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LIVE - Coral Princess - Circle the Pacific - 09-19-2018

ccrain

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macusr

macusr

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Looking forward to following along on this epic cruise - but really interested in your thoughts on Coral over the next 2 months. The last time we were on that class of ship was of course Island Princess with you guys in Alaska way back in '06! We will be sailing Coral for the first time next year in May.

 

 

Kristin

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ccrain

ccrain

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09-20-2018 – First Day At Sea to Ketchikan

 

The coffee klatch has hereby begun with me, myself and I. Still too early for most. But I have changed the location. The music was way too loud in the Deck 5 bar for even a minute conversation. So I came back up to the IC. But now with coffee and computer, here goes a recap of yesterday.

 

Embarkation day was a breeze. Never stopped walking from the time of drop off to the cabin. The star was in the main spot of the terminal. We were at Pier 92, but still no issues all the way in. We are in a starboard balcony bumpout. Nice view forward along the whole length of the ship. Will be perfect for whale and bergy bit watching.

 

The ship is in pretty good shape in the public areas. You can see the ravages of the sea if you look closely in the nooks and crannies, but overall really good. Add to that the fact that she was not butchered like the Island and actually has an IC, on deck 6 next to the casino open 24 hours, and a Patisserie on Deck 5, both with coffee machines, it has all the makings of a really good cruise.

 

Luggage arrived and the chore of making all of this stuff fit started. Ran out of hangers, of course, used the plug under the bed for Judy’s machine, used the power strip, non-surge suppressed of course, on the spare plug behind the TV, and then plugged in the USB power brick to set up the charging station under the TV. This is the most ‘stuff’ since the 61 day Ruby cruise a couple of years ago.

 

First Patter information – this is the most important patter of the cruise and gets put on the wall. Let’s see. We have Andrea Poggi as Captain. Leonardo Pavan as Hotel General Manager, Miranda Mclean is the CD, Mike Witte is the ED, Luca Baudoino is the Customer Services Director, Giancarlo Iaccarino is the Food and Beverage Director, Saverio Brattoli is the Executive Chef and Jean Paul Musiu is the Matre d’Hotel.

 

BTW – The Pizza is already lots better than the last cruise. The crust is seasoned! Yeah for the taste buds, bad for the waist line!

 

So now for the schedule. We have 3 formal days on the way to Shanghai; 9/21, 10/1 and 10/15. The schedule is only to Shanghai, the first segment of the cruise. Elites booked for the entire 60 days get 500 minutes each segment. There are also daily data packages from 200 to 500MB per day at a daily rate. I went ahead and got an extra 200 minutes. So far the internet is VERY slow from the cabin. Elites are also getting two bar setups, one here and one in Shanghai and after the cruise will get an extra cruise credit for the 60 day duration if booked on the single 60 day cruise.

 

Entertainment – We have 2 production shows in the theater, Encore and Motor City. Soprano is Jennifer Fair – seen her before and she has a great set of pipes! Comic is Scott Wyler and he is actually pretty funny. His intro show last night was a hoot. We have also, Vocalist Sonia Selbie, Guitar Comic Gary DeLena, Instrumentalist Duncan Tuck, Juggler Jeff Taveggia, Vocalist Claude Eric, Vocalist Monique Dehaney, Comedian Simon Colter, Tribute Act of Sonz of Soul, Acrobat Wheel Sensation, Female Vocalist Anna Fegi-Brown, Novelty Les Sandros, Juggler Kikyo Brothers.

 

Games shows in Explorers will be Yes/No, Karoke, Marriage Match, Majority Rules, 50’s night, 70’s disco, 60’s dance, Liars Club and dancing ala Skywalkers after 2300. Universe Lounge will be On the Bayou, NFL Football, Zumba, Ballroom Dance Class.

 

MUTS will have The 15:17 to Paris, Avenger’s Infinity Wars, Battle of the Sexes, Black Panther, Book Club, The Bookshop, Breathe, The Commuter, Finding Your Feet, The Greatest Showman, Hearts Beat Loud, I Feel Pretty, Incredibles 2, Isle of Dog and “many more…”.

 

The party band is The Sound. Wheelhouse bar is the Blue Jade Quartet. The destination lecturer this morning is Mark Harris and we do have a ‘shopping advisor’ (Allyson) till we leave Alaska. I suspect there are another couple of lecturers in the wings.

 

Miranda is running two Zumba classes, one at 0900 (she is leading and she is a tough Zumba instructor) and one at 1500 with Karen. They have pickleball on the sports deck 0900 to 1200, morning trivia, mah jong and bingo in the mornings. They are running several cruise length events like a Mini-Olympics, scrap heap boat challenge, egg drop and scavenger hunts.

