chewap

23 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Can't discuss bird watching, but have used binoculars working at sea for 40+ years. Most ships I worked on received Bushnell binoculars on the Bridge, either 7x or 8x.

 

The first number is the magnification, with 7x or 8x recommended for use aboard ship. Don't recommend going higher than 10x for use aboard ship, due to vessel movement, vibration, etc. The 2nd number is the optic diameter and determines the amount of light entering the binocular.

 

Generally Bushnell binoculars are a cheaper brand. However, I have used them for many years. Personally, I use Bushnell 12x50 perma-focus, although I will be replacing them with Bushnell 10x50 perma-focus for the improved field of view. Having fiddled with the focus on binoculars for many years, the perma-focus is an amazing feature. It isn't auto-focus similar to camera lenses, but a permanent focus that goes from 10-20 feet to infinity.

I bought the Bushnell 10X50 Perma Focus at Walmart.com for $48 2 years ago.  By far the best Binocular I have ever owned.  

Every time we have entered the Strait of Juan De Fuca going to Victoria, we have seen pods of Orcas in late August and Sept.   Last year we seen a super pod of 30+ Orcas.  About 1/2 of the time the Capt. announces the sightings.    

All of the workers including porters at the cruise ship dock belong to the ILWU (longshoreman union).  The longshoreman  at the dock make in excess of $1,000/day which includes weekend wages plus time and a half after 6 hours of work.   Most of the longshoreman working at the cruise ship docks are senior longshoremen being in the highest wage rates bracket.   The longshoremen are hired  by the Port of Seattle and separate from the cruiseline employees.  My son is a longshoreman and says that the longshoreman on the dock cannot solicit tips and should not receive tips, but some ignore the policy.      

The documentary "Seattle is dying" is a true picture of downtown Seattle.   Most people in Seattle and surrounding communities do not go to downtown Seattle.  This  documentary is one of the reasons to stay out of Seattle.  Stay at Sea Tac, Bellevue, Edmonds, or any close cities that are close to

the cruise terminal, where the hotels are considerably cheaper.   

https://komonews.com/news/local/komo-news-special-seattle-is-dying

Last year, I purchased Bushnell PermaFocus 10X 50 for a great price of $46 from Walmart.com.  They worked great for whale watching and glazer caving.  One good thing about Walmart.com besides their excellent prices, you can take your purchases  back to your nearest store for a refund. 

1 hour ago, k8ganno said:

thank you for the tips - I do get cold so will defo be bringing cardigans/shawls for the evening. Where did you find the independent tour operators? just a search on google?

 

thanks

Go down to the Ports of Call near the bottom of the home page.  Go to  Caribbean which lists all the ports you are going to. A lot of information for each port.

20 hours ago, satxdiver said:

I think chewap you were on the same cruise we were, the November 11.  Not being beach bunnies we had taken the Highlights & Scenic Drive along with 300 or our fellow pax.  At the end they took us to a remote beach between two large hills for a short stay.  The water appeared to be clean but much too short of time to go in.  The guide as we neared the ship was very emphatic to only go two blocks on the main street and not venture off.  I had not heard about the robbery.  The guide really was wanting all of us to reboard the ship which we did.  I had heard about the complaints from those that did the beach tour however.  We were glad to get to go to Trinidad but certainly do not need to go again. 

 

The ship was tied to the pier like they always do in port so not sure about your comment on the condition of the pier.   In order to use the gangplanks, the ship has to be secured to the pier.   Trinidad is a port that requires extreme caution and ship tours only. 

There was only one cleat 150 feet from the dock in concrete that the  front of the ship  can and was tied up to.  No large cleats on the dock to tie up to.   Caribbean Princess used there side proposition to keep it close to the dock.  The only reason that the Caribbean Princess went to Trinidad is because the docks at Bonaire were full with other cruise ships.   Bonaire is currently building a additional dock for cruise ships.  At that time the Caribbean Princess will be able to schedule Bonaire again as they have done in the past (Spring 2018).   Only take ship tours when you are in Trinidad.  Trinidad is too dangerous to do it on your own.

