Sam Ting

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

Wow, the cruise lines sure do not advertise that their ships routinely hit things.

Because they dont, regardless of what you read on the internet.  To suggest it is routine is comical.  

With NCL, nothing really stands out.  Everything is mediocre.  I think families would be much happier on RCCL.  The entertainment and things to do are far superior for all ages.  We also think their food is just as good in their main dining room as the specialties on NCL.   

Amazing what they get away with. Seems like they continue to sell a product they know they will not deliver,  and then give you essentially a coupon to make up for it.

We always found RCCL to be top notch! Everything from the shows to the ships to the employees to the food. Never disspointed!

We thought the fish and chips and calamari were both delicious, and had it a few days in a row.  I cant really remember if we had to pay extra, so it must not have been much if we did.

3 minutes ago, quattrohead said:

Did you see the fire ??? Galvanized nothing will burn like that. Fiberglass as already determined.

I thought it was a loose gasket that went ablaze for some reason.

The whale tale looks outdated and cheapens the appearance of the ship anyway.

7 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

I'm wondering that myself. 

Absurd anyone would consider giving tips to crew not even working on the ship.  We remove the gratuities and tip as we go.  Probably end up spending more money, but at least we know the tips we give go to the ones who serve us directly.  The behind the scenes crew is not and shouldn’t be our responsibility to compensate for doing their job FOR THE CRUISE LINE!  

We always give 10s no matter what.  If it was bad we just don’t return. No way would I write something that could affect someone’s livelihood.  

14 minutes ago, VibeGuy said:

Again, the level of safety and redundancy is not in question here.   I don’t know how fast you think storms move in Alaska, or how fast you think this ship can move in the best of circumstances, but the sheer mass of regulations covering what the ship can do versus the conditions encountered covers such contingencies more than adequately *even with backup systems offline*.   Storms here are not “outrun”.  
 

It’s tasteless and ignorant to imply Princess would ever knowingly risk passenger safety.  Their marine operations are impeccable. 
 

take the bus instead. 

Didn’t their parent companies carnival ship get stranded several years ago in the Caribbean?  All that supposed redundancy apparently meant nothing. Why would anyone get on as ship when they know it cant move itself out of harms way as designed to begin with. No thanks!

9 minutes ago, Eaglecw said:

We jumped ship on this one. I was able to cancel the Crown Princess and rebook on the Discovery the next day for about $500 less than the what the cruise on the Crown was going to be, also got a little more OBC. The Crown is on it's way up to Seattle, moving at a whopping 12.5kn or 10mph. She got problems.

That’s great!  No way would I want to go on a ship in Alaska with issues that only allow half speed, and clearly has issues. God forbid something else happens to the ship and it ends up unable to outrun storms or ends up dead in the water 12 miles out.   Doesn’t sound too safe to me….

We have been on both celebrity and Rccl and find all things considered rccl to be more to our liking. 

On 4/23/2022 at 6:16 AM, chengkp75 said:

The real question is, what constitutes "doesn't work properly"?  Is it the cabin temperature?  Which cabins?  Whose comfort level is determining "properly"?  Industry standard is that rooms be cooled to 68-72*F, so if 72 is too warm for you, the system is working properly, but not to your requirements.

No, that is not the real question.  Are you trying to start another argument as usual?  The OP was asking for peoples comments on the ac who have recently sailed on that ship.  

2 minutes ago, wolfcathorse said:

We asked our Head Waiter from Turkey this very question when we were on Equinox a few weeks ago. He said go see Mary's house and the ruins in Ephesus.

We did that tour and it was really nice.  Don’t worry about the carpet weaving tour, that was optional and very close to the ship so if you did not want to go to that part you did not have to.

48 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

We are supposed to board her on the 7th going to the ABC islands!!!!😳😳😳😳😳😳😳

Unfortunately i think you should start making back up plans….

2 minutes ago, rudeney said:

I really don't see why this is such a complicated issue.  RCI does not include gratuities in the cruise price, so passengers are expected to pay them.  The amounts are clearly outlined on the RCI website.  Because it is "possible" to receive substandard service from tipped crew members, RCI gives passengers the ability to dispute those gratuities.  Unless that is the case, the gratuities are to be paid.  It is stealing when passengers dispute gratuities because they believe RCI line "should" pay the crew a higher wage.  Maybe the RCI should pay the crew more, but that does not change the fact that passengers are obligated to pay the customary gratuity amounts.  Passengers who have the means and want to pay extra gratuities directly to crew members are certainly welcome to do so.  Passengers who are scrimping and saving to take a cruise need to factor in the cost of gratuities, just like they will factor in the cost of transportation to and from the cruise terminal, the cost of passports, etc.

My understanding is the crews pay does not change from week to week.  How is that even possible?

It’s disgusting.  After using the toilet, I would hope one would go directly to the sink to wash your hands, but there is no sink near the toilet.  You have to leave the toilet booth touching the door along the way.  Gross.  Unless you say you will use a piece of toilet paper to open the door.  Clearly the setup was dumb and therefore never repeated.

