rudeney

Well, that would be a valid reason! I was paying about $15/mo to Verizon for my watch. I switched us to AT&T earlier this year and the rep asked me if I ever went out without my phone, which I don't, so she recommended against paying for a plan. I bought my watch outright so there was no monthly installment plan to deal with.

Obviously you've never met my wife.

Honestly, I don't know why anyone pays to subscribe a smart watch to a cellular service. As long as the watch is in BT range of the phone or you have WiFi, the watch works just fine. I guess if you want to be able to go without your phone and don't have WiFi access, then maybe, but for me, that's never the case and paying $12-$15/mo for cell service on a watch is just unnecessary.

I only use the hot tubs first thing in the morning when they are empty. I'm not a morning person, but for some reason when on vacation, I always wake up early. On a cruise, I hit the pool and hot tub for an hour while my wife gets more sleep. I've never had any problems with my swimsuits being bleached.

This is really not that difficult as long as your phone and carrier both support WiFi Calling. If so, you must setup WiFi calling while connected to your carrier's home network. To do this, you just need to be in your home cellular network coverage area with Airplane Mode off, and connected to a WiFi network with Internet access. Find the WiFi Calling setting on your phone and enable it. Once it validates and enables it, try it by turning Airplane Mode on and WiFi on. Connect to a WiFi network with Internet access and try making and receiving calls and texts. If that works, then you'll just do this on the ship - i.e. turn Airplane Mode on, WiFi on, and then connect to the ship's WiFi network with Voom Internet access. If your phone or carrier does not support WiFi calling, then you may still be able to send and receive text messages over Voom. Apple iPhones using iMessage will be able to communicate with other iPhones via iMessage over an Internet connection, but they can't communicate with Android phones. Android phones would need a different messaging app, so WhatsApp might be an option. I think Verizon customers can use the Verizon Messaging SMS app and it works over WiFi.

Generally in the specialty restaurants, you can get multiple appetizers and sides, but only one entrée. Unless you have the UDP - then you can get multiple entrées, too.

That's not always true. I used to work for a major global auto manufacturer and their dealers were only rewarded with better allocations if they always got all 10's. Anything less than a 10 and it was considered a fail.

Since you are from nearby, you'll probably know where I was - I-65 at Valleydale in Hoover, at Riverchase/Southlake. There's a metal crash barrier between the entrance/exit ramps and it was just packed full of trash all around and under it. I live in a fairly nice development and the other day, someone had tossed out a fast food bag onto a grassy area at the entrance. It's just unfathomable to me that someone in my neighborhood would do that as we pay dearly for the HOA to keep everything looking nice, so why trash it up with garbage like that? <SMH>

We did a Galley Tour some years ago and it was great. We had multiple crew members guiding and informing us. The galley staff me met along the way were all great. Ihope this All Access tour will be as good.

Some people (me included) just can't totally turn off work. It's both because I am just not wired that way, and the fact that my company needs me. We are a small business and we don't have any overlap of duties. When I'm out, the things that rely on me to manage come to a stop. I don't usually do a lot of work while on vacation, but I check in and keep myself updated, and will jump in for short periods of time if anything needs my attention. Just as my job sometimes gets interrupted by personal issues, my personal life sometimes gets interrupted by job issues. It's no big deal and spending 10-15 minutes a day checking into the office is something easily done.

Maybe it's the ship. This just showed up today, and I verified with a friend on the Sept. 18th Voyager sailing that theirs also just appeared today.

I ran some errands and lunch and was sitting stopped at a traffic light at the end of the freeway ramp. Looking on the sides of the road, there was more trash than you could put in the back of a pickup truck bed. And this was not a dirty inner-city area - this is a fairly affluent suburban area. I know that sometimes a piece of trash accidentally finds its way out of a carm but this was cups and bags and all sort of garbage. It's just disgusting that people won't put their trash in bins.

I was looking at the website from my desktop PC. For Voyager Oct2nd sailing, there are none of those restrictions: Ant this is what's in the "Additional Terms & Conditions":

There's no mention of a mask on my cruise, even in the fine print. The only restrictions noted are: Flip-flops are not permitted in the galley for safety reasons. Please wear closed-toe shoes. Comfortable clothing with long pants Minimum age 6 yrs

Everyday I pop into Cruise Planner to make sure there are no lower prices for DBP, UDP, Voom, etc. While in there today, I clicked the "Onboard Activities" link and saw that the All Access Tour is available, so I booked it. I guess they are bringing back some things that were closed "because...COVID".

My take on tipping is that it's for "personalized service". This means that the service provider personally interacted with me and did something specifically for me at my request. I never see the people working in the laundry or the staff that washed the dishes in the dining room, and they are handling my needs in batch, along with everyone else's, so I would never tip them. If the cruise lines give them a cut of the automatically added gratuities that I pay, then so be it. That's between the crew and management.

I believe many drive-thru places removed the trash cans because they were being used by non-customers, or customers were using them to clean out their cars. Ironically, they will removed these cans to save money, but then they spend big money to be "green" or create "save the wildlife" campaigns. 🙄

One thing about this that I noticed are the two "consent" check-boxes next to the photo - one for boarding, one for photography. I know I checked them when I uploaded the photo, but for my next cruise, I just went back in and they are unchecked (I edited and checked them). I wonder if by not checking the "boarding" consent means they retake it at the terminal?

I agree about straws not being a big deal and I doubt they are flying off the deck and into the water in any big numbers. I know that straws can be very harmful to wildlife, but it's not cruise ships that are the problem. It's idiots who won't put their trash in bins, but instead just throw it out on the side of the road. That trash is washed into waterways and ends up in lake and oceans. As usual, we are all being penalized because of these stupid people.

We've cruise on many of the Freedom and Voyager class ships and always in suites on deck 10 with some venue above us. Other than occasionally hearing furniture moved when the crew cleans, it has been very quiet. I wouldn't worry much about it.

I think even if you upload a photo, they take it again at the terminal. So really, I'm not sure why they have you uploaded it at all.

Yeah, I can't stand that chapel. Besides feeling very cheesy, it's usually hot and being the highest point on the ship, it's prone to more motion. We were once up there for a private photo shoot and it was futile - my wife was "green" and the photographer couldn't keep the camera still. I almost paid for the pics just because they were so hilariously awful.

I am not a coffee snob, but I do like a good cup. At home, I use a Keurig and mostly use Newman's pods. I don't care for flavored or sweetened coffee - I drink mine black. Given the chance, I will buy a good coffee or triple espresso. I do not consider Starbucks to be good. Years ago when I had an office, we had a Nespresso machine and it was tolerable, but nothing like a good fresh-ground espresso. To me, the Lavazza machines are equivalent to Keurig. I don't care much for their coffee, though, as it tastes too "over roasted" like Starbucks.

We bought the UDP for our next cruise and will likely not step food in the MDR. I, too, am afraid we might miss the servers and grandeur of the 3-story venue. But we are both big steak lovers - we eat steak about two times a week, once in a restaurant, and once grilled out at home, like we did tonight (Costco USDA Prime). I've always enjoyed the steaks at Chops, but I almost like Giovanni's filet even better. I've had some really good steaks at many famous places around the country, but honestly, it does not take much to impress me as long as it's a decent cut of meat and cooked medium rare with just a small bit of seasoning (salt, pepper, coffee, butter, olive oil, etc.)

Yep, palm grease almost always gets things done. I'm not judging whether or not that is fair, but it's been that way for a very long time.