bogofman

Are the drinks available at the Bionic Bar covered by the premium drinks package?

I had the premium package, also, so if I received a 20% discount, the bottle was even more expensive than I thought! :eek:

Why did you buy the bottle? if you both had the premium package and your wife's favourite was only $1.50 extra per glass, You could have ordered as many glasses as you wanted for only $1.50 per glass extra??

If she had the classic package each glass more expensive than the package limit would be an additional full cost payment.

with he premium you only pay the difference between the package and the full cost.

Only 65 days to our Anthem cruise :)

Cannot wait to try Dynamic dining;)

As cruise passengers get younger (in mind if not body) I think this type of dining will appeal more and more.

just like the airlines advertising

London-Luton airport

London-Stanstead

when they are no where near London.

OOPs,

they must be from my celebrity research. ( web searches last year)

We did both Celebriy and RCI

Just found the attached document from last years holiday research

drinks menu's

:-)

xbarmenu.pdf

The attached list were available on board last summer

classic-beverage-package_UKSite.pdf

Classic Package Inclusions - Seasonal Pricing 2014_tcm22-58906.pdf

A quick calculation

 

Average spend per passenger on drinks per day = $25

( I'm sure it will be higher)

assume number of passengers is 2500(could be higher)

 

2500*$25=$62500

 

18% of $62500 =$11250 to split between wait staff

 

I don't know how many on the ship lets assume 100

( probably lower)

that would be $11250/100= $112.5 each per day in tips

 

or

if they worked this a full year

$41062.50

 

is that enough?

just realised ,

Its clear why the cruise lines want everyone to purchase a drinks package.

just buying the Select package would double these numbers

if you go to a bar when on the ship and ask to upgrade, how will they know you did not pay

surly they will only charge $10, since

The Classic package is a classic package and not $49

Thank you Celebrity:) We really enjoyed the Gastrobar on the Equinox (esp the cheese soup). It was a wonderful place to go and relax and have a pint. Please keep the draught's on tap! I like the food and don't mind the surcharge as it is the only place you can get the special plates on the ship. We found the large plates excellent for sharing.

I think the gastropub on Equinox was an improvement on Cellar masters (always empty on European crusies), the only problem was it was not converted to be more like a pub/tavern, it would have been good to have good beers on draft ( and included in the Classic package- would get more custom from me)

entertainment would also have been good (pub singer , comedien etc)

similar to the pubs on RCI and other lines.

The passport bar is in a large communal space, so not sure how converting to the gasropub will help.

A quick calculation

Average spend per passenger on drinks per day = $25

( I'm sure it will be higher)

assume number of passengers is 2500(could be higher)

2500*$25=$62500

18% of $62500 =$11250 to split between wait staff

I don't know how many on the ship lets assume 100

( probably lower)

that would be $11250/100= $112.5 each per day in tips

or

if they worked this a full year

$41062.50

is that enough?

We have only cruised celebrity in Europe, so it may be different elsewhere,

We have not used the pay restaurants and have always had to queue to get in the MDR (my time dining or what ever its called on celebrity)

so not sure how many others were either

Why the need to tip extra?

Each order has 18% already built in, that's £1.8 on a $10 drink

I assume in the US bars and restaurants don't have an auto tip built in hence the need to tip extra to the bill (18%?)

I assume the ships now have the built in tipping, so that all customers contribute to the tips and bar staff wages, otherwise those passengers from countries that don't have a tipping system (UK, Australia etc.) may not tip.

I much prefer the auto tipping system (coming from UK) it takes the stress out of the transaction. (am I over paying, am I paying enough, does the barman think I'm a pushover or a tight Ar$$.)

IF the auto tip went up to 25% would you still tip extra?

how high would it need to go before you would stop?

Another question

When visiting countries that do not need tips to pay staff do you still tip?

i.e UK, Australia, France, Italy etc?

There are a lot of British passengers who prefer the British ship experience cruising the Med with £ as the on-board currency etc.

Currently Thomson has a lot of really old ships, so it makes sense to move the older ships across to Thomson to replace their aging fleet, they will be able to keep existing and attract new cruisers by offering better ships, I would not be surprised if more ships move across .

Never had any decent Bacon on any US ship

You need to sail on a British Ship to get proper bacon :-)

same with the eggs

have to stand in line, and then go though a Q and A session, then 10 minutes later you get an egg.

You quickly learn if you want an egg, go stand in line first otherwise everything else on the plate is cold.

if you are breakfasting with non egg eaters, they will have all finished by the time you get to sit down

(sorry for my grip , but having had it done better on another line it does wind me up each time I'm standing in line for a fried egg, behind a queue of guests wanting special omelettes)

On British ships the eggs are cooked and

laid out on hot plates, they are never there long enough to go off.

You could always take a travel kettle and collect the teas and coffees from the promenade café.

I'd assume since the ship is not going to be based in UK, they won't go to the expense of providing 1000's of kettles.

my wife always like to brew up before leaving for breakfast and last thing at night.

I was told by my travel agent that its a glitch in the RCI website (surprise) and he was going to put my C&A numbers in later on otherwise it knocks out the drinks package and gratuities. Their system can't seem to cope with different discounts

I have phoned up and they confirm the all inclusive and C+A discount

looks like it might be safer to do it over the phone, especially since I would need to call even if I book on line to confirm.

I wish they would sort the web site for Promo's .

These issues have been around as long as I've been cruising with RCI (and celebrity to a less extent)

It is available for the 2016 bookings at the moment

"The All Inclusive (Premium or Select Drinks Package, Soda Package) & Free Gratuities promotion is combinable with Crown & Anchor Discounts"

copied from the terms notice on web site

I thought that must be the case :)

I've made a dummy online booking for a 2016 cruise

2016 cruise's on the UK web site have the all inclusive drinks and Grats offer.

it shows as a promo code B in the booking.

when I book using my crown and anchor account the promo code B disappears and only shows a C&A discount applied.

The terms say both the discount and the all inclusive are combinable.

Has anyone from UK booked online and got the invoice that clearly show the all inclusive has been applied.

I wish they would sort out their web sites when applying discounts ( it does not instil any confidence when booking not knowing if the promos have been applied)

Is the crown and anchor discount (for booking balcony cabin) only applicable to the lead passenger on the booking?

I have done a dummy booking and the discount only applyies to the first passenger, even though we both have the same level.

I assume this is the case.

We have complementary SELECT drinks packages on our Anthem cruise.

is it possible to upgrade just one of the packages to premium?

I am a beer drinker so the select is fine for myself, but my wife likes premium coffees, baileys and cocktails.

Upgrading both would be a waste, but may be worth it doing my wifes.

since she does not drink beer and hence would not be making use of it.

How close to sail date do the upgrades get applied?

How do they work? do they move everyone up a level so that they can sell lower tier cabins at discount near to sail date? if there is spare capacity higher up the tiers?

We booked a grade d8 balcony guarantee and when the invoice came we had been assigned a d7 balcony cabin

so it happened almost straight away (6 months out)

is it possible we may be upgraded again?

at this stage of the thread you are only making an April Fool of yourself, or just a Troll.

:mad: