Has Royal changed their dining policy?

[woodyren]

I have never really realized just how many cultures are different on the 'tipping issue' from ours. Obviously when we travel to other countries, we tip for services we would tip on here in the USA.

 

It was interesting to hear your point of view of the double standard on tipping, since you come from a different cultural background.

 

Sorry we are getting a little off topic BUT.... Please do not tip (other than left over change or rounding up to the next denomination note) in Australia and in other countries that do not have tipping culture. Just as I try to respect what is done in the USA it goes both ways. In Australia minimum wage is about $16 an hour and staff often receive penalty rates of time and a half or double time on weekends.

 

Also all our prices are displayed as the TOTAL amount to be paid including all tax.

[Paulette3028]

Sorry we are getting a little off topic BUT.... Please do not tip (other than left over change or rounding up to the next denomination note) in Australia and in other countries that do not have tipping culture. Just as I try to respect what is done in the USA it goes both ways. In Australia minimum wage is about $16 an hour and staff often receive penalty rates of time and a half or double time on weekends.

 

Also all our prices are displayed as the TOTAL amount to be paid including all tax.

 

Now that you have educated me on what you feel I should do in other cultures....what exactly is a 'penalty rate', that you refer to?

 

If you are going to use a term that others may not understand, please explain.

 

No intention to add to the hijacking of this thread, in any way.

[woodyren]

Now that you have educated me on what you feel I should do in other cultures....what exactly is a 'penalty rate', that you refer to?

 

If you are going to use a term that others may not understand, please explain.

 

No intention to add to the hijacking of this thread, in any way.

 

Ok will have an attempt to explain as best as I can how things work here.

 

Penalty rates are rates paid ABOVE your normal hourly wages. They tend to be paid at one and a half times your wage on Saturday and double on Sunday.

 

EG My hourly rate is $15 per hour I may get ( time and a half) $22.50 for the first X amount of hours on Saturday and then (double time) $30 an hour for the rest of my shift. Sunday I may get $ 30 per hour all day. They are the rates paid as a penalty to compensate for not being able to do the things on weekends that Monday to Friday workers typically enjoy.

Of course these rates depend on negotiated "awards" and others may work on a contract basis with these rates offset by other conditions. Of course many employers try to exploit employees and not pay the required amount but if reported can be ordered by fair work Australia to pay the required amounts.

[Paulette3028]

Ok will have an attempt to explain as best as I can how things work here.

 

Penalty rates are rates paid ABOVE your normal hourly wages. They tend to be paid at one and a half times your wage on Saturday and double on Sunday.

 

EG My hourly rate is $15 per hour I may get ( time and a half) $22.50 for the first X amount of hours on Saturday and then (double time) $30 an hour for the rest of my shift. Sunday I may get $ 30 per hour all day. They are the rates paid as a penalty to compensate for not being able to do the things on weekends that Monday to Friday workers typically enjoy.

Of course these rates depend on negotiated "awards" and others may work on a contract basis with these rates offset by other conditions. Of course many employers try to exploit employees and not pay the required amount but if reported can be ordered by fair work Australia to pay the required amounts.

 

Wonderful and clear explanation....some USA workers may be heading to Australia for this compensation program. I realize that many costs in Australia are much higher....I do have friends that live in Australia and my son has traveled there quite a bit.

[marci22]

Actually DD does require that gratuities are prepaid. My bad. My QN and AN cruises have the gratuities showing on my invoice.

 

Not sure if you are able to remove them once onboard and pay at the end instead.

[woodyren]

Actually DD does require that gratuities are prepaid. My bad. My QN and AN cruises have the gratuities showing on my invoice.

 

Not sure if you are able to remove them once onboard and pay at the end instead.

 

This is strange because pre paid gratuities are not required for our Quantum repositioning cruises.

[fishtaco]

I still believe that MTD is being asserted over Trad dinning in USA as it was with Australian RCCL sailings just to ensure full grats are paid.

