flintg

2 hours ago, Treasure Hunter said:

 

and then we started to talk about the App. She said the Ocean part was down today and Princess had come to the conclusion that the bulk of their passengers were too elderly to learn how to use the App and they were going to re-instate being able to use the website!!!  Please, we get blamed! And they didn't know the make-up of their passengers. Also she said that they were working ( but it takes a lot of paperwork) to test at the pier like NCL instead of making everyone go crazy trying to find a CVS in Florida if you need to fly to the port. More than one person dropped the ball. I am so disappointed in Princess.

When IT people can't make the App work, don't blame us old folks!  The web site worked wonderfully

well and any one can use a card to open their doors.  Princess should never have release this mess until is was 100% ready!  I have 2 cabins booked for a Panama cruise, have sailed many times and have paid for 6 cruises for others but I am now buying an expensive new phone to install a useless App.

I sincerely hope Princess comes to their senses and returns to the tried and true web site!

Has anyone sailed in a Lido cabin?  If so please let me know the pro's and con's. 
Am a bit concerned it may be very noisy?

This site seems to have slipped off the radar! That is a pity because it is extremely helpful! Please keep it active!:D

Theo - do you have any updated information on cabin E225 on the Emerald?

It shows to be mostly blocked by a tender but there is some view and at least there will be light!

Final payment is just around the corner and it looks like the ship is almost

sold out! Hopefully they will give us a cabin number soon so we can check it against this site!:D

Our cruise is finally drawing closer and this thread is retreating! I hope we can keep it on the board!:D

This is such a valuable site, we need to keep it up-front.

This has slipped way down the list! With less then 100 days to go I am hoping to get our cabin assignment soon and this will be invaluable!:D

Theo

118 days to go - it looks like the Emerald will be a sell out for the Baltic Cruise on 30 Aug! Still no cabin but since the ship is showing so full I look for one soon after final payment! Your site will come in very hand - thanks again for your hard work!:D

We are on the Emerald in 60 days. If you know your cabin # by then, let me know, I could take some pictures for you (if they let me).

You can email me if you don't want to post your cabin # here. Email is on my website.

 

Theo

Will do! I hope we have a cabin number by then! We will be in Germany for a few weeks before departing Copenhagen. Would sure like to know which cabin before we leave the US!:D

Still 150 days to go but I hope to get a cabin assignment in time to check

it out against this site! Thanks for your hard work!:D

bump it up

Bumping up!

It is getting hard to keep this at the top of the heap! With all the interest I can't understand why the moderators refuse to make it a sticky!:mad:

It is not so much "hard" work as it is tedious work but I love doing it.

I was actualy hoping that by now the moderator would make it a "sticky" after about 12000 views so people don't have to search for it. Oh well, we'll wait and see.

Also I'm hoping that more cruisers will send me some more pictures especially from Grand/Golden & Star. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Merry X-mas to all.

Theo

I sent an e-mail to the moderators but did not get an answer. I guess I am too small a fish in a big pond to rate! Lets hope that someone can get their attention!:D

Wow - dropped to 3rd page in one day. Keep this up!

Thanks Renmar! Your web site is a gold mine of information for those with this type cabin booked! Looking forward to getting my cabin assignment so I can check it out in advance!:D

Bumping this up - the information is too important to lose in the shuffle!:)

This is a great site! Thanks for the hard work Theo! Lets keep this bumped up to the front page so it doesn't get lost!:)

Hello Anni!

