Steve L

Well it seems going through any of the major online travel agency sites is the less conventional way to book a cruise. With the increase in gratuities that Royal has implemented, the cashback (if Orbitz delivers on the 14%!) will go a long way in offsetting that for my family of four on a 7 night cruise.  In addition, the on board credit from Royal should be enough to cover drinks...

Well it seems going through any of the major online travel agency sites is the less conventional way to book a cruise. With the increase in gratuities that Royal has implemented, the cashback (if Orbitz delivers on the 14%!) will go a long way in offsetting that for my family of four on a 7 night cruise.  In addition, the on board credit from Royal should be enough to cover drinks...

Yes, I did.  This is waaaytooo expensive for JR.  I will continue to eat their free breakfast on the O class but will not be enjoying the other meals at that price.  Even premium hamburger joints on land do not charge $20+ for a burger meal.  Push, push, push.  That's all they know

I just assumed this was an add-on activity that you could do, similar to getting a VIP or backstage pass. I would be very surprised if they only offer paid reservations for shows, but I could see them pushing paid experiences like the one you mentioned.

Thanks! Looking forward to it.  I'm always on the hunt for a better travel deal 

I messaged Ebates and customer service gave me this reply for my transaction.... Thank you for your email.  Upon review of your account, I do see that there was a shopping trip created and I can confirm that Orbitz was offering 14% Cash Back on cruises on 11/27/2017.
Just have to wait about 3 months after the trip is completed to get the cashback. I will certainly report to this site what the end result is.....
 

I tell my room attendant that he/she only needed to clean every other day. I don't really need more than that as we keep the place pretty tidy and I'm not very demanding. They get off a little easier when I'm on board!

I often do this.  I don't change my towels everyday at home and I know how to make a bed.
On another forum I see people leave negative reviews and complain that sheets aren't changed everyday.  Seriously?  Do these people change their bedsheets everyday at home?

All the gratitude issue is much more complicated than just what happens in RCL or even in all the cruise industry,
I think we all (as society) created a monster which is very hard to handle.
Before I am being attacked on being cheap and not want to give my money for people that work hard and not paid as much I will say that I give gratitude , many time very happy to give but many other times it is all because this is what I am being expected.
Don’t get me wrong, people should get money for good services they provide , but is it really should be to us to choose  ? How many people will not leave tips in a restaurant if they got a mediocre/bad service ? I guess not many as most likely you will get the shaming treatment  like the waiter saying something like “hey , did not you forgot something” or other action which will make you feel very unconfutable.
When I am saying we create a monster I am talking exactly about those thinks, sometime I am feeling in certain ports or even on the ship as if I am consider to be walking wallet.
On last excursions at Jamaica I was asked for tips from the one who escort us on the buss , the buss driver , the one who lead the trip with the horses , his assistance  , the one who brought us the box of  food  and even the one that stand near the place we changed our cloth. And it is not only there. Again , I would gladly give tips for good service and I understand they are not earning much , I just do not like to be under pressure  to give them.
You can even see in convenient stores tips jars and many other places.
Once I went with my coworkers  to a restaurant at Manhattan, at the end of the meal when we asked for the check  (so we can pay including adding extra tip as  we got good service) the waiter came to me before he gave me the check  and told me that he do not know if I know but in NYC it is common to leave at least 20% as tip , I guess he heard us talking in foreign language and wanted to secure his tips , what a wonderful ending for that meal.
Regarding all the people that give service over the ship, I am asking where it should end?  are we expecting to give tips to the cleaner in our local mall  ? , what about the people that sweep the street? , people that fix the electric lines in the middle of a storm ?  And many other examples.
Hey , if I am fixing a customer crises should I get a tip? ,  I worked very hard on it , did not sleeps for 48 hours and eat cold pizza instead of a normal meals.  What about if I give a very good training to people, should they tip me?
You can say, you probably get a good compensation  for what you are doing therefore you are not in the category of getting a tip , ok , maybe you are right but what about let say , nurses at hospital that gave me a good service or the once which are moving the sick people from place to place , they are both not getting much  , should we tip them ?  What about teachers  which to my opinion are not paid enough for what they are doing and what they need to handle (especially if they need to handle students as I used to be), maybe each semester the kids will get envelope to leave for their teachers (a good time for that will be before final tests J )
As Matt said, we do not have a better system for now, but I think we must have.
I agree that services should be paid out of the regular cruise fees and as suggested here extra tip for good service above what the job requirements   can be added as cache to the people or even better with the application from the sea pass.
Sorry for the long replay, but this subject really making me very unconfutable and annoyed

Please people check your credit card benefits that you use to book your trip. Read through all the fine print regarding coverage. You may discover that if you have a premium card, it will cover lots of the insurance needs without having to buy any additional. I bought insurance the first time I took a cruise but nothing since I picked up this quality card.

