ExArkie

Also, I think South Dakota has EDL…based on information I saw from a Canadian law firm.

The "transfer-to-TA" form we filled out said 60 days.

A couple of weeks ago on Jade, a thermal suite pass for seven days in a Greek Islands itinerary was US$199 per person. We had over twice that in OBC that we probably wouldn’t have used otherwise, so we took it. Also, it appeared to be the same price prior to the cruise as it was for us booking on board upon embarkation.

Does HAL offer free upgrades to the next type? We booked a Noordam Signature Suite on deck 6, so there are no cabins in that type that would be an upgrade. Only way to upgrade would be to move us into a Neptune Suite. I just assumed they wouldn’t do that. We did indicate in the reservation that we’d take an upgrade, if offered.

I have encountered cities in the US where taxis are required to take credit cards, but suddenly find that their credit card processing machine is either broken or can’t find a wireless signal once we reach the destination.

Also worth noting - apparently, no taxis in Athens take credit cards. If you plan to take a cab somewhere, it’ll have to be paid in euros.

A lot of misunderstanding about Cunard dress codes on this thread. I would suggest you go to https://www.cunard.com/en-us/the-cunard-experience/what-to-pack Simple version: twice per 7 nights, there will be gala evenings where jacket and tie is required to be in the dining room, theater, and most other venues. Several areas of the ship do not require formal wear on those nights - buffet, pub, and casual dining/entertainment venue Carinthia Lounge. Other nights gentlemen are expected to wear a collared shirt and slacks - no shorts, no jeans - but a jacket is not required.

Add a dash of bitters and call it a pseudo-Chmpagne Cocktail

I wasn’t able to do checkin until early afternoon EDT, about 13 or 14 hours after it opened. Earliest time offered was 12 - 12:30, which was fine with me.

Perhaps 16 days includes embarkation day when the spa probably won’t be available and disembarkation day when it definitely won’t? That would leave 14 days of access.

Ours, based on the same general idea several years ago, was the last leg of the QE World Cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Southampton, returning on QM2 several weeks later (with the intervening time in Ireland, if that matters).

Differentiating between high tea and afternoon tea: https://teatimemagazine.com/high-tea-vs-afternoon-tea/

My first impression is that this is the Yokohama Bay Bridge, having crossed under it exactly once in my life.

We had a B2B last December (5-day Christmas Market, followed by 7-day TA) with the changeover in Southampton. This is the same process we followed, where we did not leave the ship. We moved from PG on the short leg to QG on the TA, thanks to an excessively generous upgrade from Cunard to the Balmoral Suite (Q1). The person scanning the cards for leaving the ship and returning…all at the same time..was a bit confused, but she finally got it. We sat in the Carinthia Lounge for an hour or so while the changeover was happening, having checked with the steward as to what the expected timing would be (the butler on the TA said the previous occupants had self-disembarked, which shaved several minutes off the process), then proceeded to the new cabin before boarding started for those embarking on the TA. The cabin was ready and our luggage was waiting in the closet.

I will disagree with this part. My experience has been that there are only a handful of TAs that offer better service than the call center.

Pretty much everything I encounter is a lot more complex than anticipated. Thanks for the details.

What is the average length of time for each dinner that the restaurant manager uses to book reservations? If they are assuming all diners will want to take less than an hour and book tables accordingly, one table taking an hour and ten minutes throws everything off and, as you suggest, someone misses getting a table. If they are assuming an average of two hours and a number of people take an hour or less, then a few people taking three hours would not negate their assumption of an average time interval. In the former situation, someone could miss out. In the latter, most likely not. By the same logic, if I thought I might not enjoy the evening show but went anyway just to see, does that mean I am denying someone who wanted to see it the opportunity to do so?

My wife got the attention of a food-sniffing dog at the international bag claim in ATL. Took a while to figure out the dog was smelling the bacon roll she had stuck in her pocket (wrapped in a napkin) and eaten in the car on the way to our departure airport about 8 or 9 hours earlier.

Small digression: Many eons ago, I was the coordinator for a statewide program to assess the risk of asbestos in schools, particularly in sprayed ceiling surfaces. The laboratory where I used their polarized light microscope to analyze samples also included a person using a regular microscope to count bug parts in corn chips and tortilla chips from a local manufacturer to ensure they were under the maximum limit. Tends to put one off one’s lunch to see the various pieces of (example) fly legs in the chip samples. More related to the topic: A few years ago, I was setting up instrumentation to detect low levels of radioactivity in a niche-market production process. The local technical representative brought in the banana from his lunch, which we put into the detector. With a small tweak to the analysis time, we got a “high radiation” alarm from his banana. An indication of how very low the levels were that we were trying to detect.

That appears to be one factor in some cases, but if both are before final payment (as fourmile.ranch indicated), I assume it is the difference in fare designation as discussed further upthread.

Agree about not rushing dinner - my vacation, my money to pay for the specialty restaurant, my decision as to how long I take. Generally, I like 6 to 6:30 seating times for exactly the same scenario that you list, figuring it's going to be after 7 by the time we actually eat anything. We're not much on any of the shows, so it has to be something different for us to adjust our dinner time to get there.

Maybe to keep the unwashed masses from soiling their passports?? I was not aware of a new design - mine has an expiration date of 2025, so it’s been a while. I found the following after a short search: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/passport-help/next-generation-passport.html Turns out plastic pages are more durable.

I was happy with their service LAX to the port a few years back.

Wait! You mean someone actually had a GAIN on Carnival stock??!! I reread the original post. Evidently, I missed the "sell at a profit" statement and just assumed that the OP was in the same boat as the majority having stock that lost value. My error.

Depending on the ship (older NCL and Celebrity ships, all Cunard ships - don't know about MSC, as I have not been on them), there isn't a geographically isolated area that includes both the cabins and the suite amenity areas all together. It is still necessary to traverse the ship's corridors to get from your stateroom to the suite-only areas.