sparks1093

Things like buckets of beer, pitchers and the like don't count against the 15.

I'll have to pay closer attention but I thought the buns were made onboard.

I live 8 miles from the Canadian border and from time to time (especially when out driving around) I'll ping off of a tower up there. AT&T charges me extra for that, but then they zero it out because they know how close I am. If they happen to miss it a quick note to CS solves it. I am like the OP, technologically challenged so I just leave it in airplane mode for the trip (and often don't take it ashore with me).

A drink package calculator will help with this. https://cruisespotlight.com/drink-package-calculator/ Just put in the number of drinks you expect to average per day and it will tell you how much you can save (I think this is set up per person). (Our first drink package was with Royal and in one of the ports we were ashore for a long time and were wiped out by the time we returned to the ship. Only had a couple of drinks each on the package that day but overall we still saved money.)

Which could be attributed to the downgrade in supplies overall. I have noticed this since the pandemic hit, the quality of food at the store has dropped significantly. Name brand products lack the quality they once had.

I have also done this many times. The only time I have been asked is when we are in an enclosed bar, like Red Frog Pub and she is with me at those times so it's easy to point her out.

We had people in our party for our upcoming cruise apply for a new passport and some that applied for renewal. In both cases they were processed in about 3 weeks. None of them asked for expedited service. (And that is a very good tip on getting the passport with additional pages, just in case. It used to be they would add them at no charge, now if your passport fills up you need to get it renewed.)

I would personally rather pay a gratuity since in many jurisdictions those belong to the staff. A service charge, the company can use that however they'd like. While they might use it for the staff there is nothing that says that they have to.

Still listed as a gratuity on the website.

According to what I've read, the bathroom outlet is only designed for a shaver and anything bigger will cause the fuse that protects the outlet to blow.

Just checked our planner for our upcoming cruise and it says there is an 18% gratuity added. That's $7.56 per person. The only specialty dining that I saw that didn't include the gratuity is the steakhouse. I wouldn't let it hold me back.

Royal sometimes uses dynamic pricing which means that sometimes the packages go on sale, but the price before the cruise is less than it would be to purchase it onboard. I know that some people will buy it and then check periodically for a sale. They then cancel the first order and buy at the sale price. (It has been a while since we've cruised with Royal so you may want to ask on the Royal forum.) Welcome to Cruise Critic!

If you use it in port you will be charged international fees by your carrier. I know that AT&T has a blanket plan for some countries that will allow users to use their phone while in that country.

You end up with an endless tropical island vacation, complete with infinite wardrobe changes.

Right, I don't think they actually sell cruises at the port. By phone or online.

I think 48 hours prior to sailing they stop taking bookings due to needing to send passenger manifests to the government. I could be wrong though.

Common courtesy for what?

It is all programmed into the point of sale system and none of the managers onboard have anything to do with that. Whenever I've paid tax on a drink with a drink package the tax was calculated on the actual cost of the drink. A flat tax sounds bogus.

If, but there is a point they would rather the cabin stay empty than take less for it and only they know what that amount is and that close to sailing I would expect the pricing would already reflect that amount. The question is doubly hypothetical for me because I don't live near a port and we book our cruises 18 months or more prior to sailing.

I guess it's a good thing it wasn't bacon or everyone would be really upset and the person would be vilified even more. It was cookies for crying out loud. I personally don't care who takes how many and I doubt seriously that Carnival cares, either. Someone wanted something to snack on later. Who among us hasn't wanted that? (And before everyone jumps none of us have any idea how many people the two women were sailing with. Our next sailing will have 13 people in the group.)

I don't have my passport since it is kept in our safe deposit box but this is what memory is telling me- the data is written in the book by the holder in pencil so it can be changed as needed.

That is for an industry where haggling is expected (and many homeowners, knowing this, set their asking price higher, or their real estate agent does). It is also a cultural thing, in some countries paying the asking price is anathema. As for the cruise lines, I am sure that if they have unsold cabins left just prior to sailing they have set the price as low as they can in order to sell them.

Stocking up on snacks for a large family for later, maybe.

The demographics for both lines is substantially the same as well.

Yes it is but the threads are interspersed with reviews of other ships and arguments about cruising so they aren't as obvious. I suspect that the overall trend of the reviews would be about the same from page to page (as pointed out most people only worry about posting any type of review if they had a negative experience). (And I forgot to say that at least 2 of the 3 3 star reviews had a negative title, so that increases the number of negative reviews.) If you are reading reviews and you see that many negative reviews on one page would you be inclined to keep reading? Most wouldn't.