Just got back--underwhelmed

[Mousefan mom]

We posted a few times for questions beforehand, and thank you all who contributed. It was super helpful-particularly people who had just recently cruised. We sailed the Odyssey of the Seas, this was our first Royal Caribbean experience, having previously only cruised Disney one time prior to Covid. So in no way do I have a lot of experience to compare anything too, but thought I'd share some thoughts in case this helps anyone else.

Pros (things that were wonderful): I'll probably give my pros here based on "Was it Disney quality?" if that helps.
--The ship was clean and neat, beautiful art work etc. Our ocean view balcony cabin was spacious, the deck was great (comfortable chairs, great view, etc.)
--Broadway style shows may have actually had a slight edge to Disney, the performers were wonderful talented, etc.
--Our main dining room (we did NOT do any specialty restaurants) service was amazing--Disney quality wait staff, etc. in every way. Just wonderful employees.
--Port everglades easy to get into, muster drill efficient and fast, also easy to get off the ship.
--The views were amazing...beautiful blue waters, etc.

Cons: (and full disclosure we were overall very underwhelmed by this experience).
--Port was changed to Nassau at last minute instead of Labadee, we did send an email to RC asking for credits (letting them know it was advertised and marketed as an Eastern Caribbean cruise and not a Bahamian cruise, which we had no interest in), and got a firm no, cited their policy they can change ports and (this was the insulting part) told me I could get a discount if I booked a future cruise while on board. I did respond back (respectful but assertive) and that was over a week ago, I've gotten zero response back from them.
--On board we had 2 staterooms, in our kids rooms the beds were split as we had asked--but super easy fix once we called guest services.
--Drink packages--difficult to use. We got the classic soda for my kids and husband, I got the refreshment package. I attempted to use to the refreshment package at 270 barista station (for both a fresh squeezed juice and a latte morning 1) and was told I could only get one drink and would need to get back in line for a 2nd one. I asked again to clarify, (and said "I'd have to wait in that again"--it was about a 7-10 minute line) and was told "yes, it won't hurt you to wait in line again"...I kid you not that was verbatim. They give you a cup on the soda package and you are expected to carry it with you everywhere (except Windjammer and MDR) if you want to use it, the freestyle coke machines rarely ever had ice in them, lines were long, etc. We did end up "losing" money on the drink packages as they were not easy to use, especially since our Labadee (which should have been inclusive) got switched to Nassau
--theatres--seats very uncomfortable and lots of obstructed views, we even would get there 20-30 minutes early to try and scout out good ones. In Royal theatre almost all the chairs were broken down (this ship was new in 2021 to put it in comparison) and you felt like you were sliding forward a lot. A shame because the shows were the highlight for us.
--excursions--we booked both directly with Royal, and were very disappointed in them. The Puerto Plata was a cooking class and water park. They put the cooking class in middle of the day so we never really had time to enjoy the park before or after before having to get back on the bus. We were very displeased about Nassau, but attempted to make the most and booked the Best of Nassau and Paradise island excursion about $65ish per person--we were taken to Paradise island and parked in the parking lot of the huge Atlantis resort and given 30 minutes to go see it--it felt like we were crashing other people's all inclusive as we peaked at their pools, signs all over trying to block us from using bathrooms, etc. as this must be a common problem for them with these tour buses, etc. and the other stop was to a public park on the beach and you needed additional money to actually go into the fort (which we didn't know to bring) additional money to buy food/drink from the bar area (even though it had told us bottled water was part of this "luxury air conditioned bus" it was never offered, and we were solicited and approached by street vendors almost constantly during the 20 minute stop here). Save your money--excursions based on the 2 we went on, not worth the cost.
--The ship was so boring, very little offerings compared to Disney (or maybe this is just a post-covid thing for all of them) on sea days other than trivia. The arcade was small and many of the machines didn't work, the shared "seaplex" rarely offered anything that we'd do and when it was (laser tag, etc.) it was offered during dinner, the pools were crazy swamped crowded, even in the adult only area and just sensory overload for us--we spent a lot of time in our staterooms. We booked this ship due to the Sky Pad for our teens--they still show it in all their marketing material, including the film showing it as we boarded the ship--but it has been completely taken out and replaced with cornhole. we never got to use the Northstar because you needed advance reservations or you had to pay an upcharge...it never worked.
--The running track is on the same deck as the pool loungers so basically its crowded and unusable all the time, frustrating to both the people trying to use the pool and hot tubs who get smacked by the folks trying to run, and equally frustrating for those trying to use the track and its always wet, and kids are jumping in/out at you. Poor design.
--elevators a nightmare, plan to use the steps and I found horrible for disabled folks. They are motion sensored and the elevators are always packed, so someone is sensoring all the buttons much of the time, making them stop at each floor...so it took forever to get an elevator anytime you needed one.
--Food underwhelming in quality, the El Loco fresh tasted like Taco bell, the pizza so/so, and the main dining room and Windjammer got slightly better over the trip, but nothing to rave home about, Applebees quality?
--My time dining is NOT my Time dining....you need a reservation or you stand in a very long line each night. You make the reservations months in advance and then it often interferes with the time of the nightly shows. Very inflexible and chaotic (A LOT of other guests we spoke too were not happy). Again, good service, just really poor design.
--Royal Promenade--Huge amount of the ship space is devoted to very expensive shopping--I think there were 5 watch stores, I kid you not--Rolex, etc. and I never saw anyone actually purchasing the high end jewelry, sunglasses, handbags, etc. to account for taking up that much ship space). Royal felt a lot "fancier" than Disney in everyway--but while we make a good living, we have no desire to pay thousands of dollars for handbags and jewelry and it would have been nice to see some shopping geared toward just a middle class family. These parts of the ship never crowded, while other parts people are walking all over themselves. Poor design.

