Grado

On 7/3/2023 at 8:25 AM, pathi said:

Nah, been this way for years.

Hi Patti.  I came across your older post about being able to book 3 cruises once you get a free offer. I got that and see it in the fine print however, some say it’s not true. I will phone princess soon but thought you may have some insight. Have you booked 3 cruises with one offer? Sadly I’m trying to book one now and all LA cruises are sold out so I guess I’m SOL for this freebie. 😞 Thank you in advance for answering me. Jan G (grado on CC) sjgrado at yahoo

On 9/4/2023 at 4:07 PM, GerryL13 said:

So, the travel docs for the October Panama Canal cruise on Vista arrived this weekend. Being the "read the manual" kind of person I am, I sat down and read/scanned the 40+-page booklet. On the page describing what I can expect in my Veranda stateroom (B3) there is a confusing footnote: Under Gratuities it says "... a suggested gratuity of $18.00* per guest, per day will be automatically added to your onboard account." Okay. Understood that to be the case. But there is a footnote. * "Not applicable on Oct 16, 2023 Inaugural Panama Canal."

 

So that leaves me wondering precisely what is not applicable. The amount? The automatic addition? It would be too much to hope that it means gratuities are included on this booking, especially since I have not seen anything to that effect in my paperwork. Can anyone offer any insight into how to interpret this mystery footnote?  (And yes, I will try to reach them by phone later in the week.)

 

Related question: I've been going on the presumption that I can use cruise credits to pay gratuities. I haven't seen anything saying OBC cannot be used to cover gratuities, but neither have I see anything saying they can.

 

Thanks

Hi there Texas. We are on this same cruise. Thank you for reading the 40 pages. I never noticed this footnote and I see you haven’t received any responses. Did you get anywhere with your phone call? Re: grats, I guess no news is good news. Like you, I haven’t seen anywhere that we are not permitted to pay grats with obc. Jan Gradowitz sjgrado yahoo

We have a Celebrity cruise in July (which we may cancel) and their guidelines now require anyone over 70 to have a note from their doctor saying they are clear to travel. There was no indication of how soon before the cruise this note had to be but I would assume close to sailing date.             

Grado, I hope you know room service is available 24/7, including hot meals.

 

But we always still had some cheese and salami in the fridge in ziplocks we bring on cruises for emergency snacking, for munching without having to wait for room service ( and crackers or bread, also in packaging, but not in fridge, with some of the wine we always have handy). We also never seemed to make our way through finishing the fruit plates brought to the room.

There is no reason to be hungry on SB!

That’s true about room service. We never got any fruit plates in the room. I’m assuming you had to order them. I suppose if we cruise with SB again, we will make better use of the room service. Thanx for your reply and straightening me out! :D

Hi NJ....was perusing the boards for those who sailed this itinerary. We are scheduled on the Ovation next May, Lisbon to Amsterdam. We are looking forward to visiting The Beaches again.....having been there at another time.......especially to pay our respects at the American Cemetery. Next year is 75 Anniversary. Would love your insights on the Lisbon to Amsterdam leg of your cruise. (New Jersey, I assume). Same here for the Summer.

Sorry for the late reply. We did not go to Lisbon or Amsterdam as our cruise was to the Baltic countries. However, re: the Ovation, it was lovely and we had only 584 passengers. Sometimes it was hard to get food because the buffet would be closed and the grill by the pool would be closed at the same time. The only place to get food was little nibble sandwiches at the coffee bar. This proved a popular place because people got hungry between regular dinners. Tim Rice show was the best I’ve ever seen on any cruise. Ship never felt crowed; always someone there to help without any waiting in lines. Recommend if you’re not a foodie; but if you are, snag some buffet food to keep in your frig for when no food venues are open.

From what I’ve read, the Ovation has US and UK sockets now; no need for adaptor.

We are on an Ovation cruise in the autumn. Can someone tell me where the power sockets are and if they take adapters? When we cruised on the Sojourn our UK to US adapter when inserted turned off the switch! -( the one by the dressing table) so was problematic. Also are there any USB sockets?

