OzKiwiJJ

But may not apply to cruises booked from outside of Australia. On Princess we don't get charged gratuities on local cruises but those who booked for the US or UK etc do. I'm fairly certain the drinks prices don't include the gratuities on Royal Caribbean.

I had that problem on our Grand cruise last year. It was weird! It didn't happen on Diamond though, thank goodness.

Royal Caribbean or Royal Princess? Royal Caribbean is USD onboard, Royal Princess is AUD onboard. Both will charge daily gratuities in your case. On Royal Caribbean the service charge is added to drinks prices, on Royal Princess it's built into the price. Further tipping is not expect but people often give extra to cabin stewards, waiters etc.

Yes, that's very annoying indeed.

Tipping is getting insane in the US. We just don't want to go there any more andvthat's one of the reasons. We can't avoid it on the world cruise though.

Nah! Dream bigger than that! We'd all do a cruise with Lyle and Lynn. Maybe just a short one though!

We had a little windfall and since this is probably the only chance we'll have to do a world cruise we're hoping to spend the windfall on a bit more comfort. We did the 35 night Hawaii/Tahiti cruise in 2019 in an inside cabin. At that time we often chose inside cabins on Princess but after that cruise I said "never again"! The Covid hit the world. After two bouts of Covid on cruises I will only cruise in a balcony cabin or better. Being able to go out on the balcony for a breath of fresh air kept us sane during the isolations. We actually had a mini-suite the first time I had Covid and it made a huge difference to us both. Rolf had somewhere to sit in comfort away from me, and I didn't have to put up with him sitting on the bed when I was feeling lousy. The worst thing Princess ever did was to remove chairs ftom the balcony cabins! 🤬

And sometimes you can't buy anything similar as a replacement. I can no longer wear wool next to my skin, it brings be out in a rash. Years ago I found a jumper that was a cotton blend which was warm and comfortable. I have two of them, both becoming very worn and battered looking. I only wear them round the house though. One has developed a few tiny holes now so I might finally have to say goodbye to it. 😪

It varies from ship to ship. Sometimes they take it off you and return it on the last day so you can pack it, other times they let you keep it.

Before Rolf retired he used to do a lot of overseas travel for business and tended to keep any remaining currency from his trips. We're now finding some of those currencies aren't accepted any more as it's been quite a few years since he last visited those countries. It's no big deal as it was only small amounts of cash - only enough to buy a drink or two, or small souvenirs.

It's not the extra space that enticed us to bid, although that is very nice to have. It's the thought of coping with those tiny showers in the balcony cabin bathrooms for 110 days. We're not small people!

We've always had face washers, in inside cabins through to suites. If they aren't in the bathroom already just ask your cabin steward

Actually those leather-looking ones, the first in Leigh's post, would be a good compromise for someone who has difficulty wearing dress shoes. Especially as men's trousers are usually worn fairly long so cover most of the shoe anyway.

I must have missed that! 🤣

Don't they all have that except for accessible cabins? That's one of the main reasons for trying to get a mini-suite. I can live without the extra space but the balcony cabin shower is going to be a real annoyance for 110 days!

There are different styles so keep trying, you might be lucky. Sometimes outlet centres have a better range than the stores. I needed to get some plain black ones in 2022 as we were in Melbourne on a cruise (the one that got stuck there for three nights) and were going out for dinner with our GD. I only had sandals, and it was too cold and wet for those, and bright sneakers which weren't really suitable for a trendy restaurant. So we went to the outlet centre at South Wharf. I think I tried on about five or six different styles of plain black Skechers before I found the perfect fit.

Oddly enough just after we bought the ticket I thought it would be fun to host a cruise get-together for all us regulars if we won the big prize! We'd have to wait until Lyle got here next year though.

I've never been fond of pickles, except for Japanese ones as they use less vinegar. But my mother used to like them with cold meats, as does Rolf. I hate the American pickles (gherkins) but oddly enough I quite like the tiny French versions (cornichons) in very small quantities. I'm just starting to enjoy mustard pickles with corned beef.

We often do that when travelling. As well as being cheaper it's more relaxing. I'm not really civilised until I've had breakfast with a pot of strong English Breakfast tea.

We've done it! Only a lowish bid so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed. A mini-suite would be so much more comfortable on a long cruise like that. I seem to be having a lucky day today which is why we decided to put in a bid. I was checking out my favourite shoe shop sale and found a nice pair less than half price. The shop also had a 50% off second pair sale so I found another pair at a similar price. Except that pair had already been reduced and 50% off that price came to just over $20!!!! I got two pairs of dressy shoes for more than $50 less than the original price of the first pair. Then I wandered past a dress shop and spotted a top I really liked at 30% discount. While I was in the shop I saw another top at 50% of the already reduced price, so I bought both. Then I discovered another clothing brand had 30% off some lovely plain linen tshirts. I'd bought two of these previously and they are very nice to wear so I bought another three colours. So I'm hoping my shopping luck carries through to the upgrade bid. Oh, and we also bought a Powerball ticket. If we win that we might just spring for a suite! 🤣

It shows up about 10 days prior.

The slip-on ones don't look like runners though.

I had a lovely pair of silvery pinky-purple ones but the inside of the heels wore through on our last cruise, and chewed holes in my heels, so I had to buy a new pair. They were my other pair of cruise Skechers. I was very sad as I'd bought them at the Lahaina outlet store in 2019. They were my Lahaina souvenirs!

I talked Rolf into getting some black slip-in Skechers a while back. They are a good standby in emergencies.

Shhhhh! I'm just crunching the numbers to see what we can afford. I'm hoping most other people will think it's too expensive.🤞