PSU

If you are flying from Rome to Philadelphia, there is only one direct flight a day on USAir/American so you would not have to choose a time, just a day. I believe it was around 11 a.m. or noon.

If you are flying into Newark, I am sure you have many choices.

We've done many cruises, but never a Med. We're on a 7 day Equinox cruise in July 2016 that begins in Istanbul and ends in Rome. Because of time constrains after the cruise, we'll be traveling around Italy before the cruise begins. I'm wondering when I should try to book a flight home from Rome. I know I'll be anxious to get home, but what is the earliest flight I could comfortably make? I was briefly looking at evening flights home, but most seem to stop somewhere overnight and then continue in the morning. Am I better off staying the night somewhere in Rome? I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks.

The problem is some airlines are very strict with carry ons, American Airlines being one of the examples. We are flying SAS and they only allow one carry on within certain dimensions and I believe 18 lbs. Sometimes the carry on itself weighs 5 lbs.

What is the price difference you are talking about? I think I would just go with the suite because if you book an inside with one of the adults, it might cause difficulty and cost a lot more in the long run. The adult that is booked in the inside could be blocked from some of the suite advantages.

I was looking at booking a suite for our family of 4 in the caribbean. When I price it out, it's cheaper to book an inside guarantee than it is to book our 2 kids (9 months and 3 years) than it is to have them in the room with us? How is this correct? With the 2 young kids, I doubt we'd eat in Luminae every night if at all, so should I just book the second room with my wife and second kid in 1 room and me and our other kid in the other?

What did you do in Bermuda? We are going with our children and grandchildren in August.

People are all different. You say that you would like to be given the choice of deciding where your tips should go. But if left to people's choice of how much and who to tip, some people would not give any tip (even if the crew gave service above and beyond). These people who do not tip in any circumstance ruined it for the rest of us.

That is why RC went to automatic gratuities. We have been cruising for years and when the tips were given in envelopes, many people would not show up the last night in the dining room (to give their tips).

It would be better if you looked upon it as a service charge For example, when you stay at a resort, you are charged a daily resort fee per person in addition to the room rate.

I worked as a waitress in college and I guess I have sympathy for all working people who have to depend on their tips for their salary.

QUOTE=robintry;46649365]You missed the point! I resent tipping anyone upfront for services I have not received. Paying this ahead for what may or may not be clean cabins and polite and efficient dining experiences amounts to $32 a day, so I question why the guest does not have the option of deciding who gets what.

Are you from outside the U.S.? I know that people that don't live in the U.S. have trouble adjusting to the tip culture we have. If RC did what you suggested, the company would be like Regent Seven Seas, etc. that include tips. You would be paying a lot more for a cruise and then everyone would be saying why is a Royal Caribbean cruise so expensive. Or perhaps you should look into a Celebrity cruise and book when they have their promotions (which include paid gratuities).

When RC left the amount of gratuities to the discretion of the passenger, some passengers did not tip at all. The crew depend on the tips because their base salary is not equal to the amount of hours they work.

Recently received an e-mail from Royal Caribbean regarding an upcoming cruise. It informs us that as of June 1 we will be billed a service charge of $15.95 per person per day for our cruise. Personally, I think this is presumptuous. On Brilliance we have twice had a head waiter who is nasty and for whom we wouldn't tip a cent. We've also had staff who are fantastic and for whom we would tip excessively. Gratuities should definitely be left to the discretion of the guest. If Royal Caribbean has been unhappy with gratuities to the personnel, they should pay higher wages and not have to sock it to the guest. This e-mail states "$15.95 per day for suite." I called Royal Caribbean to ask if it was only $15.95 total for the suite or per person, since the e-mail isn't clear. The answer was that it was per person.

 

Is anyone else unhappy with this? Are other cruise lines doing the same?

Last year when we sailed out of Southampton, there was no suite breakfast. But perhaps it is different now, We only had a diamond plus section of the MDR for breakfast.

