will receive a full refund from RCCL, I also understand it is not only Art on Royal customers that are out of pocket but some of the artist as well.

If you have an question contact post cruise customer complaints department in the country that you live.

Take a look at the link below - it gives an overview of how they have moved things about. The call centre is most definitely in Guatemala and the staff there aren't very clued up to say the least. Considering that the UK is now the second largest cruise market after the USA, the standard of service is very poor and certainly not what I would expect.

 

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2013/09/04/45171/royal+caribbean+celebrity+and+azamara+to+run+as+separate+businesses.html

Well I missed this one, I normally deal with RCCL direct and have the direct line number to very nice lady who we have meet, no dealt this again is all about cost cutting.

Hello folks,

 

The new RC customer care team based in Guatemala I believe have been really appalling to work with! thus my question here. Can anyone please confirm precisely what RCL's price drop policy is as I've been given conflicting information by them and can find almost nothing in writing on their uk site. My question relates to both pricing changes and if you move to a lower price (I've been told you can do this only once) how that impact your booking extras (I got lousy ones, current ones better, can I get these with change, do I lose these entirely)?

 

The price has dropped around 13% and 18 cabins in my category for early July remain open.

 

Thank you!

 

Jennie

Where did you get that RCCL customer services is based in Guatemala from ?? RCCL UK are based in Weybridge Surrey this is their address

Royal Caribbean International

Royal Caribbean House

Addlestone Road

Addlestone

Surrey KT15 2UE and the phone number is 01932 820230 using this number avoids the 0844 number that most will find.

The way the UK works differs to the USA and Canada on price drop that is my experience we had a cruise booked and the price changed after many exchanges RCCL refunded about £40 as a act of good will.

Reason is the way that the prices change and the offer are structured say you booked a cat K cabin with a $200 OBC for £500 pp and the new offer is Cat K cabin with no OBC for £450 pp you will loss the OBC. Also if you have booked a cabin by number on a certain deck you most likely will not get that cabin again, RCCL also the closer the cruise gets group the cabins remaining into what there call Cat Z for inside cabin, Cat Y for oceanveiws and Cat X for balconies and suites with these you will not be assigned a cabin to very close to the sail date and could end up anywhere on the ship.

Hope this make some kind of sense your best better is to give RCCL and plead your case the pricing structure in the UK is all to do with the British travel agents regulations and the way it works.

Rock the Boat on Independence is the best band that I have heard on Rccl ships normally they play in the Pyramid Lounge and most nights it is standing room only. Great band and great guy to talk to.

We booked a cruise in Jan this year 14 nights transatlantic using a NCC which gave us a $150 OBC, this weekend my wife friend who has cruise with us before decides to travel with us again. So we make the booking for her, cabin for single traveller booked she gets a $400 OBC. Reason RCCL should have been at the London Cruise show but pull out at the last minute, here's the best bit RCCL increased the price pp by £150 from 2 days before the e-mail was sent Deal or No Deal??:

Olive or Twist or Boleros Lounge will be your best bet, the Schooner Bar will be out as that is normally busy with the quiz's every morning. Most bar are open from about 10 / 1030ish and Boleros has 2 areas of seating.

My husband and myself are looking at Adventure of the Seas cruise for next Feb (2015). Has anyone stayed on the 10th Deck Forward under the Spa? We are wondering on the "noise" level from the equipment? Thanks

WE cruised on Inde which is similar in layout and had no problems the equipment is right at the front above the bridge so you should be OK.

Thank you for a level headed response, they can be hard to come by on here.

 

It is a frustrating thing as we should have booked before it went up by £200, the C&A discount would have been a bit more worthwhile at that point.

 

We do like our land based stuff too as it's nice to have more space at times and be able to do different things. ;)

What your OP was talking about is the the USA and Canada would have call double dipping a few years ago this has stop why because people in the UK complained.

About the price, the price has risen in the last 48 hours due to the London cruise show this weekend, RCCL have raised the price this weekend but given you a $400 OBC looks good and is a good offer for some people. Just wait to after Tuesday the price will have dropped and you will be able to use your D+ discount.

What do you mean by a stop on the card. Are you talking about a hold that they do on debit cards. I have never had any problems with credits cards, but would never use a debit card due to the hold that can take up to a month to remove.

