Spring break cruisers, how about a report?

[Markanddonna]

We just finished a four day cruise on Msc that was pretty frustrating. A surge in passengers with no increase in staff and many food shortages. How was Rcl? 

[Ken at the beach]

15 minutes ago, Markanddonna said:

We just finished a four day cruise on Msc that was pretty frustrating. A surge in passengers with no increase in staff and many food shortages. How was Rcl? 

3584 people on board Symphony tjis week as opposed to usually 6200+.  Only about 300 under 12 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Ourusualbeach

[Stealthdog]

On Enchantment now.  It seems like a very busy ship and staff is fantastic.  Havent noticed any shortages of food - they have had everything I asked for so far.

[FlatFooted Freda]

On Mariner now. The kids are back ! Literally. Lots of kids. Haven’t heard a passenger count, but seems busy/full. Seems to be staffing problems. Last night in Windjammer buffet, we saw staff in suit/tie bussing tables. Many staff seem to be brand new English speakers. We wonder if staff has been pulled for the Wonder. 

[SherriZ366]

36 minutes ago, FlatFooted Freda said:

On Mariner now. The kids are back ! Literally. Lots of kids. Haven’t heard a passenger count, but seems busy/full. Seems to be staffing problems. Last night in Windjammer buffet, we saw staff in suit/tie bussing tables. Many staff seem to be brand new English speakers. We wonder if staff has been pulled for the Wonder. 

My daughter, son-in-law and grandsons are cruising on Mariner on April 9.  I hope that RCI staffs up.  It's the boys' first cruise and they are really excited.  This is prime spring break time and it's a 5 nighter.  Any updates would be helpful. 

We are on Harmony later in the month (April 24) but as it's a week past Easter, I thing Spring Breakers will be tapering off.  

Edited March 18, 2022 by SherriZ366

[RockHoundTX]

On LIberty right now. I think I heard 2800 cruisers and 900 kids. The teen club was completely overwhelmed. Service has been a little lacking (both room service and MDR) but not terrible. Just seems like they are under-staffed so stretched a little too thin. Plenty of bacon but still no white chocolate cranberry cookies (DId not have them on Adventure in December either. Any other RCCL ships have them?) and every "spare" lobster tail was sent to Wonder (asking for a second lobster tail was like asking for their first-born). Overall been OK but quite to the normal pre-Covid standards for this ship.  

[FlatFooted Freda]

11 hours ago, SherriZ366 said:

My daughter, son-in-law and grandsons are cruising on Mariner on April 9.  I hope that RCI staffs up.  It's the boys' first cruise and they are really excited.  This is prime spring break time and it's a 5 nighter.  Any updates would be helpful. 

We are on Harmony later in the month (April 24) but as it's a week past Easter, I thing Spring Breakers will be tapering off.  

I love to give updates!

My DH prefers Windjammer to MDR. Last night was Italian night. Had the pasta station. Was the best of the food thus far. But the wait was about a 20 minute line. 
Yesterday was also Coco Cay. It was a perfect day. Perfect weather. Docked there with Symphony. I was worried about being able to find a chair/umbrella. But no worries. I was out there by around 9 am and found a first, oceanfront chair in South Beach. Left, then returned with DH in the afternoon. Still no problems finding a nice shady spot. 
FWIW, we cruised on the Odyssey in November. Totally different experience. Big new ship. Possibly my best cruise so far ( this is #6 ). Food/staff all top notch. So few passengers on Coco cay it  was kinda creepy. 
My guess is that the new staff here will get better everyday. The Windjammer had more staff last night to clear tables   They’ll figure it out. It’s still great to be on a cruise☺️

[SherriZ366]

On 3/19/2022 at 7:44 AM, FlatFooted Freda said:

I love to give updates!

My DH prefers Windjammer to MDR. Last night was Italian night. Had the pasta station. Was the best of the food thus far. But the wait was about a 20 minute line. 
Yesterday was also Coco Cay. It was a perfect day. Perfect weather. Docked there with Symphony. I was worried about being able to find a chair/umbrella. But no worries. I was out there by around 9 am and found a first, oceanfront chair in South Beach. Left, then returned with DH in the afternoon. Still no problems finding a nice shady spot. 
FWIW, we cruised on the Odyssey in November. Totally different experience. Big new ship. Possibly my best cruise so far ( this is #6 ). Food/staff all top notch. So few passengers on Coco cay it  was kinda creepy. 
My guess is that the new staff here will get better everyday. The Windjammer had more staff last night to clear tables   They’ll figure it out. It’s still great to be on a cruise☺️

Thanks -- I pass your update along to my daughter.  Glad RCI is adding crew -- by April 9, it should be better staffed.  

