North Star & IFly charges??

[CVU]

The OP's upcoming cruises are on Quantum, not Anthem. This appears to be a charge on a ship in a very different market. Hope RCI doesn't get any ideas about doing this on Anthem.

I read on a RCL Blog it was Only Quantum. From their blog......

 

Rides on North Star and Ripcord had been complimentary until now on all Quantum class ships.

 

There is no indication of a pricing change for these experiences on sister ship Anthem of the Seas.

 

Guests on Quantum of the Seas will now be charged $20 for a ride on North Star or $26 for a 1 minute Ripcord by iFly flight.

 

Quantum of the Seas, the cruise line's first Quantum class cruise ship, is offering cruises in Asia and Australia and is now charging for rides made in advance via the Cruise Planner web site.

Edited December 24, 2015 by CVU

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

I read on a RCL Blog it was Only Quantum. From their blog......

 

Rides on North Star and Ripcord had been complimentary until now on all Quantum class ships.

 

There is no indication of a pricing change for these experiences on sister ship Anthem of the Seas.

 

Guests on Quantum of the Seas will now be charged $20 for a ride on North Star or $26 for a 1 minute Ripcord by iFly flight.

 

Quantum of the Seas, the cruise line's first Quantum class cruise ship, is offering cruises in Asia and Australia and is now charging for rides made in advance via the Cruise Planner web site.

 

Personally, this strikes me as a change for the Asian market. They cruise differently than us Americans, so it makes sense that things are done differently over there. I think it would be an awfully bad idea if they charge for the attractions on Anthem - both for the customer, and RCI in general.

Edited December 24, 2015 by OfTheSeasCruiser

[Baron Barracuda]

Rode North Star on Q last March and didn't think it was a big deal. Nice view, but not worth paying for. In port it they wouldn't even move it from side to side. Actually rode it twice, just walked on at a time when there was no line. Over course of cruise line had lots of ebb and flow. DW did IFly and loved it. If they're going to charge for it though then charges for Flowrider and bumper cars can't be far behind.

[John&LaLa]

Here's a thought. Book to those willing to pay online, offer the rest as a promo for booking a ships excursion or specialty restaurant. Any slots left can go to stand by for free

[The_Big_M]

Personally, this strikes me as a change for the Asian market. They cruise differently than us Americans, so it makes sense that things are done differently over there. I think it would be an awfully bad idea if they charge for the attractions on Anthem - both for the customer, and RCI in general.

 

I think it's an awfully bad idea for the consumer and RCI in general as it is.

 

They have given one weeks' notice, at the beginning of the holiday season. They have introduced a charge for something they have promoted to all those who have booked as complimentary. And they have massively increased the cost.

 

Nothing you have posted justifies how it is 'different' for the Asian market.

 

It is akin to charging $60 for a complimentary breakfast that is included in your hotel booking. And yes, in the Asian market they also have breakfast included in hotel bookings and they also would not consider it acceptable that someone tries to charge for what is included in the booking.

[Merion_Mom]

I think it's an awfully bad idea for the consumer and RCI in general as it is.

 

They have given one weeks' notice, at the beginning of the holiday season. They have introduced a charge for something they have promoted to all those who have booked as complimentary. And they have massively increased the cost.

 

Nothing you have posted justifies how it is 'different' for the Asian market.

 

It is akin to charging $60 for a complimentary breakfast that is included in your hotel booking. And yes, in the Asian market they also have breakfast included in hotel bookings and they also would not consider it acceptable that someone tries to charge for what is included in the booking.

 

I agree that this is an egregiously bad idea.

[TonRin]

Personally, this strikes me as a change for the Asian market. They cruise differently than us Americans, so it makes sense that things are done differently over there.

 

How do they cruise differently????? They book in advance and pay in advance, they turn up and embark, they eat, swim, go on excursions and then disembark.. Probably the only things they do differently is they gamble more and go to bed earlier! Absolutley no difference to Americans at all!

 

The extras for me are ok with no kids... I know there is a Canadian family on the same cruise as me with 4 kids.. Their costs will be crazy!

[littlesteelo]

I think it's a real shame that they keep adding all these charges and putting up the prices of things. I first sailed with RCI not all that long ago in 2010 and in that 5 years the prices of the speciality restaurants have gone up by about £15 and the drinks prices have doubled to prices at which for $12 I can only really afford to have a drink every other night.

 

It's a bitter pill to swallow in order to get the experience of sailing on their ships, but at the moment the amount of included things and the overall experience is only just enough to balance it for me. I don't expect them to be giving us everything for nothing, but how many price increases can people really withstand before just moving elsewhere?

