My husband and I embarked on the Venice round-trip Mediterranean cruise to the Adriatic, Greece, and Turkey on May 19th. This was a great first-time cruise, though we prepared quite a bit beforehand in order to know what to expect... (Though we had never cruised before, our family has cruised extensively primarily with Disney, Royal Caribbean, and the European river companies... Thus we knew, from their descriptions, that we most certainly wanted the freestyle concept!)

First and foremost for all cruisers - READ YOUR PAPERWORK!!!!

We heard quite a few people on the cruise, after the cruise, etc, complaining about the service charge. This was posted in my booking papers, on the member website, in the boarding documents, in the room information, and as part of the freestyle daily newsletter. (For example, NCL charges $12 per person per day... My family members have been charged anywhere from 8 euro per person per day up to $16 per person per day on other cruise lines.) We chose the simple solution. Pay the service charges in advance, then don't tip anyone unless they are truly awesome! No bill at the end, no extra charges on the credit card afterwards, and your cruise can be paid off before you even step on the boat. Read more