TooManyShoes

How fun! We did a family reunion cruise last June on Carnival and had a fantastic time. It’s a great way to spend time with family.

7. Is the HUB app useful? Absolutely! It made it easy for all of us to send texts throughout the ship. Late night if a few ended up at a certain bar, they sent a group text and everyone who was still up could join in instead of wondering where others were. And you do it all over WiFi but while your phone is on Airplane Mode so it’s free and you’re not using internet minutes.

9. Can we take bottles of water onto the ship? Yes but even better than all that shlepping, you can order bottled water ahead of time on the Carnival website to be delivered to your room - $4.50 for a 12 pack - not bad! It should be waiting there for you when you board.

Enjoy your cruise!

Julie

Another thing to consider is what exactly is included in the free beverage package. A member review for Norwegian Star stated that their free “Ultimate Beverage Package” didn’t include specialty coffees, juice and bottled water. The free Celebrity beverage package includes all 3.

We’re on the October 18 HAL Koningsdam sailing next week. The ports of St. Maarten and St. Thomas have been switched to Antigua and St. Lucia. To accommodate those changes, our all day stop in St. Kitts has been shortened to a half day. Not bad all things considered. We are still stopping in Guadaloupe which surprised me. Will be a fun trip no matter what and I’m glad to be giving some tourist dollars to the islands!

Julie

If you like mysteries, The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware is a good one and obviously takes place on a cruise ship. It's a fairly easy read - I don't like to tax my brain too much when cruising!

We always turn off our cell phones while cruising, so we make sure our kids know our ship name, sail date and contact info in case of emergency.

I just booked two days tour with Ramses Tour for the month of April 2011. Is this 8 – 10% tip for the both driver and guide or just for the guide? I booked a private tour just for two of us. I like to know more about other people, you come across when you are there like washroom boy (cleaner), bell boy etc. How much should you give them?

We were just on the 11/23 sailing on Brilliance of the Seas and did the 2 day Ramses Tour to Cairo from Alexandria. Ask for "Mimmo" to be your tour guide - he was excellent! We had one other couple with us and for the 4 of us, it was the perfect amount of people in the van and cut the cost a little bit. We tipped both the driver and the guide separately. The cost of the tour was US $260 pp so we tipped the guide $55 and tipped the driver $20 - he really earned it - the traffic was horrendous. We tipped the bellman at the hotel $5.00. US dollars or Euros are OK - no need for Egyptian money. We ALWAYS had to tip the restroom people (take your own toilet paper) - they will be in your face for a tip - 1 euro each time was sufficient. No problem - I'm sure they need the money - the poverty there is mind boggling. Enjoy your trip - it truly was an amazing place.