Da-Painter

when i drop off my suitcases with the porter upon arrival, i have always given him 10. (one even picked up my suitcase and said oh thats heavy..geez how lame. dude you are in great shape..suck it up)

 

however. what exactly does he do other than put my bags on his cart. is he the guy that literally takes them to the ship.

The person you give money to 'may' put your bag onto a cart, and that's about it.

Someone else comes and pushes the cart into the building, where they are sorted for what ship they go on. Then they are put into the ships own baggage carts, forklifts pick them up and put them onto the ship, where the ship sorts them for which floor, and which portion of the floor they go to, i.e.: fore, mid, aft.

The person you give money to does nothing further with your bag then put it on a cart.

So, what are you tipping him for?

Your recourse is to cancel, take your money and cruise with another cruise line.

Why would you consider continuing to doing business with a company that pulls this type of crap on you??? Don't complain when they pull the next change.

I agree with the above response. :eek:

For Malaga, I strongly recommend going to Granada to see the Alhambra. It is a special place.

If you go to the Alhambra, do not use the cruise ships shore excursion, absolutely terrible, too expensive. Its all day, little time to see the Alhambra, but wasted on everything else.

How you do it, rent a car and drive there yourself?, or maybe someone else has a better way to see it? It is worth seeing. :)

On the Canary Islands we used the ships tours, also to Morocco.

Yes, they are more expensive, but there is a lot to see that is quite fascinating. Time is limited, not really a 'hop off the ship' and walk cruise.

Spending all the money to get there, the cruise cost, don't skimp on the shore excursions. Take the excursions which encompass the most sites, there are things on the C.I. which you will not see anyplace else.

Good luck.:)

Rent a car for the day.

It will save you a lot of money, time, no shopping stops, HI is quite easy to drive around.

They are waiting for the 'tide' to go out, so they can get under the bridges. :eek:

:d:d:d:d:d

DING DING DING,... We have a winner!!!! ;)

Are you no longer permitted to carry on a third child? I always just smacked a luggage tag on the third and left him curbside with the porter.

How much did you have to tip the porter for that? :cool:

You can drop your bags off at the ship, folks will take your bags, take a taxi to Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, tour it, and return to the ship and check in.

I assume you are coming in the same day.

In May you should pre-book your tickets for the S.F. on line, as there will be quite a line to buy tickets, maybe 1-2 hours. Take a taxi back to the ship and check in.

Be sure you know the latest you can check in on the ship.

Since your time will be limited, you will want to take taxis to get there and back.

You will be rushed doing so, it can be done, I wouldn't do it like that, but you can.

Good luck, let us know how it works out.:eek:

You can go to the customer service/pursers desk, and fill out a form to give an additional gratuity to your room steward, we usually do this at the end of the cruise. They will give you a receipt, but the crew member will not know about it for a few weeks, so you may want to let the individual know you did this while on the ship. A few weeks later when they are notified, they may not remember you. Yes, you can use OBC for this.

Your daily service charge covers the crew in the dining rooms. You will have one person seat you, another giving you water, another giving you a menu, another serving, another cleaning, etc. We just let the DSC cover this. Some folks state they leave cash tips, I have never seen anyone doing so. Tips go into the big pot, not to each individual person that serves you. This opens a big can of worms from others that will tell you otherwise. :eek:

Enjoy:)

Check the cruise dates & prices, and see what works best for you.

I would suggest a balcony, the mountains are majestic as they rise up, seeing the eagles and wildlife make it worth it.

Weather can be so iffy, during the time you are going, it will be nice. But it can pour rain there at anytime.

Remember you could always rebook if the prices decrease after you book.

:)

The best way is on the last day of the cruise, walk around the ship, folks leave their doors open for cleaning, and you can peak inside. Be sure to check out the suites at the front and back of the ships. Then plan which cabin you want for your next cruise. :cool:

Your cruise really was bad. I would not sign up for a cruise like this even if it was free. The folks stating you should be grateful for a free cruise like this.....well, maybe they can experience this circumstance in the future.

Tell us how much you spent to fly to Singapore, how many hours you sat on a plane to get there and back, and all the associated costs. How long you planned this trip, etc. And what did you see, not all that you signed up for.

You told us, as others that you could not get any information while on the ship. I know how the lack of information like this is, I have experienced it on a NCL cruise before.

And some folks think you got the cruise of a lifetime, because you were credited with the 'cruise only' cost.

I would also be very upset, you have a right to be.

