Vineyard View

We spent 3 weeks 14 years ago in NZ for our anniversary on a land trip. Still to this day one of my favorite places. Simply beautiful. People, land, culture….stamp to memory I researched prior, was told no tipping. As in none at that time. The only time we felt like we may have messed up in not doing so was with a concierge at one lodging. He did quite a bit for us, and in hindsight we probably should have. The reference that I made earlier to Venice last year….When in a nice restaurant, we tipped very modestly. In one particular, the service was so bad that we didn’t tip, and when we left, the server was not happy with us and made it very clear. Oh well, he didn’t deserve it. Would it be great for servers to be paid a living wage here in the States, and therefore no tips required? Yes it would. After all these decades of tipping, can you imagine the confusion and chaos that would create? But if it were a perfect world, and a living wage was offered, yes. As has been said here. Tipping cultures can be so confusing.

I think that you meant Oceania’s smaller ships. Viking has no R class ships. We always very much enjoyed our Viking experiences. Ocean and River. We have not yet tried Oceania, however there are itineraries and price points that we are looking at for next year. I have followed both for quite a while, and I think we would enjoy Oceania. Seabourn last year was a great experience. I think we would sail on any of them given the right sailing, and price, during our window of travel. I’ve also looked at Azamara due to their itineraries. Their ships give me hesitation as we would absolutely need to book a suite due to cabin size.

Maybe sometime you can have the opportunity to experience the States in other geographies. Even within the United States, we tend to have varying cultures. I traveled a lot when I was working. Various regions within our country can be quite different in many different ways.

Vallesan, it does sound like you ran into a few off-putting situations. I am sorry you experienced that. It can happen anywhere, in any country. It can plant an image in our minds when that happens. My brother years ago had a bad experience in a country in Europe, and he did not want to return. He was a bit hard headed though. When we went to the same country and had a wonderful time, shared our experience with him, he still would not change his opinion. (Not suggesting that is you). Tipping in the States is a culture that has been in place for a long time. Right or wrong. Mostly it occurs because those servers really do rely on that income. We tip based on the level of service. We are generous of good and not so much if not. When we travel to another country, we try to understand what is expected and standard in tipping. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that servers do make a living wage and that even with great service, it is truly not necessary at the same rates. What we have encountered a few times is a server who almost expects a larger tip simply because we are from the States (happened last year in Venice). So I think it can be confusing from both perspectives at times. We always hit ATM’s and/or order foreign currency when we travel. The one time it was challenging was on a 29 day Viking trip that covered a multitude of countries with different currencies. There were days we just limited our purchases to credit cards only, as going to ATM’s in each country for a day was not the smart play.

I hope that works out for you. It probably makes the most sense to do an excursion in Santorini with the over crowding of ship passengers. Thank you for your review of Cinque Terre. We have not been, have wanted to though - it sounds like it is always pretty crowded. So glad that you are enjoying your trip!. It’s great to read along with you. I trust your even and balanced feedback.

I wish they would do this for the US market. it seems as if they are somewhat mirroring Viking….and V doesn’t include gratuities here either.

Why? I can understand occasional, but why always? I have not experienced this on other lines, but maybe I just did t pay close enough attention.

Wow. That is not impressive at all. Like you, we are not shore excursion people, but if a perk is pulled by the cruise line, and we have used up that financial part of the offered product that can not be used in any other manner prior to sailing, it seems as if it should be transferred into OBC rather than totally lost. I have read of this occurring on more than one thread since Simply More. It’s truly not okay. I hope Oceania acknowledges this soon, and hopefully before you disembark, but I wouldn’t count on it based on reading multiple occurrences on different sailings.

I haven’t looked at Regent or SS lately because their pricing does include ship excursions- which we really do not engage with. We chose SB last year because the price point was below those two, but offered luxury without the price of excursions. It was a great fit for us. I guess I am not totally surprised that Regent was about the same with these latest price jumps. Excursions are just not our deal. Thank you for sharing this.

I had an interesting dialogue with the TA we have used for years. I sent details on the price increases that I posted earlier on this thread, including dollar and percentage (ie:28% next vs this year same itinerary/cabin category). I suggested that future pricing more resembles luxury lines which are including excursions (which are no interest to us). They are big sellers of SB, and they are noticing the same, but apparently the new direction from SB is that this year’s January sales event will represent the best sale/price of the year. I sincerely hope that this turns out not to be the case (after all we just started April). Clearly I have no influence, but since we could not book in January, we may have missed out. If anyone hears differently, please let us know! We were sincerely hoping to rebook Seabourn post medical for next year.

We are discussing land vs sea for next year. Pricing is really jumping up on all the lines. We had a 14 day Med cruise booked on Marina, departing next month, but a surgery got in the way of travel this year. Looking at a similar itinerary on Marina next May, and a 10 day itinerary is more expensive than the 14 day, same cabin category was this year. We love being on a ship, our floating hotel, and enjoying ports on our own or private. But these cost increases give pause….who knows, maybe there will be a Summer promotion more attractive than a hotel night included, which is of zero interest. If we decide on a land trip, we will DIY. The idea of traveling in a bus or van on a regimented schedule with people we do not know is not appealing to us. When we did safari, we went with friends and had the jeeps booked for just us four, and that worked out really well 90+% of the time, so it was a huge win. If we travel by land to Europe next year, we will find 2- 3 ‘home bases’ during a two week time, so that we aren’t packing and unpacking all the time. That has worked well for us in the past. No matter which way the coin lands, cost of admission has certainly gone up!

We have always booked our own air (international, we do our best to use miles), and I always research hotels on my own. I actually enjoy that process, and have rarely been disappointed in the outcome. If I am, then I only have myself to blame. Cruise hotel packages are hugely inflated in pricing from what I have seen, and not always where we would choose to stay. I will give up included transfers to have those choices. That said, we have friends who prefer someone else do all the booking - air and hotel. Different choices for different travel styles.

I sincerely hope that you find an alternative that is even better to honor your Mom, with your family. I hope that it will work out in a way, that upon reflection, it was supposed to. I am sorry that you went through all of this angst.

Of course. It is simple math. That is why the cost pp is so low. I am guessing most on this forum, and other premium/luxury lines understand how this works. At the end of the day, I also think that most of us on these forums are here because we have no desire to experience that outcome in experience. In time, there will be a lot of factors influencing the bigger ships, and where they are able to travel. Will 1400 pax stay at the top end of premium cruise lines? Will people be willing to pay for the premium cost of sailing on these ships vs luxury smaller ships, of it comes to that? IDK. It,e will tell.

Which is why this trend to increase ship size is head scratching to me. The huge monsters that are floating cities - I don’t get it. But even this announcement is a direction that I wonder about in the premium cruise segment.