Bkchero

I had never heard of the pineapple/swinger connection either. What does that say about those who grow their own pineapples? Asking for a friend.

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Regarding your Spring Break cruise concern - because Easter is so late some schools are not doing Spring Break the week of April 22. In Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Spring Break is the week of March 25 and the kids also get Good Friday off. I am obviously not sure about everywhere else in the country but your cruise might not be that Spring Break-y. Enjoy your trip.

On my last cruise (Navigator) I was up $300 in blackjack going into the last night and the odds started catching up to me so when I got to plus $150 I stopped. I did not feel like there was anything nefarious going on, and I've played enough to know that the dealer will draw a 5 when hitting 16 once in a while. I had actually gotten a couple good hits when I had 14 and 15 and the dealer had a 10 up so I just assumed it was evening out. That money essentially covered all my extra tips to the waiters, room attendant, Adventure Ocean staff and a little extra for my favorite bartender (no I don't want to turn this into a "should I tip extra" thread . . . ). In comparison to my last trip to Vegas where I lost, I felt like the ship was OK.

My wife was on Carnival ship w/friends maybe 5 years ago and all of a sudden I get a text picture of her in her room with 12 black chips. Turns out she had hit one of her lucky numbers on roulette 3 times. She ended up coming home about plus $800. She was down about $100 or so after our Navigator trip.

Contrast that with friends of ours who cruise 3-4 times yearly and gamble a lot, to the extent that they have upcoming freebes on Carnival in September and RC in December and had two freebies last year, and they have never come back and said they won big. Maybe close to even, maybe one of them was ahead a little bit, but then the other was down.

So yes, people do win and come out ahead, but like Vegas or other gambling havens, those ships don't get built b/c people are winning . . .

Exactly. 20+ foot waves out at sea makes for a bumpy ride, those waves docked could mean half your boat falls over into land. *

 

 

*ok honestly don't know ships that big, but hurricanes have tossed 100ft boats pretty far from sea if bad enough.

 

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What I was thinking of was the possibility of mooring lines snapping and a ship drifting in the port/harbor where it can potentially bang into anything and everything indiscriminately, thus causing lots of damage. Plus when at sea a ship can steer away from the storm.

If there is a storm the ship will sail somewhere else. Being in port when a storm hits is actually worse as there’s a bigger potential for damage from hitting docks, other ships, etc. There’s a reason the Navy empties out their bases when a storm is coming. It’s much better to go to sea and ride out the storm.

Shouldn´t be a problem as longs as he has both of your cruise cards to show.

This. I would order drinks for both of us and give both cards. Or when we were with our friends I’d order 4 and take 4 cards. Whatever the number of drinks is you need that many cards.

I will say however that they offered me a bottled water even when I ordered a drink. On several occasions they saw my 10 YO son and said does he want a water. I had seen on here that you are only supposed to get 1 drink at a time and that bottled water counted as a 2nd drink so you could not get one at the same time. That’s not what I actually experienced.

They either deliver it to your stateroom on the last night or last morning, or there is a special area you go to pick it up on the last night or last morning.

Our attendant delivered them about 6:00 the night before we disembarked. I happened to be in the room and he handed them to me and said "Please do not drink them." While I honored his request (I had the drink package) I would be surprised if everyone always does . . .

What would happen if the animals were horsing around and jumped overboard? Don’t think it would work very well...

 

 

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Ever heard the Doors song "Horse Latitudes"?

When the still sea conspires an armor . . .

Amazing people, and very reasonable:

http://www.seacolorsazores.com/

Thank you. I’ll file that away for when we get there. Much appreciated, as was all the info you and Sue shared throughout the trip.

Finally got around to looking at the Ponta Delgada excursion photos...

 

Awesome. Whale watching is definitely on the bucket list. And I have now added the Azores to the bucket list that has grown exponentially in the past year . . .

Ship tour or independent? Thanks in advance.

Dude, I’ve had half a bottle of rum and now I see this . . . Really threw me for a loop.

A parting shot at the art critics from early in the review?

This thread has me seriously considering a March 2019 Caribbean trip instead of Allure the same week. With drinks included it’s actually cheaper. The only thing holding me back is the early departure from Tortola and the Nassau stop, but I think I can live w/that.

Thanks for all of your time (and Sue’s time) on this. Tremendously helpful and informative.

I imagine that bridge must have a pretty large air draft. I wonder if it would accommodate Oasis class.

