Eddie Wilson

Anyone heard of new issues with Quantum of the Seas. Seems today our 7 night Alaska GLACIER CRUISE no longer lists Endicott Arm Dawes Glaciers and Juneau (Mendenhall) on the itinerary. They were there yesterday? Poof? Gone. Replaced with Sea Days. I would imagine most people who booked the GLACIER Cruise may not be happy to delete the GLACIERS? Eddie

Thanks for all the replies. Mine has been 2 weeks since ordering the "Cruise Discount." I called again yesterday, the third time, and received the third different response. This time, the answer was, they will not apply that discount until the date the cruise balance is due. ???? I guess I will try again today and see if I get another response. I can go to "My Rewards" at Bank of America and see the miles have been redeemed, with a transaction number, with the correct dollar amount, but it has not been applied on the RCCL invoice. The balance is due in two weeks, and my worst nightmare is for DW and I to be cancelled for non-payment of the invoice, due to the "Cruise Discounts" not being applied. Eddie

Sorry for most likely stupid question, but travelling for first time with grandkids. Parents asked if they need to bring lanyards? I do not know, do they get keycards, or have need for lanyards? Thanks for your help Eddie

Family cruise this summer, using all methods to help against the cost. Two weeks ago I redeemed BOA Royal Caribbean credit card points to apply toward the cruise. Today, it has yet to show up on RCL amount due with the invoice. Any idea how long it takes? Eddie

What about duct tape?

Do you have a precise time to modify, and if so how much time do you want to modify? I only mention because while on Grandeur in January I noticed something I had never noticed before. DW and I had MDR second seating at 8:00 pm. The first night we noticed a table of 6 with 4 people seated. After they ordered, about the time apps were ready, two others arrived at the table. You could tell the group did not know each other. DW and I did not use the occasion to quietly whisper how rude the late arrivals were....er......well, maybe we did. Then we noticed others entering the MDR, at 8:20 or so, and wondered if the world had lost all manners. The next day day I noticed the sign at the door said, “Second Seating, 8:00 - 8:30. So the second night, as DW and I silently ate crow, the late arrivals continued, and this practice continued all week. We thought 8:00 was the time, but apparently not necessarily. So so if your MTD happens to be in that half hour time frame, would an alternative be to switch to Specific seating with a half our window? Just thinking out loud folks, Eddie

OK, for the sake of the Cruise Critic Community I can settle this MAGICAL TIP DIVISION TRICK with one bold move. I hereby will apply for a tipped position on a RCL ship.* After the contract is completed I will report my findings. Eddie * Contingent upon a mutually agreed one month employment package, including robust salary, suite accommodations, meals, travel allowance, mortgage differential, a 20 to 24 hour work week either in the casino or shops only while docked in a foreign port, or assisting with the midnight buffet in the Windjammer, 10 vacation days, 10 PTO days, 401K, profit sharing and of course, a share of the tip pool. Plus anything I decide ex post facto which I may add in the following lines _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I do not believe I did anything such?

I think that is your prerogative. And I would hope you would respect others prerogative.

I also have heard this policy. So I do it another way. I do NOT opt out of daily charges for tips, and at the end of the cruise I also use the envelope for ADDITIONAL tip to room steward, waiter and asst waiter. Last couple of cruises they only provided one extra tip envelope, so I ask room steward for a few more. Eddie

I thinks it’s a slippery slope. I would not go to the wine bar and ask them to run to Starbucks to fetch me a coffee. The server at Giovanni’s provided EXCELLENT service, that’s their job. But they can’t be expected to jump around the ship to other locations. If so staff from all venues would be on personal procurement favors all day long, and they would not be at their job stations serving their assigned duties.

On Grandeur in January, went to Giovannis on lobster night. The table behind us makes a moderate deal about wanting a lobster added to his dinner. The wait staff, wanting to clarify, which was fair because English was not first language, says something like - Are you asking to take your Giovanni’s plate to the MDR to eat there, or did you want MDR to run lobster up to him.? Guy says, non,no, can’t you just go get some for our table here? Wait staff goes to ask supervisor, who comes out to explain he can’t have staff run to MDR, if he wants lobster he will need to go to MDR. The supervisor walks by our table rolling his eyes. Eddie

You could just leave them at home. Two 18 year olds with free reign without parents for a week, what could go wrong? They may be able to get a jump start on the school project due before the end of the school year. Murphy