1 minute ago, brillohead said:

First of all, I wasn't replying to you, so unbunch your panties.  I quoted the person and even bolded the part of the quote that I was talking about, and that wasn't you.  

Secondly, just because you choose not to set foot in them, there are still employees in venues like the Windjammer, Cafe Promenade, Sorrentos, El Loco Fresh, Solarium Bistro, Park Cafe, Boardwalk Dogs, etc., in addition to the MDR employees, who all get paid out of the auto-grats.  

Thirdly, by removing your auto-grats and paying your room attendant in cash, all you're doing is reducing the amount that the room attendant gets to keep.  They have to turn in the cash tips from people who removed auto-grats to be included in the tip pool, and we don't know what percentage of that pooled money gets returned to the room attendant.  You may give them $100 and they only get to keep $25 of that amount, where if you had left the auto-grats in place they would have received $50.  

Absurd that its expected you tip people that work in eateries you never even go to.  Do you do that in your daily life?  Just walk by a random establishment and give the owner some money so he can pay his crew?

2 hours ago, Hutcha said:

From a post 4years ago by @katiel53.....

This is the breakdown that Royal Caribbean sent me when I asked how the gratuities were broken down:

The gratuities for the dining room are divided among the entire dining services team including those that work in the Windjammer.

 

Additionally, all funds received for gratuities are disbursed to the employees. We do not use it for any administrative purpose or incentive for the crew.

 

Please see the breakdown for the gratuities collected below on a per day basis.

 

Stateroom Attendant: $3.55 Previously $3.45

Dining Room: $6.25 Previously $6.10

Other Hotel Services: $4.70 Previously $3.95

 

Total Standard Staterooms: $14.50 Previously $13.50

 

Stateroom Attendant: $6.20 Previously $6.10

Dining Room: $6.25 Previously $6.10

Other Hotel Services: $5.05 Previously $5.05

 

Total for Suites: $17.50 Previously $16.50

 

 

I asked also what was covered with the "Other Hotel Services." This is the breakdown I received. (Including the spelling)

The other hotel services include the persons who wash the bed linings as well as whoever cleans balconies or restocks the mini bar. Other hotel services include any additional person other than the stateroom attendant that may attend to any stateroom need.

Other than the stateroom attendant, they are again being vague on where the rest of the money goes.  What does dining room mean?  How do you tip an inanimate object?  It does not say waiters, assistants or any of that.  For all we know, it may only go to the managers or people who decorate the room for that matter.  

‘As far as other hotel services, isn’t the cruise line required to provide clean sheets as part of doing business just like any other establishment worth a damn that you would want to sleep in.  How about if you are in an inside room and dont have a balcony?  

26 minutes ago, Hutcha said:

Like you contribute to the server's wage ($2.15/hr) at your local restaurant when you don't tip. Same-same

The difference is the local restaurant does not decide the appropriate tip, and expect that amount to be handed to them to distribute as they see fit.

8 minutes ago, Hutcha said:

You're talking about publicly traded companies engaging in illegal activities. They have to account for every penny going in and out. If they take in $640K, tax free, and do not pass it onto the employees they face serious fines and run the risk of being delisted from the stock exchanges. The officers of the company can be sent to prison for fraud. My wife is the officer of a traded company, she's constantly afraid of something getting by her that will land her in trouble. I've seen the hoops that accounting departments have to jump through to account for an accidental million dollar accounting mistake. An intentional one comes with dire consequences.

There must be a reason they are so vague about where the money goes and make it discretionary.

13 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

Except that if you removed auto grats, those tips are turned in and go into the same tip pool as the auto grats.

 

Leave on the auto grats, and then tip extra, the person keeps them.

 

Do you also tip your cabin steward?  There are other workers beyond the dining rooms that get a portion of the tips.

You have no way of knowing that.  How would that even work?  What are they supposed to keep a log of who gave them money throughout the trip and then compare it with some spreadsheet at the end of cruise to see if they opted out of the auto gratuities? 

18 minutes ago, Seville2Cabo said:

Apparently you can’t afford proper gratuities after you pay the cruise fare. Maybe you should consider camping. No tips needed 

How people get brainwashed into thinking its better to give the tips to the company rather than those that serve them is beyond me. 

2 minutes ago, Seville2Cabo said:

I’m sure the steward appreciates the $1 tip. I hope they keep their toothbrushes in the safe

Even if is just a dollar, its probably more than they get from your donation to the company 

8 minutes ago, cruisetorelax44 said:

I don't eat breakfast... lunch at specialties. I'm not stiffing anyone... the cash tips are always appreciated,  and we've been known to tip at guest relations or anyone else who we have a lot of contact with... I understand why the auto gratuities are there, but for me paying them, I'm doubling tipping in most cases ..

We also refuse to donate to some slush fund the company uses to pay its employees.  They are purposely vague on where it even goes.  We remove the autocrats and tip as we go.  Never a problem, in fact, service seems to get better after a day or two, kinda like tipping the bartender I guess….