20 yrs married this year. We live in the boonies so I order stuff sent home to try on. When we travel, we might go shopping (lunch with good craft beer first helps 🙂 He loved the sock selection at Century 21 in Manhattan. Who knew? 😉 We had very different approaches to clothing when we first started dating. These days we're much better at the compromise - I can usually get him to wear clothing I like because I take his preferences into account when I shop (or when I give him recommendations if he's shopping for himself). 

I wouldn't ever expect a travel company to cover anything they don't have to. If you get it, it's nice. But also an expensive precedent for them to set. If I were in charge, I wouldn't do it. As a traveler, when I make bookings, I'm always aware of what it could cost me of things change, and I either buy insurance or am prepared to eat the costs.

If you didn't book your airfare through Uniworld, why would you expect them to reimburse it? I mean, I always book my own airfare but I assume the risk doing it that way. It's unfortunate Uniworld assured you they would be sailing and then realized the ship required more intensive repair and cancelled, but....They refunded the cruise, and honestly, that's all they're compelled to do.

On Avalon a couple years ago, we were mid-ship on the middle level. Once we smelled fuel, and once or twice (depending on wind) we smelled smoke from the rear outdoor smoking area. A cc-er who was also on our cruise was a few cabins closer to the rear and she smelled smoke more often, if I recall.

The thing is - as well-evidenced here!  - there is no "best". We all have different styles and different body shapes and different budget. Some people like an athletic look, some preppy, some classic, etc. Lots of good recs - and it's helpful when people talk about their style preference and body shapes to get better recommendations!

As for Costco - well, we're a household of only 2 people but I shop there every week. It's 25 miles from my house but it's on my daily work commute, and between the produce and cheese and laundry detergents, as well as my non-mail-order prescriptions and a gazillion other things, it works for me. Yeah, I've done the math. I do it every year. But that's what you have to do! We even have a business executive membership because I've calculated I get back more $ than the annual fee. As with anything - have to evaluate what meets your personal needs 🙂

I have all the Costco pants and 32 degree pants and the Chico neema pants. And shorts. Those were great in SE Asia last summer. But EF crepe still my all around favorite 🙂

What style ? For me, Eileen Fisher crepe pants. A few styles are available - slim ankle fit is my favorite on me. Easy to wash and dry overnight. On cooler temps, I like her ponte pants as well but they don't dry quite as quickly.  I'm wearing mine into the ground and when I need to replace - I'll buy on sale from Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus or buy gently used & refreshed from EF Re/new....

If I'm doing lots of walking and potentially hot & wet (like se asia last summer and the Caribbean this past December), I have chacos with open sides. I can wear them with socks when I will walk more and don't mind looking a little dorky (ankle socks but the sides are open, so....) For less walking and wet times, I go without socks. I used to have some fantastic tevas with a closed toe but they don't make that model anymore 😞 and Keen sandals don't fit me. For shorter walks (around a carib port) I can wear just my birks.

Husband was very happy that Riviera in Dec had two IPAs - Lagunitas and Goose Island - available. We hadn't seen those mentioned online so he also picked up some IPA in Miami prior to embarkation.  They were bottles (poured into acrylic if you ordered at the pool).

22 hours ago, SKP946 said:

We both had ourYellow Fever shots when we went on safari inTanzania 16 months ago, with no ill effects (we are both in our early 70’s). 

We were pleased that we did as we had to show our Yellow Books at the bottom of the stairs from the plane, (that was parked way out on the apron) No YF stamp, straight back on the plane !

At JRO, if you don't have the YF certificate but want to enter Tanzania, they'll give you the shot in the airport. Same at the Kenya land border...in a tent.... 😉

I believe Crystal river cruises are some of the only that offer truly open dining times (I'm sure that's still within a certain window, but then, so are ocean cruises) I've not been interested in Crystal (too inclusive and too $ for my preferences) but that is how THEY characterize themselves, based on the literature they send me ;-)

We complained about this issue on Riviera in December - on our mid-cruise survey. Had a call from the concierge (about this and other issues we raised) but I didn't notice them actually getting better about solving the problem (was a 14 day holiday caribbean cruise - the pool chairs were saved pretty much every day, including people saving one in the sun and one in the shade, one for a missing spouse etc.) Very annoying that the table (with the chair signs etc) was there for a few days, then moved (they needed the space?) then back again - but not actually being used to remove things from saved chairs....

We were on Riviera and December, both with the Prestige Pkg (but no butlers 😉 ) After the first couple days - as the bartenders got to know us - it was not a problem for one of us to get 2 drinks - to bring to a poolside lounger, or to our cabin. We always had both keys available (whomever was fetching the drinks) but didn't always have to show/use both....

I don't think husband ever got more than one beer at a time, but he definitely got them unopened more than once, so he could stick in the fridge in our cabin....

