twangster

Captain's Corner this morning. It was stated at a meeting in January there were blueprints presented for a Project Discovery concept ship. So it's progressed far enough to have drawings prepared however that doesn't mean it's proceeding based on those exact concept drawings.

Pool is heated, slightly. If feels warmer than the North Sea. At times you can see steam come off it. Sticking my hand in the pool my fingers didn't turn blue but I wasn't enticed to jump in.

I didn't grab a picture but last night in the Centrum the Minstrels Duo were performing. I'm a sucker for a good violinist and it was very enjoyable. They are back in the Centrum tonight starting at 4pm.

Starlink gateway city remains London.

Day Three - Sea Day Cruise compass: JW May 15 day 3 cruisecompass.pdf Location report: Foggy at times. Our progress: Sea depth is only 30m.

It has turned into a beautiful evening. Not long after this turned into a sunset. Which brings an end to day two.

Just in time for our sail away the sun came out. Turns out there are white cliffs of Dover. These were hidden in fog for our arrival. One of the reasons I like these extended balconies is to be able to see the sky including the moon above us.

Dover is a busy ferry port with ships coming and going all day long. Finally the weather was improving. A Leopard seal popped up to check us out.

Cafe Latte-tudes pricing

Some pics from my balcony.

As a tech geek and working in the communications industry I have followed ship internet connectivity over the years. Starlink from SpaceX is an absolute game changer. Jewel still has wired computer stations for guest use off the Centrum so I logged in to see how a wired workstation would do. Not bad but this is a browser based test. From this same area I logged back in on my phone and ran some speed tests using the app over WiFi. It's pretty awesome that my WiFi session is better than the wired desktop. Running the tests a few times to gather an average the performance remained strong. This is just off the Centrum when a few decks down there were hundreds lined up waiting to get off. That's an important distinction. Previously the old WiFi platform could not handle masses connected to the same access points. The Voom specialist confirmed the entire WiFi platform was upgraded during the drydock. The modern access points do a much better job handling masses connected to the same access points and my results in the Centrum when there were hundreds queued up to get off illustrate this point very well. Between the upgraded WiFi technology on board, the adoption of Starlink across the fleet and the Starlink constellation growing and getting stronger every week the results are finally combining for a great user experience. I live near Cape Canaveral so I get to see many SpaceX launches. This week marked the 50th SpaceX launch this year. Many of those launches delivered more Starlink satellites to space. Finally we are seeing the results. It's such a difference even compared to Starlink on board less than a year ago. End of geek mode for now...

Looks like some guests did some shopping in port. Their acquisitions will be held until we debark.

Onboard rates for beverage packages:

My intention was to wander around, find a pub and see what I could see. The immigration officer inquired about my plans offering I wasn’t dressed for the weather. He was holding my passport waiting for a response. I told I just wanted to step foot on the ground which satisfied him and I received my passport back. Outside of the terminal it was still raining lightly. Passport control was right, I wasn’t dressed for the rain so I returned to the ship.

I ventured down to do the passport control a couple times only to find long lines each time so I went back to my cabin. With the deadline approaching I could defer no longer. The queue now stretched well down into the guest hallway. Half an hour later I had my passport inspection compete. I would have been better to join the queue earlier as it seems many people waited until the end.

The letter states it follows dining room hours.

It may vary depending on suite loads. If many suites have only two guests then X, if suites are slammed, then Y. There is also the RCI factor. Really Consistent Inconsistently. So far this cruise the lounge has never been packed or at capacity.

The threshold on Jewel is 30 so this cruise there are no restrictions while next cruise yes some will be restricted unless they are staying in a suite. They look at Pinnacle in suites and remove them from the matrix before determining who is eligible. This varies one cruise to the next so it's not so simple. It's like in golf where three players are tied for first then the next person is in 4th. Second and third place exist but are placeholders until the end is known. If number two doesn't show up that could ripple through. Meanwhile if Super Mario books at the last minute, that too could ripple through knocking folks out of contention. So to answer your question... it depends if any Pinnacle are in suites. If so, how many? And what if they don't show up at the last minute?

For those keeping score at home, 29 Pinnacles this cruise, 45 Pinnacle next cruise. Crystal blocks for those high enough in the Crown and Anchor Society are on board, newest style with color backing. Like the KLM little houses, it's a thing, minus the gin.

All things considered I think I like OPs name better. No offense Buffaloeons, or wherever.

I had heard of these things and was going to decline when I saw coming down the aisle. Then I realized it would make a good trinket to remember this trip by. Beats buying one in the city at inflated prices. When they arrived at my seat I was looking for small and it was the last one so… if I recall there were three or four choices,

Yes there were many choices. I chose the smallest one on the plate, #73.

Seeing more slots with the full display versus the fake rotary wheels. Some are not in service yet.

Somewhere around 2h to 2.5h depending on marine traffic. I was glad I had rain pants and a raincoat, but I'm hoping for better weather next cruise. 🙂

Current Voom Starlink gateway city is London. Still getting great Voom speeds. It wasn't that long ago that legacy ship satellite service was terrible in this region. Starlink is a game changer. Uploading that sail away timelapse in 4K would have been very challenging before. Now with Starlink it was uploaded in under 45 seconds.