heyabbott

What's the tequila selection on GOS duty free shop? And is there Hendrick's Gin ?

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Pack some champaign, I am packing 2 bottles of Moët to surprise my wife, it's our 25 anniversary. We can't cruise Cunard, though we do have caviar and gravlax tastes. So I'm also packing her favorite m&ms. Don't fake it with over priced crap. Create your own.

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They are young adults and can do everything older adults do, except drink on the ship. They will have a blast!

If your port of embarkation is a European port, 18 is the drinking age. I had an 18 yo who was served on a NCL Med Cruise out of Venice, but denied on an RCI cruise out of Baltimore 2 months later. She's now 21 and thinks it's the greatest thing in the world to go to a bar with her father. Warms my heart.

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I think it just doesn't fit. People go to the MDR acting like it's a fancy restaurant with formal dining. And then the waiters start singing and dancing (and usually not well). If that happened at Chili's or Red Lobster, I'd be annoyed, but not surprised. But it just doesn't fit.

 

(note: I don't consider the MDR fancy or formal. But it seems that we are supposed to pretend that it is.)

On my first cruise I expected a MDR supper to be a very nice catered affair. The courses sound better than they taste. It's a meal prepared for hundreds of people at the same time. You don't get individual cooking. My expectations have been tempered from very nice catered affair to a nice banquet that can surprise, in both directions.

I have adjusted my expectations and I believe I am reasonable and only get annoyed when they are not met. Or they are attempting to sell me something they cannot deliver.

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We leave on the GOTS in less than 2 weeks. Glad to hear you can get a pool chair albeit in the top pool deck. What movies were playing on the big screen? Are they played continuously thru the night?

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As RCI is not a registered US company it does not pay corporate taxes on any of its cruise revenue.

Yes, they are a Liberian corporation. 10% is the standard tip rate in Liberia, if service charges aren't included.

Royal Caribbean is not bound by US work place rules, wage and hour laws and doesn't pay US income taxes. I suggest that their next ship be named Tea Party of the Seas and Ayn Rand be the ship's godmother.

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We saw the movie trailer for The Hundred-Foot Journey with Helen Miren. I had never heard of the book before even if it was a best seller. The trailer looked great, I read the NY Times Boom Review in the theater during the next preview and bought the book in the parking lot of the movie theater on my Kindle Ap. I have moved it up on my kindle to the first book I start on our upcoming cruise.

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1st night at Chops is usually full of D+ who have BOGO coupons that are valid only the first night.

Do Pinnacle and D+ passengers get their luggage delivered on a priority basis? Even if they book non suites? Even if they book inside cabins?

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"Gratuities", pre-paid and added daily, are a tax dodge by the corporations. Since they call them tips or gratuities and are transferred to employees from the corporation they are wages. Since they come from passengers directly to the corporation in an amount of the corporation's choosing, it should be income to the corporation from which gross revenue is calculated. But they don't declare the income which is used to pay wages. So not only does the corp get you to directly pay their employees wages, they get to pay their employees without have to be taxed on the revenue

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Is the first night always a discount on Royal's specialty restaurants? They don't offer a first night discount on-line.

 

 

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Upon further review, the first night is a 20% discount that can be booked on line. However you pay the full amount and the 20% appears as an OBC for food only, specialty fee or ala carte.

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There is more than one "Head Waiter." On my ship we had 8. So if you figure 3,000 passengers, of which 95% tip (I'm being awfully generous here...) you get:

 

$0.75 x 3,000 = $2,250/day

3,000-5% = 2,850 pax tipping

 

$0.75 x 2.850 = $2137.50

 

$2,137.50 / 8 = $267.18 per day in tips.

 

Our head waiters worked an average of 14 hours (B: 6am - 11am ; L 12:00 - 4:00 ; D 5:30 - 11pm)

 

$267.18 / 14 = $19/hour

 

And that is for the Head Waiter. The numbers go way down for the wait staff.

 

You get no OT pay, no health or retirement benefits, you are on your feet all day long, you have less than 10 minutes to eat most of your meals, you barely sleep, you work 7 days a week for 6 months serving some really great and some really horrible people.

 

Is $19/hour bad pay? No, but it also isn't $240,000 a year.

So basically, the crew that serves the passengers daily needs, housekeeping and food service, on Royal Caribbean are required to work sweatshop hours for sweatshop pay and rely on the kindness of strangers to make a minimal living?

So we all patronize a corporation that pays substandard wages in substandard working conditions and unless most of the consumers subsidize the corporation through voluntary transfers of money to these poor 3rd world 3rd class workers they are doomed to roam the decks below a floating sweatshop?

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I have requested a table for two for my last 2 cruises and have been successful. I've never been a suite guest so it doesn't seem to matter what type of cabin you are in.

