Where is the pier that RCCL uses? Maybe this info will come when the cruise documents arrive mid-month, but I am curious.

At the end of the cruise, is it possible to use a credit card for tipping room steward, head waiter, etc? It seems easier than having to take cash for all the envelopes.

don't know about the pier...cruise ships have a suggested tip & "for your convenience" allow you to charge it.

RCCL now allows you to use your credit card (actually its their onboard credit card) to give out the standard tips without having to use cash...it's something like $3.50 per day to the waiter, $1.50 per day to the assistant waiter a/k/a/ the busboy...$3.50 per day to the cabin steward. You just buy a tip package for 2 and it saves a lot of cash. Of course, if your service is "above and beyond" you can give extra, which we have done in the past.

Actually, on our last cruise, we didn't eat in the dining room at all...we ate every meal in the Windjammer Cafe...and we gave out tips to the servers there.

What is your itinerary?

Dadisgaryk...Thanks for the helpful information. We are on Grandeur of the Seas, leaving from Boston, and doing the New England/Canada trip from 10/01 -10/11.

Does the Windjammer have "open seating" for the meals? Did you buy one of those drinks cards?

This is my first time on RCCL, the other ships on which I've sailed included soft drinks and alcohol.

We were on the Brilliance...loved it.

The Cafe is open seating. If you get there early, you have your choice of seats. We always grabbed the same table near the window :-). My wife sat and I went to the buffet, and then we switched off.

I didn't get a drink card as I preferred the "free iced tea." We brought along our rather large, insulated coffee mugs, so we were able to fill them with the equivalent of 3 glasses of iced tea,and then take them back to the room.

I love cruising...

I was on the Radiance a year ago, a sister ship to Brilliance. It was my first cruise, and I had a blast! We went to Alaska.

We gave our tip in cash, as we had made up envelopes before we departed with the correct amount. I'm going to be on the Brilliance on a cruise next year, and I think I'm just going to charge the tips to my credit card. It's a 12-night cruise, and that'd be quite a bit of cash to have.

Darlee, as the previous poster stated, the Windjammer has open seating. Although it's buffet style, I found the food to be quite appealing. And there was plenty of selection. We opted to eat there for breakfast and lunch every day. But we ate at the main dining room for dinner every night. We enjoyed the Windjammer because it was more casual and took less time. The formal meals in the main dining room tended to take quite a bit of time, and we usually wanted to get moving during the day.

Enjoy your cuise!

DAISGARYK, what itinerary were you on? I'm trying to find someone who has been on Brilliance's 12-night mediterranean cruise. I'm going on that cruise for my honeymoon next year (just booked it last week). We're extremely excited!

We were on an 11 night Circle the Caribbean...left Miami, stopped in Key West, and then I don't remember :-).

All I know is:

There were 2 places where we got Hard Rock Cafe shirts :-) (Barbados and Cozumel?)

We also visited Aruba and Curacao, and I was amazed at how close we were to Venezuela and South America.

I looked online to see if I could find the itinerary but apparently they aren't offering it anymore.

We also wanted to take an RCCL cruise that sailed to Norway, Sweden and Finland among other places, but I couldn't find that one either.

My wife wasn't sure she would like cruising but when she discovered they had an exercise room, yoga and massages, she was hooked :-)

Also, as regarding the Windjammer, the only food they didn't offer on our cruise was the lobster they had in the main dining room on the last formal night. Otherwise, they had everything they had in the dining room.

We can't wait to go again...let me know what cruise you are doing and maybe we'll join you :-)

I'd like to do the cruise that goes to Norway, etc as well. They just sent us the 2004 European cruise schedule. Some of the pictures from that cruise are absolutely stunning.

We're booked on the 8/18/04 departure for the 12-night Mediterranean itinerary, out of Barcelona. 11 months and counting...

I think we are going to shoot for:

12-Night Northern Europe Sailing on the new Jewel Of The Seas

cruise to Europe

July 3 - 15

Sat Harwich, England - Depart 5:00 Pm
Sun At Sea - -
Mon Oslo, Norway 7:00 Am 4:00 Pm
Tue Copenhagen, Denmark 8:00 Am 11:59 Pm
Wed At Sea - -
Thu Stockholm, Sweden 9:00 Am 5:00 Pm
Fri Helsinki, Finland 9:00 Am 6:00 Pm
Sat St. Petersburg, Russia 7:00 Am -
Sun St. Petersburg, Russia - 6:00 Pm
Mon Muuga (Tallinn),Estonia 8:00 Am 4:00 Pm
Tue At Sea - -
Wed At Sea - -
Thu Harwich, England 7:00 Am -

In the meantime, if you and your other half would like to meet to discuss cruising or any other topic, please email me and we would love to meet up with you....gary