mz-s

Carnival didn't either until a few years ago when they started a partnership with Art of Tea.

The implication of your comment (at least the way I read it) was the crew member would be accused of doing something wrong if the guest removed gratuities, and thus their performance would be docked. According to JH, gratuity behavior does not figure in to crew appraisals.

More misinformation passed off as fact. Par for the course in tipping threads. In reality, JH says that crew performance is not tied to gratuities.

There is very little actual true information shared on tipping threads. There is a lot of conjecture and people acting like they know what they're talking about (a thousand bar crew? on a ship with at most 1800 total crew? lol). Lots of ego in tipping threads. According to JH the list of guests who remove gratuities is not shared with tipped crew. The conjecture that guest services remembers the names of guests who remove gratuities, then cross-references those lists with the crew and then tells the crew in confidence - how much sense does that make. When you think about it for 5 seconds it just doesn't make sense.

They'll be showing the Super Bowl on basically every TV on the ship, except in the cabins. JH usually posts the dive in movies on his facebook page.

You won't get a kettle in your cabin. Carnival doesn't allow them. Carnival's tea is nothing like Cunard's. It's highfalutin for Carnival though. Think "hairy chest contest meets afternoon tea" and you'll be in the right frame of mind.

Just explain the situation and ask. Worst case the answer is the same as it was before you called. In the future I would recommend you work with a PVP or a TA. While they alone don't have power to waive fees, sometimes they know the right manager to ask to get permission to waive fees 😉

The Bahamas are pretty much in the 80's year round. The water may be chilly at that time of the year though for swimming.

https://www.carnival.com/help?topicid=3409

It's not always about best value. I usually order a diet Pepsi or something like that. I just don't want alcohol before lunch. Whatever works for you!

Just look at Carnival's newest strategy, they've built bigger ships that can't tender. They're renovating HMC and adding a pier. Their newest proprietary port might as well be a copy of Perfect Day. While there are certainly cruisers who prefer Grand Cayman and other tender ports, the mass market lines are clearly moving on. What that really means is Oasis was more than a decade ahead of its time. No lies detected.

Just like they get 2 free bottles of water, and 2 free fanny packs, they'll get 2 helpings of free laundry.

Of course you can bring your own. If you have Cheers, Carnival offers a decent selection of Art of Teas teabags that are included with Cheers. They're $3 a bag otherwise I think which is ridiculous. Regular old Lipton black and green teas are available at no charge for everyone. I believe you can also request coffee at afternoon tea if you'd prefer that.

Most cruisers seem to want the resort style destination like Perfect Day. I would say that Grand Cayman will tender its final RCL/CCL ship this decade unless they build a pier.

I have never seen them on the buffet, no. Only available during tea time.

I guess fall break would be considered shoulder season so it would be fine. I absolutely would never sail a Sunshine class ship during busy seasons. You will never be more sick of standing in lines or waiting for an elevator or hunting for a table on Lido than if you sail a Sunshine class ship during the busy season.

Correct, and there is no way there are 1000 of them on even the Excel class ships.

As is your right.

You think there are 1000 bar crew on a Carnival ship? I know they have a bar every 10 feet on most ships, but they don't even have that many cabin stewards and the largest department on the ship is the hotel department.

We all work for money and we all need money or we wouldn't work. But nobody obsesses over how much the medical crew or the people who check you in at the pier, or the cashier at the grocery store at the beach are paid, or how often they're paid, etc.

For some reason tipping makes people obsess with how much and how people are paid. The practice needs to die.

That is good information. I would have never guessed it is a self guided activity.

There is no surcharge at slots in any case. If you try to get cash into a slot machine and then immediately go to the cashier or table to get chips in an effort to subvert the 3% fee, you may find your account deactivated. Remember you are in international waters, they know where the cameras are. They know how to bust kneecaps with no blood. Just pay the 3% fee. As a general rule casinos are not fond of loopholes.

You've discovered the flaw in the tipping pool logic that some on here play ostrich to. But no matter in your case. Automatic gratuities aren't distributed to bar staff anyways because they get 18% of all bar purchases.

Since they're minors they will actually need to board with you.