 

In the afternoons they have a destination lecture, bridge play, a cruise long trivia challenge, ballroom dance class, ping pong, afternoon trivia, something called tailgate@sea related to football.

 

In the evenings we have elite lounge in the Universe, canned music dancing in Explorers, Duo Adamant is the atrium strings. Solo guitar vocalist Lou McMahon kicks off in the wheelhouse. Then the Blue Jade Quarter. The Sound resides in Explorer’s.

 

They have BOGO! Sort of. Pre-show in the theater. Buy one glass of wine, get another for $1. Interesting. Must have gotten a good deal on a container of wine!

 

So that is a quick and dirty synopsis of the first patter.

 

Later!

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ccrain

ccrain

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VERY IMPORTANT

 

I really hate to do this on the first sea day, but we found something yesterday that could really affect people’s health on the ships. We bring our own shampoo and conditioner for long cruises since Princess started using the bottles in the shower instead of the packaged Lotus Spa stuff. Usually our steward gives us new or empty/cleaned spare bottles and swaps them out for us. This time we had to dump the old stuff out and clean the bottles, but what we found in and around the bottles was GROSS.

 

Behind the bottles on the chrome attachment plate was black moldy goopee gross stuff. We used a healthy dose of Lysol spray and Clorox wipes to clean it up.

 

Even worse though was that the black moldy goopee stuff was in the shampoo/conditioner and the body gel bottle as well. Especially on the cap threads. (Judy had to clean the pump head threads with Q-tips.) After rinsing for several minutes in hot water, we got it all cleaned out, black stuff everywhere.

 

I’m not sure if it was bacteria, fungus or just some kind of chemical reaction between the soaps and the containers. I don’t want to know. I wanted it gone.

 

The reason the stuff is there is pretty clear – these particular areas just don’t get cleaned very often – they probably don’t think its important. But anyone that might be sensitive to mold or fungus might have a reaction to the stuff when the shower is running and dispersing some of this in the air.

 

So pull the caps and look at the threads in bright light and look behind the bottles with a flashlight and see what you see.

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Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

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Thanks for the updates!

Gary Delena is excellent!

Duncan Tuck is a good friend of ours and lives not too far from us.

He is an awesome entertainer and has been doing Princess cruise for years.

If you get the chance say hi to him for me.

Captain Poggi is great! We have sailed with him many times. He engages in good conversation.

He has been on the Coral for a good part of his time since she came in service.

I would hope those disgusting nasty shampoo dispensers are removed.

We noticed what you noticed last year.

We bring our own product now.

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c-boy "Live from...." Rare

c-boy

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VERY IMPORTANT

 

I really hate to do this on the first sea day, but we found something yesterday that could really affect people’s health on the ships. We bring our own shampoo and conditioner for long cruises since Princess started using the bottles in the shower instead of the packaged Lotus Spa stuff. Usually our steward gives us new or empty/cleaned spare bottles and swaps them out for us. This time we had to dump the old stuff out and clean the bottles, but what we found in and around the bottles was GROSS.

 

Behind the bottles on the chrome attachment plate was black moldy goopee gross stuff. We used a healthy dose of Lysol spray and Clorox wipes to clean it up.

 

Even worse though was that the black moldy goopee stuff was in the shampoo/conditioner and the body gel bottle as well. Especially on the cap threads. (Judy had to clean the pump head threads with Q-tips.) After rinsing for several minutes in hot water, we got it all cleaned out, black stuff everywhere.

 

I’m not sure if it was bacteria, fungus or just some kind of chemical reaction between the soaps and the containers. I don’t want to know. I wanted it gone.

 

The reason the stuff is there is pretty clear – these particular areas just don’t get cleaned very often – they probably don’t think its important. But anyone that might be sensitive to mold or fungus might have a reaction to the stuff when the shower is running and dispersing some of this in the air.

 

So pull the caps and look at the threads in bright light and look behind the bottles with a flashlight and see what you see.

huh..chemical resistant fungi.
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Barry H

Barry H

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09-20-2018 – First Day At Sea to Ketchikan

 

They have BOGO! Sort of. Pre-show in the theater. Buy one glass of wine, get another for $1. Interesting. Must have gotten a good deal on a container of wine!

 

Later!

Charles: Did they confiscate John's cases of wine for the BOGO??? ;p

 

Those of us on the 32 day Shanghai to LA leg have been locked out from booking tours in our Cruise Personalizer. Question for the Shore Excursion Department: Can those on board book tours for the Shanghai to LA leg? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

For Judy, My shower wall soap dispenser had some black mold where it attaches to the wall. The water and humidity do not allow it to dry out. I know the room stewards do not have time to deep clean many areas. That is why we bring our cleaning supplies (packed in a carry on so we can clean the room before our luggage arrives). Never thought of the ships soap, will have to clean that too. I never use them I bring my own.

