josh1324342

Tips were already included in the specialty restaurants' cover charge and/or your prepaid gratuities.  I believe this is just a way of increasing the cover charge without it looking bad.  On our last cruise, I tried to tip our server and he literally wouldn't print me up a bill so that I could sign additional gratuity when I asked.  We were in a premium suite so the cover charge was free for us.  He said even if he gave me a bill and I added gratuity he wouldn't see much if any of it. 

I'll add another vote for airtags as a baggage tracker.  We were recently in the UAE and when we arrived none of our bags showed up.  We were able to see where they were and eventually had to pick the last one up at the Abu Dhabi airport since the airline never delivered it for unknown reasons.  We knew right where it was and saw that it had been sitting at the airport all day and they never picked it up to deliver it.  It only took 3 days, but we ended up with all of our luggage eventually.  

The airtags will only ping off of Apple devices, so they definitely work better in countries/areas with a high amount of Apple phones.

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses.  I have booked the photo package for our upcoming cruise.  I probably should have waited until we were onboard to take advantage of the captains club pricing, but I didn't want to risk it being a higher regular price on board since it was already discounted precruise.

20 hours ago, alyssamma said:

Just to clarify something...if members of your party who did *not* pay for the package separately (i.e., they are in a different cabin) take photos *without* you, there is a good chance they will be eventually removed. You can, as @jwlane said, download during the trip. But if you wait until after when you get the link, their photos may be gone.

As long as we are in the picture it's ok?  We are thinking of doing it to get family pictures.  We have 9 of us traveling on the cruise.  It seems like that should work as long as we pay and are in the family pictures, correct?

We had a few kids on our spring break cruise this past March, but not many.  Mine was too old for the kids club (16) and had a friend on board, so they just hung out together and mostly played a lot of trivia.  I think they had a FIFA tournament one day and 3 kids showed up.  I will stipulate that we were early March and the cruise was still pretty empty overall.  I think we were around 30-35% capacity.

They did it 3 times on our 7 day cruise in March, once for each sea day.  Is that a typical schedule?  We have an upcoming cruise with 2 sea days so we are expecting it to be played twice, so my wife and I each took advantage of the pre cruise pricing.

16 hours ago, Nanci40 said:

Hi,  can you tell me how they handled the need for a covid test one day before flights back to the U.S. ?  The web site says there will be an independent company doing tests for $99 a person at the port but I wondered about lines.  Did you do that or is the internet good enough that you can do a monitored self test?  Thank you.  Glad you loved the ship and food.  Makes me look forward to the experience.  

 

You shouldn't need a Covid test to get back to the US.  That is only if you are flying into the US.  Unless you are departing the ship in a non US port, you won't need one.

7 minutes ago, Virginia100 said:

Forget Canada , go out of Seattle.

That is likely even a bigger challenge as all cruise ships departing from the US have to stop at a foreign port at some point on the journey.  So they will have to stop in Canada but test everyone on board.  I don't think we'll see a waiver of the Passenger Vessel Services Act this year.

2 hours ago, dgoz said:

As a person who has never been on any cruise (1st one coming in July) I have read several of these tip threads and can never seem to figure out what to do. I was excited about having all gratuities included in my fare so I would not have to carry a bunch of cash around, but these boards make me feel like I might be being "cheap" if I don't tip extra at the Martini bar etc. Is tipping in specialty restaurants the norm or not? I'm very willing to tip people--I put myself through college waitressing. I just thought it was taken care of in that always included. Is it the norm to tip your masseuse? Or is it just the norm for the folks on these boards? What are the average balcony cabin dwellers doing? I feel like the wonderfully informative folks on these boards probably have more discretionary spending that I do! 😄

I think you should feel free to go on the ship and not tip anybody unless you think they deserve it.  You do have prepaid gratuities for your waitstaff and room attendant.  All drinks will include 20% gratuity, and the specialty dining price includes gratuity as well.  I believe a gratuity is added on to the price of any spa appointments automatically as well.  When you are off the ship is where that stops.  When you drop your bags at the port, shore excursions, etc.  

A lot of people on this board like to tip extra, but I don't think it is the expectation by any of the crew.  I know I will tip more than normal on our upcoming cruise, but that is only because I feel like I can help people with the extra tips since they've been struggling with Covid much more than I have over the last couple of years.  It's something that will have little effect on my total vacation cost, but I believe will have an impact on those receiving the extra gratuity.

I would definitely pay for better internet.  I'm pretty sure I could convince my work that I could work remotely for a week at a time twice a year if I had internet that made it seamless.  That would essentially be two extra weeks of vacation for me and that is worth money to me.  I could work all day, but still enjoy the cruise ship food and activities at night. 

