Liao

Blue Lagoon has storage lockers.

The captain obviously has a lot of leeway and discretion. They also know before the cruise even starts that this event and any other planned events that will be taking place during the cruise. So it's not really a "situation" that requires an on the fly intervention.

They get a base and it is on avg. $2k/month

And in your example, the $5184/month is just their grats, not including their base salary. So $62k in grats only...

Wow, GREAT pics! Once in a lifetime for many if not most, thank you for sharing!

Be aware that regardless of the price, if you purchase when you book and the price decreases, you can cancel it and repurchase at the lower price.

and if that broken window seal caused damage from water, or allows hot/cold air in or out, effecting HVAC it may end up costing a lot more to repair as a result of waiting. Cruise industry are multi-billion dollar buisness, they can and should do better. I spend a fair amount of time in my room as I tend to primarily do TA's with a lot of sea days. The room in question here would definitely impact my overall enjoyment of my cruise.

They will not stop you from doing this.

As much as I love the EClass ships design, the spa, for as much prime space dedicated to it, is an overall miss, IMO.

You may want to look into Virgin Voyages. There are tons of YouTube videos with a lot of detail for their ships. Price wise, they seem to be comparable to Celebrity and they are an 18+ ONLY passenger ship. I agree Celebrity EClass are a very nice product and Virgin ships are all (they only have 4) under 5 years old.

The specialty restaurants are better spaced. Luminae 2 tops are just inches apart on EClass.

Why? This is a detailed breakdown of how they get distributed and it looks fair to me. IMO if auto gratuities are left in place, and they should be, everyone is well covered. Folks who want to pay additional are more than free to do so, for whatever reason they decide.

This is why I cancelled a TA on Eclipse, and moved to another on Apex. I saw far too many comments here and other social media, YT etc. about degraded appearances, torn carpets, holes in drapes, missing curtain panels, sofas that smell like urine. It is also scheduled to go to drydock directly following the TA I had been booked on, too risky for me.

Same issue for me with an APEX excursion.

Had the exact same thing happen to me today. An excursion I had already bought, showed on sale on the main excursions page, I clicked to purchase, cancelled the one I had already bought and when it went t in my cart to select payment method, the new purchase price was the same as the one I had cancelled.

Tipping if/when/how you want is of course appropriate, that is your decision to make. The room steward and butler are included in the tipping pool, how much or what %, IDK, but they are included. Many tip more (or so they say) to both.

And they are already among the higher paid crew on the ship.

Good point and 20% gratuity/drink is very generous.

For ports like this, it is really important to weight risk v reward of whether to pay for the ships expensive excursion, IMO it is .

OP, all tipping is included, assuming you either pre-pay before the cruise or go with the daily add on during the cruise. There is no obligation what-so-ever to tip anyone or any amount beyond what is already paid or charged daily. If you buy a drink package, all tips have also been baked into that cost. If you do not and decide to just pay as you go for drinks, alcohol or non, I suppose one would tip like they do at home, not knowing your location, this may or may not be your custom.

OP, as others have said, the deposit is $450/pp. I booked a cruise on Apex as a solo and dep. was $450 for just me. I came to book this cruise by cancelling another TA originally I was on Eclipse. I paid the $100 change fee/penalty, or whatever you want to call it, though in the long run I did this because I saved well over $1000 by moving (X calls it move and shift) my cruise from Eclipse to Apex. IMO paying the higher fare for a refundable deposit is not worth it, but obviously YMMV and we all have to do what's best for our personal circumstances.

I always send an email to whoever I am using for private excursions, I like the piece of mind having the confirmation in hand provides.

Smart choice because the lobster is honestly swimming/floating in mayo. To me barely edible but I do live in lobster land and I know that I am biased.

VG to know, thank you! I do tend to like eating later though, so 7-7:30 would be good for me if that works out.

Itinerary: 13 NT BERMUDA & PORTUGAL TRANSATLANTIC Stateroom: A2 - 92XX Aqua Class Stateroom Obstructed View Percentage 0% Sailing Date: 08 MAR 2025 Dining 6:00 PM()