South Pacific advice

[Chiliburn]

12 minutes ago, JoeyJoeJoe said:

 

Hi,

I am crusing the south pacific this march on royal and was trying to do the maths on the drinks package.

I was wondering if you have pic of a bar menu? Do they charge in USD or AUD and what is the the tip situation?

Thanks for your help

JJJ

It used to be about 7-8 drinks to break even. That’s fancy coffee ,nonalcoholic and alcohol.

So if you think you will drink more than everyday , it’s worth it .

 

There is a cap on the price,I think it’s $14 but drinks rarely get over that.

U.S.Dollars onboard and 18% gratuity but with the drinks package it’s included.

Beer about $8 cocktails about $10 ,mixed drinks about $12 that’s USD .

 

 I’ve done a few Royal Caribbean cruises and I have never bought the drinks package.

The first few days people drink like a fish and then it tapers off .

[JoeyJoeJoe]

14 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

It used to be about 7-8 drinks to break even. That’s fancy coffee ,nonalcoholic and alcohol.

So if you think you will drink more than everyday , it’s worth it .

 

There is a cap on the price,I think it’s $14 but drinks rarely get over that.

U.S.Dollars onboard and 18% gratuity but with the drinks package it’s included.

Beer about $8 cocktails about $10 ,mixed drinks about $12 that’s USD .

 

 I’ve done a few Royal Caribbean cruises and I have never bought the drinks package.

The first few days people drink like a fish and then it tapers off .

I thought tips were included in aus departures?

[Chiliburn]

30 minutes ago, JoeyJoeJoe said:

I thought tips were included in aus departures?

Sorry you are right,they are included on drinks 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, JoeyJoeJoe said:

 

Hi,

I am crusing the south pacific this march on royal and was trying to do the maths on the drinks package.

I was wondering if you have pic of a bar menu? Do they charge in USD or AUD and what is the the tip situation?

Thanks for your help

JJJ

Royal Caribbean or Royal Princess?

 

Royal Caribbean is USD onboard, Royal Princess is AUD onboard. Both will charge daily gratuities in your case. On Royal Caribbean the service charge is added to drinks prices, on Royal Princess it's built into the price. Further tipping is not expect but people often give extra to cabin stewards, waiters etc. 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Royal Caribbean or Royal Princess?

 

Royal Caribbean is USD onboard, Royal Princess is AUD onboard. Both will charge daily gratuities in your case. On Royal Caribbean the service charge is added to drinks prices, on Royal Princess it's built into the price. Further tipping is not expect but people often give extra to cabin stewards, waiters etc. 

Sorry Royal Caribbean. I read the following

The exception is in certain markets where tipping is not as ingrained as part of their culture, so Royal Caribbean includes daily gratuities as part of the price of the cruise.  This occurs in the Australian cruise market.

 

I would like to know if they applies to drinks aswell?

[Blackduck59]

@coldweather, I see you have maybe abandoned your thread. I can't comment on the weather but I do know that there are very few cruise ships down under during the southern hemisphere winter. The ships Holland America and Celebrity have down there during their summer are up here for our summer and the Alaska season. After 2 cancelled attempts we will finally get it done (we hope) in 2025. We had a shorter plan even up until last week, then we decided to go all in as it were. The cruise we had booked was in fact the last cruise of the season for Westerdam and the next cruise would be the Pacific crossing as she transfers to the Alaska season. We decided we should be on that repositioning voyage and eliminate the long haul return flight. Our 14 night cruise will now be 43 days.

About the weather, I'm afraid no one can guarantee that, it will be what it is.

[Chiliburn]

20 minutes ago, JoeyJoeJoe said:

Sorry Royal Caribbean. I read the following

The exception is in certain markets where tipping is not as ingrained as part of their culture, so Royal Caribbean includes daily gratuities as part of the price of the cruise.  This occurs in the Australian cruise market.

 

I would like to know if they applies to drinks aswell?

No

but they give you a receipt which asks if you would tip extra.

just sign it and at the bottom line put a 0

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, JoeyJoeJoe said:

Sorry Royal Caribbean. I read the following

The exception is in certain markets where tipping is not as ingrained as part of their culture, so Royal Caribbean includes daily gratuities as part of the price of the cruise.  This occurs in the Australian cruise market.

