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Tips for Tipping on Cruise Ships

Tips. Gratuities. Service Charges. It's the cost of getting great service, but how much do you tip the waiter, butler and housekeeping personnel each day of your cruise vacation?

When it comes to tipping on a cruise ship, the recommendations and requirements vary only slightly by cruise line. Norwegian cruise lines points out that guests are "not obliged to offer a gratuity for good service", but they do recommend tipping a service provider that's gone above and beyond the call of duty to meet your needs. Celebrity Cruise Lines takes a different approach to the cruise tipping process, automatically adding gratuities to all restaurant and stateroom services and encourages guests to add extra if they feel they received exceptional service.

Most cruise lines encourage passengers to tip for services per person, per day, but tips can be rolled into the service charge or fee you pay as part of your cruise package.

If you need a general idea of how much to tip each individual who serves you, here's a breakdown based on recommendations per person, per day from Celebrity Cruise Lines, Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean International:

Suite Attendant: keeps your room clean and orderly, orders supplies and amenities, provides you with towels and fresh linens as needed, works with housekeeping staff and handles laundry and room service deliveries
Recommended tip: $5.75

Tags: Carnival Cruise Lines, CarnivalCruiseLines, Celebrity cruise lines, CelebrityCruiseLines, cruise, cruisetipping, luxist-awards, main-pedia, norwegian cruise line, NorwegianCruiseLine, Royal Caribbean Cruises, RoyalCaribbeanCruises, tipping, travel, traveltips, wintertravel-pedia

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How to Protect Valuables While Traveling

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Few things can ruin a trip faster than having something precious get lost or stolen. Although the best policy is to leave valuables at home while traveling (do you really need to bring those diamond earrings?), sometimes you just can't do without. When that's the case here's how to protect your irreplaceables while traveling:

Document your valuables before you leave for insurance purposes, in case the worst happens. Take a copy with you and leave one with someone at home.
Make a point to be (and look) alert Pickpockets and theives often target those who look preoccupied and innattentive.
Never pack valuables in checked luggage. Keep them with you in your carry-on instead.
Use see-through bags when packing your carry-on so the TSA inspectors can easily see what's inside without needing to directly handle the contents and potentially spill, drop, or pocket anything.
Don't put items loose into the TSA bin Anything small (like watches, cell phones, etc) should be put into a coat pocket, handbag, or ziplock bag to keep them together before going through security.
Always keep your carry-on as close to you as possible Make a point to stash it in the compartment either directly above or in front of your seat, if possible keep your most precious cargo in the bag that goes under the seat in front of you, and don't leave your carry-on behind when to go to the baggage carousel to pick up your luggage.
Have locks on everything You can't lock your carry-ons while they're going through security, or your checked luggage while it's on the plane, but having them locked at all other times (i.e. while your carry-on is stowed in the overhead compartment or your luggage is in the trunk of a taxi) can still help prevent theft.
Use the hotel room safe Locking items in your hotel room is all but worthless, and locking locked luggage in a hotel room isn't much better. Stash valuables in the room safe, hotel safe (even better), or if neither of those is an option you can always bring your own (check out Pacsafe).
Don't leave your luggage on a tour bus Just because everyone else is doing it, and the tour guide says it's okay, is no guarantee. Lock up any luggage you must leave behind and take all irreplaceable items with you.

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Tags: journeys, luxist-awards, main-pedia, summer-travel-pedia, summertravel-pedia, travel, travel tips, traveling, TravelTips, winter-travel-pedia, wintertravel, wintertravel-pedia

Dream of Italy at Christmas -- and Every Day in 2010

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Italy is one of those countries that seems to get a grip on the imagination and just doesn't let go. Kathy McCabe, publisher of the well-regarded travel newsletter Dream of Italy, says that 40% of her subscribers have been to Italy six or more times -- and they keep finding reasons to return.

Now, McCabe and her contributors have so much information to share that the monthly newsletter is overflowing. Starting in 2010, the site is launching a daily newsletter, "Italian Day Dreams", which will cover Italian food, wine, travel and lifestyle. "Italian Day Dreams" will be free, while an annual subscription to the monthly newsletter costs $99 if you receive it on paper, and $79 if you receive it online.

Sign up for the daily email and you'll also get a sumptuous gift: Christmas in Italy, a 35 page ebook filled with all you need to know about spending the holiday in a country that really knows how to celebrate, and I mean for an entire month -- the festivities start December 6th, with La festa di San Nicola (the feast of St. Nicholas) and continue through January 6th, L'Epifania, or Epiphany, which marks the arrival of the the three wise men to visit the baby Jesus.

Tags: christmas, ebook, holiday traditions, HolidayTraditions, italy, newsletter, travel, travel guide, travel tips, TravelGuide, TravelTips