GJ_123

Great to read so much detail, thanks for sharing this. We have ESC booked and are going in a couple of weeks time. Really looking forward to it

Amazing The Diamond drinks really are a great benefit. My wife and I aren't huge drinkers so the 4 drinks a day is perfect for us, and such a big saving. Sometimes we don't even use them. If that's the case we just grab a few apple/orange juices from the cafe at the end of the night. Remember, the smoothies/juices at the Vitality Spa are also included with your Diamond drinks

We have reserved it

We have turned up to ports early many times, and it's never been an issue.

When you reach Diamond (80 Crown & Anchor points) you receive 4 daily drinks vouchers, which can be used for any drink up to $14 (if it's more you just pay the difference). 4 drinks a day each is generally plenty for me and my wife so we wouldn't bother with the drinks package. Prime and Signature are Club Royale casino statuses. Points are earned between April-April. You need 2500 casino points during that timeframe to reach Prime (which makes you Prime for the following year). The best way to earn points is via the slot machines (it would be extremely hard to earn 2500 points through tables unless you spend an absolute fortune!). If you are Prime you get free drinks in the casino when the casino bar is open (just have to show them your sea pass) and you also get a free annual cruise which you can book around April. You also get other casino free cruise offers which you can check on the Club Royale website (normally US sailings). The next tier after Prime is Signature which is 25k points. My wife is currently Signature and sitting on around 40k points. That brings a few more benefits like you get one free internet device for any sailing you do while being Signature. There is one tier above that which is Masters (100k+ points). I've attached a screenshot showing Club Royale benefits.

Haha I have noticed this too. On Navigator the casino bar staff always pocketed cash tips themselves right away. I sometimes wonder if it's how well the staff get on with each other. If they get on and are all friendly together I wonder if they put all the tips in a jar and split at the end of the night. We were on Symphony last year and the casino bar staff all seemed really close and friendly with each other, and they put all the tips in a common area. I suppose different staff will prefer to do it a different way.

Ahh that's interesting. I watched a few vlogs on YouTube and did notice the ship was particularly quiet, so that explains it if they were running under capacity. Do you know roughly how many guests will be on in 2 weeks time? I can see online that there are loads of 4 occupancy balconies left. Maybe not the most popular time of year for families.

Thank you, loads of information here which is really helpful. Will take on board what you've said about booking shows. I notice we still can't pre-book things like the theatre and the comedy club and the cruise is 2 weeks away! Can you pre-book things like this, or does it have to be done on board? Did you go to Empire Supper Club? We have that reserved, expecting big things from that considering the cost. Did you notice if Playmakers actually has on draft everything it says on the menu? We were recently on Navigator and it said on the menu they had something like 8 beers on draft and in reality they had like 2 or 3, which was disappointing. We have an infinite ocean view balcony booked which will be interesting to see, I do wonder though if it really is a 'balcony' or just a bit of a bigger room with virtually a window Sorry to ask so many questions, how was the free merch/gifts? They looked pretty cool. Do you know if any of them are available to buy on board on future sailings? Or maybe just exclusive as gifts for the inaugural sailing.

Thanks it's appreciated, I'll have a look

Just out of curiosity I wanted to ask anyone who did the Icon inaugural sailing (or is onboard just now), HOW WAS IT?? We are going on in a few weeks time, never been so excited for a cruise ever. It looks incredible. Did it match your expectations, or exceed it? Do you have any tips/suggestions for anyone that's going on soon? What are the main things you liked? Is there anything you disliked? I'd love to know!

You must like Anthem to have been on it 4 times! Personally I had a really bad experience on Anthem, we sailed on it last February. It was definitely the most unclean ship I've seen for Royal Caribbean, a lot of corridors had a bad smell. I also just found a lot of the staff uninterested and didn't feel much effort, which is really unusual for RC. From this experience I don't think I would sail on it again. We have sailed Odyssey and felt the Quantum Ultra was a huge upgrade. Maybe we just had a bad experience and it's normally better?

Yeah that is insane. Having a pre-determined tipping amount is ridiculous. I wouldn't be surprised as well if your waiter is half hoping you leave something in cash, as well as the automatic gratuity? That means you are getting into 30-40% territory. The worst I have ever seen was in New York when I went to a place that added 25% I just paid it but funnily enough I heard someone complaining and they had it removed. It's just totally different cultures. I live in the UK and gratuities are basically never added to bills. The only instance I've seen this is if you are booking for a large party (6+ maybe) SOME restaurants will add a 10% service charge, but you can have it removed no questions asked.

I read an article recently about a waitress in America who worked for a multi-national chain restaurant, and she posted a receipt online where the customers said in effect 'sorry we don't tip' and walked out. The customers were European and she obviously made some negative and angry comments about them. While the receipt thing is a bit mean and I obviously don't agree with it, I noticed many people commenting on it saying it's wild she is taking her anger out on the customer and not the multi-national company she works for, which clearly pays their staff unfairly while raking in huge profits. It's like the onus is on the customer to subsidise poor wages. It's exactly the same with RC. They pay their staff shockingly! Don't allow yourself to think any different. Like I mentioned before I feel like people are tricked/brainwashed into believing tipping excessively (daily gratuities, 18% on everything AND tipping in cash/adding to the receipt) is for some sort of greater good, like if this didn't happen RC would have to hike fares and they would have to pay more tax (poor Royal Caribbean, with their ships registered in the BAHAMAS they will barely pay any tax as it is). Trust me, you are kidding yourself. The people at the top of the company are probably laughing at how little they have to pay their staff, and how much their wages are subsidised by customers.

Regarding room attendants/servers seeing who is pre-paid, I highly doubt it. Why would that information be relevant to them?

I don't think it's sad at all. It's an optional gratuity and I would much rather tip more generously in cash. When I first started cruising with RC I spoke to many staff members who actually politely discouraged me from adding a tip to the receipt, and said a cash tip would mean far more to them. So to answer your question about 'how service changes' I think you'll find you are given much better service if they know you tip well in cash, that will mean far more to them than knowing you've put money into a generic tip pool.