kochleffel

On my very first cruise, I met a passenger who cruised frequently and couldn't really afford it. They reduced the cost by disputing credit-card charges (that were legitimate) and getting them charged back.

Yes. This was an organization with affluent members and the person thought that the rummage sale had a reputation for selling only top-quality clothing. (The actual reputation was for checking donations carefully for damage, and displaying them well.)

I always pack the OTC medicines that I keep on hand at home. There have been highly entertaining posts from time to time by people who take an entire suitcase of medical supplies and equipment, but some of them were medical workers who would at least know what to do with the stuff. No personal experience with buying watches, jewelry, or electronics on board, but I'll mention that people used to like Caribbean cruises for the opportunity to shop in free ports. Marketing in North America has changed since then and the items in duty-free shops in places like St. Thomas, even if genuine, no longer appear to be especially good values.

I was initially put off by the parsnip idea, but I gather that in this recipe the parsnips function like grated carrots. I would probably pass on the cocktail, but the wine is a natural for the Finger Lakes. I'll go with Weis Vineyards; this is the one whose owner is from the Mosel region. Weis produces many different Rieslings in a single vintage, some representing different terroir (slate vs. limestone, for example) but I'll make it simple and nominate the flagship Dry Riesling (2022): "wonderfully crisp, clean, and full. The nice balance of minerality, fruit, and lively acidity make this a perfect wine for pouring a glass or pairing with food. It presents with notes of lime, grapefruit, guava, and lingering undertones of pear," $20.99. I woke up too early and I didn't like that. It was 42° outdoors and I didn't like that, either.

I used to be the director of a nonprofit organization that held an annual rummage sale. The person who ran it for years wouldn't allow any clothing that contained even a molecule of synthetic material; everything had to be 100% natural.

I would rather not post insulting comments about people who need or want to save money. There is nothing wrong with wanting to cruise but also watching the budget. Some tips are be appropriate and helpful, just not necessarily the ones cited in the article.

Yes - we see that confusion fairly regularly. Thinking about port names: I don't consider it deceptive to write "Rome (Civitavecchia)" or "Athens (Piraeus)" since those are the ports of those cities, and people who haven't embarked from there before might not know. "Orlando (Cape Canaveral)" isn't quite the same, because Cape Canaveral is not actually the Port of Orlando. Rather, Orlando is the main airport for getting to Cape Canaveral, although I think that Melbourne is closer (fewer flights) and I would likely fly to Sanford (nonstop from where I live). In this case, it would be clearer to write "Panama City (Fuerte Amador)" and label the first one as overnight and the second as disembarkation.

I felt the same way when I had chosen HAL for a TATL partly because of the Lincoln Center Stage, and then it was discontinued before the sailing.

Thank you. Which is also somewhat dishonest, but the information is usually not concealed. In this case they are also using the name of a terminal that appears not to exist. Where a ship overnights at a port, cruise lines usually just say that.

Thank you. The thread started in 2023, and the most recent post bumped it up after the last time I checked. From other posts, I think that more has been completed at Fuerte Amador but it's all still rather up in the air and likely to change by the time I'm there. This sort of thing is annoying and it feels like NCL is being coy about it.

Annals of Stupidity: a man in Michigan had to attend a court hearing over Zoom about his suspended driving license. When he signed in, everyone could see that he was driving at the time. https://wapo.st/4bVA016 He was ordered to report to jail by 6:00 p.m.

Exactly. Some of the other suggestions are not crazy. For example, spa treatments are wildly overpriced compared to where I live, but if it's a luxury you enjoy and can afford, you shouldn't let some online personage tell you not to. I think that an average cost-conscious passenger would be able to figure that out on their own. I think it was altogether wrong to say that there's free wifi at some bars and shops onboard. However, if your needs are flexible and not too extensive, you might be able to manage with free wifi on shore. I'm currently buying not only onboard wifi, but premium wifi, because of having classes on Zoom. (If you must have wifi on board, for work or school, avoid cabins that are all the way forward or all the way aft, because on some ships they have poor connectivity.)

I need help understanding the itinerary for a Panama Canal cruise that I've booked. It's a one-way cruise from Miami to Fuerte Amador. (Either you fly back from Panama, or you book it B2B with a one-way in the other direction.) The itinerary shows Panama City, Pacific Cruise Terminal, as a port of call for the next-to-last day. The day after that, disembarkation is at Fuerte Amador. Are they the same place, or...? NCL offers no excursions for Panama City on that next-to-last day.

The AMA website says that the Wellness Exam under Medicare is not an annual physical, nor is it a follow-up for existing conditions. Anyone who scheduled a wellness exam by itself would likely be disappointed. It's about prevention and screening for unsuspected problems, and does not require hands-on examination or labs. I don't think that annual physicals as such are even covered under Medicare, although some practices might do the equivalent under cover of a diagnosis. In theory, the wellness exam could take the form of an online questionnaire, except that they don't think we're sufficiently compos mentis to fill one out.

