chris1978uk

No charge (beyond internet access) for printing at the guest computer area. Note that the guest computers have no optical drive or USB access.

Thanks Bob that’s exactly what I was hoping for. Any idea how much they charge? If I need it it’ll take me less than 5mins so hopefully not too expensive!

cb at sea; believe me that’s what I’d rather do, especially since coming from the UK and cruising in the EU I’ll have unlimited data with no roaming charges (off the ship at least), but alas some places apparently still haven’t joined the digital age and won’t accept confirmations on a mobile! Im so used to using my phone for everything, even my crappy local cinema sends QR confirmation e-mails that can be scanned on screen or added to Apple wallet, im always surprised when big attractions can’t keep up!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I’m going to be on Jewel of the Seas in August and am busy planning my port activities. There are a couple of things I’m thinking about doing where I would need to book in advance and print out a confirmation e-mail, is there an Internet cafe onboard where I can do this, and is there a charge for printing? Alternatively would the guest services desk be able to print things?

I can always book and print these at home if I have to, but I’d prefer not book so far in advance in case we change our plans once on the ship, plus I’d rather have less bits of paper to remember to pack!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thanks Host Clarea, I guess it must have been a sale, though there was nothing to say so (but I get the impression from these boards that that’s usually the case!)

papaflamingo, I didn’t realise you could cancel (presumably with no penalty?) and then rebook at the lower price, good to know and will definitely bear that in mind, thanks!

Like I said, I think we’re happy enough working it out for ourselves in most ports, either using local providers or just going for a quick walk, the only one we’re still thinking about is disembarkation day as doing it by ourselves would mean hauling luggage around everywhere, so the cruise lines option would at least remove that hassle, albeit for a high cost!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We’re doing the western med on Jewel OTS this August. We’re on a budget and after looking at what was available, and the prices, in the cruise planner we decided to just do our own thing in the ports. I happened to be checking the cruise planner recently and noticed two things - extra excursions and onboard activities have been added, and prices had dropped, by quite a bit.

Eg. In Palma, Majorca, the one port I had considered using the cruise lines excursion, I decided to use the local hop-on-hop-off bus as it’s flexibility suited us better, and also it was much cheaper. RCI’s Palma city excursions were, IIRC, £39, £45 and £54, but this recently dropped to £25 for the basic. I forget the others but all 3 had dropped, but have since gone back up and are now £32, £39 and £54!

So finally my point/question! Do excursion prices tend to fluctuate much? And can we expect to see more options appear as the cruise gets closer (eg one port currently has no excursions at all)?

While Palma prices have gone back up, the one RCI excursion I am still considering is the disembarkation day tour of Rome. As we’re getting off the ship with luggage I don’t want to attempt to do Rome by ourselves, and as our flight home likely won’t be til 8pm it would be a shame to not see some of Rome. The Rome tour (ending with drop off at the airport) was £184pp which was ridiculous, especially as our package already has airport transfers included which now wouldn’t be needed. It’s now £119 each, which is still expensive for a 6hr coach trip, but it is more manageable. But is it worth it? Is there a better option? Or could the price drop further?!

Any help greatly appreciated!

Apologies if this would be better in the ports of call forum? My thinking was that it’s mainly about the changing prices and extra additions appearing on the Royal Caribbean cruise planner

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We didn't tip the room steward extra. She did her job, but we were not super messy and she really didn't go above and beyond. We also made the decision by asking the tip breakdown at guest services. The standard tip is $13.50 per day, per person.

Out of the $13.50

Room steward gets- $3.45

Other housekeeping staff-$3.55

All dining staff to include head waiter, waiter, assistant waiter, chef, and others- $6.45

 

So on our 7 night cruise, balcony room, with 4 people our room steward received- $13.80 per day or $96.60 for the week in tips.

I imagine this is the approach we’ll be taking on our first cruise this summer.

Now I’ve not been on a cruise yet, and I’ve no idea what a steward actually does, but I’ve stayed in plenty of hotels and know what services we generally need (I’d say we’re very low maintenance).

I also don’t know how many rooms a steward is responsible for, but I imagine 20-30?? Assuming these rooms only have couples in then, on auto-tips alone, the steward is making more in a week than I do in a month [emoji24] That’s before being paid their salary, or the additional tips where the rooms have more than two guests. And now we’re talking about how much extra is the norm?

Now I don’t doubt that stewards work very hard for long hours and do a great job, as do all the other staff we don’t see and don’t tip, but aside from coming from the UK/Ireland (so not having that ingrained-from-birth American tipping culture in me), I have to say that based on the figures above I certainly won’t feel guilty for not leaving any (extra) tips. If you are lucky enough to be able to afford it then that’s fine, lucky you, but it really seems unnecessary to me.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums