mahasamatman

No cash back for foreign transactions.

There is no way to sign up for Venetian Society - you get enrolled after your first cruise. However, if you find a current member, they do have a referral program where you both get a cruise discount (I can't remember how much it is - maybe $250 each). Silversea is definitely worth it if you value the excursions. If you don't care about them, the value proposition is lower. We only have one SS cruise under our belts, but will be back.

My wife has pneumonia and we had to cancel our Hawaii cruise a few days before departure. We were denied the possibility of moving it. But we should get it all back from her credit card insurance.

I will as well.

No CPAP requires water. It's a choice you make as a user. I don't use water in either my home or travel machine.

I can see them offering 5 power-up points (not 5 CC points).

Look at the airline's Contract of Carriage. Most will rebook you on another airline if necessary.

There are also countless pictures of every landmark in the world, so does that mean most photos are pointless?

If you like the locks you have to try the Douro River. The locks are far more interesting there (including the tallest single lift locks in Europe at around 35m each) than the Panama Canal. And you don't have to compete with 2,000 people on the ship to see it all...

You could probably buy some near your departure port.

The general rule of thumb is that rest time should be the same as cook time.

That was our experience on a Galapagos B2B. Even nicer since there were no immigration or customs formalities.

When I make pizza, it takes over 24 hours.

Not a problem at all.

That generally applies to U.S. airlines. Others are more enlightened and have earlier booking windows. I can't say I've ever seen that. Every airline I've ever used rolls their window over every day.

You can always have EZAir ticket early if you want to upgrade before the standard ticketing window.

TAs can issue either refundable or non-refundable. Just because your TA does it one way doesn't mean all TAs do the same.

Yes.

Most of the time, their readers in the bars don't even work so you just tell them your room number and they write it down.

On a cruise ship! Seriously, there are more opportunities than you might think. I bought my first set 30 years ago (yes, the same suit still fits) specifically for murder mystery weekends where everyone comes in character. I wore my tails for my wedding, NYE, and sometimes on halloween. Many cities also have black-and-white balls sometime during the year.

It's all about the sticky toffee pudding.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The OBC I get from my TA has always been non-refundable.

We love dressing up, particularly to go dancing. For Gala nights on Cunard and P&O, I generally ditch the "semi-formal" tuxedo/dinner jacket and wear formal tails. I have a set of black tails and a set of white tails, and I will sometimes even mix-and-match on "black and white" theme nights.

I'll never understan d the cult of personality that triggers this kind of hero worship. She's a ship Captain. That's all. Nothing more. No more special than any other ship Captain.

If you want to get off that early, you will need to take your own bags. And in that czse, you can get off any time you want, including before 6am. And a far worse experience both on the ground and in the air. You'll have to read the fare rules when you purchase the tickets.