Same Old, Same Old: Why We Just Canceled Three Upcoming Oasis-Class Cruises

[RLM77]

We stepped off of Allure of the Seas last weekend, completing our seventh cruise on Oasis-class (1 Oasis, 6 Allure) over the last 18 months. It will be some time before we re-embark; we just canceled three cruises on O-class and substituted a 14-day Princess Canal cruise (we probably won’t replace the third week due to priorities at my office). The reason we made the switch may be of value to RCI and of interest to you.

 

First of all, there was nothing wrong with our cruises. If you’ve never experienced O-class and you enjoy cruising they are slam-dunk must dos. Those who say they are too big or too crowded are wrong IMHO. Many of the shows are excellent. There are so many places to eat that you will have trouble getting to them all in 7 nights. And we think Royal’s service is the best at sea (in a friendly, eager to please way as opposed to a correct, formal way). The ships are very clean and very well maintained. The only serious drawback is that, by design, the A/C shuts off in most balcony cabins if the balcony door is not closed and locked. [This is a secondary reason we are cruising elsewhere, but is not relevant to the primary thrust of this post. Hence, no further comment.]

 

Hmmm. Great ships, great service, good shows, lots of restaurants, bars, and food options. Plus Diamond benefits. Why would these crazy folks cancel upcoming bookings on these ships? The most important reason is simple: almost nothing changes. For example, the main shows are the same as they were 19 months ago when Allure entered service (and 31 months ago when Oasis first sailed). This is understandable. These shows are expensive to acquire and/or produce; they need to run for at least 4-5 years to justify the investment.

 

But it doesn’t stop there. Most of the lounge musicians are the same people that entertained us a year ago. They go on vacation and then are contracted back to the same ship. RCI also returns most of the crew to the same ship as they renew their contracts. Comedians repeat. 70’s night is a standard night 6 feature. Even some of the Headliner shows are repeats for us. And, although menus have certainly been tweaked since 2010 – for example, no more lamb chops in the MDR and lots more mashed potatoes – the marquee items are largely the same. This is true in the specialty restaurants as well. I pretty much know what I’m going to be eating for all our dinners (right down to appetizers and desserts) before I ever leave the house.

 

Some people appreciate that kind of predictability, and I must admit that we ourselves enjoy being recognized by waiters, bar servers, etc. who served us on previous cruises. But – no two ways about it – for us, the repetition is getting old.

 

RCI does a large repeat business; repeat cruisers are critical to their business model. Further, the Oasis and Allure are marketed (appropriately) as destinations in and of themselves. To keep C&A members coming back to these ships, RCI has to continually freshen the product, IMO. I acknowledge that it’s too difficult and too expensive to frequently swap out the main shows. But the lounge musicians, comedians, and the Headliner show could certainly be rotated at low cost. 70’s night could be easily replaced with any number of alternatives. MDR menus, while difficult to change due to the sheer volume of meals that are served, could at least be changed one night at a time. Specialty restaurant menus could undergo gradual changes, retaining crowd favorites while replacing less popular items. The alcoholic beverage menu, including beer and wine selections, could be slowly adjusted on the same lines. Delivering a consistent product is certainly important. But so is variety. Even on ships with so many options, lack of variety becomes an issue after enough weeks on board.

 

Bottom line is that these are great ships with a huge number of options. I highly recommend them for 1-4 cruises over an 18-24 month period. Our mistake was sailing them for 49 nights over 18 months; RCI’s “mistake” (really a decision) was delivering a largely static product over that same period. We will not make our mistake again; we plan to go back to sailing on a variety of ships and cruise lines, including, from time to time, O-class. RCI might consider lower cost ways to freshen their product in order to keep frequent cruisers coming back.

 

Rich

[kruzerci]

Understandable, we have done Freedom 3 times in the past 5 years and even though it's our favorite ship, some of the same things haven't changed since she entered service and seem stale to us. I can only imagine 6 times on one ship in 18 months!

[north29]

I agree with slow changes, but consider fleet wide, example, from what I understand, to change or add a new menu Item, take about three years, to develop the product for multiple chefs/ships, around the planet, which includes getting vendors, to supply the right/necessary food on a necessary/must have timely basis and to have what RC calls cruisers expected menu items on each and every cruise.

