CelebrationFlCruiser

Matt Administrator's post: "The tips are not compulsory. You can easily go to Guest Services and have them removed or changed. They are simply tacked on automatically but you are under no obligation to keep them there if you do not want them there." Matt, I went to Guest Services on the last 2 cruises and was told I could not remove the charges from our statement. I was told that if one or more service providers were exceptional, I could give them more. They even had a form they handed me to do just that. Has anyone gone to Guest Services and had their gratuities taken off their statement?

See CDC link below. Overall Royal Caribbean’s food and prep is very good. The scores range from 86-100 (“Inspections scores of 85 or lower are NOT satisfactoryâ€). 22 ships of Royal Caribbean’s fleet were evaluated. The arithmetic mean for all 22 ships was 96.54. 2 of Royal Caribbean ships scored 100. They were the two “R†ships. The Radiance of the Seas and the Rhapsody of the Seas. The lowest score of the fleet was from the Freedom of the Seas (86). Click on “reports†and you can see all the noted infractions. Overall Royal Caribbean fared very well. Note: Disney's fleet scored exceptionally high among it's competitors. Here’s the CDC link: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionResults.aspx

Booly100 has it right. Great post. IRS Ruling Says Auto Gratuities Are Treated as Wages, Not as Tips. “As Revenue Ruling 2012-18 goes into effect, restaurants will need to determine the relative benefits and disadvantages of continuing a policy of automatic gratuities. When is a payment regarded as a tip or a service charge? The following shows how the Ruling defines a payment as a tip: Payment must be made free from compulsion. The customer has the unrestricted right to determine the amount. Payment should not be subject to negotiation or dictated by employer policy. Generally, the customer has the right to determine who receives payment. For example, the bill for a party of eight might include an amount on the "tip line" equal to 18% of the price for food and beverages (the total includes this amount). If the restaurant allocates this automatic gratuity to its employees, the IRS considers the amount a service charge, because "under these circumstances, [the] customer did not have the unrestricted right to determine the amount of the payment ..." This service charge is therefore treated as non-tip wages, according to the U.S. federal tax code.†Paychex.com Auto Gratuities are not tips, they are wages. I think everyone agrees to that. If you are not aware or just not paying attention the bill you receive has the automatic wage charge of 18% already in it and then the bill looks like you have not tipped, with the tip line. Amusement Parks did this a while back and it was considered deceptive marketing and they stopped it, when faced with a barrage of complaints from guests (those paying). Who benefits from automatic gratuities? Certainly not the customer, and not the recipient. It only rewards the business owner and rewards them for not paying them enough. These are not tips or gratuity, they are wages (whatever you call them). In the past, whenever we traveled or received service, if warranted, we always over tipped. Quite frankly, I resent being told, no, made to, tip. The justification is always: they are underpaid, everyone else is doing it, some people are not tipping enough, or just we do it, because we can. Another tactic now is, you are shamed, or at least feel ashamed, that you are not tipping or not tipping what they think is enough. Quite frankly a 7 year old can come up with better excuses and more of them. If everyone is made to tip the same amount it becomes a non-tip, and not an incentive. And along the same lines, if we are paying wages, shouldn't we be able to deduct that from something? Now cruise lines are saying gratuities included. They add a charge for wages then they include it as a benefit? It then becomes a charge then, non-charge, being sold as something of high value. Isn't this called something (bait and ??)? Why in an industry where the profits are record breaking, are they even bothering with bad policies like these? What are their PR, Marketing, and Consumer Relation teams thinking? They seem to be cutting a lot of benefits and awards, not only to their workers. Why are we having to even talk about this. This is a service company. At times, I think the roles have been inadvertently reversed.

Matt, what were the dates of your cruise?

Yes, it is true that Royal Caribbean states that they have the best or same prices but, you have to book it at the right date, and even time, or you'll miss it. Then once you book your cruise through RC you can not add other bonuses or add on reductions. You can call them if you notice a reduction in pricing of a room in your category, but you have to be stern with them and they will always not give you the better price. It is a real pain to go through RC for any reductions once you have booked the room. A good travel agent will get you the best price and include some of the extra mandatory charges that Royal Caribbean attaches to your bill (ie: gratuities, beverage packages, etc.). Also, they usually add some On Board Credit to your account. It can, and usually is, less expensive to book through an outside, independent agent. We have booked quite a few cruises through Royal Caribbean and if they assign you an RC agent, you again, will not be able to change anything on your reservation without going directly through your RC agent. This is a pain, and they do not offer anything extra to go through them other than the advertized bonuses. And any agent can get you those plus a lot more. .

Regarding the FREEDOM FIRE, has anyone gone on her since the fire? I had heard that the Diamond Club Lounge and the Concierge Lounge was a molten, smokey mess. Where have they, if they have, relocated these ship havens? Or, are they operational again? If they haven't relocated the above two lounges, how and where are they accommodating the suite, and diamond and above, cruisers? Thank you.

I do not like buying soda & water on board because of the pricing. And I do not like the taste of the soda package fountain drinks. I'm a can or bottle guy. Seems the soda machine drinks always taste like something else other than the drink you selected. And the machines are always not working. Usually at the first port, while getting off, I ask, "if we buy soda and/or water at the port, will we be allowed to bring it on board. We have been told yes (but, we don't over due it). A 6 or 12 pack and a couple large bottles of water. I think if any of it had been opened they would take it. The main thing they do not allow is bringing alcohol on board, especially in water bottles. That would cut into their revenue source. They plan on making just as much on the liquor, pictures, and gambling as you paid for the cruise. If you mess with that, they stop you. To get around that, drink as much as you want off the ship at the port. A lot of excursions include drinks. Also, you can have in your baggage or carry on up to 2 bottles of wine when you board. They say no alcohol. How they think wine is not alcohol is beyond me???? It says right on the bottle, alcohol. The best thing is just don't do it, or ask before you do it. That way there are no surprises and no one is embarrassed.