Thank you for any advice.

Are you the Jennifer Dallas in the link you posted? I looked up your site about chasing Elite status. Very interesting. I’ve never gone that far but am a miles/points junky having been able to travel the world first class or business (which is often just as good) on miles/points alone. Nice to meet a “sista”. Looking forward to meeting you onboard. Jan Gradowitz

I answered this on another thread where you asked it but I think it was $49/day the last time I remember seeing a brochure. They will also usually sell a limited number of full-cruise access passes to the Serene Area. The price varies from cruise to cruise.

Sorry I missed your previous answer. $49 sounds better than $99. Guess we’ll all find out soon enough. Getting excited! Jan G

I answered this on another thread where you asked it but I think it was $49/day the last time I remember seeing a brochure. They will also usually sell a limited number of full-cruise access passes to the Serene Area. The price varies from cruise to cruise.

Well, I just went to add our names to Meet and Mingle and Seabourn isn’t one of the cruise line choices. Interesting.

Thanks to both for your answers. Wow, $99 per day seems steep. I paid $149 for 14 days on Celebrity to access their beds/steam and sauna. Then again, I’ve never been on a 6 star so maybe Chipindales will come and feed me peeled grapes while fanning me. haha. I’ll check into the full cruise price while onboard.

Are we all doing a meet and mingle?

Jan Gradowitz

Thanks to both for your answers. Wow, $99 per day seems steep. I paid $149 for 14 days on Celebrity to access their beds/steam and sauna. Then again, I’ve never been on a 6 star so maybe Chipindales will come and feed me peeled grapes while fanning me. haha. I’ll check into the full cruise price while onboard.

Are we all doing a meet and mingle?

Jan Gradowitz

Updating to answer that the published price for Thermal Suite/Serenity Area access is $99/day for one or $150/day for a couple. I would encourage you to ask about the “full cruise” price which in my experience has been anywhere from $199-$399 per suite for the duration of the sailing.

Like you, I searched everywhere for this info to no avail. Even my TA, who phoned Seabourn, could not get an answer.We are cruising Ovation August 18-25. What was the cost of the day pass in order to use the stone beds? thanks so much!

Thank you so much for letting me know about the cruise pass needed to access the area. I have been looking everywhere for this info. Cruise critic comes through again!I will see the cost when I get onboard. I have been on many cruises but this is my first on seabourn. I am very excited!

Has anyone used the heated tile beds in the spa? What is the cost of the spa per day (not services; just use of the tile beds)? Thanks in advance

A camel was the result of a committe trying to make a horse!

Sunprince,

 

I laughed out loud when I saw your post just now!

 

Ah yes... the Retreat. I can just imagine the committee meeting when all the eager beaver ultra chic hotel designer lovvy wannabees and the grasping new margin-grifter revenue graspers came across this “retreat” idea in a members only travel rag. And then convinced themselves and anyone else who would matter, including (haha) Seabourn Management to underwrite this blatantly stupid idea, on the basis that:

 

1- Seabourn’s creme de la creme mega-premium passengers “need” to retreat from the rest of the ship into an airless, viewless and cozy enclave of like-minded pampered pooches;

 

2- the space can command $350 per sea day, i.e. peanuts, for the privilege, and just a tad less on port days. I mean who among us would choose to venture out to some soiled and most likely tawdry port, when one can have your own cabana and bevvies and TV and lounge chair in the Retreat’s uber exclusive and precious realm; and

 

3- you can thereby deny this large deck area to hoi polloi, aka those “creepy people”, who might trespass up there to take a look at the inner sanctum and wonder at this 2017 (Encore) and 2018 (Ovation) modern day mystery. No way should an all-inclusive ship get away with that! No, what’s mine is mine.

 

So the Retreat is a winner. Who can argue with that logic? Let the marketing gurus loose and sell that Retreat!