Overall:

Underwhelmed, we don't plan to cruise Royal again. Maybe this is just a cruise in general, but we have no desire to go back to Nassau again, it was a huge turn off, so maybe cruising in general is just not our thing (Disney uses this port a lot too). We felt very nickel and dimed on Royal, almost everything is an upcharge (any sort of on ship entertainment, etc.). While not at all Royal's fault, my husband got sea lice exposure (we think anyway--he dipped his feet in for just a second at Chill Island and it was too cold to swim in for our taste so he got out right away) later that evening a rash showed up all over where his feet and ankles had been and he had violent sickness that night (TMI, but both vomiting and diarrhea and just slept all the next day).

 

[sam_gordon]

Thank you for your review, I do have a couple of comments...

The Labadee switch was because of the unrest in the country. There is no way Royal is going to not make that stop unless they absolutely HAVE to. At most, you'd be entitled to any excursion cost you had already paid, and any taxes/port fees. BUT, there's also taxes/port fees for Nassau, so they may have equaled out. Pretty sure all cruise lines have fine print saying they can change itinerary as needed.

Regarding the beds, I'm guessing you mean the beds were NOT split as you had asked?

Drink packages I've never had a problem with. BUT, I've never tried to get two drinks at once (more in a moment). "Sharing" is not allowed and if you asked for two cokes or two mocktails, that may have been why you were told to get back in line. I *HAVE* been able to get a mocktail and bottle of water at the same time.

Regarding carrying around the cup, yea, that's a pain. I don't do it. If I want a soda, I just go to a bar. It's not worth it (to me) to carry the cup all the time, then try to find a freestyle machine, then hope it has the drink I want & ice. The drink and ice will be available at a bar.

Can't help you on the broken seats in the theater. On our first cruise, I realized the front row of the balcony is not a good view, and found the front row of the "back section" on the floor is the best. Took some experimentation to find.

The My Time Dining is horrid from what I'm reading on Cruise Critic. They use all dinning rooms for early dining, then about 15-20 minutes after that starts, they'll start seating people with MTD. Of course, you can't reserve that early, because they don't know how many tables they'll have, so the earliest MTD reservation is 6:45 (assuming ED is finished). I think they should take 1/2 or an entire floor of MDR and have it exclusively MTD the entire night.

I will say I've never been bored on a cruise.

Sorry it's not for you.

 

[starvenger]

Port was changed to Nassau at last minute instead of Labadee, we did send an email to RC asking for credits (letting them know it was advertised and marketed as an Eastern Caribbean cruise and not a Bahamian cruise, which we had no interest in), and got a firm no, cited their policy they can change ports and (this was the insulting part) told me I could get a discount if I booked a future cruise while on board. I did respond back (respectful but assertive) and that was over a week ago, I've gotten zero response back from them.

I think the last minute change was due to everything that was happening in Haiti. It does suck to get rerouted to Nassau, but in this instance, it makes sense.