 

Some cruisers have to realize that in most cases OBC has no real monetary value and only costs the cruiseline "Cost Price" for goods obtained with OBC, Gratuities have a full monetary value so it is impossible for the cost price OBC to cover full price Gratuities.:)

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Actually DD does require that gratuities are prepaid. My bad. My QN and AN cruises have the gratuities showing on my invoice.

 

Not sure if you are able to remove them once onboard and pay at the end instead.

 

DD does not require pre-paid gratuities.

 

Did you possibly transfer another reservation to QN and AN that had MTD selected....with pre-paid gratuities added on that reservation? That's what happened to me....and I was able to have them taken off the booking.

[fishtaco]

Good idea to refuse it MTD....we just booked on IOS and were told that only MTD was available, so we are wait listed on early dining; therefore gratuities were added immediately which means we can't use our OBCs to pay for them. Since we don't drink and do our own excursions at ports we don't have a large bill at the end of the week and have always used our OBCs to offset the gratuities.

 

It's all about how can they get more money from you.

 

Does your OBC have a monetary value? If so pay the grats and cash OBC in at the end of the cruise:)

 

If your OBC has no monetary value other than cruise goods then it does not cover the full gratuity amount.:)

 

Cruise goods have a huge profit mark up some well over 50% so $100 OBC is really only worth as much as or at least $50.

 

Gratuities have no profit mark up, $100 Gratuity is worth $100 :)

 

I would assume that because you always pay grats with OBC and have no real on board spend then you are actually costing RCI money so may even be flagged as such at booking stage.

Edited August 8, 2014 by fishtaco

[fishtaco]

Actually DD does require that gratuities are prepaid. My bad. My QN and AN cruises have the gratuities showing on my invoice.

 

Not sure if you are able to remove them once onboard and pay at the end instead.

 

It is my understanding that "Pre Paid" gratuities cannot be removed once on board due to different accounting methods between ship and shore but if you are not assigned MTD you can call RCI before you sail and have them credited back.

[whenthecatsaway]

Am booked for Vision of the Seas Autumn 2014 and am on a waiting list for early dining which I found extraordinary as we've never booked that far ahead and yet have never waited before 😳

 

Have cruised once with NCL (January 2013) and found for us (travelling with a 6 month old baby) that Freestyle dining worked well.

 

Still prefer the ambiance of the Royal MDR though ☺️

 

 

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[whenthecatsaway]

Meant 2015, have booked next cruise 16 months in advance. ☺️

 

 

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[fishtaco]

Am booked for Vision of the Seas Autumn 2014 and am on a waiting list for early dining which I found extraordinary as we've never booked that far ahead and yet have never waited before 😳

 

Have cruised once with NCL (January 2013) and found for us (travelling with a 6 month old baby) that Freestyle dining worked well.

 

Still prefer the ambiance of the Royal MDR though ☺️

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

same as me I booked way in advance and couldn't get late dinning, Given early dinning is usually the first to wait list I cant see late being wait listed so far out either.

 

Smart way to get cruisers pre paying grats though;)

[Paulette3028]

Am booked for Vision of the Seas Autumn 2014 and am on a waiting list for early dining which I found extraordinary as we've never booked that far ahead and yet have never waited before

 

Have cruised once with NCL (January 2013) and found for us (travelling with a 6 month old baby) that Freestyle dining worked well.

 

Still prefer the ambiance of the Royal MDR though ☺️

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Send an email to rcldining@rccl.com -- with your reservation # and date you are cruising. Tell them your dissatisfaction with being on thewaitlist for the dining preference you have in the MDR. Ask if they can facilitate moving you from the waitlist to the dining option you prefer.

[fishtaco]

Send an email to rcldining@rccl.com -- with your reservation # and date you are cruising. Tell them your dissatisfaction with being on thewaitlist for the dining preference you have in the MDR. Ask if they can facilitate moving you from the waitlist to the dining option you prefer.

 

If this worked then it would show the true ploy!

