First time cruising

McKneff

Am I right in thinking that lots of them put the gratutities onto your bill at the end of the cruise, its something to watch out for, if your tipping willy nilly throughout the cruise and then get charged again at the end its going to be a bit of a bummer.

sparrer

McKneff wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that lots of them put the gratutities onto your bill at the end of the cruise, its something to watch out for, if your tipping willy nilly throughout the cruise and then get charged again at the end its going to be a bit of a bummer.

Before our Royal Caribbean Med cruise last June we had the choice of tipping before the cruise(certainly not!), asking for a set of tipping envelopes at the information desk on board (which came with a leaflet giving suggested amounts), or taking our own. We opted for the latter so we could put in what we wanted. The set of envelopes included waiters, head waiter, chefs, room attendant and room service - who was one of the dining room waiters, so would have been tipped twice using their method. We did learn that the room attendants are paid a pittance and make their money in tips and as she was worth her weight in gold she got the most.

Re drinks on board, every passenger embarking/disembarking at every port went through their screening 'arch' and all baggage had to go through their screening conveyor belt. All alcohol was confiscated until the end of the cruise.

All the above sounds very negative but it's best to know the good and the bad so you can decide if you want to go with a particular company.

AdamBrunt

Have always been tempted to do a cruise at least once but with kids, aged 6 and 8, that's probably a long way off yet. I have also never been sure about how extra money you need - I used to be under the assumption that once onboard everything was free :rotfl:

travellerboy

Tipping your Cabin steward and Dining room waiter has always been part of cruising as far back as I can remember, but it has now become out-of-hand with cruiselines adding a charge to your shipboard account. If added to your account with or without your permission it is not a Gratuity, it is a Service Charge. They even give you the option to pre-pay your gratuities before the cruise begins, before you are able to assess the service, how can anyone call that a gratuity.

The sooner cruiselines include this Service Charge in the original cruise price the better. Until then everyone should remove the automatic service charge and revert to the time old tradition of tipping at your discretion.

A Gratuity is an award given without claim or obligation.

getmore4less

travellerboy wrote: »

Tipping your Cabin steward and Dining room waiter has always been part of cruising as far back as I can remember, but it has now become out-of-hand with cruiselines adding a charge to your shipboard account. If added to your account with or without your permission it is not a Gratuity, it is a Service Charge. They even give you the option to pre-pay your gratuities before the cruise begins, before you are able to assess the service, how can anyone call that a gratuity.

The sooner cruiselines include this Service Charge in the original cruise price the better. Until then everyone should remove the automatic service charge and revert to the time old tradition of tipping at your discretion.

A Gratuity is an award given without claim or obligation.

There are enough cruise lines that do this allready, choose those if that what you prefer.

getmore4less

AdamBrunt wrote: »

Have always been tempted to do a cruise at least once but with kids, aged 6 and 8, that's probably a long way off yet. I have also never been sure about how extra money you need - I used to be under the assumption that once onboard everything was free :rotfl:

Chosen corectly it is possible to have a very small or even zero on board bill.

Lady_Tara

coupleuk wrote: »

We've not used P&O so cant comment - impression is a bit stuffy though so may not be a 1st cruise choice.

Royal Caribbean are our favourite - 8 cruises with them.

Look on the Royal Caribbean USA website (not the .co.uk one) and register for their Passport Deals and Tuesday Specials (not exactly sure of name but thats roughly it).

They have some amazing deals - but remember you still have to add port taxes and airfare etc.

Hi, how do you get to the .com Royal Caribbean website, my browser(s) redirect to .co.uk even when I type in .com, so I can only get the UK version? Thanks

sparrer

Lady_Tara wrote: »

Hi, how do you get to the .com Royal Caribbean website, my browser(s) redirect to .co.uk even when I type in .com, so I can only get the UK version? Thanks

Try going to Royal Caribbean International. Type in a destination and click search, it will show your country as UK in the top right hand corner but gives you the option to change it. There may be a less long-winded way but this worked for me.

Lady_Tara

sparrer wrote: »

Try going to Royal Caribbean International. Type in a destination and click search, it will show your country as UK in the top right hand corner but gives you the option to change it. There may be a less long-winded way but this worked for me.

Gah! Mine just keeps changing back to UK, even when I keep changing my country to US. How annoying lol! Thanks anyway

daveyjp

This is a huge subject. Which cruise to choose is down to three main parameters.

Date of travel, company/ship and itinerary. Once you have decided on one of these making the other choices is much easier.