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I can relate to that. I'm a cat, at least trying to be - a lion to be specific. Lions lay around doing nothing 21 hours a day, and we look cool doing it.

Cooked properly is different for different folks. Some like it crispy, some like what you pictured. The bacon pictured has been cooked to a high enough temperature to kill any cooties of concern (aka COC - technical term). It looks just a tad under my preferred range, which goes from a bit more well done than this to anything short of tasting burnt, but is not a health hazard; the translucence of the fat shows it has been "melted" and thus experienced high enough temps to kill any COC.

When I extensively inquired about the six month thing what I was told is that there are some countries that won't let you in unless you have six months left on your passport. Those countries are usually the ones that also require a visa. But none of that is true for Caribbean and Central American countries. Carnival still has the blanket recommendation for six months, but it is just a recommendation and they don't "enforce" it unless one of the port countries requires it - and none in the Caribbean require it. You don't have a problem.

We can one up you on that. Last year me met some really unusual folks, Lacrosse fans! Furries on Bourbon street are not strange, but honest to god LACROSSE fans???

The thing with the travel insurance is that once you have it you are immediately covered and using it. If you had decided to cancel your cruise and wanted any "nonrefundable" deposit back your travel insurance would be there. From what you said it appears they give folks ten days to change their minds or correct an error. That sounds reasonable. They are not going to let folks order it and be covered then cancel when the cruise approaches and they had no need to use it. If those were the terms then the cost of the travel insurance would be much higher. I do think they should flag that on the "add" button though. Some language such as "can not be cancelled after ten days" plus have a "remove" button for those ten days (all this assumes they do give 10 days to cancel the policy).

Since we retired I found my "natural" hours are in bed about 1:30 and up about 10:00. But it is not all roses. The world conspires to get you up earlier. The fun ship wants people to keep nursing home hours. If you are not up by 9:00 they start playing ads over the PA system. If you want other than a buffet breakfast on a port day the MDR closes at about 9:00. So don't set your hopes too high about retirement letting you sleep late.

Are you related to Blerk? 🤣

Surprised they could offer Sierra Mist as it was discontinued in January.

That was my immediate thought also. They stop serving breakfast so early we have never eaten breakfast in the MDR on a port day in over 35 cruises. We use port days in places we don't get off, or just get off to wander around on our own, (like Freeport, Cozumel, Jamaica and often Nassau) because we have been there so much, to sleep very late and recharge our batteries. In that same vein we don't drink until the ship sails. It is a day of laying around, reading and and being lazy.

We don't have any social diseases either.

Different strokes for different folks 🙂 We like the chocolate melting cake but only once or at most twice on a seven day cruise but we do order ice cream also to go with it. It is a bit overpowering. As far as Carnival cakes... For us it is like pealing crawfish. When we eat cake we want some cake. Carnival makes its cakes layered with thin layers of cake and fat layers of icing. When we can actually get slices of cake we have to order a few then separate the icing from the cake, throw aside most of the icing then eat. On our last few cruises (since December) we haven't been able to get slices of cake. They cut it so thin the "slices" fall apart by the time they get to the plate and the crumbs of cake are mixed with the icing. No separating that. My favorite Carnival dessert item is a chocolate shake from JavaBlue. I take my metal straw and get one at least once a day.

Yeah, but for some of us our conscience effectively makes it mandatory. But you be you...

It is said wealth rarely lasts three generations. What I see is more along the lines of you can tell who is building wealth and on the rise and who is throwing it away and in decline.😁

The problem with discussions about "taking advantage of someone," (assuming all parties are fully informed) is that it is an opinion based discussion; essentially a discussion about morals. On the one hand, in every sale in which the seller makes a profit the seller is "taking advantage" of the buyer's need or desire for the item sold. An example following this philosophy is that lending money for interest is contrary to Islamic law because it is taking advantage of the borrowers circumstances. On the other hand classic capitalistic economics would say the moral thing to do is charge what the market will bear. In that way the scarce item goes to those with the greatest need for the item and the excess profits will cause others to produce the item thus, in the long term, increasing the availability of the item and decreasing its price to the benefit of all. But when dealing with something that is a totally unnecessary luxury and all parties are fully informed about the product and the price I really can't get morally outraged. Some may remember the days when they sold "pet rocks." People actually paid good money for a rock you could find on the side of the road for free. Were the folks who bought being taken advantage of?

I'm fairly ignorant about this stuff, but she did say it was CC she was having problems with. It might be that for other sites the internet on the ship is just fine. I ran into this kind of thing on Carnival. I have a site that I frequent that requires sign-in and only one device at at time can be signed in. On Carnival I can sign in, but after a few minutes I get kicked off with the message I have signed in from a different IP address. I think that Carnival's wifi switches connections frequently and that creates the problem. Other sites had no problem. But, as I said, I'm fairly ignorant about this stuff.

