Land & Sea but no package (Dream 01/21-24 2022) (final update!)

[Lizgistix]

Sunday!! pt 1 Let's have a sea day

A mere 48 hours before the cruise, we all found out our stop in Nassau had been cancelled. Maybe it was because of covid. Maybe it was because of the Crystal cruise ship trying to disembark passengers before the Feds seized it. Who knows. So today would have been Castaway Day but with the Nassau cancellation, Castaway was moved to Saturday, and Sunday would simply be a sea day. So let's....SEA...what today brings!
(see what I did there?)

So for some unknown and illogical reason, I booked a Fire and Ice pedicure for 8am.
I don't know why. I don't do 8am. I don't even do 8am when I'm at Disney World. What am I doing up at this hour?!
Actually, what am I doing at the ungodly hour of 6am, because that's what I set my alarm to. And then right on the dot at 6:30 there was a knock on my door. Room service! Continental breakfast time!

I was still half asleep, which is why I didn't take any pictures, but believe me, that tray was full. Which is weird because I didn't order much. I think a muffin or two, bowl of fruit, orange juice and coffee. Everything was fine, even the coffee. Of course the down side of room service is trying to figure out how to get that tray outside the door without knocking everything over or locking yourself out of the room. My genius plan was to set it down, open the door, and then slide it out into the hallway. Yes, it worked. I'm sure there's an easier way. This is my first time, okay?

I got ready (sort of) and went up to Senses for my pedicure. It was nice, I guess. I'm tall, so the seat doesn't go back far enough for tall people. I spent most of it in weird and uncomfortable positions. The massage was okay. It was an expensive pedicure, basically. Good view out the windows, though. I ran into Pete and Frederico in the spa, so that was nice. But yeah, next time I'll skip the pedi probably. On the other hand, since it's upscale, I can safely assume the facility is very clean and I don't have to worry about getting an infection. So an expensive pedicure with a side of peace of mind, basically.

I hung out here a lot (today and in general) until it started getting close to 11. Mama needs food! I didn't know if counter service opened at 10:30 or 11, so I walked down and scoped out my seat. I also grabbed my Tervis that I brought from home for the free soda. I would end up using this a lot today.

The Currents staff saw a lot of me during this 3-day cruise. Don't worry, I tipped them all for drinks and a little bonus tip later this evening.

Counter service didn't open until 11, and apparently I wasn't the only one hungry. I actually had to wait for a small crowd to disperse!
Went back to Flo's again, this time for the turkey burger, bratwurst...and then fries and a fruit bowl.


The turkey burger I actually had to wait for. I guess they are cooked to order or they hadn't got around to making them yet. It was okay? I guess it's a better alternative to ground beef. I wasn't disappointed.
Until I tried the bratwurst. THEN I was disappointed. See, I'm from Wisconsin, and we boil our brats in cheap beer before putting them on the grill. Well, I guess Disney doesn't do it that way. I took one bite into this brat and thought to myself "this is definitely not a Johnsonville brat." So that was a let down. And then there's the fries. Fries are fries.


And that was the fruit bowl. And my Tervis. I love my Tervis. (also available with Ursula or Evil Queen)

Also for s&g's, I decided to try the pizza. Is it good pizza? Is it bad pizza?
IS IT BETTER THAN PIZZERIZZO?!
That's the real question I wanted the answer to.

And the verdict is: it's on par with Pizzerizzo. It's not great. It's not terrible. It is a very average cheese pizza. Of course they had other options, and maybe those were better. Also, if it's kids eating this, they're probably not going to care. If the kid wants pizza, this will be fine. If you want something with a robust sauce and rich cheese, order out when you're back home.
DCL pizza: as good as Pizzerizzo.

Okie doke, so now that I've been fed and I don't have anything to do until Mixology at 2p.....now what?
LET'S GO WALK AROUND AND EXPLORE!

I headed down to deck 5 for another reason coming soon and walked around a bit. I found the Blippity Dippity Bippity Boppity Boutique. But also nearby the 'tique was this!

A VIDEO GAME! I like video games.
See, there's a thingy on the side that controls the forward movement, and then the captain's wheel, and when you turn it, the ship on the screen turns!

Sorry for the fuzzy picture. It was so cute! I mean you basically drove around in circles (like Nascar) and ran into treasure chests on the shore. It was very simple but fun. Look out, GTA, here comes Grand Theft Scallywag!