We were on the Caribbean Princess in Nov. The cruise was one of the best cruises we have taken.  OM worked great and WIFI was very fast. The only drawback was going to Trinidad.  The bay was filled with garbage and the sewer discharge directly into the bay.. Cruise ship could not tie up to the dilapidated dock.   If it did, it would pull the dock apart.     Three people were robbed 2 blocks from the cruise ship. The USA State department has a Cat 4 warning "DO NOT TRAVEL" in Trinidad.  Take only the cruise ship tours.  We went on the beach tour and the beach and water was filled up with garbage.   The passengers that complained to Princess got their money back on the tour.   A friend just got back from Caribbean Princess cruise, only passengers on the cruise tours were allowed to leave the cruise terminal.  I don't know why Princess goes to Trinidad with the crime problem and the filthy conditions.    Maybe by the time you go on your cruise in 2020,  Princess will drop the Port of  Spain in Trinidad. 

What TV channels does Carnival have now?  I was on the Carnival Glory last year and there was no news channels that had the weather and news.  The Glory had 2 ESPN channels that didn't work most of the time.   

22 hours ago, lax19 said:

 

Here are prices for Uber from SeaTac to Pier 91. (https://www.uber.com/fare-estimate/)

Seattle City Council earlier this year doubled the Uber rates to keep in line with the union taxi drivers.   

16 hours ago, satxdiver said:

Sunday

It did not rain today finally.  It started out blue sky and then became overcast but NO RAIN!

 

I noticed today that there are dual hand washing sinks at the entrance to steamers and planks BBQ.   Once again we visited the ramen station in steamers/planks for lunch.  So far it is not very utilized by the pax which makes it nice.  I have found that using Firefox on my android phone is more successful than using Chrome.  It appears to be a lot more stable but I still am getting frequent loss of signal.  I never had this problem on the older technology.  Bar servers continue to either take my older sea card or OM when I make an order and then return it when they bring the drinks although they all are carrying tablets from their belts.  I am not sure when they will start using them instead of just carrying them around.  Using the OM when exiting the ship and reboarding is working well.  I am still getting used to just walking up to our cabin door and turning the handle to open it.  There was no movie on MUTS tonight.

 

Today we were in Barbados where we had a private tour of the island.  We met the driver/guide at the terminal next to where Princess was loading their excursions.  This is our third trip to the island so we settled for just a general island tour minus the rum distilleries.  I was sitting in the second row opposite the driver and could see the road ahead.  I am amazed at how they are able to drive and not have a wreck on the narrow and winding roads.  I did find out that the government requires the tour operators to replace their vehicles every 6 years.  The driver/guide talked about the universal health coverage and free education up through college and that all buildings on the island are smoke free.  Nice part of the smaller private tours is the interaction between the pax and the driver/guide and the ability to ask questions.  After the four hour tour and a little bit of shopping by Ms Diver in the terminal we returned to the ship.  Shuttle busses were provided from the ship to the terminal. 

 

Tonight we went to the comedy show featuring Jeff Burghart who also did impressions of other comedians.  His impression of Rodney Dangerfield was good.  The first show at 6:45 pm was telecast in the Explorer Lounge again so we decided to watch it there.  It turned out to work very well with less crowding.  The ship has started telecasting the first show in the lounge and I hope they keep it up.  After looking at the menu in the MDR we decided to try Planks BBQ instead.  Warning here for those that believe BBQ must contain a certain animal that goes moo, you will be disappointed.  The BBQ was very good surprisingly with different cuts of pork and chicken legs.  You can select four different meat cuts or all one cut.  We decided to try all 6 along with both appetizers and desserts.  The chocolate cake which was more like a brownie was quite delicious.  It was more than we could eat which seems to be the theme of the specialty restaurants.  As we were finishing our meal, in walked the captain with three female and one male crew members for dinner occupying the table immediately behind us.  Even the captain likes the food.  The waiter did come by to ask if the “spicy” BBQ sauce was too much because they had had complaints.  We thought they had not given us the spicy sauce as it was barely spicy.  Come to San Antonio and we will teach what spicy actually tastes like.

 

I have been able to stay within our free time limit as I have done on every cruise.  More time and I would spend way too much time online instead of in the venues enjoying the music.

