macdon9876

I am also doing this ship in 2 weeks on our first cruise. I am also confused about tipping. I did the pay ahead thing, so is that all I should worry about? Should I feel guilty about ordering a pizza at sorrento's and not giving a tip? Or the bartender that gives me a bottle of water?

I found this on RCI's website, which is a bit helpful but doesn't provide specific amounts for each individual. I didn't tip for free venues (pizza, cafe, buffet) and it sounds like the workers in these areas get a piece of the prepaid gratuity.

When you drink (pay as you go) you'll encounter an automatic 18% tip, whether it is a cocktail or a Coke. If you buy a package you'll be charged the 18% on top of the package price, per day (so $49 becomes $57.82/day). There seems to be a variety of opinions on tipping if you have a drink package, ranging from a buck a drink, a few bucks here and there, $20 up front, and nothing.

Q: How is the automatic daily gratuity shared between members of the staff and crew?

A:

The automatic gratuity is $12.95 USD, or $15.95 USD for suite guests, applied to each guest's SeaPass® account on a daily basis. Here's how it is shared between your onboard service team:

Dining & Culinary Services: $7.75 USD

Stateroom Attendant: $3.85 USD OR Suite Attendant: $6.10 USD

Other Housekeeping Services: $1.35 USD OR Housekeeping and Suite Services: $2.10 USD

We just completed our first cruise aboard Independence of the Seas, on an Eastern Caribbean itinerary. I though I'd share some thoughts, observations and other comments if they might be of help to future cruisers (especially cruise virgins!). I organized this post under headings, in no particular order!

My wife and I travelled as a couple, on our first big vacation in a decade (and our first away from our two children). Overall it was an exceptional experience, and we think we're "hooked" on cruising - it really does offer something for everyone, and we were seldom looking for anything to do. One of my initial concerns about cruising - two, actually - had to do with either feeling "trapped" on the boat with nothing to do, or trapped by intense crowds. Neither of these concerns materialized, except for crowds in certain situations that were understandable / unavoidable (e.g. getting on/off the ship). Our ship was full, but we seldom felt that there were 4300 guests on the ship with us.

-- Embarkation --

We stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn on 17th Street, not far from the pier. We took their shuttle to the cruise terminal, and while it was busy, we were onboard in about 20-25 minutes. Very easy and well-organized. We arrived at the pier at around 11:40, and we were onboard just after noon. We ate a light lunch at the Cafe Promenade and then went exploring until 1pm when the cabins opened. Thanks to tips on this site, one of the first places we sought out was the helipad on Deck 5. We had it to ourselves!

-- Early Rookie Mistakes --

My wife decided to enter a draw for a spa giveaway on embarkation day, but entrants had to be present at 4pm for the draw in order to win. Hehe. I suppose it's good we learned early that so much of what happens on a cruise ship has to do with the up-sell: always trying to get guests to buy more. The whole prize draw process - a half-hour affair - was trying to sell this spa package or that spa service. It happened during sailaway, which was too bad - we didn't realize the ship was leaving, and when we finally got to the deck, we were sailing along the coast of Florida! Rookie mistake, and we'll know for next time.

Likewise, we thought the Port Shopping Talk might be helpful (we'd never been to the islands), but it, too, was mostly an advertisement for shopping at Royal Caribbean's preferred merchants in each port (and then, mostly for jewelry). We had been hoping for more practical discussion and tips on where to go, where to avoid, cultural norms such as bartering, etc.

-- Dining --

We decided to dine at Chops Grille on the first evening, since they were offering a 20% discount on the first night. On reflection we'd definitely do this again: we dined early in the evening and there were only two other couples in the restaurant. It was a lovely, intimate way to begin our cruise. The food was excellent: she had a seafood dish and I had a steak, and we were happy with both the food and service.

We dined in the Main Dining Room most other evenings, on My Time. We reserved most nights, and we asked for the same table, which was not guaranteed but ended up being granted every night. Our reservation time was not consistent (by choice): some nights we ate early at around 5:30 or 6, other nights we went closer to 8pm. The My Time desk did seem a little disorganized, but they got the job done. A few times we overheard other guests complaining about how long they had to wait. With reservations, we never had to wait more than five minutes for our table.

We asked for - and received - a table for two. Others have commented about how close the tables are, and it isn't an exaggeration. One night we had an empty table beside us, but all other nights there was a couple next to us. We were fortunate to have a table along the railing, so we had a nice view of all three levels of the dining room.

