Ice Cream Question

[eskimo]

As the Ice Cream man was driving down our street this evening and the kids were jumping out of their chairs at the dinner table to see him, I started talking to my DH about Scoops (he and my youngest DD are ice cream-aholics). He was asking how much it cost for the ice cream. I was under the impression that all of the food was inclusive, but he thought it was just the 3 meals/day.

Sooo, can someone please answer these questions?

1.) How much is the ice cream at Scoops or is it free?

2.) I thought for Palo's you just had to pay $5 or $10/person as a gratuity. Are you charged for the dinner as well?

3.)I also thought that room service was "free" with the exception of the gratuity as well. Are you charged for room service?

I understand that drinks both non and alcoholic we would be charged except at dinner. But I was under the assumption (from these boards) that food was basically "free".

I know that you can't use any cash on board, that everything gets charged to your room with your card. If food is part of what gets charged then we better get an increase on our credit card! (Ha-Ha!)

Thanks in advance for all your replies!

 

[JOANNEL]

All food is included. You only pay tips for room service. Scoops is only open until 6pm. My 13 year old had 5-6 a day. They also have fresh fruit and cookies at scoops.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Originally posted by eskimo

How much is the ice cream at Scoops or is it free?

It isn't free, but it's included with your cruise fare.

I thought for Palo's you just had to pay $5 or $10/person as a gratuity. Are you charged for the dinner as well?

It's $5 for dinner. On the 7-day cruises there is a Champagne Brunch and High Tea. There is a $10 charge for the Brunch which includes a glass of champagne. There is no charge for the High Tea.

I also thought that room service was "free" with the exception of the gratuity as well. Are you charged for room service?

The only charge for room service is for sodas and alcohol. It is appropriate to tip your server. If you have ordered something for which there is a charge, you will be asked to sign a ticket to apply the charge to your stateroom account. You can add a gratuity on this charge slip. Otherwise, you'll want to have some cash available. Most folks tip at least $2 with at least $1 for each additional person being served.

I understand that drinks both non and alcoholic we would be charged except at dinner. But I was under the assumption (from these boards) that food was basically "free".

Smoothies are not included. Packaged snacks at Preludes are not included. Popcorn is not included. Beverages outside of the dining rooms are not included. Alcohol is not included. Specialty coffees are not included. Everything else (unless anyone can think of more exceptions) is included in your cruise fare.

I know that you can't use any cash on board, that everything gets charged to your room with your card.

True, although as I previously mentioned, you may want to bring some cash to tip your room service servers. You'll also need cash to tip the porters at the port, buy postage at Castaway Cay, and pay for any Customs duty when you return to Port Canaveral if you've exceeded your duty-free allowance.

 

[lpursell]

Is the $5 or $10 at Palos the gratuity? Since they are not the regular dining room servers I just wondered if we tip them separately.

 

[Mtdewbuzz]

The $5/person is supposed to cover the gratuity. But if your server is anything like ours was on the 8/3 cruise, you'll want to give them more. We basically estimated how much a dinner like we had would have costed us back home, and then tipped the customary 15-20% of that. We felt that she was very deserving. I would have felt cheap only to tip the customary $5.

 

[SweetSpot]

My kids wanted to know if anyone knew if there are sprinkles and other topping available at Scoops or if it is just cones and cups. Gotta love my kids getting attached to this board!

 

[MCazer]

Sprinkles, M&M, nuts, all sorts of yummy stuff!

 

[plutospup]

DD4 & I went to Scoops - we both love ice cream. She especially loves sprinkles! When she told the server she wanted sprinkles he looked at her, smiled, and proceeded to place one sprinkle on her ice cream. She turned to me with this perplexed look, and said, "Daddy, I want more sprinkles". The server laughed and proceeded to cover her ice cream with tons of sprinkles. DD4 and everyone loved it!

 

[SweetSpot]

You just made my kids trip! They have Scoops all mapped out and are ready for attack. Thank you!

 

[PiperG]

Is Scoops soft serve ice cream out of a machine or is it regular ice cream out of tubs?

We have to be careful because DS 5 is allergic to nuts and when ice cream is scooped out of tubs, there is a risk of cross contamination if one tub has nuts in it.

Thanks

 

[Talky_Tina]

Scoops is soft serve. You can get packed ice cream in the restaurants. Scoops used to be handpacked. There was an uproar on the old AOL board when they switched to soft serve. I bet your son will be glad they did though.

 

[PiperG]

Thanks for the quick reply. . . . yes, DS will be glad this is "safe" for him! Poor guy, no PB&J etc. . but he really does great. Hopefully he will outgrow the allergy.

 

[aalan]

i would just like to add that the $5.00 charge for palo is somewhat a mystery charge to me. i have read people thinking that this covers the tip, but this really can not be true: with appetizers, drinks, meals, desert and coffee this could easily be a $100 meal. our server katrina was great last march, and we had an outstanding meal, so we tipped accordingly. of course, you can leave what you want, but $5.00 seems really cheap to me.

 

[Talky_Tina]

PiperG, my daughter was allergic to peanuts too. She outgrew it around the time she turned 12. It was very frustrating, especially when other kids brought snacks to school. But she got used to it and can now eat pb&j. My son was allergic to orange juice and he outgrew that too, but became dangerously allergic to lentils to the point where he needs to have an epi-pen on hand just in case. Good luck and have a wonderful time on the ship!

 

[PiperG]

Allergies are so tough on the kids but, I must say, our DS does great. Obviously, he is a very cautious eater. A lot of people interpret him as picky, but he knows that nuts can be hiding in a lot of food so he sticks with safe stuff.

Of course, there is a lot of support these days. Disney was great last year. We only had one issue during our land and sea trip (the Neverland Club at the Poly would not take PB&J off the menu so we pulled him from that activity). All the other eating places and the Wonder team were great and I felt he was very safe.

Hopefully he will also outgrow this.

Thanks again,

Piper