gmerick

I also read that pre-paid gratuities cannot be removed once on board. When I booked, I used OBC to pay for Gratuities. Prior to sailing I removed same. Once on board, I asked for gratuities to not be added to my account. I visited the Casino, and cashed out the OBC refund from cancelling prepaid gratuities. I took the cash back to Guest Services, and exchanged the large bills for small. I then handed out those same gratuities plus to crew members that provided service to me.

All of the prepaid grats, cruise planner purchase grats, and grats added to sea pass card purchases all end up in one big wonderful shipwide tip pool. The crew Collective Bargaining Agreement has contract clauses as to how that combined pool is distributed. The only tip that goes to a specific individual is what you give as cash. The crew sign up for "extra hours" because that fractionally increases their share of the tip pool. My view - the combined gratuities pool is a RCI accounting gimic to avoid taxes on revenue that would normally be used as wage expense. I no longer play that game. I bring $1s, 5s, and 10s for at least what my daily $18/day would have been plus extra for on board purchases (I can't avoid the 18% tax on Cruise Planner). I hand out the cash to those that make my time enjoyable. My morning coffee on my balcony is VERY important. That room service delivery crew member gets well appreciated.

I'm also a solo traveler. For dining, I pick My Time Dining, and select a later time (8PM on my latest cruise). The dining room host was always pleased to greet me, whenever I showed up (some evenings much earlier, some almost at the end of dining room hours). I was always seated alone without making a specific request. I find having a balcony cabin gives me that personal private spot to unwind and de-stress. Finding a lounger topside or in the solarium when I wanted to mingle was never a hastle, as I only needed one spot. Ships are very conducive to solo enjoyment, crew members seem to just know who is solo, and we get treated nicely. Even though your plan is to remain aboard, I'd still recommend taking a short stroll at the ports.

18-29 Jan 2024 - MDR every evening - 11 different menus. On sea days, I dined for breakfast and lunch. Port days I did room service breakfast and skipped lunch. Never entered Windjammer. Evenings my usual fare was 2 appetizers (soup or salad, and something interesting), two entree, and a desert. I was very impressed with variety, I tried it all - lamb, pork, poultry, seafood, lentils, curry, pasta - all multiple times. I used the app in the afternoon to browse the evening's menu. Every day I had a choice of - beef - lamb or port - seafood - pasta. Always present on the menu was a curry and a vegetarian. Frequently I needed the waiter's feedback to narrow my choices to just two. Yes, I'll admit everything did taste and appear to be "banquet food" instead of individually prepared. Waiters were quite able to omit gravies/sauces, add vegetables, and other preferences. By intentionally ordering two entree I was never dissatisfied with a meal. I generally had at least a "good" and a "great" dish, and at least half the meals I had an "excellent". @kiramoli , I don't know when, or the duration of your friends cruise, but your description does not reflect my previous two sailings on Anthem.

Studio inside, virtual. Sounds like a Quantum class ship. All 12 studio interiors are hardly ever mentioned on RCI's web site, but are available by phone or agent. They are usually last to go, and are what can be expected when booking a guarantee inside for 1 guest. No, you will only get 1 point. (even the guarantee guest will get only 1 point). It's a nice cabin in a location quite near the elevator. Price should be 50-75% of a regular cabin. Unless the points are that important, take it.

Seems easy, but once you have done FlowRider a few times and have graduated to Stand-up, the idea won't work. There are 5 types of sessions: Boogie - a couple dozen passengers aged from Jr High to Sr Citizen show up - possibility to get maybe 2 rides on the wave in an hour. Mixed - Same deal as boogie, but add in some folks riding a surf board. - a total zoo. Stand-up - described above, there's a possibility of 6 or more turns on the wave (I've even had the entire hour to myself once). Buy a wristband for the hour, and get 2 to 10 rides? How could it be kept fair? And here's where they are already charging for Flowrider: Class - 6 passengers and 2 crew - lots of help, $65 - done it twice. Buy-out - $500, but you and your friends have exclusive use for the hour - watched it from the deck.

