Cruising Aussie Mum

Our family of 4 (mom, dad, teen and pre-teen) absolutely loved Atlantis! However, we actually stayed there for a week - rather than doing it as a 1/2 day ship excursion.

While the actual restaurants were very expensive, there were economical meal-deals around the pool area and other reasonable options on site such as johnny rockets, a deli and a pizzeria.

I definitely think Atlantis is worth seeing and a beautiful place with heaps to do - but impossible to see and do everything in just a day.

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Oops, forgot to include my email: j_kdragisic@yahoo.com

Thanks agsin!

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Could I please have the dailies too? We sail in 4 weeks! Thank you very much.

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LOL! If you read these boards often enough you will find that out:D

Yeah, guess I'm a bit slow...:D

Yep, it happens.

On our last cruise (out of Miami) the 2 porters taking our bags asked us for more money. They didn't actually make any threats and I suppose we could have just ignored them, but we felt uncomfortable, hate confrontations, so gave them a few more dollars. Yes, I know, we are pathetic push-overs...

Two other tipping "incidents" on our last trip: 1) The car rental shuttle driver said "aw come on, there are a lot of bags here" after we had given him his tip when he helped to unload our bags off the shuttle at the cruise port. 2) Our 2 children got henna tattoos in Key West. The guy charged them $15 each and probably spent 10 minutes on each kid. When the kids and I (trying to just be polite) said "thank you very much" to him at the end, he said "don't thank me, thank the bucket" and pointed to his tip bucket - no "thank you" or "you're welcome" or even a smile.

I understand the importance of tipping to supplement some people's wages (while I live in Australia now, I grew up in the USA) and I always tip the recommended amount when we are in the states. - But, has anyone ever really thought about the hourly wages (with tips) that some people actually collect? I worked out that our waiter at a Disney restaurant one night would have made about $189 in tips in the hour and a bit that we were there (and that was at a buffet restaurant). The car rental shuttle guy probably did a couple of round trips an hour and I estimate (from the number of people and what he expected us to tip him) that he must have made at least $50 in tips from our bus - so that's like $100+ an hour. The henna tattoo guy - I don't know how many customers he gets in a day, but he already got $30 for 20 minutes work, and then expected a tip on top of that.

It just seems to me that tipping has really run amok.

Hi Mike, Tiger, and Aussie Mom,

 

Thanks for the info! You've definately given me some new perspective and am really excited about our visit to San Juan. I'm glad I asked, otherwise I think I would have suggested to my wife that we skip the offshore and hang out at the pool.

 

Aussie, are you on the same sailing, or just the same itenerary?

 

Thanks again!

We're sailing on 12 April.:D

Thanks for the info Shelli! Any advice on excursions at any of the ports? I think the stop in Puerto Rico is 5 hours, and for that amount of time wonder if it's even worth getting off the ship.

I think we actually have 7 hours in San Juan, I wish it was longer - but still it is definitely worth getting off the ship IMO.

We booked a nighttime walking tour with Legends of Puerto Rico.