Kirsten

Are you basing this on a 40 hour work week? Cruise ship employees work more than 8 hours a day and more than 5 days a week.
The most recent glimpse I have seen was a pay of a little under $1400 a month for a 29 week contract.  That $32K figure may be an average when you count officer level staff who do make more.

I think there's two primary issues with gratuities.
First, is the nature of the fact gratuities are obligatory and many (including myself) wish it was just rolled into the cruise fare since they aren't really optional. I'd be the first to sign up for that.
Second is the fact the rate is going up. It's the first rate change in 4 years. I think that's quite a lot of time between rate changes. Given the rate of inflation and standard of living over last 4 years, it's not an overreach, especially given how hard the crew work.

Praying for someone or blessing them doesn't pay the bills.

Praying for someone or blessing them doesn't pay the bills.

They really need to change it so if you answer "yes" to anything it takes you to a confirmation screen saying "hey this can disqualify you from sailing, are you sure this is accurate?"

Especially now that the ticky tack questions are gone.

This is why many restaurants pool tips, so the back of the house staff can share in the compensation. 

I am a big supporter of tipping and certainly have no issue with prepaying the gratuities as well as handing out more $$$ throughout my cruise.  My most recent cruise was on Adventure with my balcony room as far aft as possible.  There were some mornings I would walk up the long hallway and peep into rooms that were being “serviced”.  I could not believe the condition of some of the rooms!!  Items thrown everywhere, suitcases still in the way, totally messy rooms!  I would hyperventilate if I was the one who had to go into those rooms to straighten out the beds and pick up after the slobs!  (Sorry for this description but I just couldn’t find any nicer words) No money would be able to compensate for my hard work…some of the rooms even stunk like body odor or old food!  
I do and always will over-tip my room steward as well as compliment him or her (although, I’m not sure I have ever seen a female steward?) for their dedicated service.
Oh…and should I ever come across a steward who isn’t quite up-to-par with the daily duties, I will politely request or mention what is lacking.  That would not change my gratuity compensation.  After all anyone one of us can have an off day…no?

I do not understand why people on vacation, specifically on a cruise think its ok to treat people like crap. I get SO MAD when I see crew members mistreated. The days of standing by are over, I confront people now who do this. This is my vacation/cruise too and if you are gonna be an A-hole to a crew member then you are gonna get it back from me. I used to just sit on my hands, no longer. Someone needs to stick for these people. We are SO overly nice to the crew because of the A-holes that treat them like crap.

Last week in MDR, we saw a family ream a lead waiter over one brunch item coming out wrong. We were seated next to the waiter's station. After the waiter politely took the offending plate away, he returned to the waiter's station and said to his assistant "I don't know if I can take this anymore". It was so sad to see, because they do work so hard and are so nice. Seriously, your meal came out wrong, they get you another one so quickly, why do you feel the need to be rude and demeaning to another human. He continued to serve them very politely and respectfully as they continued to ask for more and more food (that they hadn't previously ordered) throughout the service.

I’m not singling you out personally, just calling attention to what you said….I’ve seen very similar things said recently, and not just here  
This describes the service industry as a whole, not just cruise ships. 
 
Prices are up on everything and there aren’t enough workers, even with increased wages. Seriously. 
 
I’m in retail.  Since the pandemic started in early 2020, I’ve been working 6 and 7 days a week other than the three cruises we’ve taken.  Costs have increased and we can’t find enough help.  No one is happy…customers or workers.
 
When we are lucky enough to have 7 to 8 days of doing nothing, we appreciate the people who wait on us.  We not only pay the gratuities that Royal charges, we pay additional cash directly to the workers who have made a direct impact on us  
Food for thought:  Something we hear from a lot from new hires who leave after a month or so is that they don’t want to work in retail because of the way they get treated by customers.   I know I’ve personally seen crew on ships get talked to by guests in ways I don’t know if I could handle….and I’ve been interacting with customers for 37 years. 

wooooof 18 cabins under his care!!! i don't know how they do it, the crew all work so hard, and the cabin attendants are unfailingly pleasant and kind every day, no matter the hour!
i do not think i could be that cordial with everyone if i was tidying up after them all day long, that's for sure! we try to keep things pretty neat on our end but having the room cleaned is a treat/perk of vacation and i can only imagine what they see/have to take care of on the regular.
they deserve medals or sainthood, honestly. 💚

I personally don't understand removing the automatic gratuities or people who would begrudge an increase. Many of the crew work in multiple areas of the ship to ensure I have the best vacation I can. I don't see them all and $16-18 dollars a day is not that much to ensure I continue to have a wonderful time. I think personally trying to tip each person I interacted with at the end of the cruise seems like a huge burden. I tip those that made my experience wonderful as I go, knowing that the grats will cover the rest.

honestly the crew all work so hard -- we often bring extra money to tip those who helped make our stay exceptional on board. an extra $1-1.50 a day is really not that bad. could save this by making coffee at home or not splurging on some snacks at the grocery store 😊

Many business across the world are struggling to staff up in the wake of the pandemic.  In many cases businesses have to increase total compensation as a means to attract new staff and former staff who were let go during the pandemic.   Hence the increase.  