If you are to believe Wikipedia and several other Google search links the Al Salam clearance is 230 feet. By comparison the Verrazano Narrows is 228 and Golden Gate is 220. We have some friends who just sailed out of San Fran and they said it was kinda cool sailing out under the Golden Gate.

I was thinking the same thing. You could have told me that was the Sunshine Skyway bridge out of Tampa...and I would have believed you. :confused:

 

Really nice touch with the luncheon.

Google research leads me to believe it is the Al Salam Bridge. According to Wikipedia it was built over the Suez as a joint venture between Japan and Egypt. Opened in October 2001.

Video:

'nother noob question. if you have one of those vouchers upon landfall, can you actually cash it out? or is that sort of thing always only redeemable as credit of some sort?

I’ve often wondered how much the casinos and cruise lines make because some gamblers (cough) are too proud to cash vouchers for amounts like 30 cents. . .

So I was looking at the March 24 '19 Dawn cruise on an online TA's website that I use to plan out/price out potential cruises and they still list the itinerary with Dominica on it. That's a little strange . . .

Do you think it was a drill or a false alarm? I have seen the drills in port but I was always curious if they do drills in the open sea where conditions would be more like a real S&R scenario.

Thanks for all the pictures of Petra. I am now going to have to work and extra 5 years to save enough for a trip that somehow includes Aqaba.

He has gone in search for power and a usb cable if anyone is worried [emoji23][emoji23]

 

 

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I’ll only be worried if they completely run out of beer . . . Then Doug might lead the first modern-day cruise ship mutiny . . .

My bucket list just got a little longer . . .

Heading down to Mystery Gift Exchange reveal event. The gifts we received...

 

 

Can you give back that hideous cooler?

I went to ************ and priced an existing cruise I have booked. Guess what.....the price that came up was the non refundable rate and I could not even access the regular refundable deposit rate

 

 

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In order to research what is available by date I use an online TA (so no phone calls). This site does not allow me to say which but it is one that pops up when you use the Cruise Critic find a cruise link. When I choose a particular cruise I can see all price options including differences between refundable and nonrefundable. It also describes the perks of the nonrefundable (in my case some OBC).

Example: on an Allure cruise we are considering the difference between the refundable vs. nonrefundable is $33 a person and no OBC for the balcony category we are considering. I can see all of that on one screen and it doesn’t require inputting anything.

I find this much easier to use for research.

I did a quick check on third party site, exp. cruises and hotels and such, seems like they are displaying refundable and non refundable rates

 

 

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Same here. I use an online TA's site to price out cruises since I'm not only looking at RCL. The site I use shows both price options.

My last cruise was on RCL, we took my stepson and his girlfriend. When I booked I specifically asked about changing her out if they happened to break up (both are in college but have been dating for about 3 years). There was no charge if it was done more than 30 or 60 days out and a $50 charge after that, or something like that. Whatever it was it was nothing substantial. Check with NCL or your TA if you used one. I’d be stunned if you couldn’t change, there might be a small fee but that’s peanuts.

Enjoy the cruise. Everything happens for a reason.

 

(y) and get out right fired with alcohol in the system. Definately a bad thing getting fired, but more so having alcohol in the body while working.

Well, I’m my own boss, so I won’t get fired in that sense, but I might not get done for my clients what needs to get done . . .

And since you live in my ‘hood you probably wouldn’t want me driving down your street . . . But when I’m on the ship I’m not driving anywhere. . .unless I go on NCL and try the go karts, but I’ll try and do that early so it doesn’t interfere w/my day drinking. . .

Wholly crap! You sir are going to need a liver before too long. We once had a neighbor who would drink a six-pack each night when he got home from work. Needless to say, their recycle container was fuller than their regular trash can. I can't possibly imagine REGULARLY drinking more than 15 adult beverages in a day and still being able to function normally even while on vacation.

It is not as difficult as you think if you properly pace yourself. Slow and steady wins the race. I am on vacation. If you are like me, that means a rare chance to kick back and not worry about a thing.

Bloody Marys, screwdrivers or mimosas with breakfast.

Foo Foo drinks and/or beer during the day.

Wine with dinner.

Drinks during after dinner activities.

Nightcaps.

Spread all of that over a 12-16 hour period and I can get to 15 easy and be fine. I don't know if I could do it for 7 days straight, but on a sea day mixed in to the port days its not unheard of.

To me the bigger issue is all the extra calories. Beyond all the food that I eat there are another 2,000 + calories in all those drinks, and its basically sugar.

And for the record, I do not do the above at home. No way I am drinking in the morning if I may have to drive somewhere later in the day.