FoxboroCruiser

I want to be upset about the prices going up, but I cannot.  I just paid $4.15 a gallon for gas.  Dinner for two at Taco Bell is $23.  Hamburger meat is $5.50 a pound.
We have had 2 1/2 years of high inflation.  We have to expect the cruise line to keep up with the climbing prices.

I chose to book a cruise with Royal for our honeymoon in 1994, so for our 25th anniversary in 2019 we took our second ever cruise and it just seemed fitting to stick with Royal. We took our 2 adult sons and they loved it, and they came along again in 2022 for our next voyage. We have 2 more booked and the boys still want go with us ( we know this won’t last forever) so we don’t want to rock the boat and switch lines.  We will stay loyal to Royal until something changes to make us think about trying NCL…

We booked this cruise in September of 2022 as the fact of inflation from the wonderful policies of the current administration made doing the XMas cruise last Dec 22 on Anthem un doable.  So as a graduation present for our son and a family vacay we booked this, my wife and I honeymooned in NS in Oct 96 on Cape Breton.  Will be nice to go back and see any changes. We are going to do the Hop o. Hop Off.

Liberty's first trip to Halifax today.
 

Thanks for the well wishes! Cruising has a special place in our hearts, because I actually proposed on a cruise a little more than 11 years ago. Then life happened, and then life paused for a while, and finally we took our first cruise since then (this time with our son) just this past fall. 
 
Garrison Brewery is right in the harbor walk area, and Alexander Keith (originally from the 1800s, I think) is just a bit further away.
There are a few other good options up around the citadel: Propeller and 2 Crows.

I really don't understand any kind of shopping beyond souvenirs and forgotten items on a cruise ship.
Good pricing generally requires supply in excess of demand and sellers competing for limited consumer dollars.  Neither exist on a cruise ship. 
I wouldn't call high prices a scam.  It's always up to buyers to find good deals.  It's not up to sellers to offer them.

Here is my comprehensive video review of Wonder of the Seas in 2023. I review the drink package, unlimited dining package, WoW bands, ports of call, and much much more.  Enjoy.
If you don't want to watch it I can sum it up that we will continue to happily cruise with Royal Caribbean. 
 
 

Turns out this will be an anniversary cruise for my wife and I. We actually have another, longer "anniversary" cruise that we booked more than a year ago for later this summer. We've been planning that one for a while. However when we found out schools were getting out earlier than expected (no snow days), we booked this one for ourselves and our 7 year old son. Funny thing is that Friday night (the second sea day) will be the actual date of our 10th anniversary. We reserved chef's table for that night, and DS will definitely be in the kid's club.
Between the included wine at chef's table, the 2 bottles that we'll bring onboard, and doing some beer tasting at one (or more) of the breweries in Halifax, we figure we'll be ok just paying per drink.
In Halifax we plan to rent a car to drive out to Peggy's Cove or Lunenburg. Possibly we'll also travel over to the East side and visit Fisherman's Cove. We'll drop the car off before hitting the breweries.

We normally get the DBP but went with the Refreshment Package for this sailing. The damn alcohol package would be as much as the cruise for the 4 of us. We’re going to roll the dice and are pretty sure we’ll come out ahead.

This is a great decision, the cruise will be much better without you 

Yes, I'm 100% loyal, but I don't have a very exciting story.
I had never cruised in my life until my honeymoon. My wife had cruised RC as a kid and was Emerald so naturally that's what we took. Also, Voyager was new-ish at the time... OMG a promenade and an ice rink on a ship!
Once we got a bit older and started cruising a bit more often, we wanted to get to Diamond and did. The perks just made our cruises that much more enjoyable. Now we're looking forward to D+ (we'll be 7 points away in 3 weeks).
From a personal mindset point of view, I'm not overly adventurous and enjoy knowing the ins and outs to maximize my enjoyment rather than trying something new. I'm also an "if ain't broke" person and, knock on wood, have thoroughly enjoyed every single cruise I've taken (of course some were better than others for one reason or another).
As with most things cruise-related, different strokes...

