Labadee - no more upgraded buffet?

[whitshel]

That explanation kind of pisses me off. So those of us who purchases a Nellies beach cabana paid the same price as the suite guests paid for their BFB cabanas but we don't deserve a good experience?:mad:

 

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I don't think it's so much the cabana or the price we all pay, but it's that Barefoot beach is for all suite guests (GS and above) whether or not they purchased a cabana is irrelevant, they are still suite guests and they get the upgraded buffet.

 

When I booked our cruise in March of 2014 we paid 1099pp for a balcony, if I remember correctly a JS was $1599pp and a Grand Suite was $2299pp. That's a whole lot more than I paid, I certainly don't mind that RCCL treats suite guests a little more special. :o

[Coralc]

I don't think it's so much the cabana or the price we all pay, but it's that Barefoot beach is for all suite guests (GS and above) whether or not they purchased a cabana is irrelevant, they are still suite guests and they get the upgraded buffet.

 

When I booked our cruise in March of 2014 we paid 1099pp for a balcony, if I remember correctly a JS was $1599pp and a Grand Suite was $2299pp. That's a whole lot more than I paid, I certainly don't mind that RCCL treats suite guests a little more special. :o

 

I don't really care. They are required to honor what they promised and sold at the time I made my purchase for the excursion/cabana. (Which was 12/07/12 for a cruise this December) It does say "subject to change" but that refers to the price, not the amenities or description.

 

Royal Caribbean has made attempts to change or charge things after purchase previously....and apparently the Florida Attorney General has severely discouraged their prior attempts. :)

[Brandonclan]

I don't really care. They are required to honor what they promised and sold at the time I made my purchase for the excursion/cabana. (Which was 12/07/12 for a cruise this December) It does say "subject to change" but that refers to the price, not the amenities or description.

 

Royal Caribbean has made attempts to change or charge things after purchase previously....and apparently the Florida Attorney General has severely discouraged their prior attempts. :)

 

They are promising to deliver what we all paid for.

Please come back here and let us know how it works out for you.

[Coralc]

They are promising to deliver what we all paid for.

Please come back here and let us know how it works out for you.

 

I will, but I am sure we will her about it from others before our sailing December 12th. :D;):)

Edited October 14, 2013 by Coralc

[yj2cute]

I don't think it's so much the cabana or the price we all pay, but it's that Barefoot beach is for all suite guests (GS and above) whether or not they purchased a cabana is irrelevant, they are still suite guests and they get the upgraded buffet.

 

When I booked our cruise in March of 2014 we paid 1099pp for a balcony, if I remember correctly a JS was $1599pp and a Grand Suite was $2299pp. That's a whole lot more than I paid, I certainly don't mind that RCCL treats suite guests a little more special. :o

 

I don't really care of the Nellies beach cabana guests get served the buffet on BFB or not. What I'm saying is that for $250, I should be treated special as well, if only while at Labadee. It we shell out that money we deserve a premium experience and hiking a long way to stand on long lines for lunch is not what I call a premium experience. Nellies cabanas should then have their own special buffet area. And for the record, the extra money for that GS gets a heck of a lot more space in their cabin. They should pay more for it.

 

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[Toddcan]

They are building more and more cabanas on both beaches. With this, it was inevitable that "too many"(by RCI standards) people would be on the BB buffet. So, they had to do something.

 

1. Change the description, on or about Oct 4 - anyone booking a Nellies cabana after Oct 4 would no longer have the upgraded buffet in their excursion description.

 

2. Offer the upgraded buffet to those who paid for a Nellies cabana before the change (OCt 4). Now, how well/poorly they manage this - who knows. It sounds like they have it under control, but let's see how it actually plays out.

 

So, all bases are covered.

 

If your excursion description had an upgraded buffet - you will get it.

 

If your excursion description does not have an upgraded buffet - how can you claim it? If you try and argue that they "used to get it", then good luck with that. If enough people do not book the cabanas now , and they sit empty - RCI will have to do something. However, I suspect that there is more demand than supply, and all the cabanas will be full/near full every day there are ship(s) in port.

 

Yes, I will miss the upgraded buffet when I book a Nellies Cabana. But, if I don't think it's worth the price, I can choose not to rent one in the future.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I got my e-mail response like everyone else. It is printed out in addition to being saved in my Oasis folder on my e-mail. I plan to take it to the Excursions Desk upon boarding. Since we are 18 months out I want to be sure it is not "forgotten" by then!:eek: I am sure our group (3 cabanas) will be among the last of the Nellie's Beach masses infiltrating the Barefoot Beach sanctuary.:rolleyes:

[jahannah]

Just received a phone call from someone at the executive offices confirming what everyone here already has posted: The ships will all receive information about pre-10/4 purchasers and wristbands will be provided in advance on the ship.

