navybankerteacher

It’s not just the “dining culture which has changed on cruise ships in recent years. Anyone who cruised more than 20 years ago (whose memory still works) is aware that the entire experience has evolved radically.

You also should consider repatriation coverage in addition to straight medical - you should look at a reasonable minimum of $50,000 to get home.

300 people a day (your low, optimistic statistic) experiencing physical harm does NOT translate to “INCREDIBLY SAFE”.

Ordinarily if you have a great server, you will interact with him/her regularly. The last evening it should be easy to slip him/her an envelope with some cash in it - perhaps also a note. You should also take the time to fill out a comment card and turn it in.

Aside from weather getting close to ideal for tourists, there is usually a lot of fashion activity in September, U S Open usually ends the first week. Generally September and around Christmas are costliest hotel periods due to demand.

While Venus is easier to locate in the sky, it’s very size requires greater care in “bringing it to the horizon” precisely — and the moon, in particular, the easiest to find, requires bringing just its “lower limb” to touch the horizon

Excellent observation: the sense of anonymity which seems to come with larger groups probably does contribute to “carelessness” in dealing with others when there is a feeling that you are not likely to encounter them again; while being in a smaller group encourages interaction. Probably why I have a growing preference for smaller ships - and a close to complete avoidance of larger (more than 2,000 passenger) ships.

Lots of topics can be discussed if approached intelligently. The general topics of theology and government are fair game. The only problem is that it takes objectivity and intelligence to be able to discuss such matters objectively - and not in an effort to “sell” a personal point of view. Sadly, intelligence and objectivity are not always encountered.

I suppose I am also among the old fashioned: I grew up in a large family which always dined together, followed by college residence dining, then years of wardroom dining in the Navy, finally bank officers’ dining room — together made dinner conversations as important as getting nourishment. Even now, my wife and I occasionally host, and attend, seated dinner parties. it all depends on individual preference. I think it is great that ships offer options - it reduces the likelihood of being seated with people who do not like being seated with people.

Interesting that the Navigator was effusive about coming in SECOND — I suppose there must have been a couple of old hands who kept their skills tuned on a voluntary basis. Rapidly plotting star fixes (at least a full semester course in NROTC and the Academy) is an activity which improves with frequent practice. Captains tended to not be overly patient.

Even if your statistic is correct (which I do not concede) that .01% of 3,000,000 means that you are stating that 300 people do experience harm.

Easy -- the other half.

Reports on bans on sales of flights from Heathrow until September may be overstating the reality -- but regardless, FIXING what is wrong with a system seems to make a lot more sense than closing the system down. I am wondering how my daughter and granddaughter will fare on their scheduled flight from Heathrow to JFK today, returning from a visit with my sister.

When discussing guarantee cabins, it isn’t the ticket price that is “next to nothing “— rather it is the difference between the fare for a guarantee and the fare for the least expensive selected cabin that is “next to nothing”.

It depends on the ship.

It has to be dark enough for there to be enough visible stars to be able to identify the specific star - which is difficult when only one or two might be visible, yet still light enough for you to clearly see the horizon to be able to use the sextant to "bring that star down" to the horizon ----at which point you can read its elevation on the arc of the sextant.

It seems extremely unlikely.

I wonder how many ships officers currently sailing would be of much help.

Which emphasizes the necessity of being aware of the exact course and speed of the vessel during the time the shots were being taken, so you could properly advance the earlier lines of position to correctly intercept the latest to provide the fix. “Target” fix was expected to be within 1/4 mile. Our noon position was actually something like 1145 - advanced by course and sped for the next 15 minutes. And had to be figured in advance so the twelve o’clock reports could be delivered to the captain early enough so the OOD’s request for “permission to strike eight bells on time” actually had meaning

Good move - Newark is not a great place to spend a few hours - but you could fund a decent lunch to kill a bit of time - and (most important) not have to sweat, and stew, and (possibly) miss that earlier flight.

The sextant is a beautiful instrument - but all you are likely to be able to do with it is determine the elevation of stars you randomly pick - without having any idea of which stars they are or what their elevation means. Celestial navigation requires identifying the stars you “shoot”, (have you a “Star Finder”?), from an “assumed position” - which has to be sort of near your actual position, at a precise time (to the second - which means having a reliable chronometer), and access to a Nautical Almanac - so you can do the calculations to generate (hopefully intersecting) lines of position - which you determine by comparing the elevation above the horizon of the known star -at that instant in time- with what you calculate from the Nautical Almanac. The star shots have to be taken just about dusk (or dawn) when you will be able to definitely identify the stars (at least three) and still have enough light in the sky to be certain of the horizon. A simpler process (somewhat) will be to determine “local apparent noon” and establish your latitude (but obtain no idea of longitude). You would have to be on an upper deck, with an assistant with the chronometer, to log the precise moment when you determined the elevation of each known star above the horizon.

Absolutely unpredictable -- on our round trip San Diego to Hawaii in February, the sea was like glass going out-- two of our five day return were moderately rough --- but nothing worse than we expeerienced in the Med, Caribbean or North Atlantic crossings... The rule is: you get what you get.

Feeling really fortunate in New England this year - windows open since yesterday morning - probably get warm and a bit muggy this afternoon, but it has been a great Spring and Summer so far, escaping the intense heat/humidity hitting much of the country. Just finalized plans for March 2023 escape to Gulf coast of Florida - slams winter to a sudden end, and getting back to CT as Spring sets in. Now looking at TA repositionings to get back from October trip to NW Europe. QM2 is always easiest, but too quick.

Royal Caribbean would probably meet everyone’s interests.

In virtually all cases you will be off the ship by 9:00 -10:00 --- LATEST ---. If you are that close to the airport, anything after noon should be fine