Tipping: U.S., Europe, and "Cruise"

[oldr_n_wsr]

The nice part about a cruise is your hotel room moves with you. No unpacking/packing every place you visit.
Plus you don't need to get recommendations about which resturants are good.

[dgs49]

Speaking of restaurants on a cruise ship, a tangent...

It drives me crazy how they are constantly digging at you to get more of your money on a cruise. On my latest, there were two actual restaurants that the passengers could use "for free," along with the "cattle call" cafeteria. Five other restaurants were extra cost, anywhere from $15 to $25 extra dollars per person, per meal.

And the excursions (provided by the cruise lines) are outrageously expensive. It is no wonder that other companies are trying to horn in and take away some of that business. The outside companies are providing the excursions for half of what the cruise lines charge, and it's STILL way too much.

[rubato]

So...the question is, how do you want to experience a place, given the limitations of time and money that virtually all people have?

For example, it is said that to experience the Louvre takes at least a month. Paris, another month. The rest of France, another month.

But you have a couple thousand dollars to spend and a nine-day vacation "week" (counting both weekends), and you want to see "France."

I gave the Louvre 2 hours, and Paris four days, and that was plenty. Give me 8 hours and a HOHO ticket, and I'll discover everything I need to know about just about anyplace.

Spent a week in Paris and going back again for more next year. I don't recall the hours but 1 day in the D'Orsay and 1 in the Louvre were not enough; Both have good restaurants. I can't imagine seeing more than a fraction of Paris in a month. The Bateau-Bus was a great deal. We'll probably go to the southwest of France for the 2nd week instead of Normandy.


yrs,
rubato

[rubato]

The nice part about a cruise is your hotel room moves with you. No unpacking/packing every place you visit.
Plus you don't need to get recommendations about which resturants are good.

I agree. If the rest of your life is very scheduled and hectic it is really nice to just unpack once and be done. It is very nice to sit outside and watch the Alaska coast go by.

yrs,
rubato

[rubato]

You learn a lot of new things too. You can tell by the large numbers of purpose-built craft in Antwerp (or between Antwerp and the ocean) how important the canal systems built more than a century ago still are to transport in N. Europe. Just the shape and numbers of vessels tell you this. We saw a few on the Seine in Paris but the numbers there didn't really tell the tale. You also got to see how the design has been adapted to modern needs and uses; there was typically a small car on the back deck presumably for the use of the captain at each stop.

yrs,
rubato

[oldr_n_wsr]

I went on the Alaskan cruise (inner passage) twice.
Once with the in-laws and once with my whole family (dad, brother and family, sister and family.....)