Free Water

We've only been on one cruise and I'm not an expert. We stayed in a Grand Suite on Mariner.  We had no clue what the tipping protocol is for the lounge attendants or the concierge, so we tipped as we would at any club level on land.  We tipped our server for bringing our drinks as we left the lounge each night.  After the first night, he'd bring us bottles of water with our drinks without us even having to ask for them.

We tipped the concierge $20 on our last day as she was escorting us off the ship. Within minutes I regretted that I undertipped her.  She was very attentive to my family and very helpful in providing information to first timers. On port days, she would have us meet her in the lounge and then she would escort us down to Deck 2 (?) and get us off the ship first.  She was not afraid to throw elbows to get us to the front of the line either.  Maybe that's what all concierges do, but we sure thought it was special.  I really wished I had tipped her more, and I'm not sure why I handed her a $20 except that's my habit.  And it's probably all the cash I had left in wallet at that point.  Whenever we get to cruise again, I will be prepared to tip the concierge more if he/she is as amazing as the person we had in the summer of '19.

41 minutes ago, molly361 said:

Don't know what they will do but as I have said on other threads it should be vaccines for all or those who can't or won't including kids should not be allowed on board.  Doesn't seem fair for others to get vaccinated and then get sick from some kid that brings it on.  FYI I am over 65 and have not had any luck getting one yet so I might be one not let on board either

If a person has the vaccine, how would they "get sick from some kid"? If the vaccine doesn't inoculate a person, then why get it?  And if it's a largely useless injection, why would a cruise line require passengers receive it? 

If you have a future cruise credit on RC can you use it on Celebrity or can it only be applied to a RC cruise?

We're booked in a suite  for late July.  Our final payment date is coming up in the next few weeks.  I've read and reread the RCL FAQs about Cruise with Confidence policy, but this is unclear to me.  I understand that if we pay our final balance, then we can cancel anytime up to 48 hours before departure and we'll receive a FCC that must be used by the end of 2021.  But if we don't want to pay the balance and let RCL hold our money for a year?  What is the policy with respect to our deposit?  It looks like they are only waiving the change fee for the deposit, but we'd have to pick another cruise now.   I thought they were treating the deposit the same way they were treating the full cruise fare, but the language on their site treats those two situations differently.  Anyone else in a similar position or figured out how they're handling nonrefundable deposits under the Cruise with Confidence policy?

I'd email them or my travel agent, but my experience in the past has been that neither RCL nor my travel agent can give clear (or even correct) answers to these questions.  More often than not, I find the correct answer on here. 

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

 

If you cancel the 4th guest all of the money will transfer to guests 1 and 2 without penalty.   You can actually cancel the 4th guest up until 30 days prior to sailing and receive a full refund of their fare if you are beyond the final payment date.  

 

Just a word of caution.  There are cabins that hold 4 that have a restricted occupancy level meaning that they will not let you book them with three.  If you cancel one guest they may move you to a different cabin.  One cabin that I know that they have done this with on certain ships at least for some sailings is the new panoramic Oceanview cabins on Voyager and Freedom class ships. 

Thank you all for the responses!  I really appreciate it.  We're in a Grand Suite, so I'm hoping that doesn't create an issue with only having 3 and not 4 passengers.  I may try a test booking just to confirm that we can book that suite with only 3 guests.

We've booked our cruise for next summer and paid the deposit for all four of us.  However, it's looking like one of my children may not be able to cruise.  Will RC let us apply her deposit towards the other three of us?  Can we remove one member of our party without losing the money we paid for her deposit?  

We did the Coco Cay pig excursion this past summer.  It is about a 10 minute boat ride from Coco Cay.  This is not the original pig beach deal.  This  "feels like" it's run by a family, and they were still building it out.  There's a section of the water fenced off and you get into the water with the pigs.  They swim; you stand.  The workers give you apple pieces on sticks and you feed the pigs.  You can also pet them, and they'll let you hold one of the baby pigs for a picture.

The pigs do poop in the water, and that is less-than-desirable.  However, the workers are pretty quick to scoop it out.  The entire excursion, including the boat ride there and back, is probably and hour and I think we paid $90 pp.  It was fun and my kids really enjoyed it.  The pigs were funny.  But I'm not sure if we "need" to do it again; unlike say the dolphin swim on Blue Lagoon.  We'd do that again in a heartbeat.

How do you know which ships will be at Coco Cay when you're there? 

We're new to cruising; first cruise will be on the Mariner this August.  We're booked in a suite, but it seems like we could have booked a balcony and purchased The Key and saved quite a bit of money and gotten some better benefits.  As best I can tell, the only thing a suite gives you that the Key doesn't (besides a bigger cabin) is the suite lounge and a more expansive room service menu.  

But if we were in a balcony cabin and purchase the Key, we still get priority access on and off the ship and VIP seating at the shows, plus we'd also get lunch at Chops on the first day, internet and special access to Flowrider?  

I'm wondering if we should change our reservation and book a balcony cabin instead.  Any thoughts on that from those of you with some cruising experience?  Since deposits for suite cabins are non-refundable, can you downshift without losing your deposit?

Wasn't sure whether to post here or in first time cruiser forum.  We're sailing on Mariner this summer; staying in a suite and I have some questions about suite perks.  On embarkation day, is there a restaurant open for suite guests for lunch or do we go to the Windjammer?

I understand there's a suite lounge, do they have soda/pop in there?  Water?  Or should we plan to carry on some  soda/pop and water?

Lastly, just started reading about the Key.  Sounds like it overlaps a lot of what is already included with a suite (except for maybe lunch at Chops and restricted access to Flowrider).  That's not so much of a question as it is a comment.

If we wanted to book private time on Flowrider, can we do that?  And if so, do we do that before the cruise or once on board?

Thanks in advance for anyone who has answers.