 

I am pleased that they are standing behind their earlier description. However, I was hoping that the phone call was the upgrade fairy (or at least the upsell gnome)!:p

[teddie]

Does anyone else feel like we've been "classed out" once again by the suite passengers? I could be totally wrong here, but what went on that prompted this decision? It seems to me that the suite passengers *may* have been complaining that the commoners from Nellies were invading their private little oasis and they were not happy. Don't get me wrong, if I paid for a suite I probably would be disappointed that I had to stand in line with Nellies peeps too! I suppose if you (they) had done the math in the first place, they would have discovered that you can't add a bunch of new cabanas and expect the buffet to take on double the load of passengers without repercussions......like adding extra cabins on to the Enchantment but not increasing the size of the buffet in the Windjammer.I also feel that adding 4 more bottles of water is hardly compensation for having to walk to the other buffet....but that's really not the point. I get it that its a business, but maybe they need to think about what is going to happen before they offer such things instead of just waiting to see what happens. In the great scheme of things its not going to matter a bit to the company but I would imagine they may get tired of hearing from cruise critic members wouldn't you? :p

 

Bonnie, I am sure that many suite passengers complained about the Nellie's Beach "riff raff" crowding the BB buffet; however, I venture to guess that RCI was more put out by the cost of feeding the ever-growing numbers of Nellie's cabana guests at BB. It's all about the money.

 

To another poster, of course RCI isn't going to broadcast the change via individual communication---better to avoid cancellations and massive refunds en masse.

 

We did book prior to October 4, 2013, and received the email response from Shore Excursions explaining that we are "in". Prior to to us receiving that info, DH and I debated keeping the cabana anyway, while lamenting the higher cost and the loss of the upgraded meal. We decided to stay with it "this one last time", since the cabana experience was so nice overall.

 

We'll see about the next time, though.

 

Teddie

[Coralc]

I'm just going to print out one of your emails and my receipt. I'm not going to the trouble of writing them and waiting for a response. If they said they will fix it, they are usually pretty good about fixing it.

 

We leave in 57 days or so. :D

Edited October 17, 2013 by Coralc

[Ocean Boy]

Bonnie, I am sure that many suite passengers complained about the Nellie's Beach "riff raff" crowding the BB buffet; however, I venture to guess that RCI was more put out by the cost of feeding the ever-growing numbers of Nellie's cabana guests at BB. It's all about the money.

To another poster, of course RCI isn't going to broadcast the change via individual communication---better to avoid cancellations and massive refunds en masse.

 

We did book prior to October 4, 2013, and received the email response from Shore Excursions explaining that we are "in". Prior to to us receiving that info, DH and I debated keeping the cabana anyway, while lamenting the higher cost and the loss of the upgraded meal. We decided to stay with it "this one last time", since the cabana experience was so nice overall.

 

We'll see about the next time, though.

 

Teddie

 

Then maybe someone at RCI should have done the math in the first place when the cabanas were being planned and avoided this entire issue from coming about. It really is simple math, no calculus or algebraic quadradic equations involved.

[jahannah]

Then maybe someone at RCI should have done the math in the first place when the cabanas were being planned and avoided this entire issue from coming about. It really is simple math, no calculus or algebraic quadradic equations involved.

 

I dunno. They may have used a quadratic equation to find the profit maximization point using substitution of the profit formula into a price vs. goods sold linear equation (creating a quadratic) and solving for the vertex. :D;)

[MS52]

Yes it is about the profit and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. That's why they're in business.

 

But it seems to me that $225-250 per day would give RCCL a fairly nice profit margin! The upgraded buffet is not that upgraded to eat into that margin significantly. Six bottles of water probably cost a dollar or two. I'm not sure what they pay the cabana attendent but I'd guess that most of their salary comes from tips. So once the cabanas are built, most of the rental is profit.

 

When we're at Labadee in January, there will be two ships in and we're the second one to arrive. So we also decided that we're going to keep our two cabanas for one last time.

 

I enjoyed the experience last year but I don't think we'll be doing it again since they're reducing the amentities and the cost of renting a cabana for the day was on the cusp of just being too expensive for what you get IMHO. :o

Edited October 17, 2013 by MS52

[Toddcan]

Then maybe someone at RCI should have done the math in the first place when the cabanas were being planned and avoided this entire issue from coming about. It really is simple math, no calculus or algebraic quadradic equations involved.

 

Not sure...

 

When I was planing my trip to the school just outside the gates, I talked to several people, including the site managers at Labadee. I was asking about the cabanas, and they said that they have been building more of them because of the success of the original ones.

 

What I got from that is they built extra cabanas because the data showed that there was more demand than supply.