 

By demanding to be seated at your dinning preference and then simply being allocated that preference after such a demand would surly expose to the booker that those dinning room places must have been available all along:D

Edited August 9, 2014 by fishtaco

[StarSong2001]

We held the cruise online then phoned them to book. Agent only asked if we wanted traditional or MTD. Brother said traditional and she just gave us Early seating. No fuss, no muss, no pushing the MTD. This was a little over 4 months prior to the cruise.

[Wolffypa]

Hi all..

Very interesting n educational thread. I booked Oasis TA to barcelona leaving September 1, 2014..-arrived sept 13.. then booked a 7day meditearean cruise for sept 14through 21st i went to a travel agent because I hadnt cruised in 30 years [emoji33]...when everything was included except liquor n gratuities.

Since I bookedin May2014. I have learned all about the ports I will be visiting,cruise critic, roll calls, Oasis etc..

My original med cruise wasnt even with RC n the main reason going to travel agent was to try to find a TA back so no need to fly.

I wont even begin to tell u how wrong she steered us BUT one of them was pushing MTD.

It made sense on port days n especially for us because we dont have a set dinner time ..we eat when we are hungry... since the booking I found out that on the OASIS all shows had to be booked and then MTD reservations made around the shows. Even though this took a month due to RC websites down ,several calls to RC with different operators giving different answers and cruising the boards n forums roll calls etc. for answers n enlightenment.

I have my own views on pre tipping n believe everyone else has a right to theirs

I do have a QUESTION about mtd. Like i said it was pushed on us by our agent but made sense at the time.

I heard that the main restaurant has 3 levels n the third level is mainly for MTD. Like I said it took me a month to get all our reservations including mtd on our cruise planner...the question is coming. Lol

I am assuming that since we made reservations that there would be little or no wait time..however the few nights RC had to make our reservations because the web site wouldnt let me...if my reservation was for 8pm it would say anytime btwn 7 & 9 pm... has anyone heard of this... this tells me there is no set reservation n that I am grouped in with a bunch of people in a time period....this would be another reason I would not like MTD..our travel agent really did us wrong and yes planning these two cruises is WORK but at least I know once Im on the ship I can enjoy, relax n meet all the new friends I have met online especially cruise critic.

I know she couldnt of handled all our planning because our last leg of our trip is in Munich Germany for Octoberfest n we told her we wanted to be in walking distance of therseinwiesse (the park octoberfest is in---i learned that in May) she booked us 25 min car ride away... she never heard of therseinweisse n after two weeks of me investigating the area n hotels...WE HAD TO TELL HER WHICH HOTEL TO BOOK n not only is it in walking distance we can see it n Bavarian alps from our balcony.. she told us that she put in a request n to ask for that type of room when we check in...ummmm doesnt she know by the time we get there the entire town will be booked n we would be lucky to get the free broomcloset. She didnt even give them a deposit to hold our room n now the Sherston is booked but i emailed n emailed ...i think at one point I got coperate offices and finally got what we were told by our travel agent in May 2014 that we were getting.

.believe me if i didnt check our room wasnt much more than a broom closet and the rate is 6xs the normal rate..(i expected that but i also expected a room with a view)

IM SORRY. Im just venting whilst trying to make a plans right. Btw if mtd wasnt pushed on us we would of took late seating n probably had no problems[emoji21] Im torn btwn sitting with same people or different. We can make friends anywhere....or at least we used to before retirement age LOL so that isnt an issue

If we have different wait staff then we could get good or bad. The Good will get an extra gratiuty n the bad will get a portion of our prepaid.

Any help on the mtd group type of dinner timing would be most appreciated. THANKS

 

.

[Wolffypa]

I see how long my post is and how my question is lost..sorry

Question... Am i going to have to wait on a long line for a 8pm reservation because MTD might book in blocks ? Example: all reservations from 7-9 pm first come first serve ;'(

[Paulette3028]

If this worked then it would show the true ploy!

