rccampbell

Does anyone know for sure if it is true that stewards, severs etc that are handed cash get to keep it on Princess or have to put it into a pool for everyone?

Also being a small business owner in the hospitality industry, I know how much harder the back of house staff work compared to the front of house and they do not receive tips unless the customer specifically states it. That is why I like the auto-pay.

We did the ABC islands and actually did do 2 excursions on one day. One was booked through the ship, the other independently.

The first was a 2 hour snorkeling trip, 8:30ish AM, picked up and dropped off at pier.

2nd was an ATV trip, 1:00ish pm, picked up and dropped off at pier.

After the first event, we went back to the ship, changed, had lunch and then headed back out to meet the 2nd tour.

Worked perfectly.

If the kids do it, the parents most likely do it also.

I hope grown adult parents are not sucking on catsup bottles and licking salt shakers!!!:o

Well not exactly on port property but close enough to get the free shuttle to and from the port/dock.

You still go through the port security gates if I remember right to get to the Eller Drive location because we asked the gate person which direction to go and he got us in the right direction.

Last year Budget and Alamo opened rental desks at Port Everglades. In fact, we flew into West Palm as it was a cheaper flight and hotel costs the day before, picked up our Alamo rental in West Palm airport, drove to the port the next day, drop off the car at the port, take the shuttle to the correct dock, and reversed everything when we came back. Worked very slick.

Because they have rental sites at the cruise port, we were told there were no longer any courtesy shuttles in between the port and FLL airport. I may be wrong, that was just our understanding.

The one thing I am glad I had was the clips to hold my towel on the lounger so it didn't slip down behind me.

The one thing we did not need for any reason was the clothes pins to hold the shower curtain down. Just wasn't a problem for us.

It would be interesting to hear from someone who has actually been through any of this. We hear from many that have an opinion, but not anyone who has actually been through it, unless I missed that post.

What occurred, what went well, what went badly, what were the final bills like, were they insured or not and for how much? And another big piece...did this put them off from cruising or traveling to foreign ports.

I think this will be best answered by those that have or are actually going through it right now. We should see if anyone comments in a few days.

Personally, I think we should all have travel insurance and I have no desire to do a Caribbean cruise from August to December.

Glad you were able to catch your flight out.

Ok i can't believe some of you have to take your annual leave as sick.

I get 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay. I am currently off sick, sadly my mum passed away 6 weeks ago at 49. (I'm 27) i don't feel under any pressure to go back. Have been off since june 1st as she needed a lot of care at the end.

In fact my manager is encouraging of me NOT coming back too soon.

Oh and we also have all our annual leave to take once we come back!

 

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I am so sorry for your loss!! Thank goodness you have a supportive job.

In most US jobs, this much time off would not be acceptable, even after the death of a loved one. While they are ill, you can take FMLA which is an unpaid program that protects your job for you. Once the person dies, it 3-5 day bereavement usually and then back to work. Any further time off would require the use of PTO, or vacation time.

As for sick time, always depends on the company too. In our case we get 3 days, but cannot use any of it without a Dr. note, even if one day.

In that case, your employer didn't really give all that vacation time to you unless you were able to cash it out. Were you? If not, why do Americans put up with that.

No, companies do not have to cash it out. In some cases they can let you roll it over to the next year, but anything over 5 days you can lose. In some cases they do not have to give you full lunch or coffee breaks either. Depends on the state you live in.

Americans put up with a lot for the right to work. Things are better for me, but not for everyone.

Don't feel badly for us. It's self inflicted. The average U.S. employee who receives paid vacation has only taken about half what they receive in the last year. That's been consistent for a number of years.

Why do people leave thousands on the table? Fear. Fear that if all their vacation time off is used the employer will replace them.

The employee doesn't always get a choice as to when or if they can take their vacation. Some may choose not to take it, but most are not always allowed too. Just because they give it to you does not mean you can use it. Spoken from experience.

Interesting question depending on who you are and where you are in your work life. This is the first year I have reached 3 weeks, cannot be used in more than 7 day portions and only during certain non-busy times of the year. DH owns his own business so can take time off. But time off means zero income during that time frame.

The cost of cruising and the need to fly to any given port and hotel costs, etc all add up to make cruising only an occasional option.

I think 3-4 weeks would be great with enough income to accommodate the travel.

Do you have friends, family or colleagues that know you personally and have cruised before or will be cruising in the near future?

We cruised for the first time with a group of old friends who some were long time cruisers. This made things so much easier because the experienced cruisers clued us in on what each of the choices/options meant. They also could be counted on to let us know if we were "DOING IT WRONG" once we were on the ship...LOL

We let the friends choose the ship, dates, etc for our first cruise, now I feel comfortable enough to do it on my own.

Once booked, I then came to CC to learn all the ins and outs of cruising.

We did this last year, although not as far of a distance. Flew into West Palm Beach, rented mini-van, drove it to Alamo in Port Everglades, turned the car in, rode the shuttle to the ship. When we came back from the cruise, rented another mini-van, drove it to West Palm, turned it in at airport. The 24 hour rental each time was cheaper than a week of parking+rental. We split the cost between 2 couples so it worked out very well.

