fennessydan

Is it possible to pre-pay my own gratuities, but not the other 2 in my party (I don't think they wanna do that)? Every time I try it wants the whole $288 for 3 of us and I can't find the option to do just mine

Thank you for the info, the sub-$11 drinks will do for me.

So would a long island iced tea be doable under UBP since it is only priced at 9.50 but when you add in the 18% it comes to 11.21?

True, didn't think of the spa. I was hoping for ones that not many people knew about or if any were open late (just trying to avoid the crowds) but it doesn't look good on that front.

I've tried the search function but did not see anyone ask about this. The ncl site under hot tubs claims they have 6 on the ship but I can only locate 4 (2 adjacent to each of the 2 tahitian pools). Am I missing something or are they maybe counting the ones that are for people in suites?

Sorry if this question has already been asked but I could not find it answered anywhere. I recently booked a cruise on the Getaway through Costco Travel and they included the UBP with 15% gratuities. I have seen conflicting post about the UBP not including gratuities and that they automatically add 18% for every transaction. Can someone explain how gratuities work with the UBP? Did the gratuities recently go up from 15% to 18%? Will I have to pay anything when I order a drink. Thanks in advance.

I've seen conflicting answers to this as well. The contract associated with ubp seems to indicate you won't be charged the gratuity. My suggestion is to print that out and bring it on board with you in case you need it.

This is my concern. I couldn't find anything recent about any changes in policy, or what ships do or do not offer this. All I found was:

 

An official post on the carnival forums 4 years ago stating it is a promo and there were no foreseeable plans to change it (not too helpful since it's so old)

 

A post from 2013 citing an email from VP of casinos for carnival stating cheers program is eligible for the match play (which seems to have been validated lots of times).

 

Since it is a promo I guess it could be cancelled any time or eligible on only certain ships. Fingers crossed its a go next week for me!

I'm sure there would be quite an uproar on here if it was suddenly cancelled so we should be good. I'm cruising in just under a month and plan to do this a lot in spite of not having the cheers program. Enjoy your cruise!

pbsteve,

I agree with using 2 match plays on each spin and having them on opposite sides of the even money spots (red vs black, odd vs even, or 1-18 vs 19-36) plus $1 each on 0 or 00. So if you do $5 and a match on red, $5 and a match on black and $1 each on 0 and 00 you'll turn $12 into $15 each time if you get red or black and anytime you get 0 or 00 the $12 turns into $36, making each spin a guaranteed profit if you have 2 matches each time.

Just a thought on cheers and match play. Cheers gives the right to order 15 per day that come with the things for match play. There is no need to actually DRINK each and every one of them if you can't do that. You could just ask a bartender to just make a classic drink receipt for your last 5 drinks every 5 mins if 10 drinks is your daily maximum for instance.