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Royal Caribbean Makes Cruising a Little Less Inclusive

Written by T.I. Cruiser on July 28, 2011 · Leave a Comment

For the past few years Royal Caribbean has been at the forefront of cruise ship innovation. Anyone who has paying attention surely has noticed their dedication to pushing cruise ship amenities further than most cruise lines have dared to dream. With every new announcement Royal Caribbean keeps cruise aficionados on the edge of their seats wondering what will be next. The problem is its not always flow-riders and zip lines.

Lambasted by some for making decisions that can be construed as “nickle and diming” their passengers, Royal Caribbean once again finds a way to squeeze passengers. While we have all gotten used to the nominal surcharge levied in optional specialty restaurants, passengers who count the cruise lines “Chops Grille” restaurant will now have to pay 20% more for that particular alternative dining experience. Royal Caribbean recently raised the surcharge at Chops Grille from $25 to $30 dollars per person.

While its true that Chops Grille is a couple of notches above what is available in the dining rooms I can’t say I am a fan of paying even more for the experience. That being said I am not sure if the now $30 dollar surcharge is enough to keep me away from enjoying an extra special night out during a cruise.

Unfortunately Royal Caribbean’s Price Gouging Doesn’t Stop There

If you have had the pleasure of sailing on one of Royal Caribbean’s new “Oasis” class ships you undoubtedly have seen their casual for-fee dining venues. The new ships have a “Rita’s Cantina” or “Seafood Shack”. Those of you who have already visited those establishments were able to enjoy an appetizer or soup, entree and dessert at Rita’s for $7.95 and 8.95 at the Seafood Shack.

Even though you don’t expect to pay extra for food on a cruise ship, paying the price of an umbrella drink for a full slate of edibles isn’t a bad deal. Well, that’s all going away. Now when you visit Rita’s Cantina or the Seafood Shack you will not only be paying a 3 dollar cover charge but you will also be ordering “A la carte”, paying for each item. In other words if you are someone who loves all-you-can-eat dining you may want to stick to the Lido buffet.

To be fair the prices they charge aren’t bad, but the cruise line is still treading dangerously close to going too far. If you would like to see the menus you can click here (for Rita’s Cantina) and here (for the Seafood Shack).

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Janet Diaz told Cruise Critic, “A la carte allows guests to better customize their experience and what they would like to pay,” explains Diaz. “Rather than charging one cover charge for a person who may just want a salad and another guest who may want shrimp, there are different price points based on what a guest orders, similar to land-based restaurants.”

While this explanation does sound nice, Royal Caribbean, please don’t pretend like you are doing your passengers a solid (at least not the meat eating passengers).

A $4 dollar Caesar salad from the shack plus the 3 dollar service fee will save that person who orders a salad 1 dollar, while her husband who orders soup, a burger and banana split will pay a total of $ 9.50 for the food plus the 3 dollar cover, more than 4 dollars more. The total meal ends up costing 19.50 instead of the 16 dollars it previously would have cost. Unless that person ordering the salad came into the Seafood Shack by themselves or with a whole group of herbivores you raised the price, plain and simple.

To Prepay or Not to Prepay Cruise Gratuities

Written by T.I. Cruiser on March 28, 2011 · Leave a Comment

One of the questions I most frequently get asked from newbie cruisers is whether or not you should prepay your tips. On the surface the answer is as simple as saying, it doesn’t really matter but the reality of it is there are quite a few variables and beliefs that can play into how you want to handle tipping.

Why I Choose to Prepay Cruise Gratuities

I am the type of person who likes to prepay my tips for a couple of reasons. One of my goals when I am cruising is to have as few surprises as possible. Although I won’t necessarily call tipping a surprise I have never been able to shake the feeling of “sticker shock” that occurs when I see the bill at the end of the cruise.

Prepaying for tips allows me to move yet another expense from the post-cruise to the pre-cruise side of the ledger. Normally I pay “cash” for my cruise before embarkation; while my onboard account gets charged to a credit card (I hate even momentary debt). Pre-booking and prepaying for services this way helps me not only lessen the “sticker shock” but also allows me to better manage post-cruise debt.

I rarely if ever receive service that would warrant a reduction or elimination of tips while cruising. Since I have made up my mind that the cruise lines tipping guideline is the minimum amount they will be receiving it only makes sense to prepay my tips. I also bring along extra money to tip those not included in the tip pool or those who provide exceptional service.

