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

[diesel1973]

Just got off the Equinox a couple of weeks ago. For the first couple of days when ordering a drink the waiter would ask if interested in drink package. Some would include a brochure when presenting the check to sign. Got to be a little irritating after a while. Would respond with"All I want is a drink,nothing else!" They remind me of car salesmen!!!!LOL

[CaptainBazinga]

My advice, do something novel and tell your 17yo exactly why you want some adult time. The pure thought of his parents "getting busy" will keep him away for hours.

 

And keep him in therapy for years! :')

 

Why is it that some kids think the last time their parents had sex was when he/she was conceived?! ;p

 

CB

[MrsHBrand]

We sail on Liberty this Sunday so I will be curious to see if I have the same experience (now, we don't have kids... so it won't be the exact same ;p) that the OP did. It is our first time sailing RC as we have done Carnival in the past.

[bert425]

We sail on Liberty this Sunday so I will be curious to see if I have the same experience (now, we don't have kids... so it won't be the exact same ;p) that the OP did. It is our first time sailing RC as we have done Carnival in the past.

 

we sailed her 2/19-2/26.

 

Expect wine tasting, captain's table, and galley tour to be pushed at least once a night at MDR dinner service by the Maitre D. (he will come to your table while y'all are trying to eat dinner and converse with tablemates)

 

And if you go to Windjammer, you will be accosted most nights regarding Spa (before entering), and Chops/Giovanni's (just after entering).

[the mistral wind]

And keep him in therapy for years! :')

 

Why is it that some kids think the last time their parents had sex was when he/she was conceived?! ;p

 

CB

My advise is to book two cabins. I can wait a week lol. Even with a curtain i would be afraid to attempt this with the kids in the cabin. Maybe its just me but :rolleyes:

[kelleigh229]

My advise is to book two cabins. I can wait a week lol. Even with a curtain i would be afraid to attempt this with the kids in the cabin. Maybe its just me but :rolleyes:

 

nope...that's not just you.

[doobiesmom]

The only good thing about the privacy curtain in a Disney stateroom is the fact that when my young kids go to bed early and I want to stay up and read, the curtain shields some light from them. That's about it.

[wolfganghowell]

Unless there has been a drastic change since early December, we ate in Sabor twice, Giovannis once, JR's once and WJ twice. The other night we grabbed pizza! We were never interrupted or asked to buy anything. We never saw anyone else bothered during meals.

[the mistral wind]

Unless there has been a drastic change since early December, we ate in Sabor twice, Giovannis once, JR's once and WJ twice. The other night we grabbed pizza! We were never interrupted or asked to buy anything. We never saw anyone else bothered during meals.

 

I thought so too. We were just off the Navigator Of the Seas in Dec. and we never had anyone trying to sell us anything. I know they sell bottles with logo and stuff like that off to the side stair entrance but that never bothers us. I find nothing inappropriate about that. I hope nothing changed we have never been approached during meals either, i hope this is an isolated incident that the op speaks of.

[39august]

Duh. Can you not just say "no thanks"? I have been on LB many times and will be again in 5 weeks. The selling never has bothered me. I just smile and walk on.

[CaptainBazinga]

My advise is to book two cabins. I can wait a week lol. Even with a curtain i would be afraid to attempt this with the kids in the cabin. Maybe its just me but :rolleyes:

 

nope...that's not just you.

 

Agree! Nope, not just you. A curtain???? No way! :eek:

 

Now a Couples Rasul Spa Treatment on the other hand ... :evilsmile::halo::')

 

CB

[OSUZorba]

Seriously, a teen is going to know exactly what is going on!

 

Parents need to get creative, most parents have figured that out by the time their kids are teens.

 

If they aren't that creative, they should ask their teens how they hide it...

 

If all the OP needs is a curtain, just go out on the balcony and shut the curtain behind you. Also the tube showers work just fine, my DW and I figured that out years before we had kids.

[Cel_cruise]

they should ask their teens how they hide it...

.

 

 

Possibly my new favorite response on this thread!!!