Edited March 20, 2022 by SherriZ366

[RoperDK]

Just off the Odyssey.  Loads of mostly well behaved teens roaming around.  Younger kids seemed to be escorted and monitored by parents or grandparents.  Granted, we spent most of our time in the casino or other adult venues.  The ship was packed.  Service was fine.  Would prefer to sail with less action, but it was fine for us.  Didn't have kids along, so not sure about congestion in activities that catered to them.   

[feisty77]

Just off Oasis.  Think there were like 4400 people onboard, not sure of number of kids but seemed like a good amount.  My kids (5,8) were in adventure ocean in the evenings.  Never had trouble dropping them off but also heard they accepted over planned capacity.  Kids were a little bored with the variety of activities (only crafts or active games for my 8 year old).  My 5 year old was not allowed with older brother (she turns 6 in 3 months), she didn't really like kids club first few nights but then warmed up to it.  

 

We did notice a bit of slow service everywhere.  Not bad service really, but it did take longer to get drinks etc and the dinner was slower than we wanted.  Probably close to an hour 45 m most nights.  This made it really hard/impossible for us to make the 7pm shows we were trying to do, 5:30 early dining, and shows offered at 7 or 9:30 and kids pickup at 10, seemed not really good for families.  Felt like a lot of staff didn't have the time to do more of the out of the way/outstanding service we have had in the past.

 

That said, we had a great cruise 🙂

[link99]

Just off Odyssey March 26. 4200 passengers with 1000 Kids. Announced at TopTier event. Sea Plex always.full Kids in all the pools. The first full bellyflop competition, packed the pools.   No issue with service. Never out of anything. A regular spring break cruise just like the old days. Fantastic  Cruise and Staff.

 

My only complaint would be the kooky elevator operations. They have a mind of there own. Don’t even bring up the touch-less buttons. If a backpack even gets close your in for a long ride

 

Edited March 29, 2022 by link99

[keyboardjunkie]

We were on the Freedom for a 4 day during the college spring break.  A travel agency booked approximately 700 college age guests for a 'spring break cruise'.  It was a nightmare.  Almost all had the drink package.  Bars were four deep.  Bathing suits were worn everywhere....in the casino, on the promenade, and in bars.  Vaping was evident in bars.  Young men were observed standing in the cabin hallways in their underwear acting like they were in a college dorm.  Security was no where to be seen. 

[smokeybandit]

48 minutes ago, link99 said:

My only complaint would be the kooky elevator operations.

 

No kidding

[ennjay]

Was on Mariner March 12-17, and then Harmony March 20-27.  

 

Both ships seemed not quite fully staffed -- on Mariner, it meant that the kids club didn't have the separate rooms -- all kids ages 6-11 were together, which my 11-year-old didn't love but put up with. On Harmony, we noticed it in the very limited hours for activities (on non-sea days, things like the zip line, Abyss, flowriders, rockclimbing, etc., were only open for a few hours, mostly in the early morning and late afternoon hours). Not HUGE impacts, but noticeable.

 

There were definitely kids on board, but not an overwhelming number that I was expecting. My kids had no problems getting into Adventure Ocean any evening, which is not always the case in my previous experience with higher capacities.

 

Covid protocols were completely different on both ships, and very noticeable to me. On Mariner (~2800 pax on board), it felt like a tighter ship -- all crew in KN95s (many double-masked), they handed you your plate and utensils, and cups of water/tea/lemonade in the Windjammer/buffet.  And it didn't feel as crowded.  On Harmony (~3700 pax on board), most crew wore loosely fitting surgical/cotton-type masks, sometimes below nose, occasionally not at all... Windjammer you got your own plates and utensils and drinks in the machines, and at Mini Bites it was FULLY self-serve (which shocked me!). The casino on Harmony was incredibly smoky, compared to what felt like a cleaner air environment on Mariner, and much more crowded even though it's bigger. 

 

We had 6 in my party (3 cabins) on Harmony, and 4 of us had Covid by the end of the week (2 tested positive on days 6 and 7 on board, 2 more right after departure).  Even though we had 3 adjoining cabins, when my father tested positive on day 6, they didn't test the rest of us (with antigen testing) except my mom who shared his cabin, even though we all had dinner together every night and were traveling together and he named us as close contacts.  It seemed like they didn't want to know about positive cases.  We heard SO much coughing from others on our balconies. And on the Facebook group for the sailing, many have reported positive Covid cases in the day or two after disembarking. Made me very skeptical about their claim to be trying to keep people healthy, to be honest.  I suspect they're more concerned about their crew -- which is fine -- but with Royal about to drop the "don't worry, we'll help you get home if you test positive" Covid protections, it's something to be aware of. Since we live in New York and were supposed to fly back the day of disembarkation, we did get an offer of help to quarantine/get home. We chose to rent a car and drive back to New York. We'll see what they reimburse -- hopefully they'll be good on their promise.

