Cez

11 minutes ago, Floski said:

Canadian contingent is going to hunt you down and stick you in a freezer!!!!

crossed my mind

21 minutes ago, Ray said:

not sure if we get that in UK

I feel your pain but for that you should blame (or thank) King George III and greed of East India Company (in short)

1 hour ago, Ray said:

given these figures i think i would take my chances in Mexico or Jamaica as they look safe

This is data from previous administration - old news. Obviously you didn't follow state of the union last night. But the good news is that great ideas are spreading among port of calls for Royal, so soon enough you can feel like home and as safe as home

14 hours ago, Lee said:

I wish I could say these comments made me feel safe. I do not go on vacations to feel uneasy, I go to relax. That’s why I do not go on excursions in Mexico. Now there are two ports on this itinerary where I will not get off ship. WHY GO!  US Travisory states “ sexual assaults occur frequently, even at resort areas”  What guarantee do you have the other side of island will not be impacted now are later. I am canceling my carribian cruise May 13 unless Royal Carribian offers incentives or changes ports of call  or guarantees my safety on excursions .

Seriously, you are expecting Royal Caribbean to assign you a bodyguard while on excursion ? Just stay with your group and tour guide and you should be OK.

Call me crazy risk-taker but two weeks ago we left Allure in  Falmouth and went on excursion to Ocho Rios and Bambo Beach. Happy to report that locals did not line-up to sexually assault us, but maybe it was a pure luck.

But in Cozumel OMG - we walked to downtown (  too tired to walk back so we took a taxi on our way back - $8 US) ! No assaults, not even from taxi driver! Only good deals on tequila and rum  in Chedrau and Europa.

15 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

No, the process has not changed.  It SHOULD be delivered to your room.  It's when the certificate is promised but not delivered that there is a problem.

thanks @WAAAYTOOO I guess phone call to Royal should be made 

I guess it also depends on their definition of "salary" - does it include gratuities that they are receiving or just bare basic salary

12 minutes ago, Bobbyd68 said:

So if I purchase Voom Internet for one device which is my Verizon tablet can I utilize the WiFi Hotspot option for my kid's devices? 

It depends on your tablet. I'm not sure about Android but iOS devices can not relay WiFi signals to other devices (only 3G/LTE). To share a WiFi to other devices you need to set up a WiFi repeater. You can google this solution

21 hours ago, UkuleleCruiser said:

My wife is worried about the same thing. I believe the area we are in is safe. I think we OK. Our excursion will be to the Bamboo Beach Club. That's a drive, but it's Falmouth, not Montego Bay. I believe the violence is around Montego Bay. On the other hand, should I pack weaponry?

lol !

If you going to Bambo Beach Club you should rather bring water shoes - shooting at the rocks on the beach provides very little relief to your feet

Do you have to request certificate now? Before we had it delivered to by cabin on last night of the cruise. On our latest cruise we didn't get it now despite accumulating more than enough points 

We’ve disembark from AOS this Sunday – crew members was very happy with week off  in Bahamas . Most of casino stuff are planning to take few weeks off and then restart on Symphony.

However, we have experienced bumpy ride compared to the previous cruises. I was wondering if damaged propeller caused that because we had relatively good weather. Unfortunately, I‘ve missed meeting with officers so could not confirm my suspicions.

26 minutes ago, monctonguy said:

If the meal cost you $100, and 20% is what you tip...well that's not the same amount net to the server as tipping 20% on your $20 meal. I get that the person making the meal doesn't care what cabin your in or what you paid..but there has to be some logic to it.

True but here everybody is eating the same meal   and paying more while in suites. Overall I agree that this system is sick and doesn't make much sense but this is becoming academic discussion. If we want to make changes, we could:

-          Contact RCL and express your dissatisfaction with current system

-          Boycott RCL and stop cruising or select cruise line that pays all their employees decent wages

-          Address this issue with politicians to enforce lines operating from US port to adhere to US labour standards.

What we SHOULD NOT do is to opt-out paying gratuities because THAT'S HOW CURRENT SYSTEM  WORKS and you’ll ONLY effect earnings of people who are working hard for you, while you enjoying your vacations.

17 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Aren't gratuities / service charges supposed to be a percentage of whatever you actually paid on the baseline service?

Not necessarily. That would be directly an additional tax  not a gratuities. Waiter in MDR or support stuff don't care or does work extra because you are from higher paid cabin. In housekeeping amount of work  in slightly larger balcony vs inside is insignificant. However work might be more challenging in lower cost cabins with younger crowds. I'm saying this based on my experience seeing our teenage children inside cabin. I felt sorry for their cabin  attendant and left her additional tip in my kids habitat 

40 minutes ago, monctonguy said:

That's been my whole point from day one. Its not a fair system.

A)it makes the cruise look cheaper when really it can be quite an extra add-on

I agree with you 100%, however it is what it is. For me auto-tips serves as absolution on how much, who and when should I tip. Of course if someone is really going above and beyond I'm showing my monetary appreciation.

I'm still puzzled if drinking more within drinking package means more tips to bartenders and dining team stuff. Anyone ???

