sanger727

I get it. But that is how it has worked out. Making tipping feel more compulsory since the employee isn't getting paid if you don't tip. When I waitressed, we also had to tip out the bar staff, the hostess, and the bussers based on your sales. Altogether that was about 30% of my tips. So, not only were the customers responsible for paying me, I was responsible for paying some back of the house employees.

Right, except on the back end they are losing their pay. It's as if your employer gives you an unexpected $200 bonus; so you are extremely appreciative. And then when you get your paycheck you were docked $180.

Yes. In most of the country, positions that usually receive tips make much less than minimum wage. The idea being that their wages are predominately their tips so the employer doesn't need to pay them. If they are receiving full pay from their employer, a 20% tip on top seems overkill.

It's standard practice at a land restaurant to not charge you for a dish you send back for being cooked improperly. I wouldn't expect them to count it as one of you two entrees if you send something back.

Enhanced driver's license isn't needed for "real-id". Only some states offer enhanced driver's license and it essentially has the same functionality as a passport card. all states, AFAIK, offer "real id'. All we had to do for that was show our birth certificates and a bill with our name and home address. I don't think it cost any extra. We just had to wait a couple weeks for it to be mailed to our house.

Cruise lines have contracted minimum wages, just like a restaurant does. As you know, when you are wait staff you are guaranteed minimum wage by your employer and if your tipped income doesn't meet that they have to make up the difference. However, most wait staff exceed minimum wage with tips. Cruise lines are the same way, yes, they are guaranteed their minimum wage, but with tips they should exceed it. The auto grats are designed to fairly compensate the staff and give them some guarantees of the pay they should expect. Removing those is likely to reduce their pay unless you make up the same amount in cash tips. Seems like a selfish way to make yourself feel good by letting them think you are tipping them extra, and then taking back their normal pay to justify it.

For me, personally, 6-8 hours of travel time to get into and out of Paris sounds like a nightmare. Our absolute favorite thing about traveling in Europe is to take a few days to experience the city. I would take option 2, but you will have to cancel your air with NCL. They will deviate by up to 2 days, but they won't deviate to a different airport.

Just curious what the cruise appeal is? This NCL cruise is allowed because it starts and ends in Hawaii. It would be just as easy to fly to Hawaii for a land trip. As others have said, there is no way any other cruise would work because they all leave the US. Why not go to Florida or somewhere else on a land trip so you aren't shackled to one itinerary.

Thailand and Vietnam are incredibly cheap countries. You can easily book a hotel through any of the major booking sites at a fantastic price. The best price for shore excursions will be to rent a vehicle and guide for the day and split the cost with another group on your roll call. We did two days through "Your Thai Guide" when we were there. The guide was $100 per day. We used public transport since we were already in the city, but you can rent a car from them for $100 per day. Up to 4 people can take the tour so, you are talking about a full day private tour for $50 each. Our guide was wonderful. Your Thai Guide - see Thailand differently with a private tour guide

This sounds like a problem without an easy solution. The large family group that wants to play games, where exactly are they to go? If they go to an inside area they will either be stuck in an empty lounge with no drink service; or be clogging up tables in whatever room they are in. I don't personally see an issue with people using buffet tables to congregate, I've never been on a cruise where there wasn't sufficient seating if you were willing to go outside.

It certainly sounds like the ship's security is not competent to deal with an issue like this. I think that complaining to the cruise line about the staff's response is entirely reasonable and justified. I would not put any effort into finding a police department with jurisdiction to report this to. Between the lack of witness statements, investigation, and security footage- its difficult to believe any law enforcement agency would find sufficient evidence to prosecute. Also, they would have to find the person, get a local police department to arrest and extradite, which is incredibly unlikely for a low level offense.

Outside of the example of someone wanting extra lobster, I have a really hard time seeing someone needing more than 2 entrees. Unless someone is just ordering to have a few bites of each; and in that case by all means, charge them for wasting all that food. I believe starters are unlimited. You could always hit up the buffet if still hungry after dinner I guess.

If it helps, I don't think this issue is isolated to Celebrity and their flights Did Norwegian Cruise Line really cancel this family's cruise over a $112 transfer? - Consumer Rescue

The plane situation is crazy. And I can certainly understand how a very well trained dog would not understand that that litter box was a place to go potty!

Sure, and just pointing out that 3-4 oz isn't a "taste".

Eh, I think this may be a very small part of the issue. I personally, would never consider using my phone without headphones because I forgot to bring them. I think it's more a symptom of the social media age where people feel the need to create videos to post constantly and using facetime instead of making phone calls so they can show off where they are.

3-4 ounces is the correct portion size for meat by any nutritional guide. Not sure why lobster would be different than chicken or beef.

Yes, in California, servers are certainly being paid extremely well. I think that there should be some accepted adjustment of tips if the servers are also making minimum wage. When I waitressed. Minimum wage was roughly $8 an hour, and tipped minimum wage was roughly $2 an hour. With my tipped minimum wage and tips, across the course of a week, I averaged approx $12 an hour. So, better than minimum wage, but not by much. Customer service is a tricky thing. My biggest issue was guys that were flirtatious; flirting for tips wasn't my job, but people who did made more. I currently have a job with a large customer service component and still have to deal with the same bad jokes, pretending to be pleasant in an unpleasant situation, and dealing with some mild sexual harassment. The difference is that I am paid much better now. And if I loose my cool and tell someone how inappropriate they are being, my pay doesn't go down.

Spitting in your food is disgusting, not an assault. Presumably they believed that you may have done or said something that escalated the situation to reach the point of a thrown drink. Maybe that's an assault where you live, it's not where I live. It may not be in the ship's flag country either. Also, the police getting involved isn't necessarily a good thing for you. The most they could do is arrest him. So, let's say you disembarked in the Caribbean, they arrested this guy and carted him off to jail. You would have to return to the Caribbean for any court date. It would almost certainly be more work than it's worth.

Way to totally miss the point. I'm certainly not suggesting that this item is profitable or viable. I don't see the appeal myself. Just reacting to the general negativity on this forum. This VR headset can't be more difficult to implement than a 3D theater. Yet, at some point they though that was financially viable.

You can do a single log in. The only time you really need two is if the app had a built in communication system that you want to use. I know NCL has one. Not sure about Celebrity.

I took a trip to Australia and New Zealand. Every single day breakfast was a let down. There was always "bacon". But it wasn't bacon. It was ham. proper bacon should be thin and crunch when you eat it. Anything else is ham.

There is no harm in a no show. Trying to cancel someone in the cabin at this point risks an extra fee. I would just have her no show.

I'm sure that this was concerned a medical disembarkation as opposed to someone just choosing to get off. It's never been difficult to get off mid cruise if you are having any type of emergency.

The poster is being overly dramatic. Close down the rock wall for a few hours and put that employee on virtual snorkeling. It's not that difficult to work out. You can take any new idea and put up a thousand valid road blocks. Or you can look for a solution and find that it's not that hard a problem to solve. This idea in particular. 1. Can't do it because you would need a custom pool with led screens 2. Can't do it because you would need to build a new pool 3. Can't do it because you need new employees with specific training. OR 1. Can purchase a small number of virutal head sets, use a pre-existing pool, and cross train pre-existing employees.