EdmPair

Magnets.

Found myself smiling at a few responses as I call the more common tie a long tie where several called it a neck tie. If you contrast a bow tie with a nick tie, it sounds to me like you put the bow tie some other place. I am not judging here but am observing.

For the record, I once owned a bow tie. I wonder where it is? All formal events for me get a long tie.

Store manager ties are rayon or acetate. Formal events call for silk or wool.

Now why did you show the photos? I just gained 5 pounds!! Imagine how much I could gain standing at that counter and staring. ;-)

Sounds like a nice change.

M

The only thing that I have given besides cash is a small chocolate bar wrapped with cash. You can not go wrong with cash.

You can also not go wrong with chocolate. My opinion!

Also as a Canadian, please leave cash in the one currency they can most easily use and that is US dollars. Shame to give them a relatively small amount of any other currency and then they have to pay conversion. (We pay lower fees when we can buy all our currency at once.)

You did not say if Mom could do some stairs or not. Assuming one floor is possible, some of your problems could be dealt with by careful cabin choice. Place yourselves on the same floor as those things more important to you mom.

Hope this helps a bit.

M

It seems me we were a able to get that info from Princess once final payment was done. Before that, it seem a reasonable guess is best you can do. In other words, you can find web pages which give the number of boats in port that day and if you are the only one, you get the most convenient. After that, bit of a gamble. I like Google Earth for some of this.

If you are gay or lesbian or an ally, maybe not at all. We did two days when the worst of the legislation was in place in SPB only before it spread to the rest of the country. It was nice to sail away and have no need to go back at all.

That maritime lawyer tires me too.

However, this story does raise the labour standards issue of all cruise lines. We would do well to ask ourselves when slave-like is so close it should just be slave. If an employment agency in the third world finds people so poor that they agree to contracts which leave them indentured to the ship, it can be a very fine line. I fully recognize the various lines push for the lowest possible standards. Brazil may just be asking for higher standards.

Nice hybrid function. Warp engine cells which also warn away whales. Thanks for letting up know.

Well, this took off and took a turn. Oh well. If not warp engines, I am glad they are engine related if only as symbol. If science suddenly invent a warp engine, I will instantly write a letter to Princess to 'make it so.'

I was afraid of that but also thinking the 'cigars' were of some function or other. I am also glad you saw the humour in it.

Thanks for all your insights and information over the years here on CC.

M

I have been on the Grand Princess and was just now reading a thread on Alaska where it was suggested people take the Coral Princess or the Island Princess. Wanting to know how they all compare, I dug up photos. Well, frankly, it looks like those two ships have warp engines at the top of the stacks. Tell me this is TRUE!

;-)

M

Living is Alaska...it's ALL southern food to me ;)

What he said only from western Canada.

I agree with above posters. You carry to the hotel so they are not a distraction to the baggage handlers of the airlines. Likewise, pull or cut off the airline tags before attaching the cruise line tags.

I opt for setting this up at home. Print the tags. (Print a spare to set inside the bag so should the outside tag get torn off, a quick search will help ship know which cabin to get that bag into.)

Also at home, laminate with packing tape, fold and punch. If they give a place to punch which is 1/2 inch in, punch in a bit further as long as it does not hit printing. Then a bit of tearing will not break the tag away. Pack a few spare zip ties to attach when in the hotel.

A bit of plastic theory here. Some packing tape has a direction it tears more easily. So when you laminate the tags, the front tape can go top to bottom but the back tape should be left to right. Covering both sides protects the paper from light rain and changing directions means if your packing tape does like to tear in one direction or the other, the tape on the other side will hold. Does that make sense?

Okay, I'll be the one to go against the grain here....

 

 

 

I used to try to clean my house before leaving for a major trip. But I was running myself ragged. (SNIP)

 

 

 

Now, if I have to come home to a less than sparkling house I can deal with it, because I was able to fully enjoy my vacation. My motto these days is: I can always change the sheets when I get home, but I can't always enjoy walking around Rome. So save the energy for what's important.

