Changes coming to Mariner cruise planner

[island lady]

13 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

 I got the email and my booking is in January 2020

 

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Edited August 7, 2019 by island lady

[island lady]

My booking is four day...January 6th.  No email.  

[919Florida]

4 day on January 16 for me and no email here either

[sandebeach]

Pure speculation on my part, but I am wondering if instead of an overnight, they are just planning to stay very late at Coco Cay? I was just booking my excursions on MSC for next February, for their private island opening in November, Ocean Cay Marine Reserve. We will arrive at 9:00 AM but do not leave until 11:55 PM. There are several evening excursions you can book and events going on at night. I am just wondering if Royal saw that and said, hmmm, let's do a test of that and use the Mariner for the pilot study. Just a thought!  

[Carolina Girl 99]

15 hours ago, sandebeach said:

I was just on the “Book of Faces”, I follow several RC ship groups. No mention of this on the Navigator site, but lots of discussion about this on the Mariner page. So you may be right on target that they are testing something with Mariner. 

Are you seeing any other info about this on FB, or just the same speculations that have been mentioned here?

 

I have logged into my RC account this morning and so far nothing has changed and I can still access the cruise planner and prices for everything still the same as yesterday

[sandebeach]

21 minutes ago, Carolina Girl 99 said:

Are you seeing any other info about this on FB, or just the same speculations that have been mentioned here?

 

I have logged into my RC account this morning and so far nothing has changed and I can still access the cruise planner and prices for everything still the same as yesterday

No, nothing further this morning. Interesting that you can access your Cruise Planner since the email I saw said starting August 7, would not be able to access the Cruise Planner?

[sandebeach]

16 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Just received this for a cruise on Mariner.

 

 

Dear Travel Partner,

We wanted to let you in on a little secret: there's something special in the works for your clients! The thing is, even the best surprises take time to plan. So, beginning tomorrow, August 7th, 2019, you won't have access to your clients' reservation while we work our behind-the-scenes magic to completely ramp up the WOW-factor on their vacation.

Once we're done, we'll let you in on the secret and share when you and your clients can view their reservation, book shore excursions, plus anything else that'll make their vacation extraordinary!

Please share this information with your clients. Thank you for your support and partnership. We can't wait to share the exciting news. Trust us, your clients are going to love it!

Sincerely,

Aurora Yera-Rodriguez 

Director of Guest Services

Royal Caribbean International

Reading this again, and specifically about the WOW factor and booking excursions, my bet is that they will copy the MSC schedule of late-night departure.

[OACAggie]

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Here’s an idea,

 

This is the current itinerary,

 

Monday - Port Canaveral 

Tuesday - at sea

Wednesday - Nassau

Thursday - CocoCay

Friday - Port Canaveral 

 

 

On the Sea day Royal could make a late afternoon stop at CocoCay and drop overnight guests off.  Guests would then spend 2 nights on the island, avoiding Nassau and returning to PC with the ship on Thursday.

I think they would just do away with Nassau as most complain about Nassau anyways. Arrive at CC on Wednesday, leave Thursday, keep it an RCI only cruise? Though, as much as people complain about Nassau and RCI would like to keep all the money for themselves, I assume they make a significant amount off shore excursions.

[sandebeach]

3 minutes ago, OACAggie said:

I think they would just do away with Nassau as most complain about Nassau anyways. Arrive at CC on Wednesday, leave Thursday, keep it an RCI only cruise? Though, as much as people complain about Nassau and RCI would like to keep all the money for themselves, I assume they make a significant amount off shore excursions.

Keeping the ship overnight, that is a good thought! Would not need to build overnight facilities, and easier than dropping off and then making arrangements to pick up passengers who are returning to Port Canaveral. 

[island lady]

Makes me happier now that I am not booking anything in Nassau that I would have to change or cancel.  Could be changes coming on?  

[molly361]

Then if folks spend 2 nights on the island Royal can ROYALUP their cabins that they won't be using on the ship  Cha Ching!!!  Even more revenue😇

[orville99]

We have b2b's booked on Mariner for October 2019, March 2020, and July 2020 and haven't received any emails on any of them.

[Evilgrin72]

I'm booked on Mariner in April 2020 and I have received nothing from RCL or my travel agent.  Also still able to access my Cruise Planner without issue.

[orlandok]

Fewer stops in Nassau isn't realistic  because the Bahamian government wants tourists to come there. All of these new private island deals have required more stops on Nassau too. Disney's second private island development is contingent on increasing stops In Nassau (and Freeport) by 30-40%. 