Just disembarked Grandeur on a Sunday morning about 4 weeks ago. We were met by pilot around 5 AM, docked a little after 6AM. Something delayed us, to the point they released all groups up to number 18 at the same time. Self assist may have had just a short head start, but the groups 1 to 18 were released about 8:15 AM. We have found taxi as the quickest to FLL airport, but spent 20 minutes in the taxi line. Made it to FLL at 9:30 AM. Our flight was at noon. Check in and TSA were swamped, even precheck took at least 20 minutes to escape from TSA. Good of luck is all I can say. Eddie

In 1990 we first cruised, and the cruise line highly gave written tip suggestions for only 3 staff members. $2.50 per person per day for room steward and waiter, $1.25 pp/day for asst waiter. They then provided 3 envelopes. I guess that that means over the years other hotel service staff evolved from a salary position to a tipped position. Just an observation. Eddie

Tap the brakes a little, not in all instances. I co-chaired a slot pull once, and the other person, a regular in the casino, purposely did not want to appear as if they wanted the points, and would not therefore use their card. I on the other hand I have spent possibly $100 in the casino over a dozen cruises, so they asked for me to insert my card. I don’t know how the points work and don’t care. Long story short, to cash out we needed lots of $1 bills, which the casino would only allow us to exchange one $10 bill for ten ones. Went to guest services, they also were short on $1’s. So the co chair and I rounded everyone else’s share to the nearest $5 and we received nothing, not even our original buy in amount. I have never chaired another one, but participated, and brought $50 in $1 bills just in case the organizer ran into the same small bill problem. They did need twenty of those $1’s. Eddie

For years I thought it was just me, as I am not a regular dessert goer. I would say say more than 75% of the desserts I attempted on last cruise, 3 weeks ago, looked great with no taste. I did did have a nice key lime pie one night, and I liked the apple blossom with ice cream. Other than those, nada, nada, nada. Eddie

Dear Tag, DW and I are considering transAtlantic, with 3 previous sailings do they have additional things to do during the day? That is, does boredom start? We just got off a 9 day, the last 3 days of which were at sea and Labadee, DW did not exit ship in Labadee, so for her 3 days in a row on board. She said she was bored for a bit. Can only do so much trivia. Thanks, Eddie

Pal2, I have the same concern, balance due in April. So I am curious as to any responses Eddie

Did the same 9 night itinerary RLMorgan posted above, just returned home last Sunday. The ship can generally hit 18 and 19 knots, but that is it. The wait staff in MDR said the new menus were to appear this week, so we still had the old classics on the menu. One of the centrum elevators was out the entire week, and a couple of other elevators kept cancelling your floor request. That is, you are on 4 and press to go up to 9. Someone on 5 has it stop there, and as the door opens, the button lighted for 9th floor goes out. So you would to constantly reenter the floor you were after or could go anywhere, including back down. We caught Chops on a bad night. Giovanni’s was a solid 10 though. Eddie

Well I’m HH also, so will find out about the vouchers soon. We have also done the gastro pub twice, loved it. I have never had an issue with Steeler fans. Several years ago was leaving a Steeler/ Bengal game at the end of the third quarter, as Steelers were up by about 30. The group of Steeler guys in front of us, who were funny with us all day, says as we are walking out, “Hey, what are leaving for, the Steelers may score again.” Been a tough week for Bengals, Eddie ps. Following you on Explorer Live Review.

I like your strategic idea here and will try that later this month. I don’t know why after 10 cruises I am such a dufuss, but I seem to always need to relearn the cell phone rules. You have any tricks/tips for that. Example, in San Juan and St Thomas, being US, I think I can use my cell phone at no extra charges? Not sure if this includes texting. Eddie

In regard to preening passenger, I always do witness just a few, but not many. It’s just typical for my luck, heck, earlier this week I picked the checkout line where the guy pulled out his checkbook. In regard to your final point about loyal cruisers, I believe that is one of the most correct and profound points I have ever read on CC. I absolutely agree. Eddie

Great minds are on the same wavelength. DW and I have stayed at that Brickell Hampton several times and will be again visiting a little in Jan. Love the Oriental restaurant near the street entrance, and the breakfast is always a good one. Looking forward to sitting by that pool for a pre cruise drink soon. I need more more info on the drink voucher, been 2020 since I was there and wondering if that is for everyone. Thanks for beating the Ravens last week, we hope to do the same tomorrow, to avoid a potential coin flip. Eddie

I did find the menu after looking a bit and did exactly that. She nixed the idea, kaboshed it, said no, I think she made up my mind