For those of you who are at all regular readers of this blog, you may have noticed that something has been missing lately – me! While apologizing for my absence I want to thank my colleagues who contributed a variety of interesting entries to fill in the gaps.
The main cause of my silence has been the press of daily events. It appears to be a natural phenomenon of doing business in the 21st century that the volume of “stuff” continues to increase at all levels from the strategic to the tactical. In addition, I haven’t been traveling much lately. Trips fuel a lot of my entries whereas life at headquarters divides mainly into two buckets – things that are too mundane to write about and things that are too confidential to write about. Not a lot fits in between those two ends of the spectrum.
One item definitely worth mentioning is the successful conclusion of Rhapsody of the Seas’ Royal Advantage revitalization project in Singapore. The ship is on her way back to Australia with all aspects of her massive makeover in place and ready to go. We were already very excited about the guest reaction to Splendour of the Seas’ revitalization during her season in Brazil that is just concluding. The aerial entertainment in the Centrum and the numerous new specialty dining venues are fantastic additions to our Vision-class ships. So are the extensive renovations to the staterooms. There is absolutely no rest for the weary – Grandeur of the Seas is only a few weeks away from her own revitalization. We will look for every opportunity to show off these ships to our travel agent partners during the remainder of the year.
God how wonderful! What a great job the designers and builders have made. It was kinda unexpected for me to see as I never expected the color setting at all in the atrium. And the gorgeous detailing ust beneath the reiling and red lighting. Love it!
We’re glad you enjoy them, Matt. Hopefully you’ll join us onboard soon and see them in person.
I have put efforts for more then 20 years to seek a job on board RCCL but God knows why I did not get my USA visa twice inspite of being me be selected twice however if any soul reads this message and desire to help me please do care to do so in the name of God God Bless all the Crew and world wide guest with joy peace love and God Blessed Safety always Agents cheated me but I do not blame them but they have not stopped cheating in Mumbai I forgive them I was selected for Mariner of the seas to board from Miami
with love and warmest best wishes from Dubai
Ramsey Coutinho
ramsey1971@rediffmail.com
Cuncolim Goa India
Hi Ramsey, please visit http://www.royalcareersatsea.com for all employment inquires. Good luck!
I’ve sailed 7 times on Royal Caribbean ships….. Explorer of the Seas out of Bayonne, NJ three times. Luckily we found 3 different itineraries. We are thinking about another Explorer cruise in 2013 but here that she will have a revitalization soon. Would like to wait until that is comlpete. Can you give me an approximate time line for this? total Royal cruises….7.
Thanks,
Hi Barbara, please keep an eye on our Royal Advantage page for any enhancement updates as well as our Facebook page for all of the latest information.
WHAT HAPPENED TO MARINER ???SHE IS ON THE LIST FOR APRIL RENOVATIONS. WE SAIL MAY 1ST, AND WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE RENOVATIONS.
Hi Donna, please keep an eye on our Facebook page for information on Mariner of the Seas upcoming enhancements.
I am excited to see what is in store for the Grandeur. I fell in love with her when she was docked in my hometown port of New Orleans. She is smaller then the newer boats but is very elegant.
As to your day to day schedule, it sounds like your in major need of a vacation! …Might I suggest a cruise line =D
We appreciate your suggestion, Brook, and we hope you can be reunited with Grandeur of the Seas soon. Thank you.
I love love love all the revitalization……..and I am so looking forward to cruising the Allure soon.I am a diamond member and I have a question-……….with all the huge ships, did you ever consider something in the way of a ‘moving sidewalk’.perhaps one way portside and one way starboard …….wide enough for one person( or wheelchair)…..just to assist the older cruiser to get around ?
We appreciate your suggestion, Phyllis. Thank you for your feedback.
