Some Concepts Royal Caribbean are Experimenting With

[tahqa]

From Royal Caribbean's Facebook Page... thought ya'll might be interested :D

 

A Look at Some Concepts We’ve Been Experimenting With

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Today at 3:12pm

 

There is always something going on somewhere in the fleet or at headquarters. An experiment. A trial. An effort to make the Royal Caribbean cruise experience better for our guests. Sometimes the idea disappears without a trace. Usually something good comes of it. I’d like to mention a few concepts that you will probably be hearing more about in the near future.

The first has to do with a staple of cruising: the muster drill we require our guests to participate in at the beginning of each cruise. This is an International Maritime Law requirement. After 40 years we are still working on improving the drill from both a safety and satisfaction standpoint. We are trying out having our guests come to their muster drill station without first returning to their staterooms to get their life jackets and then returning the life jackets to their staterooms after the drill. The idea is possible, particularly on our larger ships, because we can store a sufficient amount of life jackets at the muster stations in case of a real emergency. Also, in the event of a real emergency, going from wherever you are at the moment to your stateroom and then to your muster station may not be optimal from the safety aspect. This experiment is looking extremely promising for both guest flow and comfort. In addition, we are testing the electronic recording of all present at the muster station so the bridge and safety officers can know real time who is present and accounted for.

The second has to do with promoting family dining at our specialty restaurants. Up to now we have restricted attendance at Chops Grill and Portofino to age 13 and higher. But given that family friendliness is very important to Royal Caribbean International, we want to enable more families to dine together in our specialty restaurants as well as in the main dining room. We have a trial going on right now to see how removing the age restriction works in the specialty restaurants.

Third and finally for now, we will soon announce in detail a new an improved way of allowing travel agents and guests to book air travel in connection with a cruise. When we’re ready in a few weeks I will ask Doug Santoni, SVP, Revenue Performance, to bring you up to speed.

Even in challenging times we are committed to bringing you ‘Wow’ innovations on a regular basis.

[sanbmet]

I would cheer for a better way to book air arrangements along with a cruise!!!!

[Moondawgie]

Well, that is interesting.

 

The only thing that gave me pause is lifting the age restriction in the specialty restaurants ... I think that would challenge the ambiance of the dining experience. I can't see keeping the elegant top notch service with kids in the dining area. And I am not kid unfriendly, quite the contrary - I just don't see that working in that venue.

[dna1990]

I am certainly for the sans life jacket drill.

I would prefer the age limit remain.

I don't see much coming to the customer for the air packages.

 

 

Bottom line, all of the above are bottom line ideas for RCCL and have little to do with pleasing us. That is not a bad thing in of itself, but don't 'sell us' on you wanting to add more revenue to Chops, etc.

[lori450]

They have always let younger children in if the reservation starts before 6:30pm. I've been taking my son in there for years (but then he has good manners)

[julia]

BAD BAD BAD move to even consider lowering the age requirements in the specialty restaurants! Are they not already full and turning a profit? Don't they already allow children there earlier in the evening?

 

These areas are designed for an upscale, slower paced, adult-type dining experience. What could they be thinking?!! (Ummm, more money perhaps?) :confused:

[truffles2]

We will not be booking the specialty restaurants if they allow all ages. Its bad enough in the main dining room with nearby tables containing small children acting badly and being ignored by their parents.

[czcruiser13]

Change is a coming:)

[ERIE 13]

If i want kids i'll go to Mickey D's or Johnny Rockets. I love kids but not when I'am spending 40+ on a so called quit dinner.

[ALEX122495]

I like the idea of being flexible with dining ages in the resturants. Perhaps I am biased because we would like to take our 12 yr old DD as well as our 14 yr old

DS to the myster dinner or any meal for that matter. We have very well behaved children who know how to act in resturants , because they have always gone with us and have been taught the right way to behave and what is expected.

