canderson

I'm trying to figure out how Blacklane works with airline flights. I suspect a mistake has been made. For this (below) to work out, I'd need to be at about Warp 2.5 to make it to Lisbon the same day that the car will be picking us up at the house. It's an overnight flight from Denver, and we do plan to check into our Lisbon hotel on the 22nd. I suppose I should call SS to be sure the car doesn't arrive a day late. Or are they describing the transfer from the airport to the hotel here (the abbreviation 'pre' may be an indicator)? The description is just to cryptic to know for sure.

Were you also in charge of 'the rabbit ears'? Unlike the volume control, that adjustment was more art than science!

It's been my impression so far that your service may not be any worse than it was prior to the Starlink installation. Starlink provides an upgraded performance in its service areas, which covers a great deal of where a cruise ship goes, but I'm betting that most of the lines are leaving the legacy equipment in place to use as a fall-back when a particular itinerary (like a TA or TP cruise) puts them where Starlink isn't getting the job done yet. They ain't fast, but that big band of geostationary satellites around the equator still provides at least a modicum of service as long as you don't get too close to the poles.

Not sure whether she's a SS moderator or not, but she posts in various threads here. Could be the fact that she cruises with SS rather than being a moderator. Never thought to ask.

Mod Lois may remember it from many years ago - and the suspension of privs for a while for a whole group of us here back then. It all had to do with a Ms. Brenda Moran who was 'excommunicated' by RCL back in 2007, and a court case, unrelated to cruising, having to do with use of pepper spray. WD-40 was said to become her new defensive tool of choice at that time.

Had to bone up on this a while back. I accidentally 'un-retired' when a good friend called me about 2 years ago when his electronic/software guy gave two weeks notice. That good friend is in the telescope business - and not the amateur stuff - the current job we're working on begins with a 51" (1.3m) diameter primary mirror, which he will proudly explain has been ground and polished in our own in-house optical shop. I think the thing weighs over 500 pounds, so you can imagine what the supporting steel structure weighs. The customer has a pic of the mirror being worked on their web site: https://www.mountcuba.org/copy-of-mirror-progress Part of our business is involved with the optical side of the U.S. government's 'space situational awareness' program (a.k.a., GEODSS) that searches for and tracks whatever is up there in orbit, which is how we got wrapped around the satellite end of the axle vs. our more traditional business in celestial and solar telescopes. My job, in either case, is to supply the control system that allows the customer to direct the telescope with both great accuracy and precision. Low earth orbit satellites are a good bit tricker than stars. With a star, you can put it in frame, go get a cup of coffee, and it's probably still there when you get back. Well, almost anyway. LEOs like Starlink, zooming overhead at 17,000+ mph (~95 minute orbits), are a much bigger trick, and require MUCH faster telescope accelerations and velocities, but it's really fun to watch the telescope dance (if you don't mind the math it takes to make it happen!)

To clarify, Starlink has been launching satellites with more enhanced features in 'blocks'. Everything they've launched since September 2021 (Blocks 1.5 and 2.0 models) has theoretically been capable of the laser 'cross-link' that I was describing earlier - what someone earlier related to a 'mesh network'. But they had already launched about 1,500 (of the total 4,100 launched, 3,200+ that are presently of 'operational'; status) of the older Block 1.0 version by then, and still haven't nearly filled out the full constellation that would assure that these later models (block 1.5 and block 2.0) had visibility to another at all times.

Am guessing that on a long TA with numerous at-sea days, they will be offering more than the usual number of classes, but wondering whether it's normally possible to sign up for multiple classes given the slots available vs. pax count for a particular cruise. In the photos, it looks like they have about 10 stations, and I am guessing that couples double up on a station?

Service may well be thanks to keeping legacy systems available/switchable in parallel until Starlink's full cross-linking capabilities are near fully built out. There will still be many gaps in coverage until then, and whether or not Starlink can perform in a given spot in the middle of the ocean will be a roll of the dice based upon the configuration of their constellation in a given moment in time.

