Majesty Diamond situation

[LMaxwell]

8 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

And the rock wall addition messed up the back view.

 

 

 

Agreed.  Ugly inside and out. 

 

A panoramic ocean view lounge is a benefit of a cruise compared to most land resorts.  If they won't continue the Diamond Happy Hour I'd like to see them schedule more events and entertainment there for all cruisers.  They could still staff the bar and advertise happy hour for all and create a very vibrant scene in the early evening.  Just think it is a shame such a beautiful space is underutilized. 

[cgncruiser]

Bulls Eye!

 

tottenhamfc

 just posted in another (coronavirus-) thread the following which exactly matches Royals self imposed Majesty Minus of the Seas C&A/suite Happy Hour event downgrade:

 

When do you think RCL will start to entice their Crown and Anchor customers with cheaper fares. They have not been very fair with chartered cruises and make their customers beg for compensation after bumping them with the only intent to make more profit on that cruise.. This is the perfect example where customer retention is important. This not meant as a slight against RCL it is merely intended to point out just how important loyal customers are in times of need. The chances of losing the next generation of cruisers is high because of the problem with Diamond Princes. It’s time for the cruise lines to retain customer interest by being loyal to us now. 

[twangster]

50 minutes ago, cgncruiser said:

Bulls Eye!

 

tottenhamfc

 

 just posted in another (coronavirus-) thread the following which exactly matches Royals self imposed Majesty Minus of the Seas C&A/suite Happy Hour event downgrade:

 

When do you think RCL will start to entice their Crown and Anchor customers with cheaper fares. They have not been very fair with chartered cruises and make their customers beg for compensation after bumping them with the only intent to make more profit on that cruise.. This is the perfect example where customer retention is important. This not meant as a slight against RCL it is merely intended to point out just how important loyal customers are in times of need. The chances of losing the next generation of cruisers is high because of the problem with Diamond Princes. It’s time for the cruise lines to retain customer interest by being loyal to us now. 

 

 

Curious if loyal Royal cruisers are tempted to move to Princess or other Carnival brands during this virus crisis.

 

Royal certainly appreciates returning cruisers as any business does.  Having said that we are less profitable than new to Royal cruisers.  There's a fine line between showering return guests with perks and losing money or leaving money on the table in doing so.   

 

As far as MJ goes, she was very profitable when Cuba was her destination.  With that rug pulled from under them they've had to find a place for her and operate her at much lower profit/revenue, possibly even at or nearly at a loss.  If it wasn't for Cuba MJ would be gone by now but finding a buyer won't happen overnight and maybe Cuba will be allowed in the future so it's a waiting game in the interim.

 

Margins have to be pretty tight on MJ at the moment and that was before CV. 

 

On my four MJ sailings last year before she moved to NOLA the CAS guest count amounted to less than half of all guests on board.  Historically my tracking of CAS numbers suggest typically less than 1/3 of all CAS on board are happy hour eligible (D/D+/P).  That equates to around 15% of guests on board for a typical cruise (forget repo or transatlantic/transpacific as those aren't typical).  On a small ship like MJ we aren't talking a lot of people impacted relative to other ships.

 

Royal may be faced with making changes on other ships to get through the CV issue.  If it becomes extended CAS happy hour could be the difference between losing big money and just scraping by or losing a little money on each sailing - likely what they faced with MJ sailings before CV.

 

Everyone loves cheap cruises but at some point they have to keep the business focus of maximizing profits.  At times that means trying to tame the beast that CAS has grown into.    Not all of those 15% on board that are happy hour eligible are going to run to Princess over this.  

[L454S]

54 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Curious if loyal Royal cruisers are tempted to move to Princess or other Carnival brands during this virus crisis.

 

Royal certainly appreciates returning cruisers as any business does.  Having said that we are less profitable than new to Royal cruisers.  There's a fine line between showering return guests with perks and losing money or leaving money on the table in doing so.   

 

As far as MJ goes, she was very profitable when Cuba was her destination.  With that rug pulled from under them they've had to find a place for her and operate her at much lower profit/revenue, possibly even at or nearly at a loss.  If it wasn't for Cuba MJ would be gone by now but finding a buyer won't happen overnight and maybe Cuba will be allowed in the future so it's a waiting game in the interim.

 

Margins have to be pretty tight on MJ at the moment and that was before CV. 

 

On my four MJ sailings last year before she moved to NOLA the CAS guest count amounted to less than half of all guests on board.  Historically my tracking of CAS numbers suggest typically less than 1/3 of all CAS on board are happy hour eligible (D/D+/P).  That equates to around 15% of guests on board for a typical cruise (forget repo or transatlantic/transpacific as those aren't typical).  On a small ship like MJ we aren't talking a lot of people impacted relative to other ships.

