Random questions

[hpojda]

Does anyone know how the hot chocolate is made on ship? Specifically if they use milk or water?

 

Next question, this regards tipping. My mil is paying for the cruise including the tips. We were just talking and she mentioned that for my 4 kids she wasn't going to tip the full amount [emoji15]. Is there a way I can pay the difference? I fee terrible about this and don't want people to be shorted on their tip.

 

With regards to the kids club, can we leave the kids in the kids club when we are in port, and we leave the ship?

 

 

 

 

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[SadieN]

Guest Serviced can take care of all your money issues.

 

 

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[fishywood]

Once a request is put in to reduce and/or eliminate the DSC I don't believe it can be rescinded even if a "make-up" payment is made for each of your kids. Your cabin steward and dining room team will be written up for poor service unless you cut her off at the pass.

 

So is your mother in law entering her credit card into the cruise personalizer of all four of your kids? I would think that would be the only way she would be authorized to adjust the gratuities on board; there is no way (AFAIK) to pre-pay a partial amount of the tips. To avoid conflict (if that is ever possible with a M-i-L) I would just pre-pay each kid's gratuities in full myself. And then go to the purser's desk on embarkation day and have their on board accounts flagged so that only their parents and not grandma can access them.

 

(Though you may want to disregard my advice and just grin and bear it if your MIL has promised to pay for each of your kids' entire on board charges in full. If not, you should take the reins on this one...)

Edited April 7, 2016 by fishywood

[XBGuy]

Sorry, I have no help for you on Hot Chocolate or Kids Club.

 

On the tipping thing, though, I think the easiest thing for you to do is to just give cash to the different service providers. It may be a little tricky to keep your m-i-l in the dark, but I think it is doable.

[EndersFoul]

Does anyone know how the hot chocolate is made on ship? Specifically if they use milk or water?

 

Next question, this regards tipping. My mil is paying for the cruise including the tips. We were just talking and she mentioned that for my 4 kids she wasn't going to tip the full amount [emoji15]. Is there a way I can pay the difference? I fee terrible about this and don't want people to be shorted on their tip.

 

With regards to the kids club, can we leave the kids in the kids club when we are in port, and we leave the ship?

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

I believe its steamed milk but they use the dark chocolate powder!

Edited April 7, 2016 by EndersFoul

[fishywood]

Re: the hot chocolate I am pretty sure it is instant. So even if only brewed with water there are very likely some dairy ingredients in the mix, so probably still off limits to anyone LI (assuming that is why you asked).

 

And giving us the ages of your kids will help anyone who knows answer your question about what in-port activities are available for them.

[Thrak]

It is now possible to pre-pay gratuities in the cruise personalizer. I paid them in advance for my upcoming cruise. I had a choice to pay the gratuities for me or my wife or both.

 

It may well be possible to pre-pay them for your kids that way - unless, of course, it's all tied to your MIL's account...

[CRUZGAL53]

Does anyone know how the hot chocolate is made on ship? Specifically if they use milk or water?

 

Next question, this regards tipping. My mil is paying for the cruise including the tips. We were just talking and she mentioned that for my 4 kids she wasn't going to tip the full amount [emoji15]. Is there a way I can pay the difference? I fee terrible about this and don't want people to be shorted on their tip.

 

With regards to the kids club, can we leave the kids in the kids club when we are in port, and we leave the ship?

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Yes, you can leave the kids in the kids club while in port. You just need to arrange for it the day before with the Youth Counselors. There is no charge for this and they will make sure the kids eat lunch. :)

[Cruisin' Chick]

Sorry, I have no help for you on Hot Chocolate or Kids Club.

 

On the tipping thing, though, I think the easiest thing for you to do is to just give cash to the different service providers. It may be a little tricky to keep your m-i-l in the dark, but I think it is doable.

 

The problem with this is that the cabin steward and the waitstaff have to turn in that cash to their supervisors to go into the tipping pool. Plus, anytime the autograts are reduced, it ends up reflecting badly on the staff. In this case, either talk to the MIL and said this actually will hurt the staff (and that they are working just as hard for the kids as for the adults), arrange for the tips to be paid in advance for them from your credit card (maybe contact Princess ahead of time and see if you can set this up), go to the passenger services desk and tell them the situation and say that you don't want the staff to get into trouble so you want it on the record there isn't a problem and here's the $ for them.

 

If your kids are very little, you can arrange for port day kidsitting ahead of time. We've done this with our little one as she would often rather play in the kids' area than go out on port. But we would never go beyond a certain distance....just port sightseeing and no excursions or tours. And make sure we get back on time. The one time we were on a tour (when she was on the ship), we had a ship-booked one and it got back late. Fortunately the ship waited for our group, but the names of all the passengers in the group were called aboard the ship (which meant my daughter heard ours).