We found the food to be quite good on most evenings. Some meals were exceptional, others just okay. I was particularly disappointed with the prime rib on the second formal night (lobster night): it was quite bland, although very tender. My wife - a seafood fanatic - found the lobster to be okay, but nothing to write home about. Being from the east coast of Canada, a properly cooked lobster is easy to come by, so our standards might be different from Royal Caribbean! :D

Attire was all over the map in the dining room. My wife and I chose to wear "shore clothes" for supper (what we might wear to a nice restaurant elsewhere), but we saw many shorts and sandals. It didn't bother us at all: we wanted to dress up a bit, but that is our business. Likewise on formal nights, I wore a suit and she had beautiful dresses, but the clothing was all over the place. To each their own, and it didn't detract from our experience at all.

We ate breakfast in the Windjammer buffet most mornings, and it was pretty good. We ate one supper there. Lunches tended to be all over the map: we ate at the Cafe, one time at the pizzeria (meh - once was enough), once at Johnny Rockets (again, once was enough), room service a couple of times, and in port twice.

-- Service / Staff --

Most of the staff seemed friendly and helpful. Our room steward was excellent: very funny, personable and efficient. Our waiter and assistant waiter in the MDR were also wonderful, and we found a couple of bar staff we sought out quite a bit (one in the Schooner Bar on Deck 4, and the other at Olive or Twist on Deck 14 - she was the nicest employee we met on the ship).

We did find the people working at Cafe Promenade to be less happy. Perhaps it is the nature of the beast, but they barely smiled and didn't seem to enjoy anything about their positions. One server behind the counter, in particular, was just on the edge of being surly.

-- Drinks --

We agonized over whether to buy one of the infamous drink packages.

Before I begin: my wife and I are lightweights, and we don't drink much to speak of. We aren't teetotalers - we enjoy social drinking - but we don't usually get drunk. Still, with the prices of drinks we felt it might be worthwhile.

In the end, for our first cruise, we decided to go a la carte with drinks, and thank goodness we did! Our approach was to drink whatever and whenever we felt like it, and not limit ourselves.

It wouldn't have even come close to being economical: at $49/day/person (plus 18% auto tip), the drink package would have cost us $404.74 each, or $809.48 combined. As it turned out, for the two of us combined (including alcohol and soda) we ended up spending $405.54 for the week (or about $200 each). This includes auto 18% tips, plus any additional tips we opted to give.

We started out drinking a lot of the $10 "Drinks of the Day" in order to receive the souvenir glasses to take home for us and family. After we had enough glasses we switched to $7 mixed drinks such as peach schnapps and OJ, or rum mixed with soda and OJ. I also like Smirnoff Ice, which is $6.50/bottle. The Schooner Bar seemed to mix drinks a bit stronger than the other bars we went to.

-- Tipping --

I'm not a fan of the tipping policy.

Since we were My Time, we had to prepay gratuities, which was fine. However, they didn't give any breakdown as to how this money was shared or allocated to the various staff members, and I would have liked to know that. I suppose Guest Services might have been able to tell me, but there was always a long line at that desk!

The lack of transparency is something I think RCI should address. For those auto 18% tips, where does that money go? When I order a drink, is that server getting all or most of that 18%, or does it go into a pot from which he/she only draws a small portion? I understand the idea of "tipping back" to the staff behind the scenes, but what is the breakdown? I found myself tipping a bit more (optional) for the bar staff I liked most, in the hopes that most of that additional tip would go directly to them.

I also tipped some extra cash for our steward and waiters at the end of the cruise. I did so knowing full well that it was optional and considered an additional gratuity, but they were excellent. Again, though, I would have liked to have known how much I had already tipped them through the prepaid amount.

The cynic in me also wonders whether RCI keeps a cut of the prepaid and/or auto 18% tips. Some restaurants claim a "service fee" from employee tips. Does RCI do the same?

In the end, I think I'd prefer the old fashioned way of tipping at the end. With My Time, as I understand, this isn't an option.

-- Ports / Excursions --

We went to three ports in three consecutive days: San Juan, Philipsburg (St. Maarten), and Basseterre (St. Kitts).

