kochleffel

I hold no brief for monarchy, but I agree with this.

I just book for two. Sometimes I meet someone who wants to share the table; otherwise I just tell them when I arrive that I'm on my own. It makes no difference to the restaurant--a party of either one or two will be seated at a two-top. I haven't had to deal with booking at a fixed-price restaurant while having no FAS available.

Friends of mine had to mix a little beef broth into the water to get their dog to drink enough.

The Junior Cat is, well, a cat, but at our last v-e-t visit we were told that their current advice is to feed both: dry food for their teeth, and wet food for their kidneys. But it's a particular problem that cats eating only dry food won't drink enough water.

A NOTAM outage could affect flights over the United States even if they don't take off or land in the U.S. While many of the notices pertain to airports (e.g., closed runways, nearby obstacles), some pertain to air space (navigational aids not working, closed air space for an air show, head of state, and the like).

The problem isn't just one person: their repetitive, nasty replies subvert the thread as others argue with them. After a certain point, I'd rather just hide the entire thread.

Dinner tonight was yellow bell pepper (as salad), rainbow chard, salmon, and Riesling--rather a lot of Riesling. Today I'm wishing that Cruise Critic had an "Ignore Thread" function. Several threads that I was following, including some in which I had posted, have been taken over by individuals who are negative to the point of being nasty, and who repost essentially the same hostile reply to every other post. Thus, the thread looks very active, but half the posts are almost identical.

U.S. immigration and customs at the cruise terminal, part of embarkation. If the cruise is a closed loop and returns to Vancouver, Canada immigration and customs when you disembark. If it's one-way to Alaska, Canada immigration and customs when your return flight arrives in Canada.

Not a TA, but I had an aft cabin for a cruise that had more sea days than planned (this was my infamous Bermuda Triangle cruise where we docked for only one day) and it was very pleasant for all those sea days.

Everyone is peculiar in some way, so maybe Peculiar People day celebrates everyone, but I thought first of the definition that Graham posted, referring either to strict Wesleyans or to Quakers. I've also heard the term used to denote any religion with which the speaker is unfamiliar. Either of the meal suggestions would be OK with me, as would the wine, although I think that Oregon produces the best Pinot Noir and as a practical matter I'm more likely to be drinking one from the Finger Lakes. The cocktail would not -- no pumpkin drinks, please. I have been to Bar Harbour on the Norwegian Gem. It was cold and rainy and I don't think I have a lot of pictures, but I do have a story (possibly everyone who has visited Bar Harbour has heard it, whether it's true or not): Martha Stewart had a vacation house there and at one point decided that she wanted a yacht. There is a trade in used yachts, but she wanted to have one built to her specifications. She went to the best yacht builder, reviewed typical designs, discussed customizations, and worked out all the details of interior finishing, etc. When she was ready to place the order, the yacht builder told her that it would take 18 months, because there were 15 orders ahead of hers. She objected, but he wouldn't budge. Eventually she asked, "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" He replied, "Yes. You're number 16." Cartoon for Jacqui, flying with a broken elbow.

Thanks. Yes, that's what I meant (or Vancouver/Seattle to Japan). I see that the Millenium will have Japan sailings in 2024, but will have been sailing in Asia for some time before they begin.

Is there any hint of whether this itinerary will be offered in 2024? I was booked for it before, when it was cancelled; I couldn't travel on the dates for the later sailings, but 2024 might be possible. Nothing is listed on the X website, although there are Fiji and Tahiti TPACs.

I'm from northern Ohio and one part of my family believed strongly in eating sauerkraut on New Year's Day, but they were from Pennsylvania and it may have been Pennsylvania Dutch influence. Unfortunately, they had forgotten how to prepare it: just bought it in cans and ate it straight out of the can. (Well, heated up.) I didn't learn to like it until I used the recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which also has a version for uncured red cabbage. Pork doesn't feature in my cooking but duck or goose is excellent in it. Leftover turkey dark meat would work, too.

I haven't been to Bornholm Island, but I have a bottle of Bornholm Snaps, hand carried from Copenhagen. AFAIK it's only available in Denmark and Sweden.

No. LATREW* just represents whatever normal tier benefits you will receive.

I probably don't have as much experience on HAL as you do, but this was not at all my experience. No funerary music whatsoever. And not all old people -- the cruise had an unusual number (for HAL) of young couples and many of them came to the concerts, every one of which was SRO.

I noticed that Lincoln Center Stage is described as "on select cruises," but I didn't know whether that was a change. It's still listed for the fall TATL on the Oosterdam that I have booked, and I really hope that it stays, because it's the main reason I chose HAL over other cruises lines for an itinerary with lots of sea days.

I haven't yet taken a cruise longer than seven or eight days, because of a job that limits when I can travel. After June of this year, that won't be a concern, but I'm still not likely to book very long cruises -- a TATL this fall, 14 days on the ship plus a week before embarkation, will be the longest so far. I chose HAL for that, and the amenities offered on other lines' megaships are negatives as far as I'm concerned, but if HAL shifts entirely to cruise that are a lot longer than that, I probably won't be booking. The Junior Cat wouldn't let me.

I especially remember the complaints from residents of Venice that cruise-ship passengers didn't spend money on shore and yet managed to make a mess. Specifically, passengers on day calls bought nothing but trinkets probably made in China, and didn't eat in restaurants, just picked up McD's and then threw the wrappers into the canals. Passengers embarking from Venice would have been likely to stay on land before, after, or both, which is what I had planned, but in the end I concluded that travelers like me weren't really welcome in Venice, even if no cruise was involved. Although I would certainly eat in real restaurants, I wouldn't spend a fortune in shops. I'd rather put money into travel than into shopping. When the embarkation port was changed to Ravenna, I switched to a cruise embarking from Athens.

Thanks. I'm not trying to book any fixed-price restaurants, and the SPD offer is just one dinner in a five-day cruise. However, at this point Cagney's can't be booked online on any evening earlier than 9:00 p.m., so I'm leaving one open and will try to book it on board.

This is just a 5-day sailing to Bermuda on the Getaway, which doesn't sound like it would attract many passengers at the highest tiers, but yes, it would be considerate for high-tier members who had been automatically signed up to take themselves off the list if they're not going to attend. But I envision heading first to Cruise Next, then to booking for specialty dining if I don't have it arranged in advance. (Is it correct that dinners using Platinum certificates can't be booked online?) Right now I'm not finding any show booking available, and I'm not sure that there is anything that I would want to see.

I'm interested in this because the Sun and the Sky are scheduled to sail from Baltimore in the fall. Anyone have recent experience on the Sky, too?

Plenty of ships have doors that open outward, into a tiny recess, not directly into the corridor. You would put your luggage beside the recess, not in front of the door.

It's a four-course menu: appetizer/soup/salad, pasta/pizza, main, dessert. Once I had a new server, just switched from another restaurant, who didn't understand that and tried to serve the pasta (first plate in Italian logic) simultaneously with the main (second).

In honor of Bird Day, I retrieved and refilled a feeder that had blown down. Thai curry soup would be OK with me, as would Roy's alternative, but I'm actually make a red lentil soup. Red lentils are often used in curries but the recipe I'm following is Greek-influenced. I had peanut butter this morning before I knew that it was George Washington Carver Day. In other CC forums, HAL passengers have the reputation of lining up for dinner at 4:00 p.m. and going to bed at 8:00 p.m., and it is starting to sound as if HAL wants it that way. My only HAL cruise so far did not have what people claim are the typical demographics; it was the first week in January in 2020. The TATL that I have booked will be my first cruise longer than 7 or 8 days, and it is interesting to read how people prepare for world and other very long cruises. I remember one blog, not from the current season, that described taking actual furniture (a shelf unit, to be assembled on board, and an inflatable ottoman, iirc), which felt a bit over the top to me, and then there's the one already discussed where they purchased many cases of soft drinks at a warehouse store right before boarding. In the NCL forum, there used to be posts about being unable to survive without Coca-Cola, even in short cruises, because NCL served only Pepsi products, but NCL has recently changed to Coke. I spent part of the afternoon setting up a website to offer marriage and lifecycle officiation, because four synagogues--the local one and three others in the region--are looking for new rabbis and this will be a problem for anyone planning a summer wedding. I suppose I will have to buy a respectable new suit, because everything I have is decades old (I stopped wearing that sort of thing for work in 1996). To be realistic, I get more calls for funerals than for weddings.