Scathing reviews of new Aussie ships

[davethescot]

My intention certainly wasn't to complain about the Aussies cruises we have available. I love cruising here and it's definitely been a pleasure on every ship.

 

I also don't agree with the scathing reviews of the VOS. I was only on for one night but I thought the ship was great and I would book a longer cruise without hesitation. I was just intrigued to see so many bad reviews about VOS, not just from the 1 nighter but from the Asian season.

 

I also don't think that we get the dregs and agree that we do get ships that are or are due to be refurbished. It would just be nice to try one that is 1 or 2 years old. Not a huge deal though, just keen to hear other people's views.

[voyager70]

davethescot in regard to scathing reviews just want to share this. I was on Allure of the Seas when she was brand spanking new. I was blown away (and I've been on a lot of ships). Nearly everyone I spoke with felt the same - except for an older lady from New York I had the displeasure of running into several times. She complained about everything - cabins, food, entertainment etc. After a while I just learned to tune her out. I figure she must have been a miserable person. I take all scathing reviews with a grain of salt!

[rugbypopsie]

As an American, Australia & NZ are high on my bucket list so I'm thrilled to see more ships heading down your way. Despite what some of my countrymen say we have plenty of ships sailing North American waters and Europe has become saturated as well. Mind you I've sailed extensively in N America & Europe so my views may be a little biased but I think most would agree. Hoping to visit Oz & NZ in 2014!

 

Hi Voyager welcome to the Aussie/Kiwi forums..hope we will see you down here sometime soon.

 

Sue

[voyager70]

Hi Voyager welcome to the Aussie/Kiwi forums..hope we will see you down here sometime soon.

 

Sue

 

Thanks Sue can't wait to visit. I'll be back with plenty of questions I'm sure!

[rugbypopsie]

Thanks Sue can't wait to visit. I'll be back with plenty of questions I'm sure!

 

Lots of us here to help you...ask away.:)

 

Sue

[Cruise ship fan]

The VOS itself is a beautiful ship, a bit more crowded (making a judgement based on what I think the public room sizes are compared to passenger numbers, and how it would be on a normal cruise) to what I am used to due to skinnier cabins and smaller then usually public areas, but compared to the Spirit she is open. She looks very very similar to the Oasis and once in side if it wasn't for the size difference I could of believed I was on the Oasis is a few rooms. The main issue the VOS faced was part based on the staff in terms of very little cleaning (well actually RCCLs fault as the crew in the buffet were understaffed), and the norovirus causing a ship (as far as I have heard in reviews from the Asian cruises) already having problems with cleaning to really struggle. The other issue was who RCCL thought they would attract and who they actually attracted. They believed they would attract heavy cruisers or travel agents who wish to check out the new ship as well as a few regular guests on the side. Instead they got a wild crowd. This threw the planning out the window as, they tried to show off all the features and events of the ship off, which caused large amount of guests who were a little bit "wild" in a very small area, since everyone wanted to check out as much of the ship they could in a small amount of time.

 

In short it came down to

 

Health/cleaning/understaffing (while during to stop the noro)

Different guests them RCCL expected

and poor planning of events.

 

Any other complaints about the ship are not just exclusive to the ship but can happen on any ship, such as poor cruise directors/captain, bed bugs, delays, etc. Not saying the ship has those complaints its just what I could think of for issues every ship comes across. Overall the ship will be very popular. It was just RCCL put on a bad show for the very first cruise.

 

As for the Spirit. I am not much of a fan of the ship myself, and I can actually see the reasons for complaining about the ship due to the way the ship was marketed.

[silverwillow]

bed bugs :eek:

[timtam2]

1 and 2 night cruise have always been on the wild side and we went on Voyager fully expecting it. I've been on quite a few 'wild' ones in my time but this crowd had some of the worst behaviour I've witnessed. What surprised me the most was the lack of security onboard. I saw one or 2 guys on the deck during embarkation and 1 lone security guy trying to oversee the stealing frenzy in the shops. Why did they not hire extra security/crowd control staff for the night? Even way back in the 80s, p&o would do that. The lack of preplanning was astounding - if they don't put extra measures in place for the Solstice, this company really shows they do not take passengers safety seriuosly. Some may think that the jampacked crowd in the Promenade was fun, but if a brawl had broken out in that crush, it would have turned dangerous and ugly very quickly. In a crowd like that, you need visible security

[joejoe 59]

Well we have had big discussions on here about what needs to change, we can only hope that RCL are having the same discussions & putting plans into place for change. I bet it was a big eyeopener for them as well:eek::eek::eek:

 

Wells fingers crossed.

[6andy6]

Stand by for the next round of complaints to start....

something along these lines perhaps ????

 

The best staterooms are not available for us to book .

