No longer feel like "Royalty"

[caribbean sailor]

I totally agree with the OP that the new menu in the MDR is poor. We sailed on the Vision and Allure this year and were very disappointed so had no other choice but to dine in the Speciality venues.

 

That is just what they want you to do.:eek: More money for Royal,they are going to cheapen their way to empty ships. :mad:

[The Big Booper]

That is just what they want you to do.:eek: More money for Royal,they are going to cheapen their way to empty ships. :mad:

 

Our cruise on the Oasis last month was our first with the "new" menus. Not totally impressed with the meals but I found out what the good choices were and am ready for Allure in Dec. We usually don't do specialty restaurants (as of now) but maybe in Dec.

[CarnieAddict]

So you came over to the RCI boards to defend Carnivals honor? Too funny. :D:p:D:rolleyes:

 

No. I was just looking to see what people were saying about RCI cause I was thinking about trying the Allure or Quantum in 2015.

[The Big Booper]

No. I was just looking to see what people were saying about RCI cause I was thinking about trying the Allure or Quantum in 2015.

 

Allure and Oasis are spectacular in design and execution and are worth the money if you take advantage of all the "free" attractions, shows and events. Plus over 20 eateries. The Grandeur is almost 20 years old.

[mommabean]

Some thoughts on this long thread.

 

1. Undoubtedly, some one in PR filters the E-Mail in Adam's public E-Mail box and forwards a select few to him for a possible reply.

 

2. Food is subjective so what I like (well done) is not something my wife would like (mooing), And that is just on steak .

 

3. I can always find something I like, might take a couple of tries. The waiters learn your preferences real fast so ask them.

 

3. Hyperbole and dramatics in the original post wave a red flag with a target saying ..............flame me!

 

4. Paragraphs are your best friend, make it easier to read the original post instead of eye's glazing over.

 

Wasn't it easy to read my reply???

 

I could say counting is your best friend, too. ;) But I won't.

 

I agree with 1 through the first number 3. The second number 3 is wrong. People around here need no excuse at all to flame anyone.

 

Number 4 which is really number 5 makes no difference. Does anyone sit around on the ship and tell people they aren't going to listen to them because they speak as they think? I've heard a whole lot of poor grammar on the ship. I've heard fragmented grammar on the ships. And often times this comes from the crew, not just passengers. I like hearing what they all have to say. But I have no trouble navigating the accents either without becoming bored and turning them off. No one is perfect.

 

OP's OP was fine and readable. It wasn't being turned in for a grade.

 

Gina

[The Big Booper]

I could say counting is your best friend, too. ;) But I won't.

 

I agree with 1 through the first number 3. The second number 3 is wrong. People around here need no excuse at all to flame anyone.

 

Number 4 which is really number 5 makes no difference. Does anyone sit around on the ship and tell people they aren't going to listen to them because they speak as they think? I've heard a whole lot of poor grammar on the ship. I've heard fragmented grammar on the ships. And often times this comes from the crew, not just passengers. I like hearing what they all have to say. But I have no trouble navigating the accents either without becoming bored and turning them off. No one is perfect.

 

OP's OP was fine and readable. It wasn't being turned in for a grade.

 

Gina

 

I inserted another bullet point and forgot to renumber.:eek: My screwup:eek: Hopefully none of my clients see this and haze me when we meet for tax season.

 

More seriously, I had trouble reading the OP's complaint because as you get older the eye loses some of the ability to scan back and forth in a long paragraph and keep to the proper lines. Gina, as you get past 50 someday you will realize this point.:)

[Eriksgarden]

Don't get me wrong. We love cruises and only go with Royal. But if it gets to where we nickel and dime every little thing that doesn't go our way, then perhaps we need to look for another vacation experience. A bad day on a ship beats work!

[CruizAddct]

With all do respect you opened up your self for some flames when you said you looked down on some cruise lines. People will defend what they like.

 

I'll give you that... sorry if I offended anyone. That's my 1980's cruising attitutde when RCI liked to brainwash into believing RCI was the ONLY cruiseline and Carnival was just for the partiers (which I've heard a lot of good things about Carnival lately that seems to show they are definitely improving).

