rudeney

Returning to the spot where you were engaged is probably not going to be very important. I proposed to my wife (oh so many decades ago!) in a hotel in New Orleans. Neither of us can even remember which hotel it was.

Some things that are booked for two people only show on one person's Cruise Planner. For example, couple's treatment n the spa, Voom for multiple devices, etc. If this was a "driver + Passenger" excursion, it might be handled that way.

I also used our passport photos, but I took them so I had the JPGs and uploaded them. You can upload a photo if you use the website. When I did my initial check-in, I was on my phone, and when it wanted a photo, I just snapped pics of our passport photos shown on my computer screen. Those looked sort of crappy, so I went back and uploaded the original JGP using my computer.

73.6% of all statistics are made up.

Actually, yes, you can. I uploaded a photo via the app when I checked in on my phone, but later when I was on my PC, I uploaded a different photo that I liked better.

Do it at the art auction. You'll get free champagne to toast with.

So here's another thought I had on this...many of us keep saying we'd just prefer to have the gratuities added to the cost of the cruise. Let's say they did that, and cruise fares went up by about $125 - $150 a week per person. Besides all the suppositions about how that might make some people not consider a cruise because the cheap come-on prices would be higher, or whether or not it would be a tax disadvantage for RCCL or the crew, it would also do something else. It prevents customers from seeing the gratuities paid to the crew and some might end up tipping more. Of course that's not a bad thing for the crew, and many of us tip on top of the added gratuities anyhow, but it could create a pendulum effect where we go back to paying cash tips to crew on the last night like we did years ago. Now all we've accomplished is higher cruise fares and we'd still be tipping on top of that. Like I said, that was just a thought. I think keeping the gratuities in front of the customer as they are is not a bad thing. Some people will pay that as their tips and that will be all, some will tip more for the usually excellent service they get from the crew, and others will refuse this and have the gratuities removed.

For all practical purposes, RCCL operates as a US company and conforms to US customs like tipping. The crew have to get US work visas, and the official onboard currency in US dollars.

I thought that was odd, too, and thought it should have either been equal dollars or percentage. But the more I thought about it, I wonder if they were looking at a particular target number to increase gratuities for the crew, and given that there are so many more non-suite staterooms, that factored into the equation. Another thought I had is that maybe they looked at when gratuities are removed by passengers and found that most removals are in non-suite staterooms. This is just a guess, but I;d think people sailing for $400 in an inside stateroom might be more likely to remove the ~$200 in gratuities than people sailing in a $4,000 suite would be to remove the ~$250.

I wasn't specifically talking about ArriveCAN - just everything having being pushed away from people to computer apps and websites. I have worked in software since the late 70's and now manage the creation of a new software product for my company, so I am a bit critical.

I'd be good with that. But I'm also good paying it as a gratuity. Like I said, it is what it is.

I cringe because many people think that anything the government gives them is "free". Like 39% of other US citizens, I pay income taxes to fund that "free" stuff. And while it may be fractions of pennies of my taxes to pay for COVID test, I pay a ship ton in income taxes so I'm a little bit sensitive about it when people take this "free" stuff for granted.

THis is just another example of how the world has become much more complicated by computers - he very devices that we created to make life easier. Remember back in the "good old days" when we used to actually talk to someone on the phone to book a cruise, or a Disney vacation, or some other vacation? That US-based representative would tell us everything we needed to know, and we could call back and get more or clarified information when needed. Now, it's all DIY and dig for info on a website and if you need to call, you wait for an hour to speak to someone overseas who is difficult to communicate with and often reads the wrong info form the wrong script. I guess for people who can't or don't want to do that, there are still some TA's providing that stateside personalized service. For me, I sort of enjoy the digging for info, both on the RCCL website and forums like CC. Still, it sure would be nice if RCCL was more clear and less contradictory about the information needed for these complex transactions.

It's good know that document is real - I wasn't suggesting it wasn't just that it wasn't mine so I can't attest to its validity. I just don't get the whole aversion to paying the gratuities. I guess for people who book a super-cheap inside cabin and the grats are nearly the cost of the cruise fare, they might feel like they are being ripped-off, but having cruised since the days of handing out envelopes of cash and the last night, I just consider part of the price. I don't care if it's auto added, included, or what. It is what it is.

You are correct - it's all there when you pick a port, but why not put it on the main page of your cruise details? Like _ posted above, the information is not even correct. Here's another one I get when I click "View Boarding Pass":

It's even worse than not getting detailed information - RCCL is giving incorrect info! Below is what I get when I click on the "Healthy Cruising" link on my reservation. They know I'm going to Canada, and Canada requires everyone age 12 and over arriving by cruise ship to be fully vaccinated!

That makes sense to me.

Maybe (hopefully!) by then Canada will decide that cruise ships are not petri dishes full of COVID and drop the testing requirement, treating them like any other mode of transportation.

Regardless, they operate out of the USA and when sailing into/out of the USA, they follow USA customs, such as enforcing the drinking age of 21 even though they don't have to do that when at sea or visiting other countries. The same with no-smoking rules on the ship. In some other countries, people smoke freely everywhere (like we used to do 30 years ago in the USA) but the ships follow US-based customs on that. Another this is that even though they may be incorporated outside the US, the crew has to have US work visas, so effectively, they are treated as a USA-based company.

Since I paid for them, I ordered them. We've only used two so far, so I think we have over a dozen left. I'll be using a couple with Rapid Test and Trace for our upcoming Canada cruise unless by some miracle they end their requirement.

I still see nothing like that relate to RCCL.

You may need to help them understand that different countries have different customs. Visitors are expected to follow the customs of the country they are in; the country is not expected to bend to the visitor's customs. RCCL is a USA-based company and thus follows the customs of the USA, including the expectation to tip the crew.

I see no such fine print: The automatic service gratuity is $14.50 USD per person, per day for guests in Junior Suites and below, or $17.50 USD per person, per day for guests in Grand Suites and above, applied to each guest’s SeaPass account on a daily basis. The gratuity applies to individual guests of all ages and stateroom categories. As a way to reward our crew members for their outstanding service, gratuities are shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams who work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience.

How did you get that information? The only thing I've ever seen that seems to be any sort of official information from RCCL is a photo of a document supposedly obtained by a cruiser who asked. I have no idea if this is factual or not, but it seems to appear whenever people start arguing about tipping on forums. This would seem to indicate that the auto-added gratuities are in fact distributed to specific crew members:

Thank you! I cringe every time I hear someone call these tests "free"! We (well, most of us) are paying for them. Unfortunately, those of us cruising to Canada (or Bermuda) still have to proctor. ☹️