That’s not a rhetorical question. ‘Why Not?’ is the name of Royal Caribbean President & CEO Adam Goldstein’s new blog (www.nationofwhynot.com/blog/). He’s still getting his feet wet as a blogger, but Goldstein seems to be cruising in the right direction, so to speak.
Adam Goldstein, President & CEO, Royal Caribbean International
In his opening post, he notes that he’s not certain the world needs another blog, but adds that he gets that there is enormous interest in Royal Caribbean International, and if his blog can give useful insight into Royal Caribbean’s world, then it should be of value over time.
He says he plans to use the blog as a forum to provide answers to questions on topics ranging from the Nation of Why Not campaign, latest news and updates on their ships Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, itinerary planning, Crown & Anchor loyalty program, and also provide updates on relevant current issues like swine flu (H1N1).
He also participated in an ‘Ask Adam’ afternoon, in which he was bombarded with over 300 questions, which dealt with everything from the economy to the size of Royal Caribbean’s ships (the Oasis class is 220,000 tons) and the impact of these large ships on the environment.
Goldstein also manages not to turn the blog into a corporate press release outlet, by adding a bit of a personal touch. He mentions that he was part of Royal Caribbean’s team which participated in the Mercedes-Benz Miami Corporate Run 5K, and he says that he wrote his first blog post as a diversion, while waiting for the Run to start. Goldstein won the race, as part of his company’s Coed team.
In more ways than one, Adam Goldstein is off to a running start with his blog. So why not check out his blog?
About Adam Goldstein (bio, Forbes profile): Adam Goldstein has been President of Royal Caribbean International since Feb 2005, and took on the role of CEO since Sept 2007. He oversees fleet operations, sales and marketing, brand development, supply chain management, government & community relations and Royal Celebrity Tours. Prior to his appointment, Goldstein served as Royal Caribbean’s Executive Vice President, Brand Operations, with similar responsibilities, from 2002 – 2005. Goldstein has been with the company since 1988.
Goldstein also serves on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Travel Association (USTA, formerly TIA – Travel Industry Association), and was TIA’s National Chair in 2001. Goldstein and his wife, Cheryl, have two children, David and Julie, and live in Miami-Dade County, Fla.
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2 Responses
Hi
On Sunday the 1st of November , myself and my sister went onboard the voyager of the seas for a cruise, we were really looking forward to the cruise, i am a mother of 5 kids so we were also checking it out for a family holiday for next summer
when we got on board it was really lovely and we had the cocktail of the day at a bar, we were saying god this is going to be a great holiday
however things were not to stay great for long, after we had settled into our room, and changed we said we would explore, so we went to the library to look for info, there was a girl there and she was putting out books, we asked her about the internet and how much it would cost , as there was no info anywhere about the service.
the girl who i would say is in her early 20s , with blonde hair and called Rebecca, responded in a very very rude and aggressive manner
i was shocked at the way we were spoken to her reply was as follows :
I am an entertainer, i dont work in this part swipe your card , its self explanatory ,i am entertainer i dont know , she was looking us up and down, my sister then just said was there info about the price , she then said again look i told you i am an entertainer
i have never been spoken to in such a rude way and her attitude was awful, we were really shocked by this
but decided that maybe she was having a bad day, however that was not to be
we came across Rebecca a lot on the cruise and each time she was rude and unhelpful
on the second occasion it was in cleopatras needle, it was the night of the karaoke
that night she was even worse and very loud and behaving in a very unprofessional manner
myself and my sister and two girls we met at our table said we would enter for a laugh, we were looking for a song and could not find it, Rebecca took the book off us and wrote down a song, we thought she had found the song for us, so we said did you find the song and she said in her rude manner NO i found MY song, and gave all four of us a really dirty look,she then proceeded to be very rude to other passengers and was shouting at the top of her voice , she put the wrong song on around 3 or 4 times and when she was told this each time she shouted out ” well this is what you wrote down, its not my fault , you wrote down the wrong song’ she was shouting out this as loud as she could, one passenger walked out of the bar because she shouted at her spell you name and when she called that girl she said i cant say it and spelled it out , but the girl had left , we were sitting close to her and for the whole night she was loud and horrible, she got up to sing and she didn’t even know the song she sounded awful and she was been rude to people, all she wanted was attention , the night should have been called THE REBECCA SHOW
she then ordered herself a drink and treated the waiter like a piece of dirt, i was getting so annoyed having to listen to her , the poor waiter just served her, she was giving out to him , i was surprised that staff were allowed drink
we told people at dinner the next night and everyone at our table had been spoken to in a rude way by her
the day we were meant to go to pisa and florence she told an american lady at our table that florence was very expensive and she wont be able to afford anything , the cheek of the girl is unreal, she also left a quiz to chase a man down the stairs , she likes to chat to men you see her flirting with the men in the white shirts and navy jackets for uniforms.
