tserface

We were in London... but that is England right 🙂

Yeah, I understand that... but... that's their problem 🙂 At least they would be able to pay people what they deserve without intimidating the guests.

No apologies necessary. I love these discussions!

It would be a lot better if they would just call it a "service charge" like some countries do. For example, the couple of times we have visited England almost all restaurants charged us a service fee and it was not optional. So sure, they don't tip, they just tack on an extra charge and call it something else. They've started doing this some places in the U.S. as well. But, if the cruise lines would just start calling it a service charge and making it part of the cost of the cruise they could hush up a lot of these tipping threads. Of course, that would mean they couldn't bait you in with a lower price then tack on all the extras. I kind of like how Princess calls it "Crew Appreciation". It subtle, but at least doesn't use the T or G word.

I'm a parent and a grandparent and I get the most joy when surrounded by my family. I also, very much, enjoy other families enjoying each other as well. Although, I'm not crazy. We have a week booked on Icon with our kids and grandkids and the week after, without them, on Celebrity Beyond where we can board nearby. Sometimes so much joy can be exhausting 😉

I was not expecting someone else to watch them. I didn't mention anything about babysitting other people's kids. It wouldn't hurt to have a little patience with them so long as they are not harming you. I do think it possible for kids to have more freedom on cruises since there isn't a lot of harm they could come to... assuming they're old enough to have some common sense. I agree diving into a hot tub is bad form at any age. Our daughters were like 13 and 11 when we started cruising and we were able to let them have a certain amount of freedom on cruises that might not have been available on other types of vacations. We could assume that most people were not cruising or working on a cruise ship to try to harm other people's kids like might be more likely on land. Many cruises have lots of activities for young people and are great vacations for families, but cause the parents can take some time away from watching the kids. I'd think, unless the child is diving into the hot tub you're in, it's really not your concern what they are doing. If you are in the tub and they are doing something dangerous or you just don't like getting splashed, you could ask them to stop and, most kids, would likely stop or leave. All that said, going on a ship like Icon and expecting it to be adult-centric is kind of ill-advised. I think they want to provide a more "Disney" type experience. Royal, obviously, puts all that stuff on ships to attract young families. If we want to get away from kids we go on a different kind of cruise (there are plenty of those).

To be fair, there are always lots of unruly adults on cruises we've been on as well. I've had people older than me cut in front to get on the elevator or cram on when it's obviously full or not wash their hands on the way into the buffet or all kinds of rude people things. I've also been plowed down by people in a hurry or almost run over by some people riding on carts. Yeah, it would be nice if parents spent their whole vacation babysitting their kids, but, also, one really nice thing about cruising is it allows them a break since the kids are safer than on land cruises. At 10y/o parents don't really have to watch them constantly on a cruise ship like they would on a land vacation. That said, diving into a hot tub could cause lots of problems (like broken neck) so maybe... can't argue with that being bad for anyone to true.

The ship was designed for families. Royal has really positioned themselves as a family friendly vacation spot. There is an adult only area on Icon. There are also tons of cruise lines (like Celebrity) that really format themselves for older folks. Our kids and grandkids are super stocked to be going on the Icon this year and I'm glad it's there for them with so many fun things for kids to do. I know our little grandkids would not be that excited about trivia in the Schooner Bar 🙂

They have a finite number of drinks they have to give away. When they used to have the overflowing Diamond Club at HH people could get unlimited drinks and it was kind of a feeding frenzy at time. We often don't even use all of our vouches so I think Royal benefits from spending less on providing free drinks. That said, we love how we can use the vouchers for other things like specialty coffee and bottled water. When we have vouchers left over in the evening we just get one or two bottles of water for the room. It's very convenient and useful for cruisers who don't drink alcohol.

Of course. We do that very thing. It's more trouble than ordering at the table and a lot easier for the dining room staff since they don't have Elites and up order wine from the table. Fortunately, they don't stop us at the door and say we can't bring it in.

I think this is fine unless you have a need in the evening and morning. Like if you have a 3rd person (like a child) using the sofa bed and it blocks the balcony so you don't want to leave it open all the time. If you get clean up in the morning you have to make up the sofa yourself in the evening, and if you get clean up in the evening you have to put it all back together in the morning. It's not untenable, but it was a lot more convenient when they did it for you and, they are charging the same gratuity. It has caused us to start guessing whether it's worth it to leave extra any longer since the crew gets more gratuity from handling more rooms. If you don't have that kind of need they it probably doesn't matter since it's easy enough to just pull up the bedding yourself. Still, not as classy. I haven't been on a Royal ship since they started this process, but my daughter's family went through this a couple of months ago and said it was a drag. I think I would also miss having the room all set up when we return in the evening. Again, not untenable, but it was nice and I'll miss it.

