Sam Ting

Having just sailed the Harmony for 10 nights (still waiting to dock in Ft Lauderdale as I type) with our 13 month old daughter, I cannot imagine not tipping the full amount just because she is a child. We actually gave our room steward and dining room team extra cash. Every single crew member on this ship has gone above and beyond for our daughter and for us to make this sailing as smooth as possible.

If that's the case you should have tipped more.

The op does not know what services were provided yet so how could she possibly know how much to tip.

We always remove the grats and tip as we go along anyway. We probably end up paying more in the end but at least we know who we are giving the money to. What they do with it afterwards is their business.

This reminds me of a cruise we took with our three kids. My youngest came down with a virus (probably Noro although he wasn't diagnosed as such). Anyway, the cabin attendant was amazing. She completely disinfected the cabin, washed all the bedding and had to keep the cabin clean and sanitary for the other two kids (who did not get sick). She checked on him on her own. She went way above and beyond and we were very grateful because she made a bad situation a little bit better.

 

The small amount we paid per day seemed embarrassingly small.

 

Also, when my kids were younger, the dining room staff always went out of their way to keep them happy and entertained.

 

My guess is that when it is said and done, you will think that the recommended gratuities are quite reasonable.

 

 

 

 

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I would remove the grats for the little one and then tip as you go along. You may need a lot of assistance and tip more or not need anything and tip less

Full price for an infant is outrageous.

Do you know how they tip in Liberia? Have you ever been?

Yes

I really do not understand why it is so hard for some folks to understand that the cultures are different, and from ancient times people have understood that you should observe the culture you are in, not the culture of your homeland. There is even an ancient saying: When in Rome do as the Romans do.

So are you saying we should tip like they do in Liberia? The parent company is incorporated in Liberia. The ship is registered in the Bahamas, most of the crew is from anywhere other than the USA, and we are sailing on a ship that does not even touch a USA port.

Seems like the only time they want American customs to apply is when it comes to tipping. To hell with everything else!

Before contacting a lawyer, I would read your cruise contract. I'm pretty sure there is an arbitration clause stuck in there. Read who pays for what in terms of the arbitrator, etc. I t could get expensive quickly. If cruise line isn't obligated to refund your money per the contract, try to negotiate a FCC that doesn't expire for two years (for example). If you try to file a lawsuit, cruise line will go to the court and have it compel arbitration.

try disputing with the credit card first. Even if you lose the merchant has to pay a fee I believe.

Not sure how they can say it's not cancelled when it was to leave 2 days ago and still hasn't left.

Also don't go solely by what the contract says. There are consumer protection laws that the contract conveniently leaves out that would trump any contract language.

I think you got ripped off. Never mind the cheerleaders.

I would say they're not delivering their product. If you pay for a dozen eggs and only get 6, would you say the store is delivering their product? And doesn't the full refund need to be used within a year? Not everyone has that flexibility.

 

The consumer IS responsible for knowing about things that can affect their trip. No different than flying in/out/through a northern state during winter. Travelers should know and understand their trip can be impacted by snow and ice.

Difference is the airlines refund your money. Not some credit you may or may not be able to use.

Funny how the cruise lines make the airlines look like angels.

Isn't the cruise line delivering their product? If you choose the shortened product, you are being refunded for a portion of your cruise. If you are not able to make it, you are receiving a full refund to use on a future cruise.

 

And yes, the cruise line chose to offer the cruise during hurricane season, but no one made the consumer book it.

 

Take some responsibility. You booked a cruise during the height of hurricane season. And you're surprised when a hurricane disrupts your vacation? The strongest hurricane to ever be in the Atlantic just demolished plenty of places and people are upset they're not getting whatever they think they should get. It amazes me how much some people complain when there are people who lost their lives, and all of their possessions and people are upset because the cruise line is doing more than they have to but people want more (direct quote from someone here). You're either getting a refund, or you're getting a discount and FCC. No one is cheating you out of anything.

What a load. People bought a 7 day cruise. Not a 4 day cruise. The cruise lines chose to sail in hurricane season. That's a risk they take, not the consumer taking them up on what they offered for sale.

Not everyone even knows about hurricane season and it should not be incumbent on a consumer to consider if a company will be able to deliver what they paid for.

The cruise lines take that risk when they sail during hurricane season. They sure want all the rewards.....

There are consumer protection laws you know.

Regarding the bolded. You're correct. However, isn't a consumer responsible for choosing a vendor (in this case a cruise line) has policies they agree with?

Isn't a company responsible to provide the product paid for by the consumer?

In this case, the cruise line chose to offer a cruise during hurricane season. If they can't deliver what was advertised and bargained for then it should be in them.

If the cruise line elected not to insure losses in cases like this, then that's a risk they took.

Looks like they are now trying to mitigate damages while the consumer suffers.

They are doing exactly what the contract that was agreed to provided. You don't get to pick and choose which parts of the contract you like and don't like. I doubt any CC company will allow a charge back under these circumstances.

The contract does not address this. It talks about cancellations and what happens if a cruise comes back to port early.

It's for 2 people.

I don't know if it comes out to more or less than the cruise line wants, I guess it would depend on how many times we visit the main dining room.

What the crew does with our tips is none of my business. If they have to tip out, then they have to tip out, but I will only tip the people who serve us directly, and don't feel guilty at all! The others work for the cruise line. They should be paying them their fair wage as far as we are concerned.

