Blue Mudshark

We took a cab for $16 to the Constitution (she is not there now)

USS Constitution is not at her usual berth in Charlestown; she's in the adjacent drydock for three years. But you can still visit, and even board the ship. Visitors are currently restricted to the weather deck, and the masts have been removed. You can also get a rare look at the hull below the waterline, which is being restored. The details of access will change as the restoration project progresses.

Constitution is still a US Navy ship, and access is still under US military regulations. Photo ID for all adults (>18 years), and all visitors must pass through a metal detector. The nearby Constitution Museum (not a military installation) is open as always.

Yes, if you bring "right" and "left" into it, it helps to know which way you're facing. That's an important reason to use "starboard" and "port" rather than "right" and "left"; because starboard and port, are clearly NOT relative to which way anyone is facing.

If I'm facing aft, starboard is starboard. If I turn to face forward, starboard is still starboard. If I lie down on a weather deck and face Orion's belt, starboard is still starboard. If a group of passengers stand in a circle, facing in toward the center, starboard is still starboard. Port and starboard are definitely NOT relative to any direction that anyone is facing.

But when you are facing forward (towards the bow or pointy end), port is always left and starboard is always right. So "port and starboard are always relative to facing forward" is correct. [emphasis mine]

;)

Nope; starboard is starboard and port is port regardless of which way anyone is or is not facing. Whether port is on your left-hand side may depend on which way you're facing, but one of the specific reasons the terms "starboard" and "port" are used is because they are explicitly NOT relative to facing forward or aft or any other direction.

For the sake of shipboard accuracy - port and starboard are always relative to facing forward.

No, for the sake of accuracy, port and starboard have nothing to do with which way anyone is facing. Which side is port or starboard, and which way you're facing, are two separate and independent bits of information. The starboard side of the ship is always the starboard side, regardless of which way you or anyone else is facing.

I am going on the Zuiderdam ,Holland American Cruise Line for the 1st time. Do inside staterooms have small refrigerators in them that I could use for medicine storage.

Some HAL staterooms have electric coolers, but they are explicitly not suitable for storage of medications. You can have the ship's medical staff store your medications properly.

At typical walking speed, it would take about 45-50 minutes to walk from the Black Falcon cruise terminal to the Boston Common Visitor Center, where the Freedom Trail starts. The trail ends at the USS Constitution in Charlestown, and it would be well over an hour to walk back to the cruise terminal from there,

This protest is not about race, and it's a shame that it's being portrayed that way.

The one-bottle rule is per person. I doubt there would be a problem if all three bottles were in one bag, but all three people would have to be there, with that single bag, at check-in.

I will use the information as posted on my documents ONLY in the case of ALL outdoor areas of the ship being closed, which includes verandahs.

 

IF that happens I WILL use the printed info to Smoke while playing a slot machine in the Casino!! And ONLY in that instance, no other.

Even if your piece of paper doesn't say, "Holland America Line reserves the right at any time to modify the smoking policy onboard or alter the locations where smoking is permissible," ship's security will know about that wording in the rules.

As used on cruise ships, alcohol-based hand sanitizers (including Purell, with or without aloe), are not effective against Norovirus. It makes it look like they're doing something effective, which seems to be the reason for it

What about Scollay Square Station? ;)

It's now called "Government Center Station (at Scollay Square)", which is under City Hall Plaza; Scollay Square itself was formerly in the same general area, at the corner of Tremont and Court Streets.

Traditionally, it's the corner of State Street and Congress Street.

It has nothing to do with what the city "has to offer" or any "high point". It's just a geographic location that's often considered the center of the city; at least partly for historical reasons. The top of King Street, which was re-named State Street long ago.

Sometimes, City Hall is considered the center, sometimes the center of City Hall Plaza, sometimes Faneuil Hall, sometimes the State House, sometimes the Old State House. Except for the (current) State House, they're all in the same general part of the city.

"Sources of outside revenue are scarce in small villages such as Hammerfest"

Is a town with a population of more than 7,000 considered a "small village"? The town's biggest source of outside revenue is the fishing industry (both the Barent's Sea fleet and local fish-farming). Other industries include a major petroleum port, and other maritime industries.

The notion that the local economy depends on HAL-sponsored tours smells somewhat fishy.

Lots of roll call members aren't from Chicago. Does that mean it's impolite to discuss Chicago at a M&G? Of course not.

I can see why HAL may consider it inappropriate for passengers at a HAL:-sponsored M&G to be soliciting business for outside tours that don't have a business/financial connection to HAL, but I can't see any reason that simply discussing such tours would be impolite. There's no reason for a ship's officer to be offended by overhearing such discussions.

HAL is a business.

Of course.

End of story.

No, not really.

Of course they're a business, and they are promoting their product. But in their promotion, they are claiming that choosing to do business with their competitors, or tour independently, is bad for the local economy. That claim deserves criticism and scrutiny.

Organized commercial tours, such as tours sold by cruise lines, are full of side business and kickbacks. The tours are usually steered to shopping opportunities with merchants who are deep into a business model full of kickbacks and hand-shaking. HAL's tours are preferable to HAL, for the guarantees of not "missing the boat", of course, but mostly because they and the merchants they favor bring money to HAL and their own business partners.

An independent tourist can contribute as much or more to the local economy as a tourist on a HAL tour contributes, although HAL many not participate in the commerce. And an independent tourist can return to the pier on time without paying HAL or one of their local commercial partnesr. For HAL to imply otherwise is dishonest, and "end of story" doesn't excuse dishonesty.

I don't think anyone is really criticizing HAL merely for promoting their own profit motives. When HAL pretends that the local economy depends on HAL's profit motives at the expense of other restaurateurs, merchants, and tour guides outside of HAL's profit motives, that pretense is criticized, with justification.

Doing the HAL tour brings income to the tour guide(s), and the merchants to whom they steer the tourists' business. Perhaps they have been complaining to HAL that independent tourists are bringing income to their competitors instead.

The idea that the local economy depends on specific HAL-approved guided tours, rather than independent tourists doing business with other tour guides and businesses, is absurd.

The Euro is the official currency of the French side, and the Netherlands Antilles Guilder is official on the Dutch side. The US Dollar is almost universally accepted anywhere on the island; it's the common currency used by locals in cross-border transactions.

Some French establishments give a discounted rate for US dollars, some don't. I wouldn't really care about the various exchange rates for a day in French St.-Martin. I'd pay in dollars; I'd check what the price is in dollars, and decide if I like the price. The Euros would be irrelevant.

The gas company, Con Edison, was investigating a reported gas leak in 2015, and they found that the Carnegie Deli had installed illegal gas pipes bypassing the meter. The deli had to pay $40000 for the gas they stole, and it was many months before the gas pipes were repaired and inspected. Everyone in the building was without gas during those months.

In 2014, the deli had to pay more than 2 million dollars in back pay to employees who had been cheated out of their wages.

If you really need a thirty-dollar mountain of pastrami on rye at a tourist-trap deli, you can probably find somewhere in Manhattan that does not defraud their employees and the gas company, and does not risk the lives of their customers, neighbors, and employees with unsafe gas fittings.

But not in that midtown neighborhood.

It's like wearing pj's in public.

So it's OK on "gala" nights.

... what else are cruisers to do when they receive lousy service?.

You could stiff the cab driver that takes you to the airport after the cruise. Or you could just wait till you get home, and kick the neighbor's dog. It would have about the same justification (none), and it would send the same message to HAL management (none).

No. If you wish to give out cash tips, and you want those who receive them to keep them, then you must leave the Hotel Service Charge at the full amount.

 

The stewards get a list of everyone who has removed or reduced the HSC, so they know whether or not they can keep cash tips. If they want to keep their jobs, they comply with the terms of the contract they agreed to.

Remember, they all live in very close quarters, and would not be able to keep cheating a secret for very long---even if they were inclined to try.

Does the crew actually itemize all their cash tips by amount and passenger name? If not, and a passenger removes the HSC on the last day of the cruise, how do the crew remember all the cash amounts and who paid them from the beginning of the cruise?

Do they live in such close quarters that they all know how much cash everyone else has, and where they received it?

Color me skeptical.

I agree. Until HAL comes up with a better solution, withholding the daily service charge is the only way a passenger can fight a wrong. After all, HAL does give you that option.

Withholding the service charge does nothing at all to fight a wrong. It just punishes people who are not responsible for the problem and have no authority to change it.

No researchers or doctors signed the article

...

I have to correct my error. The DCST coordinator's name is at the very end of the article, listing him as coordinator. It's not clear if he's an author or researcher of the article itself, but Dr. Avila's name is there.

Researchers have identified a correlation between Zika virus and microcephaly. No causality has been established, but the evidence of correlation has been cited in actual scientific reports published by actual physicians and researchers who cite the sources of their data and their analysis methods, and they sign their names. At least two such reports have been published in peer-reviewed journals. Actual Zika virus has been found in actual microcephalic infants and fetuses, both living and dead.

The supposed Sumitomo/pyroproxyfen connection was raised by an article from an anonymous group ("DCST") opposed to pesticides. No researchers or doctors signed the article, it was not peer-reviewed, and it cited neither the source of the data nor the analysis methodology. The references cited in the article do not support any supposed connection between pyroproxyfen and microcephaly. The article appears to be an expansion of an earlier academic report which noted that the microcephaly cases are in an area where pyroproxyfen (pesticide) is added to public water supplies. One of the groups referenced in the DCST article has denounced the use of their name.

An anti-pesticide group DCST is taking advantage of the Zika virus outbreak to their political advantage (anti-vaccine groups are doing likewise). The "viral" spread of their conspiracy theories on the internet seems to be a lot faster than the spread of the actual Zika virus. As for me, I place more credibility on peer-reviewed research and clinical evidence, than on "internet-viral" anonymous conspiracy theories, and "google it, it's true!" claims.

There is no evidence that foil fedoras provide protection against Zika virus or microcephaly.

It appears that the birth defect is most likely caused by a chemical larvicide...

According to whom?