I suspect the lack of credits are because Labadee is Royal's private port, so there are no port fees to refund.

excursions--we booked both directly with Royal, and were very disappointed in them.

We've been burned by pricey and underwhelming excursions that cruise lines provide before. The only advice I can give you is that in the future, you should book on your own. It's going to take more time and research, but it will save you money and you should be able to get the excursion you expected to get.

The ship was so boring, very little offerings compared to Disney (or maybe this is just a post-covid thing for all of them) on sea days other than trivia.

This surprised me, but I haven't been on a Quantum class ship so I can't speak from experience there. I do know that there is a lot to do on Oasis class and I think negative feedback there is usually of the "it's not for me" variety. But on a Quantum class... yeah the lack of seaplex activities would put a huge damper on things.

My time dining is NOT my Time dining....you need a reservation or you stand in a very long line each night. You make the reservations months in advance and then it often interferes with the time of the nightly shows.

I've never done MTD for this reason. It's much easier for me to figure out when to see what show with the fixed times.

Royal Promenade--Huge amount of the ship space is devoted to very expensive shopping--I think there were 5 watch stores, I kid you not--Rolex, etc. and I never saw anyone actually purchasing the high end jewelry, sunglasses, handbags, etc. to account for taking up that much ship space). Royal felt a lot "fancier" than Disney in everyway--but while we make a good living, we have no desire to pay thousands of dollars for handbags and jewelry and it would have been nice to see some shopping geared toward just a middle class family.

They have this sort-of high end shopping on Princess as well. Not something I ever got fussed over. Not for me, so I stuck to the "standard" branded products shops.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I doubt you would have enjoyed staying in Labadee at this time but guess you're now up to date on current events.

Hard for me to compare Disney vs RCL as they are both too big in size and population for me to enjoy. I did enjoy my RCL stays for what it was worth but never traveled with Disney.

 

[Mousefan mom]

Thank you for your review, I do have a couple of comments...

The Labadee switch was because of the unrest in the country. There is no way Royal is going to not make that stop unless they absolutely HAVE to. At most, you'd be entitled to any excursion cost you had already paid, and any taxes/port fees. BUT, there's also taxes/port fees for Nassau, so they may have equaled out. Pretty sure all cruise lines have fine print saying they can change itinerary as needed.

Regarding the beds, I'm guessing you mean the beds were NOT split as you had asked?

Drink packages I've never had a problem with. BUT, I've never tried to get two drinks at once (more in a moment). "Sharing" is not allowed and if you asked for two cokes or two mocktails, that may have been why you were told to get back in line. I *HAVE* been able to get a mocktail and bottle of water at the same time.

Regarding carrying around the cup, yea, that's a pain. I don't do it. If I want a soda, I just go to a bar. It's not worth it (to me) to carry the cup all the time, then try to find a freestyle machine, then hope it has the drink I want & ice. The drink and ice will be available at a bar.

Can't help you on the broken seats in the theater. On our first cruise, I realized the front row of the balcony is not a good view, and found the front row of the "back section" on the floor is the best. Took some experimentation to find.

The My Time Dining is horrid from what I'm reading on Cruise Critic. They use all dinning rooms for early dining, then about 15-20 minutes after that starts, they'll start seating people with MTD. Of course, you can't reserve that early, because they don't know how many tables they'll have, so the earliest MTD reservation is 6:45 (assuming ED is finished). I think they should take 1/2 or an entire floor of MDR and have it exclusively MTD the entire night.

I will say I've never been bored on a cruise.

Sorry it's not for you.

I'm well aware of why we didn't end up porting at Labadee, and my heart goes out to the people of Haiti. Having said that, for others booking cruising that has Labadee as a port--they should beware, and this is why I posted. I don't think the situation over there is going to be better soon (civil wars can last years). We at least figured we'd get rerouted into the Eastern Caribbean because that is the cruise we booked-- and it seems most of them are getting sent to Nassau--which in my opinion is about as exciting as getting sent to downtown Detroit (exception being the wonderful views!). I do think Royal, like most large corporations, will offset the "cost" of losing Labadee directly onto the consumer (corporate greed)--and buyer beware is my point here. We didn't get what was marketed to us, the all inclusivity we thought we would have, and they were not willing to even give a $20 onboard credit to offset our disappointment--to me THAT is what is disappointing....Royal could take some customer service lessons from Disney.