 

Royal may be faced with making changes on other ships to get through the CV issue.  If it becomes extended CAS happy hour could be the difference between losing big money and just scraping by or losing a little money on each sailing - likely what they faced with MJ sailings before CV.

 

Everyone loves cheap cruises but at some point they have to keep the business focus of maximizing profits.  At times that means trying to tame the beast that CAS has grown into.    Not all of those 15% on board that are happy hour eligible are going to run to Princess over this.  

 

Agree with above. I live here in New Orleans and will not go back on Majesty again. It was after final payment that MJ cancelled the D event.

I was happy to see RCI put the MJ here a few months ago, we booked a JS and looked forward to having an RCI ship close to us. .......not so much anymore

[cgncruiser]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

 

Curious if loyal Royal cruisers are tempted to move to Princess or other Carnival brands during this virus crisis.

 

Royal certainly appreciates returning cruisers as any business does.  Having said that we are less profitable than new to Royal cruisers.  There's a fine line between showering return guests with perks and losing money or leaving money on the table in doing so.   

 

As far as MJ goes, she was very profitable when Cuba was her destination.  With that rug pulled from under them they've had to find a place for her and operate her at much lower profit/revenue, possibly even at or nearly at a loss.  If it wasn't for Cuba MJ would be gone by now but finding a buyer won't happen overnight and maybe Cuba will be allowed in the future so it's a waiting game in the interim.

 

Margins have to be pretty tight on MJ at the moment and that was before CV. 

 

On my four MJ sailings last year before she moved to NOLA the CAS guest count amounted to less than half of all guests on board.  Historically my tracking of CAS numbers suggest typically less than 1/3 of all CAS on board are happy hour eligible (D/D+/P).  That equates to around 15% of guests on board for a typical cruise (forget repo or transatlantic/transpacific as those aren't typical).  On a small ship like MJ we aren't talking a lot of people impacted relative to other ships.

 

Royal may be faced with making changes on other ships to get through the CV issue.  If it becomes extended CAS happy hour could be the difference between losing big money and just scraping by or losing a little money on each sailing - likely what they faced with MJ sailings before CV.

 

Everyone loves cheap cruises but at some point they have to keep the business focus of maximizing profits.  At times that means trying to tame the beast that CAS has grown into.    Not all of those 15% on board that are happy hour eligible are going to run to Princess over this.  

May I take from your in-depth  knowledge of numbers and the vigorous defense for RCI in your posting that you are a Royal Caribbean employee?

Also you forgot to include the suite guests that are not included in your happy hour counting but previously were also eligible on MJ.

 

Do you have a count how many C&A customers and suite guests now avoid the MJ and thus further contribute in the loss making ops because of a few drinks savings? I asked on MJ what i.e. a GinTonic actually cost for Royal. The answer was ca 20cts. So you want to convey that 2 or 3 more drinks in a dedicated HH event (plus the canapees) will contribute to loosing money for MJ sailings? I rather say that cancelled or not any more considered MJ bookings harm a lot more. This is exactly bean counter thinking: we save per C&A two drinks for a total of 40cts, multiplied by 15 % C&A ........ Do the bean counters also calculate and pale the loss of MJ C&A customer/suite guests business in comparison?

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by cgncruiser

[twangster]

1 hour ago, cgncruiser said:

May I take from your in-depth  knowledge of numbers and the vigorous defense for RCI in your posting that you are a Royal Caribbean employee?

 

No I am not.  If an employee posted CAS statistics they'll likely be consequences.  

 

I go to top tier events.  I write down the numbers each cruise.  I can find the numbers for about 30 cruises so I plugged them all in a spreadsheet and averaged them over the 30 cruises that I can find.  I tossed the Symphony TA numbers from the batch because that was atypical.

 

I've sat in the DL and seen a dozen garbage bags full of liquor and wine bottles by the end of the night.  Twenty three ships every single night of the year.  Some more some less.  My gut says MJ is losing money right now but they have little choice but keep in going.  It's costs money to mothball a ship, you can't just anchor it somewhere and walk away.  That's speculation on my part.  

 

The problem CAS has is that's it's budget requirements are forever growing.  Every year they need more and more money to pay for CAS benefits.  Royal isn't a company that likes to fund lost causes like IT or CAS.  They are expense centers that generate no revenue, or at least that is how Royal views them.  Expanding the CAS budget year after year to fund the growing monster called diamond is a hard sell to the CFO.  I don't see it that way because I am one of those thirsty happy hour consumers but to a CFO that is how they will see it.