longterm

If you can share them with me, I'd appreciate it; we're headed on that cruise July 4, 2024. Thanks!

Ah, forgot that there’s no spot for a cruise specialist. We’ve already changed our plan, going on African safaris in 2025 instead, cruises in 26.

We're planning to book 2 Viking Ocean cruises when we get on board our river cruise this October, so that we can get the on-board discounts, and so that we get a much more favorable final-payment date (6 months out rather than a year or more). Then, once we've booked them, I'll transfer them both to our TA, who I've used only to get the OBC. Any reason why this is *not* a good plan?

Sometimes a server is simply having a really bad day. I’ve been there.

WOW! I feel totally validated; like you, I take great pleasure in making someone's day, and considering that it sometimes doesn't take much, I'll continue to do so. What I *don't* do is make a big deal out of it; I try to be as inconspicuous as possible--if I need an audience for my generosity, then I'm doing it for the wrong reason. In spite to what someone implied, my desire to sometimes show my appreciation for service that went above and beyond--is not inconsiderate and doesn't show "bad social graces;" rather, I do it because I like to pay it forward and share a tiny bit of my good fortune with people around me. One of our favorite things is to pull in the drive-through and pay for the meal behind us; we drive off, never even see the recipients, and it always makes our day.

One could say the same of what you're trying to tell me. Let it go.

Nonsense. I'm done with this lunacy.

I think you're arguing semantics. So let me see if I understand your theory: if a loyal fan gives a musician a gift of an instrument, that's a gift, not a tip; if he were to buy him dinner, that's a gift. But if he were to give money, that would be a tip, not a gift... I give up. They're all gifts.

I don't know what you're referring to; I was talking about the Japanese fans giving *us* tokens of appreciation, not the other way around. Clearly, it didn't go against their sensibilities. We played concerts all over Japan; in Nagasaki, for example, our JAPANESE fans took us to a local restaurant, where they put out a feast for us (same thing happened in Kobe, Kumamoto, and Osaka, to mention a few). Keep in mind that we were just paid handsomely for playing a concert for them, but they felt compelled to fete us, and for hours they treated us like royalty because they appreciated our performance. No one in the restaurant was offended, while they toasted us and brought platter after platter of sushi; they appreciated the performance we'd just put on, wanted to show their appreciation, and they did so. I've traveled all over the world, and I have NEVER had anyone be offended when I showed my appreciation in an appropriate manner. This of course, ventures way off the tired topic of this worn-out thread. If I want to tip an employee on a Viking cruise, I'll do so; if I want to tip someone in a restaurant in Italy next month, I will. If they shove it back to me, it'll be the first time.

I was essentially talking about the US, but if I'm overseas and I get particularly good service, I might be inclined to thank my waiter, driver, or other service provider. I've never seen anyone turn it down yet... 🙂 If they want to sneer at me behind my back (while pocketing the cash), that's fine--none of my business. So far, I've NEVER had a dime returned to me in indignation. Having played concerts all over the world, for as many as 100,000 people at a few venues, I was always very well-paid; but, if someone had walked up to me and said, "Hey, I'm going to comp a great meal for you at such-and-such restaurant." Would I be offended? I don't think so! In fact, in Japan, where tipping is not expected, that happened on many occasions, and I don't remember being offended as I snarfed the great sushi.

So let me get this straight: you're saying that if I go into a restaurant, have my meal, and then leave a tip on the table, that's inappropriate. How stupid.

Oh, so knowing that someone tips is "as bad as flashing the money." I'll keep that in mind when I go in a restaurant next time or take a cab. If someone should see me leaving a tip on a table, then I'm "flashing the money." What a ridiculous comment. Yes, it's a private thing, but this ridiculous thread has gone on and on, with people finding every excuse under the sun to not be generous now and then. We don't tell people when we do it; I was trying to make a point, which was clearly lost on some people.

Well said. My wife and I have been fortunate in our lives, and are lucky to be able to take these great cruises and see the world. We're not "wealthy" by our most standards, but we've worked hard and now we're able to enjoy our time together. We believe in paying it forward; if we go to a drive-through, we give the employee the change; if we're in the grocery store and we feel the urge, we sometimes pick up someone's bill, just for the fun of it--and it IS a lot of fun and always makes our day. If I decide to tip, whether it's in the US or in the UK, it's not because I'm flaunting my money, or to try to look like I'm a bigshot--it's because I want to thank someone for a kindness, or perhaps because I sense that they're having a really bad day. It doesn't matter to me what other people think--it matters to me what my motivation is. We were in Mexico a few months back; we wanted to tip one hotel employee at random, and I saw a woman in the hall at 6pm, still cleaning rooms. I asked if she'd clean our room, and without giving it a thought, gave her a 20-dollar bill. The look on her face was the highlight of our entire trip there. Best money I ever spent. Probably more than she made in a day's wages.

Oh... I thought it was, because there were campers on Ruth Glacier when we landed there in 2007. I think the pilot may have told us it was their base camp. Definitely something we'll do again; it was a lot of fun. There were 2 different flight choices--one circled Denali then landed, and the other just went to Ruth and landed--which is the one that my son and I took. Here we are (16 years ago and 100 pounds heavier!).

A couple of recommendations, from a trip there with my son: Talkeetna - take the train up from Anchorage, take a small plane up to Ruth Glacier, where it lands on the glacier (which is about a mile thick). Ruth Glacier's where base camps are established for climbers going up Denali. Viking offers this trip, but my son and I did it in 2005: take the Alaska RR and get off midway between Anchorage & Whittier where you get on a rubber raft and float on the Placer River, right up to Spencer Glacier, which is very small. There are icebergs floating around--really a great experience and one of our favorite things that we did. Plus, they let my son, who was 10 at the time, stand in the doorway as we headed to Anchorage, going backwards, so that the back door was facing the tracks. Really great experience for us. If you're a fisherman, a guided salmon trip is pretty fantastic; my friend Scot would be happy to see us down there. Soldotna's about 2 hours from Anchorage, if I remember correctly; it would mean an overnight stay in the town, which is pretty tiny. Going up to the lodge at the top of Girdwood is fun too, great place for a lunch and a ride on the tram. As to Anchorage itself, I don't remember being too impressed; there's a tiny museum there, but it wasn't anything remarkable, if I recall; we also visited the wildlife center, my son panned for gold (!), rode the Iditarod trail (on these wheeled carts behind the dogs); it was okay, but not something my wife and I will do. Our plan is to stay over in Anchorage a couple of days, take the train up to Talkeetna, possibly go down to Soldotna to see my friend, and then fly home.

We're planning to do that same trip--we'll have to meet and tip a glass or two! Haven't been up there since 2007; I have a good friend who's a salmon guide on the Kenai River down in Soldotna--my son caught a 22-pounder last time. I have some ideas about this trip, will pass them on at some point.

Which is fine if you know you'll have wifi on a regular basis, but on our upcoming trip we'll be in Tuscany in a variety of accommodations (including an agritourisma, which is essentially a farm somewhere in Tuscany), so I don't know what sort of wi-fi I can expect. On a Viking cruise, one has wi-fi every day (such as it is), so syncing can happen that way; this all becomes more an issue if you're traveling in small towns, or staying in smaller hotels where wi-fi might not be available. We're going to do a 2-week Scotland Rick Steves tour, then jump onto a Viking ship for the British Isles Explorer cruise, so I don't know what the first 2 weeks will be like.

You *can* but it's really not the way to use it; it really needs to be on all the time. Better to just put the phone in airplane mode if you don't want to sync to the cloud. Otherwise, when you turn off iCloud syncing, you're no longer syncing not just photos, but contacts, calendar, anything that uses iCloud syncing.

I see that AT&T has a "cruising plan," but it's pretty awful if you need to do any data transfers. for 30 days and $100, you can make unlimited calls and texts, but only 200MB of data, which is a nothing burger. If you're using your iPhone for photos, and use iCloud to back them up to the cloud, you can eat up 200MB in a few days, and then every extra MB is $2/each. It'll be interesting to see how much data I eat up in 21 days in Italy next month.

I wonder if it was because the networks available in those 2 sites were not the one that Airalo uses... We're headed on a Rick Steves tour of Tuscany in 4 weeks, so I'm going to give it my first try overseas. In my tests here at home it worked great, but out in the Italian countryside, it may be a different story. Will report my findings.

Yes, you definitely don't need to touch the SIM in the phone; like you, I'm not going to use Skype or anything else, since I don't expect to need to call back to the US, but because I run a small IT company, I connect to 25 servers every morning and perform backups, and that eats a good bit of data. Also, I like syncing my phone to iCloud so that my photos are backed up.

On your iPhone, download Airalo (the download's free). Then, you can select the type of eSIM you need (for example, we're going to Italy in a month, so I'll be buying a 30-day Italy eSIM that allows 10GB of data). If you're going to multiple countries, they have regional eSIMs that cover them--the Europe eSIM covers 39 countries. Once you buy the eSIM (which you do in the app), it'll walk you through what to do. Not too hard, just follow their step-by-step. The duration (7 days, 30 days, whatever you selected) starts when you activate it on your phone, so if you're going on a trip and need 3 weeks, it'd make sense not to activate the eSIM until the week before you leave for your trip. If you get stuck, let me know, I'll be glad to help! Bob

I haven't seen them, but would love to get in on a tournament or two.

I agree. No more talk about dogs on cruises. Let's talk about mynah birds on cruises.

You are so right! A top hat would be even better...