I'm going to watch for someone at a pop-up sales desk on the Promenade pushing dining. After listening to the pitch, I'll offer them something like $35 pp for an evening meal, and see if they'll bargain.

So it's likely to be crowded. Especially since it's a cold weather departure, and from So'ton. The ship probably just wanted to limit crowding in a popular venue, Just like what they did to the Diamond Club.

Can't figure out how they could charge for flowrider. On most days, the stand-up crowd shows up about 5-10 minutes before scheduled time and sit arround talking. When the crew show up some ambitious person starts us off. Usually only about half a dozen active riders, so keeping track of who's on the wave is never a problem. Most folks skip occasional turns. New folks get rotated in, the folks who are most entertaining get encouraged to take extra time. We coach and cheer on those that struggle. We also have about 50% spectators on the shore bench. What would you charge for? Per turn on the wave? Per minute on the wave? Gate admission for the hour? I kinda think this thread was started by a troll just to stir controversy.

Internet + $50. The arrival lunch and departure breakfast are at least worth $10 each. Priority boarding is great. Priority tender and debarkation are right up there. Not having to lug my bags in the departure hall take some of the heartbreak out of leaving. On AN I particularly enjoy the reserved center balcony seating in the theater. The two non-crowded timeslots each on FlowRider and NorthStar are a nice perk, but not something I'd pay for.

Late night buffet. Single servings. Snacks. Get away from the reserved loungers on the pool deck, and stroll the Promenade / Central Park. I've never been disappointed with Cafe Promenade or Sorento's

It's your vacation. You got a great deal when you initially booked your cabin. You've been looking forward to it for a year. Don't second guess yourself. Doing a Royal-Up to a suite will get you no extra Diamond points. Those points only come for the cabin initially booked. Just sit back and enjoy what you've got. Don't worry about what might have been. Sure, you could have been a millionaire, Hollywood might have called, but you still have to go back to the same old grind at the (remote) office on Monday.

Yes, I enjoy singing waiters - not the dreadful Happy Birthday renditions, but show tunes and operatic numbers. I've also enjoyed (but not recently) when the RC Orchestra do the Strolling Strings reprise on formal nights. One evening I had a very observant Asst Waiter, and after I had enjoyed a succession of violin and viola next to my table I was dismayed to find my prime rib had become cold cuts. ---- only to be pleasantly surprised by that Asst Waiter arriving with a fresh plate.

100% correct. Leaving a tip by charging it to your ship account, and paying for it by credit card is the least cost method to give RCI money. Unfortunately at that point control over that money is lost. I see no method of guaranteeing the tip is given to a specific crew member. I don't even see a means of requesting it be given to a specific crew member. To me it appears any charged tip or gratuity ends up in that vast fleetwide tip pool that gets carved up to all and sundry once a month. I wish to retain control. I will pass it, directly, and with a handshake, to the crew member I deem deserving. Once I give it to the crew member, what they wish to do with it is entirely on them. Whether they send it home to family, share it with a fellow crew member, or indulge in any of the seven deadly's it is entirely up to the crew member.

First and foremost, removing prepaid gratuities does not significantly affect the contracted salary of anyone. Until we arrive at the point where a thousand or more passengers do this on every ship, nothing significant happens. The cabin attendants, waiters, and back-of-the-house staff gets paid anyway. Prepaid and automatically charged gratuities are an accounting gimmick. If the line item reads gratuities, and the charge to the guest is not mandatory, the cruise line doesn't have to count that part of the crew's salary as income. There is a relatively small portion of a crew paycheck that comes out the cruise line's taxed revenue. The gratuities line is already, and always "crew" money. The cruise line merely passes it along and avoids paying taxes on it, or counting it as revenue. My reasoning for not doing prepaid or auto grats is that I want my portion of this money to go directly to the people who directly affect my vacation. I still tip that entire $16 pp/pd (now 18), plus the extra that in the past I handed out in person. I now distribute it as pleases me, not the cruise line accountants. I do realize that my method does create a disparity in the relative income of direct guest service positions vs. back-of-the-house. Because the direct service crew members so directly influence the quality and enjoyment of my vacation, I think the disparity is proper.