HBE4

Thank you. Very interesting. I guess what I called chirping is really chattering. Leonard makes a Trilling noise all the time when running from room-to-room to announce his arrival and say hello!

I love it when Leonard does his meerkat / prairie dog stance. Usually when looking at the window at his "prey". The other day he was crouching by the sliding glass door looking at some of the birds fluttering about in the bushes. All of a sudden, I heard chirping coming from inside the house. For a millisecond, I thought he had brought a bird inside. How he could have opened the slider glass door & screen door, catch a bird, bring it inside, close the screen door & then the glass door never entered my mind. Turns out, it was Leonard making the chirping noises! I've never heard Leonard make this noise or any other cat in my life (growing up, we always had cats in the house). Turns out, cats can chirp when they are happy...or when they are trying to attract their prey.

I would have guess that as well, considering the CC community seems to have more experienced cruisers. Or maybe that's why it's higher as the new and/or casual cruiser might not even know they can remove auto-grats and maybe some of the more, um, "seasoned" cruises may like the traditional system? Just musing out loud.

The only Bruce concert I went to was in the Meadowlands, NJ sometime in the 1990's. There was a mini-New Jersey shore boardwalk set-up in the parking lot, complete with typical boardwalk games and sand. Really enjoyed it! Concert was good too even though I was seated about as far away from the stage as someone can physically get & still be in the stadium.

I love Melissa McCarthy in every thing she does.

I would love to be a CC contestant on either Survivor or Amazing Race. I'd be the first person to be eliminated but that's ok, instead of going home, the show will put you up in a sweet resort for 3+ weeks while the rest of the show is being filmed.

You get an "atta girl" and a pat on the back! 😜 Only took them an extra 1,200 extra posts for them to recognize you. Good thing Crown & Anchor is quicker with awarding cruise points!

Hey, is it okay if I go outside and play? Wait, snow is on the way? Never mind. I come back inside now, please.

Just out of curiosity, do you have a list of the "behind-the-scenes" workers that share in the tip pool? Things like: Job titles, job descriptions and % of tip they receive? Royal doesn't provide this information but as you seem to have several direct sources, you might know. I'm sure it'll go a long way to answering some peoples concerns.

My thoughts: I don't think Royal sees a issue with the current tipping structure so it's unlikely to change. I know in Australia they roll it into the price but on this side of the world where there is a "tipping culture", people like to see & control how much they tip. It's only an issue here on CC as I don't think I've ever had a tip discussion on board a ship. So based on what I've read here on CC, the majority of people leave auto-grats in place and will tip above that. This will offset those that under-tip or don't tip. For those that remove auto-grats & tip cash to the crew member directly, maybe it's pooled and shared with the "behind-the-scenes" people. Or maybe it isn't. Or maybe sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. I'm sure the "over-tippers" more than offset the "under-tippers" so the employees are getting the compensation they deserve while the passengers can feel satisfied in whatever they decided to do. Choice is good! As for the "handling fee" that Royal may or may not take, I don't have a problem with it. After all, the person(s) tracking, collecting and distributing the tip amounts need to be tipped as well. 🙂

People like to get preachy and tell others how they should live their life's and spend their own hard earned money? Just a guess. Others might join in for the entertainment factor of getting others riled up. 😉

Sorry, poorly worded post. Both flowers are early. Crocuses already bloomed & they are usually a mid-March flower. The Daffodils are about ready to bloom & they are usually 2 weeks behind the Crocuses, around late March/early April.

Family reunions are going to be epic! Oh no. I come to this thread to escape my relatives. 😄

USFL is just around the corner. Go Stars! That would be the Philadelphia Stars, not the NHL Dallas Stars.

Good luck and as @Sea Dog said, follow your heart. I have no real practical or real-world advice other than to ask if there was a trusted person that could act as an intermediary?

It's actually snowing here right now. The crocus and daffodils that started popping up 4-6 weeks early are not happy.

Possible 5-8 inches of snow where I live. First "real" snow fall this year. Might be time to see if I can get the snow blower fired up for the first time this season. I'm sure the fact that it still has last years gas in it won't be a problem 😠

Sounds like the waitress gave you a tip! 😉

Growing up - 1960's & 1970's - I always heard that you should tip 15% at lunch and 20% at dinner, presumably because dinner was more involved. I don't remember what the tip for breakfast was. 10%? loose change? A reminder to not smoke in bed? I also remember some telling me to tip 15% for average service and 20% for above average service. Then again, I was a kid, didn't pay for anything and didn't really concern myself with tipping rules.

Close. It's Buc-ee's. Make sure he watched this video first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbV4XWpfMyE It's a bit long at 6 minutes but still shorter than other video I found: "Things You Should Know Before You Visit Buc-ee's". That's a Texas-sized 12 minutes! 😉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6mtJ1RjrLo

I was done with them after my first time. Of course, I was around 20 & had feasted on Burger Kind & McDonalds all my life so..... Now you're talking!!!!

Wait a sec, if I understand this correctly, by winning that 2nd to last game they ensured themselves a more difficult playoff schedule? And if they had lost, they would had an easier playoff schedule? Sounds like some kind of multi-tiered playoff system where all the best teams are grouped together, and all the middle-of-the-road teams grouped together and so on. Or something like that. Kudo's to Owen and his team mates to preserving the integrity of the game. Others might have lost that game on purpose to become the "best of the worst" instead of the "worst of the best"😉 EDIT: I'm not calling Owen or his team the worst, but you probably already knew that. 🙂

I saw your original post and a bunch of quoted replies. Then someone mentioned your original post was gone but the quoted replies were still there which was weird as they would normally get deleted at the same time. Anyways, glad you are feeling better & no, I didn't think it was all that gruesome.

Wow, seeing how there are picnic tables there, it's quite possible we had lunch under that tree.

I'll add #6, don't get drunk. I've been to a few wineries where a "party bus" shows up and a bachelorette party or college frat boys 1 year reunion party stumbles out of the bus. They tend to take over the tasting room.