GJ_123

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!

To an extent I understand what you are saying. But do you not think a fairer solution would be RC paying their employees a fairer wage (which they clearly don't), rather than it falling back on the customer? I appreciate a certain level of gratuities is fine and expected, and I'm happy to pay the 18% that's added on to everything. And I will tip $1 in cash for every drink at the bar and $20 in a speciality restaurant, and I will tip the stateroom attendant as well. But I'm not paying a mandatory $18-$20 per day per person, I think the cruise fare is already expensive enough without adding daily gratuities on top of everything else. A week cruise on Icon for 2 in a balcony is roughly $7500, a pretty insane cost, and you are expected to pay more on top of that? No chance for me, I'm cancelling the daily gratuities as soon as I get on board.

I agree. We were recently on Navigator and they only had Heineken and Strongbow on tap in Playmakers. Pretty poor to be honest. It's basically false advertising as on the drinks menu it says they have 7-8 on tap including some IPAs, Newcastle etc., if they don't offer those beers on tap they should update the menu. Symphony was a bit better I think they had 4 different types on tap.

When cruising we get drinks using only our Diamond vouchers and being Prime/Signature in the casino, every time we get a drink using either of those we tip $1 in cash per drink. However if we ever happened to have the package, I'm not sure we would tip as the Deluxe package is already very costly. But with Diamond vouchers/Prime it feels like we are getting something for free, so I'm happy to tip. One thing I would say, if you do tip make sure it's in cash. I've spoke to many staff members on the ships who have said it's not great for them you adding to the receipt as it just goes in to a tip pool. They appreciate cash way more.

Has this always been the case with RC? I honestly can't get my head around why they do this, what is the purpose? Surely it would make more sense to hold the amounts as they please, and actually just claim the transactions at the end of the cruise. Why do you essentially need to pay again?? I was recently on Symphony and I overheard a guest saying they didn't understand how the holds worked, and they basically didn't have enough in their account to cover twice what they had spent... so I've no idea how it was resolved. For this reason we always do a cash account. We just stick $500-$1000 into our account in cash as soon as we get onboard.

I didn't even know Sabor still existed! Their guacamole is amazing. Will definitely need to try to get back on a ship that has a Sabor! Wish it was still standard.

True. It's shocking by them all.

Personally, I don't mind tipping and am happy to accommodate depending on the culture (for example in the US). But I do think Royal Caribbean takes exceptional liberties. I think charging daily gratuities, 18% on top of everything and expecting you to add tips to receipts and tip in cash is completely excessive. We are basically subsiding the staff's wages as RC doesn't want to pay them fairly while they rake in huge profits, it's as simple as that. Personally, I do not pay the daily gratuities and never have. 18% is added to everything already and I would rather tip in cash for what I deem to be exceptional service, and I always tip generously in cash. But I just don't believe in the daily gratuities and think it's totally uncalled for.

You can get a train from Civitavecchia to Rome Termini and vice versa. It's very cheap (we were about 10 Euros for 2 people). Rome Termini is pretty central. Recommend using Omio to buy train tickets as other sites charge more in fees.

I can't comment on the courtesy shuffle, that's well outside my area and don't know if that's something they should have accommodated or not. However, I do agree that the general Windjammer standard on Symphony isn't great. We sailed on Symphony in April and again in May and we found the Windjammer very repetitive and not enough selection (the buffet area feels smaller than other Oasis Class ships). To give a comparison though we were recently on Oasis and the standard of food was very good. Also, Windjammer on Odyssey is amazing and there is always tons of selection. For some reason they really seem to go all out with the buffet when it's Quantum Ultra. It must just be your luck and it varies in quality depending on the ship. As @smokeybandit said, did you bring up these issues when you were onboard?

Yeah cheers, I did see some are about 50 mins but some slower ferries are double that. It's all aboard at 6:30pm so we will give ourselves plenty time haha. I can imagine plenty of people have been caught out with that before... I sometimes wonder in general how many people don't make it back to the ship because of things like that, or got lost etc. what a nightmare that would be!

Perfect, thank you The Capri excursion is $174pp... which as far as I can see basically the ferry and a bus in Capri. The amount they must make off of these excursions is unreal. We will definitely just sort ourselves out to Capri. Thanks again!