My wife really wants to do a dolphin excursion and we have two islands where it's offered, Cozumel and Falmouth, just wondering if anybody knows which offers the better tour ?

We did a train the trainer in Cozumel. It was very good. They taught us a lot about them and their captivity, and it was a lot of fun.

I think most of the dolphins were born in captivity and could not survive in the wild. They also get medical care and bond with the trainers similar to the way one bonds with a dog.

It was much better than just the dolphin swim which we did a few years ago.

We remove the service charge and tip as we go.

Usually

$2 or $3 dollars at the buffet per mail if all they do is clean the tables

$10 dollars at the main dining room per meal

$50 to $100 for the steward depending on service for he week.

$0 in he specialty restaurants as it is included in the upcharge.

I have my own charities to donate to. I don't feel the need to donate to a billion dollar corporation to pay their employees.

Took a look NCL book safe travel protection plan and found this:

In Parts A & B:

We will not pay for any loss caused by or incurredresulting from:

12. failure of any tour operator, Common Carrier, orother travel supplier, person or agency to provide thebargained-for travel arrangements;

So it looks like that insurance plan won't cover it anyway.

If you charged it looks like you have to do a chargeback. Services or product not provided

Good luck.

Charges must be disputed within x days of the charge. Chances are the date you made initial and final payments are outside of those x days and you can no longer dispute the charge.

Within x number of days when services or gods were to be provided, not when they processed the transaction.

It's very simple. They sold you something they failed to provide.

You have nothing to lose initiating a chargeback. It's your right. Who cares if the cruise line don't like it. They should have refunded you in full, not force you to accept something other than what you purchased.

Set to sail on the Allure September 10th. IRMA, not going to happen, RC chooses not to cancel the cruise but to delay departure till Wednesday the 13th and shorten duration to 4 day's instead of 7. A 50% refundable on-board credit to whom choose to sail on the 13th along with an additional 50% credit for a future booking. The above is gracious and in my opinion more than fair. Unfortunately, if you CANNOT cruise on the 13th there will be no refund, no future incentive, just your fare credit applied to a future cruise with Royal.

 

Other recent cruises have been cancelled due to IRMA and customers have been given a full refund to the method they paid and are being offered an additional 25% credit if they book another RC cruise within 30 days. This I also feel is fair and considerate.

 

Where I take issue is the fact that my paid in full 7 day cruise is essentially cancelled but a full refund is not an option. I find myself in a position of my cruise fare being held hostage without compensation unless I put myself and my family at risk attempting to depart on the 13th. Being faced with a CAT 5 hurricane how does one actually prepare for a departure when the chances are high the port may be closed, flooded, unable to be staffed, etc.? Being frugal, still wanting to salvage some of our vacation along with benefiting from RC's generous 13th sailing incentives I'm tempted to make plans for the 13th. I know I am not alone and I understand RC wants to up it's retention and that's why the incentives are so good for the 13th. I'm one of the "lucky" ones though, I live in Naples, if my home is still standing and the port is open and everything is honky-dory, we can make that 13th date work. I'm just concerned for others that might be trying the same thing and putting themselves in harms way. Right now it's hard to find water, fuel, food, etc. If Florida gets nailed it's the last place you will want to be, especially if you don't live here.

 

I contacted RC about this. They were very cordial but remained firm that their customers come 1st and they take our safety seriously. I disagree, my thoughts are it's a fiscal decision that borders on recklessness. I'm sure some folks that live here in Florida could use their cruise fare to evacuate, not going to happen. Hopefully all will work out and this beast veers way east and we are all spared, including RC but for the time being I'm feeling a little less love from the folks at RC making these decisions. Can you imagine making it here for the 13th or scheduling and paying for flights/travel just to find out that the 13th sailing will be cancelled? The storm is not RC's fault but how they are handling this situation just seems flat out wrong and possibly dangerous for some. Anyone else out there feel the same?

Dispute the charge with your credit card company. Services not provided / services not as described. Even if you paid it off you can still get your money back.

they offered to sell you something and took your money, but did not provide the goods or services they sold you.

Too bad if the billion dollar company loses money due to a hurricane. Thats the chance they take selling cruises during hurricane season.

(((PLEASE do not get onto me about this and if you do not vape please do not tell me how bad it is to sneak and do it. I understand but dont care. Most who vape will get it. AND PLEASE DO NOT i repeat DO NOT tell us to go to where smoking is allowed because we do not like the smell of cigarette smoke. )))

 

My wife and I have vaped on a cruise that didn't allow smoking before. We were very discreet and very polite about it. We did not have a problem on Carnival Paradise in the hallways or in the bars at all. We never vape at dinner or in eating areas and in public areas we take small draws not to fill the place with vape. Will we be gotten onto or get into trouble if we are discreet in bars and such for vaping? We are going to be on Divina in October. We use the small cylinder vapes (vape pens) that doesn't fill a room with fog just a 2 second puff of vape that dissipates.

You can vape wherever you want as long as you are discrete. We cover the little blue light so nobody sees it when you take a hit. I wouldn't try it in the showroom because people will see the vapor. Other than that you should be okay.

If some busybody makes a big stink and reports you all they will do is tell you it's not allowed. Just try to make sure the same crew member doesn't tell you multiple times so if you get caught in one bar, just go to another and vape away!

Enjoy your cruise!