November 3, 2012 - Election Escape Eastern!!

[MrsMas]

DH, DD(16) & me will be on this cruise. We are so excited!!! We are celebrating DH's birthday!!!

 

[bfosbenner]

DH, DD(16) & me will be on this cruise. We are so excited!!! We are celebrating DH's birthday!!!

DD Rachel wil be 16 on Nov 14th!
Maybe they will see each other!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

DH, DD(16) & me will be on this cruise. We are so excited!!! We are celebrating DH's birthday!!!

Glad you are joining us! It's finally getting closer!!!!

 

[MrsMas]

My DH does not go to the teen club. We beg her to give it a chance & she is just too shy. Maybe if she saw how fun other teens have, she would try.

I just booked this cruise last week & I can't wait to go. PR & St. Thomas, here I come!!

 

[TomsRiverNJMickeyFan]

DH, DD(16) & me will be on this cruise. We are so excited!!! We are celebrating DH's birthday!!!

Welcome to the group, we also have a facebook page going for this trip!

Also watch for the posts about our chats in a private chat room that ntheory (Shell) has set up.

 

[TomsRiverNJMickeyFan]

My DH does not go to the teen club. We beg her to give it a chance & she is just too shy. Maybe if she saw how fun other teens have, she would try.

I just booked this cruise last week & I can't wait to go. PR & St. Thomas, here I come!!

We will be setting up an adult monitored private teen chat room in the next month. We did this on our last cruise and my then 15 and 12 y/o daughters, were able to get to know fellow teens, and when they finally got to meet on the cruise, they were like old friends.

They really enjoyed that trip and are still in close contact with fellow cruisers 3 years later.!

 

[AquaDame]

I'm thinking of trying Remy's this trip since we did Palo on the Dream last year...the surcharge is a lot but I am betting it is well worth it! Has anyone here tried it yet?

 

[Daniellenbella]

Dont forget that post crusie at epcot is the last weekend of food and wine festival.

I brought this fact up to my DH last night...I'm going to work on him for a bit to see if I can get him to agree!! I have the rest of the month until Southwest releases their airfare for Nov 3+

DH, DD(16) & me will be on this cruise. We are so excited!!! We are celebrating DH's birthday!!!

Welcome!! Where are you all from?

I'm thinking of trying Remy's this trip since we did Palo on the Dream last year...the surcharge is a lot but I am betting it is well worth it! Has anyone here tried it yet?

I'm up in the air on this too. I have not tried Remy (haven't been on the Dream) but I have not seen anyone post on the main board that they didn't think it was worth it. We did go to Palo on the Magic on our last cruise for brunch & dinner. I thought they were both worth the minimal charge, however, I'm not sure if I'm going to bother to book Palo for dinner this time. I will if DH wants to but otherwise I doubt it. I would like to try Remy, but not sure if I want to risk missing a good MDR night for it.

 

[jd99]

Greetings. We have been missing since page one of this thread because we have been back and forth as to whether we can keep this sailing due to school stuff and swim team for the oldest daughter. It is looking much more like we WILL be sailing with you all ! So I will reintroduce ourselves. I'm Jeff and traveling with DW and DD14 (at sailing) and DD8.

Hope to be more "regular" on the board so I can keep up with the happenings and get to better know the group!

happy friday!

 

[Va-NanaTink]

I'm thinking of trying Remy's this trip since we did Palo on the Dream last year...the surcharge is a lot but I am betting it is well worth it! Has anyone here tried it yet?

We did Remy's on the Dream last summer and OMG...I've told my TA that if nothing else I want to go back to Remy's!!! So I guess I should tell you it's horrible, please don't waste your money!!!

Seriously, it was fantastic! We chose the set menus, I had French and Sulley had American and we shared as well. The CMs were fantastic, always there, but not, if you know what I mean. I never felt like they were hovering, but they were right on the spot to refill my iced tea or Sulley's water ( we don't do wine). If you like Victoria & Alberts, I think you will like Remy's as well! Especially since Scott Hunnel designed the American menu!

 

[AquaDame]

If you like Victoria & Alberts, I think you will like Remy's as well! Especially since Scott Hunnel designed the American menu!

We are trying V&As for the first time this trip too - that's another reason I was thinking of doing Remy's - we are already hauling our fancy clothes on a plane!

 

[MrsMas]

We will be setting up an adult monitored private teen chat room in the next month. We did this on our last cruise and my then 15 and 12 y/o daughters, were able to get to know fellow teens, and when they finally got to meet on the cruise, they were like old friends.

They really enjoyed that trip and are still in close contact with fellow cruisers 3 years later.!

Sounds like a great idea! I'm sure she would give it a try. Let me know when this will take place. I would love for her to get to know the other teens that are cruising with us. Thanks!

