JohnG

Small ship fan here. The 690 pax R9's of Oceania, Azamara, Princess, and the Viking Ocean 963 pax ships.

Since the article was written by a Brit about people on ships sailing from Britain or a U.K owned line, (like P&O), they do things differently there. Typically no required gratuity and some people tip in a specialty restaurant. It is notable that tipping is not customary in many cultures other than North Americans. In Indonesia, if you try to tip a taxi driver, they may even insist you take it back.

First time cruisers need the advise.

"For those that say "Anything but Carnival"" View full cruise review

Today they reversed the rule on food restriction on removing it from restaurants. See the new posting on this today.

Travel Weekly, By Tom Stieghorst / May 26, 2015Norwegian Cruise Line said it will once again allow passengers to take food to their cabins from dining venues, reversing a month-old policy. Norwegian President Andy Stuart said the decision was made after getting considerable customer feedback from a number of channels. In particular, the issue became subject of in-depth discussion on the a cruise website, where a thread attracted more than 65,000 views. Passengers also called and wrote Norwegian and discussed the change on social media. Stuart said the ban came about after new Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Frank Del Rio toured one of the ships and observed piles of dishes and trays lining corridors and passenger spilling food on their way back to their cabins. It roughly coincided with the adoption of a new room service menu and a $7.95 delivery fee. Stuart said the idea behind the ban on restaurant food going back to the room was never about revenue, but rather about cleaning up the corridors and improving the passenger experience. “We’re changing the policy,” Stuart said. “We’re still going to fix the issue because the issue is the same,” he said. So instead of banning food, Norwegian will have more frequent inspections of the corridors so dishes get removed quickly. “It’s another good example of how we listen to customer feedback and act on it,” Stuart said. “We picked the wrong solution."

I am not trying to be cantankerous, just saying I didn't think Asiana might not be the airline of choice, based in its history. There was no reason to jump on me.

http://www.planecrashes.org/asiana-airlines-safety-record.html

My point was simply that Asiana might not be the airline of choice. Look at the links above.

Passengers[edit] Seat map indicating injuries and deaths Two 16-year-old girls with Chinese passports were found dead outside the aircraft soon after the crash, having been thrown out of the aircraft during the accident.[39][40][41][42][43] One was accidentally run over by an airport crash tender after being covered in fire-fighting foam.[44][39] On July 19, 2013, the San Mateo County Coroner's office confirmed that the girl was still alive prior to being run over by a rescue vehicle, and was killed due to blunt force trauma.[45][46] On January 28, 2014, the San Francisco city attorney's office announced their conclusion that the girl was already dead when she was run over.[47][48] Four flight attendants seated at the rear were ejected from the aircraft when the tail section broke off, and they survived.[49][10][50] Ten people in critical condition were admitted to San Francisco General Hospital and a few to Stanford Medical Center.[51] Nine hospitals in the area admitted 182 injured people.[52]San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes-White, after checking with two intake points at the airport, told reporters that all on board had been accounted for.[53] A third passenger, a 15-year-old Chinese girl, died of her injuries at San Francisco General Hospital six days after the accident.[54][55][56] Of the passengers, 141 (almost half) were Chinese citizens. More than 90 of them took Asiana Airlines Flight 362 from Shanghai Pudong International Airport, connecting to Flight 214 at Incheon.[57] Incheon serves as a major connecting point between China and North America. In July 2013, Asiana Airlines operated between Incheon (Seoul) and 21 cities in mainland China.[58] Seventy students and teachers traveling to the United States for summer camp were among the Chinese passengers. Thirty of the students and teachers were from Shanxi, and the others were from Zhejiang.[59] Five of the teachers and 29 of the students were from Jiangshan High School in Zhejiang; they were traveling together.[60] Thirty-five of the students were to attend a West Valley Christian School summer camp. The Shanxi students originated from Taiyuan,[61] with 22 students and teachers from the Taiyuan Number Five Secondary School and 14 students and teachers

I am not being disruptive, just remarking when you mentioned Asiana airlines that it has had problems. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiana_Airlines_Flight_214 http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/24/us/asiana-ntsb/index.html http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/runway-approach-not-normal-in-japan-crash-asiana-airlines-755473

My point is that Asiana has reported two incidents, a crash and another incident, including the one serveral were lost lost a year ago. They have reported that the Asiana staff has not been keeping up with certifications. I am not making this up. You can look it up yourself.

And Royal and Celebrity still have no permits for Glacier Bay, which is why I don't normally recommend them foe Alaska. Great land portion of their cruise tours, though.

They just extended it to the entire Norwegian fleet after a month's pilot program. And people seem to be overlooking that the continental breakfast, like coffee and pastry, is still free.