Here's the official offering, but you can never use it. Q&A http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=103045&p=irol-shareholderbenefit

I totally agree with jticarruthers, "if your going to offer a perk, honor it". And oh yes, this is not a perk, it is an on-board credit (that you indirectly purchased) they never give you. They offer it, then as it turns out, you can never use it. Worthless.

Royal Caribbean stock (NYSE: RCL) is somewhere around $90 a share (today’s high was $91.26 per share). Going back a year in history the low was ~$50 and the high is what it is now. So if you put in an order to buy in the fifties and sell when it reaches, say, one hundred. You can make money and be a shareholder (stakeholder) of Royal Caribbean Ltd., Ha http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/rcl Average cruise is ~$1000 more or less a person. Buy $1,000 shares, and if the market keeps doing what it has done in the past, you will have ~$2,000 in a years time. Or, just hold on to it and let it ride. August 2nd 2015, “Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain sold 151,032 shares of his cruise line's stock for $13,650,151 at an average price of $90.40 a share. President and Chief Operating Officer Adam Goldstein sold 4,184 shares at at $91.08 per share for a total value of $381,094.19. Royal Caribbean's General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer Bradley Stein sold 2,402 shares of the company stock for for a total value of $218,748.70. In sum, these insider traders sold $14,249,993 of company stockâ€. Web Jim Walker

Any promo is not combinable with the shareholders on board credit. This is not a promo or discount. It is a on-board credit, like the casino credit, like any credit. Except you can never use it. All the other on-board credits are combinable with everything :(

Hi We'll be on the Anthem Nov 10th. on a b&b. Could pick you up a model then. I think the ship will mail directly from the ship.

I am aquiring quite a large collection of shot glasses. Every time we cruise I manage to go home with a new shot glass. Usually it is of the ship we are on, but lately, I am getting shot glasses from the ports of call. The wife collects magnets. We have run out of space on the side of our refrigerator. Met a couple on the last cruise where he was collecting rocks from the beaches they visited and she collected Christmas ornaments. They have a whole tree of ornaments of where they have cruised. Is anyone else building a collection? What are you collecting?

We are booked on a b-to-b on the Freedom, in September this year, and my wife and I were considering canceling because of the fire and the little information that we were getting from corporate. Now that I have seen this video with the Captain's explanation, we are not canceling, and are actually looking forward to it again.

Captain Holmes does a GREAT job explaining the fire on-board the Freedom of the Seas in his narrative below. Looks like the fire hit the Viking Lounge area (drat). Wonder where the diamond lounge hang-out will be moved to? This was played on the cruise TV so everyone on-board could get the correct information, as they knew it, and it came directly from the Captain, with charts. You can actually understand him, he's American. http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2015/07/articles/fires-1/freedom-of-the-seas-fire-a-word-from-your-captain/

If you buy enough shares, the dividends will pay for a cruise or more a year. Then when you are done cruising, cash in your stock and then you are cruising free, Ha.

Interesting you would comment about that. My bad. It's Monday, what can I say? Your right, move the decimal point over one.

Here's the link to the shareholders benefit program. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=103045&p=irol-shareholderbenefit

We own quite a bit of Royal Caribbean Ltd stock and have never utilized the shareholders credit while cruising on Royal Caribbean, so this next, upcoming, cruise we decided to use it. You have to jump through a number of hoops but we thought let's do it see if it works. If you own 100 or more shares of stock they give you $100 of on board credit. We copied our stock, filled out the forms, and submitted them expecting to have some on-board credit. What we got was a letter stating that we already have used advertized available discounts, and that the stock $100 credit was not combine-able with anything else. Why have the credit out there if you can't ever use it? Has anyone else had this experience or been able to use the stock option $100 credit?

Passengers interviewed said on TV, Sunday morning, that Royal Caribbean gave everyone $150 in cruise credits on a future cruise for any personal issues that the fire may have caused. Depending what they paid for the cruise this amounted to around 1% or less. They said most people were happy with that.

The ship arrived into port on Sunday to re-load with passengers. Here's a link to a facebook page with more pictures. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.882327948482129.1073741863.136612489720349&type=3 Hopefully they will get everything fixed before our Sept sailing.

Guess what just came in the mail? A crystal block award and all our pins that we never got. Amazing. My faith in Royal Caribbean is restored. Another crystal block award level will be reached on our next cruise in August 2015. We now know, to inform the loyalty person on-board, if it is not in our room. We have heard a lot of people and couples that have not received earned awards and/or pins. All you need to do is call Crown & Anchor number and let them know and they mail it to you.

Here's a follow-up news report: http://www.wftv.com/videos/news/royal-caribbean-ship-from-cape-canaveral-catches/vDXfyw/ No cruisers were injured and only one crew member suffered burn injuries.

Just heard Freedom of the Seas caught fire. The pictures show extensive damage to the very top of the ship. Hope they can get it together by the time we go. They just re-furbished the Freedom and now it burns. Our luck. Royal Caribbean stated it was a mild fire and all systems worked. They have not said that it will continue on it's scheduled route or what? http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6456 http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/royal-caribbean-ship-cape-canaveral-catches-fire-j/nm4qN/

Has anyone read Cruise Confidenial? I started reading it, and if for nothing else, it's entertaining. It's about an American crewmember and his experiences working on a cruise ship. If anyone is interested, Amazon has a free Kindel version that gives you a taste of the book (and then they want you to buy it). Here's a link to the free portion of the book: https://read.amazon.com/?asin=B0056IJJY4 It is for a kindel, but it worked on my computer. So, I think anyone can view it.