I'm in favor of creativity but there are times when it's not wanted. Are we supposed on water only one flower today? Too many people in my circle have MS. I always made bean salad for my former organization's annual meeting, which revolved around grilled chicken and burgers. I'd skip the drink, because of the pineapple juice. Many Finger Lakes wineries grow pinot gris, so today I'll turn to one, Idol Ridge, that I haven't mentioned before, for its 2021 bottling. "Fruity, creamy, and savory with aromas of peach, pear, lemon zest, & vanilla," $20. I haven't been to College Fjord and it's not in my 2025 itinerary. I'll think after the Panama Canal cruise about whether to keep that booking. I lived in Indiana for some years, but as I was in Bloomington, I'm more familiar with the Little 500 (bicycle race).

Thank you for posting the close-ups! I was curious enough to run a search, and found that there are companies with entire lines of "coastal Christmas ornaments," including sharks, which I think I would rather not have if I were to do that sort of thing.

Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser, I composed a reply in yesterday's thread and CC locked thread before I finished! I also read about the wellness check on the AMA website, which says that it's mainly to check for recommended screenings and immunizations. The substance of the reply was that I'm willing to be examined by a PA or NP, but I won't accept medication changes that the doctor hasn't approved. About five years ago, the NP in the practice (not the current one) changed my blood-pressure medication in a way that required follow-up labs, but didn't order any, and I didn't know that they would be needed. If I hadn't broken my arm later that year, resulting in labs being done in the hospital, it could eventually have killed me.

This has always been a difficult question for me; it's why I used to have a morning newspaper delivered.

My PCP's office phoned recently to tell me that I was due for a Medicare something-or-other. They've never done this before. Now, the doctor would be embarrassed to ask me those kinds of questions, and the nurse practitioner would think it was hilarious. It's possible that an inexperienced PA might try. Which combination of them I see varies, largely depending on whether there's a medical student in the office that day--if so, the student does all the routine parts. I'm going to ignore the Medicare-whatever visit and book an ordinary follow-up, with blood tests done before it.

I don't think that you would find many "made in Norway" things in a shop selling souvenirs -- they would be too expensive for the souvenir market. Many would be almost too expensive for the luxury market! I was startled by the reference upthread to cheap pottery. I don't buy much at all when traveling, but during a Greek islands cruise I bought a piece on Rhodes, not very expensive but handmade on Rhodes, that copied the form and decoration of classical pottery. I was especially taken by its depicting the death of Achilles, because I had Achilles tendonitis at the time. But when Venice was working up to banning cruise ships, one of the arguments was that cruise passengers didn't eat in restaurants or buy anything authentic products in shops -- just got food from McDonald's, dumped the wrapping into the canals, and bought made-in-China trinkets. That may have been true of many passengers on day calls, but the result was that cruises from Venice shifted to departing from Trieste or Ravenna -- even though passengers embarking and disembarking typically stayed in Venice before, after, or both (would have been both with me, but I changed that booking to one departing from Athens).

I believe that Holland America cruises, however, all use Whittier. This is OK for land tours, not for Kenai Fjords boat tours. I have a 2025 booking on NCL that also disembarks at Whittier, which was a surprise and not a very happy one since the cruise is a catch-up for one in 2020 that would gone to Seward. Then, I had booked a Kenai Fjords tour with Major Marine, and I can't find any practical way to get to Seward from Whittier.

IIRC, Ken Kovach, quoted in the WEWS report, was the choir master even then and was credited in the movie.

I could make the menu suggestion today, with a different mix of vegetables. I'd try the drink, once. I had to look up cachaca; it's sometimes called Brazilian rum but is made from fresh cane juice, not molasses, and has distinct flavors (variable depending on whether and how it's aged). Cabernet Sauvignon really isn't a top grower in the Finger Lakes, but wineries grow a lot of it anyway, because of market familiarity and demand. We might try Barnstormer Winery's 2022. "Cool climate expression of Cabernet Sauvignon. Dark peppery notes, black cherries, leather, and a hint of smoke and vanilla," $30. I slept well last night, which is so rare that it feels abnormal. Did you see the film The Deer Hunter? The church in it, St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland, caught fire last night, apparently in connection with work being done on the copper onion domes. Because the fire at the roof level, the body of the church was saved, but with tremendous water damage. https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/firefighters-battle-church-fire-in-tremont.

There is a thread on the NCL board about that line's having denied boarding to passengers with a guarantee because the entire ship was oversold. NCL does not routinely offer GTY cabins; there is a discounted sail-away category that is offered in regular booking and sells out quickly that is the equivalent, but it's offered while other cabins of the promised type are still available. The prevailing opinion in that thread was that the line should have extended move-over offers to some number of passengers. IIRC, the departure was from a Florida port where there would have been retirees who lived near the port who could easily accept such an offer.

Have you considered getting a little cart, no electricity involved, that could be drawn by a team of hounds? (I actually heard once of someone in Kentucky who liked the idea of dogsledding, got a sled, and had it pulled by eight Walker hounds.)