RorySC

Something nice i stumbled on, the Concierge in the D-lounge has the ability, and power to handle many or most things that we would normally stand in line at guest services for. It took me less than 5 minutes to have them remove the daily from my account, and I handled everything with cash. Including tipping out that particular Concierge who was very helpful to us, and with whatever anyone needed from what I seen. As far as tipping out the laundry staff...that seems very far fetched to me. Have you ever been asked by a hotel or resort to tip out the laundry staff? Maybe, they added verbiage such as service fee's? I think that there should be no more tipping at all. Just give us a price for the cruise as a whole and the cruise line handle all of that back of the house agenda.

We just got back from several BtB's, (2 months straight of sailings) and the gratuities are getting out of hand. So, I went to guest services to ask just where tips are going. They handed me a pre-printed list and I was very surprised. Back in the day, tips were split between the Cabin attendant, Waiter, and assistant Waiter. Now...if you look at the list, there are several others added, such as " other hotel services" staff and others behind the scenes we never see or use directly. @ $6.50 per day per guest. If we order something to the room, there is already a 18% tip added to the bill. So why are we paying it twice? (Royal, though making it what seems easier to get it pre-paid so it is out of our minds...but as a way for the guest to subsidize the payroll system) So I asked them to remove all the daily gratuities, and we went back to doing it old school. We went back to handing out cash again. Because of all the changes in the MDR, and reduced quality of the meals and reduced options. We find that we are using the MDR less and less. Maybe a small inconvenience, but when I use the MDR, I hand the tips directly to the recipients just prior to leaving from dinner...just the way we do it when we go out to eat at home. I knew that the staff would like this, but was surprised that they were more excited about it more than I thought they would be. Of course, I informed them how I would be handling it from the start, so that they did not think they would be getting twice the amount. You would be surprised just how much what I consider as "fluff" in the amount you tip per day. $6.50 per day x 2 = $13.00, for 7 days = $91.00

well if you are sailing the end of the year, we will be sailing all of December 2023 and January 2024. I will cover the first round...you bring the bail $

I remember the Midnight Buffett's, they were entertaining Exotic and beautiful. They even had a 1/2 hour to walk through to take pictures before they let the locust in. But, being that I always have Late seating in the MDR and because we always enjoyed or tablemates sometimes we sat in the MDR till 10:30 have a lot of laughs. By the time I made it up to the Midnight buffet, I was still full. So never ate anything to much. I am sure there was huge amounts of waste. Or items that had to be moved over for other uses, I can not imagine the amount of time and manpower of the very fancy set up.

Every ship has a Sunrise Buffett....It's called the Windjammer!

During my last 4-5 sailings, they have not had Crown Royal, but 1 time I found it for sale downstairs in the store. When I asked the gentleman working the store why? He said he was asked that question countless times, and had no answer to that question. The bar manager said something about supply chain issues, and during Covid...I bought that line. But not anymore. I don't see it as a price issue, because the price of drinks and or beverage packages are a sliding scale to cover the fluctuation.

I thought it was offered from guest services...maybe I read it to fast. I have had issues before on cruises before, but not sure why they were not moved to another cabin? They have to keep some available for situations of importance like when a pipe brakes and floods a room out or whatever. But I am a jerk, because I would have went downstairs with a blanket and pillow and curled up right there in front of them with the 1 hand Al Bundee thing in the pants.

Many people prefer OBC, because they will go sit In front of a slot in the casino. Move OBC to that machine and immediately cash out go to the cage and you then have the cash in hand right away.

yep same here.

I can not even access the site on laptop, but can get in through the app. weird!

Unable to see mine either.

Welp...this could also be a small savings to the guest as well. I can see more and more people switching over to cash tipping again. Walking into the MDR, and or reading the menu off the wall or on the app to make a choice if they want to dine there that night or not. If they have their meal in the MDR then tip accordingly, if you go elsewhere like the Windjammer you saved a few $. This could backfire on RCCL, and then have to answer to the crew for the $ shortfalls.

I would like to at least try the Infinite Veranda, but was thinking....on the current balconies, if you step out onto your balcony and put the handle back in the closed position you can still keep the A/C going. If this new veranda is open, I would imagine the A/C will will turn off, and all the cool air in the room will be lost. Now it will take a lot of time to re-cool the room back down and change the humidity back to a comfortable level. If we let all the A/C to be sucked out, especially while moving then try to re-cool the room back down, I think the HVAC systems will have issues with freezing up. The (A) coils will need to be turned off and wait for the ice to melt. Anyone who has a RV and with a lot of Open & Closing of the doors would fully understand what I am talking about. Now couple that up with a lot of slamming doors with the suction effect. Will be interesting to see how this goes, but this I am sure has been discussed somewhere on Celebrity's message boards before.

I think it will be a zero gravity experience.

I was just watching a video and and thought I saw that the big ball being installed in Icon, may be a zero gravity experience??? If this is what it is, who knows what that may cost. If you consider $29 for 2 min in Ifly onboard Quantum Class ships are to much or expensive maybe, but where else would you be able to experience such a thing!