moniquet

The locals want money not shirts and candy. Just tip.

This thread was started in January 2015, and here we are now in January 2016.

 

It has long outlived whatever usefulness it may have once had, and has now been reduced to a squabble.

Still very relevant, perhaps more so.

Most cruise lines are giving Turkey a miss this year. Quite right too.

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/news.cfm?ID=6769

I noticed that some close to us on fixed dining arrived very late, as much as thirty minutes which I thought was very rude. Happened a few times.

From what I have seen on TV it is more frequent in the poor areas, open drains, stagnant pools etc. Mosquitos are more active at night. However, I would not take the risk if pregnant.

Our hotel in Puerto Rico had lots of warning signs re. Mosquitos. Spray repellent was also available free on request. We were never bothered by them and ate outside most evenings and sat out on the hotel balcony. Did get just one bite.

Seemed to be all Latin music on our December cruise except for a Caribbean band around 5pm. Perhaps it is adjusted to make up of passengers and ours were mainly Puerto Rican.

We had excellent service on Liberty, fixed late dining. Always there to greet us, pleasant and efficient. Better staff than Cunard.

Not so good was breakfast service in the main dining room. I think anytime dining is the reason for haphazard service.

I feel very safe and pampered on a ship. :(

I give in, you are all correct. faced with all the statistics I shall tell all my friends not to travel to the USA and the. Caribbean but book Turkey instead:D

I don't know what the ideal system. Pre paid is no incentive but I wouldn't want to go back to the old days of the small envelopes. I remember a few cruises where the dining room was half empty on the last evening because the cheapskates didn't want to tip! Probably pay them a living wage and put the cruise prices accordingly and let those of us who want to tip do so.

I haven't seen anyone try to convince you to go to Turkey. The relative safety of Turkey versus other places has certainly been discussed, but I don't think I or anyone else on this thread gives a damn whether you go to Turkey. Fear, while very real, is mostly irrational. You certainly should not go someplace that holds great fear for you, for you will not enjoy it. However, my perception is that you came to this thread and tried to convince the rest of us to join you in your gut reaction fear with essentially no statistical evidence to back it up, and then got upset when we didn't buy into your gut reaction. As a scientist I say "No thank you."

 

Interesting that in paragraph 2 you are now using "stats" - I thought you didn't believe in those:rolleyes: I haven't seen those numbers, but I have no reason to doubt that people are cancelling. A significant majority go by gut reaction and not facts and logic. When people cancel trips to South Africa because of what is happening 15,000 km away in Cairo (and they do), it is impossible to have a logical discussion with them.

I am not at all 'upset'. It's a forum FGS.:D I think you should go back and read it all again. I have the opinion it's not safe, others the opposite. Works both ways....and what has S.Africa got to do with Europe:confused:

Perhaps we Europeans should stay away from the USA according to all your stats on here and go to Turkey. Ha ha.

You don't go via London to get to Miami, I presume? ;)

I am in London a lot, most of my family work there, go to theatres and restaurants. That is my life not a holiday. I also trust the security services more than the Turkish one:)

I firmly believe that people are entitled to opinions, and if that opinion includes not going somewhere (or not going anywhere) that's okay with me. However if all they have is emotional gut reaction, statistics be damned, I really wish they would give up waving their hands in the expectation that they will convince people who do believe in facts and logic. I find such people amusing to a point, but then they get merely tiresome.

Yes there seems to be quite a few trying to convince me to travel to Turkey...works both ways,

BTW according to stats many Americans have cancelled their travel plans to Europe.

Nice advert for a first post. Did no one notice the link:rolleyes:

A few years ago, my Son-in-Law( who is from Istanbul) said, There are 14 million people in Istanbul.

If one bomb goes off, chances are, it will not affect you.;)

Don't care which ridiculous stats you come out with, try quoting them to the relatives of the 10 Germans hacked to bits last week.

Read my lips.....I wouldn't go to Turkey right now and I would not advise anyone else to do either. If things don't improve there I cannot see the cruise ships stopping there this summer. Been visiting Miami for 30 years and nothing has happened yet, that's not counted in any data, even Nobel prize winners:D over and out!

Pick pocketing, they would even take the shirt off your back in Barcelona. Wouldn't put me off going though, not risking my neck:D

Well not according to this:

http://Www.mirror.co.uk/news/ampp3d/bedfordshire-murder-capital-britain-see-5190085

Which proves my point....most is not aimed at tourists.:)

Strange thread. We are damned if we tip generously and damned if we don't tip. First time I have read that people tip because they are rude and obnoxious to compensate:rolleyes:

OP - As rufflesmom said, once you saw you had a problem with the Amex card, I would have gone to GS and or call Amex to sort it all out. Not wait a few days later.

 

BTW - You were made aware of the problem with your card when you tried to buy a coffee and were denied.

 

Before your next trip, please check a weather website.

Can a credit card be used for a speciality coffee:confused: i thought it was only the sail and sign card?

I go by my own perceptions not skewed stats. Many murders in USA and UK are drug gang related, similar the Caribbean. Tourist are targeted for money, unlike Tunisia, Turkey, Egypt where tourists are targeted because they want to kill us for being "infidels" Molotov cocktails were thrown at a tourist bus in Cairo last week. Somehow I don't see that happening in the USA.

Whatever, for the time being I shall be flying West, Florida or the Caribbean, maybe Hawaii. Seen most of Europe some time ago when it was nice and not crowded like now. Expensive too with the euro. My perception is I am less likely to get bombed or beheaded in the USA and Caribbean whatever the stats say.:D

Anyway, the weather is better out West.

There is quite a lot of tipping in the UK. About 10% is the norm in most restaurants too. As said many have a service charge which covers mean tippers. We tip taxi drivers, hairdressers, deliveries etc. Whatever some may say.

Have to laugh at some who claim to know exactly what the Stewards want/think:D

Far better to tip AND give them a mention. Tip, bribe whatever, money talks. When we went to Las Vegas we were told it was advisable to tip the Maitre'D to get a good seat for the shows. It worked every time, of course it is really a bribe. I wait for a couple of days to see how the Steward performs, if all is well I give a tip. I don't go with the theory that good tippers do it because they are rude, obnoxious whatever. Imagine they would be the ones most likely to queue up to remove tips.

Good points Stinger. I noticed when someone pushed in for fish and chips the server said nothing. It was left to the people in line to tell him.

34,400 tourists a day...are you sure. That would mean a lot of disappointed tourists wanting to visit the main attractions. In any case even if it were 134,000 I would not go, not one of my favourite places anyway.

What I don't understand is why people who say they would never cruise Carnival again hang around the Carnival board:confused: we would never cruise with Princess again but I don't hang around the Princess board posting that.