Kristelle

can't you have clean feet in thongs or sandals? although I cant say I really look at other people's feet that much

Ok, shorts are fine, but thongs? No, just no. Of course I realise that I shouldn't be bothered by what others are wearing but I am! I can't help it. I don't want to see any feet while I'm eating. Especially feet that have spent the last 10 years in thongs. If you're comfortable wearing rubber thongs into a nice dining room then you're a pretty experienced thong wearer. I don't want to think about your feet, or where they've been while I'm enjoying a meal in any decent restaurant. I realise this isnt super serious - but always seems odd objection to me - women wearing stilettos with fancy dresses is ok but thongs are not - but you see the feet and toes of both. and anyway you don't see the feet while you are eating - feet are under the table. I live in rubber thongs in summer but I wouldnt wear them into a nice dining area - but I would wear something like this, which from a 'seeing feet' issue is the same

Tip jars in Australia and NZ tend to be people putting their change into them rather than actually tipping. Some of the jars are glass or clear perspex - you can see they are filled with coins, very rarely any notes.

you lot are too funny 🤪😅

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2910923-tipping/page/4/#comment-66403623 Similar sticky thread on Trip Advisor.

Tips jars in Australia are for small change only - if you see any clear jars, they very rarely have other than coins in them and often they are fundraisers for local sporting clubs or charities rather than going to staff. or the coins go to staff christmas break up or something like that - not to wages on the day, so a quiet day is no different pay wise to a busy day Have never seen tipping shown o n receipts here and I have lived here for 6 decades - service charge for public holidays or GST (goods and services tax) - but they don't go to individual staff We never pay tips in restaruants in Australia - possibly some cunning waiters recognise American tourists and try their luck - but it isnt Australian system or something Australians do here. Visiting somewhere of course is different to living there.

I havent argued with that - certainly not under American system.

Oooh, a topic I know something about. Everyone who is going to be near newborns is advised to have whooping cough vaccine, not shingles vaccine. Whooping cough vaccine does not come as a single vaccine, it is always in combination with tetanus and diptheria. Is not a bad injection going in but prone to dead arm feeling afterwards. Is the tetanus component doing that. Shingles as stated in post above is a reactivation of chickenpox virus dormant in your system since childhood illness., Zostavax has been available free in Australia to people between 70 and 80, for about 10 years. Single dose. But a live vaccine so not suitable for immunocompromised people. Has recently been replaced by Shingrix, 2 dose schedule, 2 - 6 months apart. Free to all people over 65, aboriginal people over 50 and severely immu ocompromised people over 18. Not a live vaccine so can be given to immunocompromised people.

My comment wasn't about preferences, but simply stating that in places where staff are paid a set wage without tips, they get same pay regardless of how busy the place is.

that may be so, who knows. M y comment was just pointing out the fact that in a system where there is a set wage and no tips - like countries other than America - then it does not matter to the wage earner whether the place is busy or not

^ yes i get that. that is why I said "in most places in the world" you know, places other than America - - where staff get paid a set hourly wage and not tips and so their wage doesn't vary depending on number of customers.

No, not same result. If staff are paid a set wage ant there are no tips then staff get paid same hourly wage regardless of how busy it it. You know,like most places in the world.

Thank you. I have heard of that event of course but date wise is not commonly known in Australia.

I really enjoyed the music museum and the cable car ride to top of hill ( I presume that is what you are calling gondolas) We went in September and weather was warm.

60 years ago today, I was exactly 4 months old. for ignoramuses like me, can you tell us what news we are talking about?

or pay by PayPal - that way you use your credit or debit card but the receiving company has no access to the details. and if a company doesn't have pay by Paypal option that is bit of a flag already

was an interesting day at work Tues as my boss is Indian and a cricket fanatic.......

digressing - but would you even fly from UK to Paris? we just went on the Euro star.

Franski, that was my equation coming for Europe river cruise- 20 hours flight time,with long stop over in Singapore. Getting to Mekong River cruise will be a breeze 😁

We are going on Mekong river cruise in Jan 2025. Interested to hear your impressions of it.

I went to that event on a Scenic cruise about 2 months ago. People dressed up bit more than they did for dinners on the ship but by no means very formal. Nobody wore tuxedos or suits. A few men did wear ties but they were minority. Most wore chino type pants and smart collared shirt. Women wore dresses or dressy pants/ top.

Shame about Ha Long bay - beautiful spot, went there in 2017, and have beautiful photo I took from one of the island lookouts (it would want to be a good photo, 400 steps up to the top to take it 🙃)

We found on our Scenic trip that people changed their minds about which trip to go on - I did that couple of times - and some people changed their mind about going at all and stayed on the boat, if they were getting tired or sore knees or suchlike. Did not have any difficulty in doing this, just spoke to CD and she organised it.

I wouldn't describe anyone's attire on my cruise as being scruffy or dirty. Neat casual to semi formal range. And I agree, nothing wrong with politely pointing out accidental clothing mistakes - shirt inside out or suchlike. The dress code was officially casual so seems unreasonable for anyone to then complain people were dressing casually. I found that a relaxing way to holiday - but I don't push my way on everyone, people are welcome to dress up more if they want to - as long as they don't have the expectation that everyone else should do so. ( I read a old review that complained that Scenic should enforce men's jackets at dinner - that is different to just choosing to do so yourself)

if somebody is wearing a hat ALL the time I assume they may have a reason to do that - eg skin cancers or something on their head They may not, of course, but I give benifit of doubt rather than assuming they are just uncouth. We sailed on Scenic - but I'm sure Europe Viking and Scenic river cruises have similar dress cultures. Plenty of people wore jeans, including to dinner on the ship - as indeed would be common to dinners in hotels on land. It was warm weather and, other than the couple of gala dinners, some people wore shorts to dinner ( I estimate aprox 1/4 of the men did so on any given night) Some ladies wore sleeveless dress or smart sleeveless tops - nobody wore those wife beater type ones though. On the fancier occasions a few men wore ties but they were by far in the minority. The dress code in the literature is stated as casual, of course if you want to dress up you can, heck, wear a ball gown or full tuxedo if you want to, although you will be the only one doing so, - but I guess if anybody has a problem with others dressing casually, river cruising is perhaps not for you