Peter Lanky

I am relatively new to cruising and have only been on two cruises so far where alcoholic drinks were included in the fare on both. However, I have an Oceania cruise booked next year for which I have decided against purchasing an alcoholic drinks package, and am not taking the drinks option for o-life. We usually choose to share dining tables with others, being sociable creatures, so how do the staff differentiate between those who have a drinks package and those who don't at a mixed dining table, without making it uncomfortable for the non drinkers?

I'll quote and example from Azamara "All gratuities are included in your cruise fare." This is not instructing people not to tip, but is informing the customer that any tips they may have wished to give are included in the brochure advertised fare. In other words they have already done their duty to the poor underpaid staff that many feel they are rewarding, as the said staff are not underpaid. The same applies to Silversea, Seabourn, Regent, and maybe a couple of others. Now the whole concept of compulsory (because that's what it is) tipping on cruises started because in the past some people, predominantly from the US, started handing over money to staff either to reward them*, bribe them* or because they felt sympathy for them* (delete as appropriate). The employers saw this as an opportunity to pay them less and get customers to subsidise them instead, and enabling them to charge a lower initial price and thus gain market advantage. This eventually morphed into a fixed amount being added to the bill, so changing it from being a voluntary gift to a supplement. As you say, you have the option of removing it, but at the risk of anything from dirty looks to food sabotage and inadequate room cleaning if the staff find out this has happened, which on many well publicised occasions it has, with the worst case being of a list of customers who have withdrawn these payments being posted on the staff notice board. Now personally I feel no obligation to tip, be it on a ship, a restaurant or anywhere else, but a lot of people just pay up to keep the peace, or being pressured when with a group of friends, and they do it anyway, however bad the service is. I know from these forums how abusive some people get towards those who don't want anything to do with tipping, and will use any argument to justify it. So what I am saying is that if people continue to tip extra when they have already paid, then the whole concept of 'all inclusive' is at risk from opportunist employers or greedy staff who see a good opportunity to extract even more money. Restaurants everywhere have already realised they can add a % to a meal bill or leave a blank space, but then change this to a 'service charge', whatever that means, and still expect a further contribution, which some are all to willing to give. This receipt is what I would love to see everywhere, from Singapore way back in 1989, from a nation at the forefront of making tipping history.

Another problem in my eyes is people wanting to tip on what is specifically defined as a non-tipping cruise. Us non tippers are mainly restricted to a small number of high end cruise lines if we don't want to partake in the practice. By limiting ourselves so, we can be quite confident that the crew is being remunerated appropriately, and therefore have no need to think about staff performing somersaults in order to squeeze a little extra from the customer. But then somebody gives them extra anyway. Immediately the goalposts start to move and the mindset of both crew and cruise lines starts to think there's still the possibility of extracting even more. It's only in recent years that we have had this luxury of this peace of mind, and I have been able to start cruising having avoided it previously, yet somebody still wants to do something that raises the chance of spoiling it. Just give them some verbal praise and try to leave the cash out of it please.

Nothing should be 'expected' and therein lies the problem. Whatever anyone says, the jobs that are normally tipped are low skilled and quite easy to learn, yet in first world countries, other than the US it seems, they are protected by a minimum wage. I then think of other far more important minimum wage jobs who are often more skilled, have a more responsible job, many of them in the health and social care industries, who nobody would ever consider tipping, and my mind tells me, 'why should people who do little more than write down an order and carry a plate, fill a glass with a drink, or make a bed and hoover up get an extra bonus? When I was younger the concept of tipping in most restaurants was unknown, so the practice is only with us because it has been carefully introduced to get more money out of customers, and unfortunately is has become much more trendy to do it. Certainly nobody ever tried to 'shame' people to parting with cash.