I don't know if I am loyal or Royal Caribbean is the best fit for me at this point in my life.  We cruised lots of time on Disney back in the early 2000.  We loved the ships and the way they take care of you.  Then the prices climbed, and we could go on 3 other cruises for the price of one Disney cruise.  We did a couple of Carnival Cruises and stopped because of too many drunk, loud people on the ships.  We did some Princess cruises and loved them because of the locations we cruised to and the good food.  I stopped cruising Princess because the last two cruises made me feel like I was on a ship with a bunch of old people (and I am 62).  We did a NCL cruise in 2010 and my son hated it.  They put the 12-year-old kids in a conference room with Legos and expected them to be happy.  My review of the ship was "Motel 6 on the Water".  I went on a NCL TA Cruise back in 2019 and fell in love with their Solo Cruising.  On that cruise new friends talked about how great Celebrity was.  I went on a TP Celebrity Cruise and loved it.  On that cruise people talked about how they mix RCL Crises and Celebrity Cruises.  Before I could go on a RCL cruise Covid happed.  When Cruising opened up RCL had the double points program.  I went on 6 Royal Cruises and got double points plus double points for Solo Cruising.  I found that RCL has a wide range of ships and locations.  They have good food (not great) and all the toys a old man can handle.  Now that I am Diamond + they give me enough free drinks where I do not have to purchase a drink package saving me lots of money.
With all that said, I don't think I am loyal but can find everything I am looking for on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean at a price point I am willing to pay.

We normally get the DBP but went with the Refreshment Package for this sailing. The damn alcohol package would be as much as the cruise for the 4 of us. We’re going to roll the dice and are pretty sure we’ll come out ahead.

We are Loyal to Royal. Here is why: back in 06 or 07 we had a cruise planned. We always plan a year in advance, this time we had our daughter's friend with us as well. We live in Kansas and usually have to take 2 flights to get to Florida. Well, we get to the airport well in advance of our time and our first flight to St. Louis was canceled. They put us on a Greyhound bus for Dallas and it broke down 10 times on the interstate. Needless to say, we missed our flight and the sail away of our ship. GRRRR. RCL got us to Miami, put us up in a hotel, flew us to Jamaica, and got us to the ship. When we finally boarded 2 days late, we get a bottle of champagne and a note apologizing and AND we all got 1/2 of our cruise refunded. 2 adults and 2 teens. It wasn't even RCL's fault!!! We will be forever Loyal to Royal.      

I bet you’re a lot of fun at parties. 🙄

I have always purchased from insurance companies (3rd party) and have never regretted it.  I have not researched them, but my instants tell me to stay away from companies like InsureMyTrip.com or SquareMouth.com and stick with companies that have been doing cruises for a long time.  Like @RockerDom31 uses Allianz and I have a Annual yearly insurance policy with Travel Guard.  I have used travel guard for years and have collected on different items multiple times and they payout without an issue and in a timely manner.  My fear with some of the others are they are big internet companies that you will have trouble if you have trouble.  
My last note:  They are all different, do your research and read what the policy covers.

Then there's this. In the ticket  contract is language to the effect that at their sole discretion, RCCL can change terms/conditions of the contract and sailing at any time without notice. Just like Carnival, Celebrity, HAL, Virgin, Disney, MSC, Princess............
I never set foot on a cruise ship til 2022, but I certainly know these times aren't like 2019.
Carnival collateralized 17 ships across its brands to borrow money to stay in operation. RCCL took on considerable debt in the form of high yield corporate bonds (AKA Junk Bonds) with short maturities paying 12% yields to bondholders "to keep the lights on". NCL, similar debt assumption. All made staffing reductions, including crews cuts to minimum levels to tend to laid up ships. Commodities costs are still all over the map, most still trending higher. When a cruise line goes grocery shopping, it ain't with a cart in the  nearest Wally World. Its measured in semi-loads per ship and barge loads of fuel. These companies feel the same pain each of us do, only in greater magnitude. Amazing the Southern District Bankruptcy Court in Miami isn't wall to wall with cruise line attorneys filing Chapter 11 (or worse) petitions yet. 
But OP, do what you gotta do................

