What mistake did you make on your first cruise

[PatsyAnne]

Giving half of my crab to DH!

 

 

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Correction. I forgot my first cruise was decades before when I was 21. I can't think of any mistakes.

Edited January 18, 2017 by PatsyAnne

[swin26]

Booking only ship excursions and not searching out independent tours.

[PDXgranny]

Choosing itinerary over cruise line.

 

 

That's something that I hadn't given a lot of consideration to. But I had heard wonderful things about HAL, and we've always wanted to see the Panama Canal. The size of the ship was important. The huge huge new ships don't appeal to me.

[RuthC]

Misunderstanding that "Tipping not required" is not at all the same as "No tipping". :o

To this day I wish I could find Basri (my dining steward), and my cabin steward (can't remember his name) and make it up to them. :(

[PDXgranny]

Misunderstanding that "Tipping not required" is not at all the same as "No tipping". :o

To this day I wish I could find Basri (my dining steward), and my cabin steward (can't remember his name) and make it up to them. :(

 

 

Ruth, is it appropriate to wait until end of cruise to tip our cabin steward or should we tip him daily?

[RuthC]

Ruth, is it appropriate to wait until end of cruise to tip our cabin steward or should we tip him daily?

Now that HAL has a Hotel Service Charge, there is no need for further tipping---that is, unless you want to.

 

I usually have such fabulous service from my cabin steward (and dining steward, for that matter) that I do want to. I bring "Thank You" note paper w/envelopes with me, write a personal note mentioning something special they did, and include a "little extra" in that at the end of the cruise.

[jtl513]

Not bringing clothes pins or bag clips to hold curtains closed. We were on a 14 day Alaska cruise and it seemed like the sun never set.

If you ever find yourself in a similar situation again, one or two of the closet hangers with two clips works well!

[mamaofami]

 

 

On our first cruise we flew in on the same day and I way over packed. Since then, we fly a day or two in advance and I've pretty much figured out the clothing. Like Ruth, I didn't know that tipping included didn't mean no tipping. Now, if I've received good service, which I almost always do, I tip extra the last day. Live and learn.;)

[MoonflowerGirl]

After 2 cruises my husband and I discovered that joining the "spa" meant that we had access to hot tubs, pools, heated rock lounges, special shower areas, discounts on services, etc. We now board and run right to the spa to book for the entire cruise.

[packercruising]

Choosing a tiny cabin with beds that flipped over to sofas during the day.

 

What ship was that?:cool:

[DoggyDaddy]

How much would "a little extra" be for the room stewards and waiters (fixed seating) on a daily basis? I don't want to be cheap but do want to be reasonable. Does anyone tip the waiters in the open seating area?

 

DD

[Toad]

Not taking advantage of all the suite amenities, paying too much by not shopping around, flying in the day of, not realizing if my fish was under done It could be returned without offending anyone, over packing..... And probably lots more

 

 

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[packercruising]

How much would "a little extra" be for the room stewards and waiters (fixed seating) on a daily basis? I don't want to be cheap but do want to be reasonable. Does anyone tip the waiters in the open seating area?

 

DD

 

Totally up to you. Generally normal service = normal gratuity. If you prepay gratuities no more is needed. We always seem to find better than normal. :)

 

Back on topic, our first HAL cruise was 2005, too long ago for me remember mistakes. :rolleyes:

[PDXgranny]

Being dazzled by those getting awards for 100 days of cruising at a Mariners Luncheon (guess this was our second cruise) - wow I said, how could anyone be so lucky to reach 100 whole days on a cruise ship. Impossible.

 

And it seems in an eye blink, we are now over 350 days. Like a lot of good advice, one does it one day at a time. I couldn't have been more mistaken this would be an impossible dream. As we will reach over 400 cruise days before the year is over. So I still pinch myself a lot.

 

 

We are brand new to the cruising world. I had no idea that some people actually have over 100 cruises under their belts. That is too awesome!!

[PDXgranny]

Totally up to you. Generally normal service = normal gratuity. If you prepay gratuities no more is needed. We always seem to find better than normal. :)

 

Back on topic, our first HAL cruise was 2005, too long ago for me remember mistakes. :rolleyes:

 

 

Would a $60 tip be reasonable for a 15 day cruise for normal service?

[Skoogs]

I took $600 in travelers checks! For a 7 day Hawaiian cruise. The year was 1994, The cruise line was the American Hawaii and the ship was the S.S. independence. My wife, 10 year son and 13 year old daughter and myself, shared a "family" cabin, 1 full bed, 1 couch that laid flat as a bed and a cot wedged in the middle. The room became one big bed every night! It was a fantastic trip and I'm glad we did it. Time flys.

 

 

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[donaldsc]

None actually. My 1st cruise on the Lewis R French was one of the best.

 

DON

[rajkr74]

Our first cruise we went to the front desk and lowered the daily tips (Hotel Service charge), then made individual tips to our dinning wait staff and room stewards. Unknown to us, because of lowering the daily tips, those individual tips could not be kept by the staff but had to go into "pot" for all service staff. So now we leave the daily tips on our account untouched and tip exceptional staff service accordingly. This way those staff that we give extra tips to get to keep those tips and they also share in the main tip pool. We have always received great service from staff and find rewarding them extra no problem.

