8/15/09-Eastern-Tortola Treasure Seekers #4

[caitlinsdad]

Well we are attempting brunch this time, while dinner was good, we like the brunch better, not withstanding the soufflé

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Well we are attempting brunch this time, while dinner was good, we like the brunch better, not withstanding the soufflé

Brunch by far is the best meal, but try for dinner after that as well its good,



PS 24,000 post of mine!

 

[Melcatfish]

Brunch by far is the best meal, but try for dinner after that as well its good,



PS 24,000 post of mine!

Congratulations on the milestone post - that's a LOT of Disney posts, very useful stuff though so at this point let me say thanks for all the helpful knowledgable posts you make on the boards Andrew

Mel
x

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Congratulations on the milestone post - that's a LOT of Disney posts, very useful stuff though so at this point let me say thanks for all the helpful knowledgable posts you make on the boards Andrew

Mel
x

Thank you for that Mel!



Did you get your villa sorted????

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I prepaid my tips today, as the £ has been on a slight rally on the last few days, I want to pay things off before someone puts there foot in it again on Thursday, Decision time at Bank of England on rates, it always can be taken the wrong way.

Now, I do plan to 'add; to my tips especially my stateroom host he/she will have a lot more to do than usual, you would thought they would increase the recommended tips for a larger room, As long as they do a good job, I will add to it.

 

[caitlinsdad]

PS 24,000 post of mine!

Congraulations, thats some milestone, a lot of infomation and some fluff too

I prepaid my tips today,

Now, I do plan to 'add; to my tips especially my stateroom host he/she will have a lot more to do than usual, you would thought they would increase the recommended tips for a larger room, As long as they do a good job, I will add to it.

I'm from the old school, add to it if good, but poor service will get someone a lower amount in my book.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Congraulations, thats some milestone, a lot of infomation and some fluff too

I'm from the old school, add to it if good, but poor service will get someone a lower amount in my book.

Hey, I do not do fluff!! I learnt everything I know on posting from Captaincrash

Well bad service I would get it corrected, and complain, I want to do the base recommended tip, then add if they are good.

I have never had 'bad' service, I have had food served cold once and got it sorted!!!

 

[caitlinsdad]

Well bad service I would get it corrected, and complain, I want to do the base recommended tip, then add if they are good.

I have never had 'bad' service, I have had food served cold once and got it sorted!!!

I never believed in the automatic tips( base recomended) I will give that if they do the good job I have seen, but bad service will get bad tip and comment on the comment cards and a report filed with the front desk if warrented.

I know they get paid next to nothing, but they took this job with those pay rates. If they do good the tip reflects that, if they don't well so be it.

So far it hasn't been a problem, but I resent recomended tipping to be what is expected or more for someone doing the job they were hired for.

 

[Melcatfish]

Thank you for that Mel!



Did you get your villa sorted????

Yes thanks, Villa is sorted. We are not in the closest communinty to the action but I think the one we have booked will suit what we want pretty well post cruise.

Mel
x

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I never believed in the automatic tips( base recomended) I will give that if they do the good job I have seen, but bad service will get bad tip and comment on the comment cards and a report filed with the front desk if warrented.

I know they get paid next to nothing, but they took this job with those pay rates. If they do good the tip reflects that, if they don't well so be it.

So far it hasn't been a problem, but I resent recomended tipping to be what is expected or more for someone doing the job they were hired for.

Do remember whilst the tips we pay go to our server team, they also work at breakfast, lunch etc in the restaurants and Topsiders where we do not tip, so the 'tip' covers all of that as well. Sometimes they even serve in plutos goofys etc.

If you break down the tip over all of that its far smaller than you would tip onshore.

Yes thanks, Villa is sorted. We are not in the closest communinty to the action but I think the one we have booked will suit what we want pretty well post cruise.

Mel
x

Thats great, I am in Indian creek, which is just below Formosa Gardens, thats the next main turnoff off the 192, after WDW Maingate.

If you know the area its about the Golden coral turn off on the left going west.

 

[PoohJen]

Hi Guys!

Twisted my Mom's arm (shocking how easy that was!) and she'll be joining us in one of our cabins this August, so please add mom Janet to the list!

This will be her 3d Disney cruise - she's up for anything! She's parasailed and Banana Boated on CC and snorkeled in Cozumel with us. She's going with us to the Baths and on the Doubloon snorkel trip in St. Thomas. Woo Hoo!


Anyhoo...I have two connecting Cat 10s (I was trying to do this on the cheap), but I'm super concerned about no natural sunlight. I had a Cat 10 for a 3 day, but this is a 7 day.... I know, I know, you are hardly ever in your cabin, but I will sorely miss our verandahs...