 

It could very well be that they only planned on building a small number, which would have been fine for the BB buffet to support. But, as they kept selling out, they did 2 things.. raised the price, and built more. I'm sure you'd so the same thing if you wanted to increase revenue. I know I would.

[Ocean Boy]

I dunno. They may have used a quadratic equation to find the profit maximization point using substitution of the profit formula into a price vs. goods sold linear equation (creating a quadratic) and solving for the vertex. :D;)

 

Then maybe those kids are on to something when they ask...why do we have to learn this stuff?:p

Edited October 17, 2013 by Ocean Boy

[Tall-Cruiser]

You would think that since they are charging more as well as buildning more Cabanas at Nellie's Beach they would either increase the size of the current buffet and amenites or have a new one at Nellie's Beach.

[Ocean Boy]

Bring in more ships and people at one time, build more cabanas, take up more space for upgraded buffets. The average person is just going to find him/herself competing for less and less space. Time will tell I guess.

[jahannah]

Then maybe those kids are on to something when they ask...why do we have to learn this stuff?:p

 

Went to an engineering school. Wife is a math teacher. I am a master of geek humor.:rolleyes:

[Candleonwater]

Sorry - what's the email address for Shorex?

[Laid-back]

Sorry - what's the email address for Shorex?

 

shorex@rccl.com

[bermudashorts]

Just a quick post.

I'm on freedom right now.

I did go to the cabana after all.

 

There was no problem with anything.

As long as you were booked before Oct 4th. No issue.

Wrist bands given out at cabana.

We had 8 people. And they knew it as they had extra wrist bands.

Don't know what that was about.

So all is OK for now, not mush of a line for the buffet either.

Post when I get back

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Just a quick post.

I'm on freedom right now.

I did go to the cabana after all.

 

There was no problem with anything.

As long as you were booked before Oct 4th. No issue.

Wrist bands given out at cabana.

We had 8 people. And they knew it as they had extra wrist bands.

Don't know what that was about.

So all is OK for now, not mush of a line for the buffet either.

Post when I get back

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

 

Thanks for the update. You are the first to report back and we all really appreciate it. Our sailing isn't for 18 months, so we will be watching to make sure it continues to go well, although we do have our letters. Our group of 13 has 3 cabanas, so we sent out three letters. One person in our group got a call that there would be wristbands in our cabins upon boarding. I was wondering how they would know how many people we would need wrist bands for? Our cabana has 5 and the other two have 4 each at this time.

[Brandonclan]

Just a quick post.

I'm on freedom right now.

I did go to the cabana after all.

 

There was no problem with anything.

As long as you were booked before Oct 4th. No issue.

Wrist bands given out at cabana.

We had 8 people. And they knew it as they had extra wrist bands.

Don't know what that was about.

So all is OK for now, not mush of a line for the buffet either.

Post when I get back

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

 

 

Thanks alot for this info!!!

Enjoy your cruise!

[janeyzee]

We have been to barefoot beach 4 times.

Other changes have occured over the years.

When we sailed the Mariner it was an open beach and beautiful and sandy, with no suite perks, enjoyed by all.

When we sailed Freedom, it became a suite beach and only open to those in a GS and above.

Those years I remember the beach being rocky as you entered the water, and the attendants were very helpful. We were set-up under our three trees and had three loungers placed. Our pop was re-filled frequently once they knew we had the soda card. We were given free snorkel gear, and floaties. They came and got us when the buffet was serving.

 

Now this past July, the entrance to the water was not as Rocky. We had to ask for the complimentary snorkel and floaties...our attendant seemed not as eager to work for his wages.

It has changed.

Now watch if they are taking this away from the Nelllies beach cabanas (the buffet) what other changes are coming???

Sea Ya

 

Wow, lots of changes. I'll be in a cabana in one month and will report back about it. Right now I have an OTW at Nellies but when the concierge contacts me I'll try to switch to BB since we are in a Grand Suite on this cruise. I was told that I should hang onto the Nellies cabana in case I can't get a BB cabana. I sure hope I can switch to BB, we want a less crowded beach and the privacy of the cabana.

[flyingv4me]

I sent Captain's Club two emails (October 10 and October 17). I got an email Saturday 19 telling me that they had forwarded my email to the Shore and Land Excursions department (SLED).

 

I called SLED this morning and they hadn't heard of any changes to the excursion. They also indicated that they never received an email from Captain's Club or me. I explained the situation and that RCCI was grandfathering their pre-10/4 reservations to include the upgraded buffet. I wanted to know if Celebrity would be doing the same thing. I was then informed that each company was operationally independent and that until they heard from corporate they couldn't respond.

 

The rep I spoke with was aware of Cruise Critic (not in a good way) and seemed to want to get me off of the phone. Ultimately, she is supposed to call me back this afternoon after she's had a chance to investigate further.

 

I'll keep everyone using Celebrity posted.

 

Bruce