On Oasis..Surprise price increases

[Tricia28]

Izumi sushi gets a $30 credit but as I just read the terms and conditions, it says "premium dinning experiences not included" and the hibachi is considered a premium it says. Crazy!!

 

*"Not valid for premium experiences including Chef's Table, wine pairings dinners, Hibachi teppanyaki experience and Mystery Dinner Theater."

We booked the Hibachi specifically online. The entree choices on the menu are $35 and $40. You cannot get any meal for $30 on the hibachi side it doesn't exist. We are eating there again tomorrow because it's a part of our dining package so I will have to see what happens. Charging $35 for just chicken is ridiculous I can eat cheaper at Benihana on land!

 

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[JamesEM]

And the cutbacks and price increases continue....

[Groucho]

I will never pay $45. Having eaten there last night we all agreed we would never pay full price. We only ate there because of the package deal. My husband paid the additional $21 to get lobster and said it wasn't worth it. Last year he tried the upgraded steaks and the quality was not good.

 

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At $39.00 pp Chops was too expensive; $45.00 pp is just stupid. Quality is not good. Service is nothing special. Their "Something Special" add on items, in my opinion, are a rip off.

 

We have canceled one Royal cruise this year and are starting to move away from Royal to other vacation options. I know they are in business to make money but I don't feel relaxed with Royal constantly in my pocket gouging me while on vacation. If people keep paying their price, they will keep charging more. Royal is about to lose a previously good customer because of their pricing and revenue "enhancement" practices.

[north29]

We have tried the specialty restaurants many times since we get the BOGOs. We have only had one restaurant on one ship that was truly worth the small up charge. We are not foodies but like well prepared quality meals of smaller portions not good food and in big portions. The service in our cases were not much better than the MDR. Some people seem to get better service than others. These seem to be the cruisers who frequent the ship and specialty restaurants.

Will we try a speciality restaurant again, probably but it would not be on a 7 day cruise, maybe a transatlantic or LONG cruise where you want a change and not the buffet.

I do realize that many cruisers are doing a once a year vacation on the ships, so why not go for a specialty restaurant it is your vacation go for what you believe you might enjoy and you probably will have a good time.

Edited December 18, 2015 by north29

[Clarea]

...LOL @ Royal $45 for Chops. Are they kidding?

We lost interest in Chops when the cost went over $30, now there's no chance at all.

[BillOh]

OP, thanks for the updates. No blasting from me. That Izumi manager should have NEVER given you a hassle to start with. You were prepaid. Whatever they change it to onboard shouldn't impact you one bit. He was totally wrong.

 

LOL @ Royal $45 for Chops. Are they kidding?

 

I already had Chops booked for $39 for May 2nd, I just checked on my cruise and I can still book for $39. I will not be paying more when I get there.

[LMaxwell]

In 2 years Chops has gone up 50%. And it was barely a deal at $30 for the old menu.

 

I don't like this ceaseless, incremental, and pervasive nickel and diming of guests. To do it to those that already prepaid is unfathomable. What if you prepay your service charges and you get on and they want more? :rolleyes:

[The Fun Researcher]

Folks, remember the single seating price is now based on RCI's fantastic results from stateroom BOGOHO.

 

They are manipulating the base price in order to entice a multiple purchase.

 

This is how the majority of consumer marketing is today. "Black Friday" forever.

 

Yeah, but the BOGO offers aren't as good as they seem. They jack up the price for the first cruiser, so the BOGO offer brings the price pretty much where it was a few years back without BOGO.

 

Dan

[Ocean Boy]

Thanks for posting. I'll definitely be watching the receipt price on our up coming cruise. It had best match the price I am told when placing an order.

[Lionesss]

When we sailed the Oasis this summer, we were denied a rebate for booking an excursion.

 

Last summer was a promotion that if you book 2 excursions on line and the third on board you would get a $25 price reduction.

 

So I printed it and took it with me when I made that booking.

 

The RCI worker said he knew nothing about it and would not honor it.