$66.99 for a bogo on Anthem may 23 transatlantic. I'm torn, I've always gotten the DBX but now as diamond and in a suite and prime in the casino I've got 4 free drinks a day for diamond, plus free drinks in the casino, free drinks in the suite lounge and the diamond lounge, not sure it pencils out to get the package. Also we have the dining package and will specialty dine all 11 nights with 40% off wines by the bottle and we are primarily wine drinkers. A bottle of Kendall Jackson cab is like $35 after the discount (normally $13 a galss), not sure I can justify 130 a day above the freebies when 2 bottles alone does us in at half the price despite 7 sea days. If they are still giving 4 drinks a day for diamond by then it will influence my decision, 2k is a lot for the package and after a few days of drinking a lot we tend to taper off. On a 3 or 4 day cruise, sure, but for an 11? I probably don't have the stamina.

$66.99 BOGO50%; $90 price before discounts. Feb 2023 on Anthem.

This is old advice but I'll repeat it here anyway......
When dealing with an issue where I made my reservations through the website myself, rather than with a TA...I expect to spend quite a bit of time on hold while the agent checks with their 'colleague' or supervisor. So I schedule my call accordingly...and use speakerphone. 
But the best advice I have (which, by the way, I learned on these forums...thanks, guys!) is to always call back and speak to another agent when I don't get the answer I want. It is time-consuming and can be frustrating but usually I end up satisfied with the result. Good luck...and I hope you can get the result you want!

I have read accounts similar to yours regarding upgrades that turned out not to be upgrades at all.  My advice (too late for you, unfortunately) is to never bid on an upgrade that is in the same category that you are already in.  IOW, if you are in a balcony cabin of any kind, only bid on JS or higher.  What you consider an upgrade and what RU considers an upgrade are likely to be in conflict. I hope you get this resolved to your satisfaction but I fear that there is nothing to be done at this point.  Hope you have a wonderful cruise wherever you end up.

Listed times were 9:00 - Noon, 2:00 - 5:00, 7:00 - 10:00 then 10:00 - 2:00 for the Late Night Party Zone (which is $7/hr. per child), but I know on Day 6 they were opened later than that 5:00 listed afternoon time, although I'm not sure why.  I heard they were open the whole time the ship was in port, but I can't confirm that with personal experience.

Just got off a summer cruise for 4 on Oasis sailing at 100%+ capacity in a 1 Bedroom Aqatheater Suite for under $6,500 all in thanks to a minimum bid and without a KSF promo, so yeah, I think you can get some pretty good deals with Royal Up.

I totally know what you're saying.  We were on Oasis in May and there was a great Billy Idol cover band.  A lot of people got there early and took up the seats on the first floor, but didn't seem to know anything about the music.  It was kind of annoying, frankly.  I didn't let it stop me from dancing, though.  So much fun!
 
Looks like you had a wonderful time!  We loved Oasis and I can't wait to go on it again (having a suite definitely enhanced the experience).  Totally agree with you regarding the Suite Lounge, Suite Deck, and Coastal Kitchen.  

I say yes.  I sailed on Oasis in May when it was at least 75-80% capacity.  We originally had a Boardwalk balcony room (got a great deal on it to begin with) and won our minimum bid for a 2 br Grand Suite.  If we had booked that suite, it would have cost us over $10,000. Our total cost was under $4,000, which also included internet for all 4 of us, Coastal Kitchen dining, free drinks in the suite lounge, etc.

I totally know what you're saying.  We were on Oasis in May and there was a great Billy Idol cover band.  A lot of people got there early and took up the seats on the first floor, but didn't seem to know anything about the music.  It was kind of annoying, frankly.  I didn't let it stop me from dancing, though.  So much fun!
 
Looks like you had a wonderful time!  We loved Oasis and I can't wait to go on it again (having a suite definitely enhanced the experience).  Totally agree with you regarding the Suite Lounge, Suite Deck, and Coastal Kitchen.  

