snorkelman

There is also the option of renting out the flowrider after hours ... and there will be sports desk staff there, but they will not provide instruction. Or I should say they are not guaranteed to provide instruction. Some may get involved anyway, just because they enjoy it.

 

hmm, I have taken a single lesson (solo) and watched the end of multiple lessons. I have always seen staff teaching people, and my experience was that the staff taught me. I think all staff will instruct all beginners - at least on boogie.

That being said, once you become more advanced, you may experience that some staff know less than you. As an example, when I was learning 360's on the boogie board, I realized that only a handful of the sports staff could even do them. When I asked how to do multiple 360's, I learned that if you are lucky there may be two or three staff members who can do that...and even then, they may only be able to do it one way. For example, if you want to do back to back prone unassisted 360's, you may be out of luck, and consider yourself lucky if the staff can show you a 360 on their knees, assisted (with hands in water).

I will be departing on the Oasis in 2 days, with a stop in St. Martin. We will be renting an ATV and will pass right by there and I will report back and may take pics too for y'all. Since we are renting and ATV, as we have done in the past, we will visit multiple destinations around the island. For the folks who make an entire excursion out of only going to Maho, I am sure that they will appreciate your thread so they can adjust their plans.

You will want to check with your health care provider as many of them will only accept their forms.

^^ sounds like that may be applicable to non-emergency stuff. I am confident that if my mother walked into the ER or the Walk-in Clinic with the notarized form I use, that she will be able to get emergency care.

cyntil8ing, thanks for sharing. Some of that is nonsense, but I find some interesting and may incorporate into mine. Personally I think the part about providing food and shelter and making decisions regarding their day-to-day activities is fluff and unnecessary. The stuff about transportation may be helpful in some scenarios (not mine) such as if the kid normally rides the bus or in tandum with the caregiver picking the kid up from school.

Signing permission slips for field trips? Maybe some kids get such slips with little or no notice, but unless you are leaving the country for weeks on end, I can't imagine that ever being applicable.

Parking Fees

$3 for 0-1 hour

$6 for up to 5 hours, and then $1 per hour thereafter up to daily maximum

$15 daily maximum

$19 daily maximum for oversized vehicles (those that exceed the standard width and/or height of a parking space).

All daily rates begin when you pull the parking ticket from the machine at the garage or parking lot.

http://www.porteverglades.net/cruising/parking/parking-rates/

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a savings of $5 per day for 7 days is only $35. Not worth it to me. I prefer to get out of there sooner and have less stress at the port...plush I will get back home in time to attend my kid's soccer game that morning.

Easy there tiger. :) That means I could only ride for 7 more years.:D I could only guess how Pezz would find that news.:p

me too!

How much are y'all saving. I just pay the rate at the port and have the convenience of being able to walk my luggage 100 yards to my vehicle and leaving 5 minutes after I exit customs.

As an attorney with assets and children you should already have a will/POA and an add on that describes what happens to children in the event both parents have a problem.:rolleyes:

 

Do you advise clients in this area very often?

nope. never. not my area of expertise. Yours?

I just am sharing what I personally use. If anyone is board certified in this area and sees anything that can improve what I am using, I welcome your input.

As for SSN, each state is going to be different. I shred the documents when I return so I don't have a problem including the SSN while I am gone. I feel it makes it as clear as possible the identify of the person.

I have never had a problem, but I have heard about people bringing kids to get medical care and having big problems because they were not the parent. I am sure that there would still be other issue such as insurance, but this POA is intended to relieve my stress when I leave my kids behind and hopefully smooths any problems my mother may have if an emergency comes up. I suspect if the kid breaks a bone or has another emergency scenario, many medical professionals would provide care, but I know that some will not.

Since its virtually undetectable, if you vape in your cabin, no one will be the wiser. Any scent doesn't linger, and doesn't stink up the place!

 

Yes...it CAN produce a lot of steam...but still...it's nothing like cigarette smoke. It's vapor. I wouldn't do it in public areas, since many folks still freak out about any visible "smoke"...but in the privacy of your cabin...go for it.

Interesting. I think the consensus in the medical field is that we do not know yet for certain the impact of e-cigs' emissions when the particles settle on things such as surfaces and furniture. Because of your comment, I suspect that more and more folks may actually do what you suggest, and I will continue to bring along my $3 can of lysol and spray down the cabin upon entry.

As an attorney I threw this Temporary Power of Attorney together pretty quickly. It gives me piece of mind while I cruise and leave my kids back home with grandma.

I have highlighted the language that needs to be modified, but it should only take 5 minutes and then you can save it and use it for all future cruises, just changing the dates.

With over 40 cruises, we have cruised bringing our kids and also leaving them at home. I figured that I would share this template document with anyone who may find it interesting. I make no promise that this will be valid in your specific state. I chose to make a space for 2 witnesses, but one may be sufficient in your state.