Prefer keeping onboard account to a minimum
Confident of the service you will receive
Want to tie up as many loose ends as possible before you embark

Why You Should Wait Until You Board to Pay Cruise Gratuities

The other option for paying your tips is to wait until after you board the ship to do your tipping. If you choose this option instead of adding the cost of tips to the price of your booking it will be charged to your onboard account. Most people who choose this option do so because they want to experience the actual service before committing to an amount.

Just as you wouldn’t tip the waiter in your neighborhood bistro prior to receiving any service, many believe the level of service you receive on a cruise is raised if you wait to tip. Another benefit of waiting to tip is that some people prefer paying as little upfront as possible. Some prefer to move costs from the pre-cruise side of the books to the post-cruise side. This option is especially attractive to cruisers who are in line to receive a large onboard credit to offset your onboard account.

Like to receive the service before deciding on tip
Prefer keeping pre-cruise costs to a minimum
Have a large onboard credit

At the end of the day how you decide to tip is a personal choice neither is right or wrong it’s just a preference.

Carnival Victory, San Juan Alcohol Smuggling Report 2011

Written by T.I. Cruiser on March 23, 2011 · 1 Comment

Last week I had the pleasure of taking a cruise out of San Juan, Puerto Rico (my favorite port of embarkation) on the Carnival Victory. I got a great deal on the cruise although the airfare left a little to be desired. Eager to make up some of the money I lost on airfare I figured this would be another prime opportunity to see if I could once again bring my own liquor on board the ship. Here is how it went.

A Caveat About Bringing Alcohol Onboard a Cruise Ship

Before any of you worry about me short changing the cruise line on alcohol revenue let me say that none of the alcohol brought on board was consumed on open decks. Rest assured Carnival still got me for approximately 800 dollars, more than half of which was from alcohol ordered in the dining room, poolside or in show lounges. This alcohol was only consumed at times where I normally would have gone without.

When I get back from being in port I like to have a drink or two while get ready for dinner. I would never under any circumstances order a drink to carry back to my room; it’s too much of a hassle for me. Likewise, room service is too slow and unreliable for me to bother with drink orders since most times I would be done showering before my first drink arrived. In other words Carnival lost nothing on the deal but gained a happy cruiser.

My Plan

When I embarked on the cruise ship I planned on bringing two rum runner flasks on board filled with vodka. The plan was to carry them down to San Juan empty and fill them with alcohol purchased while in San Juan. I also counted on bringing onboard our two allotted bottles of wine we would purchase at the duty-free in the cruise terminal.

How it all went down

Since I had extra room in my carry-on we actually purchased the liquor at the duty free in the airport before taking off. Later on that evening we filled the rum runners before heading out on the town. The next morning upon our arrival at the cruise port we gave our large bags to the porters. We walked right over to the outdoor scanners with the porter as I hadn’t tipped yet tipped him. He tossed it right onto the belt and BS’d with the scanner operator who must have been a friend as he only broke eye contact for only a millisecond to check the screen. Rum runners on board… check.

Just as we had planned I purchased our wine in the cruise terminal duty free which was placed in the regular plastic bags they give you. I decided not to buy any extra alcohol in the terminal because it seemed as if we had plenty. Besides those extra purchases seem to be the ones that get confiscated more often than not, so it really wasn’t worth the hassle.

However, I will say that security seemed extremely lax at the terminal on this particular sailing, odd for a Spring Break cruise. I have no doubts that had I wanted to I could have carried on a back pack full of alcohol without as much as a glance. I even had my nail clippers ready in case I needed to snip off the dreaded zip tie.

Normally, guards are at the ready with the orange zip ties which they place around bags carrying alcohol to be confiscated. I saw the guards and I saw the zip ties but what I didn’t see was another agent waiting closer to the entrance of the actual ship. The table where you check in booze which has been tagged was manned by a member of the crew but there was no security there waiting.

The line to actually enter the ship was congested and eventually a member of security did arrive to walk the line but all he did was ask what was in the duty free bag. I simply told him it was wine and he kept on moving. Two bottles of wine onboard… check.

We arrived at the cruise terminal at about 11:30 on that particular day which was late for me as I prefer being one of the first on board the ship. By 1 o’clock I was sitting poolside with a bucket of beer. We went to our cabin at 2:30 or 3 o’clock and our bags arrived shortly thereafter rum runners intact. Party time ready to commence… check.