They are being kept for the Americans .[/i]:eek:

 

 

[/color]

 

I don't think that at all. I mean I got a great cabin on the hump of the Celebrity Solstice (the bit just past mid ships where the superstructure bulges out) and that is one of the cabin areas our US friends & allies always rave about (due to the bigger than standard balconies). It was a matter of just punching the cabin number in that I wanted to the Celebrity website (on one of the spasmodic occasions it worked ;) ).

 

Given RCI is the parent entity I don't think that at all - money is money. They may set 'some' cabins aside but I don't think they totally block out say, Aqua class or the Sky suites (or in my case the hump cabins).

 

But don't start me on about price drops and passing them on.............that is a different kettle of fish and don't know how they can straight faced tell us they don't. One day the press will report it then they will have to explain it...

[avalon007]

We have a hump cabin on our Voyager cruise as well. Plenty available when I booked 9 months ago.

 

I wonder if the pricing in the US is reduced because they have such a massive population & RCCL can sell so many cruises there?

Would be nice to get an explanation though on how they justify the difference, or better still a price reduction! :D

[Cruise ship fan]

We have a hump cabin on our Voyager cruise as well. Plenty available when I booked 9 months ago.

 

I wonder if the pricing in the US is reduced because they have such a massive population & RCCL can sell so many cruises there?

Would be nice to get an explanation though on how they justify the difference, or better still a price reduction! :D

 

If that was the reason it would be the opposite. Since prices should be higher if there are more people as it is easier to sell. Then lower where there are less people as its harder to sell.

[avalon007]

If that was the reason it would be the opposite. Since prices should be higher if there are more people as it is easier to sell. Then lower where there are less people as its harder to sell.

 

 

Maybe, but consider the competition in the US for cruise passengers is a lot more intense than in Australia.

The cruise lines are constantly outdoing each other to offer the best prices to fill their ships, they have 1000's of short caribbean cruises every year for example, (one site alone offered 99 cruises to the Caribbean in January 2013!) so the population gets used to paying an approx price per night, so will probably not be willing to pay a great deal more than that to cruise out of Sydney considering they have to fly here as well.

 

In Australia supply & demand may be a factor? They can charge more here because we have one of the fastest growing cruise markets in the world (34% increase in 2011 from 2010 according to AFTA) but we have a limited number of cabins on a limited number of ships & not many of those ships are stationed here year round, further increasing the value of cabins on the visiting ships.

 

We also have a stronger economy, so may be able to sustain a higher price than a country suffering a recession.

I wish it wasn't so, but I'm sure they base their prices on what they know people can afford to pay & what the price was already set at in a country by existing competitor cruise lines before they even arrived.

If P&O or Carnival suddenly cut their prices for example, then the other cruise lines would be forced to follow to be competative, but they don't need to as we are flocking to cruise regardless of the price.

 

I notice as cabins sell out the price goes up. Our Voyager cabin class is now a $1000 more than what we paid back in April.

At the end of the day they are running a business & they want to make as much money as possible, so I doubt our prices will drop any time soon. :)

 

Book early seems to be the best bet or be willing to wait until the last minute to see if there is a cabin or 2 left that they may discount.

Also join the cruise line loyalty programs & look for discount vouchers online, we got $200 off our Voyager cruise with a C&A voucher.

 

But maybe we should be careful what we wish for? Look what happens when they offered the discounted coupon prices for the short RCCL cruises, cheap sometimes attracts a less than desirable demographic.:D:p

[The_Big_M]

I agree with avalon007.

 

It's also not unique to cruise lines. There are many more flights out of Europe, then there are from Australia to Europe so the same thing happens. Prices are lower there since they wouldn't pay so much to fly here when they have so many other choices, whereas we pay more because what else are you going to do to get there? Cruise? :-)

[themnms]

The ships have not come down here just for Australians.

They will be heavily marketed in North America and all around the World.

 

Stand by for the next round of complaints to start....

something along these lines perhaps ????

 

:rolleyes:The best staterooms are not available for us to book .

They are being kept for the Americans .:eek:

 

 

 

 

Actually so far in the states I have not seen any marketing for the Australian cruises..I wish they would as it is hard to find decent information on them!!

[bazzaw]

Actually so far in the states I have not seen any marketing for the Australian cruises..I wish they would as it is hard to find decent information on them!!

 

..and for purely selfish reasons, I hope they aren't!!! As much as I like Americans, I suspect that a market push over there would raise our prices here (Law of Supply and demand -- more demand from US and unchanged supply here = higher prices for all)

 

 

Barry

[themnms]

..and for purely selfish reasons, I hope they aren't!!! As much as I like Americans, I suspect that a market push over there would raise our prices here (Law of Supply and demand -- more demand from US and unchanged supply here = higher prices for all)

 

 

Barry

 

I understand that! Looking at the rates they show higher already!