But that's not what I came here for! It's certainly not because of the kids (beat it, rugrat!) It's for this!

That's right, buddy! I am going to grab my detective hat and magnifying glass and go solve a mystery!

Have you heard of this? Have you tried it? It's a fun little activity!
It's a quick set up, as well. You go through a quick introduction at the main HQ kiosk on deck 5 over near the kid's club area. You are assigned a badge, which has a unique symbol on the back, and you go around the ship finding clues.


I would probably describe this as part Pirates Adventure, part Wizards (what was the name of the card game in Magic Kingdom?) You follow a map to certain areas of the ship. Look for the symbol on the ground. Stand in front of the painting on the wall and hold up your detective card, which then activates the painting. Then you move your card around in front of the picture to do things like, wipe mud away, or unscrew a panel, or scan a flashlight, to discover clues to who the evil villian is in the mystery case you're trying to solve.

So here's one of the two maps available:

And then they also have marked the locations of the paintings to go find. They're almost all near the elevators, except for just a couple.

And then here's the list of suspects:

Sorry, this was my working copy. As you can see, I had crossed out the villains who I've ruled based on clues I've discovered while going around this ship.
It was a lot of fun! But unfortunately I had one painting left to find and it was on deck 5 forward, which was inaccessible from the kids club area. I went an alternative way to get to it and found the painting had been deactivated, so I was never able to find out who actually stole the 101 Dalmations (it wasn't Cruella!)
Well ain't that a kick in the you-know-where (and I know you know where). I wasn't in the mood to try the second case after not being able to complete the first case, so I headed back to my lounging area for a break before Mixology class.

Which we'll get to after these messages.

 

[Lizgistix]

Addendum to Sunday pt 1

Omg you guys. So I was in Senses getting my expensive pedi, right? And there's two ladies getting their hair done nearby. No biggie, right? Well, as I'm trying to be nosy but also mind my own business (don't figure out that logic), this guy comes in, dressed all official, like one of the head ship people, and goes up to the younger lady (like, in her 20s younger) and...

SETS DOWN HER VEIL ON THE CHAIR NEXT TO HER!

Oh. Em. Gee. There's going to be a wedding on the ship.

While I was walking around deck 5, I could see the small wedding party set up in the main atrium. I think they were still taking pictures elsewhere or something. Part of the elevator area was roped off (found out later it was so the photographer could take good pics while the bridal party were on the main atrium stairs). There was also a pianist playing beautiful Disney songs on the piano while everyone was waiting for the ceremony to begin. It was quite lovely, and there were people on various decks gathered to watch. I took a few casual glances but my hands were kind of full with the Tervis and the Detective Agency stuff that I was afraid ol' butterfingers was going to drop something and it would fall down into the main atrium and kill Aunt Becky or something. So to be safe, I casually looked over the balcony for a little bit at a time, and then I would keep walking. Better safe than ruin their day!

Okay, one more commercial and then it's back to the recap!

 

[Lizgistix]

Sunday pt 2 Let's mix some dranks!

4p was drawing near, so I made the trek from the forward of the ship alllllllll the way down to the aft, back to the bars for Mixology class. Actually, we, er, I would be going back to Skyline where the martini class was. And, I would be seeing Andy again, the bartender who did the martini class. At least it's a familiar setting with a familiar face.

The clientele seemed different for this one. The crowd seemed more laid back and ready to have some fun. I was ready to fine tune some of my bartending techniques. Heck, I already know how to make a layered shot. This skill would come in handy soon, but with a slight touch of chemistry DISNEY MAGIC!

Once again, the details are fuzzy with this one. Oddly enough, I remember less about this class than I did the martini class.
Drink number 1 - some lemony drink that was really sweet but was made better with the addition of prosecco to cut the sweetness. Wait, didn't we cover this in the martini class yesterday?


Drink number 2, a cinnamony drink I nearly chugged because it was so good. Seriously, I had to remember to put the glass down to take a picture before I drank it all. This one had a cinnamon stick in it. Oh! It also had the Earl Grey infused vodka from the martini class. I'm noticing some crossover here....


The martini drink from yesterday with the juice of an entire lemon in it. (A WHOLE LEMON?!) Yes, a whole lemon.


A really really yummy drink that I thought was a mudslide (I'm still embarrassed about blurting this out)
Why yes, that is a cocoa powder rim. Good catch if you noticed that, too, was part of a drink from yesterday's martini class.


