Dreamscaper

Thank you, this is exactly what I had planned (and still plan) on doing. Again, I was just concerned that it wouldn't be enough if most the other passengers were handing over extras for every little (standard) thing. I'll definitely still give extra for outstanding service or if I frequent them a lot, and no I would never take off the auto tips (the thought that people do this and don't give equivalent or better cash tips in lieu) really ticks me off too!)

This was my thought as well, I was just worried that it was different on Princess and extra tipping was more expected than not. I didn't know that room service wasn't part of the tipping pool. That seems unfair to them. We'd normally tip them anyway but I'll be sure to give a bit more seeing as it's their only tip!

Excellent idea! Thanks!

Thanks! I was just worried that that percentage was a lot higher and that I should bring even more cash for tips than what I had been originally planning on.

thank you! this is what I kind of what I expected, but I was getting worried that maybe it was more expected that I had thought!

I meant extra gratuity. But I do get your point :)

Thank you. I guess really I want to know if most people do it ("right" or "wrong") and if they tend to expect it. I figure I'll tip sometimes.. especially if we're drinking multiple drinks from the same bartender or waiter/waitress. But if they expect a tip for every drink they make or bring.. I need to be prepared for that!

Thank you - would you estimate that the majority of people do this?

I don't know how to ask this without sparking more controversy, but the recent thread about a dining room manager suggesting tipping his team in the Reserve Class dining room and people chiming in on how much extra they tip (or don't tip) has me wondering... I apologize if this starts off another round of arguments about what is "right" and "wrong" when it comes to extra gratuities. We are just average Jo/Joes going on our third ever cruise. We are in a balcony stateroom because they don't have ocean view on the Regal and we do appreciate an outside view. We have Princess Plus because we enjoy having some cocktails/wifi/gratuities covered, and we will be doing one specialty dining dinner, possibly two, but that's the extent of the bells and whistles or 'extras' we'll be indulging in. For us regular cattle - what is the "extra tipping" culture like? We were kind of hoping that the included crew appreciation meant that the staff weren't looking for or expecting extra tips, but now I fear that may not be the case. We don't want to be "uncouth". Honestly, from the non-suite, non-reserve type of people.. should I be tipping extra? Has anyone noticed that a certain percentage seem to tip extra gratuities? I guess my question isn't "should I" or "shouldn't I" and all the arguments that come with it - but how common does this seem to be among passengers in general?

Oh good call. My brain fuzzed out on me that this would be an August sailing and the snow just isn't there for it anymore. Sorry OP!

Update - we were able to book the Crown Grill for us and two guests last week, but trying to book another dinner today, the online version of the app appears to let me book for me and hubby, but it won't let me add the other two guests (it just keeps asking for their booking number over and over again), and the phone app says I can't book even ourselves right now (it rightly says we can't access Dine My Way as our booking is not yet paid in full, and we're not Platinum, Elite or have a full suite or Club Class mini suite). So it seems that we were not supposed to have been allowed to book, but I guess the system doesn't always know that.

We had an amazing helicopter/dogsledding tour on the glacier with Temsco in 2017, highly recommend them :)

thanks everyone. I think we'll stick with our aft stateroom rather than risk being put in a worse ship location by bidding. I suspect our ship will be sailing full anyway.

I heard that the plugs by the bed are European and we'd need a European to North American converter for those lol

This is exactly my fear.

Yes, we're aft port, *almost* at the very end, but not facing aft :(

Thank you! I guess we'll just keep the aft balcony we were assigned because our luck with Princess would have us end up assigned to the bounciest stateroom on the ship if we won a bid

As some of you are aware, we were assigned a stateroom in the far aft for our sailing aboard the Regal Princess at the end of October (after booking a guaranteed mid-ship), and there's nothing Princess is willing to do to fix that. It's a bit early still, but I'm thinking ahead to when the time comes to possibly bid on an upgrade. I've seen a few posters assure me that they actually prefer the aft staterooms, which is a relief to hear. My question is... how about the *forward* rooms? If we gamble and bid on an upgrade to a deluxe balcony or mini suite, my understanding is that they could end up placing us anywhere on the ship (forward, mid or aft). Are the far forward staterooms a worse off position to be in than the far aft? Or are they fairly comparable? Thanks for any insight!

Perfect! That's exactly what we'll do :)

Thank you. I see a lot of strips on Amazon that have that type of wording in their product listings, but my concern is that they don't indicate it on the actual product. But taking along a picture of the listing or bringing any documentation/boxes that has that language is an excellent idea.

This is one of my worries - how do they *know* which strips are surge protected and which aren't? If they're not clearly marked as non-surge protecting, do I risk having it confiscated because they don't actually know?

I'm 132 days from sailing and just managed to book our specialty dining on the app for us and our travel companions. Main dining room is available as well.

Unless you're headed up to the top of a glacier or something, no need for the thick boots. We were in Alaska in May 2019 and we were in t-shirts at Icy Strait Point - there were even people wading in the water there. Check the temperatures before you go! Edit to add that yes, we encountered a fair amount of rain up there. June might be better than May though.

Yes, correct. I had to wait until a Monday to talk to mine.

binder clips or bull clips can help with that as well - and I've read somewhere that some people like those to clip to the bottom of their shower curtains to keep them moving around and hanging straight down instead of flowing out or attacking your legs!