SargassoPirate

If the terminally ill person will be on the cruise, you should ask about coverage for pre-existing conditions. If not, then just shop for coverage as you ordinarily do with coverage for cancel for any reason.

My pickup truck is 20 years old. I maintain it myself and keep it waxed. Several guys that I know trade in their trucks every four to five years to keep up with the new bells and whistles. Since I bought my truck, every five years or so I'll price a new one equipped like mine. This year a similar model is over $70K. Over the years the money I've saved has paid for a lot of cruises.

There are plenty of places to enjoy on the ship besides the Melanoma Deck with over-amplified music/movies.

I have some hearing loss, but wear hearing aids, and if you put someone in a mask and then behind a plastic screen to boot, it's like they are talking through a pillow. Even She Who Must Be Obeyed who can hear a mouse fart has trouble. On my cruises since the restart, I have just about given up trying to interact with the crew because I cannot understand them, especially if English is their second language. Plus, with most of their face covered I can't easily tell them apart.

Food is subjective. I've never gone hungry on a cruise ship and by the looks of some passengers they haven't missed too many meals either.

I attended a funeral a couple of weeks ago and one of the deceased family members showed up with a do-rag, sweat pants, and Nike shower shoes with socks. Like they say, dress for success.

"Just the other night I was sleeping under a bridge and now here I am on the grandest ship in the world having champagne with you fine people."

After experimenting with various types of evening wear on various lines from back in the days when the maitre 'd was the clothes police, I finally settled on a cruise packing list that meets my needs and keeps me looking sharp for any evening on any cruise ship - and a lot better than the shorts, T-shirt, and ballcap crowd. Since I often combine land travel with a cruise on one end, I pack light with mix-n-match items. For the dress up nights, and in fact most nights since I carry a limited wardrobe, I don a pair of black jeans/slacks, a colored T-shirt, a black sport coat, and a pocket square that matches the T-shirt. My sport coat weighs 20 ounces, so it's not a weight factor for packing. I do, however, have an aversion for tying a rag around my neck after having to do so for years while working. I recently rode a motorcycle 1800 miles to a cruise port with my cruise-only clothes in a small bag and still managed to carry-off my standard evening attire each evening and it was way easier than packing a lot of shorts and polos.

After experimenting with various types of evening wear on various lines from back in the days when the maitre 'd was the clothes police, I finally settled on a cruise packing list that meets my needs and keeps me looking sharp for any evening on any cruise ship. Since I often combine land travel with a cruise on one end, I pack light with mix-n-match items. For the dress up nights, and in fact most nights since I carry a limited wardrobe, I don a pair of black jeans/slacks, a colored T-shirt, a black sport coat, and a pocket square that matches the T-shirt. My sport coat weighs 20 ounces, so it's not a weight factor for packing. I do, however, have an aversion for tying a rag around my neck after having to do so for years while working.

50 some cruises on various lines and I've always taken a small leatherman and a Swiss Army knife with a corkscrew. ALWAYS in checked luggage. Never had a trip to the naughty room.

A lot of what we do depends on the port and if we've been there before. I've had success with whatsinport.com when researching the ports and toursbylocals.com when booking a tour where it's not off and on the bus with 10 minute stops that stretch into 30. Good luck with your research. It's half of the fun.

On road trips, my gauge for safety is "if I get a flat tire now, I'm driving on it". Had that feeling in east St. Louis one time after taking a wrong exit. On foot in cities, I scan ahead constantly and will sometimes cross the street when we don't need to because of somebody I've noticed down the block.

I'm Elite and still do my own laundry on board. 1. I get it back immediately. 2. It gets folded and/or on hangers. 3. My experience with doing my own laundry has been excellent. 4. I have never damaged anything. All buttons and zippers are intact. Cold wash, warm dry and I keep an eye on any synthetics in the drier. Whites and darks are washed separately. 5. I iron what needs to be ironed as it comes out of the drier.

That is why I was taught to wash my hands after touching things or common use surfaces and before touching food or anything else that was going in my mouth. All one has to do is break the chain of cross-contamination.