We use the same travel agency and I have never paid "pre-paid" gratuities before final payment (we always have select dining). I think the problem is the travel agency's invoice which doesn't list the individual charges, but just the total price less deposit. I think if you call them you will see you did not pre-pay them.

Also I would see if you can get one of the promotions that Celebrity is always running that includes gratuities (depending on the type of cabin).

Well this may be your experience, and again, we are first time cruisers on X, but when we booked our 2 B2B cruises to SA in Feb/Mar 2017, our TA ( a major big box store that rhymes with bosco) said that because we could only get select dining so early in booking, we had to pre-pay grats. So, it was required as part of our cruise deposit. But it seems reasonable to assume it will be refunded if we cancel before final payment. I am going to call and see what the deal is.

 

 

 

This makes sense from X's side, except that we have to pre-pay grats that go to more than just dining room staff. Unless I have this wrong? Do the grats only go to dining room staff or are they distributed among room stewards, dining room staff, people in the laundry and other support functions? If so, why do we have to pay all the grats to all the staff just for the 'privilege' of select dining? Not trying to argue, I just don't understand this policy. And yes, we booked anyway, but it still seems rather odd to ask for tips for the whole crew just to be sure the dining room staff is taken care of.

 

ML

If you book now and the price comes down, you can get the reduction in price. So it is a no-brainer. Usually repositioning cruises are very popular.

Perhaps that is the way it was in the past, but on our recent cruise (in a suite), we got priority tags for disembarkation from the concierge and we were walked off the ship.

Both the Suite perk and the Concierge perk are for disembarkation at ports, only! Disembarkation at the end of the cruise goes by times that you need to catch transportation home or if you are walking off with luggage.

It is so much easier to leave the auto gratuities in place so you don't have to worry about it. I do tip extra when we are in a suite to the concierge and bar staff.

Maybe RC should do what Celebrity has done and have free gratuities as a part of a promotion when booking a cruise.

I like not to think about it. I guess I always felt uncomfortable the old way when we had to hand an envelope to everyone.

Love your review!!

Can you tell me how much a day pass was?

Thanks.

I will try to be gracious, but do you think that we should not eat together as a family because there are four of us in the Celebrity Suite and the others in non-suites? Suite guests can eat in the MDR, Luminae or a specialty restaurant if they want.

Why should a non-suite guest have to wait? They can just make a reservation for every night like I do.

Oh great....celebrity took away seats from the MDR to create Luminae for suite guests and reducing space for those not in a suite or aqua....and we have suite guests who aren't going to use their space and add to the load of the MDR.

 

I understand there are reasons this happens, but a non suite guest who books select dining and already has a waiting line caused in part by losing seats to Luminae now has an even longer wait because the suite guests are not using their space.

 

I suppose 5 more plus or minus won't matter in the larger scheme of things....

Our family is going on Summit in August with 4 of us in a Celebrity Suite and 5 in a balcony and outside room (other children and grandchildren).

I made reservations for all of us for dinner in the MDR (select dining every night) and plan to pay for brunch for them on one sea day in Luminae. I don't expect the concierge to let them in Michael's Club, but my husband and I will drop in MC occasionally when possible. My husband and I are paying for all the cabins, but I realize that our children in the balcony and outside room will not get the privileges afforded those in a suite.

I know that we will have a wonderful time (all the adults have drink packages) spending time with each other.

I've seen no official response to this and can not recall any threads where it was even anecdotally discussed. I'd think the Concierge would use some discretion and allow minor children in without issue. If the children were not minors, I'd honestly say that there is no reason to grant them access. I believe I have read that Aqua guests have had issue bringing minors in separate non-aqua cabins in to there even, so would think same would happen here.

 

The guidance given by the RCI consultant, is not at all according to the official policy. But for Michaels, is reservations are linked dining would be handled in MDR just fine, but given Luminae, they won't even be allowed in there without fee. Also they wont be entitled to any of the Specialty Dining privileges either. That a single credit card is used to pay for all passengers on the reservation isn't even be something the ship-side staff could determine. All they know is a seeps card is authorized to make payments, they don't know that multiple sea passes have a single card paying, even though at check in the paperwork is done that way, ship side, they just swipe a card, and don't get into how it is backed up.

