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And, what is really awesome is how their faces light up when you directly hand them cash.

The Suits at RCL group and the stockholders would likely disagree. The 'cheapskate' passengers paid to be onboard. And the more people they can get onboard, the better for the bottom line. Regardless of whether a person chooses to tip or not.

Looks like they got the problem fixed. For now anyway.

Same here. The Presidents Day 'Sale' isn't off to such a great start.

Thanks for the confirmation. When I'm about three clicks into a mock booking, the error messages appear. I know it'll be fixed eventually, but I wondered if it was just me. BTW, I've tried both a destkop and mobile device.

The Royal Caribbean website is acting strangely this morning. (No surprise there) Navigating around the websites landing pages is no problem, but the sub catagory links are malfunctioning/redirecting. I've tried four different browsers and keep getting error messages. Page redirects are sending requests to Snapchat, Facebook, Liveperson, Montate and others before displaying an error message. Is any one else experiencing this?

Well, depending on the strain, some skunks can't even tell the difference between the smell(s). Or, so I've heard.

Not much training is required. Experiencing one of them might make you forgetful. The other one you'll never forget.

On out last cruise, the pungent aroma of Cannabis was so potent that Security was roaming all over the ship looking for a stowaway Skunk.

These brands of Scotch are on the 'official' list: Chivas Regal 12 Year Old • Dewars 12 Year • Glenfiddich • Johnnie Walker Black • The Glenlivet. In addition they also offer: Buffalo Trace • Canadian Club • Crown Royal • Jack Daniels • Jameson • Maker’s Mark • Whistle Pig Rye. Whether they are available on any given cruise is anyone's guess.

Fun Fact: RCG corporate could choose to be 100% transparent and publically document the actual breakdowns of the pre-paid gratuitiy distributions, yet they do not. That begs the question; Why?

Time for some rebranding. A 'Guaranteed Stateroom' needs to be renamed 'Best Effort Stateroom'.

Unless RCCL has recently changed the pricing structure over to dynamic pricing, there have been fairly recent reoports that it costs $100 and is good for one game with a 10 person capacity. And, 'supposedly' includes 2 pitchers of beer and 2 appetizers. YMMV.

If you show up at a bar with the bag, unopened beers and a $5 bill in your hand they'll probably swap them out for any equally priced beer of your choice (if they have them) and ice them down.

We've taken many cruises out of Galveston as well as other ports and, up to now, all of them have had great crews. With such a seemingly sudden change in the crew's demeanor, one can't help but wonder if there's been compulsory extensions of the crew contracts and/or a change in onboard management, such as the Staff Captain or Hotel Director.

This issue on the VOTS has recently been mentioned on other boards. Here's one example verbatim: "I was disappointed with how we were treated by a lot of the crew. They seemed so burned out and over passengers. Some were outright rude. Like when I called and asked about the internet not working in my room. The crew member was instantly defensive and abrasive."

Here's a TIP; Life is short, so spend your time wisely by arguing with total strangers on the internet.

Yep, that's the way dynamic pricing works. Fewer sales= lower prices. More sales= higher prices. You can thank Robert Crandall, former Chairman and CEO of American Airlines for it. Although, he called it 'Yield management'.

And...The seventh rule is: fights will go on as long as they have to.

After reading through this thread, I'm starting to re-evaluate the definition of a 'shakedown cruise'.

Since it seems they're re-appearing, one could always ask the Revenue manager if they will be available when you board the ship. However, I suspect they won't be able to answer that question because they won't yet know if they're going to fall short of their revenue goals.

Yes, I agree. Employees willingly sign a contract and accept that part of their compensation comes from potential 'gratuities'. It's solely the cruise industry that decides how and what they pay their employees. It's ludicrous that people get mad at the consumer who opts remove the auto-gratuities when it's a stated policy that is allowed by cruise lines.

Interesting. And yet RCL increases gratuities in spite of that fact.

No Royal Night Menu (lobster) on 5 night cruises. That menu is available on the 2nd formal night of a 7 night or longer cruise. 5 night cruises only have one formal night.

You got me to thinking; Did the bean counters crunch the numbers to include the additional cost of envelops when they initiated this gratuity increase?