iscruisingdunzo

These are just a myth. Never seen one on two separate accounts... Just checked my Platinum and Hilton cards once more and there is no sign of RCI.

Lol. Two children under 10 with their own cabin...the ship might not make it back to home port lol.

Just pulled up the actual receipt Jewel 12/24 Interior Gty 2 kids/2 adults - 1 cabin Total Charge - $1676.60 So 9 days/4 people costed less than 1 person on the Icon/Star for 7. Now that I have determined cruising is no longer a premium experience, value cruises would be the only reason for my family and I to cruise. Being a Diamond member also provides some free drinks which enhances the experience. I don't think I will book another cruise for over $3k and a family of 4 ever again. If all prices reach that point, then we will no longer be cruising.

Jewel of the Seas. No special offers of any kind. (outside of the daily scheming RCI practices)

Wow. It is always so nice to see the extreme generosity 🤪 from the great people of cruise critic world. I am going to sleep better tonight knowing that all you fine people also pre-pay your gratuities at the restaurants you dine at weekly and are also sure to tip the fine people you do not see such as the cleaners, dishwashers, office managers, cooks, and dish dryers. Well done.

Lol on these prices. Just booked 9 days for 4. $1600 OTD.

Lol. Gratuities are not going to break ANYONE that got on the cruise ship.

Huh. The education consisted of a question. Do you tip prior to receiving any service in your everyday life? No, then why would you be expected to tip X amount prior to on a cruise ship? Cruise ships are using their customers to subsidize staff salaries. If you feel you received great service, you should then choose who and how much you want to tip. That made total sense to both parties.

Completely agree. We go on vacation to escape our phone yet RCL forces us back to it. They need to do a better job educating people that they can still get the compass as I did not know until day 5 when I saw a gal walking around with it.

We just sailed a few weeks ago and this subject came up in conversation with two other families, both of which had no idea how and why gratuities should be removed. They were then educated on the reasons. Hopefully the 2% number indicated above increases.

Lol. I have been entering pools via jumping for 40 years. Don't know how it is anything but safe nor would I ever understand another method of entering. The ladder is only for exiting the pool for the people who are not physically capable of exiting another method. But let's just not allow people to do another thing in the name of "safety"... Once again, the pool is supposed to be a place to have fun. The RCL lifeguards make it anything BUT FUN.

So basically nothing is wowing you. Same experience for us a few weeks ago.

That does not seem like the best idea but when the pools are not open I guess it doesn't matter anyway.

Night one, we are leaving the frigid NY area. After dinner we thought it would be cool to go for a swim and hang in the Jacuzzi's in the covered, temp controlled area. We get up there after dinner. Both Jacuzzi's are closed LOL. When we ask why they are both closed we are told this was because they were open outside to watch the NFL game. Well, that was a cool idea until we got outside. We then find out they closed the pool outside and all Jacuzzi's EXCEPT for the one right next to the big screen. At this angle, it was unbearable to even watch the game. It was thing's like this that really made us wonder if this was their first sailing out of NY??? But it get's better. We then go back to the pool and barely even hop in and you would have thought the four of us and kids just committed a murder. Whistles going off, people yelling...all because we hopped in the pool. In all the years I have been alive I have never entered a pool and not jumped in. BUT you cannot get in the pool in this manner on the ship. Insane really. So, then I literally walked to the edge, and took a step off the side, and same result. Ultimately my kids and I had to go to the pool, walk to the edge, lie down on the edge, and roll ourselves into the pool. This was a lot of fun all week. Pure insanity.

You should buy it prior to sailing for just yourself since your wife is preggo. Just call and they can do this for you.