She then ruined the salsa night by just taking over the dance floor , dancing on her own, not once did she dance or show a passenger how to dance just pushed herself around the floor , the other staff members were helping people and showing us how to do it, we left early cos i could not stay near her she spoiled that night too
I really thought that your cruise line was meant to be one of the best in the world , maybe the ship is but some of the staff our not
i went to pay my bill on the 3rd night as i was paying cash and had reached the 500 dollar limit , so we went down to pay, however the guy said i owed 830 dollars so i payed it, my sister was paying hers and the girl said yours was just payed, the guy had used my money to pay for my sisters bill, i said could he transfer what i just paid on to my sea pass, he didn’t know how to do this and was rude about it, and said the girl that worked with him it was her fault ,i n the meantime i was standing there, the girl transfered the 850 dollars on to my card , i only owed 664 dollars so i now had credit on my sea pass, that was fine but not once did anyone say they were sorry this had happened,
that is not the end of it
two of our excursions were cancelled due to bad weather , that is fine , we got the two trips refunded on to our cards, but did not get the port taxes refund which were told we would get,
On sat we were told we could get a free shuttle bus into toulon , as out trip was cancelled
so we said we would go with two other girls , we got to the bus and a french girl asked for our sea passes, we said that we were told it was free and she said it was but needed our sea passes and us to sign
we all said to her was it free and she said yes it was and that no money would be taken, but sure enough she had lied and we were charged $12, it was not the fact we were charged it is the fact we were lied to
i never received a final statement , so i went down to guest services on saturday evening to settle my bill , i went to a girl called diane to pay, she was very rude , in fact she was just like rebecca, i gave her my sea pass and said i wanted to pay my bill, i explained that i wanted to use the last few dollars i had to pay some and i would pay the rest in euros, so i payed $340 dollars 1st , and the rest came to €240 , she snatched the money off me, shoved two pieces of paper in front of me to sign and then snatched them back off me, never once said thank you, never once asked did i have a nice cruise , never said anything really, just looked at me with an angry face , no smile, and spoke in a rude manner, not the kind of staff you would expect on guest services
By the this stage i was so annoyed about having been treated so badly by certain members of staff and been lied to by the bus staff
I made a complaint to david our head waiter in the magic flute , he took the details but told us to make a formal complaint too.
he was very pleasant,
On a Happier note i want to name the staff that were great and that delivered great service
Dexter our room attendant was fantastic and so helpful , he was always pleasant and happy
we had our dinner in the magic flute every evening we sat on table 576 the 1st sitting, our waiter was micaslav he was one of the best waiters i have ever been served by and the the waiter that assisted him was also great
there was a girl who worked in the pig and whistle called camilla , she was fantastic, and must be one of the most happy , polite staff members around, a really lovely girl, and looks as if she really loves her job, she was a pleasure
and Duncan the man who sings in the pig and whistle was a lovely man , and we loved going in there to hear him sing.
it is such a shame that all your staff members are not like them
Myself and my sister wanted to book a family cruise for next year for 3 adults and 5 kids with your cruise line but now we will be looking for another cruise line, because i would not leave any of my children with Rebecca the entertainer, as she would not entertain them , because she just wants people to bow down to her and i would not my children be treated in the rude way we were treated by her
She is a disgrace to your cruise line and so is the girl Diane , as guest services is an important part of your ship you should really train them in the correct way
Rebecca was from england, and works in the entertainment section
we were d really disappointed with the way we were treated and expected such great service throughout the ship not just the area i mentioned above.