 

I am aware also, that there may be parents of very young children who want to attend and don't want to leave thier children with unknown babysitters(supplied for a cost by RCI) and are not allowed to go yet. Wouldn't it benifical for everyone if they have one or two nights per cruise for families of all ages, letting the other nights be for adults only. This way when reservations are made you know what to expect. Just my opinion.

[negc]

I think that they are asking for trouble if they remove all age restrictions in the specialty restaurants. Since they already permit families with kids under 13 to dine there before a certain hour, it doesn't seem wise to remove the current restriction if they want to retain the specialty restaurant ambience that most find especially appealing. Of course you won't find many parents who admit that their youngsters aren't all well-behaved and mature beyond their years, but it does seem that there should be a way to preserve an adult-only atmosphere for dining in at least one section of the ship.

I'll wait for more details on the new flight arrangements before judging whether or not it is an improvement over the current Custom Air program. Hopefully it means that we will be able to book any and all airlines through

RCI, which is not always possible with Custom Air.:)

[BND]

I see nothing wrong with having age restrictions after a certain time. Most small children don't do well after 8 pm anyway. Does this mean they're going to put chicken nuggets on the menu? We've raised our kids and adored them, but they didn't go to upscale restaurants with us until they were able to sit and enjoy the meal, usually age 10+. I don't see the point in bringing a 2 year old in who will not want to sit still for 2 hours at dinner. If you don't want to use a babysitter, dont' go to the restaurant. It's what we have done the entire time they were growing up. If we didnt' have a baby sitter or couldnt' get one, we never took them to a restaurant where we knew they wouldn't be able to at least talk in their normal voices, not loud, just normal kid voices. We did teach them "restaurant manners" and they used them well, but not at 2.

 

Of course, almost everyone thinks their child is "mature beyond their years", but the fact is, they're still kids and if they are that able to sit through a 2-3 hour meal quietly, then I'd say they're not having a normal childhood.

[admiral nelson]

A couple of revolutionary ones:

Improve the quality of the food in the dining room! I was on Radiance recently and it was simply not good. I think your menu has too many items and you are sacrificing quality. How many people, of the 2,000 you serve on any given night, are going to order pheasant and some of the other more exotic items? Your target market wants value not pretension. Do fewer items better.

Don't allow kids in the upcharge rooms. It will spoil the experience. (P.S. We decided not to try the upcharge rooms because we figured even if the quality improved marginally from the dining room it wasn't going to be special enough to justify the expense. We saved the $ and had a nice dinner in Vancouver instead.)

Drills: I know people don't like them but I believe they are important and actually need to be stricter. If you do have room at each muster station to store the jackets that's great but people need to learn how to put them on and they should go to the actual lifeboats and know where they are -- not sit in a bar and laugh about the whole thing.

[NCMtnBoys]

I, too, have to echo NO to expanding the hours of allowing children in the specialty restaurants. Allowing this would definitely make me think twice about booking them.

[megr1125]

I like the idea of being flexible with dining ages in the resturants. Perhaps I am biased because we would like to take our 12 yr old DD as well as our 14 yr old

DS to the myster dinner or any meal for that matter. We have very well behaved children who know how to act in resturants , because they have always gone with us and have been taught the right way to behave and what is expected.

 

I am aware also, that there may be parents of very young children who want to attend and don't want to leave thier children with unknown babysitters(supplied for a cost by RCI) and are not allowed to go yet. Wouldn't it benifical for everyone if they have one or two nights per cruise for families of all ages, letting the other nights be for adults only. This way when reservations are made you know what to expect. Just my opinion.

 

that would make more sense to me.....nothing against kids, but my mom and i aren't going to spend another 40-50 bucks for chops or portofino and have to deal with a zillion little kids......granted SOME may be good and quiet, but not all....and with my luck we'd get the ones doing target practice with dinner rolls....:eek::rolleyes::mad:

[hcat]

would not dine any more in Chops or Portofino if younger children are allowed at all times--at least now the families can dine early & after a certain time they can't--- that works best for all....once got stuck with an earlier time--squirming children, video games, food on the floor, not very pleasant!

