u/GetCruiseInfo

Maybe unpopular but I kinda get why some cruise lines were experimenting with staff serving buffet food after covid lol

Because some of the stuff I’ve seen people do at cruise buffets is insane.

People touching food then changing their mind.
Kids grabbing stuff with bare hands.
Some guy coughing directly at the salad bar like he was trying to season it.

And don’t even get me started on the people that stare at the shrimp tray for 3 straight minutes digging through all of them looking for “better” shrimp 😂

BUT…

I also kinda hated the staff-served setup too.

Half the time it slowed everything down and turned into:
“little more”
“little more”
“ok too much”
“actually can I get the other mashed potatoes”

Part of cruising for me is just wandering the buffet grabbing random stuff without having a whole interaction every 14 seconds.

I feel, at this point, like I could make an argument for either or.

Feels like every time there’s a health headline now people immediately jump to “welp guess travel is dangerous again.”

Not even just cruises. Everything.

Meanwhile millions of people are flying, cruising, staying in hotels, eating in packed restaurants etc every single day and nothing happens.

I’m not saying people should ignore health stuff or act stupid. But the internet definitely turns every story into the end of the world for like 72 hours.

At some point you either live your life or you sit at home doomscrolling headlines all day lol

Am I the only one that thinks cruise casino offers make absolutely no sense anymore?

One person loses $200 and gets a free balcony while another person drops serious money and gets an “exclusive” offer that’s basically full price lol.

At this point I can’t even tell what the casinos actually reward anymore.

Anybody here figured out the trick?

Why?

How’d it go?

Across a wide variety of groups I keep running into people that either absolutely love cruising or they absolutely hate cruising and couldn’t be put on a boat at gun point.

Personally, I’ve never been on a bad cruise. I’ve had some that we’re definitely better than others for a variety of reasons.

What do you love about cruising?

What do you hate about cruising?

I was talking to someone earlier (again, real human conversation) who booked what looked like a “great deal” on a cruise…

and ended up right under the pool deck.

Early morning chair scraping, late night noise, constant footsteps.

It got me thinking—cabin choice seems simple when you book, but it can completely change the trip.

Inside vs balcony
High deck vs low deck
Near elevators vs far away
Mid-ship vs forward/aft

I’ve always just aimed for “somewhere in the middle and hoped for the best,” but I know people get way more strategic than that.

So now I’m curious—

What’s the best (or worst) cabin decision you’ve made?

Anything you’d never do again?

I (a real human) was talking to a guy (another real human) earlier today who was trying to figure out the “best” way to handle gratuities on a cruise and it actually made me realize how many different approaches people have.

He was debating between prepaying them, just letting them hit the account during the cruise, tipping cash as he goes instead, or even removing them at the end and handling it himself
And honestly… I didn’t have a clean answer for him.

I’ve always just kind of left them in place and not overthought it, but I know not everyone does that.

So now I’m curious…

How do you actually handle it when you cruise?

Do you just treat it as part of the cost, or do you actively manage how/when/if you tip?