I was able to order more than one drink at the Lime and Coconut (I would generally ask for 2 bottles of water at once to avoid having to wait in the long line again and they made no reference to it). Having said that, what I described earlier and the rude comment afterward was accurate at 270. The comment was unnecessary, a simple "our policy is only one drink at a time" would have been sufficient. Maybe it was that we traveled over spring break--but always a long line for drinks whether at the cafes, the freestyle machines (which again rarely had ice) or the bars.

We tried several seats in the theatre and in different places and locations, and unfortunately it was a common problem all around. I think its just in need of a refresh--but again this ship came out in 2021 so it was surprising it would already need that.

 

[Mousefan mom]

I think the last minute change was due to everything that was happening in Haiti. It does such to get rerouted to Nassau, but in this instance, it makes sense.

I suspect the lack of credits are because Labadee is Royal's private port, so there are no port fees to refund.


We've been burned by pricey and underwhelming excursions that cruise lines provide before. The only advice I can give you is that in the future, you should book on your own. It's going to take more time and research, but it will save you money and you should be able to get the excursion you expected to get.


This surprised me, but I haven't been on a Quantum class ship so I can't speak from experience there. I do know that there is a lot to do on Oasis class and I think negative feedback there is usually of the "it's not for me" variety. But on a Quantum class... yeah the lack of seaplex activities would put a huge damper on things.


I've never done MTD for this reason. It's much easier for me to figure out when to see what show with the fixed times.


They have this sort-of high end shopping on Princess as well. Not something I ever got fussed over. Not for me, so I stuck to the "standard" branded products shops.

I wondered too if it was a quantum class thing (lack of activities and high end everything)--in several respects. For instance my son's sunglasses broke and we wanted to get him another pair--but we couldn't find anything on board that was several hundred dollars designer glasses--he is a kid, lol. We had the impression that the 2 cruise lines most known for families were Disney and Royal--our impression that Royal might be better for teenagers or families that may have outgrown Disney. We traveled with 2 teens and 1 young adult. We were surprised by the lack of offerings (again we should have had a sky pad with virtual reality which they removed--but it was marketed as lots of arcade, activities like laser tag, bumper cars, etc....and those things were VERY limited and often only offered during dinner/show times, etc.

For what its worth, we did speak to other cruisers who were also docked on Perfect Day from the Wonder and we made a comment that our ship felt so crowded we couldn't imagine theirs (holding so many more) and they told us it didn't feel crowded at all. It may just be a quantum class thing--but just overall bottle necks of crowds in the few areas where there things to do and then no crowds in the other areas (watch shops, etc.) so I just don't think there was a good use of ship space if that makes sense. I spoke with many others on board who felt the same. Some said they had much better experiences on Carnival, and some said that of all the RC cruises they had been on they spent more time in the staterooms on this one than any other--just not a lot to do.

 

[sam_gordon]

I'm well aware of why we didn't end up porting at Labadee, and my heart goes out to the people of Haiti. Having said that, for others booking cruising that has Labadee as a port--they should beware, and this is why I posted. I don't think the situation over there is going to be better soon (civil wars can last years). We at least figured we'd get rerouted into the Eastern Caribbean because that is the cruise we booked-- and it seems most of them are getting sent to Nassau--which in my opinion is about as exciting as getting sent to downtown Detroit (exception being the wonderful views!). I do think Royal, like most large corporations, will offset the "cost" of losing Labadee directly onto the consumer (corporate greed)--and buyer beware is my point here. We didn't get what was marketed to us, the all inclusivity we thought we would have, and they were not willing to even give a $20 onboard credit to offset our disappointment--to me THAT is what is disappointing....Royal could take some customer service lessons from Disney.

Again, any cruise can have their itinerary changed for almost any reason. I wasn't sure, based on your post, whether you were aware of what was going on in Haiti. Some people have said they have gotten some credit for port changes, some haven't. It apparently depends on the ship whether they'll credit any "overpayment" of port taxes/fees. Yes, anyone scheduled to go to Labadee should know what's going on and the chance of the port being replaced. I'm not sure where "corporate greed" comes into play. By not giving you $20 for being "disappointed"? You know they had to pay to dock at Nassau, right? So should they not only pay those fees, but give everyone $20? Plus, I'm assuming, spending extra in fuel to get to/from Nassau, plus lose all of the excursion money? Sorry, I just can't get there.