[cruisinfanatic]

I beg to differ. Send him something positive titled "something positive for a change" in the subject line and he WILL personally respond. :)

 

 

 

 

 

I have no reason to believe this was some canned response from a PR person. The PR department told me specifically he personally forwarded my email to them.

 

Does this make me special? Absolutely not! But dont go thinking he doesnt read his emails :) I will agree that the thousands of complaints he gets a day will surely get passed along for sure I imagine.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=33715012&postcount=33

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=33887495&postcount=1

 

He also wrote about it in his blog.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/connect/blog/royal-caribbean-helps-a-cruiser-find-something-they-cherish-most-memories/

Dream on. No way he responds, sees or reads the thousand of emails sent to the address.

More like the PR dept sends him a few relevant emails

Edited October 24, 2013 by SeaUs

[Tapi]

1. Undoubtedly, some one in PR filters the E-Mail in Adam's public E-Mail box and forwards a select few to him for a possible reply.

 

This has to be the case. Does Adam reply to emails? Yes, but after having a team weed out the emails that don't stand out.

 

I was watching yesterday a Behind the Scenes episode of a popular TV show where the hosts read and reply to emails from the audience. On the show, they make it sound like the hosts sit on their laptops and receive just a handful of emails. On the Behind the Scenes episode, they revealed that they have an entire department which needs to weed through 25,000 DAILY EMAILS! :Eek: I bet that Adam has his own little team weeding out emails as well.

[Retiringworkingstiff]

Thanks so much to ALL of you who saw what I was seeing happening here. I have some pretty thick skin, but come on... It was an attack-fest by many (not all, by any means).

 

To anyone who is interested, here was my surpisingly quick response from RCI:

 

Thank you for your e-mail. We welcome the opportunity to further address any concerns. We realize when it comes to cruising you have many options. Thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International.

 

The dining experience is a crucial part of a cruise and we work very hard to ensure we have excellent service, as well as enjoyable cuisine with a varied selection for our guests to choose from. Despite our best intentions and efforts, we realize this does not always occur on every sailing. I am sorry to hear of the disappointment you experienced with the dining onboard. It is important for us to be made aware of how we are performing in this area, as we are dedicated to satisfying the many varied tastes and preferences of our guests. We are sorry that we let you down regarding your dining enjoyment onboard. Your input is valuable in assisting us to determine where we need to improve to provide an excellent dining experience.

 

Our primary goal is for each guest to enjoy the best possible cruise and we regret that our efforts fell short of your expectations in regards to maintaining certain areas of the ship, especially your stateroom. We are committed to fully maintaining our ships and share your disappointment that the appearance of this area was below our standards. Your feedback is truly appreciated.

 

Additionally, we do our best to ensure that we fulfill our guests’ expectations. I am especially pleased you enjoyed the entertainment acts onboard. Thank you for sharing your positive impressions with us. They will be delighted to learn that they played an important part in creating a memorable experience.

 

We welcome the perspective you offer as a returning guest. Thank you for making us aware of your additional concerns, including the lack of special amenities for Crown and Anchor Society members, the stationery set and chocolates in the stateroom, and seating for the nightly entertainment. Additionally, I have noted your suggestion regarding the pricing concerns and the services that are covered by the cruise fare. Each point raised will be thoroughly documented and shared with our operations teams as this feedback is of great importance to us. We continually strive to improve our performance in order to assure our guests the most rewarding cruising experience. It is always our goal to provide you with a thoroughly enjoyable cruise vacation and we sincerely regret any disappointment you may have experienced..

 

We realize we must earn your business by providing the best possible service both on and off our ships. Again, it is my pleasure to be your personal contact. Please feel free to direct any additional questions or concerns to me and I will be happy to help. We sincerely appreciate your loyal patronage and look forward to welcoming you and your husband on the Legend of the Seas in March, 2015

A canned response, well drafted though!

 

As someone else has mentioned, CEOs of large companies don't reply to emails of this nature, they would not be utilizing their preciously time effectively.

