WhenIsOurNextCruise

I am sure people are sick of this topic but I wanted to ask. We generally tip our room steward for non-suite rooms anywhere between $30-50. (I feel cheap saying that) But we will be in a suite category S5 on the Epic and I am thinking $50 seems cheap. What is customary? I am not sure at this point if we will even use the consierge but if we do how much do you tip them? Thanks, Kim

Here's 2 cents worth..... There are many threads dealing with this question and you can find various answers with lots of detail. But, bottom line, we tip based on services provided. No services or no need - no money. Great service and lots of interaction - lots of money! Comparable to room service or a concierge at a nice hotel.

4 adults and one 3 year old arriving Friday night late at FLL for a Saturday cruise on the Epic out of Miami. I'm assuming a taxi late at night is the best option to get to the Westin Diplomat ($69/room name your own price on Priceline). Hotel ok? Is SAS around 11:00 am the best bet for getting to the port? Any ideas for what to do until 3:00 pm flight the following Saturday?

Thanks for your help.

Cathy

Used Ramses Tours for an overnight tour to Cairo for two persons. Picked us up directly from the Alexandria Port from the NCL Jade (Dec. 15). When you e-mail Ramses they will reply with a standard overnight tour with extra cost add-ons. While some of the add-ons would be standard on some ship tours the overall cost is cheaper using Ramses and you get to decide what you want to add on. Paid $780 for two persons with pyramids, Sphinx, Citadel and Mosque, Eygptian museum on the first day and then on the second day Memphis with shopping. All meals were included except for dinner. We paid for upgrade to stay at the Oberoi Mena House next to the pyramids ($50 per person) and visit the solar boat ($20pp by pyramids) and mummy rooms ($20pp in Egyptian Museum) which is the actual cost of admission. I recommend stay at the Oberoi Mena House even though when we went we only saw the pyramids from the hotel in the morning (sunset was 5 pm). The location made it easier to get to the pyramids and Memphis without being caught in Cairo traffic.

 

Highly recommended.

We appreciated reading your comments as we are with Ramses and staying at the Mena House in February. Did you eat dinner at the Mena House and is there one restaurant or several? How was your meal? Did anyone in your party become ill after visiting Egypt? Did you request room with a view of the pyramids?

Again, thanks for your input as I very much respect your opinion. I didn't actually look at ITA until today, after the fact, just to see what popped up. We are happy with the airfare schedule, don't mind the small jet and will definitely look at insurance.

I forgot to add.....

Regarding insurance, we have been on 20+ cruises and never purchased insurance and never had an incident. (knock on wood) But, the trips are getting longer and farther from home, the cabins are getting bigger and more expensive and we are getting older. I thought a good plan would be to check with our insurance carrier to see what is/isn't covered while onboard or out of country and then do as you suggested - check out an independent provider.

Thank you very much for your help.

Thanks for your response. Great question regarding first class because we are on the CRJ 900 but according to this website (and the "view seats" at Delta's booking site) there are 10 first class seats on the CRJ-900. All other segments are bigger jets.

http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations/plan_flight/aircraft_types_layout/crj_900/

Checking today at matrix.itasoftware.com there are no business/first tickets for less than $5,000 per person. It just sounds too good to be true, making me wonder "what's the catch".

We are from Houston sailing to Med from NYC on 4/18/09 and returning to Houston from Barcelona on 5/3/09. We wanted to fly first class or business. The coach fares online are very expensive and first/business class was outrageous ($14,000 for two). Our TA checked with NCL and they offered the following.

Houston to Atlanta (with 1 hour layover) to LaGuardia on 4/17 - First Class both segments

Barcelona to Atlanta (with 2 hour layover) to Houston - Business from Barcelona and First from ATL

Including deviation fee of $50 and fare differential of $1,650, we are at $5,600 for two. We have dates and flight numbers, and booked it today. We can cancel up until final payment and lose only the deviation fee of $50 each.

Do we have anything to be wary of? Is there some downside we are not considering? Should we purchase insurance? Thanks for your help!