longterm

True! But these days, a thong conjures up a totally different type of apparel... 🙂

Be glad; we've flown through Dakar twice, and both times we're told that it's extremely dangerous. Granted, the last time was in 2016, but I seriously doubt it's changed much. Mindelo, São Vicente looks like a great place to visit.

OMG. Sandals with socks--yuck. Unless of course they're black dress socks, those skinny thin ones that show pale flesh below. Birkenstocks: I'm ashamed to admit that I was a wearer of them in the 90s--sockless of course though. Finally realized they were uncomfortable as hell. Hopefully they were ground up and made into sandals. I'll also admit to having worn a fanny pack to football games years ago, until my sweet wife arrived on the scene and demanded its immediate and permanent removal. Nowadays I'm the height of fashion with my red Prince's Hot Chicken t-shirt (Nashville--the ORIGINAL and the best, before all the knockoffs like latecomer Hattie B's), khaki shorts, black flip flops. And more often than not, a grin as I people-watch.

Having spent my first 22 years in south Louisiana (scarred forever), I have a question: What are shoes?

Flip-flops: with socks or without. Discuss. For extra credit: Birkenstocks with white athletic socks, 2 blue stripes. Acceptable formal dinner wear?

Jim and I want to start a debate about flip-flops.

I would echo what some people have already said, with a few added in. I've seen many true service dogs over the years, and without exception, they've been docile, well-behaved, and extremely discreet. I would venture to guess they're probably better-groomed than some of their fellow passengers, too... On the other hand, on cruises, I've experienced these things by human passengers, and NEVER by service dogs: 1. People who cut in line (a service dog would never do that); 2. People who demand a specific table, even when others were about to sit there (saw that on my 1st river cruise); 3. Noisy diners who seem to think the entire restaurant needs to hear their conversation; 4. Diners who seem to think that their political opinions need to be shared with others at the table, without having been solicited; 5. People who smoke (if they didn't share that smoke with me I'd be fine with it); 6. Humans crowding onto an elevator before others can exit; 7. People shushing me in the atrium when sitting and talking with friends, when an untalented passenger has gotten up to reveal her dubious vocal talent to the room. I'm always happy to see someone enjoying a cruise, despite a physical infirmity; on our last Rick Steves tour we traveled with a couple who were 88 and 92, respectively. I hope to be just like them when I'm that age, and if I'm blind, I'll get a companion dog and woe to anyone who stands in my way!

Yeah, just don't show that level of sophistication, of, say, OluKai or Oofos. I bring 5 pairs--dress black, casual, lounge flip-flops, excursion flip-flops for long walks, because they're so great for walking long distances, and of course the orange pair for Partay Night.

They had to send the dog back to the stateroom when it first showed up wearing flip-flops. And not the brands Jim and I like, either... It was horrible, almost as traumatic as the great Hawaiian Shirt Incident of 2019.

I may have to give them a try then! OK, so--flip-flops in Manfredi's and Chef's Table? Ready, set, go! 🤣

I looked at them, and they look really nice; the soles are leather though, and I assume a little stiffer than Oofos, whose soles are a soft spongy stuff that's the most comfortable I've tried so far. On my 2nd pair... and they're so stylish (he added sarcastically, knowing there are people who for some reason hate flip-flops). I may have to try some though, since you recommend them so highly; how are the soles, are they pretty firm? Flip-flops are one of the great benefits of being semi-retired. I only put on shoes under great duress.

Yeah, he didn’t say whether we were actually ticketed; the cruise is on October 4th, so more than 5 months away, but he gave me inbound and outbound flight numbers. I didn’t think to ask if we were actually ticketed.

Nope.

I’m on it!

I decided to add Air+ so that we could get a particular routing that we preferred to our upcoming river cruise; the person on the phone wouldn't (or couldn't) tell me what flights we were already assigned, so I had to spring for the $200 for my wife and me, and then was given the # to Air+ (which I now have for next time). Once I reached Air+, having duly paid my $200, the agent told me we were already on the outbound flight route that I was going to request, and the inbound was almost as good as what I had also selected. Since we haven't gotten an email yet with our flight information, I didn't know they'd already assigned flights to us. So, I asked to refund Air+ (which they will do if you find that they can't get you something you requested). But, because this trip is assigned to a TA, I have to get them to refund the money to us. I was told that I can UPGRADE my trip myself, but I can't DOWNGRADE it--only the TA can do that. Interesting. SO, the lesson I learned, and now that I have the direct Air+ phone number (877-523-0580), is that I'll call Viking Air+ 6 months or so out and see what our flights will be; if they aren't what we want, I'll then call back and add Air+, then call Air+ back (yes, it has to be done that way, apparently). The question is whether Air+ will even tell us anything if we don't have Air+ on our trip--even if they already have assigned flights for our trip. Convoluted, but interesting. It's worth noting that, given many folks' disdain for Viking's air arrangements, they had us on the exact outbound flight that I would have chosen, and the inbound is also a one-stop route that is only a half-hour longer than the one I would've selected. I was pleasantly surprised! [I apologize in advance that this topic isn't about dogs, jeans, wine lists, or Abba.]