 

since we don't twitter or do facebook I hope someone who does will conveythis point of view!

[shelby_36]

From Royal Caribbean's Facebook Page... thought ya'll might be interested :D

 

A Look at Some Concepts We’ve Been Experimenting With

Share

 

The first has to do with a staple of cruising: the muster drill we require our guests to participate in at the beginning of each cruise. This is an International Maritime Law requirement. After 40 years we are still working on improving the drill from both a safety and satisfaction standpoint. We are trying out having our guests come to their muster drill station without first returning to their staterooms to get their life jackets and then returning the life jackets to their staterooms after the drill. The idea is possible, particularly on our larger ships, because we can store a sufficient amount of life jackets at the muster stations in case of a real emergency. Also, in the event of a real emergency, going from wherever you are at the moment to your stateroom and then to your muster station may not be optimal from the safety aspect. This experiment is looking extremely promising for both guest flow and comfort. In addition, we are testing the electronic recording of all present at the muster station so the bridge and safety officers can know real time who is present and accounted for.

The second has to do with promoting family dining at our specialty restaurants. Up to now we have restricted attendance at Chops Grill and Portofino to age 13 and higher. But given that family friendliness is very important to Royal Caribbean International, we want to enable more families to dine together in our specialty restaurants as well as in the main dining room. We have a trial going on right now to see how removing the age restriction works in the specialty restaurants.

Third and finally for now, we will soon announce in detail a new an improved way of allowing travel agents and guests to book air travel in connection with a cruise. When we’re ready in a few weeks I will ask Doug Santoni, SVP, Revenue Performance, to bring you up to speed.

Even in challenging times we are committed to bringing you ‘Wow’ innovations on a regular basis.

 

We did the NO lifevests on Muster drill and it was fantastic. Lets hope they keep that idea.

There were little kids in Portofino when we were on Liberty. Not sure if that was their test or if they made exceptions for those kids. Not sure how I feel about that. I kindof like these restaurants because they are quiet, personal, and not busy. You add (some) kids to that mix and it takes the draw out of it.

Not sure what they will cahnge about the air travel. You can do all that now- are they fixing it?

[Schplinky]

You know, we have friends who ask us if RCL is over-run with kids and we usually talk about adult havens like the specialty rooms. If RCL wants kids in their specialty rooms, then they don't want me there. Too many parents think their kids are well behaved when in fact, they are not. Sure, they're doing well for kids but they're still kids and part of the appeal of Chops is that it isn't full of them. I imagine some parents will be bringing video games for their kiddies to play to keep them happy. Ugh!

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

I really like the idea of having life vests at the muster station. That saves all the hassle of going to your room to fetch one and having to return it afterward. What a great idea!

 

I am really opposed to the idea of opening up the speciality restaurants to all comers regardless of age. I would accept the idea proposed above to have a family night or two but not every night, definitely not. I would NOT pay extra to eat in the "fine dining" venues if infants are crying, toddlers are squirming and pre-schoolers are restless and fidgety.

 

Another idea would be to have a specialty restaurant family time (an hour and a half--say 5:30PM to 7:00PM) for the all-ages dining, but a strict cut off after that...absolutely no one under fourteen. RCI could even charge less for the kids at the family time.

 

The only airline amenity I can think of that RCI could add is a way to carry more luggage without suitcase surcharges. I doubt RCI has that much clout.

[negc]

A couple of revolutionary ones:

Improve the quality of the food in the dining room! I was on Radiance recently and it was simply not good. I think your menu has too many items and you are sacrificing quality. How many people, of the 2,000 you serve on any given night, are going to order pheasant and some of the other more exotic items? Your target market wants value not pretension. Do fewer items better.

