Ladylouwho

Thank you so much for your report, SailorJack. Very, very entertaining.

Aaah, and the Jewel is a wonderful ship, we did the British Isles/Norwegian Fiords sailing her in June, 2005.

You should really be hired by the cruiselines to sell the Transatlantic sailings! Now after your report, I want to do the same TA on the Jewel next year. If only I could get my kids to grow up fast and be done with school and get my husband to retire early , then we would have the time to do a TA in the middle of the school year.

Thanks again,

Colleen

We tip the guides and the bus drivers on our excursions. The amount depends on the length of the tour and the individuals. We have been very fortunate over the years to have some outstanding guides and drivers through our (mostly RCI) booked tours. Now if it is just a short shuttle drive, we will just tip a couple of bucks for the family.

My daughter went on a History Class tour with a small group from her College last year to Austria and Germany. The driver and guide were on the tour the entire week. In the packet from the tour officials it was stated that each person should tip her/his driver and guide at least $5 each per day. That certainly seemed reasonable to me.

Colleen

Has anyone ever stayed in the Royal family suite? If so, is there two separate rooms where you can close the door for privacy?

 

Also, has anyone done the Stockholm - Oslo - Vis - Copenhagen itinerary?

 

thanks

Hi tareen,

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

Yes, we have stayed in the Royal Family Suite on the Vision. Since it is an older smaller ship the RFS isn't as large or luxurious as on the newer ships (we have stayed in the RFS on the newer Jewel for instance.)

This is my memory of the RFS on Vision. You walk in the cabin door and on your right is a HUGE walk in closet, I mean it is so large you could put a small bed in it and still have room for your clothes. I know it has shelving, and I think I remember big drawers in there as well. On your right next to that is the small second bedroom, two single (twin) beds and two Pullman (pull out from the wall beds and I believe two little tables, maybe only one).

Directly across the hall from the walk in closet on the left as you enter is a regular cabin sized bathroom. Next to that bathroom on the left side is the dressing table with drawers, hair dryer and outlet.

Then one walks into the living room. Sofa (opens into sofabed), chair, maybe two chairs?, table, large bar area, T.V. Wall to Wall ceiling to floor windows. There is then on the left sliding door/curtains that open into the master bedroom. The master bedroom has a balcony outside of it, there is also a door access to the balcony from the living room. Large closet (not walk in) and larger bath, not very much bigger than a regular cabin bath, but does have a tub. TV in the Master bedroom as well. Regular vanity area, with hair dryer, drawers and outlet. Two side of the bed tables with drawers.

Hope this helps.

Colleen

As you can see from my above statement I´m not all for those recognitions, but I can´t follow your argumentation a bit. You just can´t compare those that spend 10K for a suite to those that spend 50K for the whole family. If you want to do a fair comparison you need to factor the per person fare and not what one single person paid. If I would follow your argumentation "Grandpa" forking out the 50K for the big family should be the only one treated special, while the rest of the big family would be "treated like crap" because they didn´t spend a dime on the cruise:rolleyes:.

Obviously if any Royal employee treated anyone like "crap" they wouldn't be employed very long. I'm talking about what RCL seems to be doing now a days. Trying to get new customers. And if new customers start feeling like they are second class citizens they might not come back. I was also talking about who is buttering their bread. One couple paying a lot of money for one group of people is a customer that I would think RCL would like to keep as a customer whether they book a suite or not. Treating one customer better than another in the public area will turn a lot of people off. When I have sailed in Suites I expected to have certain amenities that come with my Suite. Same as I expect certain amenities that come with my Diamond status. But I do not expect to be treated better than other passengers in the public areas. I am not trying to argue with you, just trying to clarify my point. And I won't roll my eyes at you because that isn't very nice.

The question is............why am I saving these useless cards???:D:D

Rick

We have asked ourselves the same thing, lol!!!

When we sailed last time, he was very cold to us which is disappointing because at that time he wanted the agents to notify him when the suite guests arrived so he could personally escort them on the ship. The day we sailed I personally escorted 3 suites worth of guests to him and he didn't say 3 words to me despite chatting up everyone else in the lounge. I just thought that was crappy of him to treat someone like that after doing something that is not only not in our job description, but something that I didn't have time to do in the first place.