I priced Cat 9 window cabin upgrades today - it was not much more $$, but they couldn't guarantee our 2 rooms would be near each other, so I'll try again later or at the Port.

Hey - has anyone seen the REAS package? I couldn't find it on the DCL website. DH and I have done that before, I wanted to check the price.

TTFN!

 

[jenanderson]

Hi Guys!

Twisted my Mom's arm (shocking how ez that was!) and she'll be joining us in one of our cabins this August, so please add mom Janet to the list!

This will be her 3d Disney cruise - she's up for anything! She's parasailed and Banana Boated on CC and snorkeled in Cozumel with us. She's going with us to the Baths and on the Doubloon snorkel trip in St. Thomas. Woo Hoo!


Anyhoo...we in Cat 10s (I was trying to do this on the cheap), but I'm super concerned about no natural sunlight. I had a Cat 10 for a 3 day, but a 7 day.... I know, I know, your are hardly ever in your cabin, but I will sorely miss our verandahs...

I priced Cat 9 window cabin upgrades today - it was not much more $$, but they couldn't guarantee our 2 rooms would be near each other, so I'll try again later or at the Port.

Hey - has anyone seen the REAS package? I couldn't find it on the DCL website. DH and I have done that before, I wanted to check the price.

TTFN!

Hello! How fun to have your mom coming with us! I did add her to our website (you won't see it until I upload later tonight though). Good luck with the room situation...I hope that you can get the rooms close like you want.

Love the REAS package...here is the link for the DCL site...
http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/d...il?name=RomanticEscapeAtSeaPackagesDetailPage

It doesn't list the price but I know if you do a search on the main cruise page here on the DIS there is always a lot of stuff posted about it and I would image that the price is there as well.

Have a great night!
Jen

 

[PoohJen]

Thanks for the link, Jen! Good night!

 

[PoohJen]

Thanks for the link, Jen! Good night!


ahhh...they've changed it since DH and I did it in '04 - back then it was a couples massage w/ rainforest for the day - now it looks like no couples massage, just rainforest for the week.

I priced well being massage ($109) and couples well-being massage ($240???!!!). Not sure what's up with that!

 

[jenanderson]

What’s New...

1. EXCURSIONS are up to date! I went through the postings and double checked that only the offered excursions are listed. I also posted confirmed excursions. If you book an excursion, I will list yours if you post it here.

2. On the DIS MEMBERS page, you will find that PoohJen is bringing her mom!

3. We are getting close to the 100 LANYARDS we need to order custom lanyards! I will post all the details on how the order will work when we get a bit closer to 100.

4. If you want others to know when you have PALO reservations, feel free to let me know. On our HOT TOPIC page, you can click on the Palo link and see when reservations are available and who booked what reservations.

5. I also changed our room number on the FISH EXCHANGE list...we are now a GTY cabin. I am really happy about this because it means that we were able to downgrade our cabin slightly and save a bunch of money on the cruise! This was a key factor in keeping us on the ship!

Well, that was a lot tonight...I have a lot of plans to change things up next week to help keep everyone entertained as we wait the days out.

Have a great night everyone!
Jen

 

[caitlinsdad]

Do remember whilst the tips we pay go to our server team, they also work at breakfast, lunch etc in the restaurants and Topsiders where we do not tip, so the 'tip' covers all of that as well. Sometimes they even serve in plutos goofys etc.

If you break down the tip over all of that its far smaller than you would tip onshore.

Its something we will agree to disagree on, Tipping should never be expected for Just doing your job. You do it well then yes, but not for doing just average.

For the most part the workers on the ship earn what they get.

 

[TonytheWop]

Its something we will agree to disagree on, Tipping should never be expected for Just doing your job. You do it well then yes, but not for doing just average.

For the most part the workers on the ship earn what they get.

At the risk of being flamed, I agree with you
The fact that most of their income comes from tipping is something they sign up for. I'm in agreement with the recommended amount as long as I get the service. If the service is sub-par then the tip will be affected. Conversely if the service is over and above then the tip will reflect that also.

My employer pays me to do a good job and , if I do a great job, my employer will reward me.( I hope )
As much as I adore cruising the whole tipping issue really irritates me. Correct me if I'm wrong but the cruising industry is the only leisure industry ( i.e. all-inclusives, hotels, theme parks, etc..) which pay their employees next to nothing and, impose the salaries on the guests. BTW those of you who say that the cruise fares would increase if the employees were paid basic wages are probably right but, what is the difference between charging $1000 + $150 of tips and , charging me $1150 for the cruise ?
Just my opinion but I will still tip on my cruise and have a wonderful time thanks to those great people who work very hard !!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Hi Guys!