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jennybenny

jennybenny

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VERY IMPORTANT

 

I really hate to do this on the first sea day, but we found something yesterday that could really affect people’s health on the ships. We bring our own shampoo and conditioner for long cruises s

Behind the bottles on the chrome attachment plate was black moldy goopee gross stuff. We used a healthy dose of Lysol spray and Clorox wipes to clean it up.

 

Even worse though was that the black moldy goopee stuff was in the shampoo/conditioner and the body gel bottle as well. Especially on the cap threads. (Judy had to clean the pump head threads with Q-tips.) After rinsing for several minutes in hot water, we got it all cleaned out, black stuff everywhere.

 

I’m not sure if it was bacteria, fungus or just some kind of chemical reaction between the soaps and the containers. I don’t want to know. I wanted it gone.

 

The reason the stuff is there is pretty clear – these particular areas just don’t get cleaned very often – they probably don’t think its important. But anyone that might be sensitive to mold or fungus might have a reaction to the stuff when the shower is running and dispersing some of this in the air.

 

So pull the caps and look at the threads in bright light and look behind the bottles with a flashlight and see what you see.

YUK! Thank you for that reminder. I wipe down the cabin pretty thoroughly, handles, surfaces, but had never thought to clean the soap container area. I bring my own, but the kids and my husband use those wall soaps! I thought it was gross soap before, now I'm really disgusted!! I'll be sure to check on our next cruise!! Then if it I can't get it all or it's in the soap dispenser I'll ask for some extra help in getting the mold OUT. YUK. I know I can't keep the boys from using that stuff, but now it's another thing to look for.

 

Thank you for bringing it to light.

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crawford

crawford

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09-20-2018 – First Day At Sea to Ketchikan

 

The coffee klatch has hereby begun with me, myself and I. Still too early for most. But I have changed the location. The music was way too loud in the Deck 5 bar for even a minute conversation. So I came back up to the IC. But now with coffee and computer, here goes a recap of yesterday.

 

Embarkation day was a breeze. Never stopped walking from the time of drop off to the cabin. The star was in the main spot of the terminal. We were at Pier 92, but still no issues all the way in. We are in a starboard balcony bumpout. Nice view forward along the whole length of the ship. Will be perfect for whale and bergy bit watching.

 

The ship is in pretty good shape in the public areas. You can see the ravages of the sea if you look closely in the nooks and crannies, but overall really good. Add to that the fact that she was not butchered like the Island and actually has an IC, on deck 6 next to the casino open 24 hours, and a Patisserie on Deck 5, both with coffee machines, it has all the makings of a really good cruise.

 

Luggage arrived and the chore of making all of this stuff fit started. Ran out of hangers, of course, used the plug under the bed for Judy’s machine, used the power strip, non-surge suppressed of course, on the spare plug behind the TV, and then plugged in the USB power brick to set up the charging station under the TV. This is the most ‘stuff’ since the 61 day Ruby cruise a couple of years ago.

 

First Patter information – this is the most important patter of the cruise and gets put on the wall. Let’s see. We have Andrea Poggi as Captain. Leonardo Pavan as Hotel General Manager, Miranda Mclean is the CD, Mike Witte is the ED, Luca Baudoino is the Customer Services Director, Giancarlo Iaccarino is the Food and Beverage Director, Saverio Brattoli is the Executive Chef and Jean Paul Musiu is the Matre d’Hotel.

 

BTW – The Pizza is already lots better than the last cruise. The crust is seasoned! Yeah for the taste buds, bad for the waist line!

 

So now for the schedule. We have 3 formal days on the way to Shanghai; 9/21, 10/1 and 10/15. The schedule is only to Shanghai, the first segment of the cruise. Elites booked for the entire 60 days get 500 minutes each segment. There are also daily data packages from 200 to 500MB per day at a daily rate. I went ahead and got an extra 200 minutes. So far the internet is VERY slow from the cabin. Elites are also getting two bar setups, one here and one in Shanghai and after the cruise will get an extra cruise credit for the 60 day duration if booked on the single 60 day cruise.