The cruise to nowhere was indeed just that. Royal canceled the original itinerary booked and attempted to make a stop at Cococay, but could not do so because of weather. Instead we went to the originally scheduled stop of Nassau, but of course we were 5 hours late, so zero excursions were available and they would not honor the original excursions booked. Pros 1) The ship - The layout was cool and great for kids/families. The covered indoor sports court was utilized all week from Pickleball, to bumper cars and laser tag. Our family had a great time with the sporting activities on the ship. 2) MDR - Service was excellent. The food was excellent. The new menu was good. I think the worst night of them all was the American night. Was happy to tip my waiter and assistant at the end of the week with cash! 3) Room staff - Did a great job as always, but they clearly are cleaning far more rooms than they used to. The once per day service makes more sense to me now because they clearly have far fewer people servicing rooms. Another cost cutting change. Cons 1) The ship. While many features were great, there was an over abundance of stores, all of which were empty every single time I walked by them. I hope Royal has learned that all the stores are just a waste of space that could be utilized for far more..but we shall see with the upcoming ships. 2) Formal Entertainment - The shows were just blah...so much in fact that there were a tone of later aged women just having everyday conversations throughout which made them even more unbearable for anyone. 3) Windjammer - You would think the cruise I was on was this ships first Rodeo. The Windjammer was insanely busy throughout because the ship made NO other options available at Breakfast. Why would they do this?? They put tables and chairs in walkways which made it even more congested, so not only could we not find tables or seats, but it was hard to search for them as well. Come on Royal! Make some other options available other than just the MDR so that the thousands on this ship are not all searching to have a meal in one place! What happened to Johnny Rocket's having breakfast?? Nothing in the windjammer was worth noting food wise other than the Asian option. - Also, I need to make sure I note that the ONE THING people actually happily waited for was the Asian station WHEN it was offered. This line was always 15+ long. Why can't they make more Asian stations??? They have more omelette stations! In addition, why would you only offer meat on some of the days??? This was odd and really made Royal look petty. 4) Bars - Long waits were the norm. I never saw more than two bartenders at a bar more than twice. Cost/staff cutting was obvious. Seems to me they are trying to make it harder for people to get drinks. Be prepared to wait on Anthem. 5) The pool staff. These people took all the fun out of going to the pool. The pool is supposed to be a fun place during vacation. But not on Royal ships any longer! Overall, the entire experience just felt...cheap. There were so many instances that I thought why would Royal do this, can't be saving them that much money...but then I thought of their billions they sleep in at night, and it all made more sense. Their penny pinching made for a far less enjoyable experience. Luckily we only have one more booked. If the experience is not vastly different on Harmony, then we will no longer be cruising with Royal or probably any other cruise company moving forward. The last all-inclusive we stayed at seemed to offer far more value and was a better experience without any formal entertainment.

When you have a classy, ethical, and professionally run business such as RCI, you should not be surprised that they guarantee paid guests rooms, but don't honor their end of the agreement. Really, I am not surprised. Stay classy Royal.

They are not OPTIONAL. When I book a cruise Royal Caribbean tells me this: Tip-tip hooray! You can pre-pay gratuities now to show your appreciation for 24/7 service from your room attendants, culinary and service staff. Or assign gratuities once onboard through your SeaPass account. When I research gratuities on the website here https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense Royal Caribbean tells me that the gratuities will be automatic and will be billed unless they are prepaid. When I call Royal Caribbean to express my choice with the option you are telling me I have, they tell me there is no option and gratuities will be billed daily on my sailing. THERE IS NO OPTION!

If automatically billed gratuities were optional you would not have to demand they be removed from your bill in the first place. And yes, I have had to demand they be removed, been questioned about why, and had to speak to a supervisor to remove them. Luckily, I will be demanding that the automatically billed gratuities be removed from my bill again next week and will happily report the experience along with the gratuity vibe from the ship.

LOL. More like those that can easily afford them and have an OZ of common business sense understand that gratuities are tips, and tips are rendered AFTER A SERVICE IS PERFORMED!

Literally, what this comes down to Is education. First, people need to be educated on the definition of optional. Next, we, the educated consumers, need to educate all the others on the ship on gratuities. The mandatory, automatic charges (https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense) placed by Royal Caribbean can be removed if the consumer demands so once on the ship, but not until you are on the ship. Please educate your fellow cruisers on both moving forward 🙂 optional [ op-shuh-nl ]SHOW IPA See synonyms for: optionaloptionally on Thesaurus.com adjective left to one's choice; not required or mandatory: Formal dress is optional.

As always, thank you for again proving my point. Gratuities are not OPTIONAL. No matter what, Royal Caribbean will have charged or will charge gratuities to EVERY SINGLE PASSENGER by day one of the sailing. Gratuities are not OPTIONAL! Nor does Royal Caribbean communicate they are optional. Nor does Royal Caribbean give you the option to NOT be billed for gratuities!

Not going to ever happen since this would be major player in their profit margin and would severely impact them negatively from their bottom line in the BILLIONS.

Clearly I am missing something. Please tell me how I can put my optional choice into action during the planning and booking process because I do not want to pre pay my "gratuities" because I have yet to receive the great service the ship staff can provide and would like to pay them cash to express my gratitude. I want to pay no gratuities and I do not want them to be automatic when I am sailing since I will be handing out cash tips for great service.

Lol. Why do so many people on this board believe blatant lies. NOWHERE does Royal Caribbean state their gratuities are optional. This is what they state during the booking process: Tip-tip hooray! You can pre-pay gratuities now to show your appreciation for 24/7 service from your room attendants, culinary and service staff. Or assign gratuities once onboard through your SeaPass account. Do they state gratuities are optional when booking? NO. On your FAQ: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense NOWHERE do they state they are optional. They tell you that the gratuity is automatic and can be "modified", but at no point do they tell you gratuities are optional. The word optional is universally understood in the English language and the word most used in response to gratuities. Don't you think if Royal Caribbean wanted you to know that gratuities are indeed optional, they would tell their customers just that?????? No, gratuities have never been "optional", nor does Royal Caribbean want you, the paying customer to think they are optional. Why is that? They are in the business of making BILLIONS.