canderson

1 hour ago, frankhi said:

Thanks, but I just bot the exec plan...I'm not really worried about the cancellation insurance, it's the other coverages I like.

Ah, understand now.  So about $500 per year per person?

Often, when researching the cost of travel insurance, people here in the cruise boards are particularly interested in cancellation insurance since that's such a huge part of the potential cost of any mishaps.

15 hours ago, frankhi said:

I seems like I'm must be missing something. A full year Allianz travel coverage, even their executive plan, costs less than their coverage for 1 cruise. 

If you're talking the Allianz AllTrips Executive plan, just note that the base level of 'Trip Cancellation' insurance is only $5,000.  If you were to bump that to even $10,000 (their max) to cover just part of a cruise (and pre-existing conditions still cap out at $5,000), the cost can jump up ~58%.

Work with their calculator here by typing start date/age/location:  https://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/find-a-plan/alltrips-executive.htm

5 hours ago, Lois R said:

Hi Terry, maybe I am in the minority but I don't care why she left. Call my cynical......but people leave jobs all the time. The "Why" she left question? It makes no difference to me.

Ah, except motivation might provide some insight into the future of the brand.  I definitely get what Terry is saying.

20 minutes ago, zqtchas said:

Guests will enjoy three Duval-Leroy champagnes aboard Silversea’s ships. The Duval-Leroy Brut Réserve will be the complimentary champagne of choice and will greet guests upon arrival in their suites. The Duval-Leroy Rosé Prestige Premier Cru will be offered to guests in upper suites upon embarkation, while the Duval-Leroy Femme de Champagne 2002 will also be available on the Connoisseur’s wine list at an additional charge.

The NV Brut Réserve ... 89 of 100

The Rosé Prestige Premier Cru ... 89 of 100

Ho hum.

The Femme de Champagne 2002 ... 94 of 100, retails for about $290/750ml.

3 hours ago, DavyWavey70 said:

Don’t you have any real laws over there? If somebody was made redundant in the uk it would have to be proved that the position no longer existed. If somebody less senior was brought in to fulfill the role then the company would be hung out to dry with huge fines. 

How does it go there if your job is made redundant in the UK, only to be recreated on another continent where relative newbies are being hired to do that job? 

Just now, FlyerTalker said:

 

Another reason to book air yourself?

Depends.  We've noticed that occasionally, RCL comes up better one way international fares than I can score on my own.  I miss the old days of legit consolidators.

33 minutes ago, mchell810 said:

A personal winery and tiramisu ... what more could one want? 😀

I was going to suggest that a number of the leaves in the photo looked a bit yellowish, but I guess that means Tiramisu isn't provided any added nitrogen! 😄

@Will Work for Tiramisu

Speaking of which, how are your soil pH levels there?  A bit high, perhaps?  What variety(ies) have you planted?  Looks from the 3rd photo that you've got a bit of an arch available - for netting?  Between the birds and squirrels here, it's essential.

1 hour ago, gcornell said:

Thousands are laid off very day from well run and profitable companies and the unemployment rate is extremely low which indicates, to me, the job market is strong and operating efficiently.  Companies have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders.  

These aren't always RIFs - they're sometimes just swaps.  In some organizations, 15+ year employees (as the OP mentions) are cashiered and replaced with newbies simply to reduce payroll and vacation liability.  Even as a shareholder, I know how that can impact customer service.

7 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Record locators don't mean you are ticketed.  Only when you have a 13 digit number do you have a ticket.

 

And some airlines allow for seat assignment for unticketed reservations, some do not.  No blanket rule.

 

 

UA + TAP.  Paid some to upgrade seats, so apparently ticketed in June when this was done.  United won't accept the attempt otherwise.  Don't think any Star Alliance member will.

AFAIK, you never see the actual 13 digit ticket number when booking through SS... at least it never appeared on any SS paperwork we received.  One would need to get that directly from the carrier.

34 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

My guess would be that the answer provided wasn't what was wanted, so posting again to get a different response.

 

 

Just to show that there's no sense in trying to nail down a date, we had our record locators and were able to set up seating for our Nov 23 SS cruise in June 23, about 6 months out.

Why not just bump your old thread???

I haven't seen any evidence of a red Falernian yet.  The writers I've run across to date have all indicated no time on the lees.