In regards to, itineraries the O class ship are limited in what ports they can call on so that will not change much in the future.

Now there may not be a need to change much because, as a Carnival representative once told me that only 10 percent of the population has ever cruised so good advertising will always help develop new cruisers and we all know will be happy and become, well addicted to cruising LOL

[read52]

I think the reason why there are not changes is that most people can't go that often. We went on the Allure last April and plan on it again next summer. We are going on the Enchantment in 2 weeks, our first cruise in 14 months.

[Motorman23]

Rich, I understand what you are saying but that is why we spread our vacations out and try to do other things in addition to cruising.

 

We typically cruise 1 or 2 times a year (a little more than that recently) and try different ships and itinerary's as much as possible. Our last 5 cruises over the past two years were as follows: Explorer 11 night southern Carib, Carnival Dream 7 night western Carib, Jewell 14 night TA London to Boston, Navigator 14 night TA Rome to FLL, Independence, 6 night eastern carib.

 

I agree with many of your items and hope that changes do occur, the shows and food are the same on many of RCL's ships but we have got around that by doing other things on board. You may want to try different cruises on different ships and cruise less frequently and you may not get bored. We haven't anyway.

 

Mike

[orville99]

After more than 30 cruises, I can count on one hand (and have fingers left over) the number of times we've actually bothered to take in any of the shows on any cruiseline. If I want to see a stage show, I'll go to a landbound theatre. We saw Chicago in (of all places) Chicago. There is no way a cruise line can do justice to that play - or any other for that matter.

[love2cruiseforfree]

We agree also... RCCL needs to change things up a little. We have cruised the same ships and also find that not much has changed since the last time we were on it. Even some of the crew members remember us. We do like driving to the port of Baltimore which is only a 6 hour drive for us. This is why we keep taking the same cruise and ships over and over. for the convenience of it. However, I have been checking into other cruises from different ports which would add about another 2 hour drive. Hoping to find something different next time.

I heard that RCCl is bringing in a new ship starting next May to Baltimore....hope they bring new entertainment along with it. Other than that...no complaints. they just need to change things up a little....

[KuffMUp]

What I don't understand is why you would think that RCCL would change something on one ship within a year and a half?? There are 22 ships to choose from. You went on average once every three months and expected change within that time?? I can certainly understand why you would be bored with it. OMG! It's like the movie Groundhog Day. :eek:

[akcruz]

I agree with you, that's why we have only sailed on one ship twice, we usually try to find a different ship or different ports, etc to change each trip up a bit. Hopefully by the time we hit them all things will change!

[Topo Gigio]

I do understand your point of view, but in 18 months 6 times on the same ship of course it will start to become boring. I always try not to even repeat ship.

[Mark_K]

The reason we made the switch may be of value to RCI and of interest to you.

It was interesting, but I doubt valuable to very many of us, since so few of us cruise 6 times in 18 months, much less the same ship 6 times in 18 months. It takes a cereal company 18 months to come up with a new box design, and that's without even changing the cereal inside.

[karen s]

What I don't understand is why you would think that RCCL would change something on one ship within a year and a half?? There are 22 ships to choose from. You went on average once every three months and expected change within that time?? I can certainly understand why you would be bored with it. OMG! It's like the movie Groundhog Day. :eek:

 

Ditto...my thoughts exactly. Sounds like a self-induced "punishment." If you want variety don't go on the same ship so often within such a short time span.

[sailor moon]

I agree with the OP in that it is basically the same MDR food choices on every ship regardless of the itinerary. We are trying the Oasis class in December and look forward to not eating in the windjammer and MDR :) we also plan to branch out to another cruise line now that our kids are in college. I am ready to try celebrity!

[lkb125]

We stepped off of Allure of the Seas last weekend, completing our seventh cruise on Oasis-class (1 Oasis, 6 Allure) over the last 18 months. It will be some time before we re-embark; we just canceled three cruises on O-class and substituted a 14-day Princess Canal cruise (we probably won’t replace the third week due to priorities at my office). The reason we made the switch may be of value to RCI and of interest to you.