First of all, I love when people ask about tipping.  Cruising can be confusing, and we have this great forum to ask questions and get lots of different opinions.
Now on tipping amounts:  How much you tip depends on what type of room, how many people in the room and how your finances are.  I consider my tips big but if I ever hit the lottery my tips will be very big.  
My tipping procedure:  I got in a habit of tipping at the beginning of the cruise and apologize for the mess my son was going to leave when I was not there.  I know my son would come in a hurry to change for the pool or from the pool and leave a mess the cabin steward would have to deal with before I came to the room.  Now that my son is grown, and I cruise solo I still tip extra at the beginning of the cruise.  At the end of the cruise, I tip my cabin steward and dining room staff based on the service I get.  My last cruise my cabin was only cleaned in the evening, but my cabin steward made sure I had plenty of towels and bathroom supplies.  Occasionally he would pop in during the late morning and grab our dishes from our late-night snacks.  I appreciated it and made sure he was compensated.  
 
 

We leave the room attendant a 20 on day one... and at the end, we leave another 20.  This past trip, my wife broke a wine glass in the room on night 4, so we left him a note warning him of the broken glass next to the bed with another 5  bucks attached to the note for making an extra mess. We ALWAYS tip bartenders extra, yes it's included already in the package prices, but a dollar or two each round or so goes a long way for those bartenders. You can see the appreciation when you give them actual cash after ordering. If we find a bar\bartender that we keep returning to or plan on hanging out regularly (this past trip it was the crew at the upstairs bar of Music hall)... we will leave a 20 on the 2nd or third night after leaving the dollar here and there the first few nights.... never wait for a drink, or even have to ask for a refill for the rest of the trip. 

Let me fix this for you.
"I believe that what I tip is nobody's business but my own.  Enough said.  Everyone else is free to make their own decisions about sharing or not sharing."
To the OP, I last cruised right at the end of the two per day service.  For extra tipping I follow generally what you post.  I like to tip the attendant upfront and on the back end.  I think, like you, if the extra service touches suffer so will the back end gratuity.  If the reduced instances of room cleaning aren't impactful, then all the better and the backend remains the same.  Certainly hoping to want to keep tipping how I have been.
MDR, I like to do the same and tip head waiter first and last night, but table waiters each night.  Haven't had any issue making me want to not do so, but if I did have them, it would impact that night.
Drinks at the bar, 1 to 2 bucks each time.

These type are best to ignore and not even respond.  They are on an island with their thinking.  Best to leave it there.  Oops, did I just not follow my advice and reply?? 

Never could understand why Royal does allow this
I put a statement on every survey I do "Gratuities" should have it's name changed to "Service Charge" and be made MANDATORY!!
How that for stirring the pot 🙂

That strategy is short sighted and punishes the wrong people. 
If you feel that strongly about the direction of the line, that’s fine. You shouldn’t cruise until you see a change back in the direction you like. 
I used to go to Disney World all the time but their guest policy changes ruined the product for me, so I stopped going.   
 
The hard working crew members deserve better from you if you continue to sail. 

Sorry, but this is just a bad idea.  Right or wrong, this is how crew are compensated - they are not the ones who are making the cutbacks.
If you feel like service levels at Royal have dropped, your recourse would be to sail another line or take a different vacation.
I'm not necessarily happy with the recent cut backs, but I do see it as a way to attempt to keep the cost of cruises down in an environment where costs are skyrocketing.  Think about food costs alone in 2023 vs 2020 and imagine how that is affecting the profit line.  

Or don't do that to the crew....more people than not are going to pay the gratuities, so you won't be doing any harm to the company- just the people who helped you during your cruise. I haven't noticed or been bothered enough by cut backs to cause me to want them out of business. If you don't like how they operate- there are plenty of other lines you can try (all doing the same thing, by the way)