Day 6 - Sea Day
 
Apologies in advance for the lack of photos today, it was definitely a casual lounge about day!  We woke up at our leisure this morning, threw on our bathing suits and made our way up to the Windjammer a little after 9:00 for some breakfast, and it was a madhouse.  The line to get in wrapped past the hallway leading to the hand washing station and into the elevator lobby.  I wanted to scrap the Windjammer and head down to Park Cafe, but DW LOVES her a buffet breakfast, so we persevered. The line did move fairly quickly (they seemed to be letting about 15-20 people at a time), and we were “scrubbing in” within about 10 or 15 minutes.  We divided and conquered once inside, with my youngest and I finding a table while my oldest and DW loaded up their plates.  We managed to find a table tucked away in a corner right between the two sides of the buffet, so I texted her our location and waited for my turn to grab some food. Getting through the line was definitely like playing a high-stakes game of Frogger; the number of people combined with the lack of coffee in their system led to some interesting decision making by the crowd.  All in all, we had a nice breakfast, but it was a bit more chaotic than I like to start my day, and personally would prefer to start my mornings elsewhere.
After breakfast we made our way out to the pool deck and up to the suite sun deck.  Did I mention previously that this is a criminally underutilized space?  It’s really nice up there with plenty of loungers, some fun alternate seating options like covered daybeds and even a few semi-private rooms right over the bow available on a first come, first served basis.  Even the towels are nicer up there, and you don’t have to sign them out.  We hung out on two of the day beds for a bit, then moved our things to some out-of-the-way loungers to make our way down to the pool.  After a few hours of pool deck fun, we headed back to El Loco Fresh for lunch (probably our favorite quick-service lunch spot!).  The boys wanted to go try Adventure Ocean for the afternoon, so they headed back to the cabin while I took advantage of a lull in the line to go down the Ultimate Abyss (fun!) and then come back to meet them.
Since we had registered the boys on Day 1, drop off at AO couldn’t have been easier.  They tapped my SeaPass, checked off their names and reminded us we had to pick them up by 7, which wouldn’t be a problem since we had reservations at Izumi Hibachi at 7.  We went back up to the suite sun deck and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with some quality time with our favorite bartender Dana and lounging about on our own.  Around 6 we headed back to shower and change for dinner, went and picked up the kids and headed down to deck 4 for dinner.
Dinner at the Hibachi was a fun experience.  We were seated with two other families at our table who were also friendly conversationalists, so that always helps the experience.  I forget the name of our chef, but he was pretty good.  Sure, many of the jokes and interactions are canned, but it was still a good time, and something the kids hadn’t experienced, so they really loved the “dinner and a show” aspect.  In my experience, hibachi restaurants are much more about the entertainment than the food itself, but the main courses were surprisingly good.  Both my kids went with chicken which they enjoyed.  I had the Geisha combo; the chicken was quite good and the steak (medium rare) was surprisingly tender and delicious.  My wife had the Izumi combo and thought the scallops were just okay, but loved the lobster.  On the whole, if you have a good hibachi restaurant near home, Izumi may not quite match the quality of what you're accustomed to, but it is still a really good time. It may not have been the best meal we had on board, but it was the most fun!
After dinner, the plan was to let the kids go back and try the late-night party at AO, but my oldest protested a bit.  Turns out he didn’t have as great of a time at first during the afternoon as he had hoped and was reluctant to go back.  After a little investigation, it turns out that the staff has all of the kids start out in the “arena,” which is the sports area, then they start to split off for different activities from there if they want.  He is not the least bit competitive and not a fan of group sporting events, but he is also an extreme rule follower, so rather than ask to go somewhere else immediately, he just sat and moped on the sidelines for a half an hour or so before finally being given some other options.  We talked about it, and I told him he is allowed to just ask to do something else right away, and he agreed to give it another try.  We’re glad that he did, because he had a great time.  We checked in on him after 90 minutes, and he asked to stay longer, so we let them stay until midnight.  He made a few new friends, played some video games and even decided to join a group game. Turns out asking for what you want combined with the slightly less structured format of the late night sessions were just the thing. My youngest also loved both experiences, as he is our athletic social butterfly who just goes with the flow no matter what!  For the late-night session (I forget if that starts at 9 or 10 PM, but it runs to 1 AM!), it is $7/hr. Per child, and worth every penny!
While the kids enjoyed AO, we explored some of the bars and music venues. We went to the Music Hall to see the Def Leppard cover band, but it was a really odd crowd.  There was one guy on the first level who was really, REALLY into Def Leppard, then everyone else grabbed all the seating or lined up along the rail on the second level, but obviously couldn’t care less about the band.  Like I said, weird scene, and as huge live music fans and concert goers, my wife and I just couldn’t get into it and opted to try some other venues, which was a shame because the band was pretty good.  Next we went to the Schooner Bar, and the young lady playing piano and singing there was fantastic.  After that, we headed down to the Irish Pub where there was pretty good acoustic guitarist and I discovered my new favorite beer cocktail: the Beer’s Knees: The Botanist gin, lemon juice, honey and Paulaner Weiss.  I wish I had found this drink earlier in the cruise, or perhaps it’s better that I didn’t or else my memories and “being present” goal might have suffered!  Finally, we ended up at the Trellis bar in Central Park, where we were convinced to try the best Chocolate Martini anywhere according to a fellow guest.  I don’t know about the best ANYWHERE, but it was really good, and a perfect nightcap.  Once we finished the drinks, we picked up the boys from AO, headed down to Sorrento's for a bedtime pizza, people watching and conversation, then finally headed off to bed to get ready for our last full day on board.


