jazzycitrine

Just wondering about tipping at Coastal Kitchen and Suite Lounge.  Are they the same staff for the duration of the cruise?  Want to figure out if it is easier to tip at the end of the cruise.  

Also, I know different people will have different sense as to what is appropriate for tipping.  So this is not a question about what is right but what you do.  If you get decent service at Coastal Kitchen, how much do you tip?

Finally, the Indian cuisine looks delish!  So I suppose it is okay to mention that we would be interested for one of our evening meals.  Is there more we need to do?

THanks again!

10 minutes ago, stringbean10 said:

Do you think the recent surge is due to retiring/retired baby boomers?  Is that the typical diamond plus & pinnacle demographic?  

 

Congrats on more cruising!  I’d do it more often but my husband says no.  Lol.  He likes other types of travel more.

I think the retiring baby boomers certainly will add to the top tier numbers.  But being a newbie, I will leave this to others who are more experienced to opine 

My husband likes cruising.  The only problem is that there are so many land trips we want to make - and even if they are locations reached by cruise ships, the type of travelling we want to do would not make it work.  So for the forseeable future, we are talking about 1 cruise per year, may be 2.  

4 hours ago, stringbean10 said:

 

Quote

 

I am gold close to platinum.   I've been on Celebrity, NCL and RCI.

 

My family enjoys cruises and I aim to take 1 a year for the foreseeable future.  Cruises are our vacations and not our travel.  I have two young children and I could see us taking at least one cruise for the next 15 years as a family vacation.  If say, at the end of that 15 years, there was a big enough carrot as a rewards program, it would sway me to keep booking with RCI.  But if the big pay off is 'saving' the equivalent to $350 and three drinks a day and a bag of free laundry and a lapel pin - then it doesn't sway me to keep building loyalty with RCI. 

 

We are in a similar situation in that we are planning to do a lot more cruising beginning next year and so the question about sticking to one line for the perks did cross our minds.

But 15 years is a long time.  The perks available now may no longer be there even in a couple of years time.  Based on what I can tell, Royal Caribbean probably has the best frequent-cruiser program among the mainstream lines but the ranks of Diamonds, Diamond PLus, Pinnacles are growing faster than what the ships may handle, and I suspect something will give.

Great !   Definitely following.  Hopefully after reading your blow-by-blow update, I will finally decide whether the Royal Caribbean suite is right for us.  Really leaning towards a Crown Loft Suite ...

19 hours ago, twangster said:

I have some friends who were in a full suite and had just finished their appetizer in CK.  Hostess came over and told them they needed to move tables before their entree arrived - Pinnacles wanted their table.  So yes, some Pinnacles definitely impact Suite guests in way that is not reciprocal.

 

Thanks again everyone for your insightful input.

As it currently stands, it seems to me that there will be overcrowding situations.  So I am trying to do a bit of "self-help" by avoiding cruising at a time when there is likely to be a lot of Pinnacles.  Like everyone regardless as to what type of cabin one cruises in, I would like to get what I paid for  and if I am paying for a suite I would like to get the suite perks!

Nonetheless,  I am shock to hear about what @twangster related above.  It is quite disappointing that an RC employee would ask folks already sitting at the table and still working on their meal to make way for another guest.  Why would the RC employee be willing to upset one guest over another guest's unreasonable demand?  Is it because corporate policy provides that Pinnacles will have their way no matter what?  If that's the case, it adds another level of consideration before considering whether RC suite would be a good idea.  

40 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

So, I guess having Pinnacles aboard was a good thing for everyone.

Thanks everyone for the input - very helpful!  Given that a Star/Sky suite could be $8-$12K+ I just want to make sure I know what to expect.  Certainly I am hoping that it will be possible to have access to what the suite class provides and the concern is that wITH a huge number of Pinnacles, it would not be possible to enjoy some of the perks which comes with the hefty price tag.

For example, what @taglovestocruise was describing on his Symphony cruise is something we might want to avoid - regardless as to what type of cabin we might be in 

@cb at sea  Totally agree that we can enjoy the cruise without Sky or Star.  But if it is doable, we don't mind spending more to have the suite experience, which of course includes more cabin space, etc!  

@John&LaLa   I am not sure why this means having Pinnacles aboard would be a good thing for everyone.  E.g. if a significant number of seats for the Ice Show and the Aqua Show is reserved for Pinnacles, wouldn't it mean fewer seats for others?  I am probably missing something since I am new at this!

@Andy C   I am hoping that if there's 3 Pinnacles it's going to be a lot better than having 300   (By the way I read your recent cruise report and it didn't sound like fun at all!)

Thanks again everyone who replied!

Hi! While we have cruised before, it has been a couple of years and so everything seems new and we are grateful to find this forum which is full of information!  For our return to cruising, we are thinking about travelling to the Caribbean on either Harmony or Symphony to test the waters (pun intended).  We don't mind crowds (hence the big ships are okay) but it would be nice to have a quiet area for dinners/drinks without fighting for seats.  Hence the thought is going Sky or Star class.  

It seems that that Coastal Kitchen and the Suite Lounge are for Sky/Star suite guests and Pinnacles; and while number of suite guests is somewhat predictable, the number of Pinnacles on a cruise can range highly.  

From reading some past posts, it appears the President's cruise would be one to avoid if overcrowdedness at the Suite Lounge and Coastal Kitchen is a concern.  Is there any rhythm or reason as to what other cruises may be popular with Pinnacles?

Also, when it comes to Coastal Kitchen dinner reservations, is there a pecking order (e.g. pinnacles first and then star and then sky, etc) or is it first-come first served?  Would some tables be reserved for Star?

Just want to be clear - nothing against Pinnacles - it's quite an accomplishment of the loyalty and admirable!  Just trying to levelset expectations as to how easy to get a table/seat in the aforementioned area!

Thanks in advance for any insight!