marti314

It will be interesting at the end of all of this to see how much time you spent both directly and indirectly (waiting) to get the insurance coverage payout you paid for.

Popping in and out at a place like IZUMI or Johnny Rockets is definitely a possibility but keep in mind most specialty restaurants are fully booked during prime dinner hours so popping into say Chops for some Bacon App or Giovannis for a meat / cheese platter may not be as easy as it sounds.

Thats how tips are supposed to work, nowadays the mentality is "if i give them a TIP before they do any work then they will do better work". While this may be true it sets a terrible precedence as at work we call it Bribery.

The ships with more specialty restaurants went from 168 per week to 199, mostly Oasis Class and Quantum Class

Sounds like this was just a renaming and re-pricing. They raised the price a few months ago, about 20% but nothing changed so this may have been to show "Hey look now you can have 2 dinners" which any of us who eat at speciality know wont likely happen with how much food you eat and the added time sitting in another restaurant will be less than enticing.

with almost certainty they will just migrate the Ultimate into the Unlimited. There is NO way the staff on the ships will be able to keep track of Ultimate vs Unlimited for what could be at least a year until the pre-bookings are over.

It would be interesting to see the posts on FB stating people were charged with the drink package. I only found this one which says people were charged 2.00 but it seemed to be a service charge that actually was a computer error that day. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2529187-cococay-2-charge-for-drinks-with-the-package/

Do you mean replacing the steak dishes with Grilled cheese sandwiches, and the Lobster night with Hot Dogs? Only kidding, kinda......... ?

Isnt it great that you can observe them and say they are "underdressed" and they have the ability to observe you and say you look sharp or overdressed etc.... I stopped caring what others do/look like and focus on what i want to do. I love looking snazzy, getting some nice pictures and yes being uncomfortable for a few hours.

You will only know once you are onboard.

You will notice this on the BOGO, some people have been refused CHOPS on the BOGO on night 1 so it looks to be up to the cruise and likely based on the bookings at each restaurant. *Specialty Dining Packages must be booked at least two days prior to boarding and may not be available for every sail date. Each reservation must be used on the first and second nights of the sailing respectively. Packages include service charge and food portion only for dinner. Beverages not included. For venues with a la carte pricing, package includes a $30 food credit. Participating venues and cover charge prices vary by ship; additional charges may apply for food selections. Not available on holiday sailings. Not valid for premium experiences including Chef's Table and wine pairings dinners.

SOoooooooo true, and it has been reported that RCI takes an ADMINISTRATIVE % from the automatic gratuities for the distribution to the employees. So if you were to pay 10.00 in automatic gratuities and only 9.50 went to actual employees this would frustrate me for sure. When i asked this question to Guest Services i got a vague non specific response.

I agree with the pricing you can "get you moneys worth" but we all know we can get 40 bottles of water at Costco or Sams for 2.99 making them approx 7 cents a bottle. It becomes a question of "If you didnt have the package would you be OK just grabbing water from the cold water dispensers around the ship and dumping it into your own bottle"

I cringe at the topic of AUTO GRATUITY. If you look at what a TIP has always been for its to reward good service after service has been rendered. If you are getting paid a Gratuity or Tip no matter the service you provide then the 20% just becomes part of the price of the Drink/meal. You provide me great service ill make sure you are rewarded. The expectation of tips is out of control.

My personal opinion on these packages is this: When we pre-pay for something that someone tells us is UNLIMITED we want to "prove" that we can get the value out of it so we do our best to exceed the value by drinking more than the products would cost individually. When we do not have something we have pre-paid for we analyze the want & cost more closely. Ive never ever heard someone who didnt have a package say they had a higher bill than with a package. This is why these All you can drink packages are soooooooooooo lucrative for the cruise line. They know you might spend 20 a day on drinks per person if you just buy them as you go. They LOVE getting 50+ dollars a day out of people because the incremental cost of the alcohol you actually drink is likely 1.00 per drink you consume so they have gotten 30.00 more out of you and say you have 10 drinks a day they are out maybe 10.00 in product cost.

Mexico cant afford to do this, they would basically be taking the knife the US is imposing on them and they would then be adding 10 more.

Thats to say you can find a bar open early enough to make you a mocktail at 7 or 8 am (depending on when you get off the ship).

Curious to see if this idea changes on day 4-7 ...... ?

The average was 6.00 (just looked at some of my receipts). Anywhere from 5.50 - 7.00 for the non alcoholic cocktail. One thing to note is they use those sugary mixes and when you do not have any alcohol they have to use more to make the blender blend correctly so you end up with a very sweet and calorie filled drink. I thought i would do 3 - 4 a day to get my money worth but 1 was plenty. I had a real trouble getting value even out of the 20.00 a day, especially because the speciality coffees were all a single size and it was the small size. You really have to force yourself to go get things on your refreshment package to make it truly worth it.

There is no "Normal" Price, they just make up prices and discount from there. Retail is very similar, mark it up to mark it down, people love sales!

1) Anything you can make with alcohol can be made without alcohol and will be included in the REFRESHMENT package: Pina Coladas Strawberry Daiquaris Mojito Frozen Lemonade On ships with vitality Cafe: Smoothies Powerade Red Bulls 2) Yes you can do this, the refreshment package does not have a rule that everyone in a cabin needs to buy it.

Kids sail free promo added 300 dollars to each person for an interior stateroom on Liberty. Kids might sail free but in this case their parents pay big time.

Does APPL give you discounts on their phones for buying their stock? This is a bit harsh for something that is completely not required and is a nice gesture.

choice is the lowest level of the casino royale program and doesnt really come with any perks https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/casino/casino-royale-rewards-table.pdf