Tips on cruising

[Ethel5]

We removed gratuities near the end of the cruise. The staff member is allowed to keep the tip to himself. The advice we received , came directly from the "Cruise Directors" mouth, in a private 20 minute conversation we had with him regarding numerous things. I cant see the Cruise Director lying ,nor can I see the staff member handing over the money I directly gave him. :)

 

The crew members risk getting fired for not reporting tips. Be assured they do report them.

[Jimbo59]

Let you children dine where they wish. Lots of free kid friendly food on board such as soft ice cream, burgers, fries, dogs, pizza, doughnuts, danish, soft cookies & milk, popcorn at the movies, plus all the stuff in the buffet. Most stuff available most hours of the day.

 

Cruising is a good way to expose children to different kinds of food. They can sample anything on the dining room menu. If they don't like it, they can order something else. Our 7 year old tried frogs legs and liked it. Where else can you expose children to different foods, all for free? And they can still get pizza, burgers, etc if they want to.

[funcruiser1234]

Some of these tips are really helpful. Thank you all.

[caribill]

Cruising is a good way to expose children to different kinds of food. They can sample anything on the dining room menu.

 

And the dining room also has a menu for kids (spaghetti, hot dog, hamburger, chicken fingers, etc.)

[duellapaul]

Batteries, batteries, batteries. If you use anything that uses batteries stock up before getting on the ship. $5.00 for 4 and they did not work very long. Also remember there is only one outlet in the cabin (at least that is the way it is on Carnival, RCL, and HAL. If you have to charge things, keep in mind the time it takes and how many you need to charge. My DH brings camera, Kendal, Phone (but doesn't use it on board), etc so we always have something being charged!

Also, I totally agree with others who mentioned OTC medicines. I keep a bag of them my husband uses freq and just bring it along in the suitcase. It never fails, if I forget something, he is sure to need it first thing on the boat!!

[caribill]

Also remember there is only one outlet in the cabin (at least that is the way it is on Carnival, RCL, and HAL.

 

Princess always has two outlets in the cabin at the desk although a charger plug in one of them can block the 2nd one on most ships.

 

On many of the ships there is another outlet available behind the TV.

 

There is also an outlet in the bathroom meant for electric razors, but it can also be used to charge batteries.

[dasha05]

The OP is from the US so some of what you've mentioned isn't relevant for him.

 

My hubby actually didn't mind the ship's coffee on our last cruise' date=' even though he did treat himself to a specialty coffee now and then. I don't drink the stuff so I couldn't comment either way.[/color']

 

 

 

It would be interesting to know the name of this "cruise director" as it is not standard for a cabin steward or waiter to be able to keep any tip to himself if you do remove the autotip. Maybe he thought you were keeping it on. And yes, the crew members who are in the tipping pool are required to turn in any tips to his or her supervisor in order to check the list of those who have removed the autotips. If your name isn't on that list, the extra money is returned back to the crew member (who actually may tip out his helpers too).

 

Why is that exactly ? :confused:

[Cruise_me_Crazy]

Geez some people over pack! I am amazed at what thought goes into a cruise!

 

Having said that, I packed a Christmas tree, solar lights for the balcony & 2x individual presents & a present for both of us in my luggage! :D Still, the clothes I packed thinking I needed decent day clothes were excessive. What we did use and were grateful to have was one of those little light clothes hangers that you can peg up your hand washed items. Great for bathers!

We also used a power board. Digi camera, mobile phs (camera only) & iPad (book reader) were all on the charge some days.

[rkmw]

We removed gratuities near the end of the cruise. The staff member is allowed to keep the tip to himself. The advice we received , came directly from the "Cruise Directors" mouth, in a private 20 minute conversation we had with him regarding numerous things. I cant see the Cruise Director lying ,nor can I see the staff member handing over the money I directly gave him. :)

 

someone been giving you the wrong information, if you cancel your auto tips and you give the money to the staff they are supposed to put the money into the tipping pool and its divided between the staff......i wouldnt believe what the cruise director says as they dont know everything

[mda0303]

is drink gratuity added in already? Or am i tipping 20% manually?

[jg21]

is drink gratuity added in already? Or am i tipping 20% manually?

 

 

Drink gratuity, 15%, is automatically added to your bill.

[SLCfirsttimer]

I am looking for any tips i can get on cruising, be it packing or the best meals or the best place to go on the ship. We are booked on the Ruby feb 10-15. We are taking our 2 kids (11,7) and want to make this really memorable for them so they enjoy it and we can go on more cruises. Any tips will be appreciated. Thanks

 

I would also agree with all of the posts about the kids club. We just returned from a 4 day cruise with our 5 and 2 1/2 year old and the kids club was a life saver. The 5 yo loved it, we could drop him off and they had plenty of activities planned out, along with a Wii, Xbox, etc... for him to play if he wanted. The younger child was too young to leave there alone, but they would allow one of us to stay there with him while he played. They also had a small pool and a climbing gym for the kids. Obviously with your kids being a bit older the activities would be geared toward their age group, but the basic premise is the same and it allows you and your spouse some time away from the kids if needed.

 

Each night on Princess there will be the Princess Patter that outlines what is scheduled for the following day. It's a good resource for planning out the next day if you are the planning type and has a lot of good information about the staff, the ports you are visiting, and some interesting activities.

 

The other recommendation that I have is to do research on the various ports you will be visiting in advance to give you some ideas on whether or not you want to go on excursions that day or stay on the boat.

 

And the most important recommendation is to have fun!

[Times Prince]

Since you removed the automatic gratuities, your room steward could not keep what you gave him and he had to put it into the same pool that all the automatic gratuities go.

 

You may have thought you were rewarding him, but you were not.

I can confirm this from a conversation with a Hotel Manager, the steward's boss. This is the way the system works. And should they not report the cash tip, they can be fired.

 

Is there a better way other than cell phones to communicate with your kids on the ship? Would walkie talkies work on a ship?

Cell phones should be put into airplane mode and left that way to avoid massive roaming charges from your provider. Princess once had a program to rent walkie talkies for family communications - I don't know if they still do.

 

Be sure to set up a check-in system with your children - e.g. Meet at the cabin at <time> for brief conversation about what we're doing next.

 

Keep your packing fairly minimal, but meds and some emergency supplies are good to have, especially if you get scrapes from coral while swimming at your ports. Extra over the door hangers are really not needed. We bring some new kitchen plastic garbage bags for dirty clothes, and various smaller bags for organization. There is an amazing amount of storage space in a cabin, so be prepared to allocate some for each occupant of your cabin.

[Thrak]

You didn't mention what type of cabin you are getting. If you have an interior cabin they are DARK when the lights are off. When you wake up it's impossible to know if it's 4:00 AM or 10:00 AM.

 

If you turn the TV on and set it to the bridge cam station then it stays dark at night but, as the sun comes up, the screen gets lighter until you can actually see the picture from the camera again.

 

A small night light in the bathroom can also be helpful.