It would also be worth money to Celebrity as it would mean people like me might be able to take an extra cruise or two per year.  I don't want to cruise Princess as much because I don't feel like they have as good of amenities for suite guests as Celebrity does.

Princess Medallion and their internet.  Princess uses a different satellite technology with much higher bandwidth and lower latency.  Hopefully someday soon, all the cruise lines can switch to Starlink and I can work remotely while enjoying a cruise.

1 hour ago, LXA350 said:

 

so Raw on 5 is excluded from the complimentary speciality dinning that is included in some suites?

When we were in a RS on Millennium in 2019 we received $35/person to use at Sushi on 5.  I don't know if something changed or not since then.

45 minutes ago, mimbecky said:

So to understand correctly, given that I have Verizon I should be in airplane mode with WIFI calling when on the ship.  When on land, considering I would have the $10/day with Verizon, I would place it on what settings?  Does it matter?

I often get more accurate answers from those who don't work for Verizon.  LOL

 

Thanks

 

M

If you want to use your phone in port, it will use your normal Verizon plan's data allotment and cost you $10 each 24 hour period you use it.  You will have to take your phone out of airplane mode to use it off the ship in port.

Many members report that the email works better than the website form.  I have no idea why that is, but after not hearing anything for a week after I submitted to the website, I sent the form via email and about 36 hours later I had the credit applied.  

shareholderbenefit@rccl.com

6 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

My only thought would be to check with the outdoor oceanview bartender (who has a blender used to make icy drinks) to see if you brought him ice cream if he/she would make it for you.  I'm pretty sure they have milk and chocolate/strawberry syrups there.   I might try on my next sailing.

Why does it have to be so hard?  There has to be some demand for milkshakes on a cruise, doesn't there?  I don't drink alcohol, so the drinks package is a waste for me, there's only so much water I can drink in a day 🙂, but I could easily make it back in milkshakes.

If you've already uploaded your proof of vaccination, do you need to still show the original at the port?

Are the pastries a separate charge, or are they included with a dining reservation?

They may say that, but I don't know where you can buy one on any of their ships.  I'd happily be proven wrong as I would like to get one (or several) on my next cruise.

10 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

That’s accurate; until the summer they let you add on the mgm perks to any sailing then a memo went out.

...

 

 

Thanks.  I was hoping to get a little on board credit, but it's no big deal.  For my next cruise I'll see if the member number saves me any money on the room versus my TA.

I'm new to this, so I called Celebrity and they basically said there's no benefit from having MGM Gold status unless I booked the cruise through the special casino number.  Since my upcoming cruises were booked from a TA, I'll have to wait until next year to try this out.  Thanks for the help.

2 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

No.  MGM Rewards will match to the Capts Club.  Furthermore once one links their MGM to Celebrity, their MGM quarterly play may translate to free quarterly cruise offers

How do you go about linking your MGM to Celebrity?

Does anybody have a recommendation for a central London to Southampton transfer for 9 people and their luggage?  We'd like to all be in one vehicle together.

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Reading all the posts on CC and FB we have discovered all the perks/amenities others have been receiving for the category they have booked. We even took screen shots just in case (  and printed out hard copies on recycled paper). Our host/ butler had to take out a note pad to jot down all our requests. On one particular request he had to get his supervisors permission, which was not forthcoming until I produced a copy from some VIP that posted they got, just one month prior on a sister ship. They researched the article and confirmed the story. We got an apology and the perk.  Thanks to all of you...

P.S. We discovered that there are 'some' that are more VIP than others.

Just curious as to what all you asked for and what was the thing that they had to get permission for?

Does anybody know if they still do the pre-cruise call/email with the concierge for their high level suites?  If so, how far in advance of your sailing should you expect to be contacted?

On 2/8/2022 at 11:02 AM, DrKoob said:

Someone said you would get one of three answers: Love it, Liked it but not again or "meh." 

 

I will give you a fourth answer. I FREAKING HATE IT! Not because of what it is but because the replaced the best restaurant at sea with it. Qsine was one of the few places you could get imaginative and interesting food. They replaced with with a show. I was there for the food. Not the show. How I miss Qsine.

I agree with you that Qsine was amazing.  I loved the old menu with so many different choices.  We ate there twice on our Millenium sailing in Alaska.  I really miss that menu.  Qsine was my favorite dining experience I've had on a cruise ship.  

I'm on the fence if it is worth going to LPC or not.  I guess we'll see how I feel on our next cruise.