chengkp75

Typically, 10% of contract price is paid when signing the contract, but this is covered by a "refund guarantee" by a third party bank or financial institution in the event the contract is cancelled. So, Carnival has nothing to lose.

She could be turned into a hotel, convention center, or museum, but someone with deep pockets will need to be found. But, in my opinion, the last chance for restoration was years ago before she was towed to Turkey and the interior stripped. To me, the main historical feature of the SSUS was the power plant, and this has been left to rot for decades, so even making a hotel of her does not do the old ship justice. I think there is an idea from Tampa to reef her, and that alone is $80 million.

Repaired to what level? To a hotel or convention center? Tens of millions, since the entire interior is stripped bare (down to the structural steel). then, as the owners of the Queen Mary and the city of Long Beach found out, even if you keep up the maintenance for a hotel and convention center, you are suddenly faced with $30 million in repairs to the hull that land buildings don't face. To an operating ship? Crystal Cruises did a feasibility study on just that, and found that it would approach the billion dollar mark ($700 million is the actual figure). The ship does not meet current SOLAS requirements for such basic things as multiple rudders (so a completely redesigned stern section is needed), the machinery hasn't run in decades, and is an inefficient steam plant, so all new machinery, etc, etc.

Incorrect. See SCOTUS case "Spector v NCL". Foreign flag cruise ships have to comply with some aspects of the ADA, but not all.

Complete hogwash. Stabilizers won't stop a ship from listing, they won't even stop or reduce rolling. You would need a "wing" about the size of the ship to stop it from rolling. Stabilizers do one thing, and one thing only, they slow the period (time it takes to complete a roll from one side to the other) of the roll, enough to make it more comfortable.

October 2024 is when she is due for bottom survey.

When a cruise ship makes a too rapid turn at too high a speed, it is subject to "turn induced heel", where the ship heels over away from the turn. This has happened a few times in the past that I know of, once or twice on Princess ships, and once on the NCL Sky. While the list was less than 25* on the Sky, it resulted in about 120 pax being disembarked in Vancouver for hospital treatment. Not hearing reports of this kind of injuries, nor the OP reporting massive damage to the dishware or booze in bars, I don't believe the ship listed more than 10*. What was found in those prior cases that I mention, was that the bridge officer used the autopilot to turn the ship, and it responded too quickly for the speed of the ship. And, yes, if the water was near deck 8, the deck 5 balcony doors would have been 20 feet underwater, and the ship would have been flooding. Again, no mention by the OP about this.

Generally, the only time port taxes and fees would increase after booking, is for a Panama Canal transit. Also, there was a class action lawsuit against NCL a couple decades ago, so the cruise lines are severely restricted on what they can and can't include in port fees and taxes.

OP, send a screen shot and I may be able to comment.

Uh, I believe the Windjammer is "included in your fare"

Just to let you know how the IRS defines "gratuity" and "service charge" and about what an "automatic gratuity" means: It’s important to understand that even though it’s called a gratuity, as far as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the US is concerned, automatic gratuity charges are labeled a service charge. The IRS explains the main elements that distinguish tips from service charges by explaining what it takes in order to qualify as a tip: -The customer can’t be required to pay it -The customer gets to determine the amount -It’s not the result of negotiations or decided by policy -The customer determines who (usually the server) gets to receive the payment On the other hand, the IRS defines service charges as including: -Automatic gratuity placed on large dining parties -Banquet event fees -Cruise trip packages -Hotel room service charges -Bottle service charges Not sure how many of the "gratuity" defining conditions the cruise "DSC" or "service gratuity" as RCI calls it, meet.

This is not an "act by a cruise line", it is law. International conventions from the IMO prohibit dangerous drugs on ships (and even "THC free CBD" typically has minute amounts of THC in it) and THC is on that list. Any nation that is signatory to those conventions (over 140 nations) will have laws that preclude taking these drugs onboard a ship, regardless of medical need. Even countries where CBD is totally legal, like Holland, has laws that prohibit it's use on ships that fly the Dutch flag. Ships have had a tighter regulatory stance on drugs than other areas of life for the last 3 decades or so.

From a NY State SLA "declaratory ruling": 711 12th Avenue is the address designated for Pier 92 along the Hudson River in Manhattan. There are currently seven active on-premises liquor licenses for cruise ships which dock at Pier 92. Since Pier 92 is the site where those ships dock while in this state, 711 12th Avenue is identified as the address for each license. Note the bolded section. The ships do in fact hold NY State liquor licenses. In Virginia, the ships hold a "mixed beverage carrier license", which is required to sell mixed beverages to passengers on airplanes, boats, trains and buses. What these cruise lines do is not ring up the beverage charge until the ship is outside the 3 mile state territorial water limit.