 

[MrsMas]

Welcome!! Where are you from?.

I live in Florida.

 

[MrsMas]

Also, thanks for the warm welcome everyone!!
I will keep my eye out for the chats.

 

[Va-NanaTink]

We are trying V&As for the first time this trip too - that's another reason I was thinking of doing Remy's - we are already hauling our fancy clothes on a plane!

You will love V&A's!!! We do it every 5 years for our anniversary. We will be doing it NEXT YEAR!!!

 

[TomsRiverNJMickeyFan]

Saw this on the main page of the DisBoards.

Has any one seen anything about this on Disney Cruise Line or anywhere else?

New tipping policy for Disney Cruise Line
by Leah Zanolla
Apr 25, 2012

Disney Cruise Line has instituted a new procedure for gratuities on all their ships. On embarkation day, guests' folios will automatically be charged for the suggested gratuity amounts for Server, Assistant Server, Head Server and Stateroom Host/Hostess. Guests can still add pre-paid gratuities at the time of booking or when making their final payments. If this isn't done, a letter will be given at check-in explaining the automatic gratuity payments. Modifications to the amount can still be made at the Guest Services Desk.

As a reminder, a 15% gratuity is automatically added to bar, beverage, wine, and deck service tabs. These gratuities can be charged to your shipboard account during your sailing.

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Saw this on the main page of the DisBoards.

Has any one seen anything about this on Disney Cruise Line or anywhere else?

New tipping policy for Disney Cruise Line
by Leah Zanolla
Apr 25, 2012

Disney Cruise Line has instituted a new procedure for gratuities on all their ships. On embarkation day, guests' folios will automatically be charged for the suggested gratuity amounts for Server, Assistant Server, Head Server and Stateroom Host/Hostess. Guests can still add pre-paid gratuities at the time of booking or when making their final payments. If this isn't done, a letter will be given at check-in explaining the automatic gratuity payments. Modifications to the amount can still be made at the Guest Services Desk.

As a reminder, a 15% gratuity is automatically added to bar, beverage, wine, and deck service tabs. These gratuities can be charged to your shipboard account during your sailing.

I had not seen this. Not sure I like it so much. Perhaps too many servers were getting stiffed? I usually tip extra, but I'm not sure that REQUIRING gratuity is the right way to go. Do other cruise lines do anything similar?

Edited to add: I just talked to my TA and she said DCL told them they had to make this policy shift because so many of the guests, especially Europeans, were not tipping the crew at all. If you wish to change the amount you can go to guest services and request to lower/raise the amount. But if you lower it, you will be questioned as to why so that if there is an issue of performance by a crew member, it can be handled.
I've only given less than the suggested amount one time and that was for the Head Server that we did not see for the entire cruise until the last day...tip day. Even then I didn't stiff him totally.

 

[scootch]

Also, thanks for the warm welcome everyone!!
I will keep my eye out for the chats.

We also have a facebook group, it is a bit more active than this thread if you wanna peek over there.

As far as the tipping, you can request to pay cash.

 

[Daniellenbella]

Saw this on the main page of the DisBoards.

Has any one seen anything about this on Disney Cruise Line or anywhere else?

New tipping policy for Disney Cruise Line
by Leah Zanolla
Apr 25, 2012

Disney Cruise Line has instituted a new procedure for gratuities on all their ships. On embarkation day, guests' folios will automatically be charged for the suggested gratuity amounts for Server, Assistant Server, Head Server and Stateroom Host/Hostess. Guests can still add pre-paid gratuities at the time of booking or when making their final payments. If this isn't done, a letter will be given at check-in explaining the automatic gratuity payments. Modifications to the amount can still be made at the Guest Services Desk.

As a reminder, a 15% gratuity is automatically added to bar, beverage, wine, and deck service tabs. These gratuities can be charged to your shipboard account during your sailing.

They did this on our Nov '11 cruise on the Magic. A word of caution: Even though they "only" add it to our on board account and aren't "technically" charging you the first day for the them, the tip amount counts towards your on board account total and once you hit $500 (or whatever predetermined amount they have set) they will charge your credit card. So if you are planning on paying cash or changing the amounts, I suggest you go to GS as soon as you board the ship and ask to have them removed.

 

[AquaDame]

They did this on our Nov '11 cruise on the Magic. A word of caution: Even though they "only" add it to our on board account and aren't "technically" charging you the first day for the them, the tip amount counts towards your on board account total and once you hit $500 (or whatever predetermined amount they have set) they will charge your credit card. So if you are planning on paying cash or changing the amounts, I suggest you go to GS as soon as you board the ship and ask to have them removed.

I think we'll do this right away (after any Palo/Remy changes we might need); we did not tip the full amount for certain positions last cruise (yes, with cause) so I definitely don't want that to happen.

Was the line very long at GS due to the change?