And now we get to the mixology class participation portion. We gonna make a B-52 shot, buoys and gulls!
Also get a quick chemistry lesson about liquid weights and density. Science! We gonna get learned!
Okay! Left image is a shot glass with Kahlua and Grand Marnier. It's kind of hard to see the two because the one is very dark and the other is very light. Also the Grand Marnier is resting on top. How? Because it's less dense than Kahlua, and when poured slowly enough, will not mix but instead rest on top because Kahlua is a more dense liquid. This is science, kids.
The image on the right is Bailey's. Baileys is not as dense as Kahlua but more dense than Grand Marnier. So, practically, you'd want to slowly pour the Baileys on top of the Kahlua and THEN pour the Grand Marnier on top- of the Baileys. You're basically stacking liquids on top of each other from most dense to least dense. However, this is Disney, and there's chemistry Disney magic to be made here.



What we are going to do here is to carefully pour the liquid on the right into the shot glass on the left, and if you do it slowly and carefully enough, the Baileys will settle in BETWEEN the other two liquids.

drum roll please....

TA-DA!



Well, not my best work, but I've also never tried to pour a liquid between two other liquids. I usually do the stack one on top of the other method. You can see there was some clouding of the Grand Mariner and Baileys, but this is a good shot of the 3 separate layers. Pretty neat, huh?!
Then, of course, we got to drink it after toasting with the people next to us.

So that was Mixology. Andy even said this isn't how Mixology is normally. There's usually more hands-on stuff and it's quite the loud and lively class. In fact, it's only because of Covid that it's a small class size. Usually it's held in a different bar and upwards of 75 people with everyone getting a chance to come up to the bar to test out their skills. Still, there were some nice drinks to try, but no real mixology of sorts because of covid. Again, it was at Skyline, which has the cool changing skylines. $25 for 5 drinks, which isn't bad. Heck, I paid $18 for a shot of Fireball at Geyser Point last year, so by Disney prices, this B-52 was a bargain.

Tune in next time where I eat at Animator's Palate and the entire evening gets pretty rocky. And not in the Balboa way.

 

[Lizgistix]

Sunday pt 3 - Thar be rough seas ahead, matey!

This was weird. So we're cruising along back to Port Canaveral at I think a pretty slow pace. During the course of the weekend, we hit patches of rain every now and then but nothing too bad. However, this evening, we hit some rough seas. Like, keep a hand gliding along a handrail as you're walking rough. And lucky me! I was in the very front of the ship and I had to get to Animator's Palate which is in the very back of the ship. Who's ready for a walking adventure? Luckily the drinks from Mixology had worn off by then but it was still an interesting experience walking down the long hallway to get to the dining room. On the plus side, everyone was in the same boat (literally), so I wasn't the only one having a difficult time. The game plan was just be mindful of the ship movement and go from one handrail to another, and just be careful. Walking with a hand gliding along a handrail proved to be the best method for me. If things got a little weird, I could just firm up my grip on the rail and stop if needed. Along the way I passed a lady who I talked to hours ago dusting a stairwell and she recognized me and wanted to say hi. She was dusting some of the porthole window seats.

But you don't want to hear about that. You want to hear about dinner! So let's talk about dinner at Animator's Palate!



I guess I thought all Animator's Palates were the same. I thought dinner tonight would be the stick figure drawing and the room that goes from black and white to color. Apparently that's the Animator's Palate on another ship. This is the kind of cartoony Animator's Palate with Crush.



He'll be around eventually. For now, this is what the screen looks like. Love concept art! (Art of Animation has some great concept art in the lobby, too, but I digress)



And we love Mickeys in the carpet!

Okay, so let's get the bad appetizer out of the way. This was a tuna tartare, I believe. It said served with pickles, so I assumed what it was sitting on were the pickles, and I hate pickles. I just ate the tartare and it wasn't that great.


BUT THESE WERE AMAZING! Black truffle purseittes. I wasn't going to order this originally because I also hate mushrooms but I figured I could push them out of the way. These absolutely blew me away. Get these. Sure it's maybe 7 of them on the plate but they were so good!


Butternut squash soup, I think. This was also very good but I'm also a fan of teh butternut squash soup, so I'm biased.



The main course that was just okay. Lemon-thyme chicken with potato puree and roasted root vegetables. I mean, the chicken was nicely done, the flavors were there. The roasted veggies were alright. It just didn't blow me away like the other main I requested.