 

Be aware that the kidsitting activities are more like watching movies and playing video games as there's usually not a lot of kids there. And at some point, the kids will be too old for "kidsitting."

[easyboy]

With regards to the kids club, can we leave the kids in the kids club when we are in port, and we leave the ship?

Yes, we do this with our grandkid when we do shore excursions.

[XBGuy]

The problem with this is that the cabin steward and the waitstaff have to turn in that cash to their supervisors to go into the tipping pool. [isn't that the same result as paying the auto-tip?] Plus' date=' anytime the autograts are reduced, it ends up reflecting badly on the staff. [Are you saying the if I "turn off" the auto-tip thing before I even meet my steward or any restaurant server, I am stating that "I know that I am not going to receive satisfactory service," and Princess considers that to be evidence of poor performance by their employees? It just seems unlikely to me.] In this case, either talk to the MIL [Oh c'mon. Has that ever worked? ;)] and said this actually will hurt the staff (and that they are working just as hard for the kids as for the adults), arrange for the tips to be paid in advance for them from your credit card (maybe contact Princess ahead of time and see if you can set this up), go to the passenger services desk and tell them the situation and say that you don't want the staff to get into trouble so you want it on the record there isn't a problem and here's the $ for them.

 

If your kids are very little, you can arrange for port day kidsitting ahead of time. We've done this with our little one as she would often rather play in the kids' area than go out on port. But we would never go beyond a certain distance....just port sightseeing and no excursions or tours. And make sure we get back on time. The one time we were on a tour (when she was on the ship), we had a ship-booked one and it got back late. Fortunately the ship waited for our group, but the names of all the passengers in the group were called aboard the ship (which meant my daughter heard ours).

 

Be aware that the kidsitting activities are more like watching movies and playing video games as there's usually not a lot of kids there. And at some point, the kids will be too old for "kidsitting."

 

Please do not take offense to my comments, C C. In fact one is OBVIOUSLY tongue-in-cheek. I do think your suggestion of calling Princess is a good idea to enquire about a work-around.

[hpojda]

Thanks for all the responses.

 

With regards to MIL and tipping, I think it just sounds very complicated. I might just have to bite the bullet and talk to her about it, and just offer to pay the balance to her directly. It sounds like an accounting nightmare otherwise. I was hoping to get onto the cruise personalizer and see if I could pay it from there, but I don't have access to it yet. We will be paying for all the onboard expenses so at some point our credit card will be attached to the rooms.

 

Our kids are 12, 10, 6, and 4. I was thinking that if we did some hiking the younger kids might not be too keen so thought that perhaps they would rather stay on board. Guess we will just have to play it by ear.

 

This is our first cruise so I have a million little questions.:D

[skynight]

Next question, this regards tipping. My mil is paying for the cruise including the tips. We were just talking and she mentioned that for my 4 kids she wasn't going to tip the full amount [emoji15]. Is there a way I can pay the difference? I fee terrible about this and don't want people to be shorted on their tip.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Let's just speak about on board accounts and the Hotel Charge (the auto tip). Each person including youth have their own onboard account. Each evening a hotel charge (auto tip) will be charged to each account. The amount is per passenger regardless of age. The charge is $12.95 per person per day for most cabins and $13.50 per person per day if the passenger is in a mini suite or full suite. This gratuity will be shared amongst those staff who help provide and support your cruise experience, including all waitstaff, stateroom stewards, buffet stewards, and housekeeping staff across the fleet. A youth's on board account is linked to an adult's account that is responsible for all charges incurred by the youth while they are on board, including things like the purchase of a soda, a milk shake, an item from the gift shop, AND the hotel charge. If your children's accounts are linked to your MIL's account then at the end of the cruise the daily hotel charges for all of them will be added to her summary folio for payment and then charged directly to her credit card. The only way she can reduce the tipping charge is to go to the passenger service desk and say she doesn't want to pay the full amount. Of course, they will ask if the service was poor and so on, but she is free to do this. If she does, you can always go to passenger service and additional tip amounts by depositing cash, designated as extra tips, into each of their individual accounts.

Another way to handle it is to have all your children's accounts linked to your account. All the charges will then go to your credit card. You can just settle up privately with your MIL, and not involve the Princess accounting system.

 

It is my personal opinion that youth require at least as much service, and maybe more, than an adult, therefore, the staff should receive the same tip as an adult.

 

Hope this makes sense to you.