@Cez, thanks for that breakdown from Carnival that you posted. That's even more detailed than what @monctonguy was able to find for Celebrity. I had a suspicion that the tips were spread out in the way that was described, and it's nice to see it spelled out so clearly. I imagine all cruise lines follow the same model with this, so we can assume Royal spreads it out similarly.
And seeing that, I really do have to agree with a lot of the sentiment that's being expressed. Let's just take the person vacuuming my hallway. I may pass the person a dozen times or more during my cruise, I may say a polite hello or even engage in some small talk at the beginning or end of the cruise. But this is not someone who I'm actively interacting with in any kind of direct service way, and it makes just about zero sense to me that this person is getting anything that legitimately would be called a "tip" in the standard sense of the word. That portion of the  Housekeeping Team gratuity is really just a part of that person's salary, which happens to be subsidized by me and everyone else in that corridor.
If that's what's really happening, I'd rather just see this charged as an up-front service fee like hotels charge on top of the room rate, as part of my overall cruise fare. And then reduce the gratuity portion / restrict it to only the actual individuals with whom I have that direct interaction and can make the judgement on level of service.
Of course, then someone booking that inside cabin for $450 per person will be asking why they're being charged a 25%-35% "service fee" for all these unknown / unseen individuals, and stop sailing. I imagine that wouldn't help the cruise line's bottom line all that much. 
 
 
That actually brings up a separate point -- Why are interior, ocean view, and balcony all charged the same flat per-day rate when the cabins themselves have such a wide price spread? Aren't gratuities / service charges supposed to be a percentage of whatever you actually paid on the baseline service? I realize everyone's final cabin price is going to vary somewhat based on sales and such, but shouldn't it at least be some "rack rate" based on the cabin class? Same could be said for suites -- sure, their gratuity rate is a little higher than the non-suite rooms, but they carry such a premium that the gratuity is practically a pittance, particularly when you get to the highest suite categories.
Just using a sample 2019 7-night Southern Caribbean out of San Juan on Freedom, I'm seeing this:
Base $14.50 pp / pd gratuity Interior @ ~$97 pp/pd -- 15% Ocean View @ ~$110 pp/pd -- 13% Balcony @ ~$155 pp/pd -- 9%
  Suite-level $17.50 pp / pd gratuity JS @ ~$220 pp/pd -- 8% GS (1 BR) @ ~$346 pp/pd -- 5% OS @ ~$423 pp / pd -- 4% GS (2 BR) @ ~$642 pp / pd -- 3% I can see where people who thought they got a great deal on their interior cabin would suddenly be feeling a little shafted when they realized how much of their base fare was being added back on again as "gratuity". Meanwhile, suite guests are barely blinking at the surcharge.

Sure hope they aren't following the ON, Canada model ?
 Minimum wage in Ontario just went up from $11.60/hr to $14/hr.  That's about a 20% increase.  Going up to $15/hr by 2019. 
All jokes aside, I agree with @ellcee.  It is getting harder and harder to justify (in my own head) the extra tipping that we usually do.  It smells more and more like a scam each increase.

I was not saying that I felt that they SHOULDNT make that wage. I was providing concrete numbers as given out by Celebrity cruises as to what they make based on what your daily grats are. It seems there is so much confusion and questions around this topic.
Of course there are other factors and variables that we don't know...however, I think its safe to say that they do ok. Yes there is sacrifice and time away from family etc, but lets be honest..they are making about as much or more as what we make in North America..which has a much higher cost of living, taxes(at least in Canada) and keep in mind that many of us have attended college and University and spent $10's of thousands of dollars on education..and aren't making much more than the room attendants.
 
I don't care what they make....I think its just important for ppl to be informed and know both sides of any story. I hear so much about the "poor" people that work on the cruise ship and how if we don't tip them we are terrible people cause we can afford the trip to start with on travel boards that it drives me crazy. They chose the career, they know the benefits/pay and the downside to it(if you consider any part of the job to have a downside).
 

it's good to be educated, knowledgeable and be able to think critical when presented with both sides of an issue.
 
I am NOT infatuated with trying to figure out how much they make. But what I am annoyed with is all the one sided stories/examples/rumors etc when it comes to this contentious issue.
 
