Yo2slick

You will arrange for a boarding time with your Genie…and they will arrange for you to board first, barring some extraordinary delay.  Last month @twangster, Dan and I were the first to board the ship when boarding began.

Not a problem. Yep, just have your adult children load their CC's during the online/app check-in. 
Typically the people at the port checking your docs will verify the last 4 digits on the cards used for your onboard accounts. (typically) lol. 

During Check-in if you use the same CC for all guests, anything charged on the ship will be billed to that CC. 
If you use different CC's for each guest checked in, charges to the individual seapass card will go the the appropriate CC associated with each guest. 

Wellness check is the same as the regular check in. All they do is ask "has anything changed since you filled out the questionnaire?"
 
You can use the same credit card for each guest, but you have to explicitly set it for each guest. That allows those who want to use different cards to do so.

I look at auto gratuities like making donations to certain organizations.  They say this is where your money is going but how do you really know where its going?  Maybe pay a better wage to your employees but that probably makes too much sense.  If I hand money to someone I want to tip I know they received that money.
Its crazy that in some countries tipping is not a thing at all, its actually frowned upon but in the US I'm asked if I want to tip the person making my sandwich at subway.....I think its getting out of hand.  We never cancel auto gratuities but I agree they could handle it better.

I look at auto gratuities like making donations to certain organizations.  They say this is where your money is going but how do you really know where its going?  Maybe pay a better wage to your employees but that probably makes too much sense.  If I hand money to someone I want to tip I know they received that money.
Its crazy that in some countries tipping is not a thing at all, its actually frowned upon but in the US I'm asked if I want to tip the person making my sandwich at subway.....I think its getting out of hand.  We never cancel auto gratuities but I agree they could handle it better.

Just received our Star Class pre-cruise questionnaire.  Getting closer!

It is my understanding that gratuities are directed to the dining venue in which you dine…one of the reasons that they insert your cabin number into the “system” prior to seating you.  Therefore, regardless of where you dine (with the exception of the WJ), they will direct your  auto gratuity there.  I certainly would not be concerned about your auto gratuity…it will (or won’t) make it to the right place.  You paid it - what they do with it is up to them.

I have been told that gratuity is diverted to CK when you eat there.  

Port fees should be included as well but that doesn’t make the price as attractive.
 

Thanks everyone for the replies.
I completely forgot about the concierge email!
I can always rely on my fellow cruisers on this forum!
 
Y’all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
 

I look at auto gratuities like making donations to certain organizations.  They say this is where your money is going but how do you really know where its going?  Maybe pay a better wage to your employees but that probably makes too much sense.  If I hand money to someone I want to tip I know they received that money.
Its crazy that in some countries tipping is not a thing at all, its actually frowned upon but in the US I'm asked if I want to tip the person making my sandwich at subway.....I think its getting out of hand.  We never cancel auto gratuities but I agree they could handle it better.

We are on OA this week and I noticed that lamb shank is not on the menu (it’s usually served the last day).  We have the UDP so we wouldn’t be eating in the MDR anyway but it seems the menus have already started the paring down. 

Shame the menu is going to take a dump next month.  We are on Allure in February and disappointed to hear about the change. 

Shame the menu is going to take a dump next month.  We are on Allure in February and disappointed to hear about the change. 

If there is something on the MDR menu you really like you could have dinner in your suite.  If you really want to visit the MDR just tell your genie and they will make arrangements for you. 

I recommend taking advantage of all of the specialty dining available on that ship!

If you are on an Oasis or Quantum Class ship, consider the Solarium Bistro for breakfast. It's rarely very crowded, and even when crowded, the crowd doesn't compare to the Windjammer.  It's a smaller buffet but has a good selection of breakfast items, and usually an omelette station.

Hi, we are on this cruise as well and looking forward to it!

I'm looking forward to this cruise as well

Not trying to do a true live blog but I thought I would jot down a couple of tidbits.
Thank you to all who have wished us a fun return to cruising.  It is truly appreciated and it’s workin, so far !
Check-in was incredibly easy irrespective of the fact that we are Star Class.  We had been anxious about the whole “vax” issue even though we had been assured that there would be no “issues”.  Our fears were unwarranted.  They asked on the pre-boarding health questionnaire and then asked again at check-in.  We answered honestly both times.  Positive experience.  No problems.  WHEW !
As predicted Genie Allan is a hoot and fab Genie. A few things have changed since the last time we were SC :
No longer able to reserve seats for shows that do not require a reservation…IOW, main theater shows such as the Welcome Aboard Show or general entertainment shows.  Reserved seats only for Aqua Theater, Ice skating show, Comedy Club, Cats…shows where reserved required for the genpop.  A big disappointment.  We will skip those shows where we will not have reserved seats. Genies now have a “rest” period in the middle of the day.  I can’t remember those hours…but there are now times when the Genies (at least, on OA) are “off duty” during the day.  I do not have an issue with this one.  Good for them !  They work incredibly hard.  I don’t know how they keep up the pace that they do. We had to “beg” (overreaction ?  Yes) for drinks to be delivered to our suite.  In the past, a mountain of drinks (sodas, beer, etc) had always been waiting for us when we arrived…not this time.  It was truly a PITA to get a couple of Cokes and some Coronas delivered.  I realize that this is a bar service issue and not the responsibility of the Genie…but it was unfortunate. We finally got our delivery after multiple calls. To be fair, there were many bottles of water in the suite when we arrived….just nothing else. The “welcome aboard” snacks were pathetic.  A couple of dried out sushi something’s and some stale bread sticks.  Not even a stale cookie !  Again, to be fair, there is usually waaaytooo much of these “munchies” kinds of treats set out, but this was too far the other way.  On a positive note, Allan had ordered a cake for Dan (celebrating retirement) and that was awesome AND delicious.  

There are a few different places on the island - they usually have a collection of other animals (monkeys and birds). You will get to hold the sloths for a minute or two and take pictures.
I use Rony's Tours which is a private tour company.  They have several prepackaged tours which include the sloths, or you can just create your own tour and essentially have a private driver for the day.
HOME - Roatan Tours, Cruiseship Activities, Excursions, Zipline Canopy Tours with Ronys Independent Tours, Roatan (ronystours.com)

That used to be my experience as well....until I learned to cut them off before they ever start with the selling.  It has been my experience that if you let them know up front that you will not be purchasing anything and you do not want any sales pitches, they will honor that.

So increase prices, chop the menu, make changes to the UDP and say its because service takes to long...Got it 🙄

So increase prices, chop the menu, make changes to the UDP and say its because service takes to long...Got it 🙄