navybankerteacher

An essential aspect of civilized existence is civic duty. When the early homo erecti left their individual caves and formed groups, one trade-off was the ceding of perfect individual freedom for the comfort of community support. You cannot expect community support when you need it if you do not willingly support the community when it needs you. Perhaps we need more individual caves —- for folks who do not want to “play well with others”. (Actually we have them - called prison cells for extreme cases.)

Ships generally are not classless - they function as non-egalitarian environments. It probably stems from the old seagoing tradition where it was deemed .necessary for orders to be unquestioningly obeyed. There remains a differentiation between officers and crew. In the US Navy there are generally three tiers : commissioned officers eat in the wardroom, E1 through E6, in the crew’s mess, and E7 and above in the Chief’s mess. On one ship I was on there was even a First Class (E6) mess.

I would prefer not to give up anything, but seem to have reached the point of seriously cutting down. Up until a few years ago, it was three or four cruises per year but as ships got bigger and more crowded and generally devolved, I started to feel that cruises were giving me up. The likes of HAL and Celebrity (certainly since 20 years ago) became more like Royal Caribbean and a bit like Carnival and NCL. So now it’s one or two cruises on lines like Azamara, Oceania Seabourn and Windstar — I doubt I will sail on a mainstream line again - they just do not any longer provide what they did in the past. Paying for what I want means getting less of it.

Not an absolute certainty —- there are some ports where tide or weather conditions or berthing space commitments might not allow ships to wait. I was on a ship which left Hamilton, Bermuda a day earlier than posted time because of approaching hurricane.

Also on USN ships.

I heard a senior officer at the bank where I worked say the same ..about a staff member who spent a long time on a murder case on Long Island.

Almost every service or property can be purchased at a “discount” , which term is often used in advertising - and which is pretty meaningless. Cruise prices vary as frequently as daily - but what difference is there between booking a $2000 cruise and getting a 10% discount (meaning you pay $1800), or you book the same accommodations on the same itinerary at full price - when it is offered for $1800? If you get a cruise at a price you are comfortable with, enjoy it- and don’t compare it with others - there will almost always be someone who got a better deal.

In Connecticut age exemption is upon request - not a matter of ineligibility -you can remain in the jury pool if you want to. The sad fact about US juries is that a lot of the more intelligent folks do not serve, because they are able to duck it - when I was working I served several times - did not get salary for first week away while unemployed people loved it. Self-employed people really suffer.

Any debris falling from a ship is defined as pollution. And, the safest device in the hands of someone who does not know how to install it is not “really secure”.

Aside from Disney ships, a 66 year old would be just about in the middle.

How about Oceania’s 650 passenger ship sailing from Manhattan - likely others as well.

It only needs to be forced when the average citizen tries to evade it.

True - but at least there are plenty of sights to see. And the fact that it is crowded is evidence that there is a reason to be there.

We’ve often taken the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow to Gloucester Road (where you can get both Circle and District Lines - giving broad access). It’s a bit over a half hour from LHR, and the least expensive option. Many hotels, restaurants and museums in easy walk along Cromwell Road.

Well, maybe you Durhamites can sense things unnoticed by real out-of-towners, but Glasgow “…nicer than London…”? Perhaps the next time you are in the US you should spend your time in Bridgeport, CT rather than New York City.

Seconded - Hilton Garden in the center of Annapolis would be about $100 - great town, worth getting there early enough to take a look around. Comparable rooms in/near DC likely to be a lot more

Nor in Northern, Western or Eastern England.

I know in CT deferral is automatically granted upon request - and a second (or third) one is fairly readily given for a stated reason.

That sounds about right for the distance involved: about 15 or so miles from east side Manhattan- but I would think From LGA it would be further.

Not challenging your info, but I am surprised it is so low - Stamford Ct to NYC (a bit under 40 miles) runs about $125.

Of course, once you let government bureaucrats, rather than traditional usages, define things such as cities you are stepping onto a slippery slope.

You do sound a bit like a regional chauvinist — while there are certainly dreary expanses, London has a broad collection which is hard to beat - even though many (if not most) of its landmarks are individually surpassed elsewhere: Salisbury’s cathedral, for example, strikes me as far superior to St. Paul’s, and even Westminster Abbey.

MSC and P&O - two lines I’ve never sailed. But I have never had a suite on any line, or anything above Britannia on Cunard - but pretty much always an outside, and recently usually a balcony.

Every line I’ve sailed (Azamara, Orient, Cunard, Princess, NCL, HAL, Royal Caribbean, Oceania, Celebrity, etc.) has provided robes.

And, while close enough to be considered a New York airport, still not close enough - when Mayor LaGuardia flew back from a trip to Chicago in the 1930’s his plane landed at Newark - and he refused to get off because had a ticket to New York - he won his point, and went on to Floyd Bennet Field at significant cost to the airline (and wound up getting a REAL New York airport named for him).