lissie

The cheese selection was actually much better in the Lido than Britannia for most of our cruises last year

That's not my experience - I've used the shareholderbenefits@carnivalukgroup.com and they'e always been answered promptly and the OBC applied. I believe NZ is run out of Australia

They don't even do print on the ship anymore - he may need new glasses?

Depends on the ship on QE on a east-bound trans-Atlantic and trans-Indian the time change was from 9am to 10am in the mornings.

It's the buy/sell spread on any currency conversion -. The only way to avoid it is to use a multi-currency card like Wise. I'm going to do this with my Canadian rental car reservations - set up a C$ balance on the card - snd make the charge in C$ if I have to cancel they will refund say C$500 as C$500 - I can then spend C$500 in Canada. If used my NZ card I'd get that annoying difference in buy/sell rate plus the over 2% that the card charges for a foreign exchange. transaction

Haven't cruised HAL yet at all and we're on the July 29 on Zaandam. We have 21 ports in 25 days - all I ask of the ship that a) she doesn't sink and b) there is food and drink. Seriously - there are so few sea days it seems fairly irrelevant. We booked for the itinerary.

Ah OK - I can't hit anything to save my life - we'll be giving that a miss!

What is pickle ball? Is is an American thing?

How do you manage in hotels? Or do you only drink on ships? I just can't even imagine carrying more crap around the world in order to do decorating! I get the thing for handicapped passengers - but otherwise it seems like peple have far to much luggage space . Plus you could be better using that time in the bar!

On the QE last year in tthe Med (in part - never heard of Riviera or Nordlys. Also never bothered with alternative dining - most peple don't - the food is very good in the MDR. We had English people at our table raving about Coriander (Indian) - but when I looked at the menu it was very much Indian 101 - not a very interesting menu for those who eat Indian regularly. There is no need to book any of these in advance

Yes if the other device is logged in when you log in with the second you will be asked if you want to disconnect the other device - if you answer yes you may want to have checked with the other half first 🙂 We shared one device between 2 laptops and 2 phones

Not sure when you last cruised but its 5/6 courses its appetizer/main/desert/coffee. On our tables people had somewhere between 2 or 3 courses. You probably won't get to coffee if you want to make the show. our table of 6 were easily done in 90 min if the servers were effiicent

In a country I've never been, not speaking the language - probably lost - love the thrill of discovery.

They aren't dining times - they are quoted as show times - I agree far to early early dining is 6pm so you'llmake the 8pm show. The late dining last year moved back from 8:30 to 8 because it was really hard to get to the 10pm show from an 8:30 seating.

depends on where in the world she's cruising

Good - she certainly needed them

I have no idea about perscriptions for Americans - but yes the rest of the world is cheaper! However for mail - its an annoyance for sure. Our mail only holds for 6 weeks -you're supposed to be able to extend but they stuff up. And couriers still deliver. We have an agreement with a nieghbour she keeps an eye on ours and we on hers - we usually aren't away at the same time. I believe there are virtual mail services too in the US - they will open anything you ask them to and scan it and email it to you. Almost nothing that I receive in the mail is important anymore - all bills etc I get via email.

Our cruise is coming up for payment - 25 nights ex Boston - its dropped from A$7500 pp in Nov to A$7100 now - about US$4800 - that's for an inside no HIA or anything else. We think its a good deal to someo fo the most remote and expensive countries on earth (Greenland/Iceland)

I don't get it - my partner is diabetic - he wears water shoes at the beach and is conservative to ensure he doesn't end up with injuries - but in a pool on a ship - nope - never

Why? I get wear shoes to the pool as the deck can get very, very hot - but in the pool is just stupid - and that includes watershoes

Yes but if you share a cabin you can only claim one set of shareholder OBC 2021 US Annual Report (carnivalcorp.com)

I'm not Canadian - I'm a NZer - and our booking is in A$ (gof figure) - my understanding is that the HIA included the 18% gratuities and was in A$ - as is the cruise fare and the pre-paid gratuities. We didn't bother with the HIA as 21 ports out of 25 days we'll won't be drinking that much on ship. The exchange rate may well be in your favour - I plan on pre-paying the gratuities as paying it in A$ is a quite a bit cheaper than paying the US$ equivalent thanks to the exchange rate HAL is using - worth checking for C$. Unfortunately, none of the other pre-pay options are in A$ - just the gratuities and HIA - very odd.

Yes I hear you about shoes - we are going to bring a pair of waterproof shoes with us / light hikers - partly because the soles are quite thick and warm too - just pain to have to wear them on the flights.

Its #1 on my list - still have them from when we drove 6 months around Australia!

Surely that's what Club Orange is? I personally think its all smoke and mirrors and would never pay for a higher class on Cunard - the food is very good in steerage as is the deck space and access to pools. I'd consider paying more than storage on lines where there is a dedicated pool space for superior classes - but never for food