In January 2011, I was on the Magic of Kenya trip and met up with a very good crowd in our jeep and promised to keep in touch, but unfortunately we have lost contact with Patrick Fields and would love to get back in touch with him if you can help. My booking reference was ****

Advice

I have booked to go on the Barcelona & Western Mediterranean Cruise,and am looking forward to it with great excitment, but am confused with the rather small print on the tour flyer.where it states that gratuities are 'compulsory'and will be 'charged' at a rate of $12 per person per day.

Surely tips are a reward according the quality of service given not by an amount you are told .

many thanks :thumbup:

SDW

If Patrick sees your message and gets in touch with me, I'll be very happy to put you in touch. I'm afraid I can't contact him directly because of data protection rules.

I can understand why you object to compulsory tipping. This is widely done on cruise ships nowadays - quite a few cruise lines and customers are American, so tipping is second nature to them. It's a bit of a cultural difference between us. Also bear in mind that most restaurant and housekeeping staff on cruise ships are from poor countries and are paid a very low basic wage, so these tips make a big difference to their earnings.

I found an interesting discussion about this subject on the internet:

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110407224329AAWoGfj 

Kind regards,

Olly, your editor

Janice

We did have two cruises but one has sold out. They were featured on a leaflet sent out with brochures recently.

The other is Cape Town to Genoa aboard MSC Sinfonia. It includes a three night stay in Cape Town and an 18-night cruise from South Africa to Italy, calling at Namibia, Senegal, Tenerife, Madeira, Malaga and Citavecchia (for Rome). Prices start at £1999.

This should be on the website in the next few days but you can book by calling us on 0844 567 8844.

Kind regards

Olly, your editor