Thanks Larry, all the comments have been very helpful. We set off on 28th August - Nieuw Amsterdam.

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Australians don't tip. We pay our bar staff, waiters, etc a full living wage, extra at night and on weekends. To pay someone a tip is highly unusual. To expect a tip is frowned upon. To leave change on a bar is to invite bar staff to exclaim "hey, you left your change".
An acquaintance tells me to get $50 in singles to use buying drinks. So a beer for me and a glass of wine for my wife is what? Per drink, per round, per session (say about 3 drinks each). What about other ship staff?
The tip charge covers all your tipping requirements on a cruise - and most cruiselines are cash-less so certainly no need to throw $1 bills around to everyone. Often the bar charge includes a tip - look at the bill - or you have the option to add it to amount charged to your cabin.
What I have found a better idea than tipping cabin steward at the beginning of the trip - after the first night leave $5-10 with a short note thanking them for how nice the cabin is - and this is the perfect time to ask for extra pillow, etc that you might need. We find that by doing so we get a little extra service for the remainder of the cruise. travel from hawaii to fiji If it is a longer cruise, you can repeat this tip mid-cruise.
If you want to laugh at tipping "requirements" - go to some other countries (Egypt comes to mind) where we found it was the custom to truly tip for everything, often the equivalent of a half dollar or so - tip the guy who opens the door for you, tip the guy who closes it, etc. We even had to tip the camel guy to get our daughter off the camel.
On most cruise ships, the only tips I ever give out in cash are to the room service waiters. Otherwise, reasonable 15% gratuities are built into the cost of drinks, spa services, etc. (Just as in Australia, though we tend to break those out into separate line items, but the principle is the same.)
The reason the service is billed separately is because most cruise lines supplement the meager supplements of their staff with these service fees. They want the price of the cruise to look lower; it's not as if the service fees are optional. They're not.
I do tip extra sometimes to bartenders, even though I know a gratuity is built in. I don't tip every time I get a drink or a huge amount - but the extra tips seem to help in getting me prompt service, even when the bar is very crowded. The bartenders also remember your name and what your drink of choice travel from hawaii to fiji is, which is nice.
J3. How long is your cruise? At $25.00 per day assuming travel from hawaii to fiji there are two of you and at $800.00 that about 32 days. Nice cruise. I would just enjoy it and not worry about the tips. If you can afford a 32 day cruise you can afford the tips. No worries.
Agree with all your advice except distributing US $ as onshore tips, unless the cruise is docked in a port where dollars are accepted par value currency--the travel from hawaii to fiji US, many places in the Carribean, Bermuda, possibly Canada.
If on a Med or European cruise, tip onshore in the local currency or use a credit card. Dollars are very dfficult to change and small amounts, if accepted for exchange, would yield about 60-70% of the actual exchange value, if that.
In Australia, casual bar staff wages is just over AU$19 per hour if they work weekends or more than 9 hours over a normal travel from hawaii to fiji week (40 hrs) they get a 200% loading. The average salary for a Cook, Restaurant travel from hawaii to fiji is AU$48,751 per year.
Jacketwtch If you can afford a 32 day cruise you can afford the tips. Yes, its our 1st Cruise its been on our bucket list for many years, travel from hawaii to fiji and as we are in our mid 70s we decided we d better do it without delay. We just want to do the correct thing, and not be embarrassed.
With the daily charge travel from hawaii to fiji for tips, there is no reason to be embarrassed at all should you choose not to tip anything additional. Well, except for room service delivery, which IMO should be tipped outside of the daily charge.
J3 thanks for coming back and explaining. I suppose its safe to say don't believe everything you see on TV. . I am just now semi-retired from the medical field putting in 35 yrs. as an RN and I say with utter certainty don't believe what you see on TV hospital dramas. its a joke.
As for the cruise just relax and enjoy it. Your tips are paid already and you need not pay anymore unless you want to. We usually pay some extra to our cabin stewards and waiters as they normally work very hard and it shows but thats up to you. Dayenu gives good advice about what to tip if you use room service which is free by the way.
You never use cash on a cruise. You will get a card with your name and some sort of number on it and every time you but anything, even a soda you must use this card. Cash is not accepted for purchases so keep that card with you at all times. You also need it to exit and return to the ship so this is the most important thing you need. On most cruises you can view your bill on your in cabin TV set.
I do hope you have a great time and enjoy your first cruise and if there is anything else you want to know just ask. I tried to cover some basic points but again ask away as you see fit and have a great time. What cruise line are you taking and where does it cruise to?
Thanks Larry, all the comments have been very helpful. We set off on 28th August - Nieuw Amsterdam. My kids have bought me an IPod mini bless 'em. Will I be able to use it on board to use the internet?
We still didn't get access while at sea, but as our cruise was in a port on all but 2 days of the 14 day cruise, we just waited till the ship docked then we were able to use our connection until we upped anchor again.
DH tells me that the Globalgig rates aren't as good now as when we joined up - maybe others will know of better servers. If you do go with a server other than what the ship provides, make sure they cover the countries you'll be visiting. Di
I am cruising in August/September on Dawn Princess which is homeported in Sydney travel from hawaii to fiji and charges in Australian dollars. travel from hawaii to fiji Are the tips included?? I never thought about it before reading this. I will look in my paperwork for the cruise to see what is said but wondered if someone could give me a quick answer.
travel from hawaii to fiji You can use it but check the prices as di noted. They do add up and if the connection is slow they its even more. For most lines is around 0.75 cents per minute but if you buy packages then its much less. Check with HAL to see. Have a great time!
On Princess tips are not included. They either ask you to pre-pay, or add to your invoice every day, this depends on dinners - if you chose "any time" dining, tips are pre-paid, if fixed - they will add to the invoice.
Jim, check with your phone service provider how much the charges are. The cruise company may not know, or have incorrect information. I saw posts from people who had to pay several hundreds US dollars for using phones at sea.
@JaneB: I had read that Princess changed travel from hawaii to fiji their tipping policy for ships based in Australia because of the whole Australians-don't-tip thing, but I suspect it's just a pre-pay option as Dayenu explains. What I don't know is whether travel from hawaii to fiji the pre-pay is included in the fares for folks who book in Australia.
I cruise solely with Princess, so don't know about HAL's policy. When you first get onboard, you can stop at the front desk and ask that the automatic tipping charges be removed. That way, you can elect to tip whom you want and for how much. You would probably end up tipping about the same, but that will put it in your hands if you want to be more generous in some areas. Keep in mind, the automatic tipping policy has it's pluses and minuses. If you remove the automatic feature, then none of the back-staff (cooks, cleaners, etc.) will be included. I believe they should be all be paid up front for what they deserve according to their job, but, alas, it doesn't work that way. Most of them rely on those tips which get sent home to support families.
I don't have a problem with paying the tips if they have not been included with the cost of the cruise. I wish we did not need to tip and workers were paid a decent wage without travel from hawaii to fiji having to rely on the kindness of strangers.
All good stuff - thanks to all. I went to a info meeting this week about my specific cruise/line. More of a salesman sell I thought. travel from hawaii to fiji She said (like many of you) just pay the daily rate automatically and don't tip. She recommended that you take your internet stuff onto the land as everybody now has free wi-fi. Also said a bag of laundry will cost $20 and you can stuff a lot into the bag if you roll the items up. Small stuff she suggests are best stomped on in the shower and hung up on the provided line. Most docksides have an ATM to draw local currency or in town but she said most port cities are very inexpensive.