"Otis McNatt" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

My wife and I have traveled many places and done many things, but
have never taken one of these things. I know that many of you here
have to be old pros when it comes to this subject, so I thought I'd
learn from your wisdom.

The cruise that I'm eyeing is one from the Celebrity Line, which
is a 7-nighter. It departs from Ft. Lauderdale on 9-18 (haha, prime
hurricane season) and returns on the 25th. The ship's name is _Century_.
It will make seven stops along the route (San Juan, St. Maarten, etc.)
and they only have some interior rooms available at this late date, except
for the highest-end room type which we're not interested in. I think the
cruise for both of us is listed at about $1300.


Actually, it only makes 4 stops - San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten and
Nassau.


I've tried to educate myself a little on this by reading reviews and
some generic advice for first-timers from a commercial site, but I'm
still a little unclear on it. We're not into flashy entertainment or
fancy dinners where you have to dress up to enter. We're more into
working out and relaxation in an environment different from our daily
round. This ship and cruise seems to maybe be for us. But I've read
that on this ship, there are two formal dinners per week, where formal
dress is required. Now I know that I must look incredibly uninformed,
but what do the people eat who don't want to participate in such a formal
dinner? Are there other alternatives?


You will find nearly everyone on the ship participates in formal nights. A
suit or even
a coat and tie will do. It is also a big picture taking night (a cruise line
profit center).
But the women love to have pictures taken.



And as far as the roughly $20/day
tipping that I've read is to be expected from us, how does this work?
Some cruise lines apparently pre-charge the customer (at booking I guess)
for the expected typical gratuities, and there was another option that
was similar. Why not just tip as you go, as we do normally on land when
we get service for something?


You can not tip as you go, because it is a cashless society onboard. You
will be
issued a onboard credit card/room key which you will use to pay for
everything not
included. This card will be tied to your credit card at check-in. Drinks
bought onboard
will include a tip for the waiter. However, the kind of tipping you are
refering to is
for your maid, your regular dinner waiter, and his/her assistant.
This tipping is usually done at the end of the cruise, in cash. However,
some cruise ships
are now allowing/requiring you to charge it to your onboard account.


As you can probably tell, I'm totally in
the dark on this whole thing.

I know that there are lots of differect types of cruises attracting
different types of people. Have any of you ever been on this particular
trip with this line? Just what is the dress code, or am I making too
much of this? Are there lots of hidden charges I should know about
beforehand?

Things you pay for in addition to the cruise price (hidden charges):
Alcohol, wine
Sodas
Massages
Shore excursions
Gift shop
Gambling
Bingo
Pictures


Do most of these lines offer shuttles to/from the Ft. Lauderdale
airport? Anyway, I think we'd probably get a kick out of this, but I'm
just wondering if it's too much of a hassle for a vacation...
Many thanks for anyone with good advice.

Much less hassle than a land vacation. And if you like to sleep late -
interior rooms are great.

John