 

Anyway.... the Retreat will obviously join a precious but sadly long list of embarrassing corporate mistakes, and deliver more fodder for business school students about the importance of speaking sense when confronted by committee-driven nonsense. And how to develop an exit strategy when failure is inescapable and the brand is damaged. These include the Edsel, New Coke, Sony Betamax and very interesting Cosmopolitan Yogurt from 1999. In that case readers were happy enough with the magazine and they did not need a new yogurt. Another mess. Smart idea it was not.

 

Thanks for the chuckle, Sunprince.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

Does anyone know if the Ovation has any Nitro beers ON TAP like Guinness?

If you don't use their services, there's no need to tip them....so base your tips upon your usage.

Thank you cb and rv. I'm finally getting clarity here. I appreciate your patient input!

See you all soon.

We tipped the butler, steward and concierge at the end of the trip (NCL helpfully gives you envelopes on your second last day to facilitate this!).

 

We are both very independent and we didn't stick to any schedule or plan ahead during our cruise, so we found that we barely used the concierge at all - to the extent that he phoned us one day to ask if we were OK as he hadn't seen or heard from us! I asked him to make us a booking at Cagney's that night out of sympathy, but that was the only time we really interacted with him.

 

Our butler was great, and we were very happy with the service he provided, but again he felt the need to ask us after a few days if we were happy as we hadn't asked him for anything! We got room service breakfast one morning, and that was it.

 

Perhaps this is an underutilisation of their services, but that's our style of travel and, to be honest, we didn't feel we needed much additional to what was being provided automatically.

Since you didn't use them much but did tip them, what amount did you feel was fair? I can't imagine us needing either one if them at all. I never mind paying for services rendered but to tip someone for doing nothing is just being a bad steward of personal finances. How wrong am I in this thinking?

We're in an NCL suite next month on a 7 day cruise and seeing as how we've never done the Cruise Ship Suite thing I was wondering about appropriate tips for for the Butler and Concierge? I'll list out my questions...

 

1: Are "suggested" tips for these two included in your final bill?

 

2: If not, I'd guess they are part of a pool or otherwise highly compensated from the cruise line?

 

3: If tips are expected, how much are they per day or week for each?

 

4: Do you also have a room steward that needs to be taken care of like you would in standard balcony or other room?

 

5: What are we looking at as far as a total $ amount in tipping the people that are making sure we have the time of our lives?

 

I'm just a simple man with simple means who happened to come across a pretty good deal on a Suite so I'm not looking to go overboard with tips but I have no problem taking care of all the staff, I'd just like to know what I'm looking at as far as budgeting for the final bill. Thanks for any replies..

How did you end up tipping? What do you feel the butler or concierge did for you that was above what a room steward normally does?

Many different views on this board about how much. We are about average in our use of the butler and concierge and tip about $150 to the butler for two of us on a 7 day cruise and $100 to the concierge. They are not part of the pool.

If your in a suite they take care of you and make the trip what it is. Very special.

When you say they take care of you and make your trip very special, what exactly is it that they do above what the steward does? Even in inside cabins, the stewards will bring food to your cabin. If we don't have a catered party and make our own reservations, how would they deserve a tip? I'm not being cheap, just want to understand the 'why'.

I would say based on my experience onboard and being friends with many butlers, even roommates with one, that 50% of suites leave a tip. The average tip is anywhere from $50 to $150 based on use. Even if you don't use them much, they still bring daily treats and if you're in a higher category cabin they keep your drinks and water stocked.

 

As a Concierge I would say about 25-40% of suites tip and that is anywhere from $30 to $100 dollars but I would assume the average is $50. When I covered Concierge I had some guests come up to me on the first day saying they don't need my service and slipped me a $50 because they know how it generally works!

 

Hope this helps.

 

James

Hi Ohio, I know your post is old but I have a question since you're in the know re: tipping. It seems a regular non- butler room steward does all the same things a butler does. Or..does the suite have a butler AND a room steward? We'll be first timers in a suite so I want to do what's right. Thanks for your help.

Which tour group were you with Keith? Were going 1/14.