Don't allow kids in the upcharge rooms. It will spoil the experience. (P.S. We decided not to try the upcharge rooms because we figured even if the quality improved marginally from the dining room it wasn't going to be special enough to justify the expense. We saved the $ and had a nice dinner in Vancouver instead.)

Drills: I know people don't like them but I believe they are important and actually need to be stricter. If you do have room at each muster station to store the jackets that's great but people need to learn how to put them on and they should go to the actual lifeboats and know where they are -- not sit in a bar and laugh about the whole thing.

 

Do real people, other than marketers, actually use words like "upcharge" and "upsell".:D Interesting that you believe that the dining rooms onboard offer too many options - that seems to fly in the face of the majority of complaints that I read that claim that offerings are more and more limited.

Quality suffers to some degree when food has to be produced for a thousand or more guests at a particular time (hence the term "banquet food"), and not because there are too many items on the menu.

As far as the necessity of wearing the jackets and going to a particular muster station that is nowhere near as necessary as learning to listen to, and follow, the instructions being provided by the ship's crew. People can be given the jackets at the muster station and instructed on how to put them on during the drill since, in a real emergency, it may not be safe or feasible to go to the "assigned" muster station. Regardless of where the drill is held, it is the responsibility of each passenger to listen attentively to the instructions being provided. Doing so is essential so that they will know what to do in the event of an actual emergency.:)

[chasbrand2]

I feel that children do not belong in Chops or Portofino. One has to pay extra to enjoy the ambiance of a top notch restaurant, and all one needs is a badly behaved child with parents that do not supervise them to ruin another person's meal. Perhaps the restaurants could open early (4:00-6:00 p.m.) so that families could enjoy the fancy restaurants and keep the rest of the hours the way they are now. I don't know too many children that would enjoy sitting for 2-2 1/2 hours for a meal.

 

I hope that RCCL reads these posts because a lot of people here have expressed the same feelings that I have. Please do not change the age requirement at the specialty restaurants.

[PrincesScuba]

from royal caribbean's facebook page... Thought ya'll might be interested :d

 

a look at some concepts we’ve been experimenting with

share

 

today at 3:12pm

 

the second has to do with promoting family dining at our specialty restaurants. Up to now we have restricted attendance at chops grill and portofino to age 13 and higher. But given that family friendliness is very important to royal caribbean international, we want to enable more families to dine together in our specialty restaurants as well as in the main dining room. We have a trial going on right now to see how removing the age restriction works in the specialty restaurants.

 

n o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

[PrincesScuba]

...by which I mean, "you can already take your little darlings in for a reservation at 6 or 6:30."

[BND]

...by which I mean, "you can already take your little darlings in for a reservation at 6 or 6:30."

 

Haha. I'm still waiting for the "you must hate children" crowd. I really think this is a big mistake. I plan on celebrating my 50th b-day next March on Explorer in the speciality restaurant with DH and if my kids decide to come with us, they're 23 and 25.

[conwakr]

I'm too, vote no on the under-teen kids in the extra cost dining rooms. I might buy into allowing that sort of family dining before 7 PM. We've taken the kids on some cruises, but since the inception of the upscale extra cost dining we've enjoyed that dining experience. I also appreciate the adult only area pools and the opportunity to "get away" from kids on ships that have and enforce the adult only areas. I get that people want to be with their kids, we did and do, too; but adults with kids need to understand that sometimes people want to be "apart" from the kiddos and that can mean your own kids as well as other people's kids. Secondly, through the years as the cruise lines have relaxed their dress requirements, I like the fact that these smaller specialty restaurants have kept their more rigid dress rules. Both my husband and I, while still a "jeans" generation really like getting dressed up and spruced up and have a slow, long, elegant dining experience with other adults which is an oxymoron with a two year old in a high chair mushing crackers or wiggly, hungry kiddos a couple feet away. I love kids, but they don't need to be everywhere the adults are all the time.