Hi there,
I noticed that on the RCI website it states 2013 Europe cruises now opened, and yet they are only still showing 2012, with the exception of the cruises out of Southampton. I am just surprised to see it being announced that it is opened and RCI has nothing on their site. I am an RCI fan, and I’m anxious to book a cruise for the Mediterranean out of Venice with RCI with a group of friends and family. They are trying to push for Princess, but I am hopeful that your prices will be out soon, as Princess and Celebrity have been out for a while now. Thanks, keep up the great work, as I said love RCI!
You’re in luck, Maryjoe. We just released our 2013 Mediterranean itineraries, for sailings please click here.
Hi, Adam,
Perhaps it’s a bit off-topic, but I just saw the announcement of Ann Moore’s nomination to the Board. As a (very very, very minor) stockholder, would it be appropriate to say congratulations to Ann on the nomination, and congratulations to our company for gaining her counsel and experience as a Board member? Great news.!
Alan
Hi Adam, sorry, I don’t mean to be a pain, but I did click the new 2013 sailings,
but it only shows 2012 dates, and when I search Grandeur of the Seas out of Venice there is nothing for 2013. I also called in to RCI and they don’t know why it’s not showing on their end either. I’m really looking forward to booking Grandeur out of Venice and also looking forward to experiencing her fresh and new!
I’m sorry Adam, I know how busy you are and I really appreciate and I’m also impressed that you have time to blog everyone! I double checked the routes offered for 2013 I am looking for the Grandeur of the Seas out of Venice for 11 days,, and it is the Greek Isles, Turkey and Croatia. Is Grandeur no longer going to be sailing that route? The only 2013 cruises I found were out of Barcelona only. Thanks Adam I am anxious, again the group I will be travelling with are pushing to book Princess, but I’m trying to get them to hold out for RCI. I am booked to cruise with Enchantment of the Seas for Bermuda, May 17th. I understand she is on the list for renovations also. I’m sorry that I will be missing her new look. Thanks again for your help, have a great day!
Hi Maryjoe, please stay tuned to our Facebook page for all future Grandeur of the Seas sailings to come.
Alan, thank you for your comment and continuing to be a stockholder.
We just returned from our Adventure of the Seas cruise and I so wish that ship would have been revitalized before we sailed. This is our second time on this ship and she now is showing her age. The balconies (4 of them) were so rusted and the statesroom were outdated and worn (stained carpets, ripped bedding, tube tvs). I would like to sail in the future when this ship goes into dry dock; could you please give us a date.
Ps. something needs to be done with the balconies, they feel like little jail cells, no glass deviders just metal.
Hi Sandy, Adventure of the Seas will be updated in 2014 but you can stay updated with all of the latest enhancement information by following our Facebook page. Thank you.
Rhapsody looks fabulous. I’ve been on her 7 times. I will book another visit as soon as I see Savings Certificates. I check the Australian website daily, but it hasn’t been updated since September last year. Diamond member.
Hello Adam; we just completed a March 3rd cruise aboard the Navigator of the Seas. I’m sure by now you know what my concern is regarding.
I truely understand having service and even companion dogs allowed on board. But they are supposed to have be trained with good social skills. There was a lady on our cruise with a dog that was in no means a service dog. She pushed him around the ship, everywhere…; in a stroller. Although she claimed he was a certified service dog with all papers.
The problem was the small dogs sharp, ear piercing; barking. Our first encounter was just after checking in and getting on the elevator. She came up behind us as her dog blasted our ears and scared us horribly.
A member of our M&M asked the Cruise Directer why she was allowed to bring him into the MDR. They sat at the next table and her dog barked the ear piercing blast even there. And no staff member would do anything about it.
Trained service dogs are behaved. Companion dogs should too. But, the point here is that no person on board is allowed to be disruptive to other passengers. Why would a dog be allowed to create a hostile envirement? She should have been directed to leave the dog in her cabin. It’s that simple.
I loved my cruise and enjoyed showing my sister and her husband around on their first cruise. I’m loyal to Royal. But this will be a deal breaker in the future. I even heard there were passengers offering to throw the dog overboard and others wanting to help.
