icsys

You are right. Although the UK does not have a tipping culture, it is now becoming the norm to tip, usually up to 10% of the check at restaurants. We find ourselves doing this every time we frequent a restaurant where there is table service. There has been something of a quiet push in recent years by restaurants towards adding an optional "service charge" automatically to bills, this can be anywhere from 10% to 20%, it is far more prevalent in and around London though it is creeping outwards. The tipping culture is spreading like a virus.

I also appreciate the efforts of your daughter, but people seem quite happy to take these 'low pay - tip dependent' jobs. They must be lucrative or why else would they take them? Perhaps if no one took those low paid jobs then the employers would reconsider their renumeration packages and pay a decent wage for the work done!

By pre-paying gratuities it is effectively an 'all-in' price and therefore you have paid more for the fare. According to > this post <, and I have no reasons to doubt it, Royal are already charging enough to take care of their workers. if this was not the case then there would be no removable gratuities and instead they would apply a service charge which cannot be removed.

Before daily auto gratuities, there were four envelopes... one each for the cabin steward, main waiter, assistant waiter and head waiter. Now it seems 43% of the gratuity goes to 'other hotel services' behind the scenes. I'm sure they all work equally hard, but how these 'others' were paid before autograts is a good question.

Many are cruising and paying a different price than others on the same cruise due to the Country they reside in and price drops that they cannot get!"

Looks like Royal has discovered 'skimpflation' ... ... similar to 'shrinkflation' but skimping on service whilst cost is maintained... or, as in this case, increased.

Yes it is... and what is even more bonkers is some people STILL pay it!

Our next cruise is ten weeks away and the menus are in the app now.

Why are the arrival and departure times for each port not displayed in the app before the actual sailing????? Would certainly help with pre-cruise planning.

And, ↑ right there ↑ , is the problem!

No issues last week whilst ported in Piraeus, Argostoli, Corfu or Mykonos?

Chair hogs banished? ... nope. I agree... despite the pink warning covers being put out, lots of beds were taken and remained unused for hours.

At such short notice I would guess RCI have to make do with what is made available. I'm sure they would have rather used the facilities at Trieste than the logistics of arranging and ferrying passengers to and from Venice cruise terminal to Trieste

😎

I sure hope you don't mean 29th May as all being well we’ll be in Kotor on that day 😜

Exactly this. Give your cabin number to the photographer and the image will appear in your selections. Giving two cabin numbers for the same photos also worked. Did this last week.

We always leave a tip at a service restaurant (usually around 10%) at our discretion, not required and not expected but if the service is good, its given. Same goes for taxis. Everyone I know tips a taxi driver a pound or so, again not required and not expected and the driver doesn't find it at all odd.

The problem is the ship still gets booked, but I agree... we're 'Anthemed out' too. Its not so much the ship itself but the same shows year in year out. Maybe we'll consider P&O if we sail from Southampton next year. At least it will be Odyssey in 2025

Cynics may argue that is the intention... cut costs AND make more on the upsell.

Subjective... the quality of the food last week on Symphony seemed to be as good as any previous sailings. The food choices however were certainly not.

Quality of the food hasn't changed but the choices have. MDR choices have been scaled back so much that several nights on our recent cruise we didn't dine there as there was nothing on the menu that appealed. In the past you could always fall back on the 'classics' but these are no longer available. What I found most bizarre was the significant lack of vegetable choices in the WJ.

Just returned from Symphony with the once a day room service with a choice of morning or evening. We have always kept our room tidy and made the bed with twice a day service (can't stand an untidy room) but its a fair point that the attendant service has halved and the gratuity has recently increased.

This thread has now evolved into.. Chair Hogs be warned... you 'could' get an infection if you frequent the hot tubs!

If nothing else... they add a nice bit of color to the pool deck