johnritt

You might and check and see if they sell ultra pasteurized (refrigeration not required until opened) milk cartons at a grocery store or on Amazon.

Thanks for all of the information. It's not that big of a deal to throw a jacket and tie in the bag, I just dislike wearing them on vacation. Not into manpri's, flip flops and wife beaters for dinner either. Somewhere in between works fine with me.

Does anyone know what night is formal night? Just bought the BOGO 1st and 2nd night dining package. Hopefully 2nd night is formal night. If not, still have some cruise credit to cover some of the cost of another restaurant on formal night.

Also did the 20% beverage package thing (too old to smugge). Anything I missed?

Thanks all.

We like Giovanni's Table best.

Thanks for everything.

There will be one formal night.

 

Cruise line suggestion:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&snav=2&faqId=255&faqSubjectId=334&faqSubjectName=Life+Onboard&faqType=faq

 

Specialty restaurants are "smart casual" every night.

Thanks.

It sounds like a speciality restaurant may now be on our list of things to do.

Any suggestions?

Hi All,

We are going on a little 5 night cruise on the Navigator of the Seas this January.

I have never sailed on RCI before and haven't had to deal with a formal night in some time (Aqua class on Celebrity and all of NCL).

What is expected and is it expected if you do speciality dining?

Thank you for any information.

Hi,

Loved the Reflection. A great choice.

I have always upgraded the drinks package just to have the flexibility.

Traditional dining is tougher. Some love it and if you don't mind dining at a required time and want to sit and talk with your fellow passengers, it can be fun. I don't do traditional and actually would not sail if it was the only option available as I don't care to sit with others than my wife and don't want to be on anyone else's schedule. That is just me.

We usually do the ports on our own unless there is a reason like distance, transportation questions (like catching the last ferry). Many new cruisers like the safety of using the ships tours. Costs more but worth it for some.

The Martini bar before dinner is a winner.

The cheeseburgers at the Mast Grill are good too.

You can look at the menu in the morning and hunt down a speciality dining deal if nothing looks good. There will be somebody around the ship offering you something.

Avoid the carnage that is their big sale day or watch it from the second floor. Oh the humanity.

Have fun.

...more like how to get out of it...

And get out of it on the last night so they can sneak off in the morning and get all of that service at no cost to them.

Really, how many people are going to wait in that last night line because they just walked around the ship tipping all of those who served them? Yeah right.

Flutter flutter. A bat just flew out of my butt

Perhaps we can get some guidance from how the tips used to be distributed until several years ago. Prior to auto tipping it was quite simple, you received envelopes and gave the money to the following people.

 

Steward, Assistant Steward, Head Housekeeper

 

Waiter, Assistant Waiter and assistant Maitre'd for your area.

 

That was it however it was not confused by Select dining, specialties, Blu, Luminae and whatever. Basically the people I mentioned got their tips and kept them. What they do now, who knows.

And the dining room was much emptier on the last night of the cruise when the envelopes were to be handed out. Surprise!

I'm not sure how the stiffers avoided house keeping.

Yes, I got that. My point was that if standard dining went away and it was all select that those who wanted to remain with the same time each night would be able to do that (I have experienced that) and it would probably help alleviate some of the waiting that current select people are experiencing since the entire dining room would be select. What Celebrity would need to do would be to encourage more people to reserve a time in advance (even day of) for a particular night, as walk-ins are the ones who would run into waits. To some that would seem to defeat the purpose of "anytime" dining, but it's still much more flexible than being locked into a 6pm or 8pm seating every night.

I wouldn't care for that. I'll put up with the wait or eat a little early or a little late to avoid committing myself to a reservation.

Thank you Celebrity for answering the question! Rest assured I will make sure the staff is compensated above and beyond the minimum requirements. I think a lot of individuals on this this forum need to stop making assumptions and unnecessary accusations.

Agreed.

And I think that if you reread your post from the perspective of your readers, rather than you, you could see and understand their reactions.

I have worked as a Barman and also managed F&B operations - not that this makes me more or less qualified to comment on tipping.

 

I stand by my opinion that the remuneration of staff is no concern to customers and simply a matter between staff and their employer. No doubt the tipping culture us encouraged by the employer and the staff to avoid taxation issues. I have happily paid income tax since I was 16 and have no sympathy with tax evasion or avoidance , legal or otherwise.

 

If Celebrity allow me to remove the AutoGrats then I will continue to do so.

 

 

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Do you remove tips on the first day and let the staff know that they get the opportunity to serve you for little or no remuneration or do you remove them as late as possible and then sneak off the ship?

Will be gong on a 14 night cruise shortly. I was wondering what is the latest the auto gratuities on my onboard account can be removed. Can it be removed the last night of the cruise or does it have to be by a certain day? Thanks for your input.

Why remove them the last night of the cruise?

We visited in January.

The sand was fine and I didn't mind the food. Burgers and BBQ. We found shade and enjoyed the water.

What I didn't like were the markets, and the constant looking for tips. I didn't plan for bathroom attendants handing me paper towels looking for money or shuttle drivers looking for money. I brought cash for the beach guy because I knew about him. Everyone else surprised me as I hadn't heard of this before. (It was our first visit)

The cruise line should pay these people and pay them fairly. Needing to tip a guy to keep the bathroom clean or drive the shuttle in an area owned and developed by the cruise line is pretty cheesy.

To me, food is food. I can usually find something decent most anywhere. I've only sailed on Celebrity once and that was in aqua class. I liked it because of the seating and size of the room. I liked the table for two, the food was fine, and so it all worked well for me. My wife liked that part of it too and loved the tea (don't ask me why) and other doodads that were offered, so it worked out well for her too.

We are in an aqua class stateroom in a couple of weeks and we will see if all still holds true.