 

I would like to know if they applies to drinks aswell?

But may not apply to cruises booked from outside of Australia. On Princess we don't get charged gratuities on local cruises but those who booked for the US or UK etc do.

 

I'm fairly certain the drinks prices don't include the gratuities on Royal Caribbean.

[arxcards]

16 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

 

I'm fairly certain the drinks prices don't include the gratuities on Royal Caribbean.

In Australia they do. The price on the menu is the drink price. The price on the menu has been more than adequately inflated to accommodate the inclusive price.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

In Australia they do. The price on the menu is the drink price. The price on the menu has been more than adequately inflated to accommodate the inclusive price.

Good to hear they are finally doing that. Last time we were on Celebrity they were still adding the gratuities I think.

[bretts173]

Royals cruises in Australia have had all prices inclusive of gratuity on menus for multiple years. At least 5 anyway.

 

Menus in the USA for example have cocktails at $14 while in Australia they are $15. So about a 7% gratuity added.

[arxcards]

13 minutes ago, bretts173 said:

Royals cruises in Australia have had all prices inclusive of gratuity on menus for multiple years. At least 5 anyway.

 

Menus in the USA for example have cocktails at $14 while in Australia they are $15. So about a 7% gratuity added.

Yes, more that 10 years.

I can't be sure for our 1st cruise on Rhapsody in 2009, but we noticed on our 2nd that most bars were inclusive, but the wine bar wasn't. As far as I can recall, all of our Royal Aussie cruises since 2010 have had included grats included in the drink price. I might still have some old chits that I can check on the weekend.

[beatleman]

22 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Yes, more that 10 years.

I can't be sure for our 1st cruise on Rhapsody in 2009, but we noticed on our 2nd that most bars were inclusive, but the wine bar wasn't. As far as I can recall, all of our Royal Aussie cruises since 2010 have had included grats included in the drink price. I might still have some old chits that I can check on the weekend.

Both Royal and Celebrity have grats included in the drink prices, also in the drink package price. Your spot on Arxcards, wow am amazed you have chits since 2010😁

[arxcards]

1 minute ago, beatleman said:

Both Royal and Celebrity have grats included in the drink prices, also in the drink package price. Your spot on Arxcards, wow am amazed you have chits since 2010😁

I say I might.

For our first handful of cruises, after returning home I inserted all of our patters/daily/compass pages into folders along with special menus, trinkets and various things to remember the cruise. It is sort of halfway between scrapbooking and keeping business tax records 😁. When doing that, most of the chits would be thrown out.

 

But, since around 2010, I haven't quite been that organised. Each cruise has a display folder or a large envelope with all this stuff stashed in it. They live in storage tubs and are getting heavy to handle. I should start to organise it all or chuck it - but for now it, that info is still there hiding in the shadows.

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Ok thats cool.

So in conclusion prices are in USD but grats are included in the prices.

Last problem is what are those prices?

So who has a current price menu /picture for an Australian cruise?

All the ones online seem to still include gratuity so I assume are for foreign departures.

Thanks Team!

[bretts173]

33 minutes ago, JoeyJoeJoe said:

Ok thats cool.

So in conclusion prices are in USD but grats are included in the prices.

Last problem is what are those prices?

So who has a current price menu /picture for an Australian cruise?

All the ones online seem to still include gratuity so I assume are for foreign departures.

Thanks Team!

The best way to find anything Royal related is download their app, you can look at any cruise, you dont have to booked, on any ship. Has all the menus, entertainment on there.

 

Beers around $8, cocktails $15

[beatleman]

24 minutes ago, JoeyJoeJoe said:

Ok thats cool.

So in conclusion prices are in USD but grats are included in the prices.

Last problem is what are those prices?

So who has a current price menu /picture for an Australian cruise?

All the ones online seem to still include gratuity so I assume are for foreign departures.

Thanks Team!

I was on Quantum in December and most beer's were $8.25usd, Oil Can's and Guinness $9.25. Spirits $9-10 most Cocktails $15. Hope this helps.