Very, very disappointed with the hard sell on Liberty of the Seas

[Nado44]

Recently off Brilliance. I, too, noticed the hard sell right from the very minute I boarded. Embarkation should be a positive experience and not one where we're hounded to make purchases.

 

I made mention of this in the survey that was received soon after disembarkation.

[sprint180]

I have never been on Royal but have cruised with Carnival, NCL, and Princess. I've never really even noticed the up sells. Don't know where I've been. Once in a while I see the gals trying to sign you up for a salon thing but I'm not interested so I walk on by. I've never ate at one of the paying restaurants on any ship and I think the food has been great. In fact I can't say I've had bad service although I'm sure there has been not up to par. I think if you go in looking to have fun and a wonderful time. That's what you will have. If something happens that you don't like. Move on, let it go. Cruises are way too fun to ruin with a bad attitude.

[perditax]

We just got off the NCL Breakaway and the HARD sales pitch 24/7 is the same if not worse. If that bothers you, Disney is your only option and 2-3x the price. There's a reason Disney is so much more expensive. RCI, Norwegian, and Carnival are all bad. Norwegian almost requires you to eat at a speciality restaurant each night by providing MDR food that is equivalent to dog food.

 

 

 

Can you be specific on what you personally consider to be "hard sell?" On RCI and X, people will actually approach you to buy dining packages (or so I have read). I've been on three NCL cruises since 2015 and no one but the ladies in the spa trying to hook people for a "seminar" have ever approached me about anything.

 

I don't consider the daily newsletter full of shopping opportunities to be a hard sell. I consider someone forcing me into an uninvited conversation about buying something to be a hard sell. The latter has never happened to me on NCL, and believe me I am *not* an NCL cheerleader.

[molsonschooner]

I assume you are in a suite and not of the pneumatic tube showers.

that is what I was thinking. There is barely enough room in the tube for one person.

[nelblu]

that is what I was thinking. There is barely enough room in the tube for one person.

 

 

Doesn't matter, people will find a way even in the tube. At least you'll never fall down.

[Biker19]

NCL food in the main dining room was pretty much inedible and we will eat anything,

I think what the poster meant was that what is inedible to you is perfectly edible for 99% of the world population, including many of your fellow cruisers on NCL.

[Cruisenouvelle]

You're not the Lone Ranger! Celebrity is doing it as well, we just got off Silhouette last week, and lots of folks at the Ocean view Cafe entrances selling spa treatment s, specialty restaurant reservations, etc.

[pcur]

We got off the Liberty on 2/19, and thought it was one of our best cruises in 43+ years! We just ignore the tables and sales pitches: we're too busy gabbing to each other! Except, of course, our amazing Chops waiter, who we stopped to talk to any time he was out in the Windjammer entrance.

 

Crew is exceptional, cabin steward was extra-exceptional, and MTD was wonderful. Go off-schedule from the usual dining hours after 7pm. We ended requesting a great table for two the last 5 nights out of 7.

 

Who wants to have sex in the same room where their kids are sleeping???????

[sfaaa]

Hard sell bothering you? Just say NO and walk on. Why is it so hard?

[Sky616]

Just do it in Vintages. Nobody is ever in there.

 

 

Haha. Best post I've seen in a while.

[Mustang2015]

Yorks post cracked me up later along with this thread.

[frank808]

I have gone on a few cruises. I see them pushing the specialty restaurants and spa stuff. I don't mind them. If I want to chat I may stop and ask them questions about where they are from. None of this bothers me. Most of the time I am busy talking with my husband and taking pictures so I can scrapbook them. I must enjoy it since I keep going back! And I keep counting the days until I go again! Oh, and I truly love it so much I booked and paid for a trip for my three kids, their spouses and my grandchildren in August. I am beside myself with excitement. My husband and I live every single second! They can try to sell me on stuff all they want. It is up to me to buy it or not. I am hoping they are selling lanyards when we walk on the ship. I have four grandkids that need them!

No need to buy them lanyards. They will give them to the kids at adventure ocean.

 

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[jetta8300]

Can you be specific on what you personally consider to be "hard sell?" On RCI and X, people will actually approach you to buy dining packages (or so I have read). I've been on three NCL cruises since 2015 and no one but the ladies in the spa trying to hook people for a "seminar" have ever approached me about anything.

 

I don't consider the daily newsletter full of shopping opportunities to be a hard sell. I consider someone forcing me into an uninvited conversation about buying something to be a hard sell. The latter has never happened to me on NCL, and believe me I am *not* an NCL cheerleader.

 

So there were multiple things I would consider a "hard sell" with NCL that I hadn't seen elsewhere. The spa employees blocked the doors to the outside decks trying to get you to come into the spa. 2 people at each door. The spa emplyees were everywhere on the ship. They had tables setup everywhere on the ship for booking specialty dining. They had them in the promenade, in front of each restaurant, in the atrium, etc. trying to call you over to get you to book the specialty restaurants. The promenade shopping area had people calling out all the time trying to get you to come to the jewelry counters. They had tons of announcements in the staterooms throughout the day about the sales going on.

 

Every activity, whether it was in the atrium or the shows, seemed to have a 5-10 minutes sales schpeel beforehand. Whether it was about the drink package, dining package, jewelry sales, etc. It was definitely more than I had seen with the other cruise lines. It didn't impact our cruise. Im just saying if someone is annoyed by this with Royal, Switching to NCL is not going to help their cause.

[perditax]

I still think there's a distinction when someone interrupts your conversation or meal to try to get you to buy a dining package.

 

I just say "no thank you" and sidestep the spa ladies. They're not there all week, and they're not forming a human wall or anything. If someone interrupted my meal for a sales pitch, they would discover that I can be quite salty.