 

First of all, there was nothing wrong with our cruises. If you’ve never experienced O-class and you enjoy cruising they are slam-dunk must dos. Those who say they are too big or too crowded are wrong IMHO. Many of the shows are excellent. There are so many places to eat that you will have trouble getting to them all in 7 nights. And we think Royal’s service is the best at sea (in a friendly, eager to please way as opposed to a correct, formal way). The ships are very clean and very well maintained. The only serious drawback is that, by design, the A/C shuts off in most balcony cabins if the balcony door is not closed and locked. [This is a secondary reason we are cruising elsewhere, but is not relevant to the primary thrust of this post. Hence, no further comment.]

 

Hmmm. Great ships, great service, good shows, lots of restaurants, bars, and food options. Plus Diamond benefits. Why would these crazy folks cancel upcoming bookings on these ships? The most important reason is simple: almost nothing changes. For example, the main shows are the same as they were 19 months ago when Allure entered service (and 31 months ago when Oasis first sailed). This is understandable. These shows are expensive to acquire and/or produce; they need to run for at least 4-5 years to justify the investment.

 

But it doesn’t stop there. Most of the lounge musicians are the same people that entertained us a year ago. They go on vacation and then are contracted back to the same ship. RCI also returns most of the crew to the same ship as they renew their contracts. Comedians repeat. 70’s night is a standard night 6 feature. Even some of the Headliner shows are repeats for us. And, although menus have certainly been tweaked since 2010 – for example, no more lamb chops in the MDR and lots more mashed potatoes – the marquee items are largely the same. This is true in the specialty restaurants as well. I pretty much know what I’m going to be eating for all our dinners (right down to appetizers and desserts) before I ever leave the house.

 

Some people appreciate that kind of predictability, and I must admit that we ourselves enjoy being recognized by waiters, bar servers, etc. who served us on previous cruises. But – no two ways about it – for us, the repetition is getting old.

 

RCI does a large repeat business; repeat cruisers are critical to their business model. Further, the Oasis and Allure are marketed (appropriately) as destinations in and of themselves. To keep C&A members coming back to these ships, RCI has to continually freshen the product, IMO. I acknowledge that it’s too difficult and too expensive to frequently swap out the main shows. But the lounge musicians, comedians, and the Headliner show could certainly be rotated at low cost. 70’s night could be easily replaced with any number of alternatives. MDR menus, while difficult to change due to the sheer volume of meals that are served, could at least be changed one night at a time. Specialty restaurant menus could undergo gradual changes, retaining crowd favorites while replacing less popular items. The alcoholic beverage menu, including beer and wine selections, could be slowly adjusted on the same lines. Delivering a consistent product is certainly important. But so is variety. Even on ships with so many options, lack of variety becomes an issue after enough weeks on board.

 

Bottom line is that these are great ships with a huge number of options. I highly recommend them for 1-4 cruises over an 18-24 month period. Our mistake was sailing them for 49 nights over 18 months; RCI’s “mistake” (really a decision) was delivering a largely static product over that same period. We will not make our mistake again; we plan to go back to sailing on a variety of ships and cruise lines, including, from time to time, O-class. RCI might consider lower cost ways to freshen their product in order to keep frequent cruisers coming back.

 

Rich

 

Royal Caribbean needs to up date their caribbean sailings sameo sameo

[Scotty G]

If the OP had his wish and all of the things bothering him were addressed and changed, the cost of cruising would go up. Most of what RCL and other cruise lines do is based on the bottom line.

Those of us that cruise frequently have come to understand that there will be repeat staff, entertainers, and shows on the same ship for a number of years. It is a choice we make. If one is not happy with this then the option is to try another line. We are doing that by going to Celebrity; however, we are still cruising on RCL as we like it the way it is. "Different strokes ----" definitely applies!!!

Its kinda like the folks that have a summer cottage and go there year in and year out. Same place, same eateries, etc.. It's what they want to do. If they want to do something different they just do that instead.

[Scotty G]

Royal Caribbean needs to up date their caribbean sailings sameo sameo

Check the 2013/14 schedules. They have!

