lilchuckie

That chicken sammich looks too good to taste good! Was it a winner?

I can’t believe you had so much sailer loot left over. It seemed like you always had a drink.

12 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

This, along with no drink prices listed makes me wary. Plus, the inconsistency with pricing that @sid_9169 has pointed out!

I don't know when you all started cruising but drink packages weren't around on main cruise lines until about 10-12 years ago. I started cruising pretty regularly in the late 90s and one cruise in the late 80s and I don't remember getting a drink package until summer 2010. 

I know everyone will have different thoughts about this but I really like the upgraded food and modern aesthetic/entertainment offerings. Cruise prices have dropped since I started cruising but so has the quality and quantity of what's included. It would be worth it to me to give this line a shot to just experience something like the golden days (for me) again.

sid must be getting some trim. Good for him

41 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

I guess this is one of those breast feeding pods...

 

 

Chest feeding or lactation room, just got chewed out by my boss for not using the politically correct term in an email last week.

13 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

I swear to you that Virgin Voyages customer service is the WORST EVER of any cruise line... I just spent another hour and a half on hold and trying to deal with them... I've already LOST the XL Sea Terrace that I paid for months ago... Now, they're trying to jerk me out of the couple of hundred dollars I paid over and above the amount of the Shipload of Love contest... They're saying that they'll refund me  $74 and I'll have an extra $100 on Sailor Loot, even though I paid $174 over and above the amount of the prize anyway... The way I see it, is that money belongs to me, and if I have $100 in Sailor Loot, then that's above and beyond the money I've already paid... I really hate even having to deal with them at this point... I have to admit that I did end up using some "salty" language with the customer service representative... They tried to defend it by saying that they were trying to give me back money that I had already paid to them, but I insisted that I don't care about the money, it's a principal at this point... I just wanted exactly what I paid to them already, plus the "claimed" hundred dollars in Sailor Loot... After about an hour on the phone, hopefully this is all worked out... I'm going to tell you right now, that dealing with Virgin Voyages is an excruciating process, and I almost regret booking with them altogether...

 

They probably gave you a run of the house room when you won, most contests with prizes like that usually have that in the official rules (I've won a few "free" cruises in onboard drawings and free hotel rooms over the years at my local casino and in vegas.) Pretty much every time I've won one I've had to upgrade it or been stuck in a really bad room. Even with the upgrade, you were always the person who was going to get bumped first. I'd guess that they are so new that the customer service agents aren't able to explain that to you. 

That egg story is wild. My ex sister in law is in her early 80s now but used to be a really respected doctor 20 years ago, lots of TV appearances etc. She is really a nice lady overall.

However, when one of my nieces (from my side) was at a function and politely asked about an allergen, SIL flew into a rage about how most food allergies are psychosomatic. I’ve heard her rant about it so many times since, it is the one issue that always gets her fired up. As far as she is concerned Gluten-free stuff is the ruination of western society. 
 

I’m not a doctor but I’d argue that even if it’s in your head, it’s still real. Maybe confronting it accidentally will open up eggs as something your wife won’t have to worry about. Really glad she didn’t get sick. I’m super allergic to poison ivy and I’d do anything to just be able to enioy the woods in the summer so I feel for people with allergies of all types!

How does the G Wagon drive? How does boss like it? I must be going through a midlife crisis because I’ve been really considering buying one, never wanted a luxury car in my life. Funny aside, my other car is a likely older and less fancy Tahoe than the boss man has. 
 

Is chiropractic work covered by insurance? I could be showing ignorance but I always thought it was a pseudoscience type thing like acupuncture. 

Are these included or were they ever included on Carnival? What about other classes? My first few cruises were on a different line and I remember a ton of free enrichment classes, especially cooking and I thought that I vaguely remember them being on carnival 15-20 years ago. Every port included a history lesson the day before, for instance. 

It really could be my memory playing tricks on my and maybe I paid or but I really enjoyed stuff like this, I’d pay $30 but would think it is a bit steep in all honesty. 

