catlady66

38 minutes ago, binro01 said:

Galveston is an interesting town. I hear that Uber can be difficult, and have the Lyft app ready. We are also the earliest boarding time, so hopefully we might miss the big rush.

55 minutes ago, SKSMIKE5 said:

We leave 28 May, will be following! There are 4 families, 18 total staying in VRBOs ahead of cruise. Have read mixed reviews regarding getting to the port the morning of the cruise. Some say they couldn't find transportation to take them so we'll be interested in your experience. 

I’ve heard great reviews for Galveston Salt Water Moms for transportation.  It’s all Mom’s with mini vans and they’ll even take detours if you need to stop and pick something up from the store

11 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Surge protectors protect electronics on land from two main sources of voltage spikes:  lightning and failed transformers on the poles.  Neither of which happen on a ship.  The ship's grounding system allows lightning to strike the ship and pass harmlessly through the hull to the ocean, without interacting with the ship's electrical system in any way.  I've been on ships struck by lightning several times, and none of the electronics have been damaged, without any surge protection at all.  None of the ship's electronics are surge protected.  

 

The second type is a failed transformer, which reduces the 12,000 volts running through the main power line to the 220 volts used by your house.   When one of these transformers fails, you can get a 12,000 volt spike to your electronics, which a surge protector prevents.  On a ship, the 10,000 volts generated, is stepped down to 220/110 volts for the cabins in three steps:  10,000 to 480 volts, then 480 to 220 volts, and finally 220 to 110 volts.  Most surge protectors don't "activate" until the voltage spikes above 600 volts, so at least two of the transformers would have to fail at the same time to provide a high enough voltage spike to damage electronics.

 

Now, speaking of the ship's grounding system, this is different than land based systems, and the semi-conductors in the surge protector are not designed to see the types of voltages that they may see on a ship.  This can cause a perfectly working surge protector, due to an electrical issue somewhere else on the ship, to fail and catch fire.  Surge protectors are not needed on ships, and the simple consumer ones used on land are dangerous.

Wow--thank you for the great and very thorough explanation! 

1 hour ago, happyshelly said:

I remember back in the 80's went to see Rocky Horror with 2 friends who were into the movie big time. They even dressed the parts. Well we enter the theater and I get a spot light shone on me and the crowd saying "Virgin, Virgin Virgin" because I was in street clothes. But love the movie and that began my liking of Tim Curry.

Those were the days! In my area it showed at midnight and I'd have to sneak out to go see it as my Mom would never let me go out that late.  It was the only movie you could go into with a bag of props and the management wouldn't confiscate them.  Saw it on TV once and it just wasn't the same.  First time I saw Tim Curry play a straight role, I was surprised at what a good actor he actually was!

1 hour ago, poocher said:

Oh that would be a blast!!!

Let's do the time warp again!!

Out of curiosity, why are extension cords and especially "surge protected" outlets prohibited?  You'd think the surge protectors would be the preferred option if you were to bring one

I think Rocky Horror Picture Show would be a fun show on a ship!  Let the audience bring in all the things we used to throw at the stage and have big screen TVs prompt for when we'd yell stuff as a response!  Haven't been to that since the 80's so I'd need the prompts too!  

On 4/10/2023 at 1:54 PM, taglovestocruise said:

Used dirty underwear has a special place on Ebay. You could be making someone rich.

 or from a vending machine

I'm a tax preparer and the strangest return I ever did was a a girl who sold her dirty underwear on the internet!  Her husband thanked me for not judging them.  Incidentally, she made quite a bit of money from it.  There's all sorts of weirdos out there willing to throw money at very strange things

Pretty sure all Royal ships leaving or ending in England are completely non-smoking.  At least they were before the shut down.  I find it hard to believe an Italian port would have this stipulation.

We leave April 30th on the Allure so I appreciate the review.  I'm curious about the traffic going into the port as we are driving in.  I'm expecting it to be a crawl once we get close but wonder if that is true.

I've not been on Wonder yet but it's refreshing to see another smoker in the forum!  I see many non-smoking cruisers lamenting that we're allowed to co-exist with them so thank you for your post!

1 hour ago, DavidMutchler said:

For me last night, it was a few minutes after midnight CST (Central, ship, Galveston) time.  No idea whether that is normal or not (and I certainly don't deny your experience!).  I did try midnight EST (and thereafter) but with no success then.  (And it is always possible that I screwed up on that, since if there were 10:30 a.m. slots, they were gone when I got entry to check-in.)  YMMV.

I just checked us on as well.  It's been 5 years since my last cruise so I'm embarrassed to ask this but what's up with the biometric permissions?  Did you allow that in your check-in?

Just curious if those complaining about pricing have paid a bill, bought groceries or went to a gas station or restaurant in the last 2 years?  All prices are sky high right now.  Did you expect a vacation to miraculously escape the inflation that has emptied all our wallets?

We sailed Radiance in Alaska in 2017 and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's a smaller ship than what we had previously sailed (Oasis Class) but also not as crowded and the staff actually remembered our names and drink preferences.  As a smoker, I liked their smoking section better than the Oasis ships as you had tables to sit at rather than deck chairs with one standing ash tray.  Since it was a smaller (although still very big) ship, we did not have to make reservations for the shows as they could pretty much accommodate everybody.  The food and entertainment were top notch.  Hard to believe that was 6 years ago! 

