HappyTexan44

I can totally see this being the reason that it is free. You can't complain about something being lesser than promised, when you didn't pay for it. In addition to the bonus money since we were getting it anyway, since it is free everyone will have access. I can totally see us wanting to communicate with some new best friends. Everyone being on chat will be nice.

WJ is a bit of a sticking point and I am enough on the fence about this, that WJ might sway me to auto-grat. I am used to 15% of 15% of food bill going to the busboy, and 15% of 15% of the bar bill going to the bartender from my tips. 15% was the norm at the time. I can understand bartenders in a particular bar pooling their tips within the bar. My dismay was the idea of cash tips going into a giant ship-wide tip pool.

Oooh, that could totally work. DH's main jobs are homeschooling DD and building the house we are living in. So, he spends lots of time in Home Depot and Habitat's Restore. She hates both. I am so personally strict on truth that I don't think I could do that.

They wouldn't let me for the 'special pricing'

I bet that was miserable since you were stuck on the flight. I hope it was a short one. I remember once in a restaurant with friends a glass of iced tea was spilled on me from above. They were at least able to provide a cloth tablecloth to keep me warm. A plane wouldn't have had that.

Don't they x-ray checked luggage? They know what a wine bottle looks like.

It is really nothing in the grand scheme of things. Well, the nothing is past tense. Original problem is that daughter(12) lied to us about something that we'd have been merely grumpy about if she'd told the truth. Then while she's still in trouble in trouble for lying, a little over 24 hours later, she bald-faced lied about something else. I told her to write an essay about why she shouldn't lie. All she could think of was that when she lies and gets away with it, she starts to lie more (So apparently this has been happening for awhile) and when she is caught, Mommy is sad. So, apparently, a huge parenting parenting fail. Then yesterday I learned that my mother doesn't feel healthy enough to drive for Christmas. Which means she might never leave the house alive again.

I have been having a hard few days, and I needed a happy place to go to. I checked out the RC blog, and learned that the chat will be free. That is good news. That was $40 in our budget. Not a lot of money, but I'll take any movement in the right direction. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/12/09/royal-caribbean-ceo-chat-feature-app-will-be-free-starting-2023

Seems like it would easy for Royal to figure out whose bottle it was. Take all wine soaked luggage to luggage jail. As people request their luggage, open up the luggage and there will be a broken bottle. Charge that person's account for laundry services for the innocent people. Hand over the name and address of the guilty person to the innocents in case they want to small claims sue for new luggage, because you know that luggage is totally ruined.

It doesn't sound like they are comping much in this case. $100 OBC? That is an insult not a comp.

One of my bucket-list items was to eat at a Michelin starred restaurant in Paris. Those tables for two are wider with more spacing between then in Paris. At least since they are technically different tables you can politely ignore the strangers next to you.

So, when you give them cash, they still put it in a pool?

Will you get anything from Royal for changing your cruise?

To be fair to the OP, they did just reach for the wrong card, and realized their mistake right away.

I was trying to think of people that I'd interact with. Wouldn't they be one of the customer-facing employees included in the auto-grat. pool?

Well, that stinks.

From that article. "For example, of a $15 charge, $7 per day may be distributed to your room steward, $5 to the dining staff, and the remaining $3 is spread among other customer-facing positions on the ship. " So assuming a Royal's auto-gratuity of $16. 5-night cruise, 4 people in 2 rooms. 1) Room steward will get $7.46/pp/day. So, $150 assuming our connecting rooms will have the same person. 2) We'll be eating meals together, so $22 per day rounding up. So, thinking $10 for each dinner in MDR, and $6/day for each of breakfast and lunch. If we end up just grabbing a bagel for breakfast and not sitting down, then we'll have to redistribute that money since there won't be anyone to tip. Maybe the MDR meal tip isn't enough? Assuming 20% tip, $10 equates to a $50 bill for 4 people. Then there are two port days where we won't be eating lunch on the ship. So that will leave extra tip money. 3) Then there is $13/day for misc. people. Thinking I'll tip the room steward on the first day since it will be the same person, and everyone else as we go. I think the dining tips need more thought.

Well, the rumor wasn't that they were stealing all of it. But, that they weren't passing on all of it. My original thought was just to cash tip. Then I talked myself into the auto-gratuities for the same reasons as mentioned here. Then the rumor that they don't all get the money. I would have thought that this would be something at least people did and could give some suggested amounts.

Note, I am not wanting to tip less money. I am a former waitress, and am pro-tipping. But, it bugs me that people I might never see or have anything to do with might get some of the tip money. It also bugs me that there is the rumor that the company doesn't pass on all the tip money. I know this has been a problem in restaurants. Not one I worked in, but it has been sometimes a thing and I can totally see Royal corporate bean-counters doing that. So, for those that don't auto-gratuity how much do you give people? I am thinking of matching the auto-gratuity amount These are the things I can see us doing. Obviously the room steward MDR meals WJ meals Likely an occasional snack location but no specialty restaurants. Pool/towel attendants Two girls aged 13 & 14, so there is that club they hang out in. DH will be buying an occasional beer, and the girls will likely get sodas on the refreshment package. So bartenders. Attendants for the slides, that surfing thing, laser tag, etc. (Voyager) If there is a poker game, I'd like to do that. Tipping the dealer is normally a thing. I assume it is the same on a cruise. For those that tip but don't do auto-gratuity, how much do you tip each person? Obviously people do different things on the ship, so spread the money differently. But I thought if I had a few examples, I'd be better educated. I assume that the cabin steward is a certain $ per day. Meals per person per meal makes sense.

OP, I would have been quite annoyed too. I'd have expected a refund of the difference between a balcony and interior, since that is what you effectively had. I'd have never talked to that person myself. He KNEW what he was doing was wrong. I'd have completely expected him to be violent when confronted. In fact, maybe that is why they didn't do anything, the crew was scared of him too. I'm a wimpy woman who could be easily beaten by any woman willing to throw a punch. I'd have tried to stop DH from talking to him, although DH can handle himself.

My takeaway is that they were merely running low and not out. They were saving the sole for the important people.

I like Fish and Chips, but I'm not always in a mood for that. I think I'm always in mood for fried lobster and shrimp. But, you'd want to know what you are getting.

In my cruise research I read that Royal was tired of people waiting for Last Minute Bargains. They want people to book early. So their plan was to stop offering the last minute bargains and just sailing with empty rooms if they have to. Whether they hold to that is a question.

You would think since shellfish is such a common allergy, that would have been mentioned in particular. Although, there is ZERO excuse to substitute out a listed ingredient without a heads-up.

Also, how do know what she was served was farm-raised? It gets caught in the nets. Dolphin for example can't be sold because there isn't a market for dolphin. But Tilapia could just be sold as Tilapia. Regardless, I think it is a disgusting fish.