traveloscopy

When I travelled a few years back, the 'suggestion' was 5-10% of the cruise fare, which was $4995 at the time. Most cruise lines suggest something in the order of $10/person/day which would make a tip of $70 on a week-long trip. But even 5% of the cruise fare would equate to $250, which IMHO is excessive. The trip was great, no complaints, but the pressure to leave a huge tip left a sour taste.

Well, I too feel qualified to comment. Having travelled with Aurora on this ship in Svalbard in 2010, I would still rate it as one of my best trips of all time. I've also travelled with Lindblad twice, Silversea, Ponant, Quark, Orion, Coral Princess, G Adventures, APT and others. Everything is a trade-off in this type of voyage. You want caviar and champagne, butlers and room service? Then don't go with Aurora. Instead I enjoyed kayaking among the icebergs, decent energetic hikes with superb expedition staff and great enrichment. Okay, food was plain by comparison to other vessels and I'm glad I wasn't in a shared facility cabin, but hey, it was a proper, expertly conducted expedition cruise. I think you had badly mismatched expectations more akin to a regular cruise ship passenger and some of your criticism are just plain unreasonable. Here's my story if you want to read it.