I was able to order more than one drink at the Lime and Coconut (I would generally ask for 2 bottles of water at once to avoid having to wait in the long line again and they made no reference to it). Having said that, what I described earlier and the rude comment afterward was accurate at 270. The comment was unnecessary, a simple "our policy is only one drink at a time" would have been sufficient. Maybe it was that we traveled over spring break--but always a long line for drinks whether at the cafes, the freestyle machines (which again rarely had ice) or the bars.

I agree there's no excuse for rude comments, much less from employees. I wasn't doubting your tale, I was simply trying to explain why they wouldn't let you get two drinks. And yes, two cokes or two mocktails are different than two bottles of water.

We tried several seats in the theatre and in different places and locations, and unfortunately it was a common problem all around. I think its just in need of a refresh--but again this ship came out in 2021 so it was surprising it would already need that.

Personally, I'd excuse a single broken seat, but multiple? There's really no excuse for that. I hope you reported the seats to someone on board so they could at least know they need to be fixed.

 

[Mousefan mom]

Yes, they send you a survey afterwards and pretty much what I typed up in this post I copied and pasted it in that survey. I was posting here to also be helpful to other folks who may have been like us, first time cruisers to Royal trying to decide between cruise lines, and ships, and itineraries. We travel frequently and this is the first vacation we got back and didn't feel like we have gotten our money's worth--the value versus what we payed just wasn't there.

I have heard of people booking their own excursions--I will tell you the one thing our tour guide shared with us on the excursion at Nassau as he pointed out the US embassy--is that ON AVERAGE each of those ships leave behind about 20 people a day who don't get back to the ship on time (this is a port that accommodates multiple ships each day)...so I'd be a little leary to book an excursion that isn't offered via the cruise ship, ha ha...He just said "that embassy will help you get back to your home or next port--but with a hefty bill").

 

[starvenger]

For what its worth, we did speak to other cruisers who were also docked on Perfect Day from the Wonder and we made a comment that our ship felt so crowded we couldn't imagine theirs (holding so many more) and they told us it didn't feel crowded at all. It may just be a quantum class thing--but just overall bottle necks of crowds in the few areas where there things to do and then no crowds in the other areas (watch shops, etc.) so I just don't think there was a good use of ship space if that makes sense. I spoke with many others on board who felt the same. Some said they had much better experiences on Carnival, and some said that of all the RC cruises they had been on they spent more time in the staterooms on this one than any other--just not a lot to do.

Layout is a huge factor in making a ship feel crowded vs sparse when raw numbers would suggest otherwise. Oasis class ships do an amazing job of spreading people out so you don't feel the crush of people that you should feel (peak time at the buffet notwithstanding). Doesn't sound like Quantum class does the same.

I wondered too if it was a quantum class thing (lack of activities and high end everything)--in several respects. For instance my son's sunglasses broke and we wanted to get him another pair--but we couldn't find anything on board that was several hundred dollars designer glasses--he is a kid, lol. We had the impression that the 2 cruise lines most known for families were Disney and Royal--our impression that Royal might be better for teenagers or families that may have outgrown Disney. We traveled with 2 teens and 1 young adult. We were surprised by the lack of offerings (again we should have had a sky pad with virtual reality which they removed--but it was marketed as lots of arcade, activities like laser tag, bumper cars, etc....and those things were VERY limited and often only offered during dinner/show times, etc.

I believe the Sky Pads on Independence were also removed so I'm guessing that the tech is proprietary and Royal's license ran out. If this is the case, that should be removed from the marketing material. Would not be surprised if the marketing team was not up to date on what the ships had though - sometimes the people that should be made aware of these things are the last to know (tangent: happened to me at my old job. Was getting ready to present our implemented product to a client, only to find out 2 hours before that the dev team had completely changed the layout of the application.).

 

[FreeTime]

Thanks for your review.

Your original post wasn’t clear on you understanding why you were rerouted. Thanks for clarifying.

I know the Freestyle machines are frustrating as they are often out of ice. You don’t need to carry your cup. Going to a lounge for a soda is allowed.

Only one drink on the packages at a time, not sure why you are frustrated that you were asked to get back in line. They will often slow you a bottle of water.

