RobInMN

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Is it just me or does anyone else not give a flip if my WAITER is happy with me??

2 rules of food & beverage service:

1. 1) Never piss off anyone who handles your food
2. 2) Always make your bartender happy

8 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

I kind of wonder how they manage the toilets, I mean how many do you need for such a stadium, is there some statistics or ratio or something that planners apply? Sorry, all practical housewife here.

That will vary by country, state, and possibly sports.

Our local NFL team's stadium is U.S. Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings). Seats 66,655.

A local news story on "how many bathrooms" says that Minnesota building code says for huge venues, 1 toilet for every 60 women and 1 toilet/urinal for every 120 men. The code further says 3:2 women's toilets to men's. As they use the stadium for more than football, they figure 50:50 men:women.

By my calculations, that would be 555 women's, and 278 men's = 833 for minimum code.

The stadium spokesperson said they probably exceeded code and was quoted as saying "almost 1,000 'fixtures' ".  🙂 

55 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Ah, right. Good explanation. I agree that it looks as if they have forgotten to put the bit in there on the left. Aesthetically not pleasing.

 

Just looked up how many people will fit into the stadium tonight, the Allianz Arena was designed for 66,000 people, but after extensions it now has room for 70,000 for an international game.

https://allianz-arena.com/en

 

notamermaid

🍻 Fußbaall!

 

You're not giving it enough credit. Wikipedia says 75,024. 🙂 (that's a difference of 24 spots on the largest stadiums list!)

Surprisingly (to me), the largest stadium in the world is a Cricket stadium in India. Narendra Modi Stadium @ 132,000!

Then a bogus North Korea ego project.

Then comes "The Big House" where the Michigan Wolverines college (American) football plays. 107,601. Which, ignoring the NK stadium, was the largest until 2021, when Narendra Modi Stadium was completed.

What's interesting (again, to me) is #3-10 are all American college football stadiums.

#11 is the last over 100,000 people and it's another Cricket stadium. Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. 

Then comes the first football stadium. Camp Nou in Barcelona at 99,354.

The largest NFL stadium doesn't show up until #29. MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home of 2 New York NFL teams @ 82,500. There are 14 college stadiums larger.

Another official video:

23 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

If I see this correctly in the photo this is a highly planned layout with all straight roads and streets. So how come the only thing askew is the stadium? Was it the beer or intentional by the architect?

 It appears to me that it is intentionally angled so that looking past the far end zone gives you a view of the downtown skyline instead of looking at the baseball stadium (behind the word 'Reserved'). While the end zone stands look like they would block that view from most seats, it's probably done specifically for TV drone/establishment shots.

The same cannot be said for the slight rotation of the basketball/ice hockey arena just to the left, which is not nearly as noticeable in that picture, but clearer when you look at the Google Maps satellite. 

BTW, apologies to any Eagles fans on here, but it bothers me how almost symmetrical this stadium is. The corners are all different, but that upper end zone is just ugly how it's missing the angled section on the left.

Anyway, there's the view of the downtown skyline

11 minutes ago, orville99 said:

 

There are plans to build a new port on the Gulf side of the Skyway bridge to provide berthing for both larger commercial ships and larger cruise ships, but since this is Florida, who knows which decade that will actually happen. We were presented with a plan by FDOT for construction of a new highway connecting Poinciana with I-4 more than 20 years ago, and are still waiting...

It's not just Tampa. There are many bridges around the world that will limit the ship height. Bridge of the Americas for the Panama Canal for instance.

4 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

I hadn't heard that Norway will close down some of the fjords to cruise ships.  I wonder if this is controversial locally.  On the one hand, Norway seems like a pretty eco conscious country, and I imagine the desire to protect the fjords is strong.  On the other hand, some of those smaller towns would seem to rely heavily on tourism.  I don't know how well the Twizy rental place, for example, can survive without cruise ships.  Same for some of the breweries. 😱  Did you guys get any sense from the locals what they think of this?

It's not so much that they are closing to cruise ships, it's that they are imposing emission rules on the UNESCO fjords. Not sure if this is UNESCO or Norwegian parliament driven). Cruise ships that meet these standards are fine. I do not know if LNG qualifies or not, but until RC develops a new ship class (Project Discovery?) that potentially meets the new standards, they are out.

11 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

I don't disagree with anything you wrote.  With Project Discovery, many people are thinking it's going to be a new, modern version of Vision or Radiance.  Given that Royal is all about multi-generational cruising & something for everyone, my guess is that they will try to pack in some features that will appeal to younger families. So more of a mini-Icon and less of a new Vision & entice new cruisers to the smaller ports that may be within driving range.

 

That's assuming it gets passed the rumor/drawing board stage. Or maybe I'm wrong and once the older ships/older cruisers "age out", Royal will abandon the small ports. I guess we'll find out in 5 or 6 years.

 

The way most captains have described it when they do give indications in the Q&A's is that it will likely be sized about Voyager/Freedom. But that bridge clearance to ports they want to service will dictate the height.

I did a similar tour with a Brasov & Bucharest extension with a different company. We only used Euros to tip the local guides. Even if the country itself didn't use Euros, the guides and bus drivers accepted it. We really don't purchase much of anything, and when we did, we used a CC that did not have any foreign currency fees if that was an option. There were a few places in Euro countries where we used Euros (like a street food vendor). We did not purchase anything with cash in the non-Euro countries. There were some tours where there was a restroom break with paid facilities, and our Cruise Manager (who was also with us on the extension) or our tour guide supplied the necessary coinage.

51 minutes ago, CPT Trips said:

Different meanings of “booty.”

 

Not sure which is funnier, the announcement, or the artist's take on what a river cruise ship looks like 🤣Not going to make it under very many bridges 😁

While my experiences are more limited than others, I am of the frame of mind that limited hours for meals and "nothing to do" is just the nature of river cruising due to the size of the ships. I take this in stride. We love ocean cruising as well as river cruising. We don't do the same Caribbean islands over & over, we try to hit different places, Arctic Circle, Iceland, Panama Canal, Greek Islands, or even new Caribbean islands/ports we haven't been to before. For us, we look at the ship (ocean or river) as a floating hotel, with everything else as a additional on top of it. Yes, an ocean cruise is going to have a lot more entertainment, but river cruises don't typically have "sea days", or if they do, it takes the place of a port, like the Iron Gates on the Danube or the Rhine Gorge. If you take advantage of the excursions, there really isn't typically a lot of down time. At least not enough to feel "bored". Typically, you appreciate the fact that you have some time to sit and relax. And this is from someone that spends on-ship time on an ocean cruise going from trivia/game to trivia/game.

That said, I would not give up on river cruising, try a different company. AmaWaterways is our favorite (not that we've really tried others), but there are plenty of options that many people love (note: Viking is not usually among them). Try this thread:

3 minutes ago, Mimiya11 said:

Yes that is our concern as we are a group of 15 wanting to book shows as soon as they are posted 

Our experience as 2 people in 2018 (not an issue at all) would not be comparable to a group of 15 today. I'd suggest looking at the roll calls of recent to soon Oasis sailings from Rome and see if this has come up or maybe even post a question asking them.

7 hours ago, Mimiya11 said:

Was this an inter-porting cruise?  We are going on the Oasis in August boarding in Rome. 

Still wondering about the boarding logistics and numbers on the ship if some board in Rome and others in Barcelona a few days later?   I have visions of a mad house  ?     

We did this from Rome in 2018. No issues boarding or anything like that. I imagine that most people on excursions were long gone before we could board. When we went out on our Barcelona excursion and came back, I don't recall even really noticing that for 2/3 of the ship it was turn-a-round day.

I think it was about 1/3 Rome, 2/3 Barcelona. Rome people had Orange SeaPass cards. The only real issue at that time (and while better, might still be a minor issue?) was the app as you are doing the back half of one cruise and the front half of the next. The "Sail Away" party ends up being on your day 4 or something (when ever Barcelona is).

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

I think that one could use some explanation (?) How does one play a piano while in the elevator?

I thought is was so fun the first time we ran across this I still think it's fun. 