 

Entertainment – We have 2 production shows in the theater, Encore and Motor City. Soprano is Jennifer Fair – seen her before and she has a great set of pipes! Comic is Scott Wyler and he is actually pretty funny. His intro show last night was a hoot. We have also, Vocalist Sonia Selbie, Guitar Comic Gary DeLena, Instrumentalist Duncan Tuck, Juggler Jeff Taveggia, Vocalist Claude Eric, Vocalist Monique Dehaney, Comedian Simon Colter, Tribute Act of Sonz of Soul, Acrobat Wheel Sensation, Female Vocalist Anna Fegi-Brown, Novelty Les Sandros, Juggler Kikyo Brothers.

 

Games shows in Explorers will be Yes/No, Karoke, Marriage Match, Majority Rules, 50’s night, 70’s disco, 60’s dance, Liars Club and dancing ala Skywalkers after 2300. Universe Lounge will be On the Bayou, NFL Football, Zumba, Ballroom Dance Class.

 

MUTS will have The 15:17 to Paris, Avenger’s Infinity Wars, Battle of the Sexes, Black Panther, Book Club, The Bookshop, Breathe, The Commuter, Finding Your Feet, The Greatest Showman, Hearts Beat Loud, I Feel Pretty, Incredibles 2, Isle of Dog and “many more…”.

 

The party band is The Sound. Wheelhouse bar is the Blue Jade Quartet. The destination lecturer this morning is Mark Harris and we do have a ‘shopping advisor’ (Allyson) till we leave Alaska. I suspect there are another couple of lecturers in the wings.

 

Miranda is running two Zumba classes, one at 0900 (she is leading and she is a tough Zumba instructor) and one at 1500 with Karen. They have pickleball on the sports deck 0900 to 1200, morning trivia, mah jong and bingo in the mornings. They are running several cruise length events like a Mini-Olympics, scrap heap boat challenge, egg drop and scavenger hunts.

 

In the afternoons they have a destination lecture, bridge play, a cruise long trivia challenge, ballroom dance class, ping pong, afternoon trivia, something called tailgate@sea related to football.

 

In the evenings we have elite lounge in the Universe, canned music dancing in Explorers, Duo Adamant is the atrium strings. Solo guitar vocalist Lou McMahon kicks off in the wheelhouse. Then the Blue Jade Quarter. The Sound resides in Explorer’s.

 

They have BOGO! Sort of. Pre-show in the theater. Buy one glass of wine, get another for $1. Interesting. Must have gotten a good deal on a container of wine!

 

So that is a quick and dirty synopsis of the first patter.

 

Later!

 

Just got off the Coral yesterday. Really enjoyed our 7 day "Wine Country" itinerary.

 

One difference from our Panama Canal cruise on the Coral in February, is that there are now three person sinks at each

entrance to the Horizon Court.

 

Note to be careful, as we heard that one woman fell and broke her leg on the slippery floor there!

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Thrak

Thrak

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I tried the dispensers one time and said, "Never again". I bring my own stuff and so does my wife. We board Coral on November 18 and will be sure to check this out (as we will on all ships from now on) as we have no desire to be engulfed in a shower fog with mold and gunk. Many thanks for pointing this out. Take care of our ship for us. :D

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crawford

crawford

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Charles I have been hearing horrible things about ATD on Coral. If you hear anything (negative or positive) over the next week or so, can you post on here for me? Thanks

 

Just off the Coral this past Wednesday.

 

What horrible things are you hearing?

 

We were also on the Coral in January/February on a Panama Canal cruise.

 

As a comparative, ATD went much smoother on this most recent cruise. Lines at 5:00 were shorter (5 minute wait) on opening and it appeared that the dining room wasn't nearly as full. Ate later on port days and had no wait.

 

Could just be relative to the itinerary?

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Tyskie

Tyskie

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We were on Coral in Alaska this June. Always had traditional but decided AT would work better with our excursions.

 

Ate at 7:30 each evening (after going to the Elite/Platinum cocktail hour). We walked right in-no lines-not crowded. It was a pleasure!

 

Hope it’s the same for your trip

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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ccrain

ccrain

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09-21-2018 – At Sea to Ketchikan

 

Yesterday’s M&G was very well attended. Mike, the ED, showed up and helped MC the thing. The Captain, Hotel General Manager, F&B Manager and the Matre De also showed up. We had a good Q&A and several of our volunteer coordinators have already made arrangements for the several meetings and games – Mah Jong, Duplicate Bridge, LCR, hand and foot, ping pong, pickleball, luncheons, dinners, roulette games, slot pulls, all sorts of neat stuff. My thanks to all of them to make this cruise not “Bora-Boring!”.

