rudeney

This was before the pandemic, but I priced out every option. For us, the best option was renting a car for the week and paying to park it in a private lot right across from the terminal. One factor was that we flew in very early the day before,arriving around 10am. We then visited the Space Center that day, Kemah Boardwalk that night, and stayed in a hotel in that area. The next morning, we drove to Galveston. Of course I am sure prices are much different now, but then it was under $300 for the car and about $75 to park. Oh, and on the return, we had a late afternoon flight, so with the car, we were able to do some shopping and see a movie.

Given that the auto-gratuities have not increased much since the old days where we handed cash to those four people (steward, waiter, asst. waster and head water), it seems odd that the cruise line would make them now share tips with all these other crew members. That would be a pay cut for them. On land, people who are not in customer-facing tipped positions (cooks, dishwashers, laundry, etc.) are paid a higher hourly wage. Lifeguards are generally paid even better due their training and skill requirements. BTW, on a cruise ship, the assistant waiter buses tables, and that is a tipped position (or was traditionally, back when we handed out cash tips). I am still very skeptical that these behind-the-scenes people are part of the tip pool, but that does not change my mind about accepting the fact that gratuities are part of my cruise expense.

I've mentioned this before...in Alabama, getting a REAL ID is a huge hassle. You have to deal with a State Trooper who would rather be out writing speeding tickets than doing paperwork, and they treat everyone like dumb criminals. You wait for hours, then about half the people who apply are denied due to improper docs, even if they aren't, like bringing your W-2 as a printout because you get it electronically instead of as a instead dot-matrix printed from from 1985. But of course you can't argue with a police officer. Anyhow, I find it easier to just use my passport. I've never lost it. As an adult, I've never lost my driver's license, car keys, credit card, billfold, sunglasses, phone, watch, etc. The only thing I've ever "lost" is my 20+ year old lucky pen that I usually carry clipped into my front pocket. Twice it has fallen out, but both times it was recovered (hence it being "lucky").

I still don't understand the idea that, "gratuities go to pay behind the scenes crew." In the "good old days", the cash tips we paid were handed to four people - cabin steward, waiter, assistant waiter, and head waiter. When did the laundry, dishwashers and other crew become tipped positions? I'm not asking this to be argumentative - I am truly just curious. And I would never remove the added gratuities - I just consider it part of the cost of my cruise.

Don't they still bring room service on trays? If so, order that and keep the tray for use in the Windjammer.

I always carry my passport with me when I leave the ship in a non-USA port. In the future, when the "REAL ID" laws are enforced for domestic air travel, I'll take my passport in USA ports because I am not going to the trouble of getting a "REAL ID" as my state is a real PITA about it. I simply don't lose things. I am very methodical about where my important stuff is carried and placed, so it won't get left in a taxi or restaurant. It's an important document so I take care of it and carry it so I won't get pick-pocketed. The claim that the cruise line will check your safe and leave your passport at the port if you miss the ship is not something I want to test. I've read a few stories over the years about people being left in port w/o a passport and it's not something I want to experience. As for the "small chance" of being injured or falling ill in port, I am more concerned about that than COVID.

Can't wait for more installments!

I was thinking taxes might be a wash - RCCL would have to pay taxes on the additional revenue, but the increased expense of crew wages would reduce net income. But TA commissions would be an issue. If they took that out of the additional revenue, then either crew wages would need to be reduced, or cruise fares would need to increase more than the amount of current gratuities.

When I had COVID (Original Recipe 2020) I never ran a fever. Taking my temp would have been a worthless attempt at stopping me from spreading it.

If you want aggressive, go to timeshare presentation! They need to hire these guys as police interrogators. After four hours, your brain begins to wander into thoughts like, "I think I'm going to agree to sign just so he'll hand me the pen, and then I can stab myself with it to end this madness."

No kidding! I see poor practices like that all the time. It must be why I have such a good immune system! 🤣

Oh, I know. I'm just using that as an example of how I might like to search vs. how the cruise line wants me to search. The data is all there and it would likely take a small development team a day to implement it. I am guessing that TA sites with more robust search capabilities may not even have that level of access to RCCL's inventory so even they can't offer that granular of a search. It's OK, I'll keep searching using the tools available and I'll keep getting "upsold". 🤣

Yep, and add in all the "Royal Math" they use in Cruise Planner to "discount" the DBP and other extras. I can see how a newbie would have a very hard time with this. Me, I just figure I'm going to pay, and pay, and pay.

And how Walgreens and CVS put the pharmacy in the back of the store. Speaking of milk at the grocery store, my wife and I have this running joke about "$50 milk" - we go into the store for milk, and come out with $50 of "stuff". Of course this joke started 30+ years ago, so now it's $300 milk. 🤣

Not to get too off-topic, but I don't know any "struggling" doctors - even ones who do not push extra products. My BIL is a surgeon who relies mostly on Medicare payments and I promise you, he is not having problems staying in business (or paying for six-figure weddings for his daughters or buying them $700K houses). Now, back to the issue...I understand some businesses require selling "extras" to make a profit (like movie theaters with concessions). I have a hard time believing that a cruise ship spa does not make a profit on treatment revenues. I am sure these upsell products are highly profitable, and they may even pay the employees a nice commission when they sell them, hence the appearance of a hard-sell. My daughter used to work in a tanning salon and they also would upsell products. They had some lotions that were over $100. She got something like a 25% commission. She sold a lot of overpriced lotions.