 

Rather, I hazard to guess those companies have PR Departments (English majors, I am not one of those for sure), that handle email complaints, smoothly, regardless of how harsh those emails might sound.

[Tapi]

A bad day on a ship beats work!

 

Some of those who sailed on the Carnival Triumph back in April might have a different opinion on that. :o

 

Personally, when I read that saying, I think that people either have real crappy jobs or they haven't had a really bad day on a cruise.

[CruizAddct]

Don't get me wrong. We love cruises and only go with Royal. But if it gets to where we nickel and dime every little thing that doesn't go our way, then perhaps we need to look for another vacation experience. A bad day on a ship beats work!

 

I agree and never said I'd rather be working NOR that I had any bad days, only that I thought things were really going down hill, particularly the food (ON THE GRANDEUR which I've been on before). Unless you had been there tasting the food, I don't think you really have a right to tell me that I'm "nickel and diming thing".

 

Enough said... I got everyone's comments and I very humbly thank each one of you (particularly Gina) for standing up for me as I have moved through the shark tank.

 

As Gregg so graciously put it when he said " Some times you need to just walk away from your computer when the dissection of your posting begins. You raised some valid points and there is no need to defend your comments. Some will agree, some will disagree, and some will just keep picking away because they just enjoy it. It's the nature of the beast on a public forum.

__________________

Gregg

Thanks Gregg for reminding me that just because I'm invited to a fight, doesn't mean I have to participate. I'm closing from this thread because I think it is only re-hashing things over and over and the points have clearly been made by all. If you all want to re-hash any more, have at it. I'll sign off though.

 

Thanks again for the longest non-precruise thread I've ever started, I'd like to have said it was good chatting with you all, but I'll have to say, to some of you instead. Take care and may you ALL have wonderful cruising in the future...

Edited October 24, 2013 by CruizAddct

[mommabean]

I inserted another bullet point and forgot to renumber. My screwup:eek: Hopefully none of my clients see this and haze me when we meet for tax season.

 

More seriously, I had trouble reading the OP's complaint because as you get older the eye loses some of the ability to scan back and forth in a long paragraph and keep to the proper lines. Gina, as you get past 50 someday you will realize this point.:)

 

:) Thank you for the compliment. ;)

 

I can read without glasses but with my progressive lenses on, I get a neck ache from all the head turning. I do miss a lot at the sides of each line with glasses. Today is a no glasses day so I have an excuse for "catching" you. ;) I'm nearsighted enough that I'll be able to read with no glasses until the end most likely. :)

 

Gina

[Big_G]

Gina, as you get past 50 someday you will realize this point.:)

 

What a suck up! :D:D:D

[Editrix]

Rather, I hazard to guess those companies have PR Departments . . .

 

And lawyers.

 

Every message issued to the public or an individual on behalf of a company (or its president) is carefully worded, and vetted. Corporate communications are very tightly controlled.

 

The lawyers make sure of it.

[Colorado Babe]

Yes, everything is subjective, but do you have to be so critical of EVERYTHING anyone says? They have a right to their opinion. I talked to NOT ONE person on that ship that liked the food (and we were traveling with 6 people who all have cruised before who said the shrimp and lobster were like rubber, the food choices were very limited and repeated often (ie: turkey 2 nights instead of one and I'm NOT talking about the daily optional choices)). I'm glad you have had good food. I've had good food AND choices on many other RCI ships... this one, not so good. My opinion and I'm entitled to it.

 

Well said!

[Wilda]

I agree and never said I'd rather be working NOR that I had any bad days, only that I thought things were really going down hill, particularly the food (ON THE GRANDEUR which I've been on before). Unless you had been there tasting the food, I don't think you really have a right to tell me that I'm "nickel and diming thing".

 

Enough said... I got everyone's comments and I very humbly thank each one of you (particularly Gina) for standing up for me as I have moved through the shark tank.

 

As Gregg so graciously put it when he said " Some times you need to just walk away from your computer when the dissection of your posting begins. You raised some valid points and there is no need to defend your comments. Some will agree, some will disagree, and some will just keep picking away because they just enjoy it. It's the nature of the beast on a public forum.