My sisters last memory of her first cruise was in the luggage/customs area when that same woman pushed her dog stroller up behind my sister and the dog again blasted her ears and scared her so bad her heart started racing. Only this time, my sister blasted with woman with the dog and told her off ‘Royally’.
Please, what are your plans in dealing with this situation in the future?
Thank you for your feedback on this situation, Lucille. We will be sure to look into this in greater detail so this issue can be resolved for future sailings.
Hi Adam from an Adam in the UK
I went on the independence of the seas in August and I feel that she is starting to show her age, although it is still a beautiful ship, the carpets are slightly worn and the lifts were constantly breaking down. I would also like to recommend that you consider changing the armrests on sofabeds. They are really hard as I learned a couple of times.
Thanks a lot
P.S. When are we going to hear more about project sunshine!
Hi Adam, thank you for your feedback. For the latest on Project Sunshine, please click here.
Adam,
Hey Adam I seen Monarch is leaving us in April so it gonna be replace with another boat?
Hi Corey, to stay up to date with all of the latest itinerary changes, please follow our updates on our Facebook page. Thank you.
Hello Adam,
I cruised with my husband and four children on Feb 25, 2012 on Oasis of the Seas. This was our 25th wedding anniversary celebration. I love RC, I love Oasis of the Seas so much so that we booked the Oasis on a western caribbean cruise on Feb 16, 2013. I have but one complaint and to me this is huge.
We purchased for $400 your photo package which gave us 2 CD’s and all photos taken on the cruise. We found your photographers, excluding a few to be short tempered, grumpy, pushy and bored with their job to the point of rude at times. They were far worse and cared even less once we paid for our package. They lost our CD and our photos and we have had nothing but headaches since. I contacted them and your post cruise department and I hope that today I finally will have had something done. I am told my photos and cd are on their way. I have recently beeen dealing with Noreen from RC, who has tried to help, and Hilda most recently from the photo place.
This has been an uphill battle to get these photos and cd, and time has yet to see if I actually do receive them, all of them. It has been frustrating, stressful and painful. This has left such a sour taste in my mouth, not just for your photo place but as well Royal Caribbean International. I love your ships, but come on, this service is reflecting on you. Why would you use such a bad company on any of your ships? Why would you allow a company to take this money from your customer and be treated so badly? Why would you allow such grumoy and somber people to take photos on your ship?
When all is said and done, and I truly hope I do receive what I fully paid for, that you can do something to satisfy me. I do know what that may be but I want to see how you solve this. In closing, I do thank you for your time. I do not want pople to read this and think that I hate Royal Caribbean, as I do not. I love the majority of your service, your staff and what you have to offer. That is why I have booked for another cruise already. I eagerly await your reply.
Shelley Lips
Does anyone know if the cabins on Grandeur of the Seas will be revamped as well?
Hi Max, please visit our Royal Advantage page for information about enhancements onboard Grandeur of Seas.
My wife and I have sailed over 20 times on Royal; 60+ cruises in all. We have just made another booking after waiting over a year to rebook Royal. We have enjoyed almost every Royal cruise, however, recently we have been disappointed by inconsistancy in service and staff attitudes. When Royal is at its best it excels, but occassionly we have seen it drop the ball in terms of simple courtesy and friendliness. If the service and crew attention to detail can be good most of the time, it can be good all of the time. It should also be possible to add more dining options on some of the older but larger ships (ie. Voyager class). We are happy to pay a surcharge similar to Portifinos and would enjoy a greater selection. We are eager to achieve Diamond + status since we have 164 points. Please make an effort to restore the level of excellence that was Royal’s hallmark for so many years.
We appreciate your comment, Marvin.
Good Afternoon Adam,
As a veteran RCCL cruiser there are lots of ideas and questions I’m sure, but a simple one I have is I have been on many cruises where I’ve been at sea while a good baseball, football or even Nascar is in process but yet I find it very hard to see any of these type of sports while on your ships. Why can’t you have a designated “Sports Bar” even if the games are delayed by a few hours it still gives us sports nuts a place to sit and enjoy some cocktails while watch our favorite games.