We couldn't beat the 123 price when we booked but we'd have to look closely at the good better best thing they have going on now.

At 1 and 3, they will be with you or yours most all the time anyway. So take the cruise you want to take. You'll have to compromise down the road to please both them and you soon enough. But not yet. They'll have fun being with you having fun.

You can always teach them to throw Cheerios at the grumpy people so they will leave and book only adults only cruises in the future. 😀

Then we all win as kids are way more fun than grumps in my book.

(I really didn't mean it about teaching them to throw Cheerios. I figure you know that but grumpy people can be so literal.)

I keep hoping Apple watches show up before I sail in January.

SailEd the reflection, 2nd week in Jan. 2014, in aquaclass for $1299 including grats, classic beverage package and $200 on board spending.

Sailing the Silouette same week in 2016 for $50 less per person in cruise fare (aquaclass), grats, classic beverage package and $400 on board spending.

Some difference may be difference between eastern v. Western but $300 cheaper 2 years later keeps me thinking that the prices are still pretty good.

You should try to remember what you paid, because if you look it up you will see that Celebrity had a 50% recommended gratuity rate for children until 2005 or so. The was the same for most cruise lines until recently...

 

We will probably remove them all on day one and pay the recommended gratuity rate for the two adults in the rooms plus whatever we feel like paying for the baby whichever way possible. I won't have any problems looking into their eyes...

The difference is is that I knew of and followed their policies. So the crew got paid. You know of but won't follow their policies. So the crew won't get paid.

And thank you for answering my question. I sincerely appreciate your answer.

How much did you pay in gratuities? Did you pay the adult rate when until mid-2000s the gratuity rate for children under 5 was 50% of the adult gratuity rates? You keep talking like Celebrity employees work for the cruise line for free!

 

And why are you so concerned about when or how I remove the automated gratuity charges? You keep repeating the same question...

You know, I don't remember what I paid. It was some time ago when they were little. I just know that I did and that I, at a minimum, followed the policies of the time.

No, they don't work for free. They work for gratuities. Unless they don't recieve them. Then they work for free.

As far as removing the gratuities, I am curious wondering whether or not you will tell them when you board that you're not paying them for their efforts or if you're not going tell them at all, remove the gratuities on the last night, and try to get off the ship without having to look them in the eye.

Oh no, those babies/toddlers bring in a boat load of revenue what with the formula tastings, diaper shows, the kidsino, and all of the speciality dinners they consume.

I do wonder if she is going to tell the people who are helping and cleaning up after the little one that they are doing it for free, or if she will just take the gratuities off on the last night of the cruise like so many righteous others do?

and what too many forget is: if we had no DSC, the basic rate of the cruise would be increased to cover any additional salaries the cruise line has to pay. I am always suspecious of people who say, they want to pay individuals independently. I wonder how much they really pay those individuals? I can remember the days when we did our tipping the last night. It was always amazing how many didn't show up for dinner that night. And people, this is one of the reasons a DSC has been added.

 

How many people have noticed an increase in service charges versus tips in restaurants, especially in Fl or the number of hotels that have added a resort tax? Or the countries who have used Service charge policy for years. Bahamas is one. They have used if for as long as I can remember. Some hotel restaurants in UK are now doing the same. It isn't just the cruise industry.

I might actually have just a tiny bit of respect for those righteous non tippers if they actually had the courage or honor to tell those who are serving them that they would not pay them for their work and all that they were doing would be for free, and do this on the first day of their cruise.

But who am I kidding. Cowardly little sneak thieves would never do that. It would require courage, and thieves have no honor anyway.

I would love to see the service charge become mandatory. It would lead to a better class of cruiser, as the thieves would go elsewhere and I could probably worry less about someone stealing my camera.

It's a real shame when the cruise line don't pay their behind the scene employees. I agree but it's not my problem. I have my own charities, and ncl is not on my list.

You see, I know about the service charge, knew about it when I booked all of my cruises. I understood it was how many of the crew got the vast majority of their pay for working, and I chose not to be a low life and scam the system. I chose to not have them work for me for free, and I chose not to sneak off of the ship like a coward.

I will continue to choose to pay the service charge in the future. If I was so opposed to paying a service charge, I would choose to sail a line that did not use a service charge to pay the crew, rather than sneaking around getting the crew to work for me for free.

Paying the crew isn't a charity. They work for a living.

Before, nothing needed to be left because the wait staff in the specialty restaurants were part of the DSC. NOW, NCL is trying to say they aren't in the DSC so it's 18% more than it used to be, not the 3% you are stating.

Not for me. I have noted the difference in service and have tipped accordingly. Thus the 3% difference for me.

I technically didn't have to tip the room service delivery either. But I did.

But even if it was 18% or around $12 or so for my wife and me, I still wouldn't screw up the enjoyment of my vacation over it as I don't have the time or money for as many vacations as I would like now. Spending the money for a vacation and then not maximizing the vacation because I was pissed off at the supplier of the vacation is not for me.

I might not use them again in the future, but I am not screwing up the one I'm on.

Got a lot of people cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

I am not going to not buy a drink because it now has an additional 30 cent tip. I am not going to skip room service because the fee is $3 more than I usually leave for meal delivery. And though I have rarely done the speciality dining, the 18% isn't much more than the 15% I have left before.

The attitude of NCL might keep me from booking them again (on Celebrity for the last and next cruise), but skipping crap that I enjoy on a vacation that I am already committed to to spite a corporation seems kind of stupid to me.

And screwing the crew is like going home and kicking your dog when you've had a bad day. It's just a low life thing to do.

I personally would not travel all the way from Indiana just to go to the Bahamas. The Caribbean is much more fun (for me) and you generally sail on nicer and newer ships too.