WAAAYTOOO

Yep. Getting used to it I guess. Not so bad now that it’s warming up. Sucked big time in Feb !

Thanks so much for taking time out of your cruise for us ! It was a great blog and I enjoyed it very much. The disembarkation part of the Key program seems to consistently be the part that they get “right”. I have read almost no criticisms of the disembarkation in contrast to many many criticisms of almost all of the other Key aspects. For some reason they all seem to do well in disembarkation. Yippee !

I don’t know about the other ports but I know that at Bayonne the dockside porters are longshoremen and they do NOT take kindly to getting no tip. We always tip but the first time we went to Bayonne our metal-wired name tags mysteriously disappeared. There’s no way they just “fell” off. And coincidentally, the longshoremen were battling with management for a pay raise. Not much of a coincidence.

I agree, Sweety ! That food looks GREAT ! I sure hope that Oasis gets Hooked. I can’t wait to try it ALL

I still don’t know for sure that my personal tips aren’t going into a tip pool but it’s the best I can do. I think, though, based on the reactions that we get, that the direct tips are kept by those who receive them

Joke someone told me a couple of days ago How much does a pirate sell his corn for ? Buck an ear

Wise decision. Yes. If it drops you can cancel and rebook at the lower price.

How clever is this ?!

Unfortunately the drinks card is illusive. You never know if your sailing will offer it or not. So you really can’t count on it being offered on your sailing. It’s a crap shoot.

Drink waiters

This is how we operate too. I have gotten flamed on the “other” site for saying this but I do not believe for one minute that the servers and attendants get all of the gratuities money. They may get a portion but I just don’t trust that Royal is really giving it out the way they lead us to believe they do. The only way I can figure out to make sure that the people who make MY cruise so wonderful get their true tip is to give it directly to them at the time they provide the service to me. I guess the notable exceptions to this are the room attendants and the Genie, who get their tips at the end of the cruise. We tip at very meal, regardless of where we eat (including Sorrentos or WJ) and with every drink. I consider the daily gratuity to be a fee (to Royal) and treat it as such. If it were truly a gratuity they would make it optional.

Well....you're really on a cruise now !! Once the muster drill is over, it's official !! Enjoy it !!

YIPPEE !!! So....do you just receive a $35 PP credit or is the "regular" hibachi menu fully included ?

Really ? That's very interesting. I wonder how they confirm that you DO have it. If you tell them that you have the UDP and there is nothing on your account to indicate that you do....how do they know you are telling the truth ? There has to be some way for them to confirm.

Oh....so you mean....self control ? HA ! Fat (interesting choice of words) chance ! I offer my good luck again. I simply cannot do it...hard as I have tried....

What is in the cup next to the pretzel bread (which looks yummy, BTW) ?

Boooooooo

I hope you have better luck at this than I did last month on Freedom. I had such good intentions of doing the "snack" thing and then the real meal, later. I just couldn't do it ! It's just too much food for us. I think the trick might be to skip breakfast altogether or else to eat breakfast REALLY early. I am not very good at doing this as we both love breakfast but we also love sleeping in. If you can manage to actually be hungry for lunch (which truly, we rarely are), then maybe. Wishing you luck !

I agree about the housekeeping thing. I work a lot when I am in hotels and very often I just ask for clean towels and skip the rest. I'm with JennyB about the buffets though. I am not a buffet fan to begin with and if that's all I had, I would not go.

We split the duties. Dan always carries them in his sports coat pocket until we get on the plane and then I put them into a zippered section of my purse until we get to the boat, at which time Dan again assumes the coat pocket locale. Then everything gets locked into the safety deposit box on the ship and is not moved again until we get ready to disembark. They once again go into the coat pocket and then back into my purse and into the safe at home. Lots of opportunities for things to get misplaced. That's how we like it !?

I can't believe you let Mariner go without you !! ? Thanks for the photos. Very nice

What a great sight !!

Probably not. When we used to eat in the MDR we always requested the same table every night and with very few exceptions (as long as we showed up when we were supposed to !) we always got it. It's easiest to get the same table when you generally eat at the same time every night. When it is most difficult is if you eat early once, late once, in the middle somewhere, early, late, etc. ....but that is also part of the appeal of MTD...to be able to eat whenever it is convenient. So there are tradeoffs....

Daddy, is that you ?? I have been looking for you for sooo long ! I'm coming home now.... ?

Doesn't MSC already offer some of this ? Don't they have an option that only includes buffet meals ? I'm not sure about the housekeeping part but I think MSC's lowest level of stateroom does not have main dining room service. I could be wrong. I cancelled both of the MSC cruises I booked...