[FLACRUISER99]

I guess I'm the only one that would prefer Nassau over some phony Island.🤔

[Clarea]

17 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

That is my question. I just don't get it. Maybe the real appeal is to RCI for not having to burn up fuel to move the ship.

 

And more opportunity to collect money from guests.

[island lady]

6 minutes ago, FLACRUISER99 said:

I guess I'm the only one that would prefer Nassau over some phony Island.🤔

 

No...you are not.  If I wanted the "Disney type...theme park" atmosphere...I would go to Orlando.  Wouldn't need to board a cruise ship to do that.  

 

I am already missing the sweet laid back natural quiet beach feel to Coco Cay.  (Paved paradise..put up a parking lot). They took out our favorite thing...the quiet beaches and the nature trail to the other side.  Sigh....  😞 

[sandebeach]

7 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

No...you are not.  If I wanted the "Disney type...theme park" atmosphere...I would go to Orlando.  Wouldn't need to board a cruise ship to do that.  

 

I am already missing the sweet laid back natural quiet beach feel to Coco Cay.  (Paved paradise..put up a parking lot). They took out our favorite thing...the quiet beaches and the nature trail to the other side.  Sigh....  😞 

I can understand. My favorite island is still Holland America's Half Moon Cay. Just a quiet tranquil island with soft white sand, a flat smooth ocean floor that feels great on your feet, and that surreal turquoise-blue water. A small slice of Heaven. 

[island lady]

1 minute ago, sandebeach said:

I can understand. My favorite island is still Holland America's Half Moon Cay. Just a quiet tranquil island with soft white sand, a flat smooth ocean floor that feels great on your feet, and that surreal turquoise-blue water. A small slice of Heaven. 

 

That DOES sound like Heaven!!  🙂 

[actuarian]

The emails from the cruise line said "you won't have access to your clients' reservation while we work our behind-the-scenes magic".  None of the changes suggested so far seem to be reasons to shut down access to entire reservations.  The only thing that I can think of that would require that would be reclassifying accommodations on the ship itself.  There would be no reason to shut down access to reservations merely because of rerouting or changes to the length of visits to Coco Cay or the accommodations on Coco Cay.

 

What would be a clue would be if the people who received the emails were booked in different accommodations than the people who did not receive the emails.  For example, if everyone who received the emails were booked in a J3 Junior Suite, we would know that that category was being changed.

Edited August 7, 2019 by actuarian

[Ocean Boy]

21 minutes ago, FLACRUISER99 said:

I guess I'm the only one that would prefer Nassau over some phony Island.🤔

Nope. I, too,  am with you on that.

[LuCruise]

2 minutes ago, actuarian said:

The emails from the cruise line said "you won't have access to your clients' reservation while we work our behind-the-scenes magic".  None of the changes suggested so far seem to be reasons to shut down access to entire reservations.  The only thing that I can think of that would require that would be reclassifying accommodations on the ship itself.  There would be no reason to shut down access to reservations merely because of rerouting or changes to the length of visits to Coco Cay or the accommodations on Coco Cay.

We book directly with Royal and my email is worded with "your reservation" as below..

I checked about an hour ago and could still get in.

 

"So, beginning tomorrow, August 7th, 2019, you won’t have access to your reservation while we work our behind-the-scenes magic to completely ramp up the WOW-factor on your vacation."

[molly361]

28 minutes ago, FLACRUISER99 said:

I guess I'm the only one that would prefer Nassau over some phony Island.🤔

I'm with you on that

[actuarian]

34 minutes ago, FLACRUISER99 said:

I guess I'm the only one that would prefer Nassau over some phony Island.🤔

I too prefer Nassau to Coco Cay.  Nevertheless, people vote with their feet.  My wife and I have been enough Caribbean cruises so that recently we often remain on ships during port stops.  Therefore, we have seen that when a ship is docked at Nassau, enough people remain on board so that the Windjammer and the Solarium are still crowded.  When a ship is docked at Coco Cay, both of those places look like ghost towns.

[luv2trvl]

I am booked on the April 6 four night cruise and got the email yesterday.  I just checked my reservation and can't get into the cruise planner but my itinerary now shows 

4 Nt Bahamas With 2 Stops At Perfect Day

1. ORLANDO (PORT CANAVERAL), FL 
2. PERFECT DAY COCOCAY, BAHAMAS 
3. NASSAU, BAHAMAS 
4. PERFECT DAY COCOCAY, BAHAMAS