 

I personally wouldn't pay at all for the North Star or the iFly simply for what they are, the amount of time not being worth $20/30. Having them free however is something which makes the ship more attractive, and is one of the things which keeps me from going elsewhere when the cost of other extras go up.

Edited December 25, 2015 by littlesteelo

[Merion_Mom]

They have doubled the price of cabanas on Nellie's Beach.

 

I saw many many many empty cabanas last month.

[Coralc]

I think it's an awfully bad idea for the consumer and RCI in general as it is.

 

They have given one weeks' notice, at the beginning of the holiday season. They have introduced a charge for something they have promoted to all those who have booked as complimentary. And they have massively increased the cost.

 

Nothing you have posted justifies how it is 'different' for the Asian market.

 

It is akin to charging $60 for a complimentary breakfast that is included in your hotel booking. And yes, in the Asian market they also have breakfast included in hotel bookings and they also would not consider it acceptable that someone tries to charge for what is included in the booking.

 

I think they forgot to look up the definition of complimentary in the dictionary as well. :rolleyes:

 

If something is advertised as "Complimentary"...it shouldn't be immediately followed by a fee or charge in the cruise planner. :mad:

[John&LaLa]

They have doubled the price of cabanas on Nellie's Beach.

 

I saw many many many empty cabanas last month.

 

Carol, have you heard if BB cabanas are going up. Rahul told Laura only the OTW were going up substantially

[xpcdoojk]

I have 2 flow riders about an hour from where I live. I haven't visited either. I cruise to flow ride. I.E., I book RCI, if I had to pay extra, I would just drive an hour away and pay. I book RCI because I can do those things as part of the experience. If they made it per play to pay.... I would go to the waterparks nearby.

 

The cruise is my vacation. I cruise RCI because I like to be active. I can do other vacation, and frequently do.

 

JC

[Coralc]

I have 2 flow riders about an hour from where I live. I haven't visited either. I cruise to flow ride. I.E., I book RCI, if I had to pay extra, I would just drive an hour away and pay. I book RCI because I can do those things as part of the experience. If they made it per play to pay.... I would go to the waterparks nearby.

 

The cruise is my vacation. I cruise RCI because I like to be active. I can do other vacation, and frequently do.

 

JC

 

We have iFly about 20 minutes from our house. We might try it on a cruise if it was complimentary, to see if we enjoyed it. We have never visited our nearby location.

Link: https://www.iflyworld.com/sfbay/

 

:rolleyes:

Edited December 25, 2015 by Coralc

[chocho712]

Having gone on the Quantum in July (out of China), I'll tell you why they did increased the price. The lines were beyond outrageous for North Star, and people were mobbing and pushing and shoving each other. It was always absolutely jammed.

 

Also, some of the guests were under the impression they could just go and come whenever they wanted for IFly, not understanding the "1st time free" logic, and not all of the crew enforced it.

 

It's unfortunate, but I understand why they did it. For the more civil crowd on Anthem, and for the first few months of Ovation (until it reaches the end of it's world journey), I hope they keep it for free. However, they desperately needed some mechanism of crowd control, and I suppose this is one method of doing that.

[Coralc]

Having gone on the Quantum in July (out of China), I'll tell you why they did increased the price. The lines were beyond outrageous for North Star, and people were mobbing and pushing and shoving each other. It was always absolutely jammed.

 

Also, some of the guests were under the impression they could just go and come whenever they wanted for IFly, not understanding the "1st time free" logic, and not all of the crew enforced it.

 

It's unfortunate, but I understand why they did it. For the more civil crowd on Anthem, and for the first few months of Ovation (until it reaches the end of it's world journey), I hope they keep it for free. However, they desperately needed some mechanism of crowd control, and I suppose this is one method of doing that.

 

That is a very interesting perspective on why there might be a charge. I never even thought of that. Thank you for sharing your onboard experience.

[The_Big_M]

With all the technology they have, they could enforce bookings and swiping a sea pass to get in, which would ensure 1 per person. Similarly, the only means to handle queues is not to add a charge... otherwise the buffet would need a charge on a number of cruises!

 

I also looked at the link coralc supplied. 2 flights for a 1st timer are $62 there, and RCL are intending to charge almost half that for 1 flight. So it appears the charging basis is moving to a similar full commercial basis i.e. make money like any other venture, rather than just as a pricing disincentive to discourage queues.

 

In any case, even if that was a poor justification, it doesn't address the retrospective application to cruisers who already made bookings on the basis that these were included. That doesn't justify changing with one week's notice in any way.

[Aussieflyer]

Yes, pricing can be used for crowd control but there are other ways; this sounds a lot like price gouging to me. Hit a particular ship in a particular area. It would be a bit easier to swallow if RCI charged on all Quantum class ships (and no, I am not advocating that at all just that if it is deemed fair for one it should be fair for all).

