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. 

3 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Oh.  I see you’ve never been on the internet before.  That explains it.  😂

Only now and again 😅

21 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Oh, I think you knew exactly what you were doing.  😂

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. 

Just now, mickey89 said:

Dylan - You new the score when you booked, you were given the opportunity to pre-pay gratuities when you booked, you obviously decided against.  Be it on your own conscience............the saying "when in Rome" appear appropriate.

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

Just now, Bullswood said:

 

 

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

28 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Just think of it as part of the cruise base price that is broken out for you to see how much goes to staff 

just pay than tip we’re you see fit 

Why don't they include them in the price if that's the case? 

Just now, mickey89 said:

The problem with auto-tips is that the staff still expect you to tip them again.........

That's what happens most of the time. 

7 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Choosing to remove, the auto tips goes as a black mark against your servers and  housekeeping staff.   It makes it look like they have done something wrong so it is not advisable to do so.

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. 

Just now, wrk2cruise said:

Yes it can be done.  But remember the staff supported by the tipping pool goes well beyond the staff you come into contact with daily.  We may not like it but tips pool makes up the majority of their compensation.

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?

Morning all,

We are soon to be aboard the Allure of the Seas visiting Nassau, Cozumel, Rotan and Costa Maya.

With regards to currency is it essential that we get Mexican Peso, Honduran Lempira or can we just use dollars?

Thanks in advance

But, if we start spending it will it be subject to another conversion? Basically, I think it might be cheaper to buy all the trips in dollars.

Dear all,

We have just booked a cruise aboard the Allure of the Seas and as part of the package have $500 on board spend. When logging into the cruise personaliser we have noticed they have converted this to £370 GBP. Although this isn't a terrible rate; £13 down on a local conversion, we were wondering if there's any point in asking Royal Caribbean to keep it at $500. Would they do it? The on board currency is dollars, therefore i'm not quite sure why they have converted it over for us.

I phoned Royal Caribbean last night. The operator on the phone told me that they had received no official communication to say the port will be out of action (strange?). We are looking to book this holiday and one of the main plus points was only two days at sea. I really hope they swap it for another port and not a day at Sea!

I'm watching this thread with interest. We were going to book this cruise earlier today, not once were we told about this potential problem. One of the attractions of the sailing is the two days at sea, whereas most of the others are doing three days at sea.

How would we find our if/ when they are going to be offering another port? Where does one stand with cancellation ?