Donald

After 48 years on cruise ships, I see it al the time. Pride of Aloha was a particularly difficult case. The Engineers were very inefficient. We did not have 1 tap leaking 30 gallons per month.There were dozens. Maybe you remember that.

They still do - but not if they come from North America.

This is a very cultural issue. Every culture has its own ideas about what is acceptable and what is respectable to others. Every culture has its own standards about the efforts - or lack of - that one makes to show respect to other people. In Hawaii, we often have issues with locals wearing bathing suits in the dining room on a formal night. When speaking to them, they tell me that they are wearing their "Formal Bathing Suit". Are they wrong? Not in their culture. With Americans, we often have issues with distressed denim trousers that are ripped and torn, and ratty looking baseball caps worn indoors.When confronted, they reply that they are wearing their "Formal Denims" and their "Formal Baseball Cap". Are they wrong? Not in their culture. The challenges occur when people take their local cultural standards into an international setting, and find that the rest of the world does not have the same standards of dress and behaviour.

Those fees that are added to your cruise fare are often approximations. Many of the fees are based on actual occupancy on the day the ship visits the port. It is generally impossible to guess in advance exactly what those numbers will be. The cruise lines use historical data from previous voyages to predict the current occupancy. They are normally very close to the actual number. If they guess wrong, and have to pay additional amounts for the fees, they do not go to the guests and ask for more money.

Japan In Japan, only little boys and American / Australian tourists swear shorts.

There is a hidden positive aspect in the current trend of shabby dress on mass market cruise ships. We have always had a problem with crewmembers who want to visit passenger areas in their street clothes. This is a big No-No on nearly every ship. In recent years it has become far easier to catch misbehaving crew. When out of uniform, they generally dress better than the passengers, making it far easier for Management to spot them.

“Clothes make the man” was always true - and is true today. Sadly, fewer and fewer Americans understand that today. The majority now dress as if they are going to clean the garage or attend a baseball game, no matter where are really going. This trend will change - but probably for the worse. You can complain and hit your head against the wall forever. You and I are not going to change it. I finally moved to a more sophisticated country where I rarely have to see it or get upset about it.

So we are comparing one or two mis-guided pax running their shower for one hour - to the many water taps onboard that leak many thousands of liters of fresh water 24/7 because the engineers are too busy to fix them.

I have great news for you. Every pax is NOT going to run the shower for one hour. Non-problem solved.

Are you talking about the sea water that the ship de-salinated, ran through your shower, then processed back to drinking water quality before dumping it back into the ocean?

My ship has sailed regularly in Turkey for many years. Every week for many years we have had numerous complaints about the shopping stops on ship-sponsored tours. Every week for many years we have gone after the tour operators and owners to make them stop this practice. We have terminated countless tour companies that refused or failed to stop the shopping stops. EVERY ONE of their replacements had exactly the same behaviours and problems. We have repeatedly warned passengers who book these tours that there will be a high pressure sales pitch on these tours. Despite all of that, these passengers book the tours anyway, buy things at these stops, then return to the ship to complain about the high pressure shoppiing stops. This behaviour is an integral part of the local culture in many parts of the world. It will not go away in many of these countries. Why is that? Because it is successful. If we ever reach a point where all tourists refuse to buy things on these stops (highly unlikely), then the high pressure sales tactics will end. What can you do to avoid this problem? 1. Stay home. 2. Don't leave your cruise ship. 3. Book an expensive private tour and warn the driver that you will not pay him if he tries this. 4. Only visit countries where high pressure sales tactics are not part of the culture. “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you’d be better staying at home.” – James Michener

Every passenger cabin already has a portable humidifier. It is called a shower. Turn the temperature to the highest, and let it run for an hour. To speed up the process, cover the air return duct in the bathroom.

Just delaying the inevitable. I’m asking Santa for SSUS razor blades for Christmas.

I wonder if Kamanzi pilots had any connection to Kamikaze pilots.

Easy answer. You will have 2 days in an extremely busy Japan Tourist Season. Commuting from O-Daiba takes time. You could spend a large part of your precious 2 days on crowded commuter trains, or you could stay in town and spend more time enjoying Tokyo. These hotels may not offer a “free” breakfast, but both will have multiple restaurants that do offer a paid breakfast. If an included breakfast is important to you, there are thousands of other hotels in much better locations around Tokyo that do offer “free” breakfast. Note that this year, Cherry Blossoms came out in Tokyo much later than normal. Typical best viewing for the past 100 years has been 25 March. Next year, if it is “normal”, you may not see any cherry blossoms in Tokyo in mid-April.