I recently went for a meal where the service was terrible. There were 6 of us. The waitress had taken my order but then brought out 5 meals but nothing for me. I was told it wasn't on the menu, though in reality it was on half the menus and not the others. I had to wait 5 minutes for an alternative. Then I needed the accessible toilet but it was occupied. I had to wait in discomfort for about 3-4 minutes though it seemed much longer. It turned out to be a member of the waiting staff using it, but when I made an appropriately scathing comment, she looked at me in a gormless way as if I had 2 heads. I said to my my wife 'on no account leave any tips even if the others do', but in my absence she did anyway with the excuse of not wanting to upset the relatives. So the staff often get tips, not because they deserve it (they get paid a wage after all), but because some folk feel pressured into it, and that is where it is all wrong. They think tips are a right, and not a voluntary reward.

I have been reading this with interest. If we are then to accept the phrase of 'When in Rome . . ." as a rule or guideline then when one goes to the US, one should participate in the tipping culture because that's how it works in 'Rome'. However it is not the culture in the rest of the 'first world', though some people think it is due to a mixture of watching TV, opportunism of business owners, and alcohol enhancement. So now in a different 'Rome' it should be expected that tipping is not normal, yet people insist on doing it and making things difficult for those of us who wish to retain the culture of our own countries. In third world countries, there was never a tipping culture before mass tourism, but when wealthy people hand out money to poor people, they are only too happy to take it and it soon becomes an 'expectation' often accompanied by aggression. The introduction of tipping here had done no favours at all. Until tipping becomes a completely voluntary and discrete, then it is going to always cause problems. Thank goodness my next cruise is priced in a manner to pay the staff properly, and the port of call are in Japan, so I can happily not tip without being bullied.

It seems that this is going to be the way forward. Even though I have managed to get access via the 020 numbers, the person I need to speak to is always on the phone and I never get the promised call back on time, if at all, and I'm finding the whole communication process very wearing.

No this was definitely one of those telecom generated messages. As I said though, it did work eventually, albeit to only get a 'we re closed' out of office messages, but taking a look at 'saynoto0870' website, getting a connection seems a bit hit and miss.

I've since retried 0207 340 0700 and it now seems to work. From forums elsewhere it appears hit and miss as to whether you can get through, though it is closed today. All the website information pushes the 0844 number though so it can only be a matter of time before it's the sole option

The trip is booked already so I need to deal with Silversea. At the time it offered the best option.

On my last cruise (Azamara) I was at least asked if I wanted ice in Famous Grouse which was the best on offer, which I kindly declined, but often in hotels I need to warn them in advance. It's a habit thing I think, rather like dousing food with salt or ketchup even before tasting it. As for regions, I'm happy with Highland or Islay brands, though I always have space for a Talisker.

At least it seems there is a fair selection offered. I shall wait and see.

I have been trying to contact Silversea and am told by the voice bot that all the 020 numbers I have been using are now invalid. It seems that Silversea has surreptitiously changed to very expensive 0844 numbers which are not included in many if not most phone contracts. This also applies to booking, for which many competitors use a freephone number. In my case this is 65p per minute. With the typical time waiting to be answered nowadays often exceeding 30 minutes, this would equate to a £20 phone call. My experience of Silversea has been that they are also not very good at responding to emails, making them now very difficult to communicate with. What do other UK customers think of this backward step, at the time that most businesses have been moving away from these rip off phone numbers? Is it likely to effect your choice of cruise in the future?

I would be quite happy with Glenlivet if that is an indication of the range of Scotch's available, suggesting that at least popular malts are available. I want to use the opportunity to try some new ones if I can. I suspected that XO was a little ambitious, but I guess Remy VSOP is on the menu so that will keep me quite content.

Despite much searching on Google and various forums, I cannot find an answer to my question. I have not cruised with Silversea before, and in fact my next trip on 3rd May from Tokyo is only my second cruise, so call me 'inexperienced'. I am interested to find out which brands of Scotch and Cognac are offered in the bars and available for stocking ones personal in cabin minibar. For example, is a range of aged Scotch's offered or just a brand? Is XO Cognac included or any of the other premium versions of a particular Cognac. The same also applies to wines, but as wine will mainly be drank when dining, I can ask for advice at the time seeing as wine is a very personal thing, but any tips on wine would sill be welcome.

I also have one of those attachments which is ideal for holidays at home, but the battery is outside the parameters for being carried in the aircraft. It has the additional benefit of attracting attention, and many a conversation with a complete stranger has been started as a result. It will actually pull me along at 18mph if I so desire, so useful for longer trips on my own when there are no other people about or I find a good cycle lane. Amazingly despite it being so useful, I have only seen one other in the 3 years since I acquired it.