Sure, they could do that, but it's not the way the business is structured and not what customers expect. I treat the added gratuities just like the "Federal universal service charge" tacked onto my phone bill. I know it's going to be added, it's not a "federal" charge, but a "charge the federal government allows" because the phone company wants to make more revenue, but not have to advertise a higher price. It is what it is. I actually agree with you, because that would make it much simpler. But I don't mind it being done either way. Whether that beer is $7.99 + 18% or $9.43 is all the same to me. The only thing that I am unsure about is if there is any sort of tax advantage (either to the company or the employees) with paying the crew with tips vs. a higher wage. If soo, it might explain the industry's hesitancy to move away from the gratuity model.

I find it amusing when people argue against gratuities because, "the cruise line should pay the crew a decent wage and not make them rely on tips from passengers." Um, the money to pay the crew a "decent wage" comes from cruise fare revenue which is paid by the customer. What difference does it make to the cost of the cruise if each passenger is charged $14.50 per day as "gratuities" or they just increase the price of the cruise by $14.50/day? Obviously it allows the cruise line to advertise a lower price, which is a marketing tactic. Many industries do the same thing - hotels, rental cars, phone service, even buying a car - where the advertised price is exclusive of fees and taxes and taxes and fees.

I have a nearly 40-year career in software design and development so I try to cut Royal IT some slack. Besides their outages and obvious bugs, I believe they specifically design the website to extract the most money from customers, and that is why some things may seem hard to use or unintuitive. For example, I'd love to be able to quickly home in on "available GS or above staterooms on an Oasis-class ship sailing next spring or summer to Alaska for under $5000 for 2 passengers". This is something easily programmed, but they won't do it because it removes their opportunity to "upsell" or "downsell". Making me wade through many screens and searches to find just the right cruise gives them the opportunity to show me other things I might be persuaded to buy. The same goes for Cruise Planner - it's designed to get me excited to pay for these add-ons, not to help me get the best value. It's all very savvy marketing.

Let's hope not. Imagine standing outside the terminal in the hot sun waiting for your assigned boarding time only to have your sunburnt forehead pop a 100F and you get denied boarding! ☹️ Something similar happened to me once when trying to donate blood - they had us lined up outside in the sun waiting to enter the bloodmobile and 2/3 of donors were turned away due to our temps being too high.

It keeps them from picking their noses! 😜 Seriously, though, gloves will keep a person from touching their face and then possibly transferring infected respiratory fluids onto surfaces, so I guess they do some good!

In case no one has said it yet - Welcome to Cruise Critic @RisingTideRenee! Yes, with even the basic "Soda Package" (and any package above that) you can get soft drinks anywhere they are served, but you will be limited to the flavors they have. If you want the full selection of soda from the Freestyle machines, you have to use the cup - or at least you need the RFID chip stuck to the bottom of it to activate the machines.

Welcome to Cruise Critic @Pattycakes1998 I would recommend paying for Voom Internet and using "Wifi Calling" on the ship. To use Wifi calling, you first need to enable it. This all needs to be done while you are at home and connected to your local AT&T cell service. First, find the Wifi calling option on your phone and turn it one. That may go through a validation process. Once it is on, put your phone in Airplane Mode and the turn Wifi back on and test calling from and to your phone. If all is good, you are ready for your cruise. While on the ship, make sure you turn on Airplane Mode and then turn WIfi and Wifi Calling on. You can now use your phone for calls, texts and Internet access on the ship. When in port, you have options. If you pay AT&T for the $10/day International plan, you can turn airplane mode off, and use your phone in port as normal. Just make sure you turn Airplane Mode on, Wifi and Wifi calling on when you get back on the ship. If you don't want to pay the $10/day for the International plan, you could try leaving your phone in Airplane Mode and then join public Wifi while in port. Of course as you move from place to place in port, you have to keep finding and joining different public wifi networks, so the $10/day International plan may be a better choice, especially if you don't have access to public wifi in port. The main thing is, do NOT try to use the ship's cellular service - it's expensive and unnecessary.

I understand your concerns, but you are basing that on what others say. Why not give it a try and experience things for yourself? Remember that most people who go online to post their experiences are doing so because they are looking for solutions to problems, not just to say, "all was great."

Well, I never take my car to Jiffy Lube. I don't trust my cars to anyone - I do my own work. 🙂 And my hair dresser never tries to upsell me - she's been cutting my hair and my wife's hair for almost 40 years and knows better! But you are right - these 3rd party agents are pushed to upsell. I remember my wife saying she had a spa employee trying to upsell her, and knowing the young lady needed the "sale", she bought the least expensive thing - some sort of lotion, that she ended up liking. Me, I do not use "product" and I hate "fragrances" so I'm not buyin' nuthing'.

I see - I missed the two passports. I stand corrected!