EmersonNZ

...Still waiting for the ability to make dining package reservations prior to boarding...
 

I must admit I really do love being in a country that doesn't normally tip and includes tax and all other costs on the price tag. It makes a heck of a lot easier. Ocassioanlly I'll tip for absolutly exceptional service but or if I seea a servier worker is having a tough day but it is certainly enver expected). It used to be a pain when I lived the US to try and work out the cost of a meal because you had to work out tax and tips on top of the menu price. 

I must admit I really do love being in a country that doesn't normally tip and includes tax and all other costs on the price tag. It makes a heck of a lot easier. Ocassioanlly I'll tip for absolutly exceptional service but or if I seea a servier worker is having a tough day but it is certainly enver expected). It used to be a pain when I lived the US to try and work out the cost of a meal because you had to work out tax and tips on top of the menu price. 

I must admit I really do love being in a country that doesn't normally tip and includes tax and all other costs on the price tag. It makes a heck of a lot easier. Ocassioanlly I'll tip for absolutly exceptional service but or if I seea a servier worker is having a tough day but it is certainly enver expected). It used to be a pain when I lived the US to try and work out the cost of a meal because you had to work out tax and tips on top of the menu price. 

I was in Texas for thanksgiving and the subject come up .
You Australians don’t tip ,such cheap Charlie’s. And I went through it and why .
At the end of the day they were shaking their heads and saying ,how did we get this system.
They said it’s out of control even the self serve check out wants a donation.

I don't understand why the sales tax isn't included on the price ticket up front. I remember buying something once in Fort Lauderdale and looking out what I thought was the correct amount only to have them ring it up at a higher price because of that pesky tax. 😕

So hardly ever?! 😁

I like Voyager too. In fact, I'm sailing on her this afternoon. 

I've solved the lack of variety issue by booking Star of the Seas for 2026. Used up the entire years cruise budget in one go! 😆

Yeah, when you join 30 minutes ago, you miss some of the threads that happened in real time. The original post in this thread is a link to a cruise blogger video on it so I'm not sure what your gripe is?  It was discussed here by a first hand person on the ship along with any who wanted to comment and then a video from a blog.
If this became as regular as fights and such on Carnival, you would hear just as much about it.  The 2 are reputationally different at this point so Carnival needs to have more clean months to shed their rep and RCI has to have more occurrences like this to move theirs.
Put in a little effort and you'll see that the "crickets" are actually singing a song.

Great news for those of us wanting variety down under - the Brisbane ports schedule shows Voyager home porting there from 13/12/25 through 6/4/26.

Congrats 👏 👏
I don't think it is silly. All milestones matter imho. I get my second block on Allure in Jan, putting me into the 200s, I am excited 😊 🤗

599 to go!

We booked a 2025 sailing on Voyager out of Rome visiting `Italy and Croatia.
You will love independence, we did when we did our Canaries cruise.

Yep, we just booked a June 2025 8 night on Independance out of Southhampton.
I really really with we'd get a Freedom down this way or even get a Voyager class back this way. I am so so over Quantum and Ovation.... I'm pretty close to trying Celebrity or Virgin just for a change of ship.

Yep, we just booked a June 2025 8 night on Independance out of Southhampton.
I really really with we'd get a Freedom down this way or even get a Voyager class back this way. I am so so over Quantum and Ovation.... I'm pretty close to trying Celebrity or Virgin just for a change of ship.

Yep, we just booked a June 2025 8 night on Independance out of Southhampton.
I really really with we'd get a Freedom down this way or even get a Voyager class back this way. I am so so over Quantum and Ovation.... I'm pretty close to trying Celebrity or Virgin just for a change of ship.

Good luck with the half!
My wife was an avid runner for many years. She switched to walking last year and for her last hurrah she completed the Dopey Challenge.

It's always a guess for me here in Australia working out when it starts.

Last year for us and our two-cruises booked...Our Black Friday Sale on 21 Nov 22 showed..
1. Booze package went down from $79.99 to $74.99.
2. Internet went down from $21.99 to $13.99 (We bought for both cruises)
3. Unlimited dinning went down from $208.99 to $177.99
4. 3-night dinning stayed the same at $105.99
5 Chops single night stayed the same at $49.99.
We keep a spreadsheet and track Royal Fuzy Math

As a computer programmer and someone that books a lot of GTY cabins I am sure the computer program holds cabins for the GTY reservations.  The program will show 1 cabin open when there could be 5 cabins being held for GTY reservations.  The only thing I am not sure of is how high of a level will the allow a GTY cabin to jump.  On one of my cruises, I booked a GTY Inside and got a Balcony.  One a different one I booked a GTY Oceanview and got the worst location with a Oceanview of a lifeboat.  The short answer is your cabin should be held unless someone overrides the computer software.

No idea what the repair entails. The circumstances that I heard for the breakage do sound pretty unique. (which I won't repeat because I have no idea how accurate they are and I heard 2 different stories).  Anyway, I was onboard for 2 weeks in September and the transpacific in October and they did not offer any compensation. I also did not ask, so I have no feedback for you there. Have a great cruise though!

Does anyone know if it is fixed? I noticed on the ships profile page on the Royal site it says it is not operitonal but not sure if this is still accurate. 
If so I guess there is no chane it'll be up and running before our cruise in Jan.

I've cruised from New Jersey.  Brisbane sounds quite nice!