Oops. I just noticed its HAL and I think you will really like this cruise line. What is your itinerary?

Thanks Larry, all the comments have been very helpful. We set off on 28th August - Nieuw Amsterdam. My kids have bought me an IPod mini bless 'em. Will I be able to use it on board to use the internet?

You need to check with your cruise line regarding internet - for us, the cost of using internet on board was way to high, so we joined up with Globalgig before we left Australia.

We still didn't get access while at sea, but as our cruise was in a port on all but 2 days of the 14 day cruise, we just waited till the ship docked then we were able to use our connection until we upped anchor again.

A couple of times the signal wasn't very strong, but we soon realised that we needed to be on the 'land' side of the ship to get a good signal.

DH tells me that the Globalgig rates aren't as good now as when we joined up - maybe others will know of better servers. If you do go with a server other than what the ship provides, make sure they cover the countries you'll be visiting. Di

I am cruising in August/September on Dawn Princess which is homeported in Sydney and charges in Australian dollars. Are the tips included?? I never thought about it before reading this. I will look in my paperwork for the cruise to see what is said but wondered if someone could give me a quick answer.

You can use it but check the prices as di noted. They do add up and if the connection is slow they its even more. For most lines is around 0.75 cents per minute but if you buy packages then its much less. Check with HAL to see. Have a great time!

I suggest you phone them and/or check your paperwork.

Unless someone reading this is on this specific cruise, any answer would be conjecture, might be right but might not.

On Princess tips are not included. They either ask you to pre-pay, or add to your invoice every day, this depends on dinners - if you chose "any time" dining, tips are pre-paid, if fixed - they will add to the invoice.

You can pre-pay them, if it makes easier for you to budget the trip.

Jim, check with your phone service provider how much the charges are. The cruise company may not know, or have incorrect information. I saw posts from people who had to pay several hundreds US dollars for using phones at sea.

@JaneB: I had read that Princess changed their tipping policy for ships based in Australia because of the whole Australians-don't-tip thing, but I suspect it's just a pre-pay option as Dayenu explains. What I don't know is whether the pre-pay is included in the fares for folks who book in Australia.

Per call to Princess, tips are not included for bookings made in the US. The agent did not know about bookings made in Australia.

I cruise solely with Princess, so don't know about HAL's policy. When you first get onboard, you can stop at the front desk and ask that the automatic tipping charges be removed. That way, you can elect to tip whom you want and for how much. You would probably end up tipping about the same, but that will put it in your hands if you want to be more generous in some areas. Keep in mind, the automatic tipping policy has it's pluses and minuses. If you remove the automatic feature, then none of the back-staff (cooks, cleaners, etc.) will be included. I believe they should be all be paid up front for what they deserve according to their job, but, alas, it doesn't work that way. Most of them rely on those tips which get sent home to support families.

"If you remove the automatic feature, then none of the back-staff (cooks, cleaners, etc.) will be included." - sorry, but this is not true. It's a common misconception, unfortunately.

The staff is not allowed to keep all tips if auto-tips are removed. They must surrender the "suggested amount" of auto-tip into the pool, and allowed to keep only what's above it.

If you tip less than "suggested" it means that the poor employee will have to add his own money not to be blamed being a thief, or having done something to get auto-tips removed.

Please, everybody, leave the auto-tips on, and tip additional cash if you are so inclined.

I don't have a problem with paying the tips if they have not been included with the cost of the cruise. I wish we did not need to tip and workers were paid a decent wage without having to rely on the kindness of strangers.

All good stuff - thanks to all. I went to a info meeting this week about my specific cruise/line. More of a salesman sell I thought. She said (like many of you) just pay the daily rate automatically and don't tip. She recommended that you take your internet stuff onto the land as everybody now has free wi-fi. Also said a bag of laundry will cost $20 and you can stuff a lot into the bag if you roll the items up. Small stuff she suggests are best stomped on in the shower and hung up on the provided line. Most docksides have an ATM to draw local currency or in town but she said most port cities are very inexpensive.