__________________

Gregg

Thanks Gregg for reminding me that just because I'm invited to a fight, doesn't mean I have to participate. I'm closing from this thread because I think it is only re-hashing things over and over and the points have clearly been made by all. If you all want to re-hash any more, have at it. I'll sign off though.

 

Thanks again for the longest non-precruise thread I've ever started, I'd like to have said it was good chatting with you all, but I'll have to say, to some of you instead. Take care and may you ALL have wonderful cruising in the future...

 

You voiced your concerns on this board and I am still left to wonder (see my earlier post on this thread) did you complain about these issues while you were on board? Did you tell the waiter you had ressies for a show? Did you ask your cabin attendant to replace or clean the furniture on the deck? Did you ask the waiter for an alternative food choice on those 3 nights when there was nothing to eat?

 

If yes, then you certainly have a legitimate complaint if nothing was done or they could not come up with alternatives or a fix.

 

I believe that we are all ultimately responsible for our vacation and if something is not to our liking then it is up to us to voice our concern, displeasure, complaint to rectify the issue. Otherwise the company (in this case RCI) does not have the opportunity to fix it because they don't know about it

 

Did you address your concerns while you were on the ship?

Edited October 24, 2013 by Wilda

[JimAOk1945]

We enjoy cruising on RCI. We have received excellent service in all of the venues.

[monkey_wants_banana]

I sent AGoldstein an e-mail today as this thread touched on that topic, and sure enough, I received a reply that was personalized to me in 2 lines.

 

I have a 1% belief that he actually read my e-mail/responded to it for two reasons:

 

1) He in no way describes in any detail any of the content the video link I sent him (which he mentioned as a "nice video"). This is a classic sign of a PR/customer service rep who reads e-mails and responds to them as fast as possible.

 

2) He responded at 5:56 PM. Normally, that wouldn't be a huge issue but this means if this e-mail was vetted and sent to him, he looked at it at 8:56 PM since he resides in Miami-Dade.

 

Assuming we all accept that e-mails are filtered and sorted, and ones of importance are actually sent to Adam, this leaves room for 3 explanations:

option a - Adam burns the candle at both ends, doesn't spend his off hours with his family and instead looks to answer e-mails during his on and off hours instead of worrying about multi million dollar decisions.

option b - He actually answered ryano's e-mail, and mine was selectively answered by a PR/customer service rep

option c - A PR/customer service rep always answers all of them

 

a is not really logical for a Princeton/marketing genius who would be efficient, b seems very complicated with far too many variables for sorting, whilst c presents the most likely answer for myself.

 

If people still want to believe Adam answers some e-mails personally after knowing this, that's fine. But if you want results, I urge others to address them while they occur on the ship.

 

One of the most well known posters here actually commented on his e-mails before: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=15700487&postcount=4

 

Sound familiar?

[Nyrina4life]

Wow, sure looks like I'm in a minority with my opinion. I didn't mean to offend anyone. I was just stating my thoughts. You all have valid thoughts. I guess I should take a refresher course in english too :p:D.

 

For me, the letter made me a little sad. I imagine it may be hard for them to find the right balance?? You may have some within the company who feel that increasing prices, and bringing back some of the 'wow' factor would play well to their image, and then you have the others who want to ensure every cabin is filled. That just means a cut in services that wowed people, and keeping fairly cheap prices.

 

Everyone is welcome to their own opinion, and these things seem pretty personal and magical to you. Little things really do make a difference, regardless what people say.

 

Hopefully, someone will consider some adjustments. Also, just remember that if the company ever gets in hot water and needs to be turned around, they'll hire someone and that is the person who will usually be more likely to listen to what loyalist have to say. :o

[poncho1973]

option a - Adam burns the candle at both ends, doesn't spend his off hours with his family and instead looks to answer e-mails during his on and off hours instead of worrying about multi million dollar decisions.

option b - He actually answered ryano's e-mail, and mine was selectively answered by a PR/customer service rep

option c - A PR/customer service rep always answers all of them

 

I'm not sure why you are so black/white on this issue. I don't think these are all mutually exclusive answers.