 

Hey, I see you will be on the Rotterdam this month and we will be on her the end of March. Sorry we have never been on her so can't give you any suggestions.

Edited January 19, 2017 by rajkr74

[PDXgranny]

Our first cruise we went to the front desk and lowered the daily tips (Hotel Service charge), then made individual tips to our dinning wait staff and room stewards. Unknown to us, because of lowering the daily tips, those individual tips could not be kept by the staff but had to go into "pot" for all service staff. So now we leave the daily tips on our account untouched and tip exceptional staff service accordingly. This way those staff that we give extra tips to get to keep those tips and they also share in the main tip pool. We have always received great service from staff and find rewarding them extra no problem.

 

Hey, I see you will be on the Rotterdam this month and we will be on her the end of March. Sorry we have never been on her so can't give you any suggestions.

 

 

Yes, Rotterdam next week - first cruise ever. You're from Springfield - we're from Portland.

Thanks for sharing about tips. We're leaving the daily tips as is and will tip our steward at end of cruise.

[Scrapnana]

This was not on my first cruise but on my first world cruise. I thought it was wonderful that we had a self-service laundry - I could save so much money doing the wash myself. I did this for about 8 weeks. Go to the laundry - wait for a washer (could be as much as an hour) - wait for washer to finish - wait for dryer (again maybe an hour wait) - wait for dryer to finish - oops, clothes still wet, add a few minutes to dryer - press the couple of things that need it - lug it back to cabin - hang or fold everything and put it away. All of this took 3-4 hours of my time.

 

Then I saw the light. If I really want to wash clothes, I can do it at home - as much as I want, whenever I want. Can I watch the see, smell the salt air, swim in the pool, play trivia, go to a lecture, etc. every day at home? NO! So now I pay a few dollars and my clothes are collected, washed, ironed, put on hangars and delivered to my cabin and I have not wasted my precious cruising time.

[Copper10-8]

Took an inside cabin on the good ol' Viking Serenade; after that 1st one, we got a porthole. Then slowly graduated to a window and then a balcony thanks to upgrades - They know what they're doing ;)

[rajkr74]

Would a $60 tip be reasonable for a 15 day cruise for normal service?

 

I pulled up your HAL itinerary for your cruise on 1-28-17 and see that you will be in Puerto Vallarta MX on the 1-31-17. We are also in PV on that same day staying in a time share condo two blocks from the cruise ship dock. :eek:

 

Also, we have some friends we met on another cruise that sent us pictures of the Rotterdam that I have been posting on our CC Roll Call page. Here is the link to the first pictures I posted. We have also done the Panama canal but in the opposite direction that you are taking. You will love the experience. We enjoyed it so much we have done it twice....:D

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2336918&page=29

 

If you page forward to other pages, I have more photos that you can see. I posted more pictures on pages forward of this page. They were taken in the spring of 2016 as our friends went on the Rotterdam to Norway.

 

Sorry for high jacking this thread....:o

 

Rick

 

[PDXgranny]

this was not on my first cruise but on my first world cruise. I thought it was wonderful that we had a self-service laundry - i could save so much money doing the wash myself. I did this for about 8 weeks. Go to the laundry - wait for a washer (could be as much as an hour) - wait for washer to finish - wait for dryer (again maybe an hour wait) - wait for dryer to finish - oops, clothes still wet, add a few minutes to dryer - press the couple of things that need it - lug it back to cabin - hang or fold everything and put it away. All of this took 3-4 hours of my time.

 

Then i saw the light. If i really want to wash clothes, i can do it at home - as much as i want, whenever i want. Can i watch the see, smell the salt air, swim in the pool, play trivia, go to a lecture, etc. Every day at home? No! So now i pay a few dollars and my clothes are collected, washed, ironed, put on hangars and delivered to my cabin and i have not wasted my precious cruising time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

yes!!!!!!!!

[PDXgranny]

I pulled up your HAL itinerary for your cruise on 1-28-17 and see that you will be in Puerto Vallarta MX on the 1-31-17. We are also in PV on that same day staying in a time share condo two blocks from the cruise ship dock. :eek:

 

Also, we have some friends we met on another cruise that sent us pictures of the Rotterdam that I have been posting on our CC Roll Call page. Here is the link to the first pictures I posted. We have also done the Panama canal but in the opposite direction that you are taking. You will love the experience. We enjoyed it so much we have done it twice....:D

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2336918&page=29

 

If you page forward to other pages, I have more photos that you can see. I posted more pictures on pages forward of this page. They were taken in the spring of 2016 as our friends went on the Rotterdam to Norway.

 

Sorry for high jacking this thread....:o

 

Rick

 

 

 

Great photos - thank you! Enjoy PV!!

[donaldsc]

Would a $60 tip be reasonable for a 15 day cruise for normal service?

 

I assume that you mean $60 extra in addition to the standard daily recommended tip that is put on your daily charges. If so, that is more than generous.

 

If you mean that you plan to remove the standard daily tip and just tip $60 for the 2 of you, that is insultingly low. If you tip at the recommended level of $12.50 per person per day, that comes out to be $375, not $60.

 

DON