SAMPLE TEMPORARY POWER OF ATTORNEY-1.docx

IME St. Thomas and St. Martin are the best. It depends on exactly what "jewelry" you want. Loose stones are better at certain places but I personally would not call that "jewelry."

Maybe be more specific. Rose gold hoop earrings? 18k rope necklaces? Designer watches? Specific designer pieces?

If the steam is not necessary they may not draw as much attention.

I don't think you can turn on and off the steam from an e-cig.

they are treated just like regular cigarettes because...

Since the exhaled water vape contains no chemicals ...

^^ that statement lacks foundation. Because e-cigarette products are not yet regulated, the chemicals and devices involved vary widely, which influences the chemical makeup and toxicity of e-cigarette emissions. The full scope of health impacts of e-cigarette smoke, as well as secondhand exposure's impacts on children, is still unknown.

http://www.rti.org/pubs/Secondhand_Exposure_to_Electronic_Cigarette_Emissions.pdf

Oh, no! He's 49 1/2 inches. Poor guy. He'll be sad to not get to do it! Next time!

That is probably way too short. I have seen the sports staff on multiple ships walk the kid over to the height stick whenever the kid even looks small.

The only exception is if you get a staff member who doesn't.

I suggest you fill out the waivers online. Then walk up with your kid and try and get a wrist band. You never know. Maybe have him wear shoes when he approaches the desk and they may not ask him to stand near the height thing.

If it was my kid and my kid regularly does this at home, I probably would try a few different times during the cruise if my first attempt didn't work, but that is just me, and may get some flack from others.

It looks like I stopped this thread cold with my prior post. Which was not my intent, but as promised here are the manifest numbers for this sail date: 81% US and Canada and 19% Foreign. The original comment about less than 10% of the passengers being American was just too egregious and irresponsible to let go. Happy cruising everyone!

OP lives in North Carolina. Perhaps she is not used to the fact that us folks in south Florida know: those who live close to the port can cruise cheaper than those who have to fly in.

Yes south Florida has many foreign-looking and sounding people. Just because someone speaks Spanish doesn't mean they are not American.

Your kid must be at least 52 inches tall to use the boogie board, and 58" to do standup.

... via the grapevine heard their kids brought back "Marijuana" from Jamaica and were smoking by the pool late at night and got caught by security.

 

They were escorted off.

On one eastern sailing we had a later-than-normal boarding time because the drug dogs alerted to some idiots who bought marijuana in Jamaica and put it in their suitcases. Instead of just getting escorted off, they were arrested!

Perhaps I should have said that the intent of advanced is to have only those who can self-load.

yes. the reason is that they only schedule one sports staff for that first "advanced" hour and then a second staff comes around when self-loading isn't required.

BOB doesn't exist for the boogie, as they only allow a couple tricks. Although I can do about 50 tricks on the boogie board, they only allow riding on knees, drop knee, and 360s on those two styles (as well as prone 360), and then the only other tricks are pretty much riding indian style, riding backwards, riding laying on your back or doing pushups. That's pretty much it. Not really that impressive to watch any of that stuff except maybe a 360.

Just because you agreed to go on a jet ski in the rain doesn't mean that you agreed to be told by the excursion operators to enter the water to snorkel while it was lightening.

Sounds like you obtained zero enjoyment. Should have to pay zero for that horrible excursion.

Did the folks running that operation ask for a tip at the end?

Whatever RCI sticks with, I'll just abide. :)

You pretty much have to. No real option.

I agree with the comments above that you either call it a tip and allow it to be adjusted any time, or else stop playing games and just make it part of the cruise price.

As long as RCI wants to try and keep the "cruise" fare low, they will attract people who may feel strongly about being able to adjust tips during the cruise. The only way to eliminate this desire on part of the passenger is to take away the ability. The problem is that many passengers will feel like they are losing their power - their power to adjust tips when it is convenient for the passenger. Many of us know that it is a big PITA to get things adjusted afterwards.

So it sounds like you can usually just do this from your cabin, pretty simple, huh?

Do all of the cabins pretty much have a strong enough signal (on Oasis) for facetime, or is there some special location I have to go to get a strong enough wifi signal?

Use Paint in Windows or similar program to scale down the pic before you upload online. You can still fix the online pic and the pic here will update accordingly.

^^ please do not do that. I appreciate the details in the image that fill my monitor.

Seems like they can convert the scrubber into one of the characters. Maybe a big fat Shrek?

 

In the morning, we ate in the Windjammer. The scrambled eggs weren't real eggs...

Really? Did you ask the chef? If yes, what are they? I always thought that they were made from powdered whole eggs, which are pasteurized whole egg with a very small amount of sodium silico aluminate added as an anti-caking agent.

Great tips about spreading the 24 hours over 2 days. That will work great. Kids out of school at 3pm. We can set up account around 4pm and facetime that day and also facetime next day right after they get out of school.

Is setting it up hard? For example, do I have to go down to guest services and wait in line or can I maybe just call or do it on the tv in the room?