miched

My wife no longer lets me go alone to get drinks. The problem is I order 2 at the bar of the drinks I want because I am usually in a conversation with someone. I finish one and then order one for me and one for my wife, and leave with 2 drinks for me and one for her. One of those for me is a traveler. Drink up 🍹🍾🍸🍷🥂🧉🥃

I recently replaced the toilet in our basement lab. I bought it on line from Costco. It is a very nice toilet but not as good as the Toto that is in the main. It is a single piece Kohler for $350. Most places it sells for $500. I like the single piece toilets as it eliminated the possible leak between the bowl and tank. It also looks cleaner. It was delivered to the house and they put in the basement. Gave them a TIP for doing that even though they weren’t expecting one. You can find toilets for a little more than $100 at most major do it yourself stores. Depending on what style you want and brand. Bought this from HD. Would highly recommend. Almost fool proof and no worry about the wax ring leaking. It is a vey simple installation. The longest time was cleaning off the old caulk and sucking the water out of the toilet with a shop vac. There are many videos on UTube showing how to replace a toilet. Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Not impressed with the Thermal Suite on the E class. the loungers aren’t as comfortable. They are under a slanted window with sun shining on the loungers, naturally depending on where the sun is. Those rooms are boring. Sit in a room with a salt block or crystal? The rain showers would be like walking thru a car wash. It is a corridor with the shower heads above. Not individual stalls. The swing chair is for design and not function We like the Persian Gardens on the S class Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

You should both post your cabin number and you will have a lot of late night visitors. 🤗 Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Having that dedicated lounge makes it easier to get the free drinks as they are premade in large batches and you don’t have to wait as long for the BTs serving those with a drink pack at the other bars. As I said why be a snob and only mingle with those that are Elite or above? If It wasn’t about the drink and they had a dedicated lounge for elite and above from 5 to 7 without the free HH drinks how many would attend? 🤗 Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

No room service on the last day, and yes Blu is open. It opens earlier than 8 on the last day. I think at 6 or 6:30. They want you ready to leave the ship by 8. Many take their carry ons to the restaurant because of the elevator service. It isn’t easy getting an elevator down, then back to your cabin and then back down. If capable take the stairs. But it may be difficult going down with your carry on. Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

The comment about having the dedicated lounge isn’t about the drinks it is for those that want to connect with others sharing their stories, really? 🤷‍♂️🙄 I don’t care if anyone is elite or above and sorry but yes it is the drinks, if not why would anyone go there there during those hours? I am willing to have a conversation with anyone and I can do that anytime. Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

You received a move up “offer”. It doesn’t mean that you are going to get it for the minimum or at any extra cost. If you could get the cabin upgrade to a suite from Aqua for $600 pp that would be $1200 total plus the extra in difference for gratuities. That is a little less than $100/day. You get a larger cabin, some lunches in Luminae and some other amenities. Embarkation and disembarkation priorities. You will keep the same perks you booked but not those that come with a suite. It is only up to you to decide if you are willing to pay $1200 or more than what you planned on. If it was me I would go for it and add a little to the minimum amount. Happy cruising. 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

When I redid my bathroom I installed a heated fog free mirror. It is a nice touch. It also has a built in night light Happy cruising. 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

On the Constellation. Do you see what I am thinking. It reminds me of the the art that Marie made on the TV show Raymond. I think it goes along with this that is at the Martini Bar on the Anthem 🤷‍♂️😱 Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

What really ticks me off is I have booked 10 cruises in SS while on board because of the butler service and other perks that were in the suites. They are NRD bookings. I booked for those services and now they aren’t being provided. If I cancel I will lose my deposits. It is a breach of contract. It isn’t worth suing over as It would cost more legal fees but it may be something to look into for a class action lawsuit. 🤷‍♂️ Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Could be as it isn’t even Thanksgiving, or Halloween and stores and houses are already doing Christmas decorations. Remember that Thanksgiving day is a U.S.A. celebration. Other countries don’t recognize it, same as other U.S.A holidays. And the same for Christmas. It is a Christian Holiday and there are many that cruise that have their own religious holidays. We have been on cruises during that time period and have seen Christmas decorations being set up at the end of the cruise at the end of Nov. They are very tasteful and rather traditional, basically they blend in with no religious connection or Santa Claus. Photo at Caracao Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