8 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Robert enjoys playing the slots. About twenty years ago he was mainly a table games player, Roulette and craps, but after taking his mom to Atlantic City and seeing her get better comps than he despite having a smaller bankroll, he changed what he played. He had spoken to a Pit boss who confided that table games players don't get as many complimentaries as slot players since the house advantage is far less. From that conversation Robert slowly migrated his games of choice. He still enjoys playing craps and roulette but the majority of his play is on slots.

 

Robert said he found the slots on Mardi Gras more or less about what other Carnival ship casinos having been like in the past regarding payouts. On this trip Robert won about six jackpots, four of which he received W2-G tax statements. At the end he received a future comped balcony cabin with drinks while playing from the casino department. For those who track points he made 13,578 points gambling on this cruise. 

That's really interesting how he changed. I totally agree with his strategy adjustment. I generally play tables games ashore but I play slots (usually video blackjack) onboard for the same reason to boost my points. Seems like he has figured out the system better than me as I've never had a balcony comped and I usually hit around that many points, even a bit more. I also envy the free cheers instead of drinks on Us in the casino, especially when one partner doesn't gamble as heavily. 

I really enjoyed your review. Love your writing style and love approach to cruising. This is one of the best I've read since cruising made its return.  I hope to see another review soon!

9 hours ago, evandbob said:

We found the slots tight on day 1 and 2, but day 3 hit my 1st JP.  We did come home with enough winnings to have paid for our cruise.

 

One man who played slots in the same area that we did hit at least 3 MAJOR JP's of over $10,000 each that we saw.  I was cynically wondering if he was a "plant" of the casino and in cahoots with them to scare up business.

 

Max play was high on many machines, $27 on a dollar machine was not uncommon.  Penny slots had $5, 6 or 8.88 max amts.

 

There were many more non smoking machines than usual, and I didn't notice anyone lighting up or vaping where they shouldn't.  Most smokers, players and idlers, stayed near the smoking area around the casino bar.  There were doors at all entrances/exits of the casino that didn't allow much smoke into the adjacent areas.

That's interesting, I've heard lots of gamblers over the years say they always think they hit more at the start. One of my poker friends just got back from a cruise and said he had an epic run like that, I wonder if it was the same person? Was this guy a very heavy Vietnamese guy in his 40s, probably always smoking or had a drink in his hand. Congratulations on your winnings and thanks for the info! 

Hey sorry to double post, it’s obviously been awhile since I’ve cruised but if I remember correctly it’s $5 coin-in per point for video poker type stuff and $1 or $2.5 per point on other stuff. 

On 9/5/2021 at 11:47 AM, EngIceDave said:

It’s vary kind of them to provide mirrors at nose level

 

LOL

 

(oh hush, I’m a product of south Florida in the 80’s)

 

 

this is one of the funniest posts in the history of cruise critic, hope no caterpillars were harmed on the mirror lol

Enjoying the review. What does your hubby usually play - just slots? Have they been tighter or looser than normal? I have so many offers that I'm worried there's no way I'll ever hit on a ship again lol

Tampa, Florida is probably the strip club capital of the world, not so much quality but quantity. I really can’t explain it. Working in sales the past 25 years (in car parts, defense and software which are some of the traditionally male dominated industries) I’ve spent way more time in strip clubs and sports bars than any human should be subjected to. Houston and Detroit do it right, Vegas and Atlanta have the best dancers; and Tampa and Portland are just gross. 

17 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

 

Parked outside in front of my work today... In the handicapped space nonetheless... I wonder how a handicapped person even gets in and out of this thing?...

 

 

 

 

If you drive that you can pay the fines

On 8/12/2021 at 5:31 PM, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

It can be difficult.