There is another lengthy thread about the nickel and dimming. It really isn’t occurring. If you wish to pay for in cruise fare to get soda, so be it.

I agree with you that the track location is an annoyance.

 

[starvenger]

I agree with you that the track location is an annoyance.

I don't use the track (I'm more of an elliptical machine kind of person), but I do find it strange that after putting the track around Deck 5 on Oasis, they'd go back to the "traditional" style of having the track intermix with loungers and sunbathers. Ship is plenty big enough that they could have put the track around the sports court area if they really wanted to have people run out in the sun.

Thankfully it looks like they stuck with the Deck 5 track on Icon.

 

[sam_gordon]

I believe the Sky Pads on Independence were also removed so I'm guessing that the tech is proprietary and Royal's license ran out. If this is the case, that should be removed from the marketing material. Would not be surprised if the marketing team was not up to date on what the ships had though - sometimes the people that should be made aware of these things are the last to know (tangent: happened to me at my old job. Was getting ready to present our implemented product to a client, only to find out 2 hours before that the dev team had completely changed the layout of the application.).

I think I heard the Sky Pads were taken down because of insurance reasons? Or maybe they had to be closed too much (wind/waves) that they were shutdown more than open anyway?

I did get to try it out on Mariner last year. I doing pretty good (using the VR) until about the last 30 seconds and started getting vertigo and just to stop. I'm sure it will take a while to find something to fit the space and implement it across the ships.

 

[MonaMN]

We are considering a Celebrity cruise next year for Alaska since the cost for a veranda is the same as an inside on DCL. But I keep watching videos and thinking that I am not sure it is for us, in part due to what you described as not much to do on your ship. From my research, there are minimal other options - maybe a little trivia but that is about it.

My kid is not into rock climbing or any of the other flashy things advertised on RCCL. But it seems like the rest of the options on most of the other cruises are drink and sit at the pool. Or play board games and read… but I can do that at home!

I am trying to be open minded but I am not sure we are cruise people… maybe we are just Disney people.

 

[Frozen2014]

Sorry you had such a bad experience. We were on Odyssey in December and have the opposite as we loved it.

The Labadee change was to keep you safe as a precaution. I agree that Nassau wouldn't be as ideal but it was one of those things our of Royal's control. Yes I suppose they could have compensated, but port changes sometimes happen (more for weather related but it does happen).

Didn't notice issues with the theatre. Are you talking about the 270 seating as that theatre is different so can see it being obstructed.? Didn't experience any bad seats physically where they were uncomfortable or broken. Sorry you had some.

One drink at a time is a strict policy as people would try and get two for sharing, which is a no-no. Mind you, the rude comment to you was uncalled for. I assume that was a one-off as most staff is amazing.

I agree...we've had the soda package in the past and it's a pain to carry the cup. You can also get a soda from any bar, but of course you won't have the full selection of the free style machines.

Also, we like traditional dining for that reason...you just walk to your seat at the dining time. No waiting in line, and you have the same waiters each night so you get to know them a bit.

I'm guessing you aren't running to cruise Royal again, but if you do, I recommend an Oasis class for your family, if you found not enough to do on Odyssey. This class has zipline, water slides and dry slides, ice rink (show and for skating), Aqua show which is different, and probably more overall. The running track as well is on a lower deck and goes all around the ship exterior. I personally prefer it there vs the pool deck. It's a shame about the Sky Pad as my kids loved it on Mariner years ago and would have loved it again on Odyssey. There was some accident so they decided to stop using them for safety reasons.

 

[starvenger]

We are considering a Celebrity cruise next year for Alaska since the cost for a veranda is the same as an inside on DCL. But I keep watching videos and thinking that I am not sure it is for us, in part due to what you described as not much to do on your ship. From my research, there are minimal other options - maybe a little trivia but that is about it.

My kid is not into rock climbing or any of the other flashy things advertised on RCCL. But it seems like the rest of the options on most of the other cruises are drink and sit at the pool. Or play board games and read… but I can do that at home!

I am trying to be open minded but I am not sure we are cruise people… maybe we are just Disney people.

I would think that for Alaska (and Norway) is that the ship is not the star of the cruise - the location is. Granted, I have not done an Alaska cruise, but my perception is that you're meant to enjoy the ports, and enjoy the cruising through fjords and such. What's inside the ship is almost a bonus. And you almost want those smaller ships with less amenities because they can do things like sail the strait between Vancouver Island and BC, where a larger megaship cannot.