From the NY State Liquor Authority: What is the “unlimited drink offering” law? On premises licensees are prohibited from offering, selling, serving or delivering an unlimited number of drinks to a patron or patrons during a set period of time for a fixed price. For example, a “$20- all you can drink” special would be a violation. On premises licensees are also prohibited from advertising, promoting or charging a price for drinks that, in the judgment of the SLA, is an attempt to circumvent the law. The Authority has generally regarded drink prices which are less than one half of the regularly charged price as such an attempt. For example, a “$1 beer special” when beers are ordinarily $5 would be a violation of the law. The law does not apply to: private functions not opened to the public, such as weddings, banquets, or receptions, or other similar functions; or to a package of food and beverages where the service of alcoholic beverages is incidental to the event or function. Note the portion that I bolded. From the Virginia Code: Establish any normal or customary pricing of its alcoholic beverages that is intended as a shift or device to evade any "happy hour" regulations adopted by the Board; however, a licensee may increase the volume of an alcoholic beverage sold to a customer if there is a commensurate increase in the normal or customary price charged for the same alcoholic beverage. 3VAC5-50-160. Happy hour and related promotions; definitions; exceptions. C. No retail licensee shall engage in any of the following practices: Selling two or more drinks for one price, such as "two for one" or "three for one"; So, in Virginia, even "2 for 1" is illegal. And, in both NY and Virginia, it would be argued that the limitation of 15 drinks per day, is an "attempt to circumvent the law".

While I know you are correct with regards to Texas, both Virginia and New York do not allow "unlimited" drink sales (unlimited drinks for one price), so it is a state law in some cases.

They typically start putting up decorations the first cruise after Thanksgiving.

Bingo. No one is saying anything about driving to parks and resorts in huge motorhomes. Every spring and fall there is an odyssey north or south in Maine of campers and motorhomes.

Nope. Ain't no such animal as "updated plumbing system".

I believe in "Southern Maine" grits: with butter and maple syrup.

I once had to deal with a block of 6 cabins that did not have working toilets for 4-5 days, while my crew roto-rooted a bikini out of the pipe. While most clogs can get cleared within an hour or two, this was caught at just the wrong location for us to get ahold of it. We cleaned it up, bagged it, and I took it around to the passengers in those cabins and explained that we knew one of them had done this, and then let them exchange the "stink-eye" between themselves for the rest of the crew.

Any internal combustion engine powered plant (and including gas turbines) is more efficient than a steam plant. Steam plants lose about 30% of the fuel energy in condensing the steam back to water so it can be pumped back to the boiler. This energy goes to the sea water. This is why, in the wake of WW2, when nations were rebuilding their merchant navies, everyone quickly shifted to diesels over steam, because fuel was expensive and labor was cheap, while the US retained steam well into the 1970's because fuel was cheap and labor was expensive.

The problem is that once you start to talk about foreign vessels, you enter into international and maritime law, and in maritime law, a "passenger vessel" is described as "any vessel that takes more than 12 persons for hire. So, until you get the majority of the 140+ nations that are signatory to the IMO to agree that the definition of "passenger vessel" needs to change, it's not going to happen. And, until CLIA and it's member cruise lines decide that a change to the PVSA would benefit their bottom lines, they won't bother spending the money to try to change it.

The ship is not completely empty when refueling. Industry best practices requires that the ship have at minimum a 4-5 day reserve of fuel. I would say she had at least 300-500,000 gallons (I've never dealt with fuel in gallons, just metric tons) upon arrival Boston. The ship can easily receive 300 metric tons/hr (78,000 gal/hr), so the limiting factor is the pumping speed of the trucks, and whether they built a manifold to allow multiple trucks to pump at the same time.

While no one can predict when peak foliage will be in any year, the Fryeburg area traditionally peaks around two weeks after the fair closes this week. Haven't been to the Fair in years, but they used to have Oxen pull contests, and it was amazing to see the rolls of cash changing hands from the bets. It's the better part of an hour and a half each way.

Another fact that T&E doesn't trot out is that container ships, over the last 40 years, have increased their deadweight tonnage (the amount of cargo they can carry), from 11 million metric tons to 293 million metric tons, or a 26 fold increase. Container ships have increased in size as well, seeing a 7 fold increase in size. There is a container ship launched every day somewhere in the world.