San Juan was a late port: 4pm arrival and 11pm departure. We had specific items we wanted to purchase in San Juan, so we walked the port on our own, which was fun. Neat old city, lots of character. We were back onboard by 8-ish and ate in the MDR.

For the other two ports we booked off-boat excursions based on recommendations and advice found on Cruise Critic. Great advice! (Thanks!)

We used Bernard's Tours in St. Maarten. We took a four-hour tour that excluded the big beach (Orient?). The other, longer tour had a beach stop. It was a good tour, great guide (DJ), and we had a chance to shop in a market and sample local food, as well as visit the airport at Maho. A large jet landed during our 45-minute stop, which is what I wanted to see. A few other jets took off but I had no interest the jet blast experience!

We used My Island Tours by Javin for St. Kitts, and it was our favourite of the three. His all-day tour was unexpectedly a private tour, which was fantastic. He takes his guests "off the beaten path" so to speak, away from the tourist areas to the area of his youth. The tour includes a visit to an abandoned sugar factory, a lava rock beach, a rainforest hike, a picnic with local pastry-type breads, snorkeling, and a final beach stop for an hour (Cockleshell, I think). Great day! Tips: just wear your swimsuit all day. He outfits his vehicle with a seat cover so you can drive wet to the beach after the snorkel. Bring shoes that have good traction for the hike, and that are also waterproof. My wife wore water shoes. I did not! My sneakers took the rest of the cruise to dry! :) Finally, understand that the snorkeling is quite a swim out from the beach. I initially declined a lifejacket but I ended up grabbing one, and thank goodness I did! My wife is much more athletic - and a stronger swimmer than me - so she did fine without.

-- Activities / Shows --

We found that there was a good mix of activities to do, and we seldom felt as thought there was "nothing to do". On those rare occasions, a deck walk or relaxation on our balcony were easy alternatives.

The ice show was awesome! I found the "Once Upon a Time" stage show to be... something. The performance and production values were great, but the show itself was lacking and perhaps a bit corny or cheesy. We did a lot of trivia and we really enjoyed a band that frequently played at Olive or Twist at night - Odysea. Great cover band!

-- Kids --

We had worried that a summer cruise might be overrun by kids onboard, which might take away from our goal of a romantic cruise getaway. In the end, while there were a lot of kids and teens onboard (~1100 according to one officer), they were mostly well-behaved and kept to themselves. Some of the kids started getting a bit rangy on the last sea day (Saturday), but mostly nonsense and nothing extreme or intrusive.

One unique (or perhaps not - maybe it is very common) aspect of our cruise was the number of quinceañeras celebrating their birthdays. On both formal nights they played Time to Say Goodbye in the main dining room, as nearly a dozen young women descended the grand staircase in white dresses and tiaras. I hadn't previously known about this tradition, but my wife was familiar with it. Very interesting to observe this special event for these young women and their families.

-- Disembarkation / Customs / FLL Airport --

What an unfortunate way to end our cruise.

Again, we're rookies, so perhaps we didn't do what the pros do, but we followed the directions and waited for the designated time for our tag number. I think we may have been the only ones to do so!

It took 45 minutes to get from the theatre to the gangway, and then another 30 minutes to get to the baggage claim area. We were starting to worry about catching our flight from FLL at 12:15.

We decided to use a porter, and thank goodness for that! The porters don't have a special line as I expected (I thought I had read that they did), but he made his own line and got us to the customs agent in about five minutes. He wasn't taking no for an answer from anyone, including us as we hesitated about cutting in and out of lines ahead of others. He works for his tips, and we tipped accordingly - I'm sure he saved us an hour, and quite possibly our flight.

FLL isn't the nicest airport we've flown out of! The gate situation is absurd - basically an open room with all the gates surrounding it, which makes for a lot of noise and confusion as the desk agents try to talk over each other. I now understand why people on this forum suggest flying out of Miami, and I think we'll do that next time if we sail from Lauderdale.

In fact, I think it might be worthwhile to stay overnight on disembarkation day, take our time getting off the ship, and then fly home on Monday.

-- Overall --

Overall it was a fantastic vacation, and we are eager to plan our next cruise! We're hoping to bring our kids and perhaps our parents on the next one - there were a lot of extended families on the ship, and it seems to be a great way to travel together.

Thanks to those on this site - the forums are a great source of information and insights. I'm happy to answer any questions, and I also invite comments and tips for future cruises! :)

Thank you for the quick reply!