I think the prices are going up and the level of service (like only making up room once and higher gratuity) is going down. There are also fewer food choices except, maybe, on the mega ships like the new Icon, but you pay a premium to go on those ships. Drinks and drink package prices are also skyrocketing. That said, for family cruises, Royal is still a good value. Just not as good as before.

I've come to the conclusion that they don't allow Elite Happy Hour to be used in the dining room because then people would get drinks and wine with dinner and they'd be serving a lot more. It's probably not coincidence that they do the happy hour between 5p-7p. It would be more convenient if it started earlier because a lot of people are at dinner, or getting ready for dinner, at those times. But...

That's how it ought to work. If they say you get 2 meals for each Plus Package why should they care if you eat it all or if you share the pizza with someone else? It seems dumb that they should charge someone the $14.99 charge (essentially) for just having dessert.

There's a list of items available for ordering with OceanNow in the app. The don't always specify where it comes from. For example, you can order a hamburger or chips and guac, but you don't really know where they're being made (unless it's changed since our last cruise). Still, it kind of rocks to be able to do this... I don't think you can order and pick up at all. You would just go to the venue and stand in line in the case of the outdoor grill.

Yes, but you have to be within 3 months of the cruise, I think. I tried to submit for a cruise in September and it said to do it the end of June. I think this is because they don't want people to buy the stock, submit for a bunch of cruises, then sell the stock. The process is super easy and painless and we end up with $100-$250 per cruise for free. I figure after 6 14 night cruises the stock would be paid for so any movement in the stock becomes kind of moot. It's a super good deal that Royal and Celebrity make way more difficult these days. A definite point for Princess.

From what I understand from the past threads on this subject Princess will charge you each for a meal even if you share it. For example, if you go to Gigi's or Alfredos and just want one pizza they will charge you for 2 anyway. To make it worse, you only get 2 casual dining visits regardless of the length of the cruise (7 days... 2 means ... 14 days ... 2 meals) even though they charge you daily for the Plus Package. I think they consider the casual dining, desserts, fitness visits, etc. kind of like a bonus include or promotional thing. It seems kind of unfair to a lot of people, but it is what it is...

The only real drag about the stock benefit is you can't really apply for it until your cruise is pretty close. I totally understand. Someone could buy the stock, apply for a bunch of planned cruises, then sell it. I just have to remember to apply before within the correct time and before it gets too close. Within the window. It's worth it for the free OBC and no complaints from me. This new app makes it really easy to remember because it's right next to my Princess app on my phone.

I think it's fine. There are not usually a lot of kids on Celebrity cruises and 5-7p most people are getting ready for, or eating, dinner... Celebrity is trying to become more family friendly. I agree this is not new. I expect Celebrity to do a few more family things as well like maybe add an arcade (like Princess is doing with their bigger ships).

Fixed dining times are problematic with the new ships having so many specialty restaurants. There used to be only one or two alternatives (besides the buffet). If you are at a fixed table with others and half of the people don't show up because they go elsewhere the experience is diminished. So, allowing you to select a table to frequent the first night is a good compromise. If you do go to another venue or a different time your table is released after a few minutes after the time you were supposed to arrive. It's kind of a win-win. With the fixed tables, some of them had to sit empty if people didn't arrive since the flexible and fixed dining rooms were different.

I think this is the biggest complaint people are making about the new packages. The same is true for the Plus package and casual restaurant visits. It's kind of unfair since they charge you the same amount for each day regardless of the length of the cruise. Hopefully, Princess is getting this message. We plan to put it on the survey after our cruise next month (15 days, 2x to Gigi's only)

I like the new app better, but I'm with others who wish it would show more cruises and allow us to switch like it did in the old app. It's a drag to have to keep both apps around (or switch to the website) if you want to see or do reservations for future cruises. The old app works much better for this... Ironically, the new app still says "My Voyages" even though it only shows one.

Maybe it would be more fair to just combine the drinks for the cabin rather than by each. For example, 30 drinks per cabin instead of 15 per person. Then the cruise line could have an easier task and it would likely still work out OK. I think the 15 limit is as much logistical as it is economical. They don't want a bunch of drunk people running around the ship. It's a reasonable limit, but they should still make it a fair limit.

Even if they charged one of us for both we probably wouldn't notice since 7 or 8 drinks each would be way too much for us to handle in a single day. I can understand the frustration if you're a heavier drinker. I bet there are lots of people like us and it's, most of the time, not a big deal since we never go over the limits. It's still a great idea to check your folio often to make sure your charges are correct.

I downloaded the stockperks app and it took me about 10 minutes, then 3 days waiting, to get my OBC added to our account. It was super easy. I appreciate all the tips in this thread.