GJ_123

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!

I would imagine they would be very resistant, but at the end of the day they can't keep you onboard if you want to leave. Some people have to disembark if they have an emergency, so if you just said you had a family emergency they would have to be accommodating. I think it's a nightmare for them because it involves extra paperwork, if anyone leaves early.

Hi everyone, We have a stop in Naples later this week. We are keen to go to Capri again but as per usual the excursion cost is ridiculous. I just wondered has anyone does this trip without an excursion, and know what it would entail? We might just have to do the excursion if it seems like too much hassle, but just wondered if it's possible?

Out of the ones I have been on.... 1. Wonder 2. Symphony 3. Odyssey 4. Oasis 5. Navigator The only other one I have sailed on is Anthem, which I didn't think much of!

You've mentioned that you want to avoid carrying cash... I will say that MANY staff members have told me they definitely appreciate tips in cash more. Adding to the receipt just goes into the overall tip pool and they'll barely see any of it. If you want to recognise anyone's individual efforts 100% give them cash! Every cruise I take plenty $1's and $5's. To answer what you've asked (this is just what we normally do): Drinks - always $1 a drink. Speciality dining - will tip $10-$20 depending on how good we thought the service was. Room service - $2-$3. Stateroom - $5 a day. Quick serve places - I have occasionally tipped at Sorrento's. Lunch/breakfast - No. I think the important thing is to tip what you can afford and how good you thought the service was. Overall on the ship we must tip in the region of $200-$300 for a week cruise. I even tip the Starbucks staff if I feel the service is particularly good.

It's finding a game on the slots that you perhaps won't win on but pays out enough that the points just keep building up. The key is basically the amount of time that your money lasts and not having to put in more. To give you an idea in April my wife had $750 dollars free play and that lasted her the whole of the first night, just kept picking up enough wins. I think at one point she got a pot for $800 and another couple for $400-$500. On the first night she got 2100 points, so straight away that's 1/3 of the way there. Don't get me wrong it's cost us much more than this before! We got 9000 points once but that was probably more like $5000-$5500 that cruise. We are using the certificate for that next month, it's a Junior Suite on a nice sailing and we still saved a bit of money on what it would have cost us. Maybe we have just been relatively lucky. Maybe next time we won't get anything like 6500!

Virtually nothing I'm afraid, probably in the region of 100 points. The only way to accumulate meaningful points is through the slot machines. Unless you are spending 10's of thousands at the tables you will get barely anything. If you want Prime/Instant Rewards Certificate tables aren't the way to go.

Coming late to this too, I agree with what a lot of people are saying, chasing points/tiers etc. can get very expensive. A lot of it comes down to luck and getting enough wins on the machines to keep you going. Prime is 2500 points where the benefits are decent, but in terms of the instant rewards certificate you want to get 6500 minimum in my opinion which is an ocean view balcony or Junior Suite on select sailings. 9000 is even better (have achieved this once). If you can get 6500 points for say $2000 I think it's 100% worth it. The savings we've had so far with rewards certificates I think so far have been beneficial. You can even add kids to your cabin sometimes with no upgrade cost and you only have to pay their taxes & fees. I agree with what some people are saying that many people find the casino fun and a big part of their cruise. If you are getting benefits from gambling even if you lose, in the way of free cruises etc. at least you are getting something back! One other tip... if you have kids ALWAYS do your open booking with Next Cruise as a US booking. Kids Sail Free is virtually always on offer with US bookings and this can be applied when you make your booking through the casino. Sometimes if you are not from US they will make the booking in the country you are from. But I always make it a US booking. I've heard some passengers complain about having to pay to phone the US line, but you can just use Skype! I've phoned them multiple times using Skype and works perfectly. I can see the original post is from December. @ElmoHongZito did you ever try to get a rewards certificate/Prime?

I think the important thing is to tip what you can afford and how good you thought the service was. Typically we tip about $5 a day to the cabin attendant which I think is fair. Overall on the ship we must tip in the region of $200-$300 for a week cruise. Always tip $1 a drink. I even tip the Starbucks staff if I feel the service is particularly good. Something more than one staff member has told me is they definitely appreciate tips in cash more so I always do. Adding to the receipt just goes into the overall tip pool and they'll barely see any of it. If you want to recognise anyone's individual efforts 100% give them cash!

From what I have seen I think it depends. Some bar staff I have seen them put $ in a jar then they must split it at the end of the night. But others I have seen them put it straight in their pocket which they must just be keeping themselves.

Thanks. Yeah I think we are just going to try Explorer Thinking about it I think the only major things we are going to miss out on is the 270° lounge, Playmakers and the Starbucks (admittedly we really like having a Starbucks on board so we will miss that haha). But we weren't fussed with the North Star viewing platform and didn't think the speciality dining choices were particularly great on Odyssey anyway. Looking forward to giving Explorer a try!

Hi everyone. We are hoping to book a cruise with our kids at the end of July and we are trying to decide between an Odyssey sailing and Explorer. We have been on Odyssey before and had a nice experience but we like the look of the stops more on Explorer. We typically sail Oasis Class and are unsure what a ship like Explorer will be like. Maybe we are being too fussy! Has anyone been on Explorer? I'd be interested to know how your experience was and if you'd recommend it?

@Leroyr55 We sailed on Odyssey last October. Positives The selection and quality of the food in Windjammer was excellent (much better than Symphony which we just sailed on). Two70 is pretty cool and a nice spot to chill out through the day. Ship in general is immaculate and super clean. Staff were excellent, very friendly and helpful. One of the better ships for quality of pizza in Sorrentos. Liked that it was a proper Starbucks with seats, rather than just the kiosk on Oasis ships. In general we noticed a step up from Quantum Ultra as opposed to Quantum (we were a bit disappointed in Anthem). Negatives I agree with @Ampurp85 I wasn't keen on the Esplanade, it felt too boxed in and really missed the natural light that you get coming through from the park on Oasis ships. Some of the positioning was really odd, for example I didn't like how open Izumi was. it's quite off putting having your dinner and people can just walk straight through if they are passing by. Lack of speciality dining options! I felt for Quantum Ultra, there could have been more exciting options for dining. If you've never been to Wonderland it's a good experience to go once but don't think I'd go back. The Jamie's Italian was ok but nothing special. Odyssey could use something like a Hooked Seafood. Didn't like the Johnny Rockets 'Express'. Making the menu à la carte just makes it way more expensive and you don't feel much value for money. When we went I think the total cost was like $50. The proper restaurant with the surcharge is much better. I understand the Boardwalk/park are only things you get on Oasis Class ships, but I did really miss that. On Oasis ships it's really nice being able to sit outside somewhere that isn't the pool/sports deck. So overall a bit mixed, but we felt enough positives on Odyssey that we would sail again. I would recommend it

Ahh I see, that makes sense then. Yes, European cruise on Symphony.