That's the plan, announced in August 2021, but the number of satellites deployed with that capability (laser cross-link communications between satellites) is so far only a fraction of the total. So for the time being, most of the satellites are dependent upon ground station access. Again, if you look at the current Starlink Maritime maps, they show coverage only in ocean areas near land. So what you describe is the solution for the future, but hasn't been realized just yet. The logistics will be a bit messy, since with an average in-orbit life of 5 years, the earlier birds without this capability will be holding up the show a bit, and may at times be in inconvenient locations in the constellation.

Atlantic (and Pacific, and anywhere else where there's no land) may continue to be a non-starter for some years to come. It's not because a large part of the constellation doesn't already traverse ocean waters -- they do -- it's that they have no ground stations to talk to out there in the middle of the ocean. The thing people forget is that these satellites aren't big data servers floating around in space. They serve as comm links to the servers on the ground. They're also operating at a very low orbit, so they don't have much range at all to the horizon. Figure the limit to be around 80 miles in any direction - or a diameter of about 160 miles. There's a LOT of empty ocean that fits into that category. Until it's possible to use Starlink satellites as data relays for one another so that those 'stranded' out in the middle of the ocean can use another Starlink satellite - or several of then in a daisy chain - to obtain a link to a ground station, there won't be Starlink service over much of the water surface of the planet, as Starlink Maritime's own coverage maps show. To accomplish that now, one still needs satellites in high orbits with a wider view of the Earth's surface so that both the user and a ground station are in view simultaneously. The downside to these satellites is that, all other things being equal, they're going to be slower (more power needed for less data) and have more latency in their communications (a simple function of distance up and back). When they claim that Starlink Maritime is global, what they really mean is that it operates near land masses pretty much all around the globe. So if you're planning that big TransAtlantic cruise, you'll be glad a ship retained its old gear and laid in the Starlink equipment in parallel for use nearer land.

Yes, and what they left for us when they forgot our 'switch' were 1.5L bottles. Think you can get through 3L in 4 nights? 😦 They'll trade one or both for wine if you prefer.

Especially true for some dress shirts that don't get worn that often when a person is retired. A few I've missed and have been collecting on the bathroom counter for some reason!

Wasn't he absolutely the best ever?

Given that more here would likely know than on any other CC threads ... Has anyone seen butler Anu anywhere since he left Constellation at the end of his contract in early 2022?

To be fair, we've experienced this consistently through our 2021/22 cruises. Best thing is to consult with the onboard Retreat concierge who will have the schedule for the current cruise and can book the reservations for you.

Terrikka took VERY good care of us prior to our recent Reflection cruise.

Our experience as well until our recent Reflection TA (Oct 31 - Nov 13). Have never had food arrive so slowly. Best we could tell, the problem was in the galley. Ship at about 50%, but suites full.

Hello, next door neighbor! Yes, Dina handled our few requests very well, but we did not ask for much. Did you know that the waiter Vincent down in Luminae was her husband? The 'family' took good care of us! I got a chuckle out of all of my t-shirts being returned on hangers! That was a first. On prior cruises, they came back as the expected wash-and-fold. At least there won't be much laundry for the butler's to deal with on this current cruise! 😲

We were just ahead of you in November 2021 on Constellation for the restart cruises, and they were without question our best Celebrity cruises ever. Were you in the starboard or port PH?

Waffles made fresh, port side, aft end of the buffet. Got my fill several mornings. Just wanted to note, in case no one had yet ... Captain reported yesterday ... ZERO positive COVID this cruise!!!

Beds are replaced and very comfortable. The ones used were the ones that were originally scheduled for Constellation (packaging marked as such)! We had noticed the old mattresses (even in a RS) on Connie a year ago after her dry dock and restart.

Jim - hang in there. I promised you a full photo documentary, and I have it all on my phone and will put it together for you on our first at-sea day. Covers all from the walk to the market to lunch to the final dinner in Tuscan tonight. The market was outstanding! Only wish we had anything similar at home! Least I could do for the private journey help you gave us for the Carribean last November!

Interesting.. bartender says only ~1400 booked. When we left, only 25% of cabins still available for booking. Did X limit capacity or was bartender wrong. Will investigate!

Captain advised during pre-cruise briefing announcement that we have 1200 crew ... a handful below full complement. Some are definitely inexperienced on S class, but showing lots of hustle. We're only about 75% booked, which helps.