markeb

For whatever reason tonight, I'm looking through pics of our last visit to London last summer. The timing revolved totally around the British Summertime festival (BST) in Hyde Park, highlighted by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. But we had an amazing visit to one of our favorite cities in the world. I suspect my British friends here on Cruise Critic will give me the same eye roll as I'd give them for places in NYC or Washington, but... If you're around Buckingham Palace and have a little time towards the end of the day, look up Duke's Bar. It's off Saint James, in Duke's Hotel. Supposedly the hotel was a rendezvous point for members of the royal family over the years. But in the 50's, the bar was frequented by a former intelligence officer and aspiring author, and in that bar he was inspired to describe a drink combining vodka, gin, and dry vermouth and name it after the female lead of his first novel. The Vesper. The author was Ian Fleming, and the male lead was of course James Bond in Casino Royale. There is a relatively relaxed dress code at Duke's (long pants and I think a collared shirt for men), and there can be a wait. Not too long generally as there's a strict two martini limit. They are unique and amazing and highly recommended. Forget the show of the martini bar on Celebrity!

What’s your definition of “best”? You can combine the subway with Jersey Transit with an Uber or cab. Complicated but less expensive. You can arrange a car service at different price levels. Simple but more expensive. You can Uber. Similar to a car service. You can take a cab. Probably horribly overpriced and likely a truly crappy vehicle. What level of service do you want? That’s a bit unfair, but there’s no one answer.

Another user on the ignore list. Until the thread gets shut down. Probably soon.

Google it. I don’t care.

Then the person you give cash to will end up tipping them for you. It's a pool. Shared reward/shared punishment.

You can do that. It works exactly like Royal Caribbean. There will be a daily charge to your account that you settle with your outstanding charges at the end of the cruise. If you're not happy, you should work that out with their supervisors, not by removing gratuities. If you remove the gratuities and pay cash, they'll have to turn them in, just like 99% of the service jobs in the US, and they'll be pooled and distributed EXACTLY THE SAME AS IF YOU'D LEFT THEM IN PLACE. You can theoretically give additional gratuities directly to those serving you if the baseline (autograt) has been met. Enough about tipping for today.

I think it’s time to quit wasting paper. The IT department uploads what they’re given. The app functions fine within those limits.

Of course if you're talking summer in Singapore, there will be plenty of steam without a steamer... 😃

I think you said you got there early. That’s a big help. It also depends on time of year, and even the weather. We went on an unexpected rainy day last summer and the entire museum was a zoo. Oddly, the sculptures from the Acropolis were fairly clear. The Rosetta Stone was surrounded. Who knows!

So multi-voltage steamer, not 110V? The adapter doesn't change the voltage and most portable converters don't support the wattage of a steamer. If you've done this before around the world, you probably have the right pieces of equipment. Otherwise you're going to carry a beautiful fire hazard that will fry the first time you plug it in...

I've actually seen changes between the time the daily planner was printed and the actual activity/event the next day. The app is frequently, but not always, more accurate. Apparently the daily planner is actually edited and printed onboard by the cruise director's staff, and the app probably relies on IT support off the ship. A lot depends on when the change occurs.

The problem with the "must see" exhibits is that's where everyone congregates and no one can actually see them...

I guess I just see no reason to print the Express Pass. It's in my Apple Wallet, the same place I keep concert tickets (not available to print), boarding passes (can be printed but why), the parking pass for Dulles, and my baseball tickets. With the scalping and reselling of event tickets, most of them don't even allow printouts anymore, and screen shots won't work. It's time to just trust the technology a bit.

Are you trying to print it from the app? On a web browser, including Safari on my iPad, after you get all the screens telling you to just use the d**** app, there's a link that says if you absolutely can't use the app, print it here. (A bit of an exaggeration.) The link you're looking for is at the top of the block with your reservation. It's not in your documents.

My memory can be wrong these days, but I'm pretty sure the lists used to pretty specifically prohibit knives of any type and size. It's possible I'm thinking Royal, but I thought Celebrity said the same thing. It's not something I see a need for on the ship, and you never know what might not be allowed on one of your port stops. (Definitely don't take your target shooting day bag on your cruise...)