dylan400d

I am a little fed up with these fake sales. We had a quote at the start of November before Black Friday sales. It was roughly £5200 with something in the region of $300 on board spend. I asked the agent to run another quote during the Black Friday sale and the cruise had shot up to £5800 with $450 on board spend, even though this was their big event. Now the events have ended, the onboard spend has been removed, and the price has come down slightly.

I love these types of tours. We did one on the Celebrity Century years back and it was just nice to see behind the scenes. We did have a meet and greet with one of the P&O captains too, which was excellent.

Only now and again 😅

Nope, honest question.

Wow - I didn't expect this to generate so much discussion. Just catching up on everything here. One of the primary reasons why I decided to ask this question was due to the inclusion of tips on top of the price. I noticed someone commented earlier and said in the UK we tip, but that's simply not universally true. While some restaurants may request a tip for larger groups, many do not. During our last Celebrity cruise, everything was included, including tips. This seems preferable. There's a clear divide in the forum responses, with some suggesting it's right to leave the auto tips on, while others advise removing them. It's important to remember that this is a discussion board, and taking a stance like 'that's stingy' or 'shame on you' is simply your opinion about a situation you may not agree with. On the other hand, some are mentioning that they prefer to leave the auto tips on and then give extra to those they feel deserve it; again, it comes down to personal preference. I also think one other clear difference in the UK is our taxation system. In the US, tax varies from state to state, while in the UK, we are subject to a standard 20% tax rate .It's worth considering these factors when determining what feels fair in terms of tipping practices. Ultimately, it's about finding a balance that works for both the guest and the cruise line and respecting individual preferences in this matter.

I haven't booked? It was just a question, as I had heard that NCL were changing their policy.

100% - MSC do this if you book through a UK travel agent.

Why don't they include them in the price if that's the case? That's what happens most of the time.

I can‘t see how this can be the case. What if someone boards the ship and stops them immediately? They can’t surely base it on experience.

Fully understand, it's just something I was thinking about when looking at the next cruise. In the UK, we don't have a culture of tipping, and with UK focused cruise companies, they do not add tips. I was just wondering if it can still be done as I have heard that NCL will not allow you to cancel them, instead, you pay them, then you have to try and claim it back by outlining what you were not happy with. Again, not sure how true this is however, I'm sure that I have read it somewhere.

Does anyone know if you can choose to cancel the onboard gratuities and give staff directly? I remember this was an option years ago?

Hey, We are going on the Divina in the next two weeks. The 'unlimited' photo package has been offered for £92. I assume, this is per cabin, however, when we go and book it, it allows me to tick both my wife and I. Before I ring MSC, is it still the case it's one per cabin? When we were on the Preziosa last October, they didn't have the digital photo stations working, everything was printed off. Is this the same on this ship??

I have taken my DLSR on every cruise over the past 14 years and it has been to every port off the ship with very few exceptions. The one being Almeria, where there wasn't anything there, so instead of lugging it around I decided to use my iPhone, in Split my wife and I were on a Kayaking adventure, therefore we used a Go pro, and more recently when we went helmet diving in the Caribbean, we used my Olympus TG5 to get some great under water shots. I have, many times, considered leaving my Canon behind. It's an old 400D which only takes 10 mega pixel photographs. Most of the modern day camera phones will easily out megapixel my camera, however, with a 24mm pancake lens, which can shoot sharp images at f2.8, and go up to 3200 ISO (with a push) then I will try to take it with me. I am currently looking at changing the camera, just because I have a 4-month-old who is quite active and would like something with a higher FPS. I wish I could just use an iPhone for everything, but it's just not the same. Until larger sensors are used in phones, I am going to try and persevere with the DSLR. My main thing that I am looking at is cutting down my camera entourage and using one camera and a lens. I tried this years ago with my 400d and used an 18-200 but found that image quality suffered, therefore I bought a 24mm prime which stays on the camera most of the time. Through work I have used of a Sony A6400 which is great for bursts, but there's something that I quite like about my Canon. Maybe it's part of the family?