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Royal Caribbean sends four cruise ships to Alaska each season, and each ship varies from one another. Although ships in the same class, such as Quantum of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas, share similarities, they still offer varied dining venues, entertainment, and decor. In Seattle, for instance, you’ll want to research the best way to get from the airport to your hotel, and from your hotel to the cruise port.
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This means that if you’re a family of three with two adults and a baby, you’ll pay the same amount in gratuities as a group of three adults. If you decide that you'd like to prepay them, there are a couple of ways to go about doing so. First, you can simply add them to your reservation directly from the website when you book. If you happen to forget or had not made up your mind when you booked, you can call Royal Caribbean before your cruise. Finally, those using a travel agent will have to let them know, and they'll take care of it for it.
An Insider's Guide to Tipping on a Cruise
All trick, no treat: Royal Caribbean quietly raises automatic gratuity charges - The Points Guy
All trick, no treat: Royal Caribbean quietly raises automatic gratuity charges.
Posted: Tue, 31 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Although this may seem high for infants, keep in mind that crew members do a lot of extra work for them, such as setting up travel cots, pureeing food, and cleaning up after mealtimes. Tipping is not necessary in kids' clubs (as kids' counselors are usually considered part of the better-compensated entertainment staff rather than the tip-dependent service staff). For a half-day shore excursion, give the guide $2, or $4 to $5 for a full-day excursion. If you are in a suite or aboard a luxury cruise, you may have a butler assigned to your room. Since they typically have more duties to meet, a good guideline, is a supplementary tip of $3 to $5 per night, per person. Gratuities on a Royal Caribbean cruise are priced per day, but the amount owed depends on your stateroom category.
Find out everything you need to know for your upcoming Royal Caribbean vacation.
The daily gratuities is in addition to the 18% gratuity automatically added to all beverages, mini bar items, and spa & salon purchases. If you add cash to your account during the cruise, it will go towards your whole account in general, not just towards gratuities specifically. If, for some highly unlikely reason, you don’t find that the service on your cruise was anywhere close to satisfactory, you are able to remove the automatic gratuities from your account. To do that, you can visit Guest Services on the ship all the way up until the last morning of the cruise. You can also visit Guest Services to change the amount of gratuities you pay. The daily amount is the same for all guests in a stateroom regardless of their age, from babies all the way to adults.
Check the tour’s cancellation policies—and whether or not they provide a guaranteed arrival back to port before your ship's departure—before booking. The key, no matter your circumstances, is being strategic — both in terms of using weekends and holidays to your advantage, as well as using your time wisely as you travel. Ready to try out these expert tips as told by Royal Caribbean’s crew members? Look for your next vacation and browse the cruises you have to choose from here. From seafood spots to Italian trattorias and Japanese sushi and hibachi, there’s a variety of food from around the world at your fingertips, hundreds of cocktails and wines, and even zero-proof drinks. Since many of the most memorable moments on vacation happen while breaking bread, we turned to Linken D’Souza, head of food and beverage, and Captain Sindre Borsheim for their favorite eats and top tips.
If you don’t have a credit card, then you’ll need to link a debit card to your onboard account, or deposit cash. At the end of your cruise, you’ll receive an envelope that you can use to give extra cash tips if you wish. During your cruise check-in, you will establish your onboard SeaPass account, where all purchases and gratuities are tracked since cash is not used on cruise ships.
How Much to Tip Shore Excursion Guides
The bags are then delivered and checked onto your flight on disembarkation morning, meaning you won’t see your bags again until you arrive at your home airport. Dreading transporting your luggage from the cruise terminal to the airport check-in desk? Royal Caribbean and the Port of Seattle offer a luggage valet service, which allows you to bypass standard airport check-in. As your ship sails away from each port of call in Alaska, you will be rewarded with stunning views of the Inside Passage, and you won’t want to miss sailaway each evening. However, sailaway times often overlap with the early dining time, meaning you’ll miss these scenic sailings if you're in the Main Dining Room. When packing for an Alaska cruise, we recommend bringing a pair of sneakers that are water resistant.
Research low-cost things to do in port if you’re on a budget
Piano bar regulars know that a cash tip will increase the chances of the pianist choosing and performing your song request. For instance, in recent years, Norwegian often ran Free at Sea promotions that included free crew tips in addition to free shipboard Wi-Fi and a free drinks package. The line hasn't been doing that as much lately, but these offers often come back at times when brands need to drum up more business. That said, the total number of lines with a service fee has been shrinking over the years. Many smaller and higher-end cruise operators are folding tips and gratuities into their base fares.
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When booking a hotel in Seattle or Vancouver (or Anchorage/Seward for one-way itineraries), you will want to book a hotel in a convenient location. In Sitka, for instance, you can enjoy a leisurely walk through the Sitka National Historic Park, which comes at no extra cost and is within walking distance from the town center. Likewise, you could take a shuttle bus to Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau for $45 roundtrip, which is much cheaper than excursions booked through the cruise line. The last thing you want to happen is have your dream excursion sell out, leaving you scrambling to find other plans. Plus, excursions tend to only get more expensive over time, so booking early helps you lock in a lower price. Whether you’re confused about what to pack or overwhelmed with the dozens of shore excursion offerings, the planning process can quickly seem more stressful than enjoyable.
Since you might be served by different members of the same service teams, this automatic gratuity ensures fair distribution of the gratuity and appreciation. You can opt into prepaying gratuities at any time, up to 48 hours prior to your sail date. Every so often, Royal Caribbean adjusts the gratuity rate, but if you have opted to prepay, you will be grandfathered into the old rate.
While cash is the most direct way to tip individual staff members, non-cash methods like credit cards usually can’t be used for this purpose. For additional tips on a Royal Caribbean cruise, U.S. dollars are generally preferred, but other major currencies are often accepted. If you want to add a couple of extra cash tips to your waiter or room attendant, you are free to do so, but it is no way expected. It’s customary and appreciated to tip guides and staff, especially if you’ve received exceptional service. When you choose to apply (and are approved) for a new credit card through our site, we may receive compensation from our partners, and this may impact how or where these products appear.
It’s unlikely you will meet every crew member onboard who would otherwise receive a percentage of gratuities. Although details on how gratuities are allocated are not shared with the public, it’s likely Royal Caribbean has a pool of gratuities that is split amongst the crew members. Bringing small bills is recommended on a cruise, as it allows you to tip crew members easily throughout the sailing. Having $1 and $5 bills handy is helpful when you want to give a bartender a small tip with your drink or tip a porter for handling your baggage on embarkation day.
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