 

Tomorrow is Trinidad where we have a ship tour.  Private tours are very hard to find and the US State Department has tourist warnings out for Trinidad.  We decided to play it safe. 

 

How is Trinidad?.  Two weeks ago, we took the Princess Beach Tour in Trinidad.   The beach we went to was covered with garbage and the water was brown with sewage.  The worst beach we have ever seen.   When we got back to the ship, a lot of us asked and  received a refund.  Outside of the cesspool, crime ridden Trinidad Port , our Caribbean Princess cruise was one of the best cruises we have ever had.

Is Ocean Medallion up and running on the Crown Princess?

21 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

Looking at the present plotting, she's just coming up on Guantanamo, Cuba. Wondering how things are going on the cruise?

We board when she arrives back in FLL on 11/25. Can't wait!!

Just got off the Caribbean Princess.  Outstanding cruise and entertainment.  Trinidad is one port that  Princess should not go to.  Trinidad is not ready for tourist or cruise ships and will probably not be for a long time.  Dock did not have any cleats to tie up and is in poor shape.  Ocean is brown and smells as they discharge sewage in the Ocean and rivers.   Trinidad also  dumps their garbage in the Ocean.  Crime on Trinidad is one of the highest in the world.  Our State department has designated the Port of Spain as "Do not travel" , the highest warning that the USA State Department has.   Princess, on our cruise did not issue any warnings (Health or Crime)  about Trinidad.  I know of one person that was robbed on the street, 6 blocks from the ship.  We took the Princess beach tour and when we got to the beach, its was covered with garbage and the water was brown.  No one went into the water because of the pollution.       When we got back to the ship from our beach tour, I asked Princess for a refund for the beach tour and they gave the refund to us.  Outside the bad experience in Trinidad, the cruise on the Caribbean Princess was one of the best cruises that we have taken in the Caribbean.  The Internet is extremely fast.

Just got back on a cruise that stopped in Trinidad.  Not set up for cruise ships or tourists. Docked in a Industrial area with no cleats to tie up. Bay is brown with sewage and garbage.  Outside of the  2 hotels  next to the dock, the sidewalks are uneven and with numerous potholes, therefore you have to be careful where you walk. One passenger was robbed that I heard of out and there was probably many more. People that booked beach tour got their money back as the beach was strewn with garbage and brown sewage water like the Port.  No warning by Princess of the extreme danger for this Port, but the Caribbean Princess is the first ship coming from USA to visit the Port.

Saint Greg is currently on the Dream and just posted a picture of the TV lineup. I’ve never posted a link to another post but I’ll try.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=56892483&postcount=180

This is the same lineup of stations that I had on my March cruise, completely cut out all network stations. Carnival left everyone in the dark with no news or weather the whole cruise. CNN had NO news at all, only talking about Trump and his family. I cannot understand why Carnival cutback on their network channels as all of the other cruise lines they own, Princess and Holland America have all of the network channels.

I learned that Carnival has dropped all TV stations that you can get the News and weather. Carnival kept CNN that has NO NEWS except anything about Trump or his family.

We have been to Alaska several times and a Balcony is a must to see the scenery, whales, and birds and animals on shore. Most of the time while cruising in Alaska, you are only a couple hundred feet from shore. The month of May has the least precipitation. A couple of years ago in the last week of May, we had 89 degree temperatures in Juneau and 75 degree temperatures in Glacier Bay and there was snow at the tide line. We spend a lot of time on the balcony, but where I live north of Seattle, the temperature in Alaska isn't much different than our climate.

San Francisco spends over $300 million plus, yes million, a year on homelessness. That's not including emergency medical care for them. When a hundred is found housing, a hundred and five newly arrives. A major portion of the "homeless" are people addicted to something, those are the one you avoid (hint: pit bulls); most of those refuse services to get them out of their situation.

 

When the police does something like making an arrest, the District Attorney will take a pass and the homeless advocates will protest saying it's a lifestyle and they should left alone. One individual had over 500 citations, when he finally got in front of a judge, the judge dismissed them all if he went into treatment. Never showed up for treatment.

 

Enjoy the City that (used to) Knows How! And watch where you step when walking around. :cool:

 

A SF Native.