 

I was in the casino for a short period of time last night (trying to use up the promo freeplay chips at the $25 BJ table) and a guy sat down next to me that I had spotted approaching the table. He had all the hallmarks of being a strip club owner or similar. With a big t-shirt that said "COVID-19 Vaccine? SU%K HERE", with an arrow pointing downward. He was maskless. I did not ask him, but instead asked the dealer (and he could clearly here me) if masks were required - affirmative reply. I then asked if that was enforced - quiet moments, followed by our departure. The guy had already bought in (with perhaps a ten grand wad) and gave them his Diamond card for tracking. I had no illusion that they wanted to start anything with him. 

 

Now, I'm watching my back -- lol (kinda)!

 

Tom

I’m laughing so hard at this. This was probably my brother. He’s on the cruise and I’ve seen him wear that short, wish I’d went! He’s a nice guy but he’s really been radicalized lately about Covid and stuff. He’s actually a lawyer turned full-time landlord but I’ll be the first to admit he doesn’t know how to act at times and is vulgar and profane at times (he’s been kicked off these boards and some gambling forums as a result.) 

Our nephew (not his kid) owns a strip club and he and my brother are best friends so your description isn’t far off. Hilarious!!!

On 7/28/2021 at 4:56 PM, AKR2011 said:

I was paying $600/month on them before Covid.

doesn’t seem like a bad deal then! Good luck

12 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

Sounds very similar to my student loan situation. I'm in the public service forgiveness program, so I make income based repayments. I finish my masters and then consolidated in 2013. Originally my loans were $60,000. Today they are $62,000. I've been working nonprofit since 2007, never missed one payment (although not paying currently since no one has to and Covid makes the months count towards forgiveness anyway), and I'm set to have them forgiven in 2023 😯

Sorry to be gauche and discuss money but how much have you actually paid on these? My nephew (who i’m really close with, like a son) went to law school and some of his friends are 200-300k in debt. Every time we do dinner or drinks, they brag about paying 100-300 per month on them and how they’ll be gone in 10 years. Doesn’t seem like a terrible deal to me, basically paying 5k per year and get a house worth of loans forgiven. 

On 7/24/2021 at 9:28 PM, doctork said:

I also used to live in West (By God) Virginia.  All my friends in or from Ohio would tease me.

 

Now that you mention it, I've also heard "yins."  Pittsburgh is a great city.  We moved there from Denver and overnight we had to become Steelers fans, but I still have orange blood and love the Broncos.

i’ve lived in Ohio, California, Florida and briefly Chicago and NYC. I’d pick West Virginia over any of those places. All the people rock and the weather is great relative to the crowding (obviously LA has the best weather but 2 hours of traffic both ways to work is for the birds).

I wonder what Sid is doing. No offense to everyone else because I love hearing your updates but I haven’t been checking as much since he left. Sid whine/complained about a lot of the stuff that I whine/complain about which made me feel sane (though as are both probably adult babies). I hope you’re doing well my friend.

Did you do any good in the casino? Nice to see your review not hijacked by folks telling you how you’re vacationing wrong or what to do this time😁

14 hours ago, deedle7544 said:

Heading to Hawaii Wednesday! 

how do i miss everything? Congrats that’s awesome. Sorry if you posted before but how long you staying and who are you going with? I want to take a big crew next year if oil/air prices ever drop. My parents aren’t getting any younger and i’ve been banking my hotel/air points for a long time. Siblings are doing ok besides my oldest brother so i think they can handle their food/fun if I pick up hotel and air for a week (yes i have that many points lol)

7 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I think the mother was married to one of the lawyers in the OJ Simpson case….And Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner. I think that’s how they got rich and famous. How they got on tv? No clue.

 

She’s just caitlyn, no need to dead name people folks!

