It wasn't Good. My AOS Review on the July 7th Cruise from Cape Liberty

[reallyitsmema]

23 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

They used to clean the windows (and paint) in port, but I haven't seen that happen since the restart.

 

Quantum windows on the aft facing balconies were cleaned at the end of our sailing.  I watched the cleaning crew power washing the balconies and windows and then squeegee them as I was sitting in my cabin waiting for my escort to walk me off.  Balcony floors were also washed everyday by the cabin steward because of how bad the soot was on that ship.

[BlueBayouAZ]

So interesting how frequently older ships need painting and care. I sailed on Adventure in March and April about a month apart. Both Junior Suites on deck 9 starboard. Maybe 8 rooms apart. The first balcony had a few minor rust spots. The balcony in our room a few weeks later was freshly painted. 

[johnjen]

1 hour ago, coaster said:

Believe you should of started cruising again earlier. Our 3 cruises late last year with under 50 percent capacity were the best cruises I recall. No lines or drama with WJ staff plating your food. Able to wait in your cabin until your number was called on departure day.

 

Now they pack the ship regardless of how much crew they have.... Prices were so much cheaper late last year also. It was the best of both world's.

It's mixed feelings. We feel terrible for the staff. We came with that understanding. But the company needs to cut back on customers as to fairly match the demand against what little employees they have. To put it bluntly, RCL is nothing but a greedy corporation bent on getting their profits back. I will wait for the response to my point paper written to the top three of RCL.

[johnjen]

1 hour ago, crzndeb said:

You turn Diamond on the Anthem cruise, or will be your first cruise after turning Diamond? Personally, I love the Quantum class ships, and Diamond benefits, but that’s just me. I travel solo, so never eat in MDR or speciality. I am more of a snacker, than a big meal person. 😂

We're Diamond now. I think it takes two weeks to reflect that after this cruise. Not sure that it matters but we'll see.

[volk904]

It is easy to complain. We cruised on the Explorer in April and Serenade in early June. Both ships were under staffed and the ships could use some work and the entertainment was not as good as pre covid but we knew this going in. We had a good time and were happy to have a crise to take. Right now I am willing to understand that Royal and all the cruise lines have lost hundreds of millions which has no doubt delayed some dry dock maintenance and are having trouble staffing up. 

[Biker19]

9 minutes ago, johnjen said:

To put it bluntly, RCL is nothing but a greedy corporation bent on getting their profits back.

Might as well cancel Anthem now. 

[firefly333]

6 minutes ago, johnjen said:

It's mixed feelings. We feel terrible for the staff. We came with that understanding. But the company needs to cut back on customers as to fairly match the demand against what little employees they have. To put it bluntly, RCL is nothing but a greedy corporation bent on getting their profits back. I will wait for the response to my point paper written to the top three of RCL.

Tbh I get very tired of the term greedy. Imo they are fighting for their lives. Analysts said they think ccl took on so much debt they might not make it .. make or break time for cruiselines.

 

I agree 2 hour meals are needing work. I dont agree it makes a company greedy. I own some oil stocks and probably why I'm so very tired of that line. They also couldnt give away oil in 2020 and took losses.

 

When you say this you lose me .. and I've agreed with you on other stuff.. I'm taking a few months off from cruising and hoping things get better. 

[johnjen]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

Might as well cancel Anthem now. 

I will wait for the response from RCL's top three where I have written a letter to them about this cruise. I'm NOT seeking compensation; I only want them to realize that booking up customers to max capacity isn't doing the customer (or mainly, the staff) any justice. Hoping that things improve by next year. If not, we will cruise with Virgin instead of RCL for next year.

[johnjen]

5 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Tbh I get very tired of the term greedy. Imo they are fighting for their lives. Analysts said they think ccl took on so much debt they might not make it .. make or break time for cruiselines.

 

I agree 2 hour meals are needing work. I dont agree it makes a company greedy. I own some oil stocks and probably why I'm so very tired of that line. They also couldnt give away oil in 2020 and took losses.

 

When you say this you lose me .. and I've agreed with you on other stuff.. I'm taking a few months off from cruising and hoping things get better. 

Hey. We all think differently. At least you agree on some points. I agree with yours. Thanks for being honest. But if you have a very limited staff, it is not fair to press on with more bookings which overburdens the existing staff that you have, thus making the end results more difficult on the customers.

Edited July 17, 2022 by johnjen

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, johnjen said:

Hoping that things improve by next year. 

How you would you measure that without going on a cruise yourself? Reading reports here? That could have told you everything you were going to experience on your last cruise. 

[Another_Critic]

6 minutes ago, johnjen said:

Hey. We all think differently. At least you agree on some points. I agree with yours. Thanks for being honest. But if you have a very limited staff, it is not fair to press on with more bookings which overburdens the existing staff that you have, thus making the end results more difficult on the customers.