Yeah, lots of covid has been spread by pens and paper, complimentary newspapers in hotels, and magazines in waiting rooms. (sarcasm alert)

Some of the historian's here may remember better than me, and if so please chime in. When specialty dining was first rolled out, the extra charge was to cover tips for the waiters since with the slower pace of the meal, they couldn't make as much as in the MDR. Then it seems there was an upcharge with tips optional. Then, the upcharge included the mandatory tip. Then came pre-booking ahead of the cruise to gin up demand - "OMG, I'd better reserve whileI can still get a table" Once again, it's the basic law of the marketplace. Charge what the traffic will bear. I have walked by many specialty restaurants on various cruise ships with lots of empty tables and the maitre d looks like the Maytag repairman.

On the streets in any city, you are either the sheep or the wolf. With plenty of sheep such as you describe, I've never had a problem in any city in the world so far. I look people that I encounter directly in the eye and smile a greeting. If I do carry a backpack, it's in front of me. I wear non-descript clothing that does not draw attention to myself. I constantly scan my surroundings and if I spot some nefarious looking characters, I make eye contact and move away. Several years ago She Who Must Be Obeyed was taking some photos with her cellphone of a cathedral in Santigo, Chile. I was scanning our surroundings and notice some non-Chileans starting to ease toward her in a hunting pattern. I stared their way, made eye contact, and they eased back to their spot at the fountain to wait for their next victim. That being said, there are some ports and cities that once I've seen them, I stay on the ship. Heck, there are some US cities that I'll never step foot in again that I have enjoyed in the past - LA, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, NYC for example. You gotta have some street smarts.

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I'm looking forward to trying Oceania. I see a lot of folks post here say that once they tried O they never looked back. I am not fiercely loyal to any one line and shop more for the itineraries as I get older. Sounds like O will suit me just fine.

Thanks. I usually avoid the pool decks on the more mainstream lines because they always seem to have a movie or music blasting.

Excellent. Thanks.

I'm a solo cruiser nowadays since She Who Must Be Obeyed doesn't like to cruise anymore. I have 50-some cruises on various lines, including RCI, Celebrity, Princess, Cunard, and Viking. I'm looking at a particular cruise on the Nautica with an itinerary that I want. In studying the deck plans and ship photos, one of the first things I noticed was the abbreviated promenade. That's usually a deal breaker for me since I book insides and enjoy using the promenade to walk and to read on the shady side. All of that being said, are there deck chairs on the promenade?

Your story of the guy standing in line chastising those who didn't and proceeded to their table reminded me of a tender port story. Tender operations were slow and when I arrived back at the port after a long hike, I could see that the line wrapped around itself and there was no way the last tender would be leaving as scheduled. I found a nearby bodega and bought a couple of beers and found a bench under a shade tree where I could watch the line of people standing in line in the sun. Before long a few other people joined me and we had a nice little party going. When the line was down to the last 75 or so and the crew was starting to take down their canopy, the shade tree group got up and moved toward the line. One woman in line looked at us and had the audacity to exclaim "Well! Some of us have been in line in the sun over an hour" to which one of the shade tree group replied "Well! Some of us are smart enough to get out of the sun." You only have to be on the last tender.

I'm with you. I enjoy the MDR for breakfasts and lunches -alternating with the Foodjammer _ and trade the whole MDR evening 'experience' for the buffet where the food is always hot, I'm not waiting for a slow eater in order to get my next course, there never seems to be an adjacent table of loud drunks. and I can spend more time enjoying the evening activities around the ship instead.

After 50 some cruises on several lines, I have developed my own style of cruise eating that works for me. Breakfast is the buffet or the MDR. Lunch is the buffet or MDR. Dinner is light fare from the D+ lounge and if that doesn't work out I hit the buffet. The nice thing about the buffet in the evenings is that it's a lot quieter than the MDR, the food is hot, and I can dine at my own pace and have plenty of free time to enjoy the evening.

The basic law of the marketplace is to charge what the traffic will bear. If people line up to pay almost $70.00 extra when an included meal is available in the MDR or the Foodjammer, then that's what the cruise line will charge.