What is/was your line in the sand?

[The Fun Researcher]

1 hour ago, rimmit said:

 

I wasn’t the biggest fan of quantum class initially,  but if you go on a couple cruises where the weather is cold or less than ideal you will quickly appreciate the quantum class.  It is an excellent cold weather ship.

 

True, we had a cruise booked on the Anthem in March until we switched to to the Liberty out of Galveston.  The Anthem is setup well for cold weather cruising, and there were some things I was really looking forward to.  The problem is I don't want cold weather cruising.  I could have save a lot of $$$ by cruising out of Cape Liberty on the Anthem, since we can drive but I didn't want 4 out of my 7 days in March to be cold-ish weather.  That's what I'm trying to get away from in March.

Dan

[Clarea]

High prices.

[rimmit]

7 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

 

True, we had a cruise booked on the Anthem in March until we switched to to the Liberty out of Galveston.  The Anthem is setup well for cold weather cruising, and there were some things I was really looking forward to.  The problem is I don't want cold weather cruising.  I could have save a lot of $$$ by cruising out of Cape Liberty on the Anthem, since we can drive but I didn't want 4 out of my 7 days in March to be cold-ish weather.  That's what I'm trying to get away from in March.

Dan

 

Yeah,  you are wasting a couple days of your vacation if you aren’t a fan of cold weather cruises.   Not really much of a vacation for you.  When cruising out of a US port these days the only thing we look at is price, number of nights, and what perks does it come with.  We just go for days on a ship whether it’s cold, hot, hurricane seasons, small boat or big boat. We just want a boat with a kids program and someone to cook and clean.

Edited September 26, 2019 by rimmit

[mk-ultra]

Pillow mints not centered or missing.  Boring carpeting.  Day indicators not showing the right day in elevators.  Smoke pouring from the casino like it's on fire.  Can't find the mayonnaise bucket in Windjammer.  Someone rammed their way out of an elevator on a scooter.  Why is this little dog peeing on my door?  Why do I have to listen to all these languages?  Something smells funny.  Sea days suck.  Ports suck.  The ship is too big/small/wide/high.  I had to wait my turn.  I don't know how any of this works and it's always someone else's fault.

 

Seriously though: if I have to watch that Wash Your Hands or pseudo 007 video one. more. time.  Arrrrrrgh.

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by mk-ultra

[grapau27]

41 minutes ago, BND said:

And, you'd go where?  Even Celebrity only gives free drinks and apps most nights, not all-none the first night or on Captain's night.  Other cruiselines do nothing like it.   As D+, it wouldn't stop us from going on RCI.  Otherwise, the lounge is just a room with a coffee maker (that often doesn't work).  And, during happy hour, it can be so crowded.  We actually prefer the CL on ships that have them.

 

The only thing that would make us stop is if prices got way too out of control.

The DL/CL/SL are USPs for RC and put them above other cruiselines.

We are D+ on Royal but were already

Elite on Princess.

Mediterranean on P&O which are both high loyalty before we even made Emerald on Royal.

 

 

[#1packerfan]

We are Diamond and would like to get to D+, but we also enjoy Celebrity.  We do not do any of the "extras" on the ship, ever.  We do not do specialty dining.  Not once in all our cruises.  We rarely eat out at home, and never to supper club type restaurants, so as long as we don't have to do dishes and cook, we are fine with the MDR or buffet--we are easy to please and are not foodies ar all.   The only time we have ever used Room Service is one night when my hubby was not feeling well, and that was before the charge, otherwise, we never use that either.  We also do not ever use the Diamond Lounge either because of the limited offerings.  There are only a few types of drinks I like and the lounge does not offer any of those so we just choose to have our cocktails somewhere else using our bev packages.

 

We do go to the shows usually, but that does not make or break it for me.  I am content to read a book at night on my balcony.  Unfortunately, my DH is a smoker so the only thing that would stop us from cruising Royal is if specific ships ever went totally non smoking.  He never complains about the limited smoking areas and is fine on Celebrity where it is even more limited, and would never, ever smoke except in the designated areas, but he would never go on a cruise if it was totally non smoking, nor would I ask him to.  Alcohol free would be the other reason we would not go on a ship!  We like to have our drinks while on vacation.  

 

We work long hours and have very little down time even on our days off so we value our vacation time to relax and enjoy and do not complain or sweat the small stuff. 

Edited September 26, 2019 by #1packerfan

[grapau27]

33 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Not a line in the sand but our last experience as a Suite Guest on Harmony Presidents cruise, we have decided to try other vacations (River Cruise, a week in NYC, a few days in NOLA, a land tour of Israel x 2, and a week in Sturgis). We have found these other vacations. 

I agree with you Rory.

We enjoy a diverse collection of holidays away from RC and cruising too.

Edited September 26, 2019 by grapau27

[ONECRUISER]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

If they removed the Diamond Lounge RC would cease to be our first choice of cruise lines.