I don’t know if you read the whole article but I think he addresses everything with the assumptions. He also mentioned that you should go to his forum for the exact math and if he would do a further review. Basically the main reason for this thread is that he mentioned about playing for the entertainment and also the link for Timeplay.com that shows how much the various games generate for the cruise lines, and he thought that the game was well done. The game is just a blind luck game unless you are drawn to be a player. We have always played on every cruise. There were 2 times that the same person was draw for both sessions and also for the bonus spin of winning a free cruise. Something fishy? on our last cruise when we purchased our cards the cashier said here is a winner. We won $500 by matching 7. Coincidence? Will never know if they know what the winning cards are. His site also gives analysis for almost every game. A great resource for those that like gaming. Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Great news and an am sure it peace of mind for all involved. Enjoy the rest of your cruise and make plans for another with the group. Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Very tragic. I would suggest finishing your cruise. Going home isn’t going to help or do anything for him. In fact it might make him feel worse knowing that you left the cruise. Also leaving in another port may cause you more grief and aggravation than staying, plus the rest of your group needs the support of each other. 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

If you look at his website and read about him he is very high level. I think he also consults to the gaming industry. If you sign up for his emails he does a lot of exotic bucket list travel stuff. Recently he was at the “Burning Man”. He sends out one email per week. Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

I get emails from a person that goes by the Wizard of Odds. He was recently on the Celebrity Reflection and attended Deal or No Deal. Here is his evaluation. Here is a link to his website that also gives the odds to many and almost all gaming and also strategy. https://wizardofodds.com There is also a link at the bottom to Time Play. They are the developers for many of the games played on cruise ships. It is another interesting link and shows how much the cruise lines make off of the games https://wizardofodds.com Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅 On October 2023 aboard the cruise ship Celebrity Reflection, I attended a Deal or No Deal game show. I took pictures and saved one of my cards to analyze when I got back home. This newsletter shall be that analysis. On the day of game, cards cost $15 each. However, you could purchase four for $50, for an average of $12.50 per card, a small economy of scale. I know there was some incentive to buy cards long before the day of embarkation, but I don’t recall the details. Without knowing the value of the game, but figuring it was probably a very negative expected value, I didn’t buy any cards until the day of the game. My motive for buying cards the day of the game was largely the entertainment value. The game was divided into two sessions. In each session a card was randomly and electronically picked from all those in play. The card holder was then invited to the stage to play. This above image shows cruise director Angela and the lucky player of game 1. The game on the ship played just like that on the television show, except there were 20 cases instead of 26 and the prizes were lower. Banker offers were about 90% of the average of the unopened cases. There actually was a veiled banker, who I recognized as another member of the staff who sometimes filled in for Angela in her duties as cruise director. The picture above shows the game mid-state. The lit amounts on the left and right show those still in play. The rest were in already opened cases. After the traditional game was played, the same player got a chance at the Banker’s Wheel. I was told this was a fair wheel, with a 50% chance at a free cruise. The other 50% were casino match play chips of $25, $50, $100 or $250. They did not state anything on the type or value of the “free cruise.” The rules on the back said, “If the free Cruise is offered as a prize, the itinerary, length and accommodation is determined by the Cruise line and does not include air, transfers, hotel, taxes and gratuities, or any other fees applicable to the cruise.” Having won or earned four cruises in Las Vegas, I can say that they are generally the lowest level cabin and they blackout all the best dates. The image above shows the Banker’s Wheel. Finally, every card had a chance to win consolation prizes. These cards had 20 cases with the same prizes as used in the game, which were randomly shuffled behind the flaps on the card. Players in the audience didn’t have to worry about opening the flaps and keeping score as the computer knew the location of every prize on every card and who owned every card. After each set of case openings, the screen showed the players in strong contention for any prizes. The image above shows the consolation prizes according to the number of matches between the player’s card and the location of the prizes in the game. In this update, partially through a game, 50 cards had one match and 15 had two. The image above is of a typical card. Each case had a flap revealing one of the 20 possible prizes. My analysis of the game depends on some information I don’t know, in particular the number of competing cards and the value of the cruise. It is easy to say that the average of the cases is $155.33. This is the value of the base game, assuming the player never accepts a below-value banker offer. I roughly estimate there were 300 cards in play. That would give each card a value per game of $155.30/300 = 4.14 cents. To analyze the Banker’s Wheel, we need to know the value of the free cruise. If we generously put the free cruise value at $2,000 and assume full value of the casino match play, then the value of that element of each game is $1,053.13, which is significantly more than the base game. If we divide that by the 300 estimated cards in play, the value of each card per game is 28.08 cents. Analyzing the consolation prizes for matching prizes on the play cards is a famous problem in mathematics, usually known as the Secret Santa problem. It stems of the office game where everybody in the office is assigned a random person to give a gift to. The way the question is usually stated is what is the probability that any specified number of people draw their own name. In this case, we have to analyze the probability of 2 to 20 matches. The exact probabilities are beyond the scope of this newsletter. Perhaps I’ll write another newsletter in the future about that (but probably won’t). For now, we will have to go with estimates, which should be very close. If you are interested in the exact math, it has been discussed in my forum at Wizard of Vegas The following table shows my estimate probability of 2 or more matches, the associated prize, and the expected win for each possible outcome. The lower right cell shows an expected win of $3.20 per card per game. Matches Probability Win Return 8 or more 0.000010 $ 5,000 $ 0.05 7 0.000073 $ 500 $ 0.04 6 0.000511 $ 400 $ 0.20 5 0.003066 $ 200 $ 0.61 4 0.015328 $ 50 $ 0.77 3 0.061313 $ 10 $ 0.61 2 0.183940 $ 5 $ 0.92 1 0.367879 $ - $ - 0 0.367879 $ - $ - Total 1.000000 $ 3.20 To review, I get a value of $0.04 for the base game, $0.28 for the Dealer’s Wheel and $3.53 for the consolation prizes, for a total of $3.53. Recall they played through two games, so double the total expected win to $7.06. At a cost of $12.50 per card (buying four for $50), the expected return is 56.48%. In other words, a house edge of 43.52%. If there were any no-shows, it would increase the value. However, with the vast majority of the value in the consolation prizes, the number of cards in play doesn’t really matter very much in terms of the game value. It should be noted that Angela said they wouldn’t credit any free play until some hours after the show and to check with the concierge desk about it. I doubt many people did, as this was the last full day of the cruise. I never did check if I won any free play, although my name was not listed as being in contention towards the end of either game. I would also like to note that the same person was called to play both games! The second time, he sent his wife up. I later asked him how many cards he had in play, to which he answered five. Overall, the game was very well done. The hostess, Angela, did an outstanding job. I had a fun time as I think Mrs. Wizard and my friend who I cruised with did as well. Would I play this game a second time? Probably not, but as a fan of game shows, it’s worth doing once despite the game offering about the same value as a lottery ticket. The image above shows the full rules. For more information, visit Timeplay.com, the makers of this and other multi-player games for cruise ships. Game Odds & StrategiesGame CalculatorsGambling Info Play for FunGambling OnlineAsk the Wizard

