MrYellowDuck

So you're doing parenting advice now too?

They may as well do. The assumption that babies require graveyard-quiet to sleep is false. It is true that you can train a baby to only sleep when it is quiet and having done so some parents come to suppose that their baby had always required that quiet.

A toddler will definitely not be safe in a pullman. When our kids were younger and before we cruised in the nicer rooms the kids got the beds and mum and dad the pullmans.

It has been like this always on the Australian website. You can phone them and have the charge removed.

You need to be careful using an ATM in Vietnam. I had two interesting experiences over a couple of days. The first was someone who was moving in to do a grab-and-run. The second I watched a card skimmer being installed at an ATM in a mall.

Where is the suite / Pinnacle breakfast held on EX?? Will be on for the oct transpacific.

Chops with a door open through to the Windjammer in case you want the buffet too.

Love me some diglycerides!

That must be USA-style frozen yoghurt; down here where free-range cows are aplenty a quite different recipe is followed...

I see you have only 22 posts here, you get used to it, let a lot of stuff roll off your back and judge each post on its merits. After awhile use the ignore feature.

I viewed those posts differently. There was nothing wrong with the replies posted. All appeared to have been made from a position of positive intent and all were a natural tangent from the base conversation; the point being that you get conversations here and once you set the seed you lose any right (if you ever had one) to control where it goes.

To me the projected attitude of the OP seemed incompatible with asking helpful strangers for their views; I'd rate their responses to those who took them time to share an opinion as borderline obnoxious in most cases.

Our children (two girls) were cruising with us from young ages; in our cases 1 and 4. If you're accustomed to operating as a family in everyday life and do everything together then there's really not that much different when you're on a ship save the private living space is probably much more compact. Our kids have cruised with us many times (starting from the eldest child when she was 2) and not once have we had a problem nor thought we had to do anything differently to normal.

In terms of sleeping the youngest was in a cruise-line provided portable cot (we've mostly sailed Princess and back then only Princess) and it did take up a fair amount of the available floor space in the cabin. Beyond putting her down in the cot we did nothing special. Back in those days we sailed in modest accomodations that you might describe as very intimate; it's only recently that we've adopted a suite-only rule. It's was 100% fine back then in the smallest of cabins.

You do see people post expressing quite different viewpoints to ours. I suspect you'll find the experience will be defined by how you go into it and in what way your family is wired.

Kids have a blast on cruise ships; even on the ones that aren't themed for the young and young at heart. Meal times are very special since you'll have people helping make it easier than normal. Let the kids float between the adult and kids menus; if you do this they'll be ordering pheasant (as we've seen happen) without batting an eyelid by the time their six.

Yep

The drink packages are another one unless you plan not getting off the ship drinking from time you get up till the time you go to bed they rip you again. My case again if I buy the coke package @ 8.00 per day that 64 for an 8 day cruise we have three ports we do get off and do stuff in port do thoses days would not be doing refills all day. So that is $24.00 basicly wasted. Now 8 per day it 12.80 per day.

RCL caters for those that make decisions primarily based on price and for those who are making experienced based purchasing decisions and for those in between these two extremes. RCL can't really rip-off any of these groups since each behaves differently in terms of what they buy. It's a bit like the typically very expensive food options at cinemas. Price shoppers generally can't understand why any such food is sold at all while those seeking a complete end-to-end experience think quite differently about the same thing and are happy to pay a much higher overall price. Each group is seeking something quite different but both can be catered for at the same time.

RCL aims to provide an experience that removes price from the equation for as many people as possible; this generally maximises profit since it also maximises happiness and happy people tend to be more willing to allow their wallets to roam freely. They price test and price discriminate all of the time to find the sweet spot; they're amateurish in their execution versus the slickest operators but also much better than most.

They cater for coupon-clippers which is why they turn a blind-eye to cases of drinks being delivered to rooms etc. The perfect balance is when all groups are happy and spending as much money as they are willing to spend.

