mra9955

+1. One way tickets seem to be the way to go with them. We have round trip in J from PHL to BCN for about $700 off the lowest fare on aa.com.

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Having a good cruise, are you?

So far so good. I’m a foodie and am eager as such to see what tomorrow holds.

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Back to chops. The red velvet cake was gross. Taste, texture, and color wrong. ***?

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So I’m on Anthem now and had dinner in Chops tonight. The food was significantly improved over my experience a few months ago on Jewel. The steaks were tasty and cooked as ordered. The food came out at an appropriate time. The “shareable” sides were skimpy, but the shrimp was back to being big. Service was okay. Could have been better but wasn’t the nonexistent waiter of the last few visits on other ships. I rate the whole experience above a mid level chain like Texas Roadhouse but still a bit below a high end chain like Ruth’s Chris.

On a different note, thanks to the oh so wonderful parking people in Bayonne and literally stupid Security goon we were delayed in boarding and instead of eating lunch in CK (because it was closed) went to windjammer. Yuck best describes it. Hot and humid in there. Not really any great foods. We left hungry. How hard is it on a new, modern ship to do the calculations right so the air conditioning functions properly??

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How young? I can say on Oceania I don't think so, but the question should be asked on the Oceania board.... there are many experienced and well traveled "Bob's" on that forum with excellent information to help you.

Elementary school aged. Very experienced cruisers (around 15 to 20 cruises each).

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Speciality dining isn’t very special in my experience.

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We did a Disney Cruise and hated it. Found their food disappointing.

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Is crystal, or any other luxury line, reasonable if traveling with children? I too don’t like food on Royal. Expecting and wanting more.

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I think it is reasonable that if cruise fare’s have gone down, adjusted for inflation, then somethings must be cut back. What is not reasonable, in my opinion, is for specialty dining prices to be so high but the quality there to be going down. This is just my opinion based on the last four or five cruises that I’ve taken.

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Celebrity seems to have gone downhill , at least to me, starting when they went from Michel Roux to Jacques van Staden. (Forgive my spelling).

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Coastal Kitchen is not from the past and it's an improvement.

 

However, I did favor the original menus

 

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I’m on Anthem in a few weeks and am planning to have most meals in Ck.

I like how prices seem to be coming down. I am willing to pay more for better food. What I dislike most is what I personally see as an overall decline in speciality restaurants. My experiences are limited to 2x on Allure, 1x on Jewel, 1x on Quantum, and 1x on Grandeur in last four years. I would very much like Royal to have a top-notch steakhouse and something like Normandie, which I had the privilege of experiencing on Summit a number of years ago.

It sounds like they used to do what I want, and certainly can do this, but don’t.

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Why aren’t the royal cheerleaders posting that food has gotten better in recent years? That there haven’t been cutbacks and instead have been improvements?

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It’s interesting on these food threads that the Royal apologists never try to insist that food is better today than in the past....

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If dining is important to you, do the 5 night speciality package on Royal! It’s a bargain for sure!! We just sailed in April on HOTS and speciality dining was outstanding. Two nights in the MDR were plenty. Luke warm food, spotty service, banquet dining. Ugh. Didn’t enjoy. Wouldn’t do it again.

 

 

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Giovanni’s has been good. But we feel chops is severely lacking. Consistently bad service and meh food. Coastal Kitchen has been good.

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We sail almost exclusively on Royal now. 100% because we have elementary school aged children and we value Royals kid program. Will spend 24 nights on Royal this year, all in suites. Have come to be pretty disappointed in food on Royal. What we like are simple meals, freshly prepared, with high quality ingredients. A lot of the food on Royal nowadays seems to be cheap(er) than in the past. My idea of cruise ship dining is what we first experienced in the specialty restaurant on Celebrity Summit some years ago. I think it was called the Normandie restaurant. But even back then on Celebrity we liked the French inspired dishes in the MDR, how things were prepared table side in some cases, and how there was an actual (and knowledgeable) sommelier, for example. I suppose Royal is targeting a demographic where those things don’t matter. When our kids are grown we will not need the kids club and likely will move on to another line.

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We are considering a family suite on our next cruise. Was wondering how many they slept. We will have 7 adults and 2 children ages 4 and 14. One of the adults is my oldest grandson at 19. Did you like and how expensive were they. We just came off the HOTS and absolutely loved it!!

 

 

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We’ve stayed in them on several ships as two adults and three children. No way would I attempt more than that. The second bedroom is very small as is the hall bathroom.

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Been in chops recently on allure, grandeur, and jewel. Generally disappointed in food quality and service. Made comments to concierge and genie and things got a little better but not much. The quality of the cuts of beef seem nothing special.

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There was no discounting off published fares.

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Does this TA charge any cancelation fees? If not I would still shop around for a better deal. It would be awkward to transfer the bookings from one TA to another but business is business. Maybe the TA that you booked with will match any other offer that you received. What incentive did the TA that you booked with offer?

None. I picked her because of a recommendation of a former long term agent who retired for medical reasons.

Seems like I’m not going to get much from her on next months group cruise but I’m learning for the next big group cruise.

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Your small 1 employee TA may make only 10% commission on your booking. The large online TA's make 16%.

 

 

 

No TA makes a dime on booking airfare

 

On a $3000 cabin, you should get $225-$250 in OBC or other comparable perks such as tips, dinners, etc.

 

Next time shop around. TA's will offer it.

Thanks! My own cabin is $10,000 (two bedroom suite) so would 750 to 1000 innperks Be expected justfor me?

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I’m not saying not to ask but agents provide a service and it’s unrealistic to expect them to give up a large portion of their income. Does anyone ask you to discount your financial advice.

Yes. For large amounts of business. And we do oblige.

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Owns building. No mortgage. No employees. I know because I am their financial advisor.

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Am using an agent now who has own agency. No air involved this current trip. So my calculation is coming out higher than 150 to 175.

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I don´t now what the percentage of commission is, but I do know it´s not paid on cabin cost. A good chunk of those $3000 would be non-commissionable.

 

 

 

 

 

As for reasonable, IMO it´s reasonable to expect nothing right now after the deal is done. It´s ok to try to negotiate something, but your expectancy should be low to zero at this point. Go ahead and talk about it with your TA, you shouldn´t be mad though if they don´t give you anything, as it´s not their fault you got the idea late in the game. I know it´s just my opinion and YMMV.

Thanks but I’m not looking to get now. I’m thinking of the next group cruise and what is reasonable to expect.

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Thanks! What would be reasonable to ask the TA for? Average cabin cost around $3000. Is commission 15%?

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