Hopefully a quick question - I scanned through but I couldn't find an answer.

My wife and I are sailing soon on Independence. First time cruisers - very excited!

We each have promo credit through RCI ($100 each) and we pre-purchased $500 ($250 each) thanks to the info on this thread.

I did online check-in last week, and I linked us both to a single SeaPass account for our stateroom. It will be linked to a CC.

Will the onboard credit be combined into the one SeaPass account, or will we each need to spend the amount credited to us as individuals (i.e. $350 each)?

In other words, if I were to spend $400 over the week, and my wife only spent $200, would some of her OBC be applied to my spending, since it is a single SeaPass account?

Thanks!

Thanks to the OP who let us know about this deal. I called RCI and as of today (Feb. 9th) they are still offering the $1.10 exchange rate for OBC.

The rep I spoke to suggested splitting the purchased OBC equally between my wife and I. This confused me and I asked him whether our SeaPass cards were linked to one account, and he said they were not. I find this odd... we have a single booking for the two of us, and one credit card for the payments. If one of us happens to spend more than the OBC limit, and the other has some left over, what happens? Do they use the other person's OBC first before charging the credit card? I hope this question is clear.

Incidentally, our rep said any remaining would be returned in cash.

Good to know, thank you!

I scanned through this thread, but I didn't see this question:

We are sailing in July. We booked and received the $200 promo OBC, plus an additional $50 from our TA.

If we purchase additional OBC with a credit card, which "pot" will be used first? In other words, do they use up the promo OBC (which is non-refundable) first for those early purchases?

Thanks!

Wonderful, thank you (again) for the info!

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Thanks for the reply. Is the standard coffee any good? My wife doesn't drink coffee at all, and I usually drink a cup or two in the morning and sometimes one after dinner, but it is just coffee, not specialty.

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lol... I didn't notice the post dates!

Although perhaps things have changed... I wonder if lemonade is still available for free on RC ships, anywhere at any time. Anyone know? 😄

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Following are free .

 

 

 

• 
   
  
• Tap water
   
  
• Tea - Iced & Hot
   
  
• Coffee - Regular & Decaf ( Specialty Coffees and or Starbucks are not free )
   
  
• Lemonade
   
  
• Milk - White & Chocolate
   
  
• Hot Chocolate - Instant packets of Nestles
   
  
• Juice from concentrate only at breakfast. Fresh squeezed OJ is $3.95 with no free refills
   
  
• Flavor waters. Typically found in the Windjammer. Other locations and as well as flavors vary from ship to ship
   
  

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the list. With these drinks, can they be found anywhere or only in certain places of the ship? I'm specifically curious about lemonade.

 

I'm also trying to decide on a soda drink package, but I doubt I can drink enough pop to justify it. If lemonade is widely available I'll be fine. I'm not an iced tea drinker.

 

 

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First off, apologizes if this question should be in a new thread...

On Royal Caribbean / Independence of the Seas, Is lemonade free all day, or just in the morning? Can you get it anywhere or just in dining venues? I've read conflicting answers in different threads.

We don't drink enough to justify an alcohol package (I don't think... 😊) but I'm wondering about a pop (soda) package. Some posts have said you'd need to drink about a gallon of pop per day to justify the package, which is much more than I'd typically drink. Lemonade would be a fine substitute if it's free at anytime. We also drink a lot of water, so we figure we'll bring our own filter bottles.

Thanks!

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Thank you... happy to help! If you have any questions about specific excursions/sites, feel free to post!

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Understood, but remember that once you prepay your tips, you are done. You do not have to tip anyone else, except for room service if you so desire, as mentioned. Please try not to worry about this, OK? You have prepaid, you are done like dinner. :) If you hadn't read this board, would you have even considered tipping extra? Interesting, hmm? ;):p

I wouldn't say that I'm to the point of "worry", but more along the lines of, "When in Rome...". 😊

Interesting question, although I suspect that, yes, I would have still wondered about extra tipping... for example, when dining at a restaurant where a 15% gratuity is automatically added to the bill, one might opt to tip extra for a particularly good server. Where it seems a bit different with cruising is that the $12 pp/pd is shared among several people, and also a lack of understanding of just how many people cruisers interact with (e.g. a wait team instead of a singer server). Thanks to these and posts in other treads, it is much clearer now - thank you!

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Very informative and helpful information, thank you.

