iamaqt2

So you are acknowledging that the staff is already hitting a very good tippingpoint behind the scenes before we even hit the 18% gratuity that Princess adds to drink orders and specialty dining.

Deleted.. misunderstood post.

I feel like there are some people in this thread who fail to realize that federal law states that minimum wage for tipped employees in our own country is 2.13 an hour. Maybe these people should start caring more about these people getting a living wage. 🤔

And you are privy to the Carnival Corporation structure of crew compensation? If they tell me that my Daily Service Charge is going directly to the staff who are serving me AND the behind the scenes staff, are you saying that that is NOT what is actually occurring? Because I'm sure that CCL might have a rebuttal for that.

That was a nice upgrade for 14 days. I was able to move from an inside to a Premium Deluxe Aft balcony on my upcoming Majestic Alaska sailing for 245 PP. That was for a 8 day.

Everyone who gets on the ship is tipping the entire staff. Daily. 3500 pax X 16.00 daily is 56 thousand dollars on a 7 day cruise. 56 thousand dollars divided by 1200 staff members is approximately 46 dollars a day in tips. EACH. And that doesn't include the 18% service charge for beverage service or specialty dining to those staff members on top of their 46 dollars. If you wish to tip over and above this amount, be my guest.

I'm on vacation, I'm not worrying about how Princess breaks that down. I'm posting that "I" prepaid those gratuities as outlined by Princess. I gladly pay everything upfront to not have to worry about it once onboard for my vacation. If you have a problem with how Princess pays their crew, you can always boycott them by not cruising.

I would beg to differ. In the Princess Plus FAQ Princess clearly states that these charges are built into the package.

Princess policy is that at least one guest holding the stateroom booking is 21. Your best option at this point is to either book your mom as a solo or move one of your daughters to grandmas cabin. The problem you're encountering is that you can't occupy 2 cabins at the same time. So you can't be your moms roommate and be booked with your daughters. The biggest issue that could arise if you move a daughter in with grandma and you have to cancel is that you may not be able to move that daughter back in to the cabin if the lifeboat capacity in that vicinity has been reached.

I have never understood the need to pay for more than one device anyway. Just log off whatever device you were using before logging on to the next device you want to use. It literally takes a moment, and because the wi-fi is so crappy, there's no way I'm dropping that kind of cash for subpar internet. And Princess is charging that because they know there are people who will pay it. More's the pity.

Princess is the only cruise line I know of where Elite status can be reached by cruises sailed, and not days sailed. I am almost at Elite by virtue of doing many 1 night repositioning cruises between Seattle and Vancouver when they transition between the Mexico and Alaska cruise seasons. Until Princess revamps how they determine tier status, the higher status cruisers may not have actually spent much money at all to achieve them. I'm basically happy enough with the new package offerings and anything else that comes my way is just gravy.

It could be worse. It could be obese married men in a Speedo. And OLD ones at that.

That could be. They generally don't grant access until after sailaway so that they can conduct tours for the PAX who might want to sign up. And you can't make paying spa pass holders happy if you're parading people through while they're trying to relax.

If you booked access to the Spa relaxation areas for the duration of your cruise you will not be able to use it upon boarding. The spa conducts tours most of the day, and the spa facilities won't be available until sometime after sailaway. Usually around 6 pm. Alaska cruises are very casual.. think pack in layers for any kind of weather.. waterproof shoes and coat. Formal nights are also usually more like a very dressy top and slacks, or an easily dressy dress for women, and a pair of slacks and a button up long sleeve shirt for men. Tie optional. Formal wear will be seen, but not in the majority. Shorts will not be necessary. Jeans and a t-shirt are standard day wear on a nice day. Change the t-shirt out for a nicer shirt for dinner and you're set.

All the people on the Lido deck were tanned and skinny.

Per the website it sounds like it only runs between the port and Downtown Astoria with no other stops in between. https://www.portofastoria.com/Pier_Side_Activities.aspx

I believe I may be joining you on the Majestic. May 5 sailing?

Thanks for sharing. I was also on this cruise. Didn't make it to any of the late night comedy shows, but did see Carlos Oscar and The Secret Silk which was absolutely fantastic. I previously cruised with Arrrrrmondo on the Discovery and he's fantastic. I found all the food to be delicious but I was a little let down by the weather. It was unseasonably cool this particular week. And the snafu with losing all the first night Dinner reservations created havoc in the dining rooms.. the lines were loooong that first night. Overall it was a nice little cruise I enjoyed very much.

I'm a big fan of Good Spirits, and it looks like it has a fairly large footprint on Deck 6. I'll be on in a couple weeks and GS and Vines will probably be my go tos.

Yes, you can opt to wash in cold, warm, or hot. The dryers only have high heat setting though.

Nice jeans are welcome ANY night of the cruise. No tears or rips. They are my daily wear staple with a tshirt, then switch to a nice top for dinner wear. Makes Alaska cruises easy.

I get that. I've been back twice since the restart and it hasn't been functional. I was hoping this time it would be.

It will be up and running as they've invested a lot of money to get it operational again. They redid the tracks and purchased a new car from Italy. This article from November explains it. Was just hoping it would be done next month for my May cruise. My bum knee doesn't allow for Married Man's Trail. https://www.krbd.org/2022/11/18/new-cape-fox-tram-is-on-the-way-to-ketchikan/

Unless one makes the effort to visit guest services and have the daily service charge removed, we're all "yes" tippers.

For anyone else who may be wondering, a phone call confirmed the tram is not running. They are currently working on it and hope to have it up sometime this summer. No ETA.