 

John (TheRabbit) did get his wine on-board – several cases. While is uncorking fees are high, at least his bar bill will be lower. I got to meet so many people from the roll call that my brain is on person name/face overload! You know how you always joke that when giving gifts, give the gift of CASH. Well JAcruise200 gave us a little bag with a card and gifts and OMG it was CASH! But oh so delicately folded dollar bills into the shape of a deer, complete with antlers and a catfish – complete with whiskers and eyes from the dollar bill motifs. So intricate and beautiful! We have to figure out a way to get this home without damage. They are gorgeous and must have taken hours to fold. Can’t thank her enough. They are incredible and Judy wants to learn how to do it! (Good, cause anything I folded always ends up looking like my handkerchief in my back pocket.)

 

We did ‘cash’ in our photo package voucher. Now every photo that has one of us in it is included and the JPEG file is included as well. We will definitely get our money’s worth out of this package.

 

Received 24 of 36 bottles of water yesterday of our water order. That will hold us for a while as we tool north. Definitely a chill in the air with very few people in the pools or even out on the decks. We found a nice lounger on the upper level of the covered pool area for a nice read/snooze. After a rough first night in a new, and much softer, bed, I needed a little power nap, or two, or three…

 

Have not tried the MDR yet. The only complaint I have heard is the Club Class section taking too much space and labor at the detriment of the normal side during busy times. But that appears to be timing related as to when everyone wants to eat – NOW! We did do lunch at the HC and it was pretty good. After a VERY disappointing food scene on the Diamond last April, this was tasty, well seasoned and did not drive us into our emergency excursion rations.

 

The IC is open 24/7, but does not have the Princess Mcmuffin. Only pastries. Nice to be able to get coffee whenever we want it. It was limited on the Diamond to the HC after 0500 and the Atrium bar after 0600. The Atrium bar or Patisserie is only open after 0700.

 

The Elite lounge is open from 1615 to 1815 in the Universe. Lots of elites on this cruise, so the lower level is pretty packed during prime time and the food line is long. They have pared the ‘special’ drink list ($6.50 each) down to 6 or 8 from the original dozen. Only two that I care for – the Mexican Mule (tequila instead of vodka) and the Port Lemonade (Citron Vodka, port wine and sprite). But they do not have the martini glasses or small water glasses with veggies. You can use tongs and get a variety of veggies from serving bowels including bell peppers, asparagus, carrots, celery, cucumber, tomato and a few others I don’t recall. Great selection.

 

The bands are pretty darn good! (Yeah! I can eat again!) The Sound is the party band. A five piece band with a lead female singer. Good rhythm. Not a lot of ‘my way’ with songs. Good selection. The dance floor in Explorer’s was reasonable occupied with experience social dancers. Everyone kept to their ‘lanes’, no leaping or flying lifts and everyone had a great time! The other band, Blue Jade Quartet, plays to a packed dance floor in Wheelhouse, but still, good selection, good rhythm and experienced social dancers. Several we recognize from prior cruises.

 

Speaking of prior cruises, our hopes to get into the Most Travelled were dashed when we heard that the cutoff was around 990 days at sea, but that the Most Travelled did have less than 2000 days – oh joy…that’s just so…disheartening!

 

Being on the Island last October, and now the un-modified Coral, reminds me of how much I enjoy this class of ship and when she is sold in 2027 to make room for the new build Royal-Regal-Sky-Ocean-Alexandrite Princess, she will be sorely missed as the last of her kind. For those not familiar with the Coral, she was built in France and has been referred to as an ‘Explorer Class’ and Sun II class. She’ actually an intermediate design between the Sun class and the Grand Class with Explorer’s, a two story Universe, a large wheelhouse and a lot of balcony cabins. The Island and the Coral have the infamous bumpout balconies that requires a detailed website and photos to determine if your balcony is covered, uncovered or partially covered. But the main difference is the uncrowded nature of the ship. With both Decks 6 and 7 being entertainment and venue decks, the crowds are split a bit. The elevators are fast, the promenade deck wide and all the way around.

 

The Island was butchered, in anticipation of the 100kT limit for Venice, in the last dry dock with the Universe being removed and the lower level turned into the Gym and a whole host of cabins added to the aft end of the ship where observation decks existed. Very wide and deep observation decks perfect for the Panama Canal and Glacier viewing. Now, on the Island, only the forward decks and the aft Emerald deck, a lot smaller, still exist. The additional cabins apparently have a lot of vibration issues and, quite frankly, make the back end of an otherwise elegant design look like the back end of an 18 wheeler rather than a cruise ship.

 

The really good news is that they cancelled a similar refit to the Coral. Don’t know why, but at least we get to enjoy her on a 60 day odyssey in her almost ‘original’ intended design. The public spaces are remarkably uncrowded compared to a Grand or especially a Super-Grand.

 

So that’s it for now from the Coral, northbound to Ketchikan…

 

Later!

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