 

 

 

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[fdthird]

About a month ago, we had an extensive post here by a person who was very upset because he felt the new water slides on the LOS made the ship look tacky. He wasn't a passenger on the ship, rather just saw it docked. The discussion went on for pages and pages, with many people who had actually sailed on the LOS saying his much they enjoyed the slides and they enhanced their trip on the LOS. Now we have this rather extensive post which is either scaring future cruisers or eliciting questioning responses from folks who have recently cruised on the LOS and didn't find the situation the OP complained about. I think you just have to chalk it up to different folks seeing the same thing differently. You can't please everyone.....

[Tapi]

Making someone feel special when they enter the ship cost nothing.

 

 

It unfortunately does. On premium and more upscale cruise lines, the passenger to staff ratio is much more generous than on mass market cruise lines like Royal, Carnival and Norwegian, where the staff is spread too thin.

 

More staff onboard will enhance the customer service experience but it will also increase operational costs which will undoubtedly be passed on to the passengers. On a Disney cruise, they charge much more, but they can increase staffing accordingly in order to give that extra level of customer service. They have enough staff to pull a number of them aside for a few hours to stand in the atrium in order to greet and cheer as passengers board.

 

However, on the more budget friendly cruise lines, the staff is already spread to thin and overworked. When was the last time you saw cabin stewards on these mass market cruise lines just hanging out because they didn't have anything else to do at the time? Normally they are working their butts off, even as passengers are boarding, in order to finish their duties before they need to start all over again for the evening's turndown service. And all of the waiters and bartenders are in place with one goal in mind, which is to generate as much revenue as they possibly can from the moment passengers board the ship. The last thing that these cruise lines are going to do is to pull them from their duties to perform activities that. They charge less than Disney because they need to generate more revenue from onboard spending.

 

So yes, making someone feel special does cost money. We just don't realize it unless we think of the bigger picture.

 

 

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[perditax]

It unfortunately does. On premium and more upscale cruise lines, the passenger to staff ratio is much more generous than on mass market cruise lines like Royal, Carnival and Norwegian, where the staff is spread too thin.

 

More staff onboard will enhance the customer service experience but it will also increase operational costs which will undoubtedly be passed on to the passengers. On a Disney cruise, they charge much more, but they can increase staffing accordingly in order to give that extra level of customer service. They have enough staff to pull a number of them aside for a few hours to stand in the atrium in order to greet and cheer as passengers board.

 

However, on the more budget friendly cruise lines, the staff is already spread to thin and overworked. When was the last time you saw cabin stewards on these mass market cruise lines just hanging out because they didn't have anything else to do at the time? Normally they are working their butts off, even as passengers are boarding, in order to finish their duties before they need to start all over again for the evening's turndown service. And all of the waiters and bartenders are in place with one goal in mind, which is to generate as much revenue as they possibly can from the moment passengers board the ship. The last thing that these cruise lines are going to do is to pull them from their duties to perform activities that. They charge less than Disney because they need to generate more revenue from onboard spending.

 

So yes, making someone feel special does cost money. We just don't realize it unless we think of the bigger picture.

 

 

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It seems like you wrote a very long post about Disney making people feel special when they board and then chalking it up to staffing, but I've never boarded a NCL ship without a group of crew members greeting everyone, even if it was a small group. And they have music going on a PA system. All they'd have to do is plug in a microphone.

[Tapi]

...but I've never boarded a NCL ship without a group of crew members greeting everyone, even if it was a small group.

 

 

As you said, it's a small group. Same thing can be experienced on other mass market cruise lines. You'll see people saying hello and handing out daily activities or deck plans, but that's where the customer service ends during that phase of the cruise.

 

Remember the days when you'd board the ship and not only were you personally greeted as you boarded, but you were also assisted and walked to your stateroom by a steward who then showed you the stateroom's features and helped you settle in? With a decrease in staffing and a tighter operating budget, that's gone from all mass market cruise lines. These days, if you want that level of service, you need to pay accordingly which means selecting cruise lines in a different tier. It wouldn't be fair to then come back here and say how much Norwegian/Royal/Carnival suck in comparison.

