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.

This is accurate. I have removed gratuities on the many RC cruises I've done and not once have they asked for a reason or acted negatively towards me. Anyone that does it you'll notice the 'here to help' person at guest services has a clip board with a list of rooms who have already asked for them to be removed. It's a common practice and I'm sure plenty of people do it.

To be honest I think you've misinterpreted it a bit. Yes, they are mentioning 'not receive satisfactory service' but I think they are purely linking that to the fact it's a gratuity. They aren't saying 'only cancel the gratuities if you aren't satisfied' I think the way it's written is different to what you suggested. It says quite clearly that it's purely down to the discretion of the guest.

Are you sure, is that written down anywhere? I think if someone would rather have the daily gratuities removed because they want to tip in cash that's a perfectly valid reason. I do agree that you shouldn't remove it if your motivation is 'saving money'. But for me it's because I believe I tip pretty generously in cash and much prefer that.

I agree it's insane, $72 in gratuities for a dinner for 2 people, plus you are expected to pay daily gratuities and leave something in cash? This is why I always cancel the daily gratuities onboard, it's too much. In saying that we have Empire Supper Club booked for February and admittedly I will leave $20 for the waiter, as I would want who personally served us to receive something directly. I definitely think the tipping pressure they put on the customer is unfair, all tipping should be optional and nothing should be mandatory. If RC is that concerned they could add 18% in themselves, which would be absolutely nothing to them, but of course this harms profits That's interesting about areas in Colorado doing that, I've never heard of that. I live in the UK where the tipping culture is totally different. Of course it's encouraged but rarely mandatory, as tipping never should be.

Totally agree. The bottom line for me is that RC could easily pay their employees a fair wage (make no mistake it will not even be close to any kind of 'minimum wage'), not dump so many tip/gratuity demands on their customers, keep fare prices the same and STILL make huge profits. It's pure greed that only makes the people at the top richer, plain and simple. I think too many people are tricked into thinking all these gratuities are a requirement as fares may go up etc. and other excuses. It's crazy to me how think people think it's the customer who should make up the shortfall rather than the multi-national company...

There will be an area on the ship where dogs can go to the toilet, you quite often see therapets, guide dogs etc. onboard so every ship must have a designated area. No idea where though, maybe on a lower deck? I always wondered what the environment is like, would they set up area which is grass? No idea about the handler and how that would work.

Do you mean the daily gratuities? Technically they aren't mandatory as you can cancel them when you get onboard. I agree with the general point you make though, tips should be earned and never a given right. That's another reason I find the daily gratuities so bizarre. Why should we be tipping automatically when we don't even know how good the service will be? A glaring example to me is we were on Anthem last year and the casino bar staff were dreadful. They were slow, practically ignored you at times for no reason and made no effort to be personable or friendly. For that reason I only tipped in cash every so often, whereas on every other cruise I've done I tip $1 a drink every time. It wasn't only the casino bar, in general we felt a lack of effort from the staff on Anthem. On the flipside of that I was recently on Navigator and a staff member at the Starbucks was exceptional, very friendly and made a huge effort every time I went. So at the end of the cruise I gave him $20. That's the difference, it should be earned.

We aren't going in the summer, we are going in a few weeks. But yeah of course it was always going to be expensive being a new ship.

Yeah, that's a fair point. Maybe I am looking at it wrong. It's just a personal thing for me that I think the daily gratuities on top of everything else is excessive, so I don't pay them. However I do tip generously in cash. I tip for every drink I get at the bar, I even tip at the Starbucks as I feel they are forgotten a bit and I doubt many people tip there.

You have explained that really well. It never occurred to me that it costs the vendor more to put through multiple transactions, so that explains the holds. I do just think it's really poor though of RC and as you say it often effects the customer. I personally don't think it's clear enough especially to new customers how the holds work. I know a lot of people will go on a cruise with plenty money but there are also people who won't, and I'm sure there are plenty of customers who can't afford to cover their bill 'twice'. This happened to a customer I overheard on Symphony, they didn't have enough to cover their bill again. I have no idea how it was resolved but it must have been a nightmare for the guy. We have been on many cruises in the last year and it's also really starting to annoy me how they work their cash accounts, if it's a week cruise you have a $500 dollar limit, and if you go above that your account is locked. But the last few cruises we have been on our account is being locked even if we are no where near the $500 limit. Once we were $200 in credit and they locked the account for no reason! Whenever I speak to Guest Services they blame 'the system' but it's incredibly annoying. They need to look at their cash account system. Under no circumstances should your account be locked unless you are over the agreed limit!