gxchan

ITA with others advice to treat a cruise like you would a land vacation, be aware of your surroundings, whose around you, follow your gut, if someone seems wrong, walk away. I'd also like to add keep an eye on your belongings like cameras, cell phones, cash, etc. On shore excursions don't take large amounts of cash and only one credit card (with a backup card left in your cabin safe). There are pick pockets/thieves in every city/port where there are large numbers of tourists.

In a dozen cruises only once was an obnoxious drunk a problem on a ship and he was handled by the bartender. But a friend's small bag with her wallet and camera went missing on a beach excursion. The excursion operator asked if anyone had seen them and, of course, no one had. They were probably taken by a passerby. She lost her camera, all her vacation photos, cash and had to scramble to get her credit cards cancelled when she returned to the ship. Not fun.

Solo cruising is great fun and generally safe, go and have a wonderful time.

They arranged a taxi/bus for us. It picked us up at the port and delivered us to whitehouse bay. It was a pretty short ride. When we were done we had lunch and just relaxed on the beach. They had a taxi come pick us up then we just hung out in port for a little before we got back on the ship. We are going back to St Kitts again to stay at the Marriot. We loved the island and want to see more of it. Cant wait to paddleboard again, Im hooked

Thanks for all the info but I have one more question. When they arranged the taxi/bus from/to the ship was it included in the price of the tour or did you pay for it separately? If separately, what was the cost?

Thanks,

@ibcnusoon - Today I was also looking at the paddle board excursion on St. Kitts through RCCL but am not sure if their offering is the same as the one you listed. In any case, I appreciate the info and am going to book it!

Thanks!

Ginnie

Very happy to hear the Dream will be sailing again and the ports of call look very interesting. My first cruise was on the Dream in Alaska in 2005 and loved it. I'm wondering if the renovation included fixing the access on deck 9 or 10 (I think) where you had to go up/down a deck to get to the cabins in front.

Rule of thumb is to get a receipt from the pool towel attendant at the end of your cruise showing that you have a zero towel balance.

They give written receipts?

Quote:

I am a tour guide in Niagara Falls. After eight years of experimenting I have found routine that produces the highest income for me, but I was wanted to hear from travellers at what point does a guide's mentioning of tips really start to take away from your enjoyment of the trip? By the way, I drive a mini-bus that seats 32, but my average group size is 18. So I am both a driver and a guide. Here's my routine:

1. The bus has two small signs (one in front and one in back) that say "If you enjoyed the trip, please don't forget the tip. (15% is customary) Thank You"

2. At the beginning of the trip while I talk about what we will be seeing and doing, I also say, "And just so everyone knows, the tour bus drivers and guides here in Niagara Falls, as with drivers and guides all around the world, really do depend on the tips that they recieve for the lion's share of their income. So I'll trust you to read the signs on the bus and at the end of the trip you can be the judge at how I did at giving you all a great time today."

3. At the end of the trip as I'm saying a bunch of thank yous I say, " So when we get to each of our drop offs please let me step off of the bus first, I'll help you down off of the bus, I'll give you a good handshake, and I'll thank you for your tip at that time."

Those three items are the only mention of tips during a 5 hour tour. I have found that if I leave any one of them out, my average tip per person drops from $6.61 to $3.82. If I say nothing many people give nothing and most only give a dollar or two.

So would you be bugged on my tour? When would you start to be irritated? I've only had one complaint in 8 years.

I don't mind a verbal reminder at the end of a tour (e.g., if you enjoyed the tour, tips are welcome) or even the ubiquitous tip jar, but this would be over the top. Would I complain to the company about it? No. Because it is passing irritant during what should be a good time, why extend it by spending more time on it? But I would never use that company again or recommend it to others. Would I tip? Yes but half of what I would normally simply because as Ms. Manners is fond of saying, being rude to rude people is rude.

Whether booked with the ship or directly, I tip the guide $10 and assume (hope) the guide shares with the driver. For extraordinary excursions (glacier trek/ice wall climb in Alaska) or when I got my scuba cert, I tip 10% of the cost of the excursion/classes. I can't imagine doing any of these jobs so when people do them well, I like to show my appreciation.

I believe Fred Olsen might have bought the dream also.:)

Oh thank heavens. There for a second I was thinking our beloved Dream was cursed! I hope Fred Olsen takes good care of her and I have the chance to sail on her again. The Dream will forever be my favorite ship.

My first cruise was on NCL's Dream and what a great cruise it was. It remains my favorite/best cruise. Unfortunately, the Dream did have an accident in December 07. Here is a link to the CC thread.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=673246&highlight=mogic

Hi, I was on the Dream with Captain Lars and Captain Mogic.

Mogic had been on for one day when the barge "drifted" into the Dream:rolleyes:.

Not sure who replaced him.

Sailor Jack, very well written, very amusing! As everyone else has said, you could make a living writing comedy!

Easyville, I'm sorry to hear Mogic was taken off the Dream but I suppose that is standard in these cases. I was on the Dream in Alaska with him as captain and he was very competent, pleasant and obviously really enjoyed his job.