On 3/10/2023 at 10:05 PM, RobInMN said:

Yep, there was a whole discussion back in January. I think they charge for it to minimize the mess. Can you image how much of that popcorn will be all over the theater floors if it was free? People that were barely interested would take some, whole families would each get their own, including the 2 & 3 years who will likely spill/drop it. etc.. If you charge for it, even this nominal amount, only the people that really want it will get it, and they'll largely be more careful with it.

 

Many moons ago, I worked in a bar that served free popcorn.  Every night as I swept up piles of buttery goodness, I wondered if anybody managed to get some in their mouth.  You nailed it on the head--if it's free they throw it by the handful and one kernel out of ten hits the target.  I wonder if the same people complaining say anything about the ATM surcharges in the casino.

1 hour ago, soupchef said:

I told them I want it escalated as I have proof it was on the site and was able to book it

It's still showing on my Allure cruise for April 30th--it just says sold out now!

We've been closet nappers on board but after reading these comments, I'm relieved to know we're not the only ones who need a secret weapon to help us stay up late!  Thank you to all you honest nappers!

We're booked on Allure for April 30th--the entertainment reservations just opened up today.  We did not receive any notification.  I've just been checking it every day. 

Didn‘T lose your sense of smell till you took the test?

The fully vaccinated golfer who was leading by 6 strokes yesterday tested positive & had to withdraw. Remind me again why people are getting vaccinated? 

What was the point of getting vaccinated if it won’t protect you from unvaccinated?  

3 hours ago, Joseph2017China said:

What I see is a lot of negative comments and lay people trying to analyze how this will work.  Simply put, this order is a start-up, temporary order to test systems, tweak them, and get a billion dollar business going.  It is time to sit back, let the experts figure it out, and hopefully sometime in December, actual paying cruises will happen.  One step at a time

You,sir, are the first voice of reason I've seen here in a long time.

I've curbed browsing this forum because of all the scaredy cat comments.  If you are that petrified--don't leave your house.  I've worked with the public this entire time.  Never got sick. No co-workers sick. Nobody I know got sick. Vacation is OPTIONAL and if your fear factor is so high you want testing 24 hours a day and a mandatory vaccine and to keep the world locked down for the flu, then don't go on vacation.  It's that simple.

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Even if it does expire it’s irrelevant as all cruise lines have cancelled sailings through a November at a minimum.  Gives them 30 days to draft a new order.  

True--but it gives them the whole month of October to prepare & drum up business for cruises with no chance of cancellation.  I'm probably being too optimistic but it's the first glimmer of hope I've had

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Somehow I can’t see them going from wanting the extension through to Feb 15th to not extending it at all.

Agreed--but here it is almost 6pm eastern time and no official announcement.  The article that was linked in the OP is just the usual unnamed "sources"--no direct quotes from CDC

If you don't follow Don's Family Vacations on You tube--I highly recommend him.  He had a great idea today and since there has been no official announcement from the CDC today (only media speculation but nothing directly from CDC--no update on site either)--the ban was set to end today unless extended.  They have not announced an extension, therefore it has expired.  They can't issue an extension now...they would have to issue a totally new ban.  Now Don does say this is probably not the case as the government can pretty much do what it wants.  But technically, the ban has expired!

19 hours ago, miraflores said:

 

There is an onboard "company store".  We call it the "Slop Chest".  It's like a convenience store for snacks, toiletries, etc.  Basic things that you might need from time to time.  Prices are usually really decent.  It's like they run it at break even as a service to the crew.  No books, but we have an onboard library, like the guests.  Most crew spend most of their down time on their phones though...and internet is NOT free (although, right now it is).  Internet on ships is a huge issue for crew.  We all want/need it, and the company is pretty conscious of that.  It's not a good deal...we pay a lot for it.  Hopefully, that will change when we return to service, because it's an essential need these days.

 

I may decide to put out some more videos.  I am the onboard video tech and the company has me working on a lot of projects for them right now, so I don't have a lot of time to work on outside projects.

 

One thing I am working on though, is a card game about cruise ships.  I've actually finished the game, and I'm just working on putting together the kickstarter page to get funding to produce it.  It began as a joke project me and a few friends would work on in the crew bar, but while I was in between contracts this spring, I really got to work on it.  I got to a point where I actually printed a couple of test decks and it's a lot of fun to play.  I have two versions.  One is a game about being a guest, and one is about being crew.  Hopefully I'll get the kickstarter done soon!

You are just a font of information!  Thank you again for taking this time to satisfy our curiosity.

The card game sounds killer---I would definitely buy that & betting everyone on this forum would, as well as the cruise lines themselves.

Glad you do have a store with decent prices but no free internet?!?! That's ridiculous and they should be ashamed of themselves.

You made me laugh in another response where you mentioned Romney! Doesn't surprise me one bit!

I look forward to seeing more videos from you & once again thank you so much for answering all our questions