Ventura tips

[lynfra]

Can anyone who has been on Ventura please give me an idea on the tipping? The booklet is not as clear as it might be.

 

Also we are going to the carribean---is it worth taking our own dollars with us to spend on the islands or is the exchange rate on the ship OK?

 

If anyone has done any excursions we'd be interested to hear how they went.

 

We go on Feb 13th, two balcony cabins which have been upgraded to Riviera deck (very nce of them!). I think it is half term so may be lots of kids but that seems to be an occupational hazard so no problem.

 

Also have freedon dining.

 

thanks for any info.

 

lynn

[stopgo]

Hi Lynfra. Welcome to the wacky world of the CruiseCritic messageboard. As regards tipping, the main person to tip is the cabin steward. There is a service charge if your freedom dinning, so only tip the waiter if you feel you want to. There are guidelines about tipping in your cabin, but what you tip is up to you. I would take dollars with me, and yes the excursions

are a little on the expensive side. Somebody will be along later to go into it in more detail, but for the moment I have something boiling away in the kitchen.

[Gerrym]

Hi Lynfra. Welcome to the wacky world of the CruiseCritic messageboard. As regards tipping, the main person to tip is the cabin steward. There is a service charge if your freedom dinning, so only tip the waiter if you feel you want to. There are guidelines about tipping in your cabin, but what you tip is up to you. I would take dollars with me, and yes the excursions

are a little on the expensive side. Somebody will be along later to go into it in more detail, but for the moment I have something boiling away in the kitchen.

 

A bunny?

 

 

:D

[Norfolk Brit]

A bunny?

 

I expect it's done by now...

 

Sir Martin

[stopgo]

Sorry Lynfra I thought somebody would have posted the revelent information by now. I can only suggest you continue reading through the topic board, I know there is plenty of Ventura information posted.

[Elaine0138]

Lynfra

 

if you are on Freedom dining the waiters tips are automatically added to your bill you just need to tip your cabin steward in cash at the end of your cruise.

 

Take your own dollars or if you are making a big purchase just use your CC.

 

I don't think the excursions are worth the money, you can do things cheaper by yourself, and with a bit of research can have things booked with private companies before you go.

[supered]

I would echo most of what has been said above.

 

There are 3 islands you are visting that we went to in November where we did ship's excursions that we thought were good value for money and couldn't be done that much cheaper.

 

In Antigua we did Tropical Trails, which is a 4x4 trip with an extensive beach stop at Turners Beach. Swimming here was lovely and there was beach bar. It was a lot of fun.

 

In St Lucia we did the Beach ATV tour which was quite expensive but well worth it. Both scary and a lot of fun at the same time as you take quad bikes up rocky hills and down again, through mud and over sand dunes (the best fun of all). It includes a rest stop and allows you to go to the private beach and cool off. As it's on the Atlanatic coast you can't really swim as the breakers bring you back in but the water was amazingly warm! It was all on private land.

 

In St Maarten we did the Under Two Flags tour, which at £20 was good value for money for a half day sighseeing tour. You have the option to be dropped in Philipsburg at the end. Although the centre of town is only a short walk or water taxi ride away. I wouldn't really recommend doing the ATV tour here as it is on public roads some of the time. In St Lucia it was all off road so that was better in my opinion.

 

In Dominca we did River Tubing which was also a lot of fun where we rode the rapids down the river. It was quite exhilarating at times.

 

I know there are tours that are not value for money but we thought these were all very good.

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

 

Eddie :)

[owena]

Can anyone who has been on Ventura please give me an idea on the tipping? The booklet is not as clear as it might be.

 

Also we are going to the carribean---is it worth taking our own dollars with us to spend on the islands or is the exchange rate on the ship OK?

 

If anyone has done any excursions we'd be interested to hear how they went.

 

We go on Feb 13th, two balcony cabins which have been upgraded to Riviera deck (very nce of them!). I think it is half term so may be lots of kids but that seems to be an occupational hazard so no problem.

 

Also have freedon dining.

 

thanks for any info.

 

lynn

 

 

Hi Lynn,

 

We are also on this cruise. Where are you flying from? We are flying from Manchester at 9.25 with some friends. We also have two balcony cabins on C Deck. Our TA says it's a very popular cruise and there are approx 300 children onboard.See you on the 13th

 

Owena