These prepaid gratuities seem to be a bit of a double-edged sword in some ways. I can see the rationale, as you explained regarding MTD, and there is the potential convenience, but it also seems to make knowing when and how much extra to tip cruise staff (if desired) a bit more complicated. I appreciate yours (and others') comments trying to explain it to a newbie!

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September in Nova Scotia can be beautiful. In fact, it used to be the month when I took my own vacation. My current occupation precludes a September vacation, unfortunately.

Earlier in the month can still be beach weather, and even later in the month usually has nice, warm days. The evenings and mornings start to have a distinct chill as September wears on, but frost usually doesn't come until October. Highs of ~20 degrees © aren't uncommon in the first half of September. September is also usually a fairly nice month weather-wise.

You won't see autumn colours in September, except perhaps at the very end of the month when the leaves begin to change. October is the peak month for that.

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks for the range of comments. It sounds like tipping at the end is the way to go.

Happy to hear that the tip is included in the cover charge of optional restaurants. In terms of the wait staff, it sounds like cruisers are served by a team instead of a single waiter (in the MDR)... is that correct?

Thanks for your reply.

I figured leaving cash on the table wasn't the proper thing to do, so it's good to hear that the wait staff is often the same between various venues. Since posting I've also read in a few threads that MyTime diners can also request the same wait staff if they wish. Do you simply tip the main waiter you had, or do you tip the assistant and head waiters as well?

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This is an excellent site - thanks to all posters for the info. My wife and I are sailing for the first time in July - very excited!

The biggest question I still have is about tipping. There seems to be a wide range of opinions on this topic.

We were required to pre-pay gratuities as part of our cruise fare (we have MyTime dining, the only option that was available since the Traditional dining was full). We still plan to tip extra in cash for certain cruise staff.

It sounds like the room steward will be very deserving of extra tips. Some people like to tip him on the first day, whereas others have said this can sometimes insult their sense of professionalism. What about daily tipping as one might do in a hotel? Perhaps $5/day, and perhaps a bit extra on the last day.

Dining itself seems a bit more complicated. While we figure we'll probably eat in the MDR regularly, we'll likely also eat at an optional restaurant at least once during the cruise. Since our dining might not be consistent, would leaving a cash tip each night be considered gauche? If acceptable, is it left on the table or given directly to wait staff (and which wait staff... sounds like there are several waiters)? We also struggle with how much for the restaurants... there is no bill to base a 15-20% tip on! What about breakfast and lunch... is tipping common in these cases?

We're travelling from Canada, so the other big question we're struggling with is simply how much cash to bring. Our exchange rate is pretty lousy right now... banks are charging about $1.30 CAD for each US dollar. Luckily the cruise fare itself was in CAD!

Thank you in advance for any tips and comments.

Born and raised in the Halifax area, and I still live here - I hope you enjoy your visit in October!

October is a transition month, although I'd suggest that it is cooler than warmer overall. Pack jeans and jackets. If your visit is later in the month you might even consider hats and gloves just in case. While it isn't all that common, we have had the occasional bit of snow around Halloween. Mornings and evenings will usually be chilly... days can be warmer.

I worked for the local Gray Line affiliate (known as Ambassatours) years ago driving tour buses and double-deckers, mostly for cruise excursions. I remember that it was fairly common for tourists from the southern US to find Nova Scotia's climate cool, sometimes even in July and August!

Halifax itself has parks, museums and historic forts to visit, along with a popular boardwalk along the harbour and many restaurants. A very popular day tour is to visit Peggy's Cove (famous for its lighthouse perched on large boulders near the water, but also charming for its quaint fishing village charm), as well as other towns a bit farther away such as Mahone Bay and Lunenburg. These are about an hour's drive from Halifax. Full-day excursions from the ship can include both Lunenburg and Peggy's Cove, and half-day tours go to Peggy's Cove only (at least, that is how it worked ten years ago! :) ) I recall some cruise tourists saying that our tours were very expensive, so you may have better luck searching online for private tour operators, or perhaps even renting a car. (Hint: if you decide to go to Peggy's Cove, definitely dress in warm layers. It is usually several degrees colder than in the city due to its exposure to the Atlantic, and it can be very windy.)

Enjoy your trip! I'll be going the opposite way, cruising out of Fort Launderdale to the Caribbean in July! It will be our first cruise, so we're very excited!