Are Balconies Covered on Sky Suites on Journey?

[atlantic cruiser]

First time on this ship and wondered if balcony would have partial or all ceiling cover of some type. Also is the auto tipping mandatory and can they force that. I like to personally tip myself and like to maintain control of this. We always tip generously and would like to continue to handle this ourself. Have been told that with Azamara you cannot go to front desk and request this. Anyone know for sure. Thanks:o

[mstrc1]

First time on this ship and wondered if balcony would have partial or all ceiling cover of some type. Also is the auto tipping mandatory and can they force that. I like to personally tip myself and like to maintain control of this. We always tip generously and would like to continue to handle this ourself. Have been told that with Azamara you cannot go to front desk and request this. Anyone know for sure. Thanks:o

The balconies are covered. They do take out the tip when at a bar. However we add our own at the end. We also took the pre paid gratuities and then brought envelops to give additional to the people who provided exceptional service.

Enjoy your cruise.:)

[capecodder2]

It is one thing to control tips on ships where you are assigned to a specific table for dining and have the same personnel each day, but when you are on a ship like Journey or Quest, you will have open seating, eating in several different venues and many different folks will be taking care of you. It will be very hard to take care of everyone appropriately, IMHO. Automatic tips cover mainly dining personnel and your cabin attendants. Drinks, spa services, etc., are not included in the auto tips, but have their own individual tips added. My suggestion is to follow the more modern way to make sure everyone is covered, and if you want to tip someone specific additionally, do it yourself as you normally would. I think it would be a more generous way to do it. Just my thoughts.

[crzrr]

I agree with the previous poster. We just got off of the Journey yesterday (still trying to phone the butler but no response :(!) The service was fantastic. However, there were several staff members who made our stay extra special and we sought them out on the final day and made sure to let them know how grateful we were for their service.

Having been on numerous Celebrity cruises where there was not a prepaid gratuity program and this being our second Azamara cruise, I can honestly say that there was no decrease in service or attentiveness by personnal given that the gratuities were prepaid. If anything, the service was even more attentive on Azamara.

[critterchick]

I agree that it's best to leave the daily service charge in place. Otherwise it will be very difficult to be fair to all of the people in that pool who provide such excellent service. You can always seek out those crewmembers who go above and beyond to reward them.:)