You aren't bumped by a suite guest. You both can eat there. I travel in suites and I never displaced anyone in Blu when I ate breakfast there.

This August we are traveling in a suite and the rest of the family are not in suites so we are eating in the MDR. I don't know why you couldn't if you want to.

That if I book AQ...with the specific desire on my part to dine in "Blu"...I can be "bumped" by a "suite" guest who has decided to dine there...even though Blu is my assigned dining venue? I have asked before if I could dine in the MDR with a Blu assignment and I was told NO...so ...what's a girl to do? Go eat in the buffet because a suite guest has decided not to go to Luminae and take a seat in Blu...leaving me out in the cold??? Sorry...this does not make me a very happy camper!! :confused::( LuAnn

Hi!

Yes it is. I ordered the Evian for our cruise to Norway and it is 12 bottles.

That makes sense.

 

 

 

Norway from Copenhagen.

Just one choice available for $47 - I assume from the responses, although unstated, this is for 12

I always pre-order Evian on my Royal Caribbean cruises because it is one of the only bottled water that doesn't contain sodium. I did an experiment on my last cruise on Celebrity (on which I had a beverage package). I drank nothing but Evian at all my meals and I did not have any swelling.

I can't wait to hear from the cruisers going on the Anthem in the next weeks. I would love to hear what happens to the people that booked for Jaime's. I guess until they report on what happened, we can only speculate.

We are booked on the Anthem for next March and I wanted to treat my extended family to lunch or dinner. But if it is a la carte prices, I won't do it.

On the three Celebrity cruises that I have been on in suites, we never had to wait for a table for dinner even if there was a line (of course we only went there on one night of the cruise). It seemed that it didn't make any difference to the maitre d' that we were in a suite or aqua class. It was first come, first served. But since there was only two of us, it was easier getting seated.

That's what I'm trying to find out.

 

"old system" - suite passenger walks up to Blu at 7:00 when maitre d' knows aqua customers will be coming very soon...maitre d' asks suite customer to come back at 8:15

 

"new system" (run of the ship) - suite passenger walks up to blu and is the next seated, even if aqua passengers arrive, as expected just after them.

 

It's a question of what happens when suite passengers walk up to blu for dinner....are they asked to wait, if it's a busy time for Blu, or are they now just admitted when they arrive?

I will be in a suite in August and the rest of our family will not be in a suite.I just got the reservations linked and I set up select dining in the MDR for all of us at a certain time each night. I had no trouble doing that.

You can do that too.

From my experience, I never eat in the dining room the first night. We eat in a specialty restaurant because it seems to be crazy in the dining room the first night. That is why Celebrity gives discounts for the 1st night for specialty restaurants.

Suite guests should be able to eat in whatever venue they want.

We are traveling with our children and grandchildren in August. We are in a suite but the rest of our family is not so we will be eating in the dining room. I made dinner reservations for every night that we are eating in the dining room because there are 9 of us.

Thanks. I will call on Monday and see if I get a different answer.

I just had an interesting conversation with the Celebrity rep who takes care of specialty restaurant reservations. I wanted to make a reservation for Qsine for 9 of us (my husband and myself, my children and grandchildren) for Aug. on the Summit. Four of us will be in a Celebrity suite and have a complimentary dinner, but she said she could not take care of that and we would have to wait until we were on the ship.

I was just on the Constellation in Feb. and took care of my complimentary reservations before the cruise. The rep said that there were too many instances of complimentary dinner reservations going missing after someone went into the reservation.

I guess I will wait and email the Michael Club's concierge before we go, but I just wanted to make sure that this was taken care of.

Has this happened to anyone else recently? I was so used to doing this for my previous cruises that I just thought I would do it again.

No sky suite guests do not have access to Michael's Club. They do have access to the suite dining room.