🙂 Boy did I learn my lesson. Lesson 1: Some people need not to miss their naps. Lesson 2: Stay on the path; grouse about the wine list, someone's Hawaiian shirt selections, having to endure yet more Beatles, Abba, jeans (oh the horror), flip-flops (try Oofos, they're my favorite), those little soaps, and of course, dogs. Lesson 3: Don't inject something that might actually be interesting, because someone is going to snark away and point out that an idiot billionaire can afford to lose $20+ million (which is more than I make in a WEEK). Lesson 4: No matter WHAT you post, there's always someone who knows more than you do; it's a rule, and just deal with it. I ventured off the beaten path, and will try not to do it again. So for my next topic, I'll bring up the fact that some people actually walk the WRONG WAY on the 2nd-deck promenade. Who do I talk to?

Yeah, I'm going for clicks because... why exactly? I found it relevant because cruise ships are moving to StarLink, and this is... wait for it... a cruise forum. So let's go back to dogs on ships and people wearing jeans.

Actually, I didn't *say* either; we haven't been on an ocean cruise since last May, so don't know what Internet has been like on cruises in the past few months. I do know that it was awful last May in the Mediterranean though. What I also know from the articles I read, is that SpaceX seems to have ignored the advice of space scientists and proceeded anyway; there was a launch window they had to hit, so I'm guessing that's why they chose to deploy when they did, causing a more than $20 million loss. With more than 3600 satellites in orbit, I would assume that the additional ones were meant to fill gaps in their system here and there, or maybe as redundant satellites, so hopefully StarLink customers didn't notice any difference. I'm guessing we didn't have StarLink connectivity last May in the Med--if we did, it was really awful.

If cruisers are wondering why Internet connection isn't working well on ships right now, it may be because SpaceX chose to ignore scientists' warnings about an ongoing geomagnetic storm. As a result, StarLink launched 49 satellites, and 40 of them were lost--to a tune of something like $20 million. SpaceX’s growing fleet of Starlink internet satellites now make up half of all active satellites in Earth orbit. There are 3,660 active Starlink satellites, about half of the 7,300 active satellites in Earth orbit. So, one could assume that losing 40 of a total of 3600 satellites probably didn't result in much of a negative effect on connectivity. https://www.inverse.com/science/now-we-know-how-a-solar-storm-took-out-a-fleet-of-starlinks

Actually, no... we're headed to Italy on a Rick Steves tour in May, on the Viking Grand European river cruise in October, and Cancun in December... and a few US trips thrown in for good measure! We haven't tried a cruise yet that has lots of sea days; maybe we'd like it, but since I'm regularly unimpressed with the musicians I hear on Viking cruises, and since we barely drink, we just don't know how we'd find enough to do on board. We are both voracious readers, but we can do that anywhere. I've been tempted to book an Atlantic crossing, but am not getting much interest from my sweet wife in such a trip.

I have to agree with you; perhaps we're not the norm, but we don't want to take a cruise where 1/4 of the days are sea days. If I'm going to spend the day reading and relaxing, it'll be on my couch.

SMS is what your phone uses when you text someone; if both devices are Apple devices, you're using iMessage, which is Apple's texting protocol, but otherwise you're using SMS. WhatsApp, for example, uses SMS. So if you have an Android, or if you're on an iPhone and you text someone NOT on an Apple device, you're using SMS.

I've transferred all my upcoming Viking cruises to my TA, but when it's time to pay, I call Viking and pay direct to get the 3.3%. So long as the cruise is paid for, I don't see how a TA could protest, since I would guess that they get their fees regardless how you pay.

Wow, that's a rare sighting! We saw 2, but both were at night. We did 2 different safari camps--one was in Hwange Natl. Park in Zimbabwe, and the 2nd was in South Africa, near Kruger, at a private game reserve (no hunters, just photo safaris) called Makalali.

Yeah, it was a bit off-putting, but having been to South Africa and Zimbabwe, I can say without hesitation that it was the best trip I've ever taken. I took my son there in 2012, then my wife and I went in 2016; on both trips we did photo safaris in both Zimbabwe and South Africa. To be able to be within a foot of a giant African elephant (and ride them, which we did), or walk with a young lion (which my son and I did), was amazing; we also petted a cheetah at the wildlife center in Victoria Falls. But the most exciting times are riding in the jeep, coming around a bend in the road, and seeing giraffes, elephants, lions, and a couple of times, a leopard up in a tree. Being able to be so close to these animals is like nothing I've ever experienced; we have stories that, had we not experienced them ourselves, we might not have believed. We're going back when our ability to walk becomes limited, because walking on the safaris isn't required much at all. If you're interested in taking one of these great trips, I have an outstanding tour company that we used for both trips, and who did a fantastic job. A couple of photos; we were perhaps 15 feet from each of these animals.