Disappointed with RCI

[hstrybuf]

Really jc, but I have to try. Bicker and I understand each other. ;)

[xgdgirl]

Deb you may be the only one who does understand him. :rolleyes:

 

 

Beth

[mellow]

OK, Deb, now you are REALLY scaring me! :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Pattis_61]

My husband and I are going on our 4th cruise in April and will be on RCCL. We have never cruised another line, so I have nothing to compare it to. We have always had a very good experience with RC and are so pleased that we are nervous to book another cruise line. We both feel that cruising is what you make it. No vacation is going to be perfect. The staff is going to be stressed at times. We have had things that we weren't totally pleased with on each of our cruises, but you can't make everyone happy. Some things that bothered me didn't bother my cruisemates, and vice versa. I try never to go with the expectations that everything is going to be perfect, just that I am going to relax, drink, visit different ports, and generally get the most out of the money we spend! Its a great vacation.

[hstrybuf]

OK, Deb, now you are REALLY scaring me! :eek: :eek: :eek:

 

I was a psychiatrist in a past life, or was that a lawyer? How's that for scary? :D

[1corona4u]

Thanks for the input.

I'm not saying I had a bad cruise just that it did not meet my expectations. I really wanted to enjoy this cruise and I did but towards the end of the cruise I found myself wondering why I wasn't having as much fun as I thought I would. I did not get angry over anything and forgot about it a couple of minutes after it happened. Things just seemed to build as the week went along. It actually started bothering me more after I got home and was telling people about my experience and they were surprised because they knew how much we were looking forward to cruising.

 

I enjoyed each port (Key West, Cozumel, and Costa Maya). We did something different at each port and I totally enjoyed each one. In Key West we shopped and then ended up at Irish Kevin's bar where we enjoyed the drinks and live music. In Cozumel we did the Hideaway power boats and the carnival parade, both were a blast. In Costa Maya, we went to Kohunlich Mayan ruins. I enjoyed this the most of all and tipped the quide very well because I thought he was outstanding.

 

I enjoyed the food but did not think it was outstanding. It was good, I enjoyed the food in the main dining room more then the windjammer. Some of the food was kind of bland for my taste but I understand they are cooking for thousands, not just me. I was tired of eating by the end of the cruise which isn't really a bad thing.

 

We went to every night time show and they were all very good. The comedians were funny but I got tired of the musicals. The musicals were good, I am just not a big fan of that type of entertainment. My wife enjoyed them.

 

I enjoyed the hot tubs, the games were not that exciting for me, the Casino was fun to try my luck but I am not a big gambler so I did not spend allot of time there. I enjoyed slow dancing with my wife but Disco dancing is not my thing. The last 2 nights I enjoyed having a drink with a couple we met from South Africa after dinner.

 

I did not really enjoy my days at sea. I had a hard time finding things to keep me busy. I do not enjoy sitting by the pool and I am not big on reading. I went to the art auction but was not prepared to buy anything so it got boring pretty quick. The belly flop contest and other things like that doesn't entertain me.

 

Hopefully this help those of you that wanted to know more.

....So...what do you like to do? Sounds like cruising is not for you....

[newmexicoNita]

you know what? Cruising isn't for everyone. About 95% who cruise can't wait to do it again, but the other 5% would rather spend vacation time doing something else and that's ok. I can usually tell by just talking to friends and cliants if cruising is for them. it sounds like you tried about everything, but it just wasn't what you thought and I bet you don't even know why. Maybe your expectations were just too high. this happened to us on one particular line. WE had a great cruise, but it just didn't quite hit the spot. I think we had heard so much positive that we expected something else and what I don't know. As for the food, it isn't gourmet and the sooner people realize that the better off everyone will be. It is very good, but not Ruths' Chris. Maybe next time you will find something more to your liking? Did you do any tours or just walk around, did you try snorkeling? these are things that can make a difference. NMNita

[Merion_Mom]

ATTENTION K-MART.......er CRUISE CRITIC...........SHOPPERS!

 

If you want to see two people with LARGE AND IMPRESSIVE VOCABULARIES, and the ability to use them, with totally different outputs, just compare a post from BICKER with a post from DC-SNOOPY.

 

Now THERE is someone whose posts I could read ALL night for their clarity and content!

 

Carol

[FinelyCruising]

p5woody - I am trying to figure out why you are having this hard time. It sounds like you enjoyed so many parts (I get sick of so much food by the end too), and that the sum of all those parts was not a bad cruise by most standards. You went a tried new things on the ship that interested you, and enjoyed a fair number of them, and please note not everything the ship offers holds my interest either. You went new places, and seemed to have a good time there, were social and made aquaintances. I think only you can detemine why it disappointed you. From the little bit I have read I can't quite put a finger on it.

