Traveling Mike

I have found you are better off using both your phone app and the computer website.  Both are glitchy and between the two you can get everything done quickly.  The most important thing is to grab your boarding time.  Like the people have said above it is Midnight where your ship is.  I am in California and my cruises out of Miami I can start checking in at 9:00 pm the day before the official check in day.  Your official check in day is listed on the phone app.

Computer Programmer get $2.00

Ship Captain get $2.00

Hotel Director get $1.50

Room Stuwart get $3.00

Head Waiter get $1.50

Main Waiter gets $3.00

Assistant Waiter gets $2.00

Best Looking male dancer get $1.00 (placed in the G-string)

I really have mixed feelings.  As a stockholder I want them to make the maximum amount of money per cruise.  As a cruiser I want to cruise as cheep as I can and get as much as I can for free.  I might follow your take a try a few with no extra's and see how it goes.

Does he need it...  NO

It the app helpful to have... Yes

I look forward to the Martini Bar.  The bar is covered with ice (on some ships) and they make the best drinks and often give you a show.

On 12/16/2022 at 11:41 AM, 12thman said:

YES! So if no cups how are the beverages served? Can, glass that I can't keep?

You get it in a nice glass that you can take back to your cabin and keep.  Just make sure you wrap them up in the towels that you take home. 

I do not understand @Willy .... sounds like the Customer service did what they could.  When your booking is with a travel agent the RCCL Customer Service cannot open your booking without a code from the travel agent.  They can help you with packages and that is what they offered to do.  Simple solution is to contact your travel agent and switch rooms.

Note:  GTY Cabins = I want to book a cabin and I do not care where on the ship you put me. (I do lots of these).

People like @Un Happy are just here to complain and nothing we can say or do will make them feel better.  Sounds like the type of person that should always use a travel agent because they will not do their own research.  There are others like me that spend hours and hours on my research before I book.  I have spent the last 1 1/2 months trying to find a July cruise I will be happy with.  Any new people reading this... Do lots of research and ask questions here OR get a really good travel agent. 

I cruise often with my 26-year-old son and one internet package is good for the both of us.  Unless you are both going to be on it at the same time all the time you only need one.  The only time I wish I had two is when we are setting around not wanting to talk and just want to surf the internet.  The nice thing, only having one makes us talk more during those times. 

Call RCL or your travel agent and have them marked as B2B.  They can do it on the system that way everyone that deals with you will know you are a B2B person.  You can do that with 2 RCL cruises or a Side-to-Side cruise with sister ships.  I did RCL Symphony with a B2B of Celebrity Reflection and both cruises were linked so they knew how to deal with me.

1. People that reserve seats in the pool area or solarium.  If you want to enjoy the pool, go and hang out there.  Do not send one person to reserve 10 spots or worse go there and leave towels on them and come back 2 hours later.
2. Many Pinnacle People and their attitude.  Just because you have cruised more than me does not give you the right to cut in line or treat staff like trash.

I used it thanksgiving on a cruise off of California and I was able to stream movies and do multiple video calls.

this thread has lots of information:  

I see you are new to the board, and I want to say welcome.  One of the things I like about this board is everyone is the same here, we are all Royal Caribbean cruises.  The board does not separate by anything other than Royal Caribbean or (Celebrity and Silver Seas).  If you have questions, feel free to ask and someone will help you.

Note:  if you spend a lot of time on the board there will be times someone will irate you.  But anytime you are around this many different kinds of people you will find someone with an attitude that conflicts with yours.  I just ignore them and keep on moving.

I have started pre-paying gratuities for two reasons.  1.  It makes me feel better about my budget and at the end of the cruise I do not have a large charge on my CC.  2.  I am booking 2 and 3 years out and it is protecting me against large increases in pre-paid gratuities.

The pre-paid gratuities cover a large range of people; more than I thought before.  I watched a video that the ship person talked about it going to people that clean room, wait on you at food venues, people that bus your tables at eating venues and other jobs.  If you purchase a drink package, they add on a gratuity.   If you purchase a drink, they will add a gratuity on the price of the drink. 

Now who is not covered with the gratuities above are when you get free drinks because you are a Diamond member of above.  It also covers the minimum gratuity and does not cover staff going out of their way for you.  It is like everyplace you go out.  Some people earn the minimum tip and other earn as much as I can afford to give them.

two things

1. Check on Royal Caribbean transportation.  I think you would have to meet the bus at the airport.
2. If I remember correctly, you can book Uber and/or Lift ahead of time that will lock in the price.

I would suggest watching this board and read everyone's questions and answers.  You will learn a lot.

like the others have said I have seen mine go away when they were sold out.

Never fly in the day of your cruise.  Even when I drive to the ship, I give myself an extra 5 hours in case something happens.  For Barcelona, I would go in 2 or 3 days early and enjoy the town.    I stayed at the Hotel Exe Ramblas Boqueria and loved the hotel and location.  Spend your first day doing the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus.

I wish they would give us the free drinks for Elite members like they do on RCL.

I have always been able to call C&A and they help me with both mine and my son's number.  My son is 26 and they still help me.  If you do not get it done before you get on the ship, go to the C&A desk and they should be able to help you.

I asked one of my wait staff about how tips are split.  He told me that no one other than they computer programmers know for sure.  The auto gratuities are split among all the staff that have job titles that get gratuities.  If you hand them cash, they are allowed to keep that for themselves.  The money I gave him at the end of the cruise just went to the two servers I had for most of the cruise.  The way I think it goes is all the money goes into a big pot and that pot is split among everyone that take care of you for the cruise.  I figure the auto gratuities are for the group and the cash I give to the individuals is for them going out of their way to make me happy.

It is 30 to 45 minutes to the airport.  The nice thing is they have a program where you can check in for your flight on the ship and they will take your bags from the ship to the airplane.  You will not see your bags until you are at your home airport.  We had a 11:30 am flight and had plenty of time.  I would not want to book anything before 10:30 or 11:00 am.

On 12/12/2022 at 9:37 AM, Dave H. said:

Last year I sailed on the Apex, and now I am on the Reflection.

I think you are comparing Apples and Oranges.  I find the food changes from ship to ship.  They have different managers and different cooks.

One thing I did not see anyone mention is you should confirm with the cruise line or have your TA confirm that the cruises are linked as B2B cruises.  I have done both Back-to-Back and Side-to-Side cruises and they have been linked or marked in my reservation.  Everyone on the ship that deals with you will know you are a B2B cruiser.   I have done a S2S with one ship on RCL and one on Celebrity and they treated it as if it was the same company and not sister companies.  In April 2024 I am doing a B2B2B2B and am really looking forward to living on a ship for 5 weeks.

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