My wife and I will be on the Emerald Princes and will arrive in Warnemunde

at 7AM Sunday Sep 2, 2012. My wife has a niece in Waren. How difficult would it be to make a trip to visit her and still have time to see Warnemunde and Rostock? (Mostly I want some good beer and a bratwurst!!!):D:D

Except that your numbers are all wrong. On NCL and most other lines, stewards work in teams of two and have up to 30 cabins per pair. Let's assume that this team gets $3.50 a day from the $12 pp/pd service charge. That would make $2,940 per month each, minus what they have to pay other members of the housekeeping staff out of pocket (yes, that's correct) to do the rooms of passengers who don't leave their cabins until afternoon, and not including the couple of hundred dollars a month the cruiseline gives them that month. They have 12 hours of physical work a day (approximately 7 a.m.-1 p.m. and 5-10 p.m.), 7 days a week, every day of the year except the 8-12 weeks when they're at home and don't get paid at all (zero paid vacation days, although they do get airfare home and back). They also don't get paid sick days and if they are so unfortunate as to become seriously injured on the job, they're terminated and sent home. I guess you could call sharing a tiny cabin with 3-5 others "free room," although I think it's stretching the point.

 

I very much doubt that you'd be squealing about how good you have it if these were your working conditions for $26,460-29,400 annually -- or considerably less $ than that if people like you had your way and were able to stiff the staff because you don't think they did anything "special" and tipping is only for "above and beyond."

 

Also consider that the daily service charge doesn't necessarily mean the team of two gets $3.50 a day. The $12 goes into a pool that's split among all tippable staff (minus bar staff) on board. I would be interested in knowing exactly how it gets divided up between food staff and housekeeping staff, if anyone has this info.

My math is correct! I used 20 cabins as an average - your 30 makes the numbers even higher! The steward earns the $3.50 per day and he pays an assistant $1 per day (per person), if he in fact hires one! I can not attest to how NCL splits the $12 per day they charge, but having sailed on Princes and Carnival this is the breakdown they have:

Service Gratuities

For your convenience, we automatically charge the gratuities for dining and stateroom staff to your onboard Sail & Sign account. The total amount is $10.00 per guest, per day (our recommended guideline) as follows:

$ 3.50 Per Day Stateroom Services

$ 5.50 Per Day Dining Room Services

$ 1.00 Per Day Alternative Services: distributed to other kitchen and hotel service staff

For Cruises-To-Nowhere, gratuities of $10 per guest, per day must be prepaid.

Our Staff is totally committed to exceed your expectations in every way possible. If you are not satisfied with the service you receive, we encourage you to contact the Guest Services desk while onboard. This will allow us to address your concerns in a timely and appropriate fashion. At your discretion, you may adjust the gratuities at any time while onboard. Gratuities will be deemed undisputed unless a request to modify is received prior to disembarking the ship.

For beverage purchases, fifteen percent of the bill is automatically added to the Sail & Sign charge. Room Service staff may be tipped as service is rendered. Tipping your Maître d’ is at your discretion, based upon the service you receive.

As for your remark about my "Squealing" about earning $29K per year - my military retirement pay for 21 years service is far less! If my average yearly income was $2,050 as it is in the Philippines, I would feel very blessed to be earning 10 times the national average! The same holds true of most of the countries supplying cruise ships - check out the CIA site for wages.

If you want the staff to get a fair wage without it coming out of tips, you can plan on your cruise fare doubling or tripling. Please define "fair wage"? By what standard?

Gratuities are a large part of the reason that labor is so cheap on cruiselines, keeps your base fare low.

The other reason that labor is cheap on cruiselines is that the lines recruit from impoverished countries where job opportunities are exceptionally limited.

Exactly - which makes the who question of "fair wage" even more confused!

Take a room steward servicing 20 rooms with 2 people in each = 40 people x 3.50 each = $140 per day X 7 = $980 per week X 4 = $3920per month X 12 = $47040 per year, not including those cabins with more then 2 people! $3920 per month is more then most of these people could earn in a year in their home countries, not to mention the pay received from the cruise line, plus room and board and other benefits! MOST of us should have it so good!

 

When you make flippant comments like, "If they don't like it, they can move on," you're showing a stunning lack of understanding of how the rest of the world lives.

Granted they work long hard hours, but so do many of us! Frankly I get tired of hearing how abused these people are - they fight for these jobs, at

the rates quoted by the cruise lines. Tipping should be for service rendered above and beyond - period.