In most of Europe, when a passenger on my ship wants to disembark earlier in the cruise, it is rarely a big problem. So long as we are in the EU, and the port in question has Immigration Officials available, it can be done. However, the ship’s Purser will be required to contact the ship’s Agent in advance, who then contacts the local Immigration Officers in advance, to confirm that it will be allowed. All of this normally involves several emails and telephone calls between Purser and Agent, and the Agent contacting Immigration. Then on the day of the event, Immigration may or may not require the Agent to escort the passengers to their office to be processed with the necessary new visas. Or Immigration Officials may opt to visit the ship for the processing. All of this involves costs. Sometimes those costs are minimal and sometimes they are substantial. Often it depends on how willing the Agent and Immigration Officials are to go through this process I work for an upscale cruise line that chooses to absorb those costs. Some Mass Market companies want you to cover the costs - and may be trying to discourage you from doing this, as it can change the legal status of the voyage and incur additional delays and/or costs at the end of the cruise. Note that some ports will just refuse to allow this. Santorini and Mykonos are famous for this. Many Costa Rican Ports also refuse. Why do they do this ? Because they can. There is also an increasing number of ports of call that cannot allow this as they have no Immigration Officials stationed there. In those places, Debark is allowed only for serious medical issues or deaths.

When you enter a country on a cruise ship, all pax and crew are cleared for entry by the Local Immigration. While the ship is in port, all pax and crew have a blanket visa - permission to enter - that is your cabin key card or crew card. So long as the ship remains in port, in the country’s waters, your visa is good. As soon as the ship departs, all the blanket visas are cancelled. If a crewmember or passenger remains behind, without informing local immigration, they are illegally in that country, and subject to fines or jail. That is why it is so important for the ship to know about anyone who plans to remain behind. When they are informed in advance, they use the ship’s agent to coordinate with local immigration to issue a valid visa for the pax or crew to remain legally in the country

Like many people you want a cheap cruise. Big ships can offer you a cheap cruise and still make a profit. Small ships can offer you a cheap cruise and lose money. If you are buying cruise line stocks, which one will you choose to buy? The bigger the ship, the lower the costs, and higher the profits. The smallest mass market ship that can make any profit at all is around 2,500 passengers and 85,000 tons. A 5,000 passenger ship at around 160,000 tons makes a massive profit every week. A small ship that offers a luxury cruise and charges 10 times more can make a small profit. If you own a cruise line and want to stay in business, what size ship will you build?

Despite Japan’s general practice of their wonderful Omotenashi, Japan Immigration apparently never received the memo. That said, the only immigration problems you will encounter in Japan are the long lines. Illegal aliens, people over-staying visas, smuggling are nearly non-existent.

Why not ask Senior Managers on Cruise Ships? We deal with many travel agents every day of the week. Many are absolute freaks who know nothing about cruising and should not even be allowed to cruise. Some are wonderful. They seem to know more about our ships than we do. I cannot recommend the great ones here, but I do often give names to Guests who sail with me. It doesn’t matter where they are located. Everything can be done through emails.

The “Glory Days” of the Mass Market lines like Carnival and NCL - if those days ever even existed - are certainly over. The Walmart Business Model adopted by those Companies took care of that. But there are many great cruise lines and ships out there that are doing a great job of entertaining. The bad news for the Mass Market cruisers is that higher quality experiences cost more money. In most cases you get what you pay for.

Illegal activity on a cruise ship is very difficult to categorize. Some crimes committed on cruise ships are subject to flag state laws. Some crimes committed on cruise ships are subject to the laws of the previous port. Some crimes committed on cruise ships are subject to the laws of the next scheduled port. The American FBI sometimes - not always - gets involved in crimes committed by / against American Citizens on foreign flag ships.

Glad you are enjoying Japan. Note that Shochu is not “like sake”. It helps to know that the word “Sake” in Japanese means alcohol - any kind of alcohol. Adding the honorific “O” and calling it O-Sake usually signifies that you are talking about the beverage made from rice. “Nihon-shu” is an even better signal that the beverage is from rice. Shochu is originally a Korean distilled beverage made from grains and root vegetables, that is similar to Grappa or Vodka. O-Sake (or Nihon-shu) is a Japanese brewed fermented beverage made entirely from sake rice and Koji mold.

Our company distributes meat products nation-wide, including the North-east. Maybe you ate my cousin’s thumb?

Black Lane