 

Didn't notice any food shortages.  

Edited March 30, 2022 by ennjay

[OSUZorba]

On 3/18/2022 at 9:30 PM, RockHoundTX said:

On LIberty right now. I think I heard 2800 cruisers and 900 kids. The teen club was completely overwhelmed. Service has been a little lacking (both room service and MDR) but not terrible. Just seems like they are under-staffed so stretched a little too thin. Plenty of bacon but still no white chocolate cranberry cookies (DId not have them on Adventure in December either. Any other RCCL ships have them?) and every "spare" lobster tail was sent to Wonder (asking for a second lobster tail was like asking for their first-born). Overall been OK but quite to the normal pre-Covid standards for this ship.  

I was on the same cruise. Those number match the numbers given to me but the SL conceirge.

 

I however had no problem with any service, actually the best MDR service I've had since 2009. I had a second lobster tail just given to me, without asking.

 

They did run out of Pina Colada mix halfway through, but made a homemade mix.

 

Kids all seemed well behaved, had no issues with anything filling full. I could believe the teen area was full, though.

[Stealthdog]

26 minutes ago, ennjay said:

Both ships seemed not quite fully staffed -- on Mariner, it meant that the kids club didn't have the separate rooms -- all kids ages 6-11 were together, which my 11-year-old didn't love but put up with. On Harmony, we noticed it in the very limited hours for activities (on non-sea days, things like the zip line, Abyss, flowriders, rockclimbing, etc., were only open for a few hours, mostly in the early morning and late afternoon hours).   

 

Is this abnormal compared to pre-covid?  Ive never paid a ton of attention to kid activities.  But ive always noticed that on port days many activities are very limited......except of course the huge push to fill the spa.

 

Sorry to hear they grouped multiple age groups together like that.

[Orange jeep]

I just got off Allure….3/19-3/27 and about 4,000 on board.  I was surprised that there were not that many kids.

[mets123]

Just returned from the Anthem. About 65% capacity, 250 children, no problems. CD had covid and the last two shows of WWRY were cancelled.

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, mets123 said:

About 65% capacity

The number provided by most (3281) is about 78% capacity.

[SummerBeee]

I’ve sailed 4 times this month 

Jewel 1-6 solo

Jewel 6-12 solo

Brilliance 14-19 with college age daughter 

jewel 20-26 with friend

 

Early March Jewel had a lot of college students. Definitely an uptick from the 3 sailings I did on her in February. Lots of 1st time cruisers too

I really didn’t pay any attention to kids area so nothing to report there.

Observed that Jewel had less bar staff than Brilliance. No servers walking around the theater pre-show on Jewel. 
 

Visited Coco Beach yesterday and the beach seemed busy for a Tuesday. 

 

Hopping on Mariner for a B4B tomorrow. Being Mariner I do expect more kids/teens/20’s than the Radiance class ships. Had a great time on Jewel/Brilliance and specifically booked those because they are less of a draw for young kids.

[matj2000]

Just did Symphony   3/12 - 3/19

 

Easiest and fastest boarding ever.

 

They said around 3700 pax, seemed a little dead at times in the promenade.

 

Service was great everywhere.

 

My only issue was that the staff was required to wear masks which was unnecessary. 

 

And they shut down the pools the first sea day because of waves.

 

Something that must be new because I have never seen that happen & the ship was not really rocking much..

[CruisingHogFan]

On 3/18/2022 at 9:30 PM, RockHoundTX said:

On LIberty right now. I think I heard 2800 cruisers and 900 kids. The teen club was completely overwhelmed. Service has been a little lacking (both room service and MDR) but not terrible. Just seems like they are under-staffed so stretched a little too thin. Plenty of bacon but still no white chocolate cranberry cookies (DId not have them on Adventure in December either. Any other RCCL ships have them?) and every "spare" lobster tail was sent to Wonder (asking for a second lobster tail was like asking for their first-born). Overall been OK but quite to the normal pre-Covid standards for this ship.  

We were on this sailing and thought the service was still great. Capacity was still overall low compared to a full sailing so didn’t seem as crowded as previous Liberty sailings. Not sure about your lobster issue. Our waiter gave us our regular plate and 3 extra tails each!!

[The sea calls my name]

DH and I did Mariner of the Seas 4 night last week. To sum it all up in one sentence, my DH said," never again will I cruise in March unless I win one or someone else pays for it."