I thought American companies insisted great customer service from all staff members, how wrong were we
My cruise was 1st of november to 8th of november on the Voyager of the seas , it was the Med cruise
my name is Emma Gillan
Regards
Emma Gillan
Dear Royal Caribbean Cruise Line,
This letter is in regards to the last cruise my husband and I were on. We sailed out of Baltimore, MD February 28th and returned March 12th on the Enchantment of the Seas. If we were to sum up our time, experience and crew members on the Enchantment in one word, it would be “OKAY.” This may sound sufficient to some, but we have cruised 3 times prior to this with RCCL and described those experiences at amazing, wonderful and well worth our money. Having said this we would like put on paper our opinions of this experience.
The negativity started off right at the gates. We waited in line at the terminal for 3 ½ hours prior to embarkkment. In this line, there were no bathrooms, chairs for ill or elderly or snacks of any kind. I realize that it was a computer problem, but there was no effort on the part of your company to compensate for our inconvenience or displeasure for that time.
Once we finally got on the ship, the Windjammer was closed because it took so long to get everyone aboard. We were left with hamburgers, hotdogs and cookies for the first meal/snack. We met a couple that was cruising for the first time and they were so upset at these first two problems that they regretted booking their trip.
While on the subject of food, the Windjammer served virtually the same foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner the whole 13 days. The food was adequate at best, but nothing memorable. The desserts tasted stale and like they were purchased wholesale instead of freshly made. My Fair Lady dining experience was not much better either. We ate in the Dining room 6-7 times out of the 12 nights, one because they also seemed not to serve much of a variety and two because there was nothing exceptional being served. On our next to last night, the kitchen did not make enough food for everyone, so our table waited at least 45 minutes for our meals. Mostly everyone in the dining room was finished and leaving before we were served. One of our dinner guests, due to the long delay and tremendously small portions served that evening, requested a second entrée. Our server informed him that she didn’t think that there were any entrees left, but that if there wasn’t any that maybe she could get him prime rib. She then came out and said that there was absolutely no entrees of any kind left in the kitchen. This angered not only our dinner guest, but also us because in our three prior cruises we were never told anything of that sort. Were the portions not planned properly or was it too much of an inconvenience for the chef to attend to the patrons.
The service on the ship, well it was our opinion that the stateroom, waiter and assistant waiter did their job. Mostly every other area on the ship did what they absolutely had to and nothing more. No one went above and beyond with their services. As a matter of fact up until approximately day 9, everything seemed very unorganized and chaotic. The Windjammer wait staff didn’t clear tables or get drink refills unless asked by us. Day 11 came and we started to see some of the service get to what we considered RCCL standards. One morning there was no smoked salmon or breakfast pastries left at 9:30 AM, when I asked if there were more of theses items I was told, “No Mam you’re too late, you should’ve been here earlier.” This was appalling to me and my husband!
The cleanliness of the ship was WELL BELOW any of our previous cruises. The hot tubs were not hot most days and dirty the others. There was a decorative marble by the elevator on the 4th deck the whole entire cruise! I don’t know if there was a pipe leak or what outside of our cabin (4505), but every time we showered the carpet in the hallway was saturated. Three of the ten drawers in our cabin were broken and difficult to open and close. The windows on the ship were severely spotted and dirty up until day 9 or 10 of the cruise. Then they started cleaning them. The ship needs a lot of TLC; it was very outdated and showed many rust spots.
Something so small, yet so many commented on when I brought it up was the missing animal towels each night in our stateroom. Why was this discontinued? Does it take the attendants too much time to do, is it too inconvenient? This was always a personal touch that we VERY MUCH liked, as well as the chocolates on the pillow.
