kopelo

6 hours ago, em-sk said:

 

Not clear what will happen to those staying.

 

There was recent video taken by one of the American couples leaving the ship shown on the  Canadian Global TV Network.....

 

 

The type of mask seen in this video - the ones with the outward valve - are useless b/c if you use one of these, every single time you breathe out or cough, the valve opens and thus everything comes out in to the air next to you...

This is a beta test by RCI to see if they can make potable water a surcharge you can buy pre-cruise on Cruise Planner. The regular package allows you to flush. The deluxe package includes water in the sink. The Royal package includes the first two, water in the shower, and a wristband to swipe for entry into the public restrooms.

Stop giving the bean counters such ideas... ;p;p;p

What's the public opinion on semi-public breastfeeding in the US and cruises originating from FL? I specifically mean breastfeeding in the ship's public spaces (some quiet corner) and so on?

This just doesn't happen and I don't think RCI would have a leg to stand on if they tried (and to be clear - they don't try). We've been doing this for years and when the TA places the booking with RCI they put all our legitimate details into the booking system, non-US address, C&A number etc. I can then immediately go on the UK RCI 'My cruises' web site and see our booking with these details. RCI know exactly who we are and where we are at the point of placing the booking, when they take our money and when they issue the booking confirmation.

Good if it works for you - but personally I still would not count on this. In addition to it being lost revenue (in the time when one olive is dropped from a Martini to save on costs), there are also very complex tax repercussions and differing T&C in various countries depending on what's being sold and where - cruises are usually tax free in this sense, but auxiliary services (transfers etc) might not be. Wildly depends on the country and sometimes the itinerary. EU laws for example dictate that when your consumer sales go above some preset amount, you must charge and reminisce the correct VAT i.e. sales tax to the rate of the country the buyer is receiving goods or services to.

I wonder how RCI would punish itself when they sell it to a non-resident.:cool:

At least in the online channel they have blocked using non-US payment methods. I mean I can get a VPN, go to the US site and make a booking but I can't pay for it since the site will not accept my non-US American Express.

Officially the travel agents are not allowed to sell outside of their set areas. RCL can punish from this behaviour in various ways, see the travel agent documentation at http://www.cruisingpower.com/public/global/taguideNoLogin.do#section_21

Additionally, the US rates are only for US residents. I've discussed this with non-US people of RCL and there is no way around it. Similarly any other discount programs are usually area specific (think BOGOHO etc) and cannot be applied to persons from not that specific area. When you select the state you are resident of, you are also binding to provide documentation that you are a legal resident of that state, i.e. you have to have a drivers license, state identification card or other similar public document). Whilst boarding this may be checked and whilst denying boarding doesn't seem to have happened to anybody, you might be asked to pay the difference in the published fare vs your discounted fare.

The trials were on the Freedom and Navigator. I was told there was no negative feed back on these ships during the trial period.

Well we for example gave negative feedback on this, so...

We were on the Freedom on 3/20 and no longer got any invite to a Welcome Back party, so it seems Freedom is one of the ships this is/was being tested on?

I personally always thought these were nice events with free drinks (and sometimes some canapés etc) along with the senior staff being introduced. I also think that in the membership benefits section on the C&A website the Welcome Back party is mentioned for everybody at least Gold.. so suddenly not having such party (without even mentioning it's being let go) is rather poor business practice.

edit: It seems the C&A website has been "fixed", i.e. the benefits are still there, but the crowns from the 3/30/55/... matrix have been removed from two rows:

Did not see shorts on formal night but did see two gentlemen in t-shirts that looked like a formal tux. One did have a leather jacket on with his. We did see shorts on other nights. I expect them the first night due to delays in luggage (we received ours after 8PM). Strangely we did see a young boy around 10 years of age turned away from dining room at breakfast as he was wearing a tank top.

Well, we told our MDR waiter that we didn't pack any formal gear, she told us that even jeans and "just any nice shirt" would be OK for the MDR on Formal nights. I too vote for getting rid of formal nights altogether, I hear Quantum class has it done quite nicely (i.e. no formal nights, but a single restaurant that always requires proper formal wear).

Edit: our MDR waiter and the assistant waiter were pretty good, however the food.. my significant other did note that lukewarm was sometimes the case and most times the dishes themselves didn't... how should I phrase this.. didn't meet even Windjammer level of variety. I mean for example most of the pasta dishes in the MDR dinners are super simple and a little bit of more to the presentation or the number of components on the dishes would mean a lot.

My few cents..

Pre-tipping before service or what's called greasing the wheel is bribery in a lot of cultures, including mine. Whilst some Asian and Euro countries have the tendency of rounding up the service related bill to the closest full number (i.e. 9,3€ becomes 10€ flat), the expected tipping of additional 10-15% is pretty much non-existent outside the Americas and is actually seen in some places as insulting to everyone involved, for example the tip giver might be someone who "has to show off" or "thinks they're a better man than the other". In most Asian cultures the confusion that happens when someone tries to tip is just awful to watch - this is the case especially outside the beaten track.. of course in the very touristy places this does not apply.

What's missing from this conversation is that a relatively high percentage of the passengers on a given RCCL cruise are likely not from the US but instead from the non-tipping countries. It's my understanding that even on the Caribbean cruises folks from the (generally very anti-tipping) UK are a major one. Even the employees are likely from the non-tipping places of the world. So, if someone chooses not to tip at all - especially on a cruise that does not originate from the US - they're well within their cultural & behavioral reasons, despite the presence of heavy US tippers on-board. Yes, this may seem rude and in a sense it is.

Yes, almost everyone understands the minimum wage arguments with tipping. Yes, some also (quite accurately in my opinion) point out that it's the employer who should pay a reasonable wage and that the risk of running the business shouldn't be outsourced to the employees in case of rainy days. Some elect not to tip because they can save the money that way. Some just don't care.

I personally let the auto-gratuities roll as-is (if such are available) but otherwise have hard time remembering that I have to give tips whenever I'm in a place that requires them. If a service charge is included in the price of the drink packages I'd be blunt and assume no extra is needed, unless some very extra-ordinary circumstances came alight. Why should I care how it's distributed amongst the crew? I trust RCCL to do it properly.