 

By demanding to be seated at your dinning preference and then simply being allocated that preference after such a demand would surly expose to the booker that those dinning room places must have been available all along:D

 

I never used the term 'demanded'.....I write a very pleasant email, explaining that I am concerned about the dining room time that I was given. I explain that I do not like to eat late, and was informed at the time I made my booking that for whatever reason 'Early Seating' was unavailable and that I had to be 'waitlisted' and given the Late Seating.

 

Simple as that....I don't believe that the people in this department have any knowledge of anything else other than what they take care of.....which mostly is seating arrangements on the ships.

 

It is working around the system....I just wish I did not have to do it, to get what I want. If I had booked late or very close to sail date, I would understand being 'closed out of Early Dinner Seating'.

 

When you 'demand' something you invoke the ire of the other person and usually little gets accomplished in the end that is positive.

[SherriZ366]

And you are making that assertion based on what biased view?

 

Just to be clear, when I was booking this cruise it was more than 6 months prior to sailing and well more than half of the cabins were available to choose from.

I'm making that assertion based on my experiences on our FL based cruises -- most out of Port Canaveral. We almost always book late seating. When we have had to go to the M'aitre d" on embarkation day to make table changes, the majority of the people we have been in line with are those that want early seating. We also have dined with with many people on the first night in late seating that wanted to get early seating and were successful. For early seating, I have seen the extra dining rooms (adjacent to the bottom dining room level) used more frequently for first seating than for second.

[Folk Singer]

We always have the late dining and never had a problem with requesting

our Dining preference for our Cruises.

[DaNana]

No more money as the prepaid gratuities are the same as the recommended levels. Just paid in advance with final payment. Only makes a value difference if you do not intend to pay the recommended level.

 

I already pay my cruise ahead of time and my excursions to them if I book with them. Then to pay my gratuities also, just doesn't feel right to me. They have my money in their account to draw interest. I am sure they don't pay the interest to the employee. Just my own thought.

[Paulette3028]

I already pay my cruise ahead of time and my excursions to them if I book with them. Then to pay my gratuities also, just doesn't feel right to me. They have my money in their account to draw interest. I am sure they don't pay the interest to the employee. Just my own thought.

 

Agreed

[fairweather]

Everyone said My Time Dining would be a nightmare and it's turned out to be the easiest way to eat on a cruise. Just show up when you want wherever you want. There always seemed to be a table available on the Allure at the specialty restaurants if you didn't go at peak time. The dining room gave your the flexablity to eat with others or not. You can change your reservations, too, if you change your plans for the evening. Only groups seemed to need to lock down their preferences ahead of time.

 

I assume there will be adjustments made as the system matures and patrons realize how Dynamic Dining works. There will always be those who like the traditional set seating and I can't believe that Royal would not want to make them happy so they come back.

[fishtaco]

I never used the term 'demanded'.....I write a very pleasant email, explaining that I am concerned about the dining room time that I was given. I explain that I do not like to eat late, and was informed at the time I made my booking that for whatever reason 'Early Seating' was unavailable and that I had to be 'waitlisted' and given the Late Seating.

 

Simple as that....I don't believe that the people in this department have any knowledge of anything else other than what they take care of.....which mostly is seating arrangements on the ships.

 

It is working around the system....I just wish I did not have to do it, to get what I want. If I had booked late or very close to sail date, I would understand being 'closed out of Early Dinner Seating'.

 

When you 'demand' something you invoke the ire of the other person and usually little gets accomplished in the end that is positive.

 

Ok I will re phrase:) if you are on a dinning wait list and you email or phone RCI about your displeasure of not getting your preferred time and someone from RCI immediately assigns you your wait listed time because of that email or call then they were in fact available for your preferred time!

 

A place may have just become available at the time of contact in your instance but if they did the same for everyone who contacted them then the places must be available and RCI are just gathering Pre Paid grats under false pretences of them not being available:)

Edited August 11, 2014 by fishtaco