Great 1st cruise on Enchantment. Except for fake ID and Argentinian teenagers

[MommaBear55]

A few years ago we took a cruise out of San Juan (on the Serenade, I believe), and there were quite a few quin...whatever that word is... celebration people aboard. We never had any issues, and found them quite entertaining, as they were all quite dressed up, and would dance in the centrum to the music. We'd watch from up above. Now, I would be less than pleased if the ship was overrun by them running wild, so to speak.

I

It doesn't sound like these are the groups described as wild above. We have been on two cruises with quicenera groups and have been delighted to see how these young ladies are celebrating their coming of age with their extended families.

[link99]

Could be an extension of this to. You think your cruise was bad....South American Tour Groups – In January and July each year, large groups of teenagers from Brazil and Argentina descend on Walt Disney World for their school breaks. Some of the groups do a lot of chanting, singing, clapping and shouting. The sheer size of the groups (up to 100 kids in a single group) can make navigating around them difficult.

[Cabansail]

Here's a tip, why not pay the staff properly in the first place so that tips are not required. Anything above the normal would be an extra but not expected.

 

That's how it seems to work in the civilised world. :D

[TravelerThom]

Agree with your post but am I missing something here?

What I am missing is the ability to easily read your msg. Please post the bulk of your msg in something more conventional than bold purple which together seems to be one big blob (yes, part of the problem is that my eyes aren't as young as they used to be). Thanks.

[Keith1010]

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

 

Keith

[Mattnvick]

It could be those at the top of the scale get more. My wife's agency bonus pool works that way

 

Yes I think this is probably what will happen. Royal can't keep the money per se but from what I understood it will be divided based on performance or points awarded in the survey. So I guess some may get a little more and some may get a little less. It still seems a harsh way for the restaurant staff though. It would be interesting to hear a Royal official statement on it! :D. It was however definitely something the staff were worried about. I'm wondering if that's because many of them rely on this money to send back home to support families.

[Biker19]

That's how it seems to work in the civilised world. :D

Hey, now, who you calling uncivilized?

[John&LaLa]

Hey, now, who you calling uncivilized?

 

Apparently just Americans. You're good. BTW, for years I thought you were from Delaware. :eek:

[island lady]

I don't understand the allowance of so many young under age girls without adequate numbers of supervision either. Most of the time they have been pretty good, but this last time on disembarkation day off of Freedom, there were about 30 of them in the hallway of the terminal just before you go down to get your luggage. Most of them were on their cell phones, and many taking pictures of the ship, which is posted as not allowed. Security kept having to yell at them to stop and put the phones away, but they did not listen and even mocked the poor security staff. I saw no adults standing with them at all.

[mykindaparty]

The tipping situation is why we do auto tips but still hand out personal tips to those who we feel are deserving of more.

[CarpeCerevisi]

In regard to the surveys, I no longer fill them out as they are no longer a valid method of rating the cruise. If anything other than the highest rating is acceptable then the methodology is flawed. What these surveys have become is a way for lazy managers to have their jobs done for them.

[TravelerThom]

...If anything other than the highest rating is acceptable then the methodology is flawed. What these surveys have become is a way for lazy managers to have their jobs done for them.

I absolutely agree. I'd rate the average service employee on RCI a 9 - a lot higher than the average I'd give in my home town and pretty darn good in my book, but less than the "required" 10. I have on a few occasions written letters commending a particularly outstanding employee - giving them a "10" (along with everyone else) just would not credit their excellence.

 

Thom

[lovesthebeach2]

Just got off our first ever cruise. We were on Enchantment and loved the ship. Had some wonderful meals, great entertainment. Mostly wonderful staff.

 

Only a few minor gripes. Did anyone else have any problems with the approx 300 Argentinian teenage girls who were on board? They seemed to have only about 4 chaperones. They commandered the hot tubs all the time in huge numbers (way over capacity) and every public washroom was crowded out with them to the point of it was easier to go down to our cabin to use the facilities there. They actually had to close one on the first night as they were all in there throwing up although the sea was like a glass lake so not sure what the problem was there.

 

Also I was upset that our daughter who is 19 (but admittedly looks a lot younger) was actually refused a spot to sing at the adult karaok night by the entertainment guy. She even showed him her driver's license with picture and date of birth but he didn't believe it was real :rolleyes: o

 

Other than those 2 minor issues and the fact that it was too windy to dock and tender to Coco Cay (disappointing but no one can control the weather) we had a wonderful time and can't wait to cruise again.

 

We were at Disney World last weekend and the Argentinan groups of young girls were everywhere. They tried to cut in front of everyone in lines. They could have had better manners.

[lovesthebeach2]

Thank goodness they will not be on my ship. I have dealt with enough of that at Disney.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Us too..... At least Disney is trying to curtail their chanting and blocking of the walkways with all the kids just lying around on the ground.

Both have been stopped....... But they still try to push their way into whatever they want to do.

[BonTexasNY]

What I am missing is the ability to easily read your msg. Please post the bulk of your msg in something more conventional than bold purple which together seems to be one big blob (yes, part of the problem is that my eyes aren't as young as they used to be). Thanks.

 

 

Yours is the very first critique of my purple color in approx. 10 years. :eek: Sorry for your vision problems. I copied my whole post, not just the bulk so that you wouldn't miss one scintillating word. It's in italics. I hope that's ok.