 

What I'm tying to say is that when someone complaints because the level of customer service wasn't as exemplary as on a cruise line that cost 3 times as much, they are not making a very fair comparison.

 

 

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[the mistral wind]

If they aren't that creative, they should ask their teens how they hide it...

 

If all the OP needs is a curtain, just go out on the balcony and shut the curtain behind you. Also the tube showers work just fine, my DW and I figured that out years before we had kids.

 

i wouldn't want them to know whats going on;)

[Cel_cruise]

i wouldn't want them to know whats going on;)

 

 

I'm having a hard time confirming - this is sarcastic right??

 

 

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[nelblu]

It unfortunately does. On premium and more upscale cruise lines, the passenger to staff ratio is much more generous than on mass market cruise lines like Royal, Carnival and Norwegian, where the staff is spread too thin.

 

More staff onboard will enhance the customer service experience but it will also increase operational costs which will undoubtedly be passed on to the passengers. On a Disney cruise, they charge much more, but they can increase staffing accordingly in order to give that extra level of customer service. They have enough staff to pull a number of them aside for a few hours to stand in the atrium in order to greet and cheer as passengers board.

 

However, on the more budget friendly cruise lines, the staff is already spread to thin and overworked. When was the last time you saw cabin stewards on these mass market cruise lines just hanging out because they didn't have anything else to do at the time? Normally they are working their butts off, even as passengers are boarding, in order to finish their duties before they need to start all over again for the evening's turndown service. And all of the waiters and bartenders are in place with one goal in mind, which is to generate as much revenue as they possibly can from the moment passengers board the ship. The last thing that these cruise lines are going to do is to pull them from their duties to perform activities that. They charge less than Disney because they need to generate more revenue from onboard spending.

 

So yes, making someone feel special does cost money. We just don't realize it unless we think of the bigger picture.

 

 

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You make it sound as though the cabins stewards work 24 hrs a day to clean the cabin without any free time--I beg to differ with you. It's always a fall back to reduced staffing. It's not like when I began cruising in that the cabins steward seemed to be available around the clock.

[fdthird]

I'd like it to be 1986...can you accomplish that?

[the mistral wind]

You make it sound as though the cabins stewards work 24 hrs a day to clean the cabin without any free time--I beg to differ with you. It's always a fall back to reduced staffing. It's not like when I began cruising in that the cabins steward seemed to be available around the clock.

 

Yes, But with all the skimping everything is relative. Greed has taken over the industry and the world. lol

[the mistral wind]

I'm having a hard time confirming - this is sarcastic right??

 

 

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Its a joke:hearteyes:

[BillOh]

Here's what concerns me.

THE HARD SELL

On Royal Caribbean, here's the first impression. Passengers embark to find crew barking at them to browse tables of plastic do-dads and cheap water bottles. I was completely taken aback by this.

 

I thought I'd return the thread to this part of the OP's original post.

 

I am very aware different ships do things differently and even week to week things can change. In my recent experience - Jewel '14, Freedom '15, Oasis and Majesty '16, I have seen more tables of the various offerings when you walk on the ship. None of them barked out at me in any way. They were clearly labeled. as to what they were and I know some people wait to get on the ship to purchase drink packages, internet, or spa treatments. When I boarded Freedom in 2015 there was a guy giving out Quac samples and getting reservations for Sabor. We sought him out and did make a sea day reservation.

 

I believe the OP mentioned a sell at his table in one of the resturants? That would bother me, but I haven't seen it yet.

[perditax]

I thought I'd return the thread to this part of the OP's original post.

 

I am very aware different ships do things differently and even week to week things can change. In my recent experience - Jewel '14, Freedom '15, Oasis and Majesty '16, I have seen more tables of the various offerings when you walk on the ship. None of them barked out at me in any way. They were clearly labeled. as to what they were and I know some people wait to get on the ship to purchase drink packages, internet, or spa treatments. When I boarded Freedom in 2015 there was a guy giving out Quac samples and getting reservations for Sabor. We sought him out and did make a sea day reservation.

 

I believe the OP mentioned a sell at his table in one of the resturants? That would bother me, but I haven't seen it yet.

 

Not just the OP:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=52611040&postcount=77