I get that they have family at home...they support others...they only work "X" amount of mths a year. But we all have our own personal issues and situations when it comes to jobs/income/family. And I am not getting into how far a USD would go sent back to the Philippines as an example..although its a safe bet it would go quite far so then that would be a whole other issue to consider.
 
At the end of the day...I dislike the fact they call these tips or gratuities...they are not. It is simply an extra cruise fee or tax to be honest. I would much rather tip based on the service I receive.....the way tips are meant to be. But if/when that is brought up, all we hear about is how little they make and how hard they work etc.
 
At least this gives some kinda idea where/how it goes.  And I think that using 10 rooms as an example is low balling it to be honest.

Hi @SaltyNavyCruiser15 ! Welcome to the boards!  What I found initially helpful the first few cruises is just to read lots. The questions will come as you read and then the people here are great at answering them.  Royal is way better than Carnival (although some will disagree with me ?) and IMO it is way better value than Disney (I've done 3 of those in the last few years).  The size of Serenade is comparable to the Disney ships but your money will go a whole lot further on Royal.  Have fun reading.  The links that @twangster posted are great.  And feel free to ask away!

Another suggestion based on what we've planned to do prior to our Adventure cruise - 
Check out Air BnB! There are a lot of locations in the heart of Old San Juan that could be more cost effective than a hotel, and are already located in the areas of the city that have bounced back. 

Everyone has their opinions, and they're all correct opinions for the bearer of them.  You think Royal is the best?  Awesome!  Carnival?  Great.  Think they both stink?  No problem.  
The issue with awards things in many industries (including travel) is that not only are these things very subjective, but there is almost always a business component to them.  Yes guys, that means when Royal gets those awards they're largely as rigged as every other award (as mentioned, MSC got "best new ship" for a ship not yet ready).  
The good news?  None of the awards matter, and as rigged as they are I'm confident they wouldn't promote or prop up a line which wasn't already beloved by many.  Just like individual reviews, pay attention to the things people like and dislike and why they like or dislike them, and then determine how much those things matter to you.

Here's my question, in the past you could go to guest services on first day and opt out of the daily gratuities. I am in no way trying to get out of paying it, my wife and I tip generously but prefer to hand it to the staff in cash and in person (a lot of times at a higher rate than the preset amount). Any idea if this will still be the case?? We have a booked cruise for next september with two other couples. 

I got emails from both Royal and Celebrity a few days ago about this as well as my Travel agent...they are really ringing in the new year with some cheer...
 
Suite gratuities for the JS??!...which is really just a larger balcony room is it not....what extra services and attention do you get in those cabins to equal/justify the higher tips you are giving the same as people in actual full suites?
 
Again, I am not against tips in general...but I am highly critical of how the cruise lines do it and how they try to justify/sell it to you. And then of course we all buy into it. I am almost at the point where I am going to cancel my "auto-tax" as I like to call it and tip with American Dollars directly to those who deserve a tip for serving me. If Royal has an unfair pay system and unfair tip distribution system, that is NOT on me or any passenger to feel badly for and compensate extra for. Come on...its a business for gods sake.
 
Love it when the same people who say Royal is a business and answers to their shareholders etc when people get upset about rate increases and not offering discounts last min anymore and now charging both people in the room for drink packages etc......are the same people who then say we need to take compassion on their employees who aren't paid enough and make so little and have family to support back home blah blah blah......its a business people..right?!...Can't have it both ways........
 
Rant over.....till the next increase..lol.
 
 

Thanks for those who helped me out.....I would not have figured this out on my own.....

On the upper right of your screen, you should be able to see your screen name with a pull down -- click that
Under the pull down, you will see "Account Settings" -- click that
See "Signature" -- click that

You will then see a field where you can enter what you want to enter as well as options to format it however you want (ignore the screenshot below. I was not able to remove it).
 

Thanks for those who helped me out.....I would not have figured this out on my own.....

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I believe what the OP's though process is...is by removing the prepaid gratuities you can reward those who provide great services based accordingly with the tips...much like what we currently have in the U.S. Restaurant industry and those who don't provide a quality service accordingly.
@whenismynextcruise  Comments like yours aren't needed!  What is sad is that there are a select group of people that would choose not to tip at all!  
We all know that tips are used to supplement the low wages that they (Crew/Staff) are paid, thus why the cruise entertainment industry implemented the gratuity system.
What i like about this forum, unlike others... members tend to be more relaxed and don't attack other members base on disagreements.

You can reserve a ticket before your cruise via the Cruise Planner. This gets you in the theater before others.
As to how necessary the tickets are, it boils down to how important to you seat selection is.  Do you have to sit front row center? Or is 8th row on the right fine? 

Last night on the Harmony of the Seas!