 

When he has time, or rather, when he MAKES time... why can't he answer a few prescreened emails? I don't think you shooting off an email randomly proves your point.

 

He obviously doesn't have time to answer thousands of stupid emails about how the chicken wasn't like the chicken someone ate in 1992, but he probably has a pretty solid filter system put in place where he gets a select few on topics he wants to read.

 

Maybe, maybe not. However, just making a blanket statement that YOU KNOW WHAT HE DOES is pretty weird. I'm just not ruling out that he has a personal interest.

[ryano]

I sent AGoldstein an e-mail today as this thread touched on that topic, and sure enough, I received a reply that was personalized to me in 2 lines.

 

I have a 1% belief that he actually read my e-mail/responded to it for two reasons:

 

1) He in no way describes in any detail any of the content the video link I sent him (which he mentioned as a "nice video"). This is a classic sign of a PR/customer service rep who reads e-mails and responds to them as fast as possible.

 

2) He responded at 5:56 PM. Normally, that wouldn't be a huge issue but this means if this e-mail was vetted and sent to him, he looked at it at 8:56 PM since he resides in Miami-Dade.

 

Assuming we all accept that e-mails are filtered and sorted, and ones of importance are actually sent to Adam, this leaves room for 3 explanations:

option a - Adam burns the candle at both ends, doesn't spend his off hours with his family and instead looks to answer e-mails during his on and off hours instead of worrying about multi million dollar decisions.

option b - He actually answered ryano's e-mail, and mine was selectively answered by a PR/customer service rep

option c - A PR/customer service rep always answers all of them

 

a is not really logical for a Princeton/marketing genius who would be efficient, b seems very complicated with far too many variables for sorting, whilst c presents the most likely answer for myself.

 

If people still want to believe Adam answers some e-mails personally after knowing this, that's fine. But if you want results, I urge others to address them while they occur on the ship.

 

One of the most well known posters here actually commented on his e-mails before: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=15700487&postcount=4

 

Sound familiar?

 

I really have no way of proving to you or anyone else on this board that he answered my email directly or not and at this point, I really dont care to argue about it.

 

All I have to go on is the fact that I got an email from Adam Goldstein at almost 9pm at night thanking me for passing along my story and cruising with RCI.

 

I also have an email from their media department specifically saying Adam passed along my email to them and wanted me to be a WOW of the week if I agreed. I also have a voicemail from Justin at the Executive office in Miami that told me Adam also personally passed my email onto Freedom of the Seas so my stateroom attendant could be commended.

 

In his blog he specifically said he received an email from me.

 

Could that be one of his assistants writing all that? Of course it could. I never said it couldnt be :)

 

I happen to think that this time it was him specifically because it was a positive email and not the thousands of complaints that email address receives a day.

 

Again, in the end, no one here really cares and its not worth arguing over. :)

Edited October 25, 2013 by ryano

[ryano]

I'm not sure why you are so black/white on this issue. I don't think these are all mutually exclusive answers.

 

When he has time, or rather, when he MAKES time... why can't he answer a few prescreened emails? I don't think you shooting off an email randomly proves your point.

 

He obviously doesn't have time to answer thousands of stupid emails about how the chicken wasn't like the chicken someone ate in 1992, but he probably has a pretty solid filter system put in place where he gets a select few on topics he wants to read.

 

Maybe, maybe not. However, just making a blanket statement that YOU KNOW WHAT HE DOES is pretty weird. I'm just not ruling out that he has a personal interest.

 

I agree :)

[BecciBoo]

Came back to see what goes...this is the perfect example of my pet peeve on CC.

These threads should be a reflection/report of the OP's experience and opinions....but not a vehicle for correction of grammar and derogatory comments about the poster.

People should just state their opinion on the subject, not their opinion of the poster or their style of writing....just saying:cool: That's what always gets the thread going downhill:(

Everyone always has a valid opinion, just because it's not yours does not mean it is not valid. I wish we could just learn here and not burn here!;)