[p5woody]

p5woody - I am trying to figure out why you are having this hard time. It sounds like you enjoyed so many parts (I get sick of so much food by the end too), and that the sum of all those parts was not a bad cruise by most standards. You went a tried new things on the ship that interested you, and enjoyed a fair number of them, and please note not everything the ship offers holds my interest either. You went new places, and seemed to have a good time there, were social and made aquaintances. I think only you can detemine why it disappointed you. From the little bit I have read I can't quite put a finger on it.

 

I didn't have a bad vacation at all, actually it was very good but I thought the highlight of the cruise would be the time spent on the ship not off the ship. I enjoyed pre-cruise, 2 days in New orleans very much. I also thought each port was outstanding. Everything off the ship during vacation was outstanding and was probably the best ever. Our flights were good, our hotel and staff was great. Everywhere we went we had a great time. The only time during my 10 day vacation that I found myself not totally happy was when I was on the ship.

 

This is what started me thinging about why time on the ship wasn't the best ever. Friends and family knew this was our first cruise and when I told them the cruise part was ok but not great, they wanted to know why. That is when I came up with the list of things that turned what could have been a great experience into just Okay.

 

Now that my expectations are based on reality I think I would be better prepared and have a better cruise. You asked what I enjoy. I enjoy all kinds of sports, I haven't found a sport or game I don't like. I enjoy learning new things. If they had activities that were educational other then the 3 minute makeover, for example technology based, financial based, or scientific. Now that would hold my interest. I enjoy being with close friends, next time I know to bring a few of them with me when I go.

 

I have really enjoyed reading through all the responses. It is interesting how so many people can have different views on the same experience.

[rykersdad]

Ah........... sh--. I'll admit it..... I understand him too:rolleyes:

Now don't go think we've lost it.... maybe a bit.

Let's all be good children, and get along. Most of us do defecate, thank goodness......... but cut him a little slack, relax, take a deep breath, and Bic will come around, and be less descriptively demonstrative. We are not saying that we always agree, or that we like his "writing style", but we are willingly to meet everyone half way,and "respect" their opinions. Thats not to say we won't strongly disagree at times.......( this said from someone banned! )

Am I right Deb? Well sorta?

[hstrybuf]

Ummm, yeah, sort of. Disagree respectfully, I think. :D

[abridalmaven]

Well I took a 3 day hand writting analysis course that was both fun and informative. But I think by the OP standards this would also have been too frivilous. I think most of us do not cruise for the education factor.:eek:

[dc-snoopy]

ATTENTION K-MART.......er CRUISE CRITIC...........SHOPPERS!

 

If you want to see two people with LARGE AND IMPRESSIVE VOCABULARIES, and the ability to use them, with totally different outputs, just compare a post from BICKER with a post from DC-SNOOPY.

 

Now THERE is someone whose posts I could read ALL night for their clarity and content!

 

Carol

 

Oh, goodness... ** BLUSH **

 

Thanks Carol. That is very flattering and I appreciate it.

 

We now return you to your regularly schedule programming...already in progress...

[dc-snoopy]

p5woody,

 

That's great. And like all things, cruising is a learning experience. One problem with cruising is that cruising is a significantly broader vacation experience than other forms of vacationing. Between the port a day and the broad range of activities on board, you have to weed through these things to find out what you like.

 

Clearly, as you like the ports of call better than at sea days (so do DW and I), you should look for cruise itineraries that have fewer or no days at sea. I generally prefer to have only one day at sea and at the end of the cruise. Since I like to play hard, I really enjoy the off-ship experiences. Fo example, on our Alaskan cruise in 2001, we did 7 shore excursions in 4 days with morning/afternoon on the first three days. On the fourth day, after we did the first shore excursion and went back to the WJ for lunch, we came out and found the local walking tour and spent 3 hours walking around Ketchikan and had a grand time. Since I play hard, I'll take one day at the end of the cruise to rest up before I have to go home to work. When I do the sea day, I will do things like walk around the ship looking around and finding out what things are going on, sample things that I didn't notice before, and generally relax and unwind. Although if I didn't have a sea day, it wouldn't bother me. I would definitely not choose multiple sea days. Other people look for extra sea days as they have cruised enough and visited the ports of call that they know they don't want to visit those again.