IMG_4209.HEIC

Day 5 – Perfect Day at Coco Cay
 
We pulled in nice and early and were awoken by the ship maneuvering onto the pier.  From the moment we opened the blinds and saw the island from our balcony we were blown away.  Pictures don’t really do it justice.  We had Beach Club access, so we knew there would be continental breakfast and coffee available there, so we were anxious to get ashore as quickly as possible, and we were on the island by 7:45. Thanks to a fairly remarkable Black Friday sale, we were able to score our passes for $79 for my wife and I and $54 for the kids.  I assumed at that price point it would be worth it.  After spending the day there, I would easily pay double or more for the experience.  Everything was absolutely spectacular.  The beach, the service, the drinks, the food, we even had strong Wifi signals.  The boys loved going back and forth between the infinity pool and the beach and took their first real shot at snorkeling.  Despite being told that the Beach Club beach was not the best location for snorkeling (and it may well not be), we were able to see several decently sized schools of fish, a few sting rays (including one that swam right under a woman on her float) and even a small shark!  The complimentary floating mats were wonderful to laze about in the ocean on and the life jackets were perfect for letting my youngest really adventure out with us to see what he could see.  There’s a pretty cool sandbar a ways off of the beach there as well, where we found a conch and some sea anemone.  The lunch was also fantastic, as was our server Lenice.  I loved the Bento-style boxes the appetizers were served in!  The ceviche wasn’t the greatest, but the Babaganoush, hummus and shrimp cocktail were fantastic.  My wife went for the grilled lobster and I had (with Lenice’s encouragement) a surf & turf.  The kids went for a burger and mac and cheese, which were far better than I anticipated children’s menu items would be!  As good as everything was, it was Lenice’s attention and service that impressed us the most.  You know those servers who are watching your table like a hawk making sure everything is just right without making you FEEL like you’re being overly watched over?  Personable, friendly and engaging and beyond professional, we were lucky to have met her.  The bartenders there were equally fantastic, mixing up drinks for adults and the kids quickly (and in the case of the adults, strong!).  We had every intention of exploring the rest of the island, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to leave the Beach Club, everything was just so…perfect!  Late in the day, about and hour before we needed to be back on board a storm front started to roll in.  We could see the dark clouds and even hear the thunder.  Low and behold, we watched the little system break in two and skirt around the island!  Not a drop of rain fell on us!  As we walked out to head back to the ship, an empty tram just happened to be going by and he stopped to ask if we wanted a ride back to the ship.  It really was a perfect day!  This was far and away our favorite day of the entire trip.  Coco Cay is a home run, and the Beach Club is a grand slam.  I hope to be back there soon!
 
After getting back to the ship and showering and changing, it was up to the Suite Lounge then over to dinner at CK (spoiler alert: it was good).  After that, it was off to see Aqua80 again, but this time from the Aquatheater.  The concierge suggested we arrive 15-30 minutes early to ensure a good seat.  If you are a suite, Pinnacle, or Key guest (there was one more category that I can’t recall.  Maybe Diamond or Diamond +?  There were four boxes…)you may not need to be there THAT early, as there is prime seating reserved right in the middle for those guests.  It took us a minute to figure out what that area was for, but then we saw a young lady standing off to the side of the roped off area holding a sign.  We showed her our SeaPass cards and just like that, best seats in the house.  At about 5 minutes before showtime, they dropped the rope and allowed anyone to take the remaining seats.  The reserved section was about 2/3 filled at that point, so I wouldn’t count on being able to grab a preferred seat at the last minute.  If you do not have access to reserved seating, you definitely want to be there that 20-30 minutes early if you want to choose your seats.  It filled up fast, and there were more than a few arguments over saving seats in the rows around us.  Also, as I heard the poor young lady with the sign have to explain a few dozen times: HAVING RESERVATIONS DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE RESERVED SEATING AREA!  Your reservation gets you in the theater, nothing more.  In any event, do get there, because as amazing as the show was from our balcony, it was even better in the theater!  I could have watched it every night of the cruise, because a.) I’m a child of the 80s, so the music was spot on for me and b.) each time I saw it, I picked up on something I missed previously.  The cast of the show are really spectacular.  After the show it was off to Sorrento’s for a late night pie then off to bed to get ready for our last two days at sea.  I’m going to have to pause here again, because this is taking far longer than I anticipated, and I’m trying to pack up for another upcoming (much smaller!) vacation while also cleaning the house for guests coming over tonight.  I hope to finish tomorrow! Thanks to all who have been following along, and feel free to keep the questions coming!