tunafish

For me it was clear years ago that the only tip you can give to crew would be cash from hand to hand. The new "prepaid tips" fare only further prove that crew does not see the tips in the form which one would think or expect and this is nothing else but a hidden was of revenue generation. Crew may have incentive bonuses based on guest feedback but for me this is not "tip" but rather a payroll structure. What even further "interesting" is why do they charge tips in specialty dining or any paid venues for that matter if your daily assessment includes tips to all service workers...

absolutely doable as DIY. Go outside and negotiate strong with a taxi drivers. There is usually one guy who speaks better english and he will try to get his 10-20 bucks out of the deal. $100-120 dollars would be a ok price for the entire trip back and forth and wait time there. There is a ton of spots along the lagoon where you can negotiate a lancha tour around the lake if you wish. We like the place called Cocalitos. Clean and safe. Make sure you buy pineapple on your way there. Best fruit you can get. Pineapple honey is also pretty good.

It is $17pp from crown bay, so maybe $15pp from havensight or maybe still 17. Sapphire to Megan's is 14pp, Megans to ship 15. They charged 1 year old same as adult with us

that would be awesome. There were two places in heavensight right by the boat and one next to Crown bay but all non existent now.

Just went to Sapphire last week. Last two times water was rough so had to go somewhere else after about an hour or so. will be happy to answer any specific question

More a vent post but maybe would be helpful for some to adjust expectations. Went to Sapphire Beach from Crown Bay with friends who had 2 kids 4 and 1y.o. Taxi driver wanted fare from everyone including the 1yo in a strapped carrier, so $68 for a family of 4 one way, I think Megan is $15 pp one way. For 68 bucks you travel in a modified truck with benches that fits 27 pax. So the driver nets $460 with full load for a 20 minute drive that is 8 miles long. I know that the tourists have no other options but I still do not understand how they can get away with it. They have smaller vans but still they are 15 passenger carriers. Driver slammed the brakes to avoid collision and 4 yo hit the forehead against the metal railing of the bench in front of them. Driver's reaction at the end was to "hold them kids tighter". It looks like rental car option exists only at the airport location now. It is a US territory but I guess none of the US DOT regulations regarding public transportation or safety requirements apply there.

unless you are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on water taxis and porter services OR you are traveling without luggage I would stay outside of Venice. Mestre has a ton of hotels with many right next to bus stop that drops you off in transport hub of Venice in 5-7 minutes and then you waltz to vaporetto to enjoy the city. Seeing people dragging their suitcases in Venice is painful. Just my 0.02

There is a daily boat from Mykonos to Delos for 22 euro round trip. Something like 8 euro for the entrance ticket. Ruins are easily doable independently, just read ahead what you are looking at and notable structures like mosaics leftover and such. Rest of Mykonos is done by foot, small place walk to the mills and you covered everything. Very touristy place. Santorini has two villages, both walkable to cover pretty much everything. there is a local bus between them for 1-2 euro one way or taxi for 25-35 one way. both villages doable in one day without a problem. There are other things to do (like beach, winery and such) but would be much for one day. Both places would have a shitload of people and this is your biggest concern. PS. Still surprised that people can write 2 pager to school someone...

My six year old is 3 star mariner already and we love HAL. We sailed RCI and it has its attractions for kids but I do believe Club HAL is actually better. Usually less kids and more personal attention. Last cruise to Europe we had only two kids in the club and it was fun for her. My DD loves to dress for dinner so I have a problem how to pack less of her dresses. not the opposite. We also always used MDR to teach kids manners, patience and respect of others during dinner.

if you remotely love sushi, do not count on it on any mainline cruise line. worse than supermarket offering. even in a sushi restaurant on board. it is made by regular kitchen crew who never had any experience in a sushi restaurant. Everything is wrong from rice, to soy. Frozen watery tasteless fish and shrimp. It is just something that can not be cooked well on a ship. Just like any stir fry dishes

what do they charge (nothing on their website regarding the prices

Well said. Why do people need to be so in your face with those decorations? Hang them inside your room, this is common space, respect it. For me it feels similar to people brining bluetooth speakers to the pool or loudspeakers to the beach and play their music. Just so unnecessary Such actions seem innocent on the surface but they are extremely egocentric if you think about it. Fortunately, cruising is routine nowadays, so those decorations do not bother me more that a graffiti on a random façade.