 

Agree with your post but am I missing something here? If I have auto grats added to MY seapass account, RCI should NOT have the authority make the decision of how much of MY money to actually tip those that serviced me. What happens to the extra money left over if some were not tipped according to the new guidelines? If this is the new procedure then I hope to be able to still remove grats from my account and pay them out personally. There is no way I would accept the wait staff being penalized with lower grats because of a kitchen/chef error. What is RCI thinking??? Gratuities are supposed to be left at the discretion of the PASSENGER not the CRUISE LINE. This upsets me

 

On our last 2 cruises our waiter went on and on at length, telling us we MUST give him a 10 on the survey or it will impact negatively on him personally. Apparently, RCI is going to tighten the reigns even more. I see how hard the wait staff works and they shouldn't have to be bothered/worried by this at all.

And Carol, (MM) THANK YOU :)

[BonTexasNY]

Can someone explain how RCI auto gratuities are distributed? Who exactly gets paid what? I always thought my auto grats go to those that service me personally. Guess not since there are those that work the WJ and MDR during breakfast and lunch. Is there wait staff that only work during the dinner hours? :confused:

 

How weird this thread has two active topics, although, for CC, maybe not so weird :rolleyes:

[Clarea]

Can someone explain how RCI auto gratuities are distributed? Who exactly gets paid what? I always thought my auto grats go to those that service me personally. Guess not since there are those that work the WJ and MDR during breakfast and lunch. Is there wait staff that only work during the dinner hours? :confused:

 

How weird this thread has two active topics, although, for CC, maybe not so weird :rolleyes:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqType=faq&faqSubjectId=415&faqSubjectName=Gratuities&faqId=5523

[cruiseapril]

Did you do an excursion in Nassau?

[Merion_Mom]

What I am missing is the ability to easily read your msg. Please post the bulk of your msg in something more conventional than bold purple which together seems to be one big blob (yes, part of the problem is that my eyes aren't as young as they used to be). Thanks.

 

Yours is the very first critique of my purple color in approx. 10 years. :eek: Sorry for your vision problems. I copied my whole post, not just the bulk so that you wouldn't miss one scintillating word. It's in italics. I hope that's ok.

 

Agree with your post but am I missing something here? If I have auto grats added to MY seapass account, RCI should NOT have the authority make the decision of how much of MY money to actually tip those that serviced me. What happens to the extra money left over if some were not tipped according to the new guidelines? If this is the new procedure then I hope to be able to still remove grats from my account and pay them out personally. There is no way I would accept the wait staff being penalized with lower grats because of a kitchen/chef error. What is RCI thinking??? Gratuities are supposed to be left at the discretion of the PASSENGER not the CRUISE LINE. This upsets me

 

On our last 2 cruises our waiter went on and on at length, telling us we MUST give him a 10 on the survey or it will impact negatively on him personally. Apparently, RCI is going to tighten the reigns even more. I see how hard the wait staff works and they shouldn't have to be bothered/worried by this at all.

And Carol, (MM) THANK YOU :)

 

I always can spot Bonnie's posts in any thread! And I appreciate that.

 

Just like I can find my own posts at a glance because of my dancing M'n'Ms.

 

:D

[Cabansail]

I really fail to see the point other than it's been like that for a long time.

 

If the "tips" are specified why not just make that their pay and add it to the fares. I do not come from a culture where tipping is normal or expected and have not lived in places where it is. Generally I do not think of adding a tip but have done when someone has been very good. I guess I used to round the bill up when paying cash but now with cards it just goes through.

When booking my TA gave us a price with the gratuities included. This is what I considered the fare. Once I knew it was paid I did not think much about it again. If they did not have it automated it would have been missed being in a cash free environment.

Rather than going away it seems to be getting bigger. I remember when I was a kid and we visited the US it was recommended to tip 8-10% then years later I heard it was about 12% then 15% and now 18% and it's expected.

 

Does the tipping culture exist in Canaidia too?

[John&LaLa]

I always can spot Bonnie's posts in any thread! And I appreciate that.

 

Just like I can find my own posts at a glance because of my dancing M'n'Ms.

 

:D

 

Doesn't look purple on my cell phone, just bold which is fine. The color I can't stand is lite green.

[Cabansail]

The color I can't stand is lite green.

 

 

Must keep that in mind :D

[BonTexasNY]

I always can spot Bonnie's posts in any thread! And I appreciate that.

 

Just like I can find my own posts at a glance because of my dancing M'n'Ms.

 

:D

 

Funny. I like to see my posts easily also. Yours too!!

[John&LaLa]

Must keep that in mind :D

 

Your font type and size choices make it OK to read. :p

 

Lime is actually the irritating one, doesn't stick out enough on a white background

[Mattnvick]

Sorry I guess it's getting 2 replies to 2 quite different topics as I think I went off on a tangent at one point. :rolleyes:

 

If someone was asking me specifically did we do a tour in Nassau.Not an official one no.

 

We walked from the ship to the Queen's staircase it was longer than Google maps had led us to believe in terms of time and went through a bit of a run down area. We tried walking from there to the distillery but one of the roads had had no sidewalks and I felt it was too hairy. You seems to have to take a very indirect route more up and along and down rather than straight. Gave up and decided to head to Junkanoo Beach instead, via the road next to Signore Frogs where we met a govt. tourist rep who hooked us up with the guys to do parasailing which our kids wanted to do. It was much cheaper than what Royal offered. We went along just for the boat ride and we all had a blast.

 

. Finally made it to the beach and the tiki bikini hut where we got drinks and wandered along to a nice quiet area of beach. Spent a very pleasant afternoon and no thong wearing loud 15 year old Argentinian girls anywhere. It was a lovely day :)

 

And yes tipping does exist in Canada usually between 10-15% but on the debit machine you usually get the option of %tip, amount tip or no tip.

Edited February 24, 2016 by Mattnvick