rudeney

This was before the pandemic, but I priced out every option. For us, the best option was renting a car for the week and paying to park it in a private lot right across from the terminal. One factor was that we flew in very early the day before,arriving around 10am. We then visited the Space Center that day, Kemah Boardwalk that night, and stayed in a hotel in that area. The next morning, we drove to Galveston. Of course I am sure prices are much different now, but then it was under $300 for the car and about $75 to park. Oh, and on the return, we had a late afternoon flight, so with the car, we were able to do some shopping and see a movie.

Given that the auto-gratuities have not increased much since the old days where we handed cash to those four people (steward, waiter, asst. waster and head water), it seems odd that the cruise line would make them now share tips with all these other crew members. That would be a pay cut for them. On land, people who are not in customer-facing tipped positions (cooks, dishwashers, laundry, etc.) are paid a higher hourly wage. Lifeguards are generally paid even better due their training and skill requirements. BTW, on a cruise ship, the assistant waiter buses tables, and that is a tipped position (or was traditionally, back when we handed out cash tips). I am still very skeptical that these behind-the-scenes people are part of the tip pool, but that does not change my mind about accepting the fact that gratuities are part of my cruise expense.

I've mentioned this before...in Alabama, getting a REAL ID is a huge hassle. You have to deal with a State Trooper who would rather be out writing speeding tickets than doing paperwork, and they treat everyone like dumb criminals. You wait for hours, then about half the people who apply are denied due to improper docs, even if they aren't, like bringing your W-2 as a printout because you get it electronically instead of as a instead dot-matrix printed from from 1985. But of course you can't argue with a police officer. Anyhow, I find it easier to just use my passport. I've never lost it. As an adult, I've never lost my driver's license, car keys, credit card, billfold, sunglasses, phone, watch, etc. The only thing I've ever "lost" is my 20+ year old lucky pen that I usually carry clipped into my front pocket. Twice it has fallen out, but both times it was recovered (hence it being "lucky").

I still don't understand the idea that, "gratuities go to pay behind the scenes crew." In the "good old days", the cash tips we paid were handed to four people - cabin steward, waiter, assistant waiter, and head waiter. When did the laundry, dishwashers and other crew become tipped positions? I'm not asking this to be argumentative - I am truly just curious. And I would never remove the added gratuities - I just consider it part of the cost of my cruise.

Don't they still bring room service on trays? If so, order that and keep the tray for use in the Windjammer.

I always carry my passport with me when I leave the ship in a non-USA port. In the future, when the "REAL ID" laws are enforced for domestic air travel, I'll take my passport in USA ports because I am not going to the trouble of getting a "REAL ID" as my state is a real PITA about it. I simply don't lose things. I am very methodical about where my important stuff is carried and placed, so it won't get left in a taxi or restaurant. It's an important document so I take care of it and carry it so I won't get pick-pocketed. The claim that the cruise line will check your safe and leave your passport at the port if you miss the ship is not something I want to test. I've read a few stories over the years about people being left in port w/o a passport and it's not something I want to experience. As for the "small chance" of being injured or falling ill in port, I am more concerned about that than COVID.

Can't wait for more installments!

I was thinking taxes might be a wash - RCCL would have to pay taxes on the additional revenue, but the increased expense of crew wages would reduce net income. But TA commissions would be an issue. If they took that out of the additional revenue, then either crew wages would need to be reduced, or cruise fares would need to increase more than the amount of current gratuities.

When I had COVID (Original Recipe 2020) I never ran a fever. Taking my temp would have been a worthless attempt at stopping me from spreading it.

If you want aggressive, go to timeshare presentation! They need to hire these guys as police interrogators. After four hours, your brain begins to wander into thoughts like, "I think I'm going to agree to sign just so he'll hand me the pen, and then I can stab myself with it to end this madness."

No kidding! I see poor practices like that all the time. It must be why I have such a good immune system! 🤣

Oh, I know. I'm just using that as an example of how I might like to search vs. how the cruise line wants me to search. The data is all there and it would likely take a small development team a day to implement it. I am guessing that TA sites with more robust search capabilities may not even have that level of access to RCCL's inventory so even they can't offer that granular of a search. It's OK, I'll keep searching using the tools available and I'll keep getting "upsold". 🤣

Yep, and add in all the "Royal Math" they use in Cruise Planner to "discount" the DBP and other extras. I can see how a newbie would have a very hard time with this. Me, I just figure I'm going to pay, and pay, and pay.