Edited April 7, 2016 by sknight

[PghCruiseGrrrl]

Thanks for all the responses.

 

With regards to MIL and tipping, I think it just sounds very complicated. I might just have to bite the bullet and talk to her about it, and just offer to pay the balance to her directly. It sounds like an accounting nightmare otherwise. I was hoping to get onto the cruise personalizer and see if I could pay it from there, but I don't have access to it yet. We will be paying for all the onboard expenses so at some point our credit card will be attached to the rooms.

 

Our kids are 12, 10, 6, and 4. I was thinking that if we did some hiking the younger kids might not be too keen so thought that perhaps they would rather stay on board. Guess we will just have to play it by ear.

 

This is our first cruise so I have a million little questions.:D

 

If you are paying the on board accounts then you are paying the tips. It automatically adds them to your on board account every day. If memory serves me correctly it shows up as a hotel charge. So no need to confront dear MIL.

[cb at sea]

The hot chocolate mix is made with powdered milk and hot water to "activate" is...like "swiss miss" or something similar. There is milk in it.

[Shelly97060]

When you get access to the Personalizer you can go in and pre-pay your children's tips if you choose to.

 

Would this offend your MIL?

[GUT2407]

It may be done different in different parts of ships, even different ships, but I have stood and watched them make it on steamed milk, from the coffee machine, they used a little hot water to make the chocolate powder into a paste then stirred in the steamed milk.

 

This was in the lobby bar on Diamond.

Edited April 8, 2016 by GUT2407

[mrs and mrs]

Why don't you just tip the unpaid tip personally.

Do not,i repeat do not upset the mil.

GOOD LUCK

[caribill]

Why don't you just tip the unpaid tip personally.

 

GOOD LUCK

 

It is hard to properly distribute the unpaid tips appropriately to every person who serves you and your children at various times in the buffet, at the pizza counter, at the ice cream counter, at the hamburger counter and at the International Cafe as well as the dining room staff if you eat breakfast and lunch there.

 

How would you divide up the unpaid portion each day among these staff members as well as the different anytime dining room staff each day if you are dining in anytime?

[caribill]

Does anyone know how the hot chocolate is made on ship? Specifically if they use milk or water? They normally make it with hot water. You can ask them to make it with skim or regular milk if you prefer.

 

Next question, this regards tipping. My mil is paying for the cruise including the tips. We were just talking and she mentioned that for my 4 kids she wasn't going to tip the full amount [emoji15]. Is there a way I can pay the difference? I fee terrible about this and don't want people to be shorted on their tip.

 

With regards to the kids club, can we leave the kids in the kids club when we are in port, and we leave the ship?

 

Please remember that the staff in the kids clubs are not part of the tipping pool. If you feel they deserve a tip, give it to them personally.

[easyboy]

Please remember that the staff in the kids clubs are not part of the tipping pool. If you feel they deserve a tip, give it to them personally.

Yes, missed that one!

[hpojda]

So just to clarify, the tip is not prepaid? You pay it at the end of the cruise with all the other on-board charges you may have incurred? If that's the case it should be fairly easy to rectify the tip amounts.

 

I have to talk to MIL about other cruise stuff in a few days, I'm going to try and bring up the subject of tipping. I'm hoping to explain that it will reflect negatively on the staff if they don't get the full amount.

 

Thanks for the info about the hot chocolate as well. I'm a bit of a hot chocolate snob and can't stand it when it's made from water. I may just pack some of my own and ask for hot milk. :D

 

Thanks for the info about the kids club. I'm sure we will be using it so we will be sure to tip those guys.

Edited April 13, 2016 by hpojda
added more info

[VibeGuy]

Right, the hotel charge/auto tip is applied daily to each passenger's onboard folio. If MIL is prepaying gratuities, that's great, but she can't adjust the amounts (up or down) nor opt out prior to the voyage - it's either prepaid in full or it's not.

 

So if she simply doesn't prepay the gratuities for the kids, no problem, they will just go on to the kids' folios that will be linked to your card, and you can deal with them as you will.

 

As for the hot chocolate, I've seen it done from commercial powder, chocolate syrup into steamed milk, and the ground chocolate into hot water into steamed milk. It's all over the place.

[easyboy]

So just to clarify, the tip is not prepaid? You pay it at the end of the cruise with all the other on-board charges you may have incurred?

The tip/gratuities can be prepaid online up to 2 days prior to departure.

[tonit964]

Just ask your MIL for the booking number, go to the Princess site under Booked Guests, enter the info and then pre pay the kids tips.

 

My dad always brings his own hot chocolate with him.