Charlie

with the cruise where the prices spiked, there were really good specials for 2-3 weeks in the leadup, so there were a lot of people onboard that had only paid around $58/night.

my thought is that the price hike was to help make up that shortfall.

We've just come off Rhapsody b2b2b.  During the first cruise, prices were standard & we were advised that the gratuities were going up from 15% to 18%.  No biggie, shouldn't be much difference.

Yeah right.  Those $9.50 drinks went up to $14!!  We didn't drink much to start with, but it was even less after the increase.

I agree that with the packages the waiters aren't as attentive as they used to be.  I also noticed that between 5-8:30pm when the Diamond drinks are available, the waiters played David Copperfield & disappeared.