Though I remember when first made Diamond  20yrs ago, there was no Diamond Lounge as we had access to Concierge Lounge. As the only Top Tier was first on/off ship, had Private Formal get together with Capt and all Dept Senior Officers on each Cruise. But with my 340+ points sailing Solo average 6 weeks a yr save thousands on that and Military Discounts ea yr. Sailed/booked on NCL, Celebrity and Carnival, might again but Royal will still get most my Business

Edited September 26, 2019 by ONECRUISER

[rimmit]

27 minutes ago, mk-ultra said:

Seriously though: if I have to watch that Wash Your Hands or pseudo 007 video one. more. time.  Arrrrrrgh.

 

 

My kids LOVE wash your hands!  When my daughter was 13 months old it was our go to video when she was fussy.  She loved it so much we video taped it off the in cabin TVs so it would be in our phone Incase of emergency.  When we got home we found out RCI uploaded it to YouTube as well.  🙂

 

It can get old after the thousandth time though.  Lol.

[frito58]

I almost choked on my drink when I read that someone drew a line on room service charges . Cause if $8 makes you quit well . I will leave it at that . But I agree life is too damn short . I cruised on 25 cruises with late wife who sadly passed away of Brain cancer at the age of 59 so let that one sink in .By the grace of god I met a wonderful lady that had never been on a cruise in her life . So now I get  to start over and go to all new places that wife didn't want to do . Life is good and I  am cruising again .  Cruise on everyone 🙂 

[StolidCruiser]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

If they removed the Diamond Lounge RC would cease to be our first choice of cruiselines.

 

Interesting that the loss of a single lounge would cause you to abandon a line you clearly enjoy sailing on in so many aspects.

[Big_G]

2 hours ago, fscool said:

Keeping sending you to CocoCay and then dock 2 ships there.  Oh wait....they are doing that.

 

LOL...Royal never 'sent' me anywhere.

[NateUpNorth]

3 hours ago, rimmit said:

 

I think they are actually aiming at the aging millennial/gen Y market with kids....   they have invested a lot recently in their kids program and are offering Kids sale free for the first time in years.

 

We're tail end generation X, or our birthdays correspond with what wikipedia says was Gen X. Lol.

 

It was the addition of the KSF to X cruises that had me looking at them today. 

 

Right now we're inside cabins with no packages/specialty restaurants/ big bar/shopping bills at cruise end. We target the week before the xmas sailings on RCL as they seem to carry great deals and KSF applies. The fact that X doesn't seem to have the same blackouts for KSF is a big plus for them.

 

Theoretically we should be a big RCL target market as we'll likely be the larger room upgrade/drink package/ onboard purchase market +/- next 5 years or so as our kids get into those demographics........ AKA subsidizing those DL benefits for years to come.

 

The cruise industry seems to be excel spreadsheet managing right now.... cuts and add on costs.

 

Whoever starts to trend the opposite way will likely gain market share if a lot of the disgruntled posters around these parts (across all lines) vote with wallets. Pretty sure we will. The net spend to get to diamond and a few free drinks through C&A doesn't seem like a good deal right now. The other C&A "perks"... meh.

[boscobeans]

2 hours ago, molsonschooner said:

what was the DD debacle and what/who is LLP

DD is Dynamic Dining, which is a total change from the traditional Main Dining Room system that most people are familiar with.

 

LLP or Lisa Lutoff-Perlo is the President and CEO pf Celebrity Cruise Lines.

 

Previously, she was executive vice president of operations for Royal Caribbean International and was instrumental in having two new ships (Anthem and Quantum of the Seas) designed with 4 separate dining rooms instead of one main dining room. Initially each of the four new DRs would have their own NON CHANGING menus and décor, this went through various changes before it was done away with. Now there are still 4 different venues but they all have the same menu which changes from night to night during the cruise.

[zepp914]

I like the larger ships, but they can only go to certain ports.  If, from here on out, they only build behemoths, I would switch to lines that let me go to a greater variety of ports.   

 

[mugtech]

3 hours ago, rimmit said:

 

 

If you have time go to Corregidor while

in manila. As a WWII history person you will enjoy it.

Went to Corregidor in 1994, it looked like 1945.  Saw many gun emplacements with plates on them that said things like Bethlehem Steel 1908.  Our summer home is in Bethlehem, PA.  I am on the roll call for Quantum 2/24/20, urging people to visit Corregidor on our Manila stop.

[rimmit]

2 hours ago, frito58 said:

I almost choked on my drink when I read that someone drew a line on room service charges . Cause if $8 makes you quit well . I will leave it at that . But I agree life is too damn short . I cruised on 25 cruises with late wife who sadly passed away of Brain cancer at the age of 59 so let that one sink in .By the grace of god I met a wonderful lady that had never been on a cruise in her life . So now I get  to start over and go to all new places that wife didn't want to do . Life is good and I  am cruising again .  Cruise on everyone 🙂 

 

It didn’t make me quit.  Just made me consider other options.  We have been on 7 RCI cruises since the change, but have also been on several other cruise lines, to an AI and done a fair amount of independent travel.  