You have to remember that if you pay to park the rental, you are also paying the daily/weekly rental fee on the car too.

We used our AARP discount too.

I realize this is an old post, but wondered how people do it nowadays. Are we using our credit cards and making payments for months and months afterwards or are we saving dollars ahead of time somehow. What are some of the tricks to saving.

I had read on another page that 78% of the working folks are living pay check to pay check. Does that mean that only the retired or wealthy are cruising?

Also had read about cruisers using their stock dividends and or asset income. Having lost more money then I care to count in a couple of crashes/down turns, I will probably never be able to count on those types of funds for vacation.

Just curious on people's thought now in 2017.

In many places within the USA, tipping of servers in any restaurant is slowly going away.

As wages are being mandate by government to rise to never before seen levels, causing restaurant tabs to rise, some restaurants have actually posted "No Tipping Allowed" signage. Often there is automatic surcharge added to the bill

That meal of $100.00 plus a 20% tip, will now cost you $130.00 before tip and it is very possible that the waiter/waitress is making $15.00-$20.00 per hour before the any additional tips.

This is not pervasive yet, but it is a movement that is spreading in many metropolitan areas.

It is the same on the cruise ship, the tip is already being charged when you booked your trip, buy a drink or a bottle of wine.......

If the cruise line says "call and leave it in the hall" then I'm gonna call and leave it in the hall. If that makes me not care about my fellow man then so be it.

Yes I am sorry, but that's exactly what it sounds like. So sad.:(

I am a health and safety officer for my company and if you see something, you say something. Just because that's the way it always has been, does not mean that's the way it should always be. Even companies can learn things from their employees. Cruise companies can also learn from their customers.

I guess I do not understand the problem here.

If we have been told this is a safety hazard, which it is, then why is it necessary to continue to argue about it?

I have just heard that putting my dishes in the hallway may prevent my elderly or disabled neighbor down the hall from escaping in case of emergency. I will NOT put my dishes/tray in the hallway and be responsible for causing them harm. I am a caring human being who gives a damn about my fellow man. Why is this so hard?

Are we really this selfish? Pick up the phone and make the call, leave the dishes for the steward, take them up on deck to a bus bin (bins are all over the place on deck), take them to the buffet. Just don't leave them in the hall.

Its not that hard so lets be adults people.

I don't have a lot of experience on this topic, but did discover the desserts looked great, but as others have said, were absolutely disappointing. But the MDR desserts were not much better.

Please - there is no such thing. Bacon is defined as cured meat from the belly or back of a PIG.

 

Careless use of language could wind up with us being offered concepts like "barbecued broccoli ribs", or "non dairy butter".

Sadly, Turkey Bacon is a real thing as is Turkey sausage and get this.........Turkey Ham. ;p

Goes right along with Miracle whip is used as mayonnaise, and

the stuff in the tubs being called butter. Its the world we live in.

 

OP - on your routing, I don't think you will receive any official passport stamps. On every Caribbean cruise I've taken, passports are surrendered and you don't get them back until you leave.

We visited the ABC's in the southern Caribbean this past spring. At no time was our passport taken/surrendered from us by anyone. We did keep them in the stateroom safe.

In this day and age, I would not take any chances of voiding my passport with possibly illegal stamps that could void the passport, nor would I want to fill up the pages unnecessarily and be require to get a new one before the 10 years were up.

We're doing the ABC itinerary with Princess in November. Which company did you use?

We were on the Caribbean Princess in March 2017.

Certainly look up Woodwind snorkeling. Dee was fabulous and we came back with pictures we could not have gotten any other way. Her and her team are extremely safe and efficient. Her knowledge is unbelievable.

Really good lunch too. Oh and don't forget to try the rum punch!

The OP should definitely check with the people involved in their case.

On the other hand, being off work due to a WC claim does not necessarily prevent someone from a cruise or any other vacation. It depends on the situation. I know of someone who is perfectly capable of flying in a plane, getting on a ship, sitting in a lounge chair, eating a meal, drinking a drink, taking a walk, etc. He just cannot move his arm as it is in a sling. His company does not have light duty work for him that doesn't require the use of both arms, so he cannot go to his job, by their choice, not his.

If he were to vacation, they may not pay him for his time away, but he hasn't done anything wrong morally or legally.

Did the ABCs this past March. Because we are not big tourist type folks, we actually enjoyed Bonaire the most and Aruba the least. We truly loved snorkeling in Bonaire.

And not to sound completely insensitive, if the person would need hospitalization or air-vac, coast guard, etc....this could hold up the ship and its passengers possibly causing the requirement to turn the ship around to go back to a port or not being able to make a port of call.

I personally would not like to be the person who knew I might need medical care but because of my desire to cruise messed up an entire ship load of cruisers from fully enjoying their vacation that they paid for too.

I also would prefer my own doctors, hospital etc if I was that fragile.

Perhaps a day cruise is the way to go as a thought.