ldubs

Nope. Speak for yourself.

I'm kinda leaning that way too. It might or might not be a "slight" fare increase depending on your perspective. If grats are $16/pp then a fare increase of $32/day/cabin (double occy) plus tax would need to happen. In America, at restaurants, if service is good (not excellent) one should leave a tip. To not do so would be considered a poor show. Poor service would be a valid reason for no tip. So technically it is not mandatory, but kind of like good manners, it is done. On cruise ships, like you we want to recognize decent service. We do the prepaid plus a small amount last day. I can only trust the prepaid makes it to the staff.

Couldn't agree more. Don't wait. Do it now.

I think that is what they are trying to do. It is how they are going about I guess. They could roll all the grats into the pricing and just do a general price increase. I would like that. Those that pull tips probably wouldn't.

My experience at Guest Svcs is similar to yours. They often have staff identifying issues while people are still in line. I've had my questions and even credits handled without ever reaching the GS desk. To me Princess' billing error should have been corrected during the first call. However, like the answer or not, I agree everything after the first call was an unnecessary waste of time.

Who can say what might happen. Ship at pier by 8:00. Off by 8:30? Maybe later because of crowds with early morning excursions. Find a taxi. Airport by 9:15 (earliest?). Then check-in and to gate for an international flight that must board by, let's say, 11:15. If that was the only option, then the choice is easy.

Well, not good, but the lesson is the first guy had it right -- go to guest services once on board!

This was my first thought too. But then if something were to happen, the cruise line would be hung out to dry for disregarding their own policy. It is a tough call.

Take care of the scams happening with vacay rentals. Seems to be on the uprise. Major vacay rental sites have advice on how to avoid being tricked.

Thanks! I can honestly say I've never noticed a difference (other than accents). Well, of course age and decor will vary. Otherwise pretty much the same for the places I stay.

What is European hotel style service? I'm not even sure what US resort style service would be.

You don't have to pre-schedule shows on RCI. At least not on our last cruise. However, it is better to make reservations because those without are not allowed to enter until a few minutes before showtime. The roped off sections are for upper status tiers. I can't remember which one, but it wasn't ours. I wondered how they determined the number of rows to rope off. It sometimes seemed like a lot, but the section were full by showtime.

We used the app to book MDR times after we were onboard. Maybe we were lucky, but didn't have a problem. I guess we could have made reservations beforehand, but we typically just wait.

That's funny. I've seen that sometimes the line up for priority boarding seems to be longer than the regular (whatever you call it) line. I've been tempted to go for the shorter looking line, but always just follow where the person points me. On a couple of other cruise lines, they just waved our travel companions along to join us in the priority boarding. Might vary by how busy they are, IDK.

I had almost forgotten about those forms. The worst was having to dig around for a pen during a return flight. Haha.

I agree with all of the above. Skip out to grab the rental then come back and pick the fam and baggage up. Sounds like a good plan.

I'm guessing here but think the cruise lines are struggling to address revenue & expense issues. For us that means we have to pay more to retain the higher service. I agree it looks like some are quick to copy some of the cuts. I understand the frustration over what someone would consider a service cut-back. It will be interesting to watch how this continues across the mass market lines. I'm repeating myself, but was looking at a cruise back in 2000. I could do the same cruise line and itinerary today at half the equivalent cost. Of course the product has changed a lot to make low fares possible. Food isn't anywhere near as good as it was, a lot of the old features simply no longer exist, and there are more extra cost items. I can still get those things by paying more I guess , but right now I'm still happy with the product.

I don't know about Georgia. Here, it is pretty easy to go the the DMV and get a picture ID.

I've been known to enjoy a slice of cake every now and then. 😄 Unfortunately, I can't say if they have flourless cakes. Not saying they don't. I just don't normally look for it.

I'm going with a seat of the pants response. Being the first table to have an order taken might work against you. If all the ordered dishes come up for service at the same time, then the last table to order would have the shortest wait time. That is an 'if" that I don't know for fact. Just a thought.

"the cuts started almost daily and over the weeks haven't stopped or showed signs of stopping" That is certainly a lot of cutbacks.

I think I might disagree with you on this. Not because the info isn't available elsewhere. I disagree that those with questions should look elsewhere before coming to CC. The CC forums are for information. CC is in fact "online" and should be a resource, if not the first resource, for cruise related questions. Referring a poster's question to a google search is opposite what I think should be happening in these forums. Of course, referrals to other websites for specifics is highly appropriate.

Fact is there are a lot of folks who don't care, and might even prefer, cabin make-ups once per day. But, if you truly don't like it, why not consider a change? You might enjoy and taking one's business elsewhere will send a clear message. If not, I assume you have shared your feedback with the cruise line. For me, if once/day cabin service keeps the fare down, I vote yes because it is not an important item for me.

I don't do things I won't enjoy. If you feel you are getting little to nothing, you might want to reevaluate travel options. If you are willing to pay for the service you desire, then why not book cabin categories or cruise lines that provide what you want? For a base fare cruise, I'm paying al lot less in equivalent dollars to what I paid 20 years ago. I have options to upgrade the experience by paying more.

If one is not impacted why would they complain? If one is not impacted, why would they feel resentment? I think it likely that without all the changes over the years there would be much higher fares. Some folk say they would prefer paying more for things the way they used to be. That option is available for those who prefer it.