SargassoPirate

We carry an annual policy that provides coverage for all trips over 150 miles from home. For anything beyond the limits of the policy we self insure. We've saved a lot of money over the years by not taking the cruise line insurance and have been covered while traveling on land in the US and worldwide.

Those health assessments are pretty much worthless. Who is going to be standing in line to board and admit they are not feeling well?

Although anecdotal at best, I've been on over 50 cruises, many many flights, buses, trains, taxis, and traveled in third world countries. Never had Montezuma's Revenge. I practice rigorous hygiene, wash my hands frequently, AND sanitize after going through the buffet or after handing back the menu in the MDR.

Yep, you pay more for choosing your own cabin and THEN Princess may still decide that you need an "upgrade" to a cabin in a less desirable location. There's a good reason those crappo cabins are vacant and if they can quietly move you there and you don't notice, the better location is available for sale.

Another step to take to protect yourself is to be wary of food workers wearing plastic gloves. The only thing those gloves prevent is the wearer's hands from getting dirty. They are, however, an excellent vector for cross contamination when they are worn for hours while touching multiple surfaces, including food contact surfaces and food. And if you want to have some fun, ask them why they are wearing gloves. Better yet, ask the supervisors. I've been doing this since the "magic disinfecting" gloves became ubiquitous during the pandemic. The common answer is to protect the customers. That's the perfect opening for my next question - how does touching dirty surfaces and then handling my food protect me?

Not trying to be snarky, but since noro is spread by the fecal-oral route, it's easy to prevent. Break the chain of transmission by washing your hands frequently and sanitize just before you start eating. Sure, you may washy washy on the way in, but how many surfaces do you touch before you grab that roll to butter it? The menu? The bottom of your chair as you pull it in?

You can't see it in your booking with Princess, but my travel agency shows it on their booking page. I usually book directly with Princess and work to select the perfect cabin - passengers above, below, and across the corridor. Then, I transfer it the booking to my TA and after the transfer is in effect I call and we go over the booking and the TA is able to mark it "No Upgrades". And then, after I learned Princess is so slippery with their "upgrades", I check my bookings every morning to ensure I haven't been moved to an "upgrade": under the Melanoma Deck. It happened once in the past and the TA was able to get me back to my perfect, "downgrade" cabin. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

My TA explained that "accept all upgrades" is one of Princess's default settings.

I have traveled worldwide, including third world countries, for over 30 years on planes, trains, buses, taxis, and cruise ships. Noro is spread by the fecal-oral route. I have never had noro. Why? Because I wash/sanitize my hands. It's easy to tell those who don't. They get noro.

I worked in public health and safety for a large organization before I retired. I offered several opinions on another thread about noro and will repeat them here: "The real key to preventing noro is to simply break the chain of contamination by washing your hands and not touching your food with your hands or sticking your hands in your mouth. Sanitize your hands last thing before you eat since you have touched all sorts of common surfaces since that last handwash. I couldn't care less about that or others washing their hands, etc. I treat every surface as contaminated and break the chain of contamination by washing my own hands and sanitizing before I eat. I don't depend on the hygiene habits of others to keep me from getting sick. And while we are on the subject, those ubiquitous plastic gloves that you see on food staff are more theater. They only serve to keep the wearer's hands clean and are excellent cross-cross-contamination vectors especially when worn for hours at a time and touching multiple surfaces."

And while we are on the subject, those ubiquitous plastic gloves that you see on food staff are more theater. They only serve to keep the wearer's hands clean and are excellent cross-cross-contamination vectors especially when worn for hours at a time and touching multiple surfaces. Think about it. Better yet, sit and watch food workers to see how many surfaces those gloves touch.

I couldn't care less about that or others washing their hands, etc. I treat every surface as contaminated and break the chain of contamination by washing my own hands and sanitizing before I eat. I don't depend on the hygiene habits of others to keep me from getting sick. Sound harsh? 50 plus cruises and no noro so far.

All of which is theater to make passengers feel safe and for it to look like the ship is being proactive. The real key to preventing noro is to simply break the chain of contamination by washing your hands and not touching your food with your hands or sticking your hands in your mouth. Sanitize your hands last thing before you eat since you have touched all sorts of common surfaces since that last handwash.

That's why I check any bookings with Princess every morning in hopes that if I did get an unwanted "upgrade" I can have my TA get my original cabin back. It's a bit of a pain to have to keep such a close eye on their shifty ways, but it's better than spending a cruise in an "upgrade" cabin right under the Melanoma Deck.

On the flip side, we just added to our time share points with Hilton. We have been working that system for almost 20 years and when coupled with the Hilton Honors program points, and the affiliated AmEx card points, we feel we have maximized our value. We rarely pay for a hotel room anymore and our resort stays are booked with points. They key, though, is to pay off the AmEx card every month and not pay any interest.

You got that right. And to their credit, with our expectations set as they were, the kids have been totally independent and never asked for help financially. By saving and living below our means, we got them launched with no student loan debts and now it's our time to live it up.

Oh yeah. I feel your pain there. My only cruises since the restart have been from US ports and eventually I was able to get a test at the port, which helped travelers with the pre-cruise testing deadlines. It's been an interesting three years and we can only hope some lessons have been learned.

Yikes! What did you do? Go for choice #1 or drop down a notch? I had a buddy in college who used to joke that the best wine was drunk from a brown paper bag behind the store where you bought it. Don't know whatever happened to him. 😁

After we got the kids through college we told them they are on their own and to not expect a big inheritance. With any luck we'll slide in late for our own funeral and that last check will bounce.

I understand. Since we retired, we tend to not get in a big hurry about most anything and have been scheduling extra time before and after cruises in the departing/arriving cities so that we don't feel rushed or stressed if there is a flight disruption. We also started combining land tours with a cruise to get there or back. The gift of time sure helps and time is the most precious commodity. Safe travels.

I've seen a couple of TV shows in the past where wine snobs participated in blind taste testings and more often than not, the cheaper wine won and fooled their sophisticated palates. One of the wineries in the Napa valley summed it up on a tour when the guide said that one should drink the wine they like regardless of the price or the label. I think it was Beringer's, but it may have been Charles Krug. Cheers.

Take the stress out of it and stay overnight after the cruise at one of the Heathrow terminal hotels. Then you can enjoy the post- cruise excursion to Stonehenge and get dropped off at Heathrow with no clock watching stress. Stay overnight and then you have a range of flight times the next day to choose from.

Two buck Chuck?

Benjamin Franklin — 'The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.'

One more thought, I had a World Cruise booked prior to the pandemic, as well as a South America cruise, and a cruise to Norway. Covid took care of those. As the market started to reopen and schedules were nnounced, I now have the World Cruise booked, the Norway cruise booked, and the South America cruise booked. When I compared the current bookings with those that were cancelled, the prices are all in the same ballpark. No major jumps in prices. And, at prices I am willing to pay for the adventures. Thank goodness, we still have a free market economy.