the penguins

the point I was trying to make was that on neither Reflection nor Silhouette, one of which still has Cellar Masters and one Craft Social, were the Elite drinks available in those venues and that hopefully that would change.

Also some countries, for example Denmark, charges 1 fee for 2 ports i.e. miss one of the 2 (which we did on Silhouette) and there is no refund. Additionally we have been on 2 cruises where our American friends received instant credits whereas we only got ours by asking. In both cases we were told "sorry no refunds" but when we said "our American friends got a credit" the response was "sorry of course you get a credit we will do it now".

because X sets the price at what the "market will stand" or, to use travel speak, "dynamic pricing". It's up to each passenger to decide what works best for them. In our case it's always a traditional balcony with a fixed cabin (not a guarantee) at Sail Only Rates and pre paid tips. No right or wrong just personal choices.

that's great news - not on Silhouette or Reflection in October - hope it stays like that.

not available in Craft Central (previously called Cellar Masters)

yes . We always pick up our water there.

Casino Bar has the best sodas (Canada Dry rather than Royal). You can get the water etc in unopened bottles enough to last you all the next day. We usually pick up ours in Al Bacio. As we don't drink alcohol we also pick up a fruit juice from the Passport Bar as we go in to dinner in the MDR.

one important clarification; On the nights of the "Elite Cocktail Lounge" in Sky Lounge you can still get all the Elite drinks at the other bars .

jut give them the currency. Although it's foreign currency to you it may not be to them (or to their crew mates). Even if it is the ship will handle/convert it for the crew at preferential rates. $ are Foreign Currency to almost all of the crew.

Of course they do including several on this thread (not us). However the ships being at 96% capacity doesn't indicate liking or not liking IV's. Passengers choose by: itinerary, in some countries only E class is available, S and M class don't have IV'S etc etc.

Use it for extra tips - the ship will handle any currency for the crew.

I wasn't questioning your understanding but responding to the OP (39 August) comments and your attempt to clarify the situation which didn't seem to have worked.

there seems to be confusion here about how the revised system works. Every night except on boarding day Elite drinks are available in most bars around the ship from 5 to 7. Whichever bar you choose Elite drinks are from the same limited menu. No snacks, nibbles etc are offered in any bar as part of this nightly service The drinks are also available in Sky Lounge where it would appear from the OP that in order to make it easier for the staff the ship decided to segregate the passengers into different areas: Elite in one area other guests in another. In addition to the above: on one or two nights there is an additional event which is more like the old style gathering in Sky Lounge and which includes the nibbles etc. The venue for this event varies from ship to ship depending on the number of Elite's on board. On the nights when this extra event is held you can still get the Elite drinks at all the other bars.

this used to be the case for passengers on Set Dining for 2 reasons: 1) if passengers never intended to use the dinning room it freed up space that could be used for diners who wanted to change from say early to late or just didn't like their original table. 2) the end of cruise survey in which, at one time, staff needed a high % of likes which could be difficult if say 4 people out of a table of 10 chose never to eat in the MDR. Once it was established that the passengers weren't eating in the MDR because of problems with the wait staff then the actual number eating in the MDR was used e.g the table with 4 missing passengers was now recorded as a table of 6 giving the waiter 100% occupancy. The introduction of more and more Select Dining has meant a change in the way that X uses the surveys. if you dont' think it matters to the Waiters just watch what happens if you have Select Dining and arrive at the table unescorted by a crew member carrying a little slip of paper. This slip not only tells the Escort which table to bring you to but is the receipt for the Waiter to make sure they get their tips. If the Slip is missing the Waiter will immediately head for the Check in Desk to get a copy.

Speciality is covered by a separate grats system. Buffet staff are covered in auto grats - if you eat in either the wait staff in Blu retain that nights tips. If you eat in the MDR (select dining) the waiters there get that nights tips not the staff in Blu.

For anyone who doesn’t drink any or little alcohol and doesn’t need/want unlimited Wi-Fi the Elite+ benefit is very valuable.

that is a definite issue. The waiters in Blu are totally dependent on Aqua guests dining in Blu. If you eat in the buffet/speciality restaurant fine, but chose the MDR and the waiter in Blu loses one nights tips.

only if the status match applies to all the tiers. At present if you are Elite+ and Zenith you are only Diamond on Royal. Also to get to the higher levels you have to cruise on the X or Royal starting with zero points. I can't see then Clubs ever being incorporated into one combined Club covering all the brands

On E class not an issue as the aircon turns off. On S and M class no one needs my blessing or approval just to accept that the system isn't designed to function that way.

as it's impossible to individually tip all the people covered by Autograts doing this would result in a lot of staff getting less money. How for example would you tip the staff in the laundry or the public restrooms all of whom are included in the Auto Grats system? The current split of Auto Grats is shown below:

sorry I am confused. was your last cruise on E class or S class? If it was S class and you were in a normal balcony then sorry but yes "having your balcony door open in the evening" or any other time is wrong, the sign on the door makes it very clear and it does affect your neighbours. Whether you feel "like a culprit" is up to you.

not an issue. If grats increase X gives a warning of when the increase will take place so you will always have time to pay at the old rate.

The stat only enables you to turn the settings up and down not off. With your the balcony door left open this puts a strain on the whole system as it tries to maintain the temperature you have set against the massive inflow of uncontrolled air from outside. Clearly you don't want to accept that your actions can/will affect passengers in the adjoining cabin(s). Just ask an Engineer/Environmental Officer on the ship and he/she will happy to give you a detailed explanation.

Also Halloween - more of a themed day and great fun