gks314

11 hours ago, Hotdog 52 said:

Chair hog monitor or entertainment support.

 

I honestly think a "Chair Boss" position would be great.  Reasonable rules, posted clearly, and enforced politely but uniformly.

2 hours ago, riffatsea said:

You may do things differently and that's just fine but we cannot help you figure out what YOU wish to spend!!

Very good point.  (Though I didn't ask for advice on what what I should spend,  I asked for opinions on how to fairly divide up what I do spend.  But I still get your point)

2 hours ago, cb at sea said:

I mean, wait and see what the experience IS, before you start worrying about extra gratuities!

Another good point, as maybe on this cruise I won't decide to tip any extra at all. (Though it's clear in my original post that I was asking for advice assuming that I would, you're of course right in that maybe it will turn out that I won't)

3 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

You won't truly be able to distribute extra tips to everyone on your own because some of the automatic gratuities go to crew members you don't actually interact with.

I think this is kind of what I was trying to get at.  Stewards and waiters it is then.

True.  But we will, as we always have, tip extra.  

My question is how should we divide the extra (optional, I know) tips among the crew?

I'm curious about extra tipping suggestions.  Specifically, Im wondering about how to divide extra (in addition to the required gratuities) tips among the staff for our upcoming cruise.  Let's leave the bartenders out (for the sake of simplicity) as we will tip an extra dollar (usually) per drink throughout the cruise.  We will also tip our specialty restaurant staff separately, so let's exclude them  too.

It will obviously be easiest to tip our room steward, as we will likely see him fairly regularly.  But, doesn't that leave out all the others?

Let's assume we will tip an extra $140 per cabin on the upcoming cruise.  How do you think it is most fair (I don't think fairest applies here) to allocate it?

Like the title says, we just came back from a 7 day on the Breeze.

 

Anyhow if you have any questions about the ship or the fun times (I kept them teehee) ask and I will answer as best I can.

We're taking the same itinerary in June with 11yo boy and 15yo girl, 1 balcony, 1 interior.

I'd love to see the fun times, and especially which nights were formal.

Also, which excursions did you enjoy?

I'm especially interested in the Jamaica excursions to the falls. 2 hours in a bus seem a bit much for me, but the fam wants to do it.

I assumed that the Pinnacle reference was included to imply an experienced cruiser: if it can happen to a frequent cruiser, it can happen to the rest of us.

Thank you so much!

Would it help my TA if I buy our drink packages through them? If so, I'll call and add them.

If not, it's easier to do it online on the RCI website.

The truth is Hand washing is the key and not Hand sanitizing.

 

I´m one of those People ignoring the Hand sanitizer and no I have no Skin Problems. I bet my Hands are cleaner than those of the majority of sanitizer users.

The Problem is most People learn how to wash their Hands, but they don´t know how to properly sanitize their Hands and I´ve not seen a single Person as of yet applying the sanitizer in the correct way.

 

On the other Hand the sanitizer gives the People a false Feeling of having clean hands.

I think I would argue that these precautions go "hand-in-hand". (Was that bad? I think it might have been).

My suggestion is a good, thorough, hand washing with soap and water before entering the dining establishment (especially a buffet), followed by an application of an alcohol-based hand sanitizer immediately before eating.

If those bourbon prices are accurate, they are really a pretty good deal.

Basil Hayden's at $7.75 is quite a bit cheaper, even at $9.15 including tip, than restaurants in Dallas, I think.

You have to be a certain height to ride the flowrider doing stand-up. Boogie board is less, I can't remember the numbers, something like 50 inches tall for Boogie and maybe 54 for stand-up. Someone will answer that. I am sure athletically your son will be awesome, but it is not easy to do stand-up and being good at things and then flailing around then falling down and being whisked off the back is off puttiing for lots of folks. I am guessing 80% do it 1 to 4 times and never again. It is the small percentage that keeps doing it over and over....

 

Hi, my name is JC and I am a flowrider addict. I don't know any better than being tossed around by the pumps into a wall over and over again.

 

jc<---- next flowrider cruise is to Norway... I am an idiot.:D

Wifey says he's 57" (4'9"), so maybe that'll be OK. In truth, he may not care one bit about it, which is cool with me. But hearing about all the old guys (like me!) who are crazy about it, just got me thinking.

He's not going to care about the cuisine, or the exotic ports-of-call (though the rest of us will, for sure) but I'm hoping I can get him hooked on cruising. I bet he digs it, even if it's just boogie boarding. If not, I saw on a recent compass that there's a soccer (probably futsal) tournament. Plus, he's going to take his skates, so he'll feel cool no matter what.

By the way, this CC community is truly an amazing resource.

Thanks for your insights.

Mil,

We're on the Navigator in June. My 10 y.o. son (travel hockey, tourney baseball, club soccer) will, I think, be a good fit for the flowrider. There is one (or something similar) here in Dallas, and we have 2 lessons each for him and his big sister scheduled before we depart.

How does the flowrider on the Nav differ from the others? Why do you prefer the wave on the other ships instead? Just curious.

BTW, I loved your earlier post about it and I've read it out loud to both kids, and thanks in advance.

Awesome pics!

Really looking forward to your review; thank you for taking the time.

We, too, are from Dallas and we sail on Navigator in June. As we are a family of 4 in two balcony cabins and without C&A status, what time would you advise for us to get to Galveston? I'm equally happy to drive down early Sunday or spend Saturday night in Houston or Galveston.

I'd like to minimize the pain of checking in and boarding.

Thanks in advance,

--Greg