 

And if you sample other things on the ship, you may find things on-board that do interest you. And it may not be with RCI, it might be with Celebrity or with Princess or HAL or NCL, etc. Since you did enjoy much of the vacation, I would try another cruise and vary as many of the things that were disappointing or just not your cup of tea and see if you can find other things that will substitute. For example, if the dining wasn't to your taste, figure out what will help. If the quality of the cuisine wasn't up to your taste, look for a cruiseline that specializes more in cuisine (like Celebrity). If you didn't like the dress code, go with NCL and their freeform dining. If you want more space to spread and less crowds, try smaller ships, etc.

 

It sounds like cruising was a good form of vacation, but this experience needed some tweaking to make it better. Good luck in finding a better fit!

[p5woody]

I am pretty sure I will cruise again, my wife loved it even though she agrees with me that the service from RCI was not as good as she expected. Thanks to my experience and this thread I now have a better idea of what to expect and things to look for the next time I cruise.

 

1) Lower expectations, expect good service not great. If you get great service then consider it a Bonus. Based on what I am hearing good service is more the norm these days. It may have been great at one time, but now it is hit or miss.

2) Bring something with me that interest me to fill the time that none of the ships activities interest me. Again expectations, I was told there was so much to do on the ship that I would never get bored, so I did not bring anything with me.

3) More ports less sea days, We had 1 day at sea in the beginning that I enjoyed, everything was new to me. The 2 days at the end where not needed.

4) Bring some friends with me, it is more fun to share your experiences with people you know.

5) For me I need to view the ship as a nice Hotel that takes me from port to port not the reason I am on vacation. My first cruise, I viewed the Ship as the main focus and the ports were secondary. I will figure out where I want to go then find a ship that gets there.

6) I will also look at other cruise lines because RCI did not wow me. Again I was told to go with RCI and now based on what I am hearing and my experience, it probably doesn't matter which cruise line I take. There are probably a couple I will stay away from but most should offer good service. I am actually looking into carnival based on price and ammenities. This is how I pick my hotels. I look at location, price, and ammenities and find the best combination of the three. I do not look at name first.

7) I may also look into going on a bigger ship to see if I like it better. I have heard some like the big ships and I know others go for the smaller ones.

[bUU]

what did you ever end up doing about the "Trail Mix?"

We found an open-air market in Cruz Bay, just a quarter mile from the trailhead.

 

When do you plan to do a review of the Serenade?

My wife and I are working on it. We are rather short on spare time, so it's taking a while. I think we have the first day written, seven days to go.

[bUU]

It is safe to say that many RCI employees have stated to passengers there are staffing cutbacks and moral is low. However, if prices keep going up and service is low, people will start to go back to land based resorts.

It doesn't actually always work that way. For a variety of reasons, prices can continue to go up, while load-levels (how many passengers book voyages) stay steady, or even increase. This typically happens when there is lots of new or previously unsatisfied demand in the marketplace. A smart company will keep a very close eye on the market they serve, and make sure that they do not continue raising prices passed the point where that would decrease load-levels so much to eat up the extra profit from raising the prices. Note, though, that sometimes is it more profitable to run with more empty cabins than less, as long as you're getting more for each cabin.

 

I think part of the issue is that consumers have been comparing cruises to all-inclusives. Cruises are an utter bargain in that comparison, and so that comparison would spawn a lot of extra demand for cruises. Of course, we know that mainstream cruises are not all-inclusive, but they're more inclusive than regular land-based resorts. So, putting aside what's "better," if anything, about cruising versus land-based resorts (which is a personal preference, of course), pricing should be somewhere between regular land-based resort vacations and all-inclusives. From what I saw on my recent cruises, and based on my personal preferences for cruising (I wouldn't say cruising is any better than, say, a Walt Disney World vacation, or perhaps just marginally better), it's getting there, but there is still a little more room for price increases, at the current quality level.

 

[bUU]

Well, that was just gross. :confused: And totally unnecessary.

You're mistaken. I was, as always, very charitable with regard to my comments about the juvenile behavior directed at me. I seen nothing wrong with folks disagreeing with my perspectives on the subject (which is, Disappointment, of course), but that's not what the childish folks here do. They deliberately defile threads where I make a strong point that they are too lazy to refute on its merits.

 

The more you reward their poor conduct, the more they'll do it, and continue to degrade your experience here at Cruise Critic. That's all I plan to say about that. You can use your own judgement, of course.

