SargassoPirate

I often book B2Bs and sometimes B2B2Bs if I can get the same cabin. The perks have always been per booking number. With a B2B2B that I did in January, I had three different booking numbers and the shipboard account was closed out after each cruise.

I wonder how they'll handle a world cruise that arrives in Sydney on day 45 after leaving Fort Lauderdale?

Enforcement of the carry on beverages policy is about as rigid as their policy for not reserving loungers or parking mobility devices in the corridor overnight.

I have yet to encounter a scanner that won't accept a pullman-sized bag, but I have encountered shore-side port personnel who try to tell me that I can't carry my Pullman onto the ship myself. When that happens, I ask to see a supervisor. The rub is they do not want people to try to carry on their bags and then get to the scanner and are unable to lift their own luggage onto the conveyor. Sure, I'm in my 70s with some snow on the roof, but I'm fit and can still wrangle my own Pullman. When I can't manage it, I'll check it.

Thanks. I once spent a lovely two weeks on RCI's Allure of the Seas. 6000 pax and I never felt crowded at all. I did, however, miss the full promenade and try to avoid ships without one since then.

I found a barber in Seville once.😋

There's a work around for everything. I avoid the crowds mostly because I'm an early riser. I get my morning Promenade laps out of the way and then hit the buffet as it opens. No crowds. I eschew the Melanoma Deck for a quiet shady spot on the Promenade or elsewhere. No crowds. I stay on the ship a lot of port days and enjoy the amenities that are otherwise busy on sea days. No crowds. When I go ashore, it's often with a self guided map from whatsinport.com or with a guide from Tours By Locals. No crowds. I usually avoid the crowded and noisy MDR for an evening meal and instead take advantage of the P&E lounge nibbles or the buffet. No crowds. I find most production shows to be over-amplified, so I get a wee dram and enjoy the strings or guitar music in various venues. No crowds. I'll sometimes eat breakfast or lunch in the MDR just for a change of pace. No crowds. Some might say, then why cruise at all? I enjoy every day at sea. I'm up and out for some spectacular sunrises and still and out up for some spectacular sunsets. Somewhere to get some food when I'm hungry without food being the destination and somewhere to get a wee dram in the evening and I'm all set.

I agree with your sentiments about certain foods that don't need someone's twist or spices to add flavor. While She Who Must Be Obeyed travels with a small container of Old Bay, I prefer to not sully my seafood or my beef unless it is substandard and needs some help to be palatable.

interesting non-covid reason. I trust you avoid the Melanoma Deck when cruising.😁 I tan easily but don't burn, but still cover up or use sunscreen. No use letting my skin turn to leather as I get older.

Ahhh, the ubiquitous magic, sanitizing rubber gloves. Put on a pair and wear them all day while touching multiple surfaces and prepare food for hundreds of guests with no worries. (Sarcasm alert) I wish ignorant workers and supervisors would realize that rubber gloves only serve to keep the wearers hands clean and do nothing to prevent the spread of disease but only serve as cross contamination vectors when touching multiple surfaces. Grab a drink and sit and watch how many surfaces those food workers touch and see if they change those gloves before handling food.

My hair is already on the longish side, so I think I'll just let it continue to grow and not worry about it. In the past, I have gotten some good haircuts in Japan, Turkey, and Australia when there was a day that excursions weren't important or on a turn-around day for a B2B. To find one, I just asked a local.

I still see people walking around outside or alone in their car wearing a mask. I always wonder what the science behind their decision is. She Who Must Be Obeyed said it could be for warmth during the winter months, but when it's 80 degrees.

Just goes to show there's a workaround for most anything. Good for you!

Just curious. What are your guidelines for when people should quarantine? What symptoms? For how long? What steps should your "innocent bystanders" be taking?

You got it! She Who Must Be Obeyed always travels with a small shaker of Old Bay.

If you've ever had fresh lobster right off the boat in New England, previously frozen lobster in the MDR is certainly not worth an upcharge, and barely worth bothering with as an entree. Same as with the so called crab cakes that they used to try to pawn off as "Maryland" crab cakes. But, it's Economics 101, charge what the traffic will bear.

This just in, there's covid on that cruise ship, that airplane, that train, that tour bus, that grocery store, that mall, that theater, that restaurant, etc etc., as well as the flu, the noro, the common cold, the streptococcus, the mersa, and the monkey pox. Discuss.

There are several ports that I would not leave the ship solo, and Jamaica is one of them.

When I want to take advantage of a price drop, I let my warehouse club TA take care of it as my advocate. Only once were they unable to take advantage of a price drop to my benefit, but it was on HAL and it would require a new booking, a wait for a refund of my original deposit, and loss of a nice package of perks that were no longer available at the lower fare. I put the pencil to it and a lower fare was going to cost me more on the bottom line. A discount is not always a good deal for the consumer.

Those "dirty states" are probably just an advanced case of GRF*. GRF is prevalent among some segments of the population, but with masking requirements no longer in effect, we just see more of them. There are no masking requirements for GRF, although it can be contagious. *GRF, Grouchy Resting Face.

In this past January it was in Club Fusion and on my January 2022 cruise it was in Skywalker's. It's always a guess.

Regarding the photos in my previous post, there was a nice, and varied spread every evening for my B2B cruises on the Caribbean Princess in January. I enjoyed the P&E lounge for a light meal and a couple of discounted drinks most evenings.

From the P&E lounge on the Caribbean Princess in January.

We are Elite but when we travel with folks who are not, we stick with them and forgo the Platinum/Elite lounge. I have, however, encountered a situation where a supervisor at one of the bars noticed our Elite medallion and asked why he had not seen us in the lounge in the evening. When we replied that we were traveling with some friends who were not eligible, he said to go ahead and bring them in one evening so that they could see what it was all about. We gave him a wave as we entered and he came over and greeted our friends, but since they did not have a drink package they paid regular prices.

Russ, one thing that can help ease the pain of the cost of cruises is to use a warehouse club travel department as your TA and also pay for the cruise with their affiliated credit card. The TA rewards me with a gift card based on what the cruise line pays TAs as commission and the credit card gives me a three percent cash back on travel charges once a year. You can book the cruise directly with the cruise line and then transfer the booking to the warehouse club TA.