The better main: teh pork chop! With a tomato risotto and asparagus. Well you can just get that asparagus outta here, I'm not touching that. The risotto was different. I've never had risotto before and I was really looking forward to trying it after all the years watching Hell's Kitchen and their risotto. The pork chop, however, was delicious! Love me a good pork chop and this was firing on all cylinders. If I had a choice, I'd get this one over the chicken, but they're both good choices. I just liked this one much better.


Teh disappointing dessert: apple crumble rice pudding.
Now. Okay. Let's look at these seperately. Apple crumble - good. Rice pudding - good. You'd think both combined would be good, right?
Wrong. This was so disappointing. The flavors just weren't there for me, and I really wanted them to be.



The better dessert: the date cake. I don't have much experience with dates. They're not on my radar. Heck, I haven't even been on a date in years. This dessert, however, was a home run. Very good, very yummy. This was a fantastic dessert. Get this one.


Crush did come by at some point during dinner and we chatted a bit. It was cool how he would respond to my answers but also kind of weird talking to an animated turtle and feeling the pressure to say something funny or interesting. He put me on the spot and it was slightly awkward especially when people are watching you.

Also during the course of dinner, I saw one of my friends quickly walk in the direction of the bathroom. I would find out later the rough seas made her seasick. It caused me to pause and think about how I'm feeling. I decided after dinner I would head back to my room and take a Dramamine just to be safe. Hey, if I need it, it's in my system. If I don't need it, it'll be fine. While I don't think I needed it, having took one the ship movement wasn't as noticeable. I just wish I had put them in my bag before dinner because I would have handed them out to people who needed one. Apparently you can also get free motion sickness tablets from the medical center on the ship (which most people don't know about). I brought my own as a precaution.

The rest of the evening was spent dealing with the rocking of the ship. It wasn't really raining, it was just very windy and then the waves. I didn't really see many people that night. Pete had told me they were going to be down at Meridian after dinner but that was a long walk from the front of the ship where I was. I would eventually make that walk down to Meridian and found out from talking to a guy there that I missed Pete and his friends by about 15 minutes. So close! But then I talked to this guy outside of Meridian for an hour or two and had a nice time. He told me about his family, and I would see them the next morning before breakfast.

Eventually I returned to my room, My luggage had already been set out after dinner to be whisked away and taken off for me. I packed up any non-essentials for tomorrow, double checked the room and sat outside on the verandah for a spell. Then I went back inside and gave myself carpal tunnel filling out that survey that's left for you on your last night. So many bubbles to fill in.

Because my cpap only fits into my luggage, I had to pack that up early and set it outside, so I didn't have that to use as I crawled into bed.
I drifted to sleep feeling the motion of the ship and the thought that when I wake up the next morning, we'd be docked at Port Canaveral, and I'd have the same view as when I arrived to the room Friday afternoon.

Only one more trip report to write!
Monday, the disembarkation day and Animator's Palate breakfast. And all the final pictures I took before I left the ship.

 

[Lizgistix]

Monday - It's over!

I didn't want this day to come, but unfortunately it came. I set my alarm for early, showered, dressed, and packed up what little was still needing to be packed. Out on the verandah, I was greeted by the same view I had Friday afternoon. Yeah, some kind of Space rocket catcher boats or something. Idk. My friend who photographs launches knows more about this than I do. I took this picture for her, really.



I double checked the room and made sure everything that I didn't forget anything. I did plan to leave a few things behind. The loofah I brought from home that I never use, so I heard somewhere to bring it on a cruise and then toss it in the trash on your last day (extra room in your suitcase!). I also only brought 2 of the room decor hanging decorations. All 5 wouldn't fit into the suitcase, but hey, I have 2 for next time that I can hang up! I thought they added a cute touch to the room but I only had space for 2, despite them being flat. Maybe my room attendant can put them up in his room! Or prank one of his friends and put it up in their room. Or show a lovely lady a little attention and decorate her room.

I said goodbye to the room (it's a thing I do) as I took one last look before closing the door. Then I headed up to the top deck since I still had about 45 minutes before breakfast. I stopped into the Cove Cafe for some coffee and gave out one of my last remaining bills for tips. I'll talk about that at the end. I also snapped a few last minute pics since the lido deck was basically empty except for a few people. Apparently people either really wanted breakfast or really wanted to leave. I didn't want to leave yet.