We were considering an Asian cruise in the future, but they are putting a mega ship there, we are not interested in that, passing on that.

Sorry to hear this happening, just glad I was not on this 'free cruise'. :eek::eek:

Better yet, just have my DW pack for you. We always come back home with clothes that never get worn on vacation. No need to wash clothes.

Or keep cruising, when you get to Platinum, you get free laundry.

:cool::eek:

Been on the Spirit many times, our favorite ship.

If they would change out all the fogged windows, that would be great. That's 4 days worth of work.

The suites have flat screens.

We just got back from Hong Kong, no cruise, but the 11 & 14 hour plane rides are not fun to put up with, but this is non stop from Seattle, rougher for longer flights.

We were considering this cruise in the future, sounds like folks got a free cruise, but there is the costs there and back, hotels, and I know you missed on important ports. So it has to be frustrating.

Good luck. :eek:

I didn't know they were still performing on NCL.

Okay, 20 years ago they were entertaining, but today, pretty bland and uninspiring.

They would usually do one big show, then a 2nd show in a club venue, as not many folks would care to see them a 2nd time.

JMHO, :eek:

What are the options of going to Pompeii if not with cruise line? How to get there on your own?

We wanted to see Herculaneum, as we saw Pompeii before. We were in Naples at the end of October, and were not interested in spending time and money to take taxis & trains etc., or trying to find the train station. Lots of road construction on the roadways around the port. Cruise ship wanted $79 per person for Herculaneum, but also includes wasting your time on shopping trips, allowing only an hour for visiting Herculaneum.

DW was not interested in trying to do this on our own. It sounds easy, but....

After getting off the ship, you first meet the taxi drivers who want $90E to take you to Herculaneum. They showed us their brochures with prices, more for Pompeii.

We continued walking past them heading for the street, and found Pompei Sightseeing. They have new, small buses leaving on the top of the hour, starting at 10AM, to take you to Herculaneum, and Pompeii. Round trip for Herculaneum is $10E per person; $15E for Pompeii, and $25E for both locations. They drop you off at the entrance, and pick you up at the bottom of the hour, every hour, until 5:30PM. You can spend as much time at each location as you like.

We spent 2 hours at Herculaneum, but could have spent an additional hour there.

Service was fast and great, can't beat the price, would highly recommend them.

There was another company, but their prices were a little higher, and their drop off/pick up time was every 2 hours.

:)

Ohhhhh, the Morals police just arrived...... :eek:

On the last day of the cruise, when folks leave, they usually leave their cabin doors open, that's the time you can check them out. The room stewards usually don't care if you go inside. :cool:

At the cruise port large signs state taxi fares to town for $13E each way, lots of taxis lined up, and about 5-10 minutes to old town.

You will need Kuna to walk the wall, they do not take Euros. I think they may take debit cards. This gives you plenty of time to walk the wall.

And outside the gates, again, taxis back to the cruise ship for $13E.

The ship was offering to load you onto a large bus for $15 per person, just easier and faster to take a taxi.

Thanks for confirming out thoughts, we have no interest in cruising on the super size ships.

Like you, a jogging track and a deck that walks around are of interest to us, uncrowded public areas, but that is not going to happen on these ships.

Visually, they are ascetically quite ugly, in my opinion.

But they are just huge cargo ships for passengers.

Love the Spirit, and the smaller ships, that will be the limit to our cruising.

Thanks for your review. :eek:

We used www. cruisingexcursions dot com from Livorno to Florence, a lot less then the ship, there were only 6 people in our vehicle. We were looking for transportation only, but took in their Florence tour excursion, as it was only about $20 more, and well worth it. And no wasted 'shopping stops', you are forced into from the ships shore excursions.

They also offer Florence & Pisa transportation and excursions.

For their prices, I would not bother with busses and taxis and trains.

We were very pleased with everything, and would highly recommend their services. :)

We were just there 2 weeks ago, there was a person in the lobby where you buy tickets offering a 1 hour tour for $100E. Offering to get together as many people as you wanted, to lower the cost per person.

But you would have to solicit folks to join in the tour, and don't know if you want to waste your time doing so.

There was an audio tour available for $7-8E, but the sign on the window stated "be back shortly". Great.

We opted to just venture on our own. There are posts letting you know what you are looking at.

Rick Steves' has info in his books, and possible a downloadable tour you can use.

I would recommend 2-3 hours to see everything, without rushing. 1 hour is a fast walk through, without time for looking at things.

:cool: