$20 Royal Replenish Package drinks

[delirious9876]

The Replenish package has gratuities included in the price. It is fine to tip if they want but why should they feel obligated?

I agree OceanBoy :-)

[Ocean Boy]

I'm no fitness guru or financial advisor for that matter but this seems like a lot of calories and money for one week. The frozen drinks must be around 400 calories a piece and sodas 250. I think that is excessive along with food. 10,000 calories daily for a week? That could kill someone! Who would do that at home? Maybe 1 or 2 frozen drinks once in a while and an occasional soda tops.

 

Just saying

 

I tend to agree with you about the drinks and even the coffee. There are a lot of consumed calories and mostly worthless ones at that. Later in the week I could not even stand the frozen drinks any longer. It was all just too much sugar for me. But if someone wants to indulge for one week of the year I don't think there is much of a long term issue unless there are some co-existing medical issues that could come into play.

[super0701]

 

 

 

Another note, on debarkation day we stopped at Cafe Promenade to get our morning Latte, and was told by the very nice girl there that the package is not good for Starbucks on the last day.

 

 

 

 

I think it's because when you pay for the card you pay for the amount of days your going to be onboard and for example if you are on a 7 day cruise you pay for 7 days of the package and dembarkation day is the 8th day. Hope that makes sense

 

 

 

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[Ocean Boy]

I think it's because when you pay for the card you pay for the amount of days your going to be onboard and for example if you are on a 7 day cruise you pay for 7 days of the package and dembarkation day is the 8th day. Hope that makes sense

 

 

 

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Since most people don't board the ship before noon on embarkation day and everyone is typically off the ship by noon on debarkation day it would seem fair for RCI to let people use the package until they leave the ship. You don't get a full day out of the first day of the package even though you pay the same price for that day as you do the full days.

Edited June 16, 2014 by Ocean Boy

[CP3o]

The Replenish package has gratuities included in the price. It is fine to tip if they want but why should they feel obligated?

 

It's b/c they hardly make any money sharing the tips from the $20 fee to RCCL. For the program to continue and to have good service, bar staff need to be happy, or at least feel like they haven't been screwed by the program.

 

Consider the "work" involved in these: all about the same, yet much different net $ for staff.

 

PAYG - order 7 virgin frozen drinks

PAYG- order 7 frozen drinks w rum

20/RRP - order 7 virgin frozen drinks

55/Premium-order 7 frozen drinks w package

 

If there is no extra tipping, for each drink ordered that makes it a "good" deal for pax, puts a dent in bar staff take home pay. Everyone wants to get a "good" deal if buy package, but make it a good deal from RCCL, they buy their booze cheap and are still profiting, think about bar staff as order and whether or not an extra 50 cents added might help them feel better about serving you a blended drink. Otherwise, look for bar staff to seek out PAYG customers to server first b/c their take home pay is better when they do.

 

Really, a teen tipping 50 cents on every blended drink in this example pays an extra $3.50 that day. That's less than their first stop at Starbucks for a drink after the cruise. To each their own but I'd tip on drinks that require extra work like blended drinks or expresso coffee but not on fountain soda or water bottles handed to me.

[Ocean Boy]

It's b/c they hardly make any money sharing the tips from the $20 fee to RCCL. For the program to continue and to have good service, bar staff need to be happy, or at least feel like they haven't been screwed by the program.

 

Consider the "work" involved in these: all about the same, yet much different net $ for staff.

 

PAYG - order 7 virgin frozen drinks

PAYG- order 7 frozen drinks w rum

20/RRP - order 7 virgin frozen drinks

55/Premium-order 7 frozen drinks w package

 

If there is no extra tipping, for each drink ordered that makes it a "good" deal for pax, puts a dent in bar staff take home pay. Everyone wants to get a "good" deal if buy package, but make it a good deal from RCCL, they buy their booze cheap and are still profiting, think about bar staff as order and whether or not an extra 50 cents added might help them feel better about serving you a blended drink. Otherwise, look for bar staff to seek out PAYG customers to server first b/c their take home pay is better when they do.