 

As for the subject at hand, my RCI experiences have, overall, been good, but frankly, as ships get bigger and bigger, there are going to be changes in service to accomodate the volume,

While I grant that this is a good point, many folks would feel that they shouldn't have to pay for the higher volume by receiving lower service. It all comes back to price -- if you're paying the same price for a cruise on a 3000 passenger ship as you're paying for a cruise on a 500 passenger ship, the experience should be comparable, without any compromises for the difference in volume. For all practical purposes, you could create a 3000 passenger ship that is from a service standpoing (conceptually) six 500 passenger ships. You still gain economies of scale from sharing certain amenities that are not degraded by being shared with 2500 extra passengers (starting with, of course, the engines!), so you should be able to provide the same level of service for the same price.

 

I think the disconnect, therefore, comes from the fact that RCI is probably not be aiming at the specific grade of service some folks would want them to aim at -- a strategic decision to go for a broader market segment, by offering a specific grade of service at a specific price-point determined to result in the best utilization of their assets -- the most profit. In a nutshell, what RCI used to offer, both in terms of service and price may have little to do with with what is best for them to offer today.

[bUU]

We are not saying that we always agree, or that we like his "writing style", but we are willingly to meet everyone half way,and "respect" their opinions. Thats not to say we won't strongly disagree at times...

Very well said. There are a lot of folks here who's "style" I don't like. I even have some of them Ignored. I'm sure that ignoring people who's "style" you don't like is far more constructive than the behavior we saw earlier in the thread.

[FinelyCruising]

p5woody - sounds like you have it figured out and are on the right track. One of the things that I like about cruising is trying the ships and seeing what I like about them, the size, the style, the decor. Remember we are always here for the input...Good Luck to you!

[xpcdoojk]

People who only read their own posts shouldn't lecture others posting style.

 

jc

[BADBUOY]

Very well said. There are a lot of folks here who's "style" I don't like. I even have some of them Ignored. I'm sure that ignoring people who's "style" you don't like is far more constructive than the behavior we saw earlier in the thread.

 

I couldn't agree with you more. I'd love to stick to the topic's and hopefully learn and share experiences both good and bad. I'd hate to use the 'ignore' button however there comes a time where you've just had enough of the juvenile behaviour.

[Andipanda1]

You're mistaken. I was, as always, very charitable with regard to my comments about the juvenile behavior directed at me. I seen nothing wrong with folks disagreeing with my perspectives on the subject (which is, Disappointment, of course), but that's not what the childish folks here do. They deliberately defile threads where I make a strong point that they are too lazy to refute on its merits.

 

The more you reward their poor conduct, the more they'll do it, and continue to degrade your experience here at Cruise Critic. That's all I plan to say about that. You can use your own judgement, of course.

 

 

The only person I see writing about bodily functions is you. You just degraded my experience quite a bit. :confused:

[dc-snoopy]

As for the subject at hand, my RCI experiences have, overall, been good, but frankly, as ships get bigger and bigger, there are going to be changes in service to accomodate the volume,

While I grant that this is a good point, many folks would feel that they shouldn't have to pay for the higher volume by receiving lower service. It all comes back to price -- if you're paying the same price for a cruise on a 3000 passenger ship as you're paying for a cruise on a 500 passenger ship, the experience should be comparable, without any compromises for the difference in volume. For all practical purposes, you could create a 3000 passenger ship that is from a service standpoing (conceptually) six 500 passenger ships. You still gain economies of scale from sharing certain amenities that are not degraded by being shared with 2500 extra passengers (starting with, of course, the engines!), so you should be able to provide the same level of service for the same price.

 

I think the disconnect, therefore, comes from the fact that RCI is probably not be aiming at the specific grade of service some folks would want them to aim at -- a strategic decision to go for a broader market segment, by offering a specific grade of service at a specific price-point determined to result in the best utilization of their assets -- the most profit. In a nutshell, what RCI used to offer, both in terms of service and price may have little to do with with what is best for them to offer today.

 

One issue is that a 3000 passenger ship is NOT the equivalent of six 500 passenger ships. A 3000 passenger ship only has 3 times the number of staff/crew than a 500 passenger ship. RCI does not do a proportional increase of the facilities for staff and crew to accomodate the larger number of passengers. For example, when they build a larger ship, they build in a proportionally larger number of passenger spaces to crew/staff spaces (for instance, kitchen space will only double or triple, the maintenance areas will double or triple while passenger cabins will quadruple). Thus, although passengers may expect to maintain the same level of service for the larger vessels, RCI is not planning on that. They are trying to maximize their profit margin and, as such, they are cutting back on the staff to accomodate passengers (or increasing the staff to passenger ratio).