32 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

Even though I was totally beat from work today, I went out and took every inch of my three and a half mile walk... It was hot, but it gave me time to think about some of the crap that's swirling around inside my head right now. In addition to the apartment situation, I have no idea what this elbow / muscle pain could be. It's excruciating just to do my job every day, and I've been working through the pain for months now. Hopefully, whatever it is has some kind of solution, but I suspect that it may be something that I end up just having to deal with. This whole situation, on top of the growing hatred for my job, are just eating away at my sanity right now. I really had planned on going the whole four days without drinking this week, but I decided "what can it hurt?"... The worst part is, that I dug all the way to the back of the beer cooler to try and get the coldest one, and when I got home it was basically room temperature. I just cracked one open and chugged it anyway......

 

In other news, batch number one of the chicken wings are in the air fryer...

drinking in hot weather is always like that my friend. It’s really nice this week in Ohio. Last week my friends and I tried to chug a 24 pack of Natties before hitting a cookout down the street and couldn’t even finish the last 5 or 6 they were so warm. There’s a reason Oktoberfest is in September. 

I know no one has been on a cruise ship in forevrr but do anyone of you know if the pokerbros app worked before lockdown? My cousin and I work for a couple of the clubs on there in our spare time and I don’t want to be away from the app for a week because i’d lose all the players lol

On 6/11/2021 at 10:58 PM, Saint Greg said:

How does everyone know how much everyone makes? I know we aren’t supposed to talk about it. I have a co-worker who got hired on the same week as me. He was always trying to get me to tell him what I made. I did the right thing and never talked about it.
 

A couple years ago the company flirted with making some salary people hourly and the way they were going to do it was people under a certain pay level would go hourly. Our boss told the co-worker too far in advance because they ended up not doing it. But when he was told he asked “what about Greg?” Well Greg is staying on salary. Great. All that time I avoided telling him and the boss does it. He was mad at me after that. Said I lied to him. I didn’t. I just never corrected him when he said we probably made the same money.

 

The fact is He took their first offer. I told them no. And was good enough that they got more money approved for my position and came back to me with it. I was more experienced and could do both of our jobs when we were hired. I had to teach him his job. No way we should’ve been paid the same but he somehow thought he deserved it because we started the same day.

I am a negotiations and economics nerd at heart and I have really strong feelings about this. Though it is probably somewhat workplace dependent, in general you owe it to yourself and everyone else to talk about how much you make so you and others can demand/negotiate better wages/salaries/benefits.
 

Here’s my logic: I think everyone in the Tribe knows I’m a pretty hardcore MAGA/Republican but I think one of the problems we have is people work too hard and take too much crap from their employers and that’s why there’s so many crappy/low paying jobs out there. It blows my mind that families used to be able to have one breadwinner and live a nice middle class life for most of our history until the last 30 years. The Simpsons could not exist in 2021 for instance.

Unions probably aren’t/weren’t as bad as a lot of people on my side say because folks were able to bargain together for better conditions and therefore increased the taxbase/had more leisure and family time. Most jobs today aren’t unionized so you’re bargaining on your own. If you don’t know how much everyone else makes, how are you going to get the best deal for yourself? 

I also think a lot of jobs are useless and could unfortunately be eliminated if companies/managers were smarter. In my old job, there was no reason for me to be as idle as I was most of the year, just waiting on our 2-4 peak times. I’m no computer genius but I could have eliminated 75% of the people in my office if they’d have asked me to just by sharing the automation system i’d developed for myself. But they paid me to do another function and I didn’t think there was any chanced I’d have been remotely compensated for the synergies and efficiencies i’d have created so I kept it to myself and a couple friends. My experience pretty much sums up what I think has gone wrong in the American economy over the last 50 years and why we’re probably screwed unless we do some real innovation and not just accounting tricks. Having worked on a road crew in college, I know that most of the people in my old office wouldn’t have lasted a week doing that. But, they could have been better used in the economy doing other stuff. 
 

Off my soapbox and i hope I didn’t offend anyone and more importantly didn’t bore you all. I get really fired up about this issue. There’s a podcast called the Portal whose host talks about some of the same things I’ve noticed (I think he has an economics doctorate as well though I may be mistaken) if any if you are interested.