moscow123456

That is what I was hoping. I already have several pairs of their shoes, so I know they are comfortable. Thank you for the information - now I am off to shop!

Pete - can you ask Judy what brand shoes she is wearing in this photo? I absolutely love her shoes!! I have been reading your blog for a couple of years now and am so excited to follow along as you and Judy traverse the world once again!

I know that @DaveOKC gets casino offers, but these are not the only "free" room offers out there. We took our very first HAL cruise this summer (to the fjords of Norway), did not spend any money in the casinos, and still got a "free interior cabin" offer from HAL in December. I have no idea what criteria they use in sending out these offers, but I can attest that we did not spend money in the casino and still got a "free interior cabin" offer for the January/February time frame. I wish I could offer you some idea as to how one "qualifies" for the free offers - but I, truthfully, have no idea. I only know that we accept the offer (with an upgrade to an OV cabin) and the very kind HAL folks were willing not only to talk with me about the offer, but to explain in detail which cabins (and where) were available on the various cruises offered.

Bon Voyage to all! And a very Happy Anniversary to @whitlarson (and DH) and don't forget to take a lot of photos for me!

Yes. You can set it up very easily on-line, though.

I don't know if there is a "best" tour, since they are all so different. But we took - and really enjoyed - the tour by Captain Dave.

This was our recent experience on the Rotterdam. We had an early reservation at Tamarind on the night we were leaving Geiranger. It was not intentional. It was the only time they had available because we left making the reservation until late. (It was our second time dining at Tamarind on our cruise since we had enjoyed it so much on embarkation night.) We were seated in a banquette facing the large window out the back of the ship. The views of Seven Sisters and the Bridal Veil as we left Geiranger were absolutely breathtaking!

Can you offer any suggestions as to cruise lines that have a more diverse list of ports? We want to do a Med cruise next but are not looking to go to the "usual" ports. Thanks so much!

This is a difficult question to answer because, as parents, we can only control our own children. As @scooter6139correctly pointed out, in the past the discipline of children was something that was encouraged and expected by society as a whole and was dispensed by the "village" in addition to the parents themselves. And before anyone jumps down my throat, I do not necessarily mean corporal punishment - discipline means many things and, in this instance, I am using that phrase to mean structure/guidance/moral foundations. That has changed. It is no longer considered correct or appropriate to "discipline" a child that is not your own (and that does not even touch upon the possible legal implications of the situation). I wish there was a universal answer to the dilemma, but unfortunately there is not. There are the options of removing yourself from the situation, speaking to the management or servers, or even speaking directly (and I would advise, gently, in order to avoid unnecessary confrontation) to the parents of the child/ren involved. Or you can devise rather sneaky ways to deal with the situation - which is what we try to do when faced with a "child running amok." This approach is, of course, situational, but we have had rather good success with it under many circumstances. Our thought process for these types of situations is divert, divert, divert. Use something to divert and redirect the attention of the young person who is misbehaving. For example, we were recently at a resort for a long weekend for Easter with our son. As Easter is big family holiday, there were several large and extended family groups around us. One of these multi-generational groups had decided to let their 4-5 year old run amok in the restaurant. This young child was running from table to table "blowing" out the candles on the tables - whether they were occupied with diners eating dinner or not. He was disrupting conversations, climbing onto chairs in order to reach the candles, knocking things over in his haste to go from table to table, spitting all over the tables as he attempted to blow them out, and making a general nuisance of himself all over the restaurant. All while his entire family remained at their table enjoying their meal, while the rest of the restaurant suffered from the antics of a bored child. My son had been watching him make his way around the restaurant. As he approached our table, our 13-year-old son reached over, picked up our candle, turned away from our table (for sanitary reasons), and meeting the eyes of the young child, deliberately blew out the candle. He then stood up, held out his hand, and walked the young child back over to his table. There he announced to the parents that he found this young man wandering around the restaurant and wanted to make sure he was returned - safely - to his parents because he was so very young to be wandering around alone. At no point did he speak disrespectfully, raise his voice, or in any way make any kind of scene. He couched it in terms of concern for the safety of the young man rather than as a complaint. As he was preparing to leave the table, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a pack of Wikki Stix (which he carries around with him in his pockets - along with fidget spinners - to entertain himself when we are out in public) and handed the pack to the young child, explaining to him that it was a "toy" for him to play with while his family ate their dinner. Every other diner around us immediately followed his lead and blew out their candles - thus, removing the temptation from the young man to restart the behavior. Later, several adults came over to thank him for his quick thinking in alleviating the situation w/out making the situation worse. He removed the temptation, politely returned the child to his parents, and provided the child with something to keep him amused for the rest of the meal - all w/out any fuss or muss. Obviously, this type of solution is not a cure-all for bad or inconsiderate parenting such as what you experienced in your cabana on your previous cruise. But maybe it offers at least one idea on a possible way to handle this type of situation while eating out in public. (As an aside, I am truly sorry for the awful experience you had with the poor parenting exhibited in the adjacent cabana on your cruise.)

But this isn't about what others "feel" - it is about worrying about (or concerning yourself with) what others are paying. Those are two different things. Your argument conflates "feelings" and "payment (that you deem acceptable) for services."

This is also true for airline travel. No two people pay the same fare. I always book at a cost that I feel comfortable with and then simply "let it go." What others pay or do not pay is of no concern to me as long as I got a fare that I feel is fair and what I am willing to pay for that particular service. Seems to me that cruising should be the same philosophy. Find a fare that you feel is "fair," pay it, and then do not concern yourself with what others may or may not be paying for the same cruise.

Oh, how I remember those days! LOL! I cannot tell you how many cold meals I (or my husband) ate while we removed our son from the situation. But he learned - which is why we did it. Children can be taught. They just need someone to care enough to teach them that there are rules, that they are expected to follow them, and if they do not, they will lose privileges. I recall once when we were at WDW and he was misbehaving in line. He got pulled out of line, marched over the nearest wall, and was instructed to stand facing it until he could get himself under control. (And we were right up front in the line - so he blew it right near the finish line that time!) He also did not get to ride the ride that day due to his failure to follow the rules. I had one woman come over to me to criticize me for being "cruel" to my son at WDW. I informed her that it would be crueler to let him believe that there are no consequences for bad behavior. Now at almost age 14, he will be eating at both Rudi's and PG on our cruise (he loves seafood and is looking forward to ordering lobster); he will be dressed appropriately in a button-down shirt and a nice pair of pants; and will not be playing any video games or on a phone (he doesn't even have one) at dinner. Instead, he will be talking with his mom and dad (who also will not have any electronics at the table as they are restricted while eating in our home) just like he does every evening at dinner in our house. Children can indeed learn how to behave in public. They just need the adults around them to be willing to spend time and energy on them and with them - and sometimes that also causes the parents to lose out on something they might want but no one ever said parenting would be easy.

Since we will be on a cruise this summer with our almost 14-year-old, I too was interested in the teen club activities. I found a sample list of activities here: Club-HAL-Teens.pdf (rogerjett-photography.com). This amazing site also has sample menus from all the restaurants and sample daily activities for various cruises. The site is owned by a CC member and regular poster - who generously updates his site regularly (he already has the new Canaletto menu up on his site).

Thank you so much for this information! I wasn't even aware that there was on-line information about the seating arrangements in the MDRs. It sounds like the upper dining room might be marginally quieter than the lower one, so I will look into 4 tops in the upper dining room. Thanks again!!

This may be a very foolish question - and if so, I apologize - but how do you prioritize which tables you wish to sit at? We are going on our very first cruise ever this summer on the Rotterdam and I am curious as to how you - or anyone else - would decide which tables are in a better or worse location. There will be 3 of us and we would like to sit at a 4 top table but would have absolutely no idea about preferred locations, so any advice/information you would offer would be greatly appreciated!