 

As most on the the board will tell you,  it’s not about the 7.95.  It was all the preceding cuts beforehand.  Like death by a thousand cuts.  No single cut is bad, but a cumulative  number of cuts since we started cruising primarily RCI in 2009.

[rimmit]

31 minutes ago, mugtech said:

Went to Corregidor in 1994, it looked like 1945.  Saw many gun emplacements with plates on them that said things like Bethlehem Steel 1908.  Our summer home is in Bethlehem, PA.  I am on the roll call for Quantum 2/24/20, urging people to visit Corregidor on our Manila stop.

 

That’s great!  Great piece of history.  Forgot to say thank you for your fathers service.  I would not be here in the US if not for him.   My family may not have survived the occupation if not for his service, so thank you.

 

I was there in 1996.  Missed y’a by a couple years. 😉

 

Have a great time in the Philippines.  Eat some mangos for me.  How I miss those mangos.

[lenquixote66]

RCI has the very best pizza of any cruise line I have even been on.

[rimmit]

1 hour ago, NateUpNorth said:

 

We're tail end generation X, or our birthdays correspond with what wikipedia says was Gen X. Lol.

 

It was the addition of the KSF to X cruises that had me looking at them today. 

 

Right now we're inside cabins with no packages/specialty restaurants/ big bar/shopping bills at cruise end. We target the week before the xmas sailings on RCL as they seem to carry great deals and KSF applies. The fact that X doesn't seem to have the same blackouts for KSF is a big plus for them.

 

Theoretically we should be a big RCL target market as we'll likely be the larger room upgrade/drink package/ onboard purchase market +/- next 5 years or so as our kids get into those demographics........ AKA subsidizing those DL benefits for years to come.

 

The cruise industry seems to be excel spreadsheet managing right now.... cuts and add on costs.

 

Whoever starts to trend the opposite way will likely gain market share if a lot of the disgruntled posters around these parts (across all lines) vote with wallets. Pretty sure we will. The net spend to get to diamond and a few free drinks through C&A doesn't seem like a good deal right now. The other C&A "perks"... meh.

 

I am the last Gen Y year based on most calendars.  The KSF offer April is what got us looking at them again .  We did some X from 2000-2010 but had some kids and stuck with RCI and Disney from 2011-2017.  

 

We spend nothing on the ship since we made D in 2013 as we no longer bought alcohol. We often have a zero balance bill as we have some non refundable OBC and we prepay our grats.   We chased D+ till this year.   All done in the cheapest inside cabin (although sometimes the obstructed balconies are cheaper with the D balcony discount).  We booked two suites.  Once to hit diamond and another to hit D+, but each time it was only a thousand dollars more than the inside cabin as neither ship had a suite program that boosts the suite price.  

 

However, ironically the moment we made D+ is when we really started exploring other options even more than we did in 2017.  Must be something about hurting that goal.

 

After running our own spreadsheets,  with KSF and all the perks X gives you,  we come out ahead AND get a drink package AND free grats for two or 300 OBC (whichever is more based on sailing length) and a nicer ship with better food and service.  The only negative is the entertainment for the kids isn’t quite as good and there obviously aren’t a ridiculous number of kid friendly amenities....  but ships like the grandeur don’t exactly come with much either.  I would argue the summit has more to do than the Grandeur for kids.

 

I totally agree.  Whichever cruise line course corrects the cutting to the level that the upcoming generation notices and appreciates will come out ahead.  RCI is doing well now as millennials have just discovered cruising. And RCI just happened to be perfectly situated with there fleet of very unique and exciting ships with lots of Instagram worthy moments to appeal to the upcoming generation.  As millennials start to see the budget cuts over time, it will be interesting to see what happens to RCI.

Edited September 27, 2019 by rimmit

[Tom47]

If you are looking for different ports, try Azamara, owned by Celebrity, with shared loyalty status.

[grapau27]

7 hours ago, StolidCruiser said:

 

Interesting that the loss of a single lounge would cause you to abandon a line you clearly enjoy sailing on in so many aspects.

I said they would cease to be our first choice but we wouldn't abandon them totally.

 

[Melissa_A]

the drink package being forced to others in the cabin.  not an RCL dealbreaker, but definitely takes RCL out of the running depending who i'd be cruising with.

[Sancho_proudfoot]

The prices on RCL for us UK based cruisers are starting to make us think twice. We did 14 nights in  a balcony cabin on Explorer this summer for roughly £4000 for the two of us ,(including the drink package) sailing from Southampton.

 

We are now booked on MSC for next year, 21 nights, Barcelona to Dubai, Aurea suite with drinks package, and flights to Barcelona and return from Dubai, for under £6000.

[Biker19]

4 minutes ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

We are now booked on MSC for next year, 21 nights, Barcelona to Dubai, Aurea suite with drinks package, and flights to Barcelona and return from Dubai, for under £6000.

Not sure that's a fair comparison as not only are repos generally less expensive, but out of the UK many sailings to Dubai seem to be cheap (even cheaper than booking in the US which generally has some of the lowest prices).