LadysmithBC

Are gratuities included in this plan?

We’re considering a “Yukon and Denali Land and Sea Journey”.  An option offered is the “Great Land Dining Plan”, which provides a number of meals for the land portion of the trip (10 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 10 dinners).   Could anyone who has used the plan offer comments:  convenience, quality of food, cost (I have not seen a cost for the plan), value for money, would you use it again, availability and cost of alternatives, etc. 

Thanks in advance.

I’m booked on the mid-January 2019 voyage to the Antarctic on the National Geographic Explorer and am looking at options for flights to/from Buenos Aires.

Lindblad recommends American Airlines from Dallas or Miami, but Dallas would probably work best for me since I live near Vancouver, Canada.

I’d appreciate it if anyone who has done this voyage lately would offer comments on what they did for flights to/from Buenos Aires. If you used American how did that work out? What other airlines/routes did you consider or use? How was Lindblad to deal with regarding the air travel?

(And of course any comments or suggestions on the voyage itself would be appreciated.)

Thanks in advance.

Greetings from Vancouver Island.

Thanks to cormike1 for the original report, and to all the other replies/comments. They are very helpful as I prepare for my Nile cruise with Uniworld in mid-March.

I was particularly interested in the Egypt visa process - sounds like it is a non-event. Did anyone notice what hours the visa place is open? My flight arrives in Cairo at 7PM, so I'm assuming I can get a visa then. (Perhaps the visa office is open 24/7?)

Also related to the visa - I'm flying Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Cairo so is it safe to assume there are no problems boarding the flight without a visa? (Can't imagine there would be if visas can be issued on arrival.)

cormike1 - how long was the balloon flight? It's on my bucket list.

I'm on the 19 November departure and perhaps someone can help me with a question about tipping.

The documentation I have from Uniworld gives suggested gratuity amounts in US dollars and says that they must be paid in cash; ie, they can't be charged to your account on the ship.

Question: can the gratuities be paid in US dollars or can/should they be paid in rupees?

Thanks.