Twisted my Mom's arm (shocking how easy that was!) and she'll be joining us in one of our cabins this August, so please add mom Janet to the list!

This will be her 3d Disney cruise - she's up for anything! She's parasailed and Banana Boated on CC and snorkeled in Cozumel with us. She's going with us to the Baths and on the Doubloon snorkel trip in St. Thomas. Woo Hoo!


Anyhoo...I have two connecting Cat 10s (I was trying to do this on the cheap), but I'm super concerned about no natural sunlight. I had a Cat 10 for a 3 day, but this is a 7 day.... I know, I know, you are hardly ever in your cabin, but I will sorely miss our verandahs...

I priced Cat 9 window cabin upgrades today - it was not much more $$, but they couldn't guarantee our 2 rooms would be near each other, so I'll try again later or at the Port.

Hey - has anyone seen the REAS package? I couldn't find it on the DCL website. DH and I have done that before, I wanted to check the price.

TTFN!

$359 to my knowledge

At the risk of being flamed, I agree with you
The fact that most of their income comes from tipping is something they sign up for. I'm in agreement with the recommended amount as long as I get the service. If the service is sub-par then the tip will be affected. Conversely if the service is over and above then the tip will reflect that also.

My employer pays me to do a good job and , if I do a great job, my employer will reward me.( I hope )
As much as I adore cruising the whole tipping issue really irritates me. Correct me if I'm wrong but the cruising industry is the only leisure industry ( i.e. all-inclusives, hotels, theme parks, etc..) which pay their employees next to nothing and, impose the salaries on the guests. BTW those of you who say that the cruise fares would increase if the employees were paid basic wages are probably right but, what is the difference between charging $1000 + $150 of tips and , charging me $1150 for the cruise ?
Just my opinion but I will still tip on my cruise and have a wonderful time thanks to those great people who work very hard !!

No flame!

Whether we agree or disagree with it, we are informed of it from the time we book until the sail date, I have found every server and every CM goes out of their way to look after us, Its cruise tradition we tip, where cruises swap to service charges or increase fares to avoid the need to tip service falls back.

As posted yesterday these people work all hours breakfast and lunch as well as dinner and our small tip covers not just the evening meal but every meal and item of food we eat bar Palo and Room service, averaged out over all of that the tip is very small indeed.

If in the unlikely even service isn't good complain and its put right in seconds. No need to wait for the end of the week and a comment card.

Tipping is discretion but we have to consider the wide view of all the services we use, to eat not just dinner, in that context, they deserve more than the recommended tips.

 

[jenanderson]

I am wondering if a few of you who have done this for a while can help out with this info....

Who do I contact to find out about a private beer or wine tasting?

I know it was suggested to do that type of meet and I have put it on our web site. I think there would be a bunch of us who would commit to it but I want to find out who (and when) I should contact to arrange this for us.

If you are someone who can figure this out...I would love the help so that we could do this great activity together as a group!

Jen

 

[Melcatfish]

Evening all!

I paid off our cruise today. It shows as paid in full on our Dreams Unlimited page - can I check in a day or so that Disney has me down as all paid up so that I can make my reservations at the 90 day mark? Does it show online on the DCL page or not?

Re the tipping. As a Brit we have a different tipping culture. When eating out for example there is a huge variation in what different people do for tipping rather than a standard expectation. I know loads of people who never tip, I usually tip 10-15% if the service has been good and less or nothing if it has been bad, but that is partly because the service industry works differently over here and the basic wage is intended to be the salary with tips as an additional bonus for exceptional service.

In principle I agree that a tip should be a discretionary bonus for good \ excellent service but in reality having a recommended amount is a good idea as a guideline - especially for us non US citizens where tipping cultures vary. Before I visited the US I read up on restaurant culture so I knew that tipping was a much bigger deal than over here. I was quite happy to tip because the service was great which is of course a by product of the server needing to impress to gain their tips!

I know some of my fellow Brits get us a bad name as non tippers but to be honest, without the Dis and a guidebook how would I know that you guys tip 15% generally as a base tip? We Brits are not all tight, just accustomed to different social norms. It has rubbed off on me and I would say I tip more frequently than many of my friends but still for example I would give the taxi driver a note and say keep the change rather than paying and then offering a separate additional tip.

Hmm this has turned into a tipping essay but I think it is quite interesting how different cultures operate and also what happens when they mix and you get differing views on what should be happening!

Mel
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