I ran into Pete on the top deck and I told him I think he under-sells the level of service on the ship. He said the service is phenomenal. I told him I thought the service was stellar. I still stand by this. Eventually all the smoking areas had to be closed off so the ship could begin the "refueling process". What, you don't just pull up to the pump and put $20 in?




I never did get a good picture of the funnel vision until today, which is a shame because it's huge! I took what few pictures I could before it was time for breakfast at Animator's Palate. Took the aft elevator down to deck 3 and it was basically a zoo. Everyone standing around and waiting for the dining room to open. It does have an interesting entrance way. Foyer? I don't know what it's called.



Apparently my server saw how much was in his tip envelope (more on that later) because he was waiting at the front of the restaurant. When the restaurant opened, I was going to wait for people "in line" to go ahead and get seated first but my waiter called out to me. "Liz! Liz! Right this way! Follow me!" Well alrighty then!

He sat me at my table and we chatted for a bit. The assistant server came by as well and asked what I wanted to drink. Coffee and orange juice, please! I took a look at the menu and decided on just two things for breakfast. Well, muffins came with, so I'm not passing up muffins. But I tried two things that seemed really different.

First, the open-faced barbecue chicken omelet. I've never had barbecue chicken in an omelet before, and to be honest, it seemed so odd that I felt I had to try it. The barbecue was sweet and it was an odd thing for breakfast but I was kind of digging it. Barbecue for breakfast, who knew?


And the other thing: a bagel with lox! I've never had lox. I've heard of lox, but never had it. This too was very unique and different. I didn't hate it, but it wasn't my favorite. I like trying new things, though, and expanding my culinary horizons. I sound so snobby when I say that, I apologize. It was different. Basically thinly sliced raw salmon that you put on a bagel, along with different shmears of flavors, like cream cheese and what not.


I thanked my serving team for their hard work and spectacular service. I wished them well, as I wasn't sure when I would be seeing them again. My original plan was to take another cruise next year, but that would be on the Wish. I may book another last minute 3-night on the Dream this year but that's iffy. Either way, just in case I don't see these guys again, it was great having them and great being served by them, and I wished them the best.
On the walk out of Animator's, I spotted this statue of Jiminy, so of course I had to take a picture.


I was able to meet up with most of my friends before they left the ship. Pete and I had a pleasant goodbye. I bid a fond goodbye and safe travels to his family (lovely people!). John (BigFatPanda), his partner, and I said our goodbyes and exchanged social media info. I hope to see them again. Turns out I would down at Customs and the walk to the parking garage elevator.

Leaving the ship was bittersweet. I had waited 2 years for this cruise and it was over in a weekend. Lots of excitement, anticipation, and preparation went into it. I could feel it coming. I took one last look around the atrium before I headed for the exit. They scanned my card and allowed me to keep it as a souvenir (or covid). I walked down the gangway and down the switchbacks to where the luggage was. Finding my luggage was very easy to find as there wasn't many bags left. I purposefully put loud luggage straps on them so they'd stand out since I've heard horror stories of seas of bags people had to search through to find theirs. Mine were just sitting there waiting. I opted to skip the luggage porter this time, besides, they seemed to be having a conversation amongst themselves and I didn't want to bother them. I grabbed my two bags and headed to customs. After arriving, I simply handed over my passport, the dude did something in his computer, and welcomed me back to the US. That was it! Then I headed outside, up the escalator, across the walkway and to the elevator to go up a floor.

As I got to the elevator, I saw John and partner getting in. As the door closed they yelled out to me. I caught the next elevator going up and as I exited, I saw them at their car. "Was I going up, John? Yes."

I walked to the rental, loaded up the car, flung the backpack into the passenger seat, and then drove up to the top floor for one last moment.




And then I cried.
It was a whirlwind of a weekend. It was a lot of anticipation. It was a lot to look forward to and experience and now it's over and it's back to work in two days.

"Why did this cruise have to be so perfect?" I asked myself. Indeed, it was a perfect vacation. I would say one of the best vacations I've ever had. From Thursday evening at the Fort Wilderness cabin doing nothing but drinking and sitting outside and enjoying the peace and quiet, to the cruise ship and it's moments of peace and quiet, to just the whole experience. I'd do it all over again. In a heartbeat.

Eventually I got into the car and left. I had to stop by work on the way home, so I made a special trip to the north-east Orlando area and then took the toll roads around downtown and eventually to I-4 where I drove back home and got the rental car returned before 2p.

Back to reality.