Medical evacuation can be surprisingly expensive. A former employer had to charter a full-sized passenger jet to fly to one of the pacific islands (some of these islands don't have daily flights) to medically evacuate a customer who could not wait one more day. Chartering the plane cost considerably more than the $100k US limit some here are talking about. A typical policy sold here has unlimited cover for medical evacuation - if it were me I'd not buy a policy that didn't have this.

He may feel over dressed with a tie on. I wear blue jeans, a collared polo shirt, and sports shoes to every meal. I have never felt under dressed. Ten years' ago I took a suit with me but even back then it was apparent I was in the minority. RCL is also at the cheaper end of the spectrum and the diversity that comes with this includes that many people don't own a tie, let alone a suit and while they could rent one they just don't want to. If you're wearing something that would get you into a mid-priced restaurant back home then you're dressed fine for RCL.

Nope, that is fake news. TA's get a commission on the fare of any bookings they sell.

Goods in kind, low cost holidays, override (hidden) commission in countries where this is legal (almost everywhere), and the list goes on. Plus the TA earns commission on the sale. The original comment was accurate although you might argue incomplete too. Those are all first-order sources of income for the TA.

We've done an inside and a mini-suite a few years ago on Princess. If you have a window it makes little difference what side you are on since you can see land on both sides as you go through the inside passage. Alaska is not a warm place and so if you were out on a balcony you'd be dressed as if you planned to sit in a freezer too. A choice between an outside or inside room is thus reasonable.

If you can tolerate an inside room (in that there's no natural light) and as you say cost matters then I'd be inclined to take the inside. There are plenty of places that you can go to sit or stand and watch the majesty of Alaska as you sail past.

All in all, good move Royal! Sad that a few bad eggs had to ruin it for the rest of us though!

It's not ruined for our family. While we have occasionally shared a package (deluxe of the non-alcoholic variety - I forget the tier names) with others having a soda package it has never made sense financially even to have a soda package each in terms of cost versus just buying the drinks. Since we're not crack-pot crazy we'll now save money by not ever buying one upgraded package.

This policy is about being able to charge those with an alcohol addiction more. Where a package makes sense for one of two in a cabin it will almost always be true that this remans true when two are bought. Heavy drinkers will grumble but they will pay because that's the nature of their addiction.

RCL has the data to determine whether they will collect more money overall or not. In determining elasticity the argument will be that the alcoholics have no choice but to carry on and those that aren't by-and-large have either the soda-package or nothing.

Why can't people be upfront and just say I don't want to tip so I'm not going to and leave it at that. Stand by what you're doing, geeze.

It's because the vast majority of Americans view such a standpoint as inherently wrong. This is understandable since most Americans travel only within their own country or visit overseas only when surrounded by their own and so don't really see the diversity of behaviour around this out in the glorious wide world that extends far beyond US borders. Some of these people are very nasty when it is suggested that a different behaviour will be followed and not too many people put their hands up to be on the receiving end of this behaviour. The behaviour from the other camp can be equally nasty but they'll be sining praise instead in this situation so they can be ignored here.

RCL are simply being manipulative - they can advertise a lower cruise fare knowing that just about every American will choose to top this up through very generous gratuity payments. But even here the US FAQ of gratuities is very clear that you can pay any amount you want including nothing.

In Australia and elsewhere the cruise fares are often significantly more expensive than those advertised in the US and they come with far inferior booking conditions. The overall price can still be higher than the US price plus gratuities even if no gratuities will be paid on the overseas fare. There is no FAQ for gratuities on the Australian website since virtually no Australian will tolerate being charged an amount above the cruise fare i.e. Australians (and Kiwis) by and large will not pay gratuities.

Cheeky restaurants near the cruise terminal pier in Auckland, New Zealand write on the bottom of their menus that service charges are not included. This is there exclusively to trick US tourists into paying more for their meals - nobody else will pay a tip. A kiwi would view it as insulting to even be asked to pay more on a menu and the staff will be shocked if a Kiwi does tip.

