AutumnDaze

Yes, I came here for advice. Not a lecture x

Obstructedview that’s great! Perfect in fact. Excellent advice, thank you xx

Yes you can save and save and not book until you have every penny which is very sensible but you could be like my poor father who got brain cancer young and died. Healthy man, life cut short. Live life while you can, I say. Xx

Hello

I have booked our first cruise for next year, me, my bf and our 2 young children. I didn’t select to pre pay the gratuities and being British I find paying for a service I’ve not yet experienced, a bit weird. I have read that the staff rely on these payments and I understand there are many workers working behind the scenes so to speak who will rely more so on this money.

Can you opt out of these payments with Royal Caribbean and pay those people who provide great service individually? It is pretty expensive, our son will be two and his cost is the same as us. So for 4 of us for 11 nights, it’s a lot. Can I just pay for the adults? Also we don’t drink alcohol so I’d rather more went to the staff that make our stay great and not ones we will not meet/ did not do anything for our family.

We are a working class family, this is a real treat, so I’m not being tight, just realistic. Thank you in advance for any advice xx

Hello

Thank you, I will do that.

I think for families it should be per cabin, x 4 is really pricey. It’s about £50 extra a day. I’d never tip anyone that amount. I know there is a lot of staff but in the cabin I will tidy after my kids and the maid will be paid by us anyway as it’s the same cabin and the same for any that serve us. It’s as a family, like in a restaurant. My son will remain by my side and my daughter is extremely shy, but if she does try and use a children’s club, I would of course tip them.

It took a lot of convincing to get my bf to agree to a cruise and with a added bill of approx £550 at the end, he wouldn’t be impressed.

Quite a hard decision really 🤔 I don’t want people going without but I think the companies should pay the low earners more. The staff higher up get very generous wages so I hope none goes to them🤔

Thank you xx

Hello

I have booked our first cruise for next year, me, my bf and our 2 young children. I didn’t select to pre pay the gratuities and being British I find paying for a service I’ve not yet experienced, a bit weird. I have read that the staff rely on these payments and I understand there are many workers working behind the scenes so to speak who will rely more so on this money.

Can you opt out of these payments with Royal Caribbean and pay those people who provide great service individually? It is pretty expensive, our son will be two and his cost is the same as us. So for 4 of us for 11 nights, it’s a lot. Can I just pay for the adults? Also we don’t drink alcohol so I’d rather more went to the staff that make our stay great and not ones we will not meet/ did not do anything for our family.

We are a working class family, this is a real treat, so I’m not being tight, just realistic. Thank you in advance for any advice xx