 

Email rcldining@rccl.com. You must give your name, ship, sail date, and reservation number in your email and request a table for two. Within a few days you will receive a response. The first time someone from the ship directly responded and confirmed my request. This time, someone from their home office responded and forwarded my request to the ship. The ship then responded with a confirmation.

 

I recommend making this request no less than a month in advance.

I made the request by email at least 2weeks ago, I made the request verbally over 3weeks ago. We leave in 13 days and have not heard from RCI. This is our 1st real vacation without kids in 10 years and our 25th anniversary, with all due respect to the other couples and families, we just want a table for 2.

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How was the pool area run? Was it easy to get pool loungers on sea days? Summer cruisers tend to be families with kids rather than the usual mature couples who do not spend hours at the pool? Was the over 16 rule enforced at the Solarium? Did you try Izumi?

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If you don't give extra gratuities on top of the auto-tip, you are not tipping. The auto-grats are service fees paid by everyone and has nothing to do with the service received. Anything above the auto-grat is the only tip they receive, the only REAL gratuity. It's only a gratuity if it s heartfelt gesture of appreciation not a mandatory charge.

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Am I limited to 2 bottles if they are 1/2 bottles or splits of Champaign?

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You can even wear a tux on a casual night

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The thing is - it's their ship and you are their guest. If they wanted to ban something far more innocuous like white pants or t-shirts with the word Carnival on it, they can.

 

Banning a pair of wire cutters which can cause damage to their property in the hands of a vandal doesn't seem to me like it's all that unreasonable.

I can't take my Holland America sweatshirt?

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Grandeur and Enchantment will be at Coco Cay at the same time. I've heard that when 2 ships are at Coco cay at the same time it's hard to find lounge chairs and there can be an hour and a half chow line in the middle of the day. Can this be true?

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The Housekeeping Department is responsible for ensuring that the cabins, rooms, and related services are carried out smoothly to the satisfaction of the passengers. The Housekeeping on the ships is the same as in any five/seven star hotels on land. The department is divided into two main divisions, (i) one division looks after the comfort of he passengers in their rooms and cabins, and (ii) the other looks after the cleaning of the general areas of the ship. The laundry section supports both these divisions and functions 24x7.

Thank you, I didn't know the cabin attendants performed housekeeping function in the cabins.

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La Fin Du Monde and Chimay well done RCI. Well done. And Coors Light is only considered beer if it is the only beer in your area code.

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http://www.emilypost.com/out-and-about/tipping/89-general-tipping-guidelines

Just for informational purposes from Emily Post Institute. Tipping guidelines.

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$5 pp is about standard for hotels, too! Your cabin attendant will service your cabin 2 times daily...

What does the cabin attendant do that housekeeping does not

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CLOSE TO royals numbers

I think $10 a day is bit much for housekeeping. The cabins are small and they don't change the sheets everyday unless strongly requested. I always tip housekeeping at hotels and it's usually $3-5 a day depending on the room size and number of beds. More if I have a multi room suite. I would also like to be able to provide the waitstaff such gratuities as I feel are deserved, not a preset amount. Additionally, we may only eat on the MDR 3 nights maybe 4. Between restaurants and WJ we can 'eat out ' half the cruise. In 3 prior cruises we have never had breakfast or lunch in the MDR either.

Again, if they want the passengers to offset the low wages they pay, either raise the price or call it a mandatory service charge.

What are State Room Attendants required to do in addition to the housekeepers who clean the cabin and the head, make beds, provide fresh towels daily? I think that their service charge is a bit much for saying hello when they see you.

If you make requests of their services, like shoe shines, lounge chairs for the balcony, getting mixers and liquor, then they certainly should receive a gratuity. But their function is to make the passengers stay as welcoming as possible. That's their job.

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Is the first night always a discount on Royal's specialty restaurants? They don't offer a first night discount on-line.

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I've done it with my kids at about that age. My 18 year old had already done a Med Cruise earlier that year with friends and some teachers from school on NCL that left from Venice and she could drink alcohol on board. On the Enchantment she could not drink aS the ship left from Baltimore. She was bummed. She could gamble at 18 on the Enchantment. We had some fun at the casino. I gave her $100 to play with for the 5 nights and she played most nights, finally giving it all back on the last night. We always eat late and took our kids to the shows with us if they wanted. They had their own cabin and we free to do as they pleased as long as they didn't fall off the ship or bother other people.

The 15 year old was a bit bored, but she had a cousin on the trip who is not very social, so she hung with him a little. No organized teen activities interested them. A little bingo but that got boring on the Enchantment, it was much more fun on the Navigator. They did go to whatever disco there was but felt it was a bit lame. Too many old people trying to be young That may be just them.

On an earlier cruise they did meet people their own age and hang out with them. That's the best thing for them is to find kids their own age.

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