Charles4515

Texas.

Here in Texas the tipped minimium wage it is $2.18 an hour.

An average meal is not $100. Last night I ate at an above average restaurant and my bill before tax was $18. I took my niece to dinner last week and the bill was $55 before tax for the two of us.

A 20% tip has become the norm in the US.

The customary tip is 20%. So So I would tip $10 at Dennys and $120 at Gordon Ramsay. Cruise ship tipping is not based on % of bill except bar drinks.

The ferries run on a normal schedule. It is the buses that run on a holiday schedule. Some locals camp out on the beach as it is part of a 2 day holiday and becomes a 4 days with the weekend. And yes it will be packed.

A category 2 I think is predicted. I hear that they are leaving a day early. One ship for sure arrived a either a half day or a day early in anticipation of leaving early.

At land restaurants the back room staff get a share of tips. It is called tipping out.

I am never going to go back to direct individual tipping. We did that for years. Having the gratuity auto pay relieves all the tipping stress and I definitely don’t want carry around cash to dispense. The gratuities all go on my card. Standing in line to remove gratuities also not going to do that. I can only see removing the gratuities working for people who don’t intend to tip. I don’t trust that people who remove tips have noble intentions and will tip in cash.

They get the lists because they pool tips. Cash tips are pooled too. The cruise lines are not stupid. They have a system to ensure that cash tips are also included in the pool. They assume that a certain percentage of those who remove tips pay some gratuity and a certain percentage don't pay any. That is how they figure how much of the tip pool allocation to pay each crew member.

I saw the list laying on the cabin attendants cart.

The author is with The Street. I would guess MSN and other news sites have or will republish the article.

What is the bold move? 🤔

That is good. We had an included very good lunch at a restaurant.

The upgrade program is based on the expectation that there will be late last minute cancellations, (there usually are) It is a way of filling those rooms. You won’t possibly win a bid unless a room opens up.

The upgrade program is outsourced so the Princess reps don’t know the process and won’t know anything about it unless you actually win an upgrade.

You were lucky. They will wait if they can but not always. I took and independent tour by bus from Warnemude to Berlin and skipped the train option because I am aware that trains can be disrupted. The independent tour was a lot less expensive than the cruise line train excursion. I could have done the train myself but I prefered the bus option with a guide in Berlin. Did you have a guide in Berlin or did they just drop you off?

It is funny how different people come off ships with different reports from the Captains Corners 😂 Some posters think the first Discovery class will be out in 2027 🙄 Some posters think the Captain’s actually know what corporate is planning 🙃

All they are guaranteeing is that they will be responsible for getting you to the next possible port. It is a common misunderstanding that they want you to believe that the ship will not sail without you to sell their more expensive excursions. Cruise lines have left behind passengers on excursions booked with the cruise line.

If you rent a car you don't get a guide. All the minibus tours I did came with a guide who told us all kinds of great info.

Viator is a middleman that uses the local tour companies and takes a cut. Like the cruise lines they don't run their own tours. If I see something on Viator I copy the description and do a google search. I book direct and often the actual tour operator offers discounts.

What cruise line? If you only have one day I would not do St. George. It is on the other end of Bermuda.

I would do Horseshoe Bay then Hamilton. If you plan to rent chairs at Horseshoe reports are the current conscession does not have enough and runs out early. Or St. George and then Hamilton and do Horseshoe the next day. You would also then have options for in between St. George and Hamilton. It is best to do Horseshoe Bay early in my opinion.

If you book independent of the cruise lines you will find the same tour for a lot less. There are a lot of tour companies in Iceland. Skip the big bus tours and book minibus size vans. TripAdvisor has a lot of the available tours and there are reviews.

The surcharge is a bit confusing but take a look at this photo.