[Merion_Mom]

Carol, have you heard if BB cabanas are going up. Rahul told Laura only the OTW were going up substantially

 

Nellie's Beach.

[TonRin]

With all the technology they have, they could enforce bookings and swiping a sea pass to get in, which would ensure 1 per person. Similarly, the only means to handle queues is not to add a charge... otherwise the buffet would need a charge on a number of cruises!

 

I also looked at the link coralc supplied. 2 flights for a 1st timer are $62 there, and RCL are intending to charge almost half that for 1 flight. So it appears the charging basis is moving to a similar full commercial basis i.e. make money like any other venture, rather than just as a pricing disincentive to discourage queues.

 

In any case, even if that was a poor justification, it doesn't address the retrospective application to cruisers who already made bookings on the basis that these were included. That doesn't justify changing with one week's notice in any way.

 

If Cruise Critic had a 'LIKE' button, I would push it!

I just booked and paid for the IFly and North Star because I don't want to miss out, but I am damn sure I will have my say when I get on board!

I hope they are worth the hassle!

[sky0000547]

Having gone on the Quantum in July (out of China), I'll tell you why they did increased the price. The lines were beyond outrageous for North Star, and people were mobbing and pushing and shoving each other. It was always absolutely jammed.

 

 

 

Also, some of the guests were under the impression they could just go and come whenever they wanted for IFly, not understanding the "1st time free" logic, and not all of the crew enforced it.

 

 

 

It's unfortunate, but I understand why they did it. For the more civil crowd on Anthem, and for the first few months of Ovation (until it reaches the end of it's world journey), I hope they keep it for free. However, they desperately needed some mechanism of crowd control, and I suppose this is one method of doing that.

 

 

But at AUD28/USD20 to manage the crowd.

[shipfriend_max]

I agree that it's disturbing to see RCI charging for North Star and iFly on Quantum, but I wouldn't hold out NCL's making the Asian restaurant "free" as any big deal. I've eaten at the "free" Asian restaurant on the NCL Gem and it wasn't worth it at that price. It was simply terrible.

 

Maybe you had just bad luck with the crew operating in the Asian restaurant, I've also read many positive reviews - I am sure it was a bad exception, although I am not happy for you... :o

 

But back to RCCL and the charges for iFly and North Star: The argument to avoid lines does not count for me! All the cruises on Quantum and Oasis Class ships are even higher than other RCCL cruises, and for the signature attractions, RCCL charges! There's absolutely NO value for money?

 

Does RCCL intend to reach the level and image of budget lines such as Costa and MSC? Or do they rather want to compete with NCL, or even Princess?

According to the value for money, rather the former, in terms of cruise fares, rather the latter!

 

I am just waiting for the charges for bumper cars, FlowRider, and ice skating rink... :rolleyes:

[roquejo]

 

NCL and Princess implement changes in favor of the clients - e. g. introducing new COMPLIMENTARY dessert innovations (Princess), or including the Asian restaurant (NCL). Nothing like that at RCCL...

 

iFly (one minute!!) - 26 $; North Star 20$ - thanks RCCL - finally, me is the desire passed for sailing with one of your newer ships!!! :mad:

 

It seems don't know anything about NCL to say that. NCL is even worse than RCCL when it comes to nickle and diming.. I even sailed NCL before RCCL and for a time sailing equally both NCL and RCCL... until some of my planned NCL's sailings now went to Celebrity instead because of these.

 

Let's see:

 

charging for room service, then banning people to take out food to their stateroom (which they backtracked later), lately charging gratuities for promo free beverage packages (when for Celebrity it is complete free), changing cruise cancellation policies effective Jan 1 to less favorable, lately charging for Margaritaville in Escape when it is initially offered as complimentary, increasing gratuities 2X in a span of few months.. and some other things..

 

I suggest you do research more regarding NCL on this forum before you come up with that statement... I still sail NCL at times that is why I still aware of their current changes and policies.

Edited December 25, 2015 by roquejo

[LMaxwell]

What an iRipoff.

[monctonguy]

It saddens me and disappoints me as well with RCI.

 

I only started cruising in 2013 and the amount of extra charges, increased fees and limits/restrictions on what you get when you book the cruise amaze me.

 

Not to mention the increase in cost just for base cruises.....

 

They will get away with this for awhile...but it will catch up with them soon enough if they keep going this way. I can't imagine cruising with a family of 4 and wanting to enjoy all the activities that are offered but you have to pay for.

[newjoisey]

just off the 12/12 anthem......there was no charge for ifly and north star. There was a rumor that they charged for a second ride on these. WE CANNOT CONFIRM THAT.