 

[Lizgistix]

Extra - my tipping strategy

Pete had mentioned more than once that the DCL ships (well, cruise ships in general right now) are operating at reduced capacity, so the staff are not receiving the amount of tips they normally do when the ships are at full capacity. As such, he implored that those of us going on cruises to be generous when it comes to those tip envelopes. He never gave a dollar amount or any general guidelines. I guess what he could have said is to tip more and be generous if you can, but stay within your means if you cannot or if it's not within your budget.

So I took that message to heart.
On the way over to the port, I stopped at my bank and withdrew $100. 2 $10 bills and the rest in $5s.
The $10s were for the luggage porters. One for embarkation day, the other on dembarkation day. I figured $5/suitcase was reasonable. Social anxiety got the best of me and I ended up not giving out that last $10 bill on dembarkation day. I had intentions of, but seeing all the guys standing there talking, I got nervous and just grabbed my suitcases myself. That one's on me.
Maybe if I had tipped a little more, my other suitcase would have been outside my stateroom door and not down the hall.

The remaining $80 in 5s were for tips for whomever. A lot of it went to the people at Currents. Any time I ordered a drink or a diet coke from Currents: Here's $5 cash. The drink was charged to my stateroom. The tip has handed to the server personally.
The guy who brought my room service - $5.
The guy who cleared my table at Cabanas - $5.
The guy at Meridian who got me a glass of water near closing - $5.
At the end of the cruise, I had some left over, so I tracked down all of the servers and bartenders at Currents and gave them an extra $5 just because.

Again, this is what I wanted to do, and I could afford to do it. You may be different. Don't feel pressured to do what I did.

Here's what I did with the 4 tip envelopes left in my room Sunday night. I went down to Guest Services to add amounts to it. It was slightly confusing because I wanted to add on to the current amount, so instead of just putting what I wanted to add on top of the automatic gratuity, I had to write down the total amount (automatic gratuity amount + what I wanted to add to it) for each person.
I broke it down like this:

Stateroom attendant - $13.50 (automatic gratuity) + $50.
Head server - $3.00 (automatic gratuity) + $30.
Server - $13.50 (automatic gratuity) + $50.
Asst. Server - $10.50 (automatic gratuity) + $50.

I felt these amounts were generous and I hoped that would help them out with the reduced capacity, or at least be a little less stressed about not making as much right now with covid.

The stateroom attendant did a fantastic job with my room, setting up the room decorations, making sure the bottled water I paid for was in the room and the gallon of distilled water was in the room as well. Towel animals every night, and Sunday he did a second towel animal for me, despite me insisting that he didn't have to because he's done enough for me already and has been a fantastic attendant.

The server did a fantastic job dealing with me and my multiple food orders. He was really nice to talk to and did a great job explaining things or letting me know about the next night's dinner and really just setting the stage each night. Again, well deserved.

The assistant server was phenomenal at making sure my drinks appeared at my table and bringing the bread and butter. We talked at length about my job and the process of becoming licensed for it. I don't know if he will eventually take my advice or not, but either way I wished him the best. Maybe I'll see him on the road in the future.

The head server....I don't really know what he did. He wore a suit and stood up near the front a lot. He looked important but again, I have no idea what his duties were. I saw him once every dinner and we made polite small talk. Since he probably oversees multiple servers, I assumed he was getting $3 from each of the tables my server was covering, plus however many other servers and their tables. I felt adding $30 was fair because he was probably getting a good $18-21 for each server he oversees. Plus, uh, I didn't see him doing much. Not like my server and assistant server.

At Senses, it was an 18% automatic gratuity, which I thought was a fair amount, so I didn't think about adding to that. Plus I wasn't really sure how to add to that. They just said "okay, you're done! your charges will be added to your stateroom account." Um, okay. Bye!

So that was how I handled tipping extra on this cruise. Again, I could afford to do it. If you can afford it, great. If not, that's fine too.
Be generous if you can, but stay within your budget and financial comfort zone. I cannot stress that enough.

Again, this is what I wanted to do, and I could afford to do it. You may be different. Don't feel pressured to do what I did.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

 

[Kariyaffa]

Thank you so much for this review! I also have a 3 day planned as my first cruise and it’s so hard to find good 3 day reviews. I really enjoyed this one.

 

[ThePies]

Thank you for the detailed breakdown of your tipping strategy! I'm always so anxious that I'm not tipping enough / in the right places. Loved reading your trip report, and I hope you get to cruise again soon!

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Such a fun read. Thanks!!