housesitters

Thank you for the helpful advice re some countries including gratuities, while others do not. My concern is with some cruise lines having fixed amounts for gratuities re. the cabin but listing that amount separately. In that case it makes no sense to me to have it as a separate cost. Yes, I can go to different cruise lines and calculate the total fare (excluding extra gratuities that I might wish to add later) but when I am considering several different cruise lines and itineraries it begins to irritate. Not a big thing, admittedly, but other than trying to hook a customer with a fare lower than it actually is I can see no rationale for it

Is there a list somewhere of cruise lines that have gratuities included in the price? I wish they would all do that

thanks! I had trouble navigating the ambassador site but have it sorted now. And no, ambassador does not provide the pre-payment of gratuities alone at a reduce price, the way it used to be on CMV

when it was CMV the extra packages also included all gratuities, both for drinks and everything else. Otherwise what is the price for the various gratuities - 18 % for drinks, and what for the other services? Is this the same with the Ambassador cruises? Very hard to get information on their own site - thanks for any help

Thanks so much for all the wonderful pictures and descriptions. We will be on the boat for the Med cruise mid-October so it's nice to have an idea of what to expect.

Only just seen this thread :-). We are Chris and Liz and are booked on this cruise too. We sailed with this group when they were CMV, which went bankrupt during Covid. They had an amazing Around the World cruise with a wonderful itinerary which had to be cancelled. Not seen anything as nice since. We are open to suggestions for shore trips. We have spoken for a couple via the Ambassador site - Turkey and Egypt. And possibly Rome, if the trip price includes a coach or train from Civitaveccia (sp?) to Rome. It's not clear from the description, We are really looking forward to this cruise and to meeting you all