I'll expand a little. My cruise is '7-Night Canary Islands Intensive Voyage' on 11th March. A few weeks ago we were told that one of the destinations was being changed, and the excursions were only posted yesterday. I am an active wheelchair user. My chair is a manual chair, but I'm expecting delivery of a pair or powered wheels a few days before on 28th Feb, so I may have them or maybe not. From a transportation point of view this makes it almost identical in size, foldability and flexibility as if it was manual, but with extra weight. I can stand and take a few steps if there is something solid to hang on to as (due to a spinal injury) my balance and coordination are severely hampered. I take the view that if a manoeuvre is possible, then I will attempt it, and can transfer easily to dining chairs if they are comfortable enough. I can climb onto coaches as there are always suitable bars and handles around, and it's obviously a lot easier if the tour guide keeps the front seat clear as happened on a recent tour in South Africa, though there were just one or two of the fellow passengers who believed that this was a privilege too far. I successfully managed to negotiate the top of table mountain, though there were places were only steps and no ramps. I have had very little assistance from the special needs department so far (i.e. no correspondence since May).

I use a wheelchair and have booked a cruise with Azamara in March, which will end up being my last one due to the terrible attitude towards disabled passengers. On my particular cruise, if I use the filters for shore excursions for either being a wheelchair user or being wheelchair bound, there are no results submitted. If I read more deeply into the descriptions, they mainly say they are not wheelchair accessible without going into any detail. This suggests to me that Azamara has made little effort to differentiate between the different types of wheelchair user, and the efforts that some of us are able to make to get around potential obstacles. When eventually getting through to customer services, which once involved a 110 minute wait to be answered, making a mockery of 'Your business is important to us', the member of staff repeatedly pointed out that the excursions are all third party organised and Azamara has no control. Despite me trying to approach the discussion from different angles such as 'Is it not the responsibility of Azamara to ensure that a proportion of excursions are available to people in wheelchairs', or 'Am I supposed to remain onboard throughout and fade away', or even 'Surely Azamara buys enough excursions to have sufficient control over the content of them', I simply had the same answer thrown back at me. When I asked who I could complain about this to officially, I was told (very confidently) that I could write to Royal Caribbean, but that it would make no difference. I have not cruised before, having had 3 cruises cancelled due to Covid, and would not normally buy excursions other than that I have $1,000 onboard credit, with little else meaningful to spend it on other than excursions. Please can I have some feedback from wheelchair users who have travelled with Azamara and how they coped with this couldn't care less attitude. How do I find out if an excursion is genuinely not accessible or simply that all wheelchair users are considered the same, if nobody from Azamara will make the effort to explain about the excursions in more detail? Despite claiming to have nothing to to with excursions, I trust that Azamara will have inflated the price from what it pays for these excursions, thus making money from something it supposedly has no connection with.

We are going on an Emerald cruise from Phnom Penh to Saigon in January as part of a longer tour. The trip mentions 'Emerald Plus' numerous times and gives a list of Emerald Plus activities, but doesn't explain very well. The agent at Emerald said on the phone that we have one Emerald Plus event, but the itinerary routinely shows many more as part of the trip without any of that clever wording that means that they are optional at extra cost. Please can somebody who had been on this tour explain exactly how it works. 11 Emerald Plus activities are mentioned.

I have yet to cruise but I have a couple booked, one of which includes all excursions, and the other where I have some onboard credit to pay for them. Normally I would have no intention for paying for my own excursions as I consider them grossly overpriced, and would make my own arrangement where practical. Now to the selection of them. On both lines I am looking at (Azamara and Silversea) nearly all excursions say they are unsuitable for wheelchairs, wheelchairs are not permitted or wheelchairs are not recommended. It is not unusual for all the excursions at a particular port to fall under one of these categories. So how are wheelchair users expected to have a reasonable choice of excursions? How to cruise lines address the problem when challenged by disabled cruisers? How have other cruisers dealt with the issue?