Next I’d like to discuss our excursion experiences. We opted to take the Discover Samana, Dominican Republic tour. I believe it was $32 each which was $64.00 total. It was to be a 3 ½ hour tour. We left at 9:30 and didn’t return until 2:30, 5 hours long it was the MOST miserable thing we did the whole trip! It was the excursion from HELL, a waste of time and our money. It made a stop at the Whale Museum that was all in Spanish language, a number of hole in the wall shops that were unpleasant and stopped at a restaurant that our guide Dama said RCCL recommended. It took 45 minutes for us to get a hamburger and fries! My husband spoke with someone at the Explorations desk and the said they would look into it which yielded a note that said mainly “We’re sorry that you did not have a good experience on our Discover Samana tour, we’ll look into it.” I know for a fact that we were NOT the only cruisers that complained, which made matters worse. The second excursion that was upsetting was the Bacardi Rum Distillery Tour in San Juan. We waited in lines, barely heard a strong accented and quiet young woman describe the process and then returned to a huge tent for free samples, which we didn’t have time to taste. While waiting in line we were told by a Bacardi Rum worker that the tour we just paid approximately $60.00 for was offered free of charge to anyone that came there. I understand that there was a fee for the transportation provided, but honestly I know we could’ve gotten a cab much…much cheaper.
Internet Service provided was VERY slow. I realize that we were on a ship and that a profit must be earned, but honestly when I found out that there were ports that had internet cafes offering 15 minutes for $2.00, I was LIVID with RCCL.
Our past experiences with RCCL. We sailed in 2005 on the Grandeur out of New Orleans. This was our first cruise, the trip before us the ship hit the dock/pier in Costa Maya and our cruise was cut short by 2 days. RCCL did everything possible to make this up to us and the crew members were PHENOMINAL! This possessed us to schedule another cruise in 2006, this time bringing our teenage daughters. We sailed again on the Grandeur this time out of Baltimore for 9 nights. We experienced the same TERRIFIC service and courteousness as before, but this time they went even further and made sure our daughters had the time of their lives! Our next cruise was in 2008, The Explorer of the Seas out of New Jersey. This was a little different, this ship was so large and had such a diverse group of travelers that we were overwhelmed the first couple of days. The crew that was closest to us must have seen this and they went out of their way to make us feel at home. On each of these cruises we were amazed at how even with so many people; they were able to keep it clean and sparkling. At every port someone was doing something, hanging from ropes cleaning windows, on a small boat painting, scrubbing carpets or polishing the brass. These were the standards that RCCL had embedded in our WONDERFUL MEMORIES of our vacations.
Did the crew members on our first three cruises do more than what was expected of them? Is this not the RCCL standards for all ships to be held accountable to? The RCCL treatment and standards for not only the care and happiness of the cruisers, but also the ships appearance and upkeep?
We had intended on booking our next cruise, which would’ve been the entire family, while still on board the Enchantment so that we would double our Crown and Anchor points, get the discounted down payment as well as the onboard credit. The cruise was so disappointing that we opted not to schedule. We spent $2,030.00 for this cruise, approximately $650.00 on excursions and approximately another $500-$600 on board expenses/purchases.
A total of approximately $3,280.00 and that doesn’t count what was spent at various ports. To spend this amount of money and walk away with the opinion of “IT WAS OKAY?” is truly unacceptable. We are estimating the family cruise will cost us approximately $8,400.00 before any souvenir shopping. That is too much money with the economy the way it is. We try very hard to make our money count while still making memories with our children. Since being home we have researched Carnival and Disney cruises because of or DIS-Enchantment cruise. We are still undecided as to what to do. In the past we disembarked saying “WOW!” and shared our experience with everyone we know as well as recommending RCCL for the best service. We can’t do that this time and it’s very disheartening.
In closing, I would like to thank you for your timely concern and action in this matter. I never anticipated that a letter like this would ever come from me regarding a RCCL vacation.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Shultz