1st time with RC

[DanielleNY]

Hello All,
My family has done 1 cruise so far {with Disney in 2014 / 5 days} -

Will be 2 adults and 2 children {5 yrs, 10 yrs} -- we will be going in Feb 2017 and it's between Oasis of The Seas {7 days} and Independence of the Seas {5 days}.... would ready like to do the 7 day cruise this time around.

I have a few questions - mainly the differences between RC and Disney.

The food on disney, everything was included - soda,water, snacks, breakfast, lunch, dinner
only thing you had to pay for was speciality restaurants and beer.... The prices on RC, is that pretty much the same concept??

On Disney - they would have you try all the restaurants each night for dinner, they would give you a schedule and you have the same servers for dinner { they would follow you to the different restaurants} -- do they do this with RC as well? -- you have a "main seating" like at 6pm -- and then a later time at like 9pm for the other people so it's not so crowded?

Do you tip the servers and cleaning crew at the end of the cruise? -- that portion is not included, correct?

thanks and sorry for all the questions!

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Hello All,
My family has done 1 cruise so far {with Disney in 2014 / 5 days} -

Will be 2 adults and 2 children {5 yrs, 10 yrs} -- we will be going in Feb 2017 and it's between Oasis of The Seas {7 days} and Independence of the Seas {5 days}.... would ready like to do the 7 day cruise this time around.

I have a few questions - mainly the differences between RC and Disney.

The food on disney, everything was included - soda,water, snacks, breakfast, lunch, dinner Other than sodas, everything else is included. Soda packages for children run ~$5/day
only thing you had to pay for was speciality restaurants and beer.... The prices on RC, is that pretty much the same concept?? Exactly the same on RCL

On Disney - they would have you try all the restaurants each night for dinner, they would give you a schedule and you have the same servers for dinner { they would follow you to the different restaurants} -- do they do this with RC as well? -- you have a "main seating" like at 6pm -- and then a later time at like 9pm for the other people so it's not so crowded? On RCL there are two main seatings (early and late); My Time Dining where you decide when you want to eat; and Family Time Dining. On Oasis, they were introduce a "classic" dining concept that is similar to Disney where you eat in a different restaurant each night and your servers follow you - have not been on Oasis since they announced that, so don't know if they ever implemented it. On Independence, if you are doing one of the main seatings, you eat in the same restaurant every night with the same tablemates and the same wait staff.

Do you tip the servers and cleaning crew at the end of the cruise? -- that portion is not included, correct? That's correct

thanks and sorry for all the questions!

I responded inside your post. If you have any other questions that I can help with, just ask

 

[sam_gordon]

Regarding the tip... you can "prepay" your gratuities as part of your cruise fare. In fact, if you get My Time Dining, you're required to do so. You can tip extra above that if you'd like (I think it's $12.50pp/per day), but it's not required.

 

[HopperFan]

Just off Oasis.

Soda not included but ice tea, lemonade and a raspberry lemonade free at dining spots. A variety of drink packages are offered OR you can pay per drink. http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/fastpass

Dining: You pick early or late seating, or can do My Time where you can book each night different. ALL of this dining is done in the Main Dining Room with the same servers assigned to tables. With set seated times you will have the same table/servers/table mates. With My Time you could be seated anywhere with anyone just like a regular restaurant. If you opt to eat at one of the no charge restaurants or the fee based restaurants you will be served by their servers. So we did our late seating, same table, same servers for 6 nights and ate in one of the nice fee based specialty restaurants one night (because with our package it was free). http://www.royalcaribbean.com/finda...tegory.do?pagename=onboard_cat_dining_options

Tips on RCI are either prepaid in your package or you will be billed for them. We had two of us prepaid and the third they billed to our room. It is up to you if you tip above and beyond. We tipped our steward, our waiter and our asst waiter above and beyond the last night. At the specialty restaurant we also signed with extra tip.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Regarding the tip... you can "prepay" your gratuities as part of your cruise fare. In fact, if you get My Time Dining, you're required to do so. You can tip extra above that if you'd like (I think it's $12.50pp/per day), but it's not required.

Prepayment is no longer required for My Time Dining. RCL eliminated this policy several months ago.

 

[disneybass]

Thanks for the TR. We are doing Brilliance next month and have Freedom booked for next year. Looking forward to both.

 

[HopperFan]

Prepayment is no longer required for My Time Dining. RCL eliminated this policy several months ago.

The reason they eliminated it is because they instated Automatic Gratuity for everyone.

Gratuities

Q: What is the adjusted automatic gratuity amount?

A: Effective on cruises departing on or after July 1, 2015, Royal Caribbean will automatically add a $12.95 USD gratuity, $15.95 USD for Suite guests, to each guest's SeaPass® account on a daily basis. This gratuity replaces our previously recommended gratuity guidelines, and will apply to all guests who did not prepay gratuities before June 1, 2015. The new daily gratuity amount is $0.95 USD more than the previously recommended daily gratuity amount ($1.70 more for suites).