I think folks are nuts to pay these prices but I have to think it is something other than Carnival trying to maximize profit. One of the basic principles of economics is that you keep adding capacity until the cost of adding one more unit equals the revenue you will get from that additional unit. That maximizes profit (a mathematical fact). That Carnival's response to high demand is to raise prices so much makes me think that either they think the level of demand is temporary (unlikely) or the cost of adding units is very high or there is something that prevents them from adding capacity. I have to say, I am curious as to the reason.

We did try the steakhouse and it continues to have great food. The Blue Iguana was also good, but I would go for chicken rather than beef as the beef was hit and miss with occasional gristle. Guys was OK but I can't really put my finger on why it didn't thrill us. The steak and cheese sandwich at the deli was good. The Old Fashioned BBQ was OK this time, though in the past they have tended toward cold beans and mac and cheese - the portions of meat have gotten smaller with more fat so don't be afraid to ask for more. But our experience overall is that each Glory cruise is different. You just have to try the various places and find the ones good on that cruise. The main dining room was not good on this cruise, but it has been good on some others. It is pure hit and miss other than the steakhouse which has been consistently good.

Was she more upset that he fell or that he spilled a perfectly good drink?😉

It has been a while so I don't remember the details. I just remember that Carnival didn't give us any of the "turning Diamond" things until I went to guest services and inquired. On the cruise we turned Diamond they didn't say or do anything. Then on our next cruise after a couple of days I went down to guest services and asked. They said we were supposed to get the specialty dining letters and leather luggage tags and passport holders on the previous cruise but they would take care of it. The next day we got the letter and leather goods. Then a couple of days later we got another set of letters and leather goods (an obvious error so I took the second set back). So my advice is to visit guest services one day when it is not busy and ask how it is supposed to work as far as when. At least when we turned Diamond they were not really on top of things. I do recall we had to call the steak house and make the reservations ourselves while letting them know we had the letters. All is good, just a bit disorganized (at least in our case).

Same boat for us. Driving an hour to the terminal and hopping on the ship is just so easy. Unfortunately NCL only sails out of New Orleans or Galveston December through March or April. We have been sailing about once a month between September and March or April so moving to NCL we will have to cut down on the number of cruises. Also, the NCL itineraries out of New Orleans have no variety so we will be doing Galveston a lot. But NCL does have some nice longer cruises out of Galveston that we are looking forward to. So fewer but longer cruises. But it is kind of our last shot at cruising. Driving to Galveston is about as complicated as we are willing to get since we don't want vacations that are a lot of work. If NCL doesn't give us the cruising experience we once had with Carnival then we will just cross cruising off our list of activities.

Maybe, maybe not. I haven't seen her face. Good fashion involves drawing attention toward one's best attributes and away from the less attractive attributes. That's why a butherface will show lots of cleavage and/or leg.

Glad you got the bathroom for sid_9169

You have a valid point of view. I largely disagree but if you haven't experienced the problems it is understandable. We have cruised Carnival exclusively since 2001 and since reopening have been cruising five or six times a year with all cruises being a week or longer. Pre-covid we were very happy with Carnival. Post-covid, during the masking period, we didn't like the masking but understood and the lower number of passengers about made up for it. But once the masks were off and the ships full again things seemed to fall apart. At that point the food quality went downhill fast and that decline continues. The service overall has gone downhill. The real killer though is we started, for the first time, feeling not totally safe. A different class of cruiser became more common; people who are rude, aggressive and don't know how to behave in public. We have not seen any fights, but we have seen a small number of assaults. It only becomes a fight when the person shoved, or whatever, reciprocates. Our unease with the new class of passengers (though they be a small percent) caused us to book a cruise for next January on NCL as a test. Then on our Carnival cruise last month my wife was assaulted so we have booked more NCL cruises and will be making them our primary cruise line going forward. They have not tried to be the low cost cruise line so we are hoping for better passengers. But we recognize that in today's society boorish people may be unavoidable on cruises. If so we will give up cruising. At this point our thinking is that Carnival's attempt to be the low cost cruise line has attracted low class people. While we will probably continue to take some Carnival cruises (fourteen day Journeys cruises have always had more genteel cruisers) I don't see us ever being regulars again. We don't think Carnival gets a bad rap. People are just recognizing the reality.

Waiting for Megan to make contact again took me back to the days of Apollo 11 and waiting for them to make contact again after going around the other side of the moon.

I'll recommend it to my son who fractured a rib. His brother is a sports med doctor and told him to watch sad movies so he wouldn't laugh...