RCL is not stupid - they take account of the average behaviour of guests from different countries and so everyone ends up financially where they should be even though money is collected in different ways across the spectrum of cultures that are catered for.

Do as you please with tipping - you will always still end with two crowds; those that insist that you must tip and those who think you needn't.

It's not hard to complain effectively. Being calm, well considered, always polite, completely factual, and questioning of whether the matter is important enough to be raised with the most senior manager you can find tends to be very effective. Your obligation is to only play this card when it matters. The situation described meets this requirement.

The prices are set assuming some degree of cheating. We've bought packages before for convenience where even with a degree of cheating it didn't financially make sense. Whether it makes sense in other ways depends on how you view the cost.

As an example, my wife has had the refreshment package and averaged four drinks a day including cheating. One of my kids has had a soda package and averaged less than one drink a day.

Had we been caught cheating and forced to pay by the drink then RCL would have owed us a refund...

We tipped a few dollars. It was $2k when we did it with four (two younger kids).

If you don't tip for food delivery, you might want to think twice about eating that food.

By the same rationale we should never pay a tip to anyone when visiting the US since the universal norm where we come from is to not pay tips for anything ever.

You could definitely do this day-return to Auckland although this would be a tiring day. It's a 2.5 hour to 3 hour drive each way (from central Auckland). You'd be heading to an extremely popular tourist destination and the roading is good. I appreciate your trepidation about driving on the correct side of the road but it's actually not too hard to do (we have to adjust when we visit your fine country). You'd be starting on extremely easy roads too. There is an Avis near where the ship docks in Auckland and so getting a rental is easy. NZ is set-up for DIY tourists and so you'd have no trouble really.

The rafting is a lot of fun although I've not done it for around twenty years...

It shouldn't take more than 30 mins to drive to the airport from the city but as has been suggested I'd allow an hour. By the time you arrive the new section of motorway will be open and so give a second route meaning that it's very unlikely you'll have a major problem getting to the airport.

With luggage for four you'll need two taxis or a shuttle. Assuming that you don't want to take the airport bus (which leaves from need where your ship will berth).

The war memorial museum is not too far away (but it is beyond sensible walking distance) and there's a reasonable collection of NZ themed things to see. You could pop over to Devenport taking the ferry (from near where you will be) - there are restaurants for brunch and shops etc. The zoo is pretty good and perhaps 15 mins away by car. Kelly Talkton's is an aquarium with free transport from near where you will be - it's an "okay" experience but nothing special and not as good as the more major aquariums you may have encountered elsewhere. You could pop up to SkyCity and do some of the activities around the tower. Doing scenery will need more time.

Some people are at their very happiest when they can moan about things most people care nothing about. Consider the number of passengers that sail RCL per week, the number that come to cruise critic, and then realise that the number complaining here are the tiniest minority of passengers.

RCL is a low cost cruise line and just as is the case for just about every other business that plays the same pricing game of initially being cheap there are up-sells for everything. By and large the $100 a day crowd are happy and so are the suite crowd who paid half the price of a mid-tier cruise line.

i dont get the allure of 'any' sale shopping on a ship. it's a captive audience. how could it possibly be a deal.

It depends on the types of items. We've seen good discounts off of designer brands on Princess ships running Asian itineraries.

We've done May and September. Both were great. If you go in May there will be lots of ice and if you go in September there will be none. We had perfect weather both times.

I bought the ultimate dining package for 14 nights at $15.71 a meal for an upcoming January cruise on Radiance. The price seemed very reasonable and the option to get it at that price now appears gone.

I am wondering how to interpret "And as an added perk, you’ll also get to eat lunch in our specialty restaurants on sea days". What does this mean in terms of the food on offer under this perk? We're in a suite and so get this seating anyway with the buffet food. Is this perk with the package something different?