Doug S

I don't think the crew has much interest (or room to store) miscellaneous gifts. Perhaps a bit of candy as long it is window dressing for CASH. They will always act grateful but may not value or keep other items. My only venture outside of cash tips was for a favorite bartender on our regular Galveston cruises. We asked in passing what he missed from home and found it odd that he missed turkey. We cruised again a few months later and brought a big bag of turkey jerky from Bucky's. He hoarded it and ate some all week. Drinks were exceptionally good that week... I consider that more of a 'friend' thing than a tip.

I am highly allergic to spring break cruises 😁. Did one New Years cruise and it was like a week in a mosh pit... We try to book the in-between, lower demand times like the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

We were also on this sailing. Good times. Enjoyed reading your review after our 4 hour drive home. A few of my thoughts to throw in the mix... As said a few posts earlier, each shuttle service is assigned a parking slot, so a given company's shuttle has to leave for the next to pull in. Compound that with the line of private drop off traffic the shuttles must wait in to get to their assigned slot. I think since the shuttles pay a fee per vehicle (which is why they try to run only full shuttles) they should have a dedicated lane to expedite their round trips. I know our biggest delay departing this morning was not loading or unloading, it was waiting for the next shuttle to work through traffic and get to the pickup spot. And the rain did not help Our boarding on the 4th was easier than ever, and we've gone out of Galveston about 20 times. New terminal was very nice, but I can see they can still work out a few kinks on the parking side. From getting off the shuttle to entering our cabin was about 15 minutes. We spent most mornings in the Solarium as well, and it was not very crowded as you pointed out. I know the cruise was not sold out, which I imagine kept numbers down a little. But we also noticed a very large contingent of Asian guests on board, but never saw any Asian guests around the pools. Maybe that contributed more than us Texans not soaking up some sun. Other sailings I've been on out of Galveston (predominantly Texas cruisers) always had crowding and chair hogging issues around the pools. Just throwing this out there, but maybe Cruisers from Asia prefer to spend their time in the casinos or other venues rather than poolside. That would explain the crowding/non crowding. As a side note, we had the UDP and the specialty restaurants appeared under-utilized. I saw few, if any Asian guests in any specialty dining. Please don't take this as racial commentary. It is not meant to be at all. Just pointing out that cruisers from different cultures (like Texans😁) may use different amenities, and crowding issues may vary accordingly. In any case, I enjoy the Solarium and have no use for the casino, so whatever the reason it worked well for me... Sail on... Doug