It's a catch-22.  Limit bookings = raise prices.  Raise prices = low bookings.  Low bookings = little to no profit.  Etc., etc. 

[firefly333]

2 minutes ago, johnjen said:

Hey. We all think differently. At least you agree on some points. I agree with yours. Thanks for being honest.

Being short staffed to you means rcl is greedy, instead of having issues hiring. So if a restaurant down the street doesnt have enough staff you assume it's not due to having trouble hiring you say that restaurant is greedy.

 

I assume rcl is trying to hire but as they have said there seems to be a govt bottleneck getting visas thru to get new staff on the ship. This is where I'm saying name calling and making assumptions.  I agree with the others, this isnt the time for you on rcl. ..yet you say you were aware from reading they were short staffed, but now decided it's because they are greedy. Ok ... you should cancel anthem. 

 

Rcl isnt the right line for you. Good luck on virgin. Seems you dont understand the labor market is tight. Schools here are very greedy. Having trouble hiring teachers... so much greed. Crazy assumption.

[johnjen]

4 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Being short staffed to you means rcl is greedy, instead of having issues hiring. So if a restaurant down the street doesnt have enough staff you assume it's not due to having trouble hiring you say that restaurant is greedy.

 

I assume rcl is trying to hire but as they have said there seems to be a govt bottleneck getting visas thru to get new staff on the ship. This is where I'm saying name calling and making assumptions.  I agree with the others, this isnt the time for you on rcl. ..yet you say you were aware from reading they were short staffed, but now decided it's because they are greedy. Ok ... you should cancel anthem. 

 

Rcl isnt the right line for you. Good luck on virgin. Seems you dont understand the labor market is tight. Schools here are very greedy. Having trouble hiring teachers... so much greed. Crazy assumption.

I believe you misunderstood me. No. Greedy is where a company willingly brings on more customers while the staff struggles with what they have. I clearly understand that the labor market is tight. I just do not hold the same beliefs that you hold. I was NEVER one to just say, "It is what it is" because I want value for the money I spend. You simply didn't grasp what I was saying. My decision making will come from the reply that I receive from the RCL managers, not yours.

Edited July 17, 2022 by johnjen

[Tlbecker1]

2 hours ago, johnjen said:

I agree; it'll be some time for RCL to get back on their feet again. Perhaps it was my fault to revisit cruising this early. 
On Diamond benefits, we get that on our next cruise if there is to be one. I'm thinking now, cancel the Anthem cruise next year and do Virgin instead.

Anthem is an amazing ship!  I am not sure it will be up to your standards, but we love the Anthem!

[johnjen]

16 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

It's a catch-22.  Limit bookings = raise prices.  Raise prices = low bookings.  Low bookings = little to no profit.  Etc., etc. 

That's the truth. I think they're having struggles, as evident in this pic. i still think they're being greedy by loading up the ship with customers, overwhelming their crew. In the end, this sums it up.

 

I should have included this pic in my review. This was the charcuterie board. 

[johnjen]

2 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

Anthem is an amazing ship!  I am not sure it will be up to your standards, but we love the Anthem!

TBH, I loved it too.

[HicksRA]

14 minutes ago, johnjen said:

That's the truth. I think they're having struggles, as evident in this pic. i still think they're being greedy by loading up the ship with customers, overwhelming their crew. In the end, this sums it up.

 

I should have included this pic in my review. This was the charcuterie board. 

Looks like an Oscar Mayer sample plate at Costco…. 🤣

[Another_Critic]

17 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

Anthem is an amazing ship!  I am not sure it will be up to your standards, but we love the Anthem!

 

13 minutes ago, johnjen said:

TBH, I loved it too.

Sailed Q class multiple times (1 Quantum, 6 Anthem [3 since restart]).  Sailed Adventure 1 time.

 

I actually preferred Adventure.

[beardedladies]

A lot of the complaints here are really due to factors affecting pretty much any cruise line of a comparable star rating to Royal - costs are going up massively and the cost of cruises simply aren't rising to meet that gap for a number of factors others have alluded to. It's a tricky time for cruise lines - they're desperately trying to start recovering from covid, but are meeting a load of other hurdles that are coming at a time when they simply don't have the room to absorb them like they once might. So something has to give.

 

Really it doesn't matter much that it was Royal you travelled on - any other line would have shown similar problems right now.

 

That said, I personally think Royal are cutting too far in some areas - with food being a major issue. The poor kitchens simply don't have the budget to produce something even halfway decent a lot of the time. This is something they really need to re-evaluate. It's most painfully obvious when it's formal night and you're all dressed up and served something that really doesn't warrant the effort you've gone to.

 

My personal opinion is that I'm cutting the lines some slack this year. I'll give feedback where it's not performing as well as I think it should, but give them a bit of time to adapt to this "new normal".

So my vote is to give Anthem another go next year. See if they've listened to your feedback. If not, as they'll have had over a year of running at full capacity at that point then you can fairly say it's more to do with how they want to operate rather than how they're forced to.

 

If you give another line a go instead and find it's better, then you may be getting an erroneous impression as all lines by then will have had the time they need to recover to their normal operations.

Edited July 17, 2022 by beardedladies

[edrussell]

Definitely appreciate your honest and matter of fact review.  We were on Adventure for a Bermuda sailing back in late May and I guess I didn't look close enough at the ship as I thought it was in fine shape.  We very much enjoyed our sailing.  I would agree with you that the MDR food was not up to par.  Can't comment on any specialty dining as my wife and I have never eaten in one.  We really thought the CD did a good job though.  She was lively and fun.  Also she had quite the set of pipes if you ever hear her sing.  Cheers!

[crzndeb]

1 hour ago, johnjen said:

I will wait for the response from RCL's top three where I have written a letter to them about this cruise. I'm NOT seeking compensation; I only want them to realize that booking up customers to max capacity isn't doing the customer (or mainly, the staff) any justice. Hoping that things improve by next year. If not, we will cruise with Virgin instead of RCL for next year.

I doubt very highly, the top 3 will ever see your letter. They have assistants that do all that work. Although you’re not seeking compensation, you will probably receive something, since that is usually the norm.

I eat dinner a lot in the Windjammer, and I could have made a much better Charcuterie Board, with the breads, meat and cheeses they have there. The one you received was very sad. 

[Cutigerlady]

Have you been on another vacation since COVID that has met your expectations?  Everywhere is struggling and I don’t think you can compare experiences now to those before COVID.  
 

I just got back from a resort on land and it suffered from many of these exact same things - obvious maintenance delays and the resort trying to get on its feet, closed venues, short staff, missing food items, activities not available, etc.  The thing is I loved this place and I want it to make it, so I’ll spend my precious vacation dollars with them to give them a fighting chance. I’m also packing my patience because the people working are killing themselves and it’s not their fault. 
 

I honestly don’t know if travel/leisure vacations will ever be the same. I’m grateful I get the opportunity to go at all and I appreciate the good moments more than ever. 

[time4u2go]

1 hour ago, johnjen said:

That's the truth. I think they're having struggles, as evident in this pic. i still think they're being greedy by loading up the ship with customers, overwhelming their crew. In the end, this sums it up.

 

I should have included this pic in my review. This was the charcuterie board. 

It looks like somebody searched their refrigerator for leftovers. They should be ashamed.

[johnjen]

13 minutes ago, Cutigerlady said:

Have you been on another vacation since COVID that has met your expectations?  Everywhere is struggling and I don’t think you can compare experiences now to those before COVID.  
 

I just got back from a resort on land and it suffered from many of these exact same things - obvious maintenance delays and the resort trying to get on its feet, closed venues, short staff, missing food items, activities not available, etc.  The thing is I loved this place and I want it to make it, so I’ll spend my precious vacation dollars with them to give them a fighting chance. I’m also packing my patience because the people working are killing themselves and it’s not their fault. 
 

I honestly don’t know if travel/leisure vacations will ever be the same. I’m grateful I get the opportunity to go at all and I appreciate the good moments more than ever. 

First of all - granted, the review didn't reflect it - we actually had a good time. I managed to dig into reading again and RELAXING. There were good moments. I never had a single issue against a crew member as all of them were doing the best with what they had. Short staffing was expected. But I cannot accept changes for the worse when it comes to my vacation money. Some sheeple will blindly just say, "it is what it is" - I don't. Should I have waited longer? YES! Should the company press on adding more customers? NO. No. and, no.

I have been to the UK three times this year to take care of my ailing father up in Scotland, and the year before - even in the midst of the pandemic when it was around.

Edited July 17, 2022 by johnjen

[johnjen]

19 minutes ago, crzndeb said:

I doubt very highly, the top 3 will ever see your letter. They have assistants that do all that work. Although you’re not seeking compensation, you will probably receive something, since that is usually the norm.

I eat dinner a lot in the Windjammer, and I could have made a much better Charcuterie Board, with the breads, meat and cheeses they have there. The one you received was very sad. 

As mentioned before, all I want is the company to take in my issues. No comp even desired, at least host a meeting on what cruisers are observing. This review on here was just for this forum. There are higher level items that badly need board attention that I haven't mentioned. Crew morale being one of the topics I will address. The top 3 WILL see my letter. I know how to address them directly (well, at least Roberto). I have testimonials from crew members who are anon. The morale is miserably low.,

Edited July 17, 2022 by johnjen