Cruise Tips Continued !

So we have already covered cabins, destinations, and dress codes on board a cruise, so this week I thought we would talk about pre-paid gratuities and different dining options on board.

Gratuities :

To be honest, there is probably no topic more discussed and debated among novice and seasoned cruisers alike when it comes down to gratuities on board a cruise, it is hard to know what to pay and who to pay. Most cruise lines will automatically add their recommended gratuity amount to your on board account. This does save you the hassle of worrying how much to pay and who to pay. A lot of the time you have the option to now pay these before the cruise so it is one less thing to think about when on board. Some guest do prefer to pay gratuities at the end of their cruise to staff that they feel have offered them an exceptional service on board their cruise. If you do want to pay gratuities yourself and tip who you prefer you do need to advise the pursers office for them to take of the automatic gratuities charge off your on board account. Me personally I would say it is a personal preference.

Dining Options :

Most cruise liners offer three choices when it comes to dining at sea, you have the traditional set dining or what we call freedom dining.

Traditional dining means you have a set time each evening which is either, first dining at 6pm – 6.30pm or second dining which is 8pm – 8.30pm. If you opt for a particular time, this means you will be sat with the same people each evening for the duration of your cruise. You can also choose what size of table you would like to have. You can choose a table for 2,4,6,8 10 or even 12 on certain ships. Tables for 2 are very limited and can be requested at the time of booking. You will also have the same waiter throughout your sailing.

Now we have Freedom dining, or as some cruise liners call it (Freedom, Mytime, Select, Open, anytime, Choice and Freestyle) they all mean the same thing. This style of dining has been introduced to give guest more flexibility. With this dining you can eat at whatever time suits you, opening hours are normally 6pm to 9.30pm. This dining gives you the option to eat at what time suits you and not having to rush or wait around for your set sitting. You will receive the same menu however you don’t get the same waiter and you won’t be sat with the same people every night. This dining does work well and if you turn up one night and they haven’t got the table for 2 you wanted you will be sent away with a buzzer device and called back when your table is ready.

I do hope these little tips are helping, I will be back with more.