We looked into these options. Problem is anything slightly "better" comes with a 3X-5X price tag comparing to HAL and looking at seaborn vlogs for instance I just couldn't see the added value. Slightly refined interior of the ship would not do it for me. Foodwise the improvements are small: lobster costs 10-15 bucks a pound and that lobster would still be frozen. I noticed that any mass cruise line has glass ceiling in F&B department. There is no open flame stoves and burners, no wood/coal grills for safety reasons and their cooks are indian/south asian, coming directly from there with very little if any European culinary training. There is only so much they can do, simply because they do not know what the end product should look like. It is true for any specialty restaurant. I have never had sushi on any ship that would taste even better than supermarket rolls. it is not even anywhere close to any semidecent Japanese restaurant. Another HAL strong point is their itineraries. They have great port selections

No, it is a sarcasm thing. Somebody with taste (usually) and interior design knowledge created the decor of the ship with its hallways, yet people think it is ok to hang some junk on the door for "everyone to enjoy". Husband and wife - cruise partners for life...

I did not see the drastic difference in the quality of wines offered through their tiered wine packages. It is actually more about what type of wine you prefer and surprisingly I found lowest level had the best selection (2 french reds, sparkling asti and white that we liked). All their wines are $10-20 bottles so there is really nothing to talk about about them being exclusive in any stretch of imagination. we never had an issue getting a wine from a package up if the one that we wanted from ours is not available. You just have to refuse the offered substitution and ask which one you want.

At least people do not change table linens in MDR to their home decor or bring their mixed tape to the piano bar...yet

just look at threads around. Ppl ask in what denomination to tip all the slide attendants on top of the cover charge. (Sarcasm)

Ganja is legal in Jamaica now so it will sit next to your mug on that vendor's street spread. Of not I noticed much less solicitation to buy drugs compared to 10-15 years ago. Maybe I am getting old.

Just came back visiting Falmouth in Jamaica and here are the thought that keeps bugging me since. We love Jamaica, I like nature, love cascading fresh cool water from the mountains. We always do self organized touring for the day and visited blue hole and bamboo rafting during our last trip. While trip down the river was ok, looking back at the amount of money it cost really puzzled me. It costs $90 for a "raft". We came at the end of the day, so we did not have to wait anywhere, most of the vendors were on the bank was gone so we did not stop along the way. I tried to love every minute of it, but couldn't help thinking it is a true classic tourist rip off. We were on the water 30 minutes top, maybe 40. When I asked my driver why everyone says it is 1:15 he stated usually there is a wait to the raft and people stop to get a drink prior to boarding (apparently it is included, we were pressed with time so we skipped the bar). We had a 67yo "captain" of the raft that was talking only when talked to and when my daughter was asking question. I know that some guys are chatty, so it is just our luck. What kept bugging me that this trip costs more than a gondola ride in Venice. Beautiful boat that is work of art, you may get a song and you see VENICE canals. Italy is much richer country, people wages are higher, yet the trip is cheaper. You can not think of more touristy rip-off attraction as a gondola ride... yet it is a cheaper ride than a bamboo raft where you sit on a dirty plastic cushion with multiple nails and chicken wire sticking out of your sitting platform while your feet submerged in the water. Of the note, when I tried to negotiate a taxi for the day in the port, the guy had zero hesitation asking $350 for 9-4 transportation that went down to $250-300 after some haggle. I know they look at us as walking wallets, but there is our fault in it when I see constant posts about people asking who else should they tip? By the way we ended up with a taxi for $130 a day for a trip to Ocho Rios from Falmouth to Blue hole and then rafting on Martha Brae on the way back. Buck thirty is still a lot of money but factoring it is about 50 miles from Falmouth to Ocho Rios one way I was willing to pay that. Police office salary in Jamaica about $900-1000 a month for your reference

any taxi cab. What makes you feel unsafe?

What was the date range you were looking at? Got the same certificate yesterday and you have only 7 days to book anything... that sucks

4000 points to 9000 points is easily 4 days of betting $50 a hand for 4-5 hours a days on a 3 card poker table or similar

Hi all, Decided to venture out of our regular line and try RCCL. I have two questions: Is getting specialty dining really cheaper before the cruise or it is a marketing gimmick? We are in the room 8729 on harmony, which is the boardwalk balcony. what to expect there? is privacy an issue? Thank you!!!

MSC has softserve ice-cream, hotdogs and chicken nuggets... it also has towel animals (we had them made daily for our daughter last week on Divina. I would definitely save money and go with MSC unless you have a specific port wish or so. Especially if you have sailed RCL before. What MSC does not have is an Italian flair people are talking about, at least I do not know what people are talking about. it feels the same "American passenger" approach like all other main lines. School cafeteria also serves pizza and spaghetti with meatballs, but it does not make it an Italian restaurant. There is close to none "Italian" Italian food on board. even their cold cuts are targeted to American taste

while it highly depend on what you drink, I did not notice huge difference between the "cellars" on their package. Cellar one was as good/bad as cellar 3 but cost was a big difference