1 hour ago, monctonguy said:

B)We don't really know how its exactly broken down..and from there what they actually get when its all said and done

This what I found about Carnival. I guess we can add a ~ $1.00  to each category and apply to Royal nowadays. Interesting reading that helps to understand entire tipping scheme. So far I never removed my auto-tips, but truly I had no reason to do so, every time we had amazing service. 

Quote

Here is the breakdown, per day:
Housekeeping Team: $4.05 ($5.05 for suites) - this includes not only your head steward, but his/her 1-2 assistant stewards, the person that vacuums your particular passageway to your cabin, and the on call crew member from housekeeping that will come to clean up an unexpected mess or bring you extra towels outside of your steward team's normal work hours.

Dining Team: $6.40 - in addition to your head waiter his assistants this also covers, the runner that may be getting the meals from the galley to the wait team and the bus people that clear off the table when you are done redressing it for the next seating. Beyond dinner time it also covers those serving brunch and breakfast in the MDR (why do you think they ask your cabin # for open seating meals). Dining team members that serve on the Lido deck as wandering gratis drink servers and bus persons also get a bit out of this tip segment. 

Alternative Services: $2.50 includes (but not limited to) the bathroom attendants, the general housekeepers for public areas that pick up the glasses, plates, or other trash left around the ship in public areas, and some of the entertainers like the pre-dinner musicians (any of the soloist or groups not selling CDs or other items).

Also each primary team member that services you for the cruise (steward team & dining team) will get a negative mark by adjusting down or removing tips so if they wish to tip in cash it is also recommended that a short Thank-You note also be included with an expression of how satisfied you were with the service provide to offset the negative. So those that wish to tip as they go should be advised to carry plenty of singles for the alternative service personnel they encounter daily, and have envelopes with notes made out to each individual service team member for end of cruise tipping. Since the advent of auto-gratuities team members are no longer required to share a tip given to them directly or left in a cabin or table.

1 hour ago, NS8VN said:

so a total gross income of $27,950 USD.

So what are you saying that my Chinese room attended from last cruise made almost 6x median salary in China or equivalent of 180.000 in US. This is for a job that it does not required education, special skills or talent - just basic English.

I don't get why you take @monctonguy  comments as an anger. IMHO he just stating fact that we should not pity crew and think that RCL is exploiting them like there is no tomorrow. Truly, they are working hard, very long hours in relatively decent working conditions. In return they are getting room and board, plus dream salaries (in their respective countries). 

Those ships ain't cheep to build or run.  RCL is here to make money, you are receiving first class accommodation and service at more/less affordable price, crew earns money. Win-win-win.

5 minutes ago, twangster said:

For drink packages my understanding is that billing records indicate which bartender served each drink and they are compensated based on that

Maybe I'm overthinking it but assuming that I've paid $100 as gratuity for my drinking package and consume 100 drinks on the cruise. Is waiter who serves me two drinks gets $2 (percentage of what I paid) or 18% of the price for those two drinks regardless of how many I consume?

If the second, it would be one more way to support crew and their families    

Since we are on this subject...

Does anyone know how tips from drinking packages are calculated/distributed ?

If I'm past my break even point (easy ) is waiter receives tips on consecutive drinks or those tips are cupped on what I've paid when purchasing package ?

22 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Our card doesn't require a US address.

have you tried to pay with it at the pomp? That's the only place where I've seen this requirement. Paying inside gas station works as usual  

I have found another maybe bit less elegant but effective solution.

Fido/Rogers Master Card is giving you 4% cash back for purchases made in non Canadian currency (online or physical transaction).  With 2.5% exchange fee you are 1.5% ahead of the game. The downsize is that you have to spend this "cash" on your phone bill, upgrade  or accessories. So in reality for Fido/Rogers clients only.....

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Those often require a 'zip code' to work and they could never pay at the pump lacking a zip code.  Have they overcome this issue on your Scotia card?

On 11/17/2017 at 1:16 PM, JBC said:

Johnnie Walker Blue Label, they had a two bottle deal, something like $250 for 2 bottles and they are normally like $170 each at home.  He was concerned about them breaking in his suitcase, so he didn't buy any. 

OMG - did he ever tried to break JW Blue bottle ?

He would need to put his suitcase under steamroller to do any harm ;)

1 hour ago, Boston Babe said:

HI Matt, do you happen to know if this app only for RC cruises or is it good for Celebrity too or are they just rolling out RC for now?  Thanks Matt!

It's exclusively for Allure and Oasis (for now)

According to my cruise countdown I'll be able to answer your question in 61 days :)

I've checked this app few weeks ago and while not very sophisticated it might serve as reminder to attend activities of your choice. I'm looking forward to see how it will behave while on board  

thank you @Sabrinaklai @F1guynz @Neaxan @Sabrinaklai @Gears for your input.

It's too late for this cruise but I'm going to implement @Gears solution. More money to spend on board :) ! 

Question for Non US cruisers (and US cruisers with banking knowledge) 

I'm doing my online check-in (yey !!) and one of the questions always makes me wonder. For as long as I remember RCCL always is giving choice between two conversion options.

My CC is charging 2% foreign conversion rate and I always select option B, but would like to have your opinion/advise on this subject