 

[eskimoinparadise]

The reason they eliminated it is because they instated Automatic Gratuity for everyone.

Gratuities

Q: What is the adjusted automatic gratuity amount?

A: Effective on cruises departing on or after July 1, 2015, Royal Caribbean will automatically add a $12.95 USD gratuity, $15.95 USD for Suite guests, to each guest's SeaPass® account on a daily basis. This gratuity replaces our previously recommended gratuity guidelines, and will apply to all guests who did not prepay gratuities before June 1, 2015. The new daily gratuity amount is $0.95 USD more than the previously recommended daily gratuity amount ($1.70 more for suites).

True, but the post I was responding to said pre-paid gratuities were mandatory if you booked My Time Dining. Now they do it the same way Disney does theirs.

 

[HopperFan]

True, but the post I was responding to said pre-paid gratuities were mandatory if you booked My Time Dining. Now they do it the same way Disney does theirs.

- I never cruised Disney.
- I suppose my post is for anyone who has cruised and handed the suggested tips directly to the crew members at the end.
- This was my first cruise where I was billed for it from the cruise line aka mandatory.
- I like it better this way.
- If you had cruised under the old way of leaving it up to the guest, then hearing the "prepayment" was eliminated, it sounds if it's still up to the guest.
- It's not that they eliminated prepayment of My Time Dining gratuities, what they actually did was add automatic gratuities across the board.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

- I never cruised Disney.
- I suppose my post is for anyone who has cruised and handed the suggested tips directly to the crew members at the end.
- This was my first cruise where I was billed for it from the cruise line aka mandatory.
- I like it better this way.
- If you had cruised under the old way of leaving it up to the guest, then hearing the "prepayment" was eliminated, it sounds if it's still up to the guest.
- It's not that they eliminated prepayment of My Time Dining gratuities, what they actually did was add automatic gratuities across the board.

No, They eliminated prepayment of gratuities for MTD. How they handle gratuities once you're on board has nothing at all to do with that. You're conflating two completely independent actions. And, as I stated earlier, it is completely up to the guest how they want gratuities handled once they're on board. If you don't want to have gratuities automatically added to your bill, all you need to do is go down to guest services and have them stopped.

 

[HopperFan]

We can agree to disagree.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

We can agree to disagree.

Not really.

 

[pluto445]

We can agree to disagree.

There really isn't anything to disagree about. You just brought up a situation that has nothing to do with the fact that Royal recently stopped mandatory PRE-PAID gratuities for MTD. Your points on how the automatic gratuities work are all true - they are just irrelevant. Gratuities for cruisers that didn't have MTD have been automatic for far longer than the change to the mandatory pre-paid gratuities.

 

[HopperFan]

There really isn't anything to disagree about. You just brought up a situation that has nothing to do with the fact that Royal recently stopped mandatory PRE-PAID gratuities for MTD. Your points on how the automatic gratuities work are all true - they are just irrelevant. Gratuities for cruisers that didn't have MTD have been automatic for far longer than the change to the mandatory pre-paid gratuities.

And I stand by what I said.

The OP asked "Do you tip the servers and cleaning crew at the end of the cruise? -- that portion is not included, correct?"

I cruised RCI last month. I responded that the process is that tips are Automatic, so no she does not HAVE to tip at the end of her cruise unless you want to tip above and beyond. Straight forward question. Direct answer to her question.

OP did not ask about My Time Dining or previous procedures or changes in procedures or how to not paying her gratuities. She asked what to expect, which would be based on current procedures. A simple question. No need to confuse with semantics.

As far as being automatic a long time ... it's only been a couple years. Many folks cruise only once every few years so they very well may not know this change. Again, this is not what the OP wanted to know, she is new to RCI.

 

[pluto445]

And I stand by what I said.

The OP asked "Do you tip the servers and cleaning crew at the end of the cruise? -- that portion is not included, correct?"

I cruised RCI last month. I responded that the process is that tips are Automatic, so no she does not HAVE to tip at the end of her cruise unless you want to tip above and beyond. Straight forward question. Direct answer to her question.

OP did not ask about My Time Dining or previous procedures or changes in procedures or how to not paying her gratuities. She asked what to expect, which would be based on current procedures. A simple question. No need to confuse with semantics.

As far as being automatic a long time ... it's only been a couple years. Many folks cruise only once every few years so they very well may not know this change. Again, this is not what the OP wanted to know, she is new to RCI.

Fair enough. But what happened after the OP was someone gave them incorrect information which could have been confusing. Someone else corrected the misinformation so they wouldn't be confused. Your posts AFTER that responding to the correction seemed to me to be no longer addressing the OP. Anyway, I didn't realize this thread was a week old when I posted so I am the one apparently being irrelevant. Have a nice day.