Falerno del Massico is such a tiny space, I'm almost surprised they export outside of the country.  Have not yet run across one here in the U.S., and I've not followed the coast much at all N of Naples.  Again, we're talking reds, I think.

19 minutes ago, drron29 said:

A little from Downunder. Australian wine makers have taken to screw tops instead of cork enthusiastically.

Just spare me the versions of the synthetic cork that require a 1/4 stick of dynamite to remove.  When even my Cork Pop struggles (great for removing very old, dodgy corks), it's definitely too tight.

46 minutes ago, Winemaker_1 said:

They are legion, but one of my favorites is Galardi Terra di Lavoro (don't know if this is available on board but still worth seeking out).

Funny you should use the word "legion" in this context - given when/where it was popularized!

No, I was thinking of a white version from the Aglianico (aka Aminea Gemina) grape as it's widely believed that they made Falernian back in Rome in the 'really old days', perhaps with some Greco thrown in.  It seems that all of the modern day Aglianico wines are reds, and I've always wondered what a full bodied white would be like from this grape.

14 hours ago, Will Work for Tiramisu said:

And, I believe, cigars in the smoking lounge. 

... and the XO cognac that they keep stashed there, too!

1 hour ago, jollyjones said:

 

BTW, one good thing from this Nova cruise - no sign of the 'extra tipping' letter that showed up on the Dawn!

 

 

What was that?  We were on Dawn late Fall '23 and never received anything like that.

Falernian, and no. 

Some day, I'd like to sample a wine made from Aglianico grapes.

2 hours ago, DavyWavey70 said:

It does sound very much like they have switched to an RCI provisioning system with no autonomy  left for the ship when things go wrong. A Six star line with an inadequate purchasing dpt unable to provide so many basics will hopefully soon learn that they need to leave a little more in the petty cash tin before they become a running joke.

Might be worth investigating how some lines have taken to end-to-end supply chain qualification for food products to avoid train wrecks like the 'raspberry Norovirus' back in Summer-Fall of 2019.  Hit 10 ships from one line.  Turned out to be caused by 22,000 lbs of Chinese frozen raspberries that had been supplied to the line's entire fleet.  I'm sure experiences such as this make them even more averse to picking up items 'locally' unless a supplier has been 100% vetted in advance or the item being purchased can be for whatever reason presumed to be innocuous.

1 hour ago, milepig said:

found it. on the drop down therew a link to "my rrservations" and the next page has a print button.

Did it give you your day by day time schedule chart of 'events' for the cruise?

Couldn't do it here.  Used my favorite screen capture program to snag the rectangles I wanted from their display, though the way they display days, that wasn't always easy, either.

Dear Wine:

We had a deal.

You were to make me funnier, sexier, smarter and a better dancer.

I saw the video.

We need to talk.

I'm still amazed at the number of bottles offered by SS that sell for home retail or sometimes even a bit less.  Antinori wines were a particularly good shipboard value when we last sailed.  We've not sailed them all, but this was the first line we've encountered that offered wine at those kinds of prices.

1 hour ago, Aussieflyer said:

We don't have Applebee's in Australia but I am I correct in assuming it is some kind of restaurant/dining chain (sort of upmarket Macdonalds)?

https://www.applebees.com/en/menu

30 minutes ago, Mountain Traveler said:

We were in the Panorama Lounge on Silver Cloud a few months ago and after enjoying our afternoon cocktails were run off by trivia players who wanted "their" table for the upcoming trivia contest.  We were about ready to leave anyway, but they were borderline rude about it.

We've found the bridge players similarly territorial in whichever lounge they occupy.

11 hours ago, Sketty1616 said:

We are 2 weeks out from our cruise and I was curious as to how full the Nova will be. I didnt see any way to determine this other than clicking through the available suites on the new reservation page. That is showing that there are still 58 suites available, at various levels. So a few questions

1. Is this accurate?

 

Insofar as you take it for what it is, yes.  However, all it tells you is that at that moment in time, at LEAST the number of cabins shown were available.  There may be cabins not shown in available inventory but that don't actually have pax assigned yet, either.  There are several reasons that this may occur. 

So assuming you could book any of those 58 cabins, while you can't say how full the ship will be, the fact that x cabins are available tells you that at that moment in time, it can't be any more full than ((available - x) / available) percent full so far.