 

We just felt like the step children of the lounge because of our "status" at the pier.

 

And I'm just teasin' about last week ;)

Hey girl, he didn't give you your due and for that he was inconsiderate at the very least. I am only sorry I didn't meet up with you. We had a group of 9 and went in the priority line. I didn't see you. Anyway, we live in the DFW area so we will definitely sail out of Galveston again and again.

Take care,

Colleen

I think Martin pretty much treated everyone I saw pretty well. I am waiting for Erica to tell us about the big oops last week. Maybe he didn't let her and Jeff in CL...:eek:

Dave, Martin was great! My husband had some long faxes from work needing ASAP attention. Martin delivered them himself. He did many favors for us. He was great with all the families from Mexico and treated all us Texans right. He was obviously very busy with a full ship and many Diamond passengers. No Complaints here. I was just curious from her comments?

All I know is my card is the basic white and says Diamond on the bottom. I never really thought about how I was treated based on that one word on my Seapass Card. Now they have Gold for Suites and Silver for JS??? Okay. So those of us dumb Diamond members (or non-CA member first cruisers for that matter) who are paying for 3 or 4 cabins (or more) and 8-12 people,including all charges, drinks, casino, tips, you name it, MIGHT be treated in a lessor manner than a couple who pay for a Grand Suite or an Owners Suite for only 2 people???? Hello, exactly who is buttering whose bread?????? I have been in Suites, Balcony Cabins and in between, Never an inside, But I have paid for them (kids)! Why would a couple spending 10K for an Owners Suite expect to get better treatment (outside of their cabin) than a couple such as my husband and I paying for 4 cabins, 9 passengers (many of whom, drink, gamble, etc.) paying 20K++? That is how you tee off people. Obviously, if we weren't PAYING the others wouldn't be SAILING!!!!!!

My understanding was that if you paid for a Suite you received the additional treatment and amenities due a Suite passenger. I have NO problem with that. I am sure you receive better MDR seating. Again, I have No Problem with that. But much past that, the one thing about a Mass Market Cruise Line is its Egalitarian feel, ONCE YOU LEAVE YOUR CABIN!!!!! If the Cruise Line wants to add additional Suite Amenities and/or discounts by all means go for it! The incentive for a Suite Guest to spend more money will be enhanced by the discounts/coupons, etc.

But please, like others have said on this thread before me, don't treat passengers differently in the common ares (outside CL) based on their cabin category or C & A level. RCL is Mass Market. I like getting my extras for being Diamond, discounts, Diamond/CL lounge, concierge service, etc. Just as if one books a Suite they should enjoy similar amenities. But there should not be an obvious Mark Of Distinction, meaning all should be treated with Top Notch Service regardless of C & A status or Cabin Level, once they leave their cabin or the CL.

RCL seems to be going in the direction of eliminating some perks from Long term, loyal repeat customers. Some say they are going after "new"customers who have never sailed before. Why would they want their "New" customers to come on board a ship for the first time only to be "possibly" treated as second class citizens because they did not book a suite? Maybe "Grandpa" shelled out 50K to take his big family on a cruise, only nobody booked a suite. Should Grandpa be treated in a lessor manor than "Barbie & Ken" who ONLY paid 10K for an Owners Suite?

Dave, that's exactly why I don't like the differentiation between the cards. What someone pays for a room onboard shouldn't have any affect on service in the bar or the casino.

 

I hope it wasn't you that wasn't treated as well as the suite passengers. I would be very disappointed. But that goes along with my issue with Martin last season.

Hi cruiseloverandagent,

Are you talking about Martin the Concierge? We were on the Voyager over Thanksgiving in the Med and then again sailed the Voyager over New Years Eve out of Galveston (didn't see you, looked for you, we checked in priority). We had a lot of dealings with Martin. Did I miss something, what were your issues with him?

Thanks,

Colleen