 

So went to the conciernage lounge showed him the offer and it was taken care of.

 

Frustrating that it was dealt with in a round about way, but got it taken care of.

 

Safe travels.

Edited December 18, 2015 by Lionesss

[LMaxwell]

Also, how do you think the ongoing higher tier discounts and perks are paid for? Millions of D, D+ and P cruisers need to be subsidized somewhere!

 

I hardly think the answer is to both increase prices and decrease quality. If Royal needs to pay for their loyalty programs, and they have increased prices to do so, then quality should remain or improve.

 

Charging more and shorting your customers, because the customer is the "problem" is just a good formula to drive them away.

 

In other words, Royal better examine it's bang for the buck ratio, because it's getting kind of lopsided.

[Tricia28]

When we sailed the Oasis this summer, we were denied a rebate for booking an excursion.

 

Last summer was a promotion that if you book 2 excursions on line and the third on board you would get a $25 price reduction.

 

So I printed it and took it with me when I made that booking.

 

The RCI worker said he knew nothing about it and would not honor it.

 

So went to the conciernage lounge showed him the offer and it was taken care of.

 

Frustrating that it was dealt with in a round about way, but got it taken care of.

 

Safe travels.

We did the same thing last year when December cruisers booking a drink package were promised a full bottle of champagne. We had to show the corporate email/flyer and they took 2 days to confirm it with corporate. No one knew about it onboard. It's the constant work to price check and argue over things that is a major reason I will be looking for other vacation options this summer.

 

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[ZoeyVictoria]

Thank you for the address. I will be writing on my survey and a letter. I have debated speaking with the food and beverage manager on board but don't really want to take away any more time from my vacation.

 

It is possible to include a link to this thread in the last question on the survey (Comments). That would provide the details of your experience and also the opinions of others. Keep in mind, though, that the thread might be mysteriously locked soon after that. Don't ask me how I know this :rolleyes:

[NIATPAC29]

Loyalty to a brand is simply a choice. Make your choice another cruise line and see how you are treated. It pays to shop around even when cruising

[trihawks1]

My DD and her friends are currently on Oasis. They booked chops when they boarded for Thursday night but cancelled because they just felt the price was higher than they wanted to pay...same with Izumi Hibachi. So they ended up canceling and instead, paid the $16.95 for the steak from chops in the Main Dining room. The other issue they had was that they had an excursion pre-booked online to Blue Lagoon booked thru the ship...it was raining and they decided after getting off the ship that they did not want to do the excursion in the rain. They went back on the ship and asked for a refund and was told No Refund. I knew they have a 24 hr cancellation policy. However, this is exactly why we don't like booking excursions thru the ship. In the past if it is raining, we have been able to cancel and receive our prepaid costs refunded. Never again will I book an excursion thru the ship for this reason.

Edited December 18, 2015 by trihawks1

[akcruz]

I sure do hope this is not another new trend. In the past I have booked a specialty restaurant pre-cruise at a lower price than it was offered onboard. In our case we were not charged the new price which is the way it should be. If they start making me pay more for something I have already paid for it won't be a pretty thing.

 

We had been doing 1 or 2 nights a cruise in the specialty restaurants, last cruise none, their pricing is just pushing it to the ridiculous range. Just like the cabanas on the private islands!! My bet is they are trying to see how far they can push them before everyone revolts and stops booking.

[Duke Mazer]

Very, very disapointed. Chops at $45USD is crazy. Looks like a package is the only way to get a decent price. So looks like they followed the drinks policy, make one off super expensive and push people to the packages they don't really want.

 

We only wanted to go to Chops and Sabor. Now I think we will drop Chops too bad DW and I have been talking about those truffle corn for a year.

 

A year ago chops was $35 now it's $45, that a 29% increase in one year. So they make their MDR quality go down, and then hike the speciality restaurants. Real disrespect for their clients, I think it's time to JUMP SHIP:D

[Tricia28]

One of the waiters commented that Oasis was a "test ship". He said the company liked to try out policies on Oasis before rolling it out fleet wide. Last year a staff member took me up the staircase from the deck 11 lounge to show me where they were working on Wonderland. Of course now the area is being used as a second story now that Diamond Plus has been moved with Diamond in the concierge lounge. The acrylic signs by the elevator list Wonderland as being on the ship. I swear they just go about all these changes with no thought as to what the other department is doing. We were called in our cabin and asked if we wanted to book Chef's Table and no mention was made of the fact that it was just a separate table in the suite lounge. I was glad I investigated before I was unable to cancel. We occasionally book Chef's when with new guests and we were going to take my friend who flew from Ireland to take the cruise with us.

 

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[whitshel]

We booked the Hibachi specifically online. The entree choices on the menu are $35 and $40. You cannot get any meal for $30 on the hibachi side it doesn't exist. We are eating there again tomorrow because it's a part of our dining package so I will have to see what happens. Charging $35 for just chicken is ridiculous I can eat cheaper at Benihana on land!

 

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Let us know if they allow the hibachi since the terms specifically say no hibachi grill.

 

Thx

[TonyFred]

I gave NCL a try on my last cruise. Although NCL cruisers are complaining about high prices, etc, I found the food superior to RCCL and the prices lower. I still like Royal ships better but hearing things like what is being discussed here is really convincing me to go with NCL in the future. No way Chops is worth 45 bucks. I had a hard time with the 39 dollar price.

[Tricia28]

Let us know if they allow the hibachi since the terms specifically say no hibachi grill.

 

Thx

I will see what happens tonight but my reservation is specifically for the hibachi grill and my online reservation was printed as hibachi grill not the sushi side. It would be like paying 40 for chops but then when you get in there nothing is 40 and you have to pay an additional $5 to eat

 

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[js]

I would call RCCL or Crown and Anchor before you board and get it in writing. I really had to pitch a fit over the 5 dollars in Izumi and they seemed to think they were doing me a huge favor to take it off. The manager called a supervisor and they argued over it!

 

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Thank you very much!

I do not plan on paying an additional $55 since I have already prepaid everyone.

I would certainly have a manager and supervisor discuss even if $5 since I did prepay.

[Setting sail for fun]

I always thought the benefit of pre-paying for drink packages, restaurants, excursions and so forth was to lock in the present price. It seems unfair to change it after boarding.

[cruisingagentone]

I didn't read page 2 of this thread so if this has been posted forgive me, but could this be for the holiday sailings? I know this week is not considered a holiday but its just a thought. Its pretty dumb on RCI's part but corporate makes dumb decisions sometimes.

They are already having trouble filling those for pay restaurants so I can't see this as a new thing. I was on Oasis the Nov 28 sailing and they were offering 30% off in the for pay places.

[beachnative]

One of the waiters commented that Oasis was a "test ship". He said the company liked to try out policies on Oasis before rolling it out fleet wide. Last year a staff member took me up the staircase from the deck 11 lounge to show me where they were working on Wonderland. Of course now the area is being used as a second story now that Diamond Plus has been moved with Diamond in the concierge lounge. The acrylic signs by the elevator list Wonderland as being on the ship. I swear they just go about all these changes with no thought as to what the other department is doing. We were called in our cabin and asked if we wanted to book Chef's Table and no mention was made of the fact that it was just a separate table in the suite lounge. I was glad I investigated before I was unable to cancel. We occasionally book Chef's when with new guests and we were going to take my friend who flew from Ireland to take the cruise with us.

 

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We ate at Chef's Table on the Oasis in July.

 

During the meal: people walked by in shorts talking loudly, some even came close to see what was being served, noise from both the Suites Lounge and Coastal Kitchen made it difficult to hear everything being said at the table.

 

A glass wall should have been installed to divide Chef's Table from the rest of the area.

 

I doubt that we will eat at Chef's Table on the Oasis or Allure again.

 

Chef's Table on the Anthem is in the back of Chops with a dividing wall and door….a much better environment.