I am with cruisemom42. I clean some but my house is about as clean when I leave as any other day of the year. I live our house with 3 cats and 6 birds. If time permits, I change the sheets but beyond that it is 'the usual'. And being 'inland', we must fly. If I rise at 4 am to get the cheap flight that works, I am not about to worry then about the sheets. I tire myself on the cruise and then have that long flight home too. When we get home, we could sleep on straw. Clean sheets are nice but we will sleep anyway.

During sea days, all the GOOD things I want to see all happen at the same time. An hour later, there are 3 other activities and NONE are anything I want to see or do.

One port will have 5 tours or locations I really want to see but do not have time for all. Next port has 20 tours of which I am lukewarm for every one.

No fair, I say.

M

I fear you have just used hours of my future.

Agree with those above. YOU have the best packing list for YOU once you start with some bloated list and clip. It is easier to see a big list and carve than try to build it as brainstorming may not find all the little things.

Plus we do not know if airline travel limits your list or not. We do not know where your cruise goes or for how long. Do you dress up for formal nights? A million details change your packing list.

About the binoculars, do bring some. Even a modest pair allows you to see ships on the horizon which you can not with naked eyes. I was in Caribbean and Baltic and both times the number of ships you can see is amazing. You are never out of sight of some boat it seems.

Enjoy,

M

No cabin steward should ever, for any reason, open any passenger drawer other than with Security present in the event of a medical or other emergency.

Allow me to second that. If the sunglasses are sitting out, fine. Never open a drawer or closet door.

Following this posting, I went to Google images to see more of these towel animals. Granted amateur photos, but a full third are not identifiable as any particular animal at all to me. Some were elephants and some were puppies and some were mythic beasts from a 13th century bestiaries -- I guess.

M

I have met a social media staffer for a corporation in an unrelated industry. You might think it a fun job reading CC, but there are other travel forums which also comment on Princess products. Add in Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and ... blah, blah, blah. The number of sites needing attention each hour is absurd. You read all day and try to flag major issues from the flood of postings. This person would also have to work OT if some crisis in the branding occurred. Given the context, imagine working during the first 24 hours of the Costa Concordia.

I an not thinking it would be fun after 7 hours at the screen trying to see it all for the one or two really important issue posts. I can see why posts on CC are so rare and they would have to be drafted and checked before going out like any other marketing material.

M

I can see the one poster's point in calling escargot as snails and yet we say beef for cow meat, pork for pig meat and tofu for bean meat. I am lukewarm on escargot but the garlic butter left behind is great with nice bread. For me, they could just bring clarified garlic butter and keep me happy if not healthy. I guess I could order V-fib paddles on the side.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow, you're always a day away.......:p;):D

 

Gwen :)

Bon Voyage. We will think of you and quietly cry in the dark and cold as we eat stale bread under a dim light bulb suspended from a cord. It is the only light and heat in my basement flat which I dare not wander out of after dark for fear of the crime in the big city. But you enjoy your trip. K?

My thought is the best views are usually from the open upper decks and new sights come into views on the left at times and right at other. If it makes a round trip back to the port of departure, you will often see some of the same on your return.

I say book either. But that is my 3 cent opinion.

M

I have parrots and took a first cruise. While it is tempting to think the question absurd and trolling, it may not be. Some of the snark was a bit harsh and given its tone, the thought the OP has not come back to say more is not really surprising.

The thought a parrot can not travel on a ship is obvious to you but compare that with luggage. My first trip I knew the airline limited luggage and some drove to the dock. I assumed the ship would have a higher luggage limit than the airline, but fully expected a limit. Would people deride me for such a question? I hope not.

Later,

M

"Way too many." Depressing to even admit it.

Just think of Cruise Critic of my methadone while I wait.

M