the penguins

We always select the cabin we want and refuse upgrades. Cabin Crawls are a great way to check out specific cabins without any risk.

Coffee card is great if you have "regular size" drinks if you prefer large it's usually cheaper to pay as you go. The reason is the card is punched at the rate of one punch per drink but often they will insist on 2 punches if it's a large. Check on board before you buy which system they are operating.

Nor any Celebrity ship.

Great it worked, still odd that it rejected the exact same instructions I sent at post number 2. Heh ho another mystery into the workings of X's "Award Winning" system. Perhaps the award was in the "Worst for ............." Section. Enjoy your dinners.

Big earners for the cruise lines which is why they devote so much space to them.

Hope you got that promise in writing (email).

Very odd, we have done this on every cruise on X and Royal with no issues. As soon as the ship starts taking Speciality reservations, usually a year ahead, it includes Any Time.

Yes. Go into your account on X. Select speciality dining, scroll to the bottom and you will find Any Time Dining. You can pre book for every day of the cruise, one day at a time, and the price is "complimentary". We book for 6.30, nice leisurely dinner and ready for the 9.0 pm show in the main theatre.

To all our US and Canadian friends - enjoy. To our friends in the UK we feel your pain.

Sorry, sent without "approval from the boss" who wanted to include: Rio Carnival and the Amazon on HAl, Maasdam. Norway Christmas and New Year, dog sledding on Christmas Day and the Northern Lights with Hurtigruten,Trollfjord. Petra and the Suez Canal also included The Falcon Hospital in Abu Dhabi and Mosque in Muscat on Celebrity, Constellation. All so different, impossible to choose the best.

What a question: 90 mph winds, 60 foot waves and a mutiny by a group of passengers - Celebrity Infinity to Antarctica. Standing amongst 20,000 King Penguins in South Georgia - Hurtigruten the Fram to Antarctica. 60 days, 5 x B2B Auckland to Seattle - Celebrity Solstice. Around South America for our Golden Wedding on Celebrity Eclipse included Iguazu Falls and, on the anniversary day itself a Tango Show in Buenos Aires with a CC Group. Christmas and New Year in the Med Royal Independence - included New Year Eve fireworks in Naples.

That's great hope it reassures others.

Please don't stress over this. Things can and do change every day and on every ship depending upon the current Covid situation on that particular ship. 3% is the trigger for any X ship to implement more stringent requirements but they will start by making suggestions below that. Just go with the flow and enjoy the cruise.

They will still carry plates for you.

Trays were banned years ago for hygiene reasons - it was impossible to control the washing of them. From personal experiences over numerous cruises the solution is actually simple - a member of the team in the buffet will happily carry the plates for your husband, just ask. In fact if you eat at similar times you will find the same member of staff will probably come to you. The other bonus of this system is it also gives you both more independence. You both get to choose exactly what you want. Enjoy.

It was also difficult as Any Time Dining became increasingly popular as in theory you could end up with a different waiter/assistant waiter every night.

It's simply charged day by day to your onboard account. Make sure you and your partner's accounts are linked and the amount will then be deducted day by day for each person. If it's only deducted against one name a quick visit to Guest Relations will resolve the issue.

Please quote accurately: it lists 4 specific people and then " other Housekeeping Personnel". Do you really expect them to list each one separately? As I said previously if you ask on board you will be given a list of how much the named/main people get, the balance being divided amongst the rest.

Just use whatever currency you have.

Be grateful. Were were part way through 5B2B on Solstice from Sydney to Hawaii when Noro struck on day 3. Within 48 hours every member of the crew with the exception of the Captain had their hours increased by 4 hours a day for additional cleaning duties. All meals had to be served which included those for the crew. To cope with serving the crew the singers/dancers/musicians helped out in the crew restaurant. This cleaning regime continued all the way to Hawaii where boarding was delayed by 4 hours whilst the crew battled to further deep clean the ship. Arriving passengers were crammed into an arrival hall for most of those 4 hours. All B2B's were forced to leave the ship either on a free excursion or to do their own thing . All menus, condiment sets, books in the library and many other items were removed. The Noro restrictions then continued for the first 5 days of the next segment ( Hawaii to Ensenarda). In total the crew put in all the additional hours for 21 days without a break. Uniquely Ensenarda was another change over day so once the departing passengers had disembarked there was a 4 hour gap before the new passengers arrived. As a thank you to the crew for their efforts the Captain arranged for a crew party to be held around the main pool during that period an event that the 20 or so B2B passengers were previeleged to be invited to attend. How many passengers were infected was never announced. We watched as "red dots" put above every cabin door to warn the crew of infection within spread along the corridors. On our section between the humps there were eventually just 6 cabins without the dots - including ours. Of course each individual passenger was probably only affected for around 48 hours but the cumulative effect was astronomical.

It's transparent - see your booking conditions number 13. Also collect a more detailed list from Guest Relations on the ship.

Use whatever currency you like on the ship. In your case we would start with any left over Krone or Euros as that's much better than changing it back. Norway is practically cash free cards are accepted practically everywhere.

Typically I apply after final payment, Royal says 3 weeks. 48 hours before the end of our last cruise we decided to stay on for the next. Applied for the Shareholders benefit the next morning (24 hours before sailing) and the credit was on our new sailing that night. How's that for service.

Some of the arguments seem to be more like a magicians speil all smoke and mirrors. To cover various points raised; 1) pay in other countries is irrelevant. 2) ships operate to their own rules. Roya's includes "auto tips". 3) Royal does make it clear about its tipping policy. Booking condition 13 (in the UK) is headed: What are onboard service charges/tips " and states they " will add daily gratuities to each guests sea pass account" - it could not be clearer. 4) if anyone doesn't accept auto typing don't book with Royal. By all means campaign against auto tiping directly with Royals Management. Will this work? Who knows but Celebrity passengers have successfully campaiged against Celebrity's compolsary AI pricing and now all cruises are available with cruise only and AI options. In the meantime accept that removing auto tips impacts on the earnings of some staff. Tip extra if you want depending on service - we do that. Above all enjoy your cruises.

This is Gabriella the coordinator from Silhouette 2019 - no guarantee they are all like her.