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AV8rix

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About Me

  • Location
    Western Washington
  • Interests
    Aviation, sailing (meaning boats with actual sails), blackjack tournaments (the real ones on land)
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    HAL

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. @Boatdrill, I didn't complain last July when a few messages went off-topic. Didn't last too long, and comments posted this year returned to the subject of the thread. But IMO your comment should probably have been posted to a new thread, rather resurrecting the thread-drift of about 8 months ago. Again, JMO.
  2. OK, some links: https://www.computerworld.com/article/3152896/facing-layoff-at-carnival-it-employee-makes-bold-counteroffer.html https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/carnival-outsourcing-plans-a-hard-blow-to-take/ https://finance.yahoo.com/video/outsourced-carnival-cruise-line-workers-133941113.html https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news-headlines/carnival-corp-outsourcing-200-it-jobs Actually, there are more. Don't know what search engine you are using. Bottom line is that CCL has DEFINITELY outsourced IT and since then IMO the product has noticeably degraded.
  3. Actually, CCL (corporate) got a new IT department in 2016 -- just google "Carnival Cruise Line outsource Capgemini" and it's been downhill ever since. Web site is actually user-hostile, not user-friendly. JMO.
  4. https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/onboard-experiences/suites-staterooms <sigh> Can't believe that you don't know how to do this on your own, as you've been sailing on HAL for a long time.
  5. Yes, there is a MAJOR perk -- but only on the Pinnacle-class ships. You said in your OP that noise was one of the key factors for your becoming disenchanted with Princess. I agree with others here that the noise level on decks 2-3 of the three Pinnacle-class ships is DEAFENING! I actually have to get ear plugs from Guest Services to play blackjack in the casino on deck 3. However -- getting back to the original subject -- there is another VERY noisy area on the Pinnacle-class ships that no one has mentioned so far. And that is the MDR. Don't know why the acoustics are so deficient in there. It's not that way on the older ships. Anyway, it is nearly impossible to converse with your tablemates in the MDR at dinnertime. So Club Orange is DEFINITELY worth it on those ships. The dedicated CO dining room on those ships is intimate and QUIET. JMHO.
  6. I presume that the $6 min is just for the hand. Not really sure because, as I said, I've never played that table. Probably side bet available because a side bet is available on the high-limit table.
  7. Well, I only play blackjack (am a tournament player on land) so can only provide substantive info on the blackjack tables on HAL: The $6 min table is always open when the casino is open, starting in mid-morning (about 10 am) on sea days; after the ship clears the port on port days -- which is usually in the evening. However, that's a 6:5 table and is generally populated by the "beginners". The higher limit table on most of the ships opens in the evening, although if you request it (and there are sufficient dealers) they will sometimes open it in the daytime on sea days. The high-limit BJ table is generally $25 min, although I have seen it on some ships as low as $15 min. And that is a 3:2 table -- the only kind I play on, land or sea. I'd chew ground glass before I'd sit down at any 6:5 table ๐Ÿ˜Š.
  8. Hi -- engineer here (yeah, I really was one). The name of the drink is referring to the colloquial nicknames of the sequential strokes of a four-stroke internal-combustion engine -- well, three of them at least: Suck -- intake Squeeze -- compression (somehow not included in the name of the drink) Bang -- combustion Blow -- exhaust 'Nuff said ๐Ÿ™‚.
  9. Yeah, I've had the carpaccio at all three venues -- I'll take it WHEREVER it's offered. Oh and BTW, it has been deleted from the "new" Canaletto menu, much to my chagrin. No, I think that what my concern was with posting -- although I didn't articulate it very well -- is the following: It would be very unusual to offer TWO raw-beef preparations as starters in the PG. I'm wondering if the steak tartare was discontinued and the carpaccio was offered IN LIEU OF the steak tartare. I hope not -- as the tartare is ALWAYS my appetizer choice at dinner in PG. How's Steve's gait and memory progressing?
  10. When did they start offering carpaccio at the PG for dinner? It has always been on the menu at lunch but I've NEVER seen it offered at dinner (I'm most recently off a HAL ship just two months ago). Or perhaps it wasn't on the menu and you coaxed them into serving it? As I frequently coax them into fixing me a strawberry pavlova at dinner ๐Ÿ™‚.
  11. SERIOUSLY?? And I suppose they got a grant for that?
  12. Kewl! That's progress. So they must have reduced it to a misdemeanor since I left in 2001. Gee, except for the weather I now can actually contemplate coming back home to live out my days.
  13. Although in my heart Texas will ALWAYS be my home, there are two (and only two) reasons why I'm glad to live in Western Washington: 1. The climate is better than Texas -- no temperature extremes and no tornadoes. 2. I LOVE BEANS IN MY CHILI!! Now you have to understand that putting beans in chili is a felony offense in Texas. If they catch you they'll send you to the prison in Huntsville for a considerable period of time. So I always had to eat my homemade chili in solitude -- many lonely meals. But here in Washington state I actually invite friends over to share my meals when I make chili. When I was still working at Boeing I could bring chili in my lunch kit and eat it IN PUBLIC! 'Nuff said ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ˜€.
  14. I'm a very brisk walker for an old lady -- it's pretty much all the cardio I get any more. So this subject is of great interest to me. Many years ago they had signs on all ships indicating the proper direction. Then this signage was removed or painted over, except on Amsterdam -- until the day she was sold she had "One Way (with arrow)" signage on the prom deck. However, on all ship classes except Pinnacle (more on that later) there's not too much of a problem. The prom decks are WIDE and there are only four blind corners; and on most ships there are mirrors mounted up high at the corners so you can see if anyone is coming the "wrong" way. And I try to do my laps early in the morning when there's not too much traffic, except for the crew hosing down the decks each morning. But the Pinnacle ships are a MESS and I've completely given up prom-deck laps. Not only is the deck NARROW but there are so many blind-corner joggles that there is a REAL danger of slamming into someone coming in the opposite direction. A few years ago I actually sent an email to HAL asking why the directional signage had been removed from the prom decks. Here's part of the answer I received: We have gone to the shipboard staff and have been advised, as you probably saw this past weekend, that the ms Amsterdam is still the same with a one-way sign around the Lower Promenade Deck. However, having said that, it is not the same on the ms Eurodam or on some of our other ships. While the Promenade deck can be used for walking around and doing laps, we do not have a policy on a correct walking direction though. The staff on some ships are allowed to paint (in big letters) at the aft rounding (against the stern enclosed steel railing): โ€œwalking directionโ€ with a big arrow and we have this done on various ships. Since it is not a Holland America Line policy, if a replacement shipโ€™s staff decide to remove the arrow, they are free to do so. In addition, on the newer Pinnacle ships (ms Koningsdam and the ms Nieuw Statendam), we do encourage guests to use the track on the top deck. OK, sorry for such a LONG comment but, again, this is a subject of great interest to me.
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