When Royal Caribbean Group returned from the cruise industry's 15-month covid-related shutdown, it wasn't exactly business as usual. That was largely dictated by the lingering impact of the pandemic and requirements laid out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Passengers, however, always viewed things like vaccine mandates, mask requirements, and social distancing as temporary. People who were cruising in those early days simply appreciated being on a ship, and they were willing to put up with the changes -- especially because they understood that eventually the impact of covid would fade and things would return to normal.
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And, now 20 months after the cruise industry returned, sailing has mostly returned to normal. You still see some crew members and the occasional passenger wearing a mask, but that's really the only lingering sign that covid caused Royal Caribbean (RCL) to entirely stop sailing from the United States for 15 months.
There are some covid-related changes passengers don't see. The cruise line improved its air filtration, for example, but any changes to the Royal Caribbean cruising experience no longer have anything to do with covid.
That does not mean that changes have not been made. Royal Caribbean has made some big cuts that passengers may not be happy about.
Image source: Nora Tam/South China Morning Post via Getty
Royal Caribbean Made Major Dining Changes
Royal Caribbean made some major dining cuts and some that were more subtle. The smaller changes include minor cutbacks like using smaller shrimp in Chops and cutting the size of the sushi roll portion in half when passengers order the fixed-price menu at Izumi.
The biggest dining change, however, was a massive overhaul of the cruise line's main dining room (MDR) menu. This wasn't a tweak or cutting the size of portions. Royal Caribbean basically got rid of its past menus and created new ones.
Now, each night has a theme like "Italian," "Mexican," or "American Favorites." That's a change, but it's not the big one. Along with offering nightly themes, Royal Caribbean also got rid of its "Classics" selections. These were choices available each night including main courses like New York strip steak and pasta bolognese along with appetizers including French onion soup, escargot, and shrimp cocktail.
That's a huge change because it removes some passenger favorites from the nightly menu and offers fewer choices on a nightly basis. Royal Caribbean has also made a few other small dining cutbacks:
- People who pay for Ultimate Dining now get one $20 credit per day at Playmakers instead of being able to use multiple credits.
- The cruise line now charges for a second lobster tail (and any after that). Guests will pay $16.99 plus an 18% gratuity for each lobster tail they ask for after the first one.
Royal Caribbean Makes a Major Service Cut
Before the pandemic, Royal Caribbean cleaned passenger cabins twice a day, generally once before lunch and once around dinnertime. Now, the cruise line has made the decision to cut that to once a day for passengers staying in interior, ocean view, and balcony rooms. People booked in a junior suite or higher still get twice-a-day cleaning.
"Royal Caribbean International is implementing a once-a-day cleaning service for staterooms across the fleet. Vacationers will still regularly see the familiar faces of their stateroom attendants, who will continue to do thorough cleaning, provide new towels, refresh amenities, and be available to guests for questions and stateroom requests throughout the cruise. Suite category rooms will continue to receive services twice a day," the cruise line shared in an emailed statement to TheStreet.
Passengers can still make requests of their room attendant (like asking for more towels or a bucket of ice) outside of their designated cleaning time. In addition to the room cleaning change, Royal Caribbean room attendants no longer leave a printed copy of the "Cruise Compass" daily schedule in your room.
On some ships copies can be requested while on others no printed edition exists at all. In all cases, the daily schedule is available in the Royal Caribbean app which can be accessed for free without a WiFi package, by all passengers onboard,
Royal Caribbean's rival, Carnival Cruise Line (CCL), had done the same thing with its "Funtimes" printed schedule but has reversed that decision and gone back to a printed version.