[negc]

Royal Caribbean needs to up date their caribbean sailings sameo sameo

 

And yet I know people who have been going to Cape Cod or the mountains in NH or to Aruba year after year, staying at the same properties and pretty much doing the same activities and eating at the same restaurants in those locations. Familiarity appeals to some people. As far as cruises go, check out some of the repositioning and Transatlantic cruise threads and you will find the same people booking the same rooms, year after year. What is boring to some apparently isn't boring to everyone. Every menu I have seen on RCI ship contains several options at every meal so perhaps those requesting new or different menus should try things other than what they always order. With a choice of 21 or 22 ships in the fleet and many dozens of possible itineraries in most regions of the world, there is no real reason to be complaining about the same old, same old, unless you are unwilling or unable to research all of the options available to you.

[emilygrace]

I'm sorry, but what did you expect, sailing on the same ship every 3 months? Due to the higher pricing Oasis and Allure are usually a one shot deal with most families and as we well know, RCL is aggressively targeting new cruisers for these ships.

 

As far as the menus being the same fleet wide, I see this as an incentive to try other cruise lines. Most of our cruises have been with Royal Caribbean but we do try other lines to experience the ship or the itinerary. There are so many choices out there I can't imagine getting bored!

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

I'm a little confused. Why would one expect anything to ever be different if they keep taking the same cruise over and over??

 

I used to frequent the Monarch when she was in LA, and I never expected anything to change from cruise to cruise.

 

I just think it's an odd complaint. Especially since Oasis and Allure both sail from Florida, so why not try some other ships also in Florida, instead of repeating the same ship over and over and expecting a different experience?

[wolfganghowell]

While the OP makes a valid point and as others have said, the bottom line is that someone who can cruise that much in a short time frame is probably less than 1% of RCI's passenger base.

 

Some comments though are unrealistic from a business standpoint. The performers are not employees but independent contractors. They are on a contract and most prefer to maintain a specific ship so they have a semblance of a regular life. Moving them around the fleet would not only be expensive but I don't think many of them choose to do so. And on the flip side, a lot of them have built up fan bases on certain ships and are part of the onboard experience that many repeat cruisers expect. (Derek Lewis springs to mind. He was on Rhapsody out of Galveston, then Voyager for many years. When Mariner came to Galveston, the Galveston cruisers were disappointed that he stayed with Voyager instead of transferring to Mariner.)

 

As for the food choices, they do seem to tweak it but the pace you would like is impossible. Remember in order to feed 1000s of people, they need a well oiled machine back there. Constantly introducing new dishes would impact the efficiency. Besides, how many land based restaurants overhaul their menu. Most have set menus with just a few "specials".

 

Not sure what you mean on the alcoholic beverage selection - geez they pretty much have everything. Granted, their wine list isn't the best - Celebrity has them beat big time on that.

 

Mostly, I get what you mean. But RCI is mass market and have to target the "average" cruiser. You are fortunate to have the ability to travel frequently but are definitely the unicorn in the herd. :) Have fun branching out.

[KG1924]

My, Oh my do I wish I had your predicament!!!! ;) I can totally understand why you are so bored with them since it was such a small period of time. I guess the benefit of only cruising 6 times is that we've yet to repeat!!! I don't know if it would be as big of a problem for us (if we were so lucky to cruise so often) because we don't see too many of the shows and to us, food is food. I'm 29 years old and still eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch 3+ times a week (I know, ridiculous! but it's cheap and tasty:p) And if you were bored with the food options on the Oasis class, then you definitely need a break!! There are so many options! I guess its true that too much of a good thing ain't a good thing anymore!! I do wonder if you maybe just need a break from cruising in general. I've never been on Princess, but while I prefer RC, our Carnival cruise wasn't THAT different. Although, the itinerary alone will change things up for you. Good luck...and yes, I'm very jealous that you've been on the Oasis class that many times!!! :D

[Friend100]

OP, be thankful that you can cruise 7 times on this ship in the last 18 months. Many people don't have that capability - time and resource.

[Homosassa]

LOL - changing lines is no guarantee you will see "new" shows. On a recent 11 night cruise on Princess, my husband and I realized we had seen two of the shows before. One was an aerial/ acrobatic couple we had seen on a previous NCL cruise and one was a magician we had seen on RCI.

[setsail]

Changes in food items are being made, sounds like at least yearly

 

http://www.answeritroyally.com/blog/?p=4848#more-4848

 

"Our main menus are updated on annual basis"

[baggal]

After cruise II on the same ship and the same itinerary within 6 months, I would be ready for a change. So why not change? There's a whole world out there waiting for you!