 

Really, a teen tipping 50 cents on every blended drink in this example pays an extra $3.50 that day. That's less than their first stop at Starbucks for a drink after the cruise. To each their own but I'd tip on drinks that require extra work like blended drinks or expresso coffee but not on fountain soda or water bottles handed to me.

 

On the usual tipping threads when folks ask various questions the response tends to be that RCI has set up the auto gratuities so that staff is fairly compensated. So why is it when it comes to this discussion the answer isn't the same, RCI has set up the drink package with pre-paid gruatuities to adequately take care of the staff? Gratuities are included in the price of the package. That to me means that staff IS getting something back for the service that they provide. If you want to tip extra that is perfectly fine. If you want to tip your cabin steward or dining staff extra over your auto gratuities that is fine but it is not necessary. Just don't make it sound like people are stiffing the drink staff if they do not pay extra over the the gratuities that they have already paid when they bought the package.

 

If the staff feels the auto gratuity program for cabin and dining servers is not working then that is an issue between them and RCI. If the drink staff feel the Package pre-paid gratuities is not working out then that is between them and RCI also. I can't second guess everything that RCI has put into place. Someone else is getting paid a lot of money to do that. Except for my own, anyone's take home pay, including yours, is none of my business.

Edited June 17, 2014 by Ocean Boy

[gerif]

On the usual tipping threads when folks ask various questions the response tends to be that RCI has set up the auto gratuities so that staff is fairly compensated. So why is it when it comes to this discussion the answer isn't the same, RCI has set up the drink package with pre-paid gruatuities to adequately take care of the staff? Gratuities are included in the price of the package. That to me means that staff IS getting something back for the service that they provide. If you want to tip extra that is perfectly fine. If you want to tip your cabin steward or dining staff extra over your auto gratuities that is fine but it is not necessary. Just don't make it sound like people are stiffing the drink staff if they do not pay extra over the the gratuities that they have already paid when they bought the package.

 

If the staff feels the auto gratuity program for cabin and dining servers is not working then that is an issue between them and RCI. If the drink staff feel the Package pre-paid gratuities is not working out then that is between them and RCI also. I can't second guess everything that RCI has put into place. Someone else is getting paid a lot of money to do that. Except for my own, anyone's take home pay, including yours, is none of my business.

 

I'm a pretty big tipping advocate but totally agree with this. If a tip was not automatically included, most would only be tipping 15% anyway unless the were spending a lot of time at a particular bar and anticipating an occasional freebee.

[stellarose]

When ordering drinks with the packages are gratuities included? So my 5 dollar beer is 5 dollars with the package no up charge.

[CP3o]

Pax that remove tips and say it's up to staff to get RCCL to pay them better wage have a similar argument I guess.

 

Yep, 'already paid' is approx 20 x.15= $3 for servers to share in the RR package. I guess some feel that's more than enough on, in previous example, 7 frozen drinks, that's fine. I have no problem with servers looking to serve PAYG customers first if they feel they are losing money with the programs. Many PAYG customers add additional tip over the auto.

 

Likely they will grumble to RCCL that it's too much work and frozen drinks will come off the RR program if pax don't help out and tip extra, especially for labor intensive drinks. Or they will change the program to 20/day excluding tip and then a zero will show for drink and an autogratuity of 15% of what it would cost will show on every transaction.

[Clarea]

When ordering drinks with the packages are gratuities included? So my 5 dollar beer is 5 dollars with the package no up charge.

Correct, gratuity has already been paid on the Replenish, Select, Premium, and Ultimate packages.

[CP3o]

When ordering drinks with the packages are gratuities included? So my 5 dollar beer is 5 dollars with the package no up charge.

 

Yes, it's my understanding that, lets say for $40 select package, 15% goes toward tip, we don't know exact number but likly RCCL isn't giving out much more than 15% for tips. So say $6 per day (40*.15) is tip for the day for your first six beers you are giving them a dollar tip each time and soda and such free of tips.

 

When you order drinks 7-10, beer or wine, you are starting to get a good deal from the program but I'd say servers aren't getting tips on those last few drinks. But, my way of thinking might be in the minority. You certainly don't need to tip more but you may get better service if you do. It's sometimes nice to tip servers specifically beyond their shared tip.