10 day cruise 1 extra day of points. 3 day cruise 1 extra day of points. Doesn’t seem to be a fair incentive. Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

We had Vinod many cruises. We is fantastic. Why didn’t you have breakfast, and lunch in a Luminae? Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

I dont know what that celebritycrusier is and can’t get rid of it I got a reply about 1 week later. It was a email and the header read: “ Do not reply @ CelebrityCrusies .com Agent and Guest invoices for reservation ID…. it look like another promotion and also had our cruise summary. Scrolling down to the bottom was a PDF that showed the OBC when opened. I saved the email and also took a screen shot. Check your junk mail happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Deleted. Wrong forum

I also never mention or ask anyone about Captain Club status or anything about Cruise Critic. There have been a few times when someone would say as if bragging that they are members of Cruise Critic as if that makes them an authority on cruising. I just let it blow over and ignore the comment as if it doesn’t mean anything to me. The few times we attended the mix and mingle it was anything but. People would plant themselves in a seat and keep to themselves. I would wander around and try to meet some and they would act as if I was annoying them. No longer attend any. Don’t need to listen to the officers or staff telling us how much they value our loyalty and etc. Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Yes but you would have to pay for it. Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

Maybe it will help free up more places at the regular bars during those hours. Personally the comment about being able to associate with other elite and above guests claiming to have the same passion for sailing doesn’t apply to me. I am vey content and happy meeting and talking to anyone even if they aren’t Elite or above. 😱 Happy crusing 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

We did it last year. We didn’t get any book . The sommelier recommend a wine. Gave me a sample. I told him I had the premium package and asked if it was covered. He said yes. It is $10. I said it is ok and agreed to it. The wine was ok but nothing special. After I would drink about 1/2 he would top it off. The last time he came by to top it off I said I didn’t want anymore as I going to have a desert wine and didn’t finish that glass. As things were wrapping up he came by and gave us a bill. I looked at it and asked about the charge. He said you had 5 glasses of wine that was $10 over the premium limit. The bill was $60 with the gratuity added in. I signed it as I didn’t want to make a disturbance. I seen others at the table also receiving a bill. I didn’t really pay attention to what they were drinking. The next day I went to Guest Relations and told them about the situation and they removed the charge and said they would have a talk to the sommelier and to make sure he is more clear. Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