 

[starvenger]

I think I heard the Sky Pads were taken down because of insurance reasons? Or maybe they had to be closed too much (wind/waves) that they were shutdown more than open anyway?

Entirely possible it was insurance reasons. Whatever it is, I guess they're gone.

 

[MonaMN]

I would think that for Alaska (and Norway) is that the ship is not the star of the cruise - the location is. Granted, I have not done an Alaska cruise, but my perception is that you're meant to enjoy the ports, and enjoy the cruising through fjords and such. What's inside the ship is almost a bonus. And you almost want those smaller ships with less amenities because they can do things like sail the strait between Vancouver Island and BC, where a larger megaship cannot.

Agreed, which is why we're considering it and why we picked the ship we did... but there are still two sea days on the way north to Alaska and back. We can look at the pretty water and scenery for a while, but probably not all day for two days.

While it's cheaper than Disney (at least theoretically... the drink package prices are no joke!), it's still a lot of money.

 

[RedHead0186]

I'm well aware of why we didn't end up porting at Labadee, and my heart goes out to the people of Haiti. Having said that, for others booking cruising that has Labadee as a port--they should beware, and this is why I posted. I don't think the situation over there is going to be better soon (civil wars can last years). We at least figured we'd get rerouted into the Eastern Caribbean because that is the cruise we booked-- and it seems most of them are getting sent to Nassau--which in my opinion is about as exciting as getting sent to downtown Detroit (exception being the wonderful views!). I do think Royal, like most large corporations, will offset the "cost" of losing Labadee directly onto the consumer (corporate greed)--and buyer beware is my point here. We didn't get what was marketed to us, the all inclusivity we thought we would have, and they were not willing to even give a $20 onboard credit to offset our disappointment--to me THAT is what is disappointing....Royal could take some customer service lessons from Disney.

So, part of the problem with a ship having to change port at the last minute is that they have to go where there's room. Especially in this situation, where they may have been several ships all trying to switch from Labadee to other ports. RCL may very well have tried to move to a more Eastern Caribbean port and found there was no room for them (especially that 'fit' into the rest of their schedule). Nassau is a pretty big port that can accommodate several ships-both at the pier itself and in the port area, so it's a popular place to get rerouted to (and it also close to several Florida homeports). So it can be a lot more complex than just "well we can't go here so let's go here instead." And yes, it sucks, but it's right there in the passage contract you signed that they can change ports on you and depending on why you aren't entitled to anything.

I'm curious what the "cost" is of not going to Labadee. And that's going to look different to every person-maybe there were some people that would have preferred Nassau to Labadee? This doesn't sound like corporate greed to me, just how cruising goes sometimes. DCL oftentimes cannot dock at Castaway Cay due to wind and current, and they don't offer any compensation, either (and they don't get an alternate port when that happens, just a sea day).

I'm certainly not trying to downplay your experience, as it sounds like you had several frustrating experiences. In the vein of you wanting to share your experience with others, I wanted to chime in to share that your experience, specifically with not going to one of your ports, isn't all that uncommon, and how it was handled is pretty on par with DCL.

 

[starvenger]

While it's cheaper than Disney (at least theoretically... the drink package prices are no joke!), it's still a lot of money.

They are in fact pricey x2 since most cruise lines will require that at least two people in the room purchase a drink package of some sort.

If you and your SO aren't big drinkers (say 1-3 drinks a day) you're better off going a la carte.

 

[starvenger]

I'm curious what the "cost" is of not going to Labadee. And that's going to look different to every person-maybe there were some people that would have preferred Nassau to Labadee? This doesn't sound like corporate greed to me, just how cruising goes sometimes. DCL oftentimes cannot dock at Castaway Cay due to wind and current, and they don't offer any compensation, either (and they don't get an alternate port when that happens, just a sea day).

Royal for sure lost money going to Nassau. Consider:

- They would've had to pay the port fees there and probably ate those fees rather than pass that onto the cruisers.
- Any excursions and rentals they had set up at Labadee would've been cancelled. Since you have to book these through Royal, that's a lot of marked up item revenue they're losing out on.
- And it's probably too late to get their Nassau excursions set up, so that's more revenue lost.

The financial hit is probably a drop in the hat for Royal, but it's a loss nonetheless.