[Mustang2015]

Last cruise in December on the FOS I did notice spa folks outside of Windjammer and did get asked if I am looking for a spa treatment. I politely said no thanks and the employee respectively said ever change your mind come see us at. Same thing at the wind jammer a nice happy fellow dressed in Mexican atire asked us if we are interested in eating at his Mexican restaurant again declined and he moved on. I never felt any more up sell on our RCL cruise then anywhere else even less I thought. I was actually surprises there photophergers would offer then leave you alone.

[gagirl7143]

We too had a future cruise sales person be appalled when we went from a JS to an inside cabin on a future cruise we booked.

[emoji15][emoji851][emoji57]

 

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[Goodtime Cruizin]

Disney is all about kids. So making babies on their cruise ships is in their best interest. ;)

[Tapi]

On Disney, passengers enter the ship to beautiful music playing. An announcer says excitedly, "Disney would like to welcome the SMITH family!" as uniformed crew members clap and cheer. The difference in the Royal Caribbean experience is jolting.

 

 

Disney pays attention to the little details, like playing beautiful music as your name is announced when you board the ship, But those little details come with a price tag. A BIG price tag. For us, our upcoming Disney cruise will be about three times as much as what we paid for the Allure of the Seas during her inaugural season.

 

When people choose a cruise line, they need to go with realistic expectations. Royal Caribbean is a large mass market cruise line which competes directly with other mass market cruise lines like Norwegian and Carnival. They need to keep their pricing competitive and one of the ways to do so is by increasing the onboard ancillary sales.

 

Disney is a niche cruise line with no real competitor. That's why they can charge the ridiculous prices that they charge and people will still gladly pay them. But being able to charge what they charge means that they don't need to hard sell things onboard in order to generate a profit.

 

PARENTS WILL NOT HAVE SEX

 

If you are parents traveling with a child or teen, be aware that you will NOT HAVE SEX the entire week you are on Liberty of the Seas.

 

May I recommend two things?

 

- The first one is to send your kids to the kids club for a few hours. You'll have the cabin all to yourself to have as much sex as you want, as freely as you want, as loudly as you want, without worrying about having to be sneaky behind a flimsy curtain (which, let's be objective, provides ZERO privacy and your kids are probably listening to eVeRyThInG that's going on while pretending to sleep. The parents having sex is probably the one memory that they'll never forget about the cruise. [emoji23])

 

- The second one is to get TWO staterooms instead of one. On Royal, the price difference is not that much. Not only will you double the space and the number of bathrooms, but you will also have a door which you can conveniently close and lock if the only time when you MUST have sex is when everybody is in the cabin at night. If you consider that Disney prices are worth a curtain, Royal prices for two staterooms shouldn't be an issue because it will most likely still be considerably cheaper than Disney.

 

 

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Edited March 19, 2017 by Tapi

[mek]

My son was never interested in Disney, but I have a 2 1/2 year old grandson that I plan to take on a Disney cruise when he is around 8. I do think announcing families when they board is as corny as it gets and will request that they not do that for us. I just don't understand why everyone thinks this is so cool.

[trivia addict]

Lovin' this thread!

" vacation = no sex". A rule to follow.!!

Won't go into ruined vacation detail, but even with children in second cabin, sex is not a good idea....!

Our children are adults now, and we are still lucky enough to cruise together, but husband and I spend most time in Vintages, regardless!

[lj77346]

For "mek" and others considering a Disney cruise, we find announcing families as you board corny as well. So, what we do is make up a family name. Last year on the Magic trans-Atlantic we were the "Frankensteen" family.

[PackerOwner]

The OP needs to understand that a cruise company is just that - a COMPANY. Their job is to make money. All cruise lines upsell. As for the rest of the negative comments, about the food being like dog food, about sex in a room with kids, about crowds on the ship. Please do us all a favor and never cruise again. The restaurants are cooking for thousands of people in short time periods. If you are expecting gourmet foods, then sail with a gourmet cruise line, and pay the price.

[mac_tlc]

I have gone on a few cruises. I see them pushing the specialty restaurants and spa stuff. I don't mind them. If I want to chat I may stop and ask them questions about where they are from. None of this bothers me. Most of the time I am busy talking with my husband and taking pictures so I can scrapbook them. I must enjoy it since I keep going back! And I keep counting the days until I go again! Oh, and I truly love it so much I booked and paid for a trip for my three kids, their spouses and my grandchildren in August. I am beside myself with excitement. My husband and I live every single second! They can try to sell me on stuff all they want. It is up to me to buy it or not. I am hoping they are selling lanyards when we walk on the ship. I have four grandkids that need them!

 

First, I love your screen name and I wholeheartedly agree -- maybe less than a year for me.

Second, the past three summers we have taken our kids, their significant others and our grandson on a cruise. Fabulous time (of course a few forgettable moments too).

Finally, I agree -- we just walk on by the sellers. If I need something I'll find them.

 

 

mac_tlc

[mac_tlc]

It's easy when you have one young child. On our next cruise, we will have our 14, 14, 16, 19, and 20 years old with us, who will not be kept captive in the kids club.

 

OMG -- that means 10 years ago they were 4,4,6,9,10 - Bless you!.

 

mac_tlc

[Cel_cruise]

OMG -- that means 10 years ago they were 4,4,6,9,10 - Bless you!.

 

mac_tlc

 

 

LOVE this observation!!! And clearly they didn't need any help fitting it in back then!!!

 

I still can't imagine that we couldn't find some time (I mean really - how much time do you REALLY need!?!?) when all of the teens/young adults had plans onboard without us old parents!

 

 

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