Best cruise ship thus far except to abundance of overcharges of gratuities

Symphony of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 7

Overall rating:

5 out of 5
Symphony of the Seas

7 Night Western Mediterranean (Barcelona Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 30, 2018

Ship: Symphony of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 6 years ago

Review summary

Beautiful ship, shows were fantastic, would of like to hear more of the reggae band. What I didn't like was that RC adds a 14.50 gratuity to every single drink dispite having the deluxe drink package for example...1 small bottle of water.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Main dining room was great.. we had exceptional service.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

Great ship no regrets

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain Did not visit port

Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands

5 out of 5

Marseille (Provence), France

5 out of 5

La Spezia, Italy

5 out of 5

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 7

8 Comments

graham123    6 years ago

billericaydicky    6 years ago

If you buy a package you pay the 18% when you buy it. Individual purchases if drink or opting for the upsell of food in the MDR or Solarium bistro also have 18% Gratuity added.

kloven    6 years ago

Whew, thought that charge per drink would be outrageous!

EssexGirls    6 years ago

The 14.50 is gratuities added daily to your account nothing to do with drink package. You can go to Guest Services to have them removed x

dallington    6 years ago

So your saying they charged you 14.50 for tip for 1 drink?

cskendrick    6 years ago

Shouldn't be any gratuity,

tdrz    6 years ago

Curious as well

Drjsn    6 years ago

My understanding is that drink gratuity is included when a package is purchased - no extra gratuity to be automatically charged - what was your experience. Also the gratuity they do add is a percentage not a fixed amount.

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