Seattle is exactly the same way. $300 million being spent on the homeless. A added benefit to the Homeless, they can spend their time in Seattle and when they want to leave, Seattle will pay for a one airfare for them. Also if the homeless has a RV, they can park anywhere in the city free, including the $6/hr parking spaces downtown. A Obama appointed Judge says they have a right to a home, therefore no parking tickets can be given.

you will get the loyalty credit after you have completed your 20th cruise credit. if you are elite on your next cruise, that means you have 15 now. your next cruise will be your 16th and you will get all of your elite benefits. after that, so 5 cruises from now, when you finish your 20th, you will qualify for the loyalty benefit on your 21st cruise credit. it comes from the captain's circle so i'm not surprised most of the phone reps know nothing about it.

Thank You for the reply.

There is an additional "Loyalty OBC" that begins after your 20th cruise credit. Someone who knows the exact breakdown can post it; it starts at $25 and gradually increases. It is (I believe) per cabin, not per person.

I just called Princess for a Loyalty credit on my next cruise. They do not have a Loyalty OBC and never had.

We have been elite for a long time and greatly appreciate the perks. We do use the laundry and over the years have had only one garment damaged it was quickly replaced. The mini bar is welcome as is the extra $100 OBC.

 

However, since we each have earned the perks, we believe it would be equitable for each of us to enjoy them, rather than being per cabin.

I will be Elite on my next cruise in November and what is the " extra $100 OBC" and how do you get it?

It's an alternative suggestion that I have used numerous times. Being you didn't take it, interesting the claims- that I haven't run into. My bag doesn't run away, rolls smoothly and I do just fine. It's simple to enter this way if you come off the Skytrain.

I agree, have taken the ramp several times and no problems with our luggage on the ramp.

Yep. The whole area smells of old urine and cheap weed. The RVs are heroin RVs that dump their sewage into storm drains. As far as the law, they're not allowed the encampments. It's not enforced. They're more concerned with fining homeowners for minor infractions. Last time I was in the park in Pioneer Square, I wouldn't give a guy money and he threw poop at me, so, yes, it's a problem. The Seattle Convention Center area is relatively clean as is Westlake.

I had jury duty at the King County Courthouse in Downtown Seattle 3 months ago. Had to watch where you walked, feces all over the side walk.

The homeless were very aggressive in asking for money. A lot of the people that were on Jury duty left after a couple of days. I was on a jury where 2 of our fellow Jurors quit right in the middle of the trial because they were assaulted by the homeless. We had to start the trail all over again. The Judge says that it has been a problem for the last 3 years in getting Jurors to stay, because of the Homeless in downtown Seattle and the crap, urine and needles in the downtown area. City of Seattle does not do anything about the conditions. The City treats the homeless better than the citizens. Downtown Seattle is a cesspool and I would advise to stay at the Airport or Surrounding Cities. .

I would recommend the Alaska State Museum that was opened 2 years ago.

The Museum shows exhibits starting with the Indigenous people, Russian Occupation, Gold Rush, Japanese occupation of Alaska in WW2 and all the Alaska Industries and much more up to the current time. I have been to Museums all over the world, including Washington DC and The Alaska State Museum ranks near the top of the Museums. The Museum is 4 blocks north of the cruise dock and Admission is $12, Seniors 11 and children under 18 free.

FROM Investor's Business Daily .... 2015 ... So, several years old:

 

In fact, according to the union's own material, the average dock worker makes $147,000 in annual salary and pulls in $35,000 a year in employer-paid health care benefits. Pensions pay $80,000 a year.

The average Longshoremen's wage in Seattle is $187,600 and get an additional $92,080 in Benefits They work 6 hours and get paid for 8. Crane operators work 2 and get paid for 8 hours. Many of the Longshoremen make over $300,00 with overtime. Most of the Longshoremen (Porters) working the cruise docks are Senior Longshoremen in which they make more than $1,000 for the day. My best friend worked the cruise docks here in Seattle, says that the Longshoremen (Porter) are not allowed to take tips, but most do, to not offend the tipper. You will never see the Longshoremen( Porter) in Seattle ask for tips, unlike the Florida Ports.