Sorry yes a hold, we do not use credit cards, have debit cards so always take cash and then use the debit card at the end to pay the account.

This was posted on Travel Mole

 

Royal Caribbean will not be attending the London Cruise Show this weekend but announced today that instead it will make a special offer to all UK trade partners.

 

Sales director Ben Bouldin said: "If a potential customer attends the cruise show they will generally get a good deal to book there and then direct with the cruise company.*

 

"We want to work with our trade partners to make sure our best offers are available to all of their customers this weekend.*

 

"Cruise holidaymakers no longer have to go to Olympia to get the best deal and we will be running a special offer of $400 on board credit for all potential guests to enjoy, not just restricted to those who attend the show."*

 

The $400 onboard credit applies when clients book a stateroom on selected sailings of seven nights or more departing between 1 April and 31 December 2014,* The offer excludes sailings on Quantum of the Seas and is applicable for bookings made between 20 and 24 March.

Have just been on the phone to put a hold on a cabin for my wife's friend 14 nights transatlantic the price has increased by about £150 per person from 2 days ago, now you get a $400 OBC. We had intended to go to the cruise show no point now, from the RCCL Group only Celebrity will be there, we also went to the Excel at least there you had the Boat show to look around not sure that there is a lot to do around Olympia.

I don't understand the reasoning or logic at work here. Parting with cash ahead of time, multiple trips to GS to either top up, check status, or get a refund. It doesn't cost anything to get it on a credit card, you have a full interest free cycle to pay after the cruise. I am sure some benefit might exist as to paying cash first and then chasing it down later but I am missing something obvious about it? :confused:

I have in the past had problems with RCCL putting a stop on the cards that you register with them to pay the on board account on boarding, it's OK if have more then one card so we always opt for cash account then on the last day pay with a card.

Have been reading information regarding the cruise show. There does not seem to be any mention of Royal Caribbean. We want to book a cruise and having already booked at a previous show we wanted to do this again. Last time we got a great deal and On Board Credit.

 

Does anyone know if Royal Caribbean are going to be there?

Have received e-mail today saying RCCL will not be at the show, unsure as to why spoke to someone I know 2 weeks ago and they where going then. The e-mail also is offering up to $400 on board credit if you book before Monday 24th March 2014.

BTW, the code over the ship system was "Code Alpha" -repeated several times. I guess we now now that means medical emergency.

Yes CODE Alpha is medical and Code Bravo is fire.

Most likely that the helo had flown in from Dom Rep, we where on Explorer 2 years a go and had a medevac from Labadee as well, the Captain informed everyone that the helo was inbound from Santa Domingo and the jetty would be closed off so it could land.

thank you everyone. I will call to see about my grandsons status change. but I ill wait till after the ksf sale as they are o busy with that. as diamond do we get to use barefoot beach in labadee and get a cabana there?

Think you will find that he must cruise with you in the same cabin and that his status will not change until then next time he cruises, it is the same if will you are on a cruise and your status changes this does not take effect until your next cruise.

Hi, I ordered two pieces on a cruise in August, with the promise of 8 - 10 weeks, and still waiting for it to arrive. I e-mailed them early in the New Year and they said it was yet to be shipped from the USA and then framed. Yesterday, I e-mailed them to ask for my money back as I've given up on ever seeing the art. How long can two prints take to be couriered from the USA to the UK.

 

I have not heard back from them but if I don't hear anything by the end of the week I'll be in touch with my credit card company for their assistance.

 

I'm on another RCCL cruise in a couple of months time and I feel like entering their auction and saying something in front of everyone!!

Have been waiting 16 weeks for art work to arrive had e-mail shortly after leaving ship in Nov 13 say art work would be sent in 8-10 weeks. Have since e-mailed Art on Royal and received reply saying that the person who was my point of contact had left and someone else was now dealing with my order.

Having not had any more contact started to read what was being written on this forum, have just spoken to RCI who have told me that RCI have broken of all contact with Art on Royal and a contacting anyone who had brought art while on there ships within the next couple of weeks by e-mail or in writing to deal with the situation to off full refunds for any art work not received.

This number may be of use 001 800 256 6649 let it go through the options and it will contact you to a operator who will be able to give you info.