smokeybandit

Signing for voucher drinks won't fix this scenario though. Only requiring bartenders to swipe a card instead of just typing in a cabin number.

Just name and reservation ID

I see the sushi class for my Mariner Christmas cruise.

We did this in March. Plenty of room, never felt crowded. I really wouldn't expect much more for a beach excursion.

Right, don't get there early, but don't blame us if you're late!

That's not really a mixed message. They're saying leave early so you're not late, due to the marathon

We started sailing as a family when my son turned 3 on the cruise. We never had an issue getting out of dinner quick. Most of the wait staff have kids back home so they know how it all works.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/will-i-be-able-to-receive-and-redeem-my-starbucks-rewards-benefits https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/do-onboard-starbucks-locations-accept-starbucks-gift-cards-as-payment Packages and vouchers can't be used at standalone Starbucks, only ship venues which just happen to serve Starbucks

Don't you make enough money renting out your pins to Pinnacle groupies for photo ops?

That's what I've always done and never had an issue. But I don't have any other packages to possibly confuse things either.

One other thought. It's common to go get 2 drinks using 2 cards. Will they let you do that now? What about a minor's drinks. Will they be expected to sign? Probably not for either, but I'll be curious how that plays out.

I was through there in March and it was a breeze since they had facial recognition there.

LA has been the worst port customs I've ever seen. Hopefully this speeds things up

It's really no different than the OBC promos that give more OBC to higher tiers of cabins

There have been welcome letters posted on social media that show $14. Maybe your ship wasn't caught up yet on the letterhead.

That would also work. Something you could physically redeem for a drink

Cruise stocks just don't seem like money makers to me. Despite a good 3Q they still project losses for 4Q https://seekingalpha.com/news/3900931-royal-caribbean-cruise-stock-sails-lower-on-large-loss-forecasts?utm_source=businessinsider&utm_medium=referral

The easiest way to fix all this? Give everyone paper vouchers. No guesswork involved there.

My concern is people will get too used to getting a check now to sign and start to not pay attention to it assuming they're using a voucher. Then the opposite problem starts to happen. As it is now, if I don't get a check, I know the voucher was used. So if I got a bottle of water and I didn't get a check, that'd be my clue to say "oh hey sorry can you charge this instead of using a voucher?" I feel like they could have thought this through better.

I've never had a voucher used when I didn't want it used. In fact on more than one occasion I've had a bartender double check if I really wanted to use a voucher for a low priced item. I can see the Guest Services headaches from people going and asking about their vouchers, but I don't see this as a good solution to solving that. #1 above could be solved easily within the app. If a voucher was used, indicate that on your folio on the app. #2 assumes people will pay attention to their check when they're signing it to see if that bottle of water got charged vs. vouchered. What I think you'll see there will be the opposite. End of the night, people think they're using a voucher for one last drink. They've already had a few anyway, and don't realize on the check that they're out of vouchers and got charged for it and just sign it quickly to go back to the party.

This seems...unnecessary. Now you're going to have to pay a lot more attention to if your voucher got used or not since they only give you a check to sign if it got charged to your account. I especially don't understand how this helps #2. Dear Diamond, Diamond Plus & Pinnacle Club Members, As part of our ongoing efforts in reviewing guest feedback, we’re working towards providing you the best onboard experience and avoiding visits to the Guest Services desk. What we noticed was that many visits are related to beverage vouchers provided to our higher tiered Crown & Anchor Society members. Effective on sailings starting this Friday, November 4th, we’ll have all members sign their check when using any beverage vouchers. The benefit of doing this is two-fold: The receipt has a count of your vouchers to help you better track how many you have left. So if you’re a Diamond member, and you have 4 a day – it may tell you 2 of 4 have been redeemed. We noticed many beverage voucher disputes are related to use on a drink you did not want to use it on. For instance, you ordered a $3 coffee and we may have applied your voucher – and you don’t learn about it until you’re at dinner, wanting that nice $13 cocktail and you’re out of vouchers. While it’s a little more work for our teams, by having you have your hard check – you can better control both your count and the proper application!

I know you can replace all but one of the names on the reservation without penalty. But can you then replace the leftover original person later as Step 2 after changing the rest of the names?

They upped the voucher cap right away.