the penguins

True - but we would be carrying it for "others" as we don't drink any alcohol - perhaps we should offer this as a service for say $10 a bottle cash 🤣

My thoughts/questions are: 1) Do you really need the Wifi? Our free Elite + Captains Club minutes are more than enough - share one lot and once that's used you will see if the second lot will last until the end of the cruise. If not use the second lot as a discount on a full package as by then there could well be a special on the remaining days. Free WiFi in every port. 2) how much do you drink? All speciality teas/coffees/chocolate are free if you are Elite+. Japan is port intensive so not much drinking time in the day. 3) if you are a couple do you both drink the same amount of alcohol? Do the maths (sorry math) and you may find neither WiFi or drinks packages are the best option. These products are priced to give X a profit I.e. the majority of passengers lose. No right or wrong just personal choices.

beds are high with lots of storage space underneath.

There are always new passengers joining CC who rightly ask the same questions. There have been at least 2 other threads in the past week plus one Poster on this one who said X doesn’t publish any breakdown of the tips and clearly this is not correct. The confusion isn’t helped by cruise lines adopting different ways to share the tips (or as Princess call it Crew Appreciation) for example with X each cruise is a cost centre in its own right whereas Princess shares the tips across the fleet - know idea how.

Also I assume they never had any sheets or towels washed and never used any of the public restrooms as staff in there are also included in the Auto Grats.

Plus the route for every day has to be signed off by every Bridge Officer from the lowest to the Captain plus the Environmental Officer before its submitted to Corporate. A system one Captain described as planning by Committee.

no your not - it's something everyone who chooses to remove the auto grats has to accept i.e. removing the grats means some staff work for less money.

a

it's like any other restaurant. If lots of people turn up at the same time you may have to wait. Worst case is you get a buzzer so you can wait in a bar/louge/al bacio etc. Agreeing to share a table can also cut the wait time. We always pre book for 6.30 every night as soon as we book the cruise as we like a relaxed meal and go to the theatre for the 9.0pm show. WNo right or wrong just personal choice.

Never had a cabin at the rear but always feel a vibration when having breakfast in Tuscan.

X publishes the breakdown and the current figures are shown below. If you were to remove the auto grats it would be impossible to tip all the people who woluld otherwise be covered (for example the laundry staff).

X does break it down and you can collect the breakdown from Guest Relations. The current breakdown is shown below:

Just like any restaurant if lots of people turn up at the same time you may have to wait Worst that can happen is you will be given the option of taking a buzzer and waiting in a bar/lounge/coffee shop.

We are Elite+, don't drink any alcohol and don't need 24 hour unlimited WiFi. For us any form of drink/Internet package is a total waste of money - the Elite+ benefits cover us just fine. We do like a large balcony - We use it for a minimum of 4 hours every sea day (cruise mainly itineraries with lots of those). No right or wrong just personal choice.

Unless you are making a contactless purchase you will need to enter the pin every time in the UK and Europe. The transaction fee doesn't show as such just the rate of exchange can be very bad on some cards.

contactless limit is now £100 but there are frequent spot check that require you to enter the pin number. This can prove difficult when/if you only have the card on your phone rather than an physical card. I am a volunteer cashier at a local charity/not for profit store and these checks whilst important to prevent fraud are a real pain. I strongly advise that you always carry a real card, we take to separate cards: one in my name with Boss (Anita) as the secondary card holder and one in the Bosses name with me as the secondary. One set remains on the ship for use if one of the first set is lost/stolen/compromised.

Never had a better rate from a store. Essential you must have a Credit Card that doesn't charge a fee so you get the rate on the day. Everywhere in the UK/Europe Chip and Pin is the norm. Thankfully the US is now catching up and at long last when we visit our family in Dallas we can get our Gas at the pump without any issues.

The store/ stores processor. Each purchase shows in the currency of the country you are in and the store will ask if you would like them to change it to your currency - sounds helpful but it just costs you extra. The answer is always "no thank you". The same applies to us on the ship as X will generously offer to convert our account from $ to £. Just make sure you use a card that does not charge a currency transaction/ conversion fee - there are lots to choose from.

you will be on local time at every port. Private excursion companies and private guides will all operate to match the time the ship is in port. No need to stress - relax and enjoy. As you haven't been to Europe before the following may help: Credit cards are widely accepted (make sure you have one that doesn't charge you a fee) and don't let the Credit card company/shop do the conversion i.e. leave everything in the local currency. You will need a little local currency (Nor). If you have any small bills left don't change them back just use them for any extra tipping on the ship -

ask as soon as you board if you can swop to Anytime - there may well be passengers who are trying to swop to Fixed

How many people save? Not the majority otherwise X wouldn't be offering the packages.

Princess are using Sky 14 days from Southampton - we will book if and if with a refundable deposit will hope to switch to X but only if its S class.

Not stupid. We we watch it before boarding. Go straight to the cabin pick up key, drop bags, go to muster station (usually the MDR on Deck 4 for the cabin we like) then to Al Bacio for our first lattes - job done.

We have already "pre booked" with our TA for Princes' Solar Eclipse cruise which goes on sale 23 May - X is way behind with this.

perfect explanation. For sure if it goes wrong at check in crazyank won't be there to take the flack. As an aside Southampton for one is a port that checks (or at least it did last time we cruised from there) that the whole party is there before even allowing you access to the terminal building.