dockman

no idea where she stashed it as i only saw the bills....

my ex always seemed to find a place for a credit card no matter what she wore....as amex said...don't leave home without it.

seems always a place for a credit card though?

Me as well. Not a big deal but i often wonder why so many people like to wear their key or medallion on a lanyard around their neck? Reminds me of being a kid at summer camp. Key in pocket for me. Of course I also wonder why in the world people would spend $$ to buy special bracelets etc to hold a medallion but obiously they must sell as cruise lines sure like to push all the accessories. I have a drawer full of old key cards and don't need more memorablilia...but that is just me maybe.

He was on majestic mexico for couple of months few years ago...i went on 3 back to backs and saw leo presentations 3 different times and never got bored...he is also very nice guy to get to know...anyone who was/is a fan of fleetwood mac, the beach boys, and many other groups will love to hear his stories about his decades of managing and touring with some great bands...he also has lots of pics and videos and has a well organized series of several lectures.....he makes teh presentations about the bands and not about himself and explains he will not go into sorid details of their sex lives etc...in other words even though he saw a lot he doesn;t necessarily go there...but he sure has some interesting stories to tell....go see leo.

Eventually cruise pricing will more closely align with the way airfares are sold...an alogorithm will monitor it all and compute and forecast how a cruise is selling compared to past history or expectations and then prices will be adjusted in different categories to whatever the computer predicts will give the maximum return...there is no "refaring" on airfares (unless you want to pay a lot more for refundable fares) and eventually i would guess there will be no more refaring on cruises though maybe there will be much higher prices that do allow refunds or refare....but if you book early you will get to choose your preferred cabin, category etc while late bookers will get what is left if anything. They may also sweeten the spot for early bookers by throwing in a few extras like a shore excursion or transfer that is not avail for free to late bookers. There are lots of ways to fill last minute inventory like travel agent fam trips, interline rates, special military rates, teachers rates, etc that are not advertised or available to the general public. Bottom line I highly doubt that there will be zero last minute deals available as no way are they going to want to lock themselves in to no discounts and end up with bunch of empty rooms.

Is there a bad place to watch a sunrise or sunset while at sea? Outside on deck is always good.

The shoulda coulda woulda blues....been there done that.

Casinos and lotteries get tons of free publicity over and over online, tv, newspapers etc everytime somebody hits a jackpot. But only a tiny bit of coverage of the billions upon billions lost by people hoping to have lightning strike. The casinos are also aided by people who constantly lie about how much they win with nary a word about how much they lost. It is a great business model if you can convince the media to play along...and play along they do.

What a crazy world...drink yourself silly with a heavily promoted cruise drink package encouraging even more drinking and promoting likely the most abused drug in the world that has caused untold damage, violence, illness and deaths....but don;t dare bring a pill prescribed by your doctor to help you sleep or off to the slammer you may go.

poor layout and use of space in my opinion...plenty of room for way more books ...looks like a display case in a museum....a real library has a lot of books as well as lots of comfy well lighted seating areas...better than nothing but not exactly a great model

For those who were fortunate enough to sail on the prinsendam....what a nice library that was. Good selection of books, nice section of magazines, wonderful comfortable well lit chairs, lots of space for puzzles etc. Computers to use if you wanted.

Seems to me that it is someone's idea of a "display" rather than a library. Multiple copies of the same books all lined up to look good in a picture. I would rather see those shelves full of paperbacks rather than a photo op for a brochure. The overall "space" is fine but very poor utilization of the space.

Well to each his own but it certainly makes sense to me and many others. Not everyone shares your taste on kindles.

i have more books than that in the trunk of my car....hardly what i would call a "library" for couple thousand passengers.

Which ships? I would recommend you bring a few paperbacks along and then leave them onboard for others in case you are on a ship that basically does not have a real library which unfortunately is becoming more common.

Is it for only active educators or would retired after 35 years also qualify?

If everyone who has ever claimed to win in vegas actually walked away over time a big winner the casinos would have shut down decades ago. Most people always remember the wins but conveniently forget the losses. Casinos love that. A LOT. Just because someone got lucky and hit a jackpot or get hot at a table game etc means nothing. The question is did they quit and leave a winner or did they keep playing and lose that and more back to the casino? Casinos get tons of free press everytime somebody hits a big jackpot and pretty much zero press of the millions that consistently lose day after day, year after year. That is one reason casinos love to call it "gaming" and not gambling....gaming denotes "fun"....while gaming can be a lot of fun losing is generally not all that much fun. Add to that the fact that most players do not have even a basic understanding of odds and basic strategy which further increases house odds and guarantees the casino will always win over time. As we have all heard many times casinos don't build those big massive expensive casinos because they lose money.

with respect an experienced gambler would likely take time to find out what odds are offered onboard before getting on a cruise with odds not to his liking....that info is easily found with a basic search. Would you sit down at a Vegas table without knowing the odds?

So if/when you get bad food do you just eat it in silence or ask for something else? Of course it is possible that you will be served something you don't like but i have never ever had a problem just ordering something different....if you don't like anything at all on the entire menu then just maybe the problem is you need to be on Silversea or Crystal or Seabourn paying a whole lot more than on HAL.

So if the food is so bad and if OP is such a high roller why in the world is he waiting for his "comp" dinners in the more upscale restaurants where the fee would likely be less than one bet in the casino? Seems paying for meals or at least see if pinnacle etc would please OP would make more sense than trying to get around psva rules and getting off the ship. And if gambling is the main draw why not ask what the odds are on the games before accepting a comp cruise? It would take five minutes on cruise critic to get those odds spelled out. Also as mentioned by many it might be a good idea to do a bit of research by asking front desk if getting off early is even possible without major hassles? It is amazing how much an hour or so of research can save /prevent/mitigate a variety of problems when traveling so you can at least be aware of what you might expect and if it is not working help you avoid the trip altogether rather than be miserable.

no offense but sounds to me like you should stick to high end vegas resorts for better food, better accommodations and higher stakes gambling.

NCL seems to be leading the race to have more and more and more pay extra options for food. Some don't care and like all the extra restaurants. I sorta like the way ships operated for decades that almost all food in all restaurants was included in your cruise fare. It is my understanding that the extra cost restaurants were originally put in place with the idea that a lot of passengers were celebrating anniversaries, birthdays, retirement etc and would maybe want to go to a more private and higher quality paid restaurant once as a special night. Guess they found out that many people were willing and wanting to go more than once and thus it has expanded ever since to the point that on some ships there are more extra fee restaurants than include in your cruise fare restaurants. For me I prefer to go with included restaurants rather than extra fee and that overall allows me to go on more cruises with the savings. And far as i can tell i have never felt deprived in any way. Up to you.

Do not judge an entire cruise or ship because you do not like one or two meals. It is oh so easy to just order something else. IMO anyone who cannot find something very good and tasty to eat on a cruise ship is not looking very hard. The size of my gut after a cruise is proof that I seem to find just plenty of things that i like to eat.

Doubt it will be perfect but seems current system is not exactly perfect either by looking at number of people complaining about calling and getting incompetent or poorly trained humans.