I don't wear any heels but those look super cute! If they're comfortable for you around home, they'll be just fine on a ship - even if by chance it is rough seas, plenty to hold on to around the ship ;-) 

Sorry to hijack more ;-) My in-laws (Who we travelled with in December) have been on a few Oceania and loved the line and were pushing us - we ended up on Seabourn in Alaska last year because we were about to book Oceania and ended up finding Seabourn - slightly better itinerary and almost the same price, so....In-laws booked another couple Oceania cruises while we were onboard (norwegian fjords, Panama Canal) but they also both really got sick on the cruise and are thinking they might cancel. Who knows? They got us looking at that norwegian fjords trip - it's high on my husband's priority travel list...(not so much mine, but compromise keeps us both happy over time, so....)

WHO changed their recommendation 2(?) years ago, declaring yellow fever vaccine is a single dose over lifetime vaccine (I work in global health, for an infectious disease MD - we discussed this quite a bit around the office at the time)

https://www.who.int/ith/vaccines/yf/en/

Type of vaccine: Live, attenuated

Number of doses: One dose of 0.5 ml

Boosters: A single dose of YF vaccine is sufficient to confer sustained lifelong protective immunity against YF disease; a booster dose is not necessary for protection but may still be required by some countries. Adjustments of the provisions for the duration of validity of certificates under the IHR are ongoing.

CDC currently also says single dose good for most people. https://www.cdc.gov/yellowfever/vaccine/

2 hours ago, ropomo said:

definitely worth bringing in my allotted 2 liters for us.

We've definitely done this - Singapore and Germany I can remember off the top of my head (and lots in the US - usually when it's far easier logistically to pack than to try to shop upon arrival). And the space where the alcohol is packed outbound becomes extra space for souvenirs (usually food, spices, or scarves for me) on the return :-)

21 minutes ago, Lois R said:

I don't think I asked you----how was your Caribbean cruise on Oceania?

We really enjoyed it!! Most of the time, the number of people wasn't a problem (I haven't been on a ship with that many people since 2008!) but it was BIG (up and down a LOT of stairs!) The food was probably the best we've had on a cruise. The caribbean -meh. If I never go on a Caribbean cruise again, I'm ok with that 🙂 But we'll definitely consider Oceania in the future (and likely only the larger O class ships - I refuse to pay that much money for the teeny R class bathrooms when I can get lovely seabourn for pretty much the same fare.)

I've done 3 AK cruises (HAL, Princess, Seabourn) and didn't find them more casual for dinner than any other cruise locations (though to be fair I've only done the 1 seabourn so far....) I typically wear black trousers & top or dress with wrap or cardigan for dinner and that's what I've done in Alaska as well. 

And here's the Excise Rate for alcohol https://www.revenue.ie/en/companies-and-charities/excise-and-licences/excise-duty-rates/alcohol-products-tax.aspx

Oy the Revenue site is a complicated mess! https://www.revenue.ie/en/vat/goods-and-services-to-and-from-abroad/imports/index.aspx

Oh - I did find one link on "how to calculate what you owe" - this would be to determine above your exemption level, in theory https://www.revenue.ie/en/importing-vehicles-duty-free-allowances/customs-information-for-travelling-and-duty-free-allowances/travelling-from-outside-the-eu/how-to-calculate-what-you-owe.aspx

It really depends on the specifics of your airline - it might be easiest to check 2 bags and just carry on a purse. [if it's a super low cost carrier, I'm not sure checking 2 bags is possible? I haven't flown any but I've read some pretty scary reviews] Most of the legacy airlines should let you check 2 bags, even if it means paying more. 

[our specific problem was that it was expensive camera gear that was heavy - stuff we did NOT want to check!!! We were trying to be creative and adjust what we could between the two of us and checked bags so we could still carry on the camera stuff. So if you're just talking about clothing and regular stuff you don't mind checking, lean that way ;-)]

Sometimes it's not a question of just paying more - we've had to unload carry-on bags into checked luggage when overweight. So make sure you read the fine print to see if the weight limit is a HARD limit or if you can just pay more for more weight.....

6 hours ago, welshfamily said:

I  must admit we hesitated to book such a large ship but hopefully the queues won’t be too bad.

enjoy your cruise.

 Same! I hadn't been on a ship larger than R class since 2008, but we booked Riviera for December 2019. It was fine for me - the only line we had was at disembarkation (which was a freaking mess and really left me with a terrible impression after a pretty decent 2 week cruise, so....) It was a lot more steps up & down and I got lost forward/aft a lot more often than on smaller ships (yes, even at the end of 2 weeks 😉) but overall I'd probably do it again. [I still prefer smaller ships!!!]

13 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Don't you need a transformer as well as just a plain adapter as the voltage/wattage is different - or is it?

12 hours ago, YoHoHo said:

You are right to question if all one needs is an adapter (and no transformer to convert the voltage)  - it could lead to a mishap. Hoyaheel did say there was a 220 V euro plug on one side of the bed that they did not use though they brought an adapter.

 

I said adapter and I meant adapter. I don't travel with or use transformers unless absolutely necessary. I would only use the 220v outlet and adapter with dual voltage electronics like my cell phone or laptop. The reason I originally asked about outlets prior to my Dec cruise is so I knew which hair tool to bring - I only own single voltage hair tools, 110 and 220 versions. I have personally had bad luck with dual voltage hair tools so I do not use them.