I believe the official title is "Stowaway Piano Player"

27 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Just as a side note, if you are referring to SM, we have had the opportunity to meet him on two of our sailings.  Very interesting and personable individual.

I am. While I've never met him, every indication I've seen says that he is a very approachable, friendly person who loves to talk to people.

There are a few videos on youtube where he is interviewed and they discuss his logistics and finances.

Let us know what you decide.

2 hours ago, georgemoe said:

Considering our first TA for 2026. How would you rank the months best to worst? Does it matter East or West bound? TY!

31 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

May and October will always be warmer than March and December. Some people prefer westbound because half the nights will have an extra hour. 

Our thoughts on TA's is that we would rather have the long crappy flight at the front-end of our vacation and have the shorter not so bad flight at the end of our cruise. So for us, we booked the West bound TA on Allure for fall of 2025, and someday (post retirement), We'll be looking for an East bound TA (with a number of B2Bs in Australian & New Zealand preceding it).

11 minutes ago, gatour said:

No I didn't miss your post.  I read through the entire thread before posting.

 

I gave more additional information that there were multiple news places that reported it.  Plus I added that the "teenagers" were 18 years old.  Just saying "teenagers" leaves a broad age range of 13 through 19.  There is a big difference between a 13 year old showing up at the gangway without their parent to reboard as opposed to an 18 or 19 year old.

Unless these "news sources" got in contact with the Reddit OP, who has yet to post any follow up, the Reddit post is the only story that they are regurgitating for clicks. Further, since this is the OP's only post, it's probably a throw away account and there's probably no follow up.

The Reddit post says it was for the OP's high school graduation and their 18th birthday. It's right in the post. And again, it's 1 teenager, not plural.

No "additional" information was provided that wasn't in the original Reddit post that I linked to.

56 minutes ago, gatour said:

Yes.  There were several reports of this from multiple news sources.  The teens were actually 18 year olds.  When time was getting close, they repeatedly told their parents that it was time to get back to the ship.  The parents ignored them, so the "teens" were responsible and went back to the ship arriving before all on board time.  I don't recall the ship/cruise line.

You quoted post #17,  but seemed to have missed my post #22. It was 1 teen, and the story came from a Reddit AITA.

2 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

The only RCCL C & A exception is Pinnacle, which is recognized on the cruise on which it is reached.

A Pin corrected me (clarified 😁) on a previous post when I said something to that effect. While they are recognized on that cruise, they apparently don't actually get the P benefits until the next cruise.

1 hour ago, snaefell said:

We were in Barcelona last year,our tour guide said that when the work there is finished they would be able to accommodate NINE cruise ships together,I wouldn't want to be there when it happens it was bad enough with five!

Wait! That is in Barcelona?? Oh please God no.

In 2018, We got on & off in Rome so that Barcelona was a port stop. Even though we were on a ship tour, we were over an hour late getting back, and most of that was just trying to get into the round-a-bout just outside of the port. We literally were at a complete stop for 10 minutes at a time. And once we made it into the round-a-bout, a police officer made us leave on the first exit, and we had to loop around and come back in a different entrance.

I could not tell you how many times the tour guide bragged that "they hosted the 1992 Olympics". By the time we got back to the ship, all I could think was "How the edit did they host the '92 Olympics when they can't even host 4 cruise ships."

And they want the port capacity to host 9? They are insane.

16 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Yeah, I've heard that before -- I just don't believe it.  

Not sure why. They have a master tool or code to open every safe. Without a passport, you could be totally screwed trying to get back to the US until you can get a duplicate from the State Department. 

Matt's Blog has a post that says they will.

Here's one from Conde Nast if you are looking for something more "journalistic":

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-happens-if-you-miss-your-cruise-ship

Just Google what happens when you miss the ship

7 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I've never really believed that the staff come to fetch your passport.  How do they know it's in your safe?  

 

From what has been posted previously, they will open the safe and look for it there first, as 95%+ of the time, that's where people store it (like me). If it's not there, they will do a cursory search of the room to locate it, but it's far from an exhaustive search.

I can't find the detailed description I recall seeing previously, but I found this one: