Old Fart Cruisers

That's an old reference even for me. Jack Benny always claimed to be 39 years old and holding.

On Board now. Finished with muster. Ready to cruise!

In many countries now nobody looks at your passport, or even touches it. You hold your own passport on a scanner, look into a facial recognition camera, and if everything checks out the gate swings open. There are agents overseeing the process, but in many cases you might not interact with an agent at all. So unlikely you will get very many stamps in the future.

Carnival Spirit

Our flight to Seattle is just 3 1/2 hours from now. We leave tomorrow on a 14-day Alaskan cruise.

Bingo is run by the Casino department even though it isn't in a room that says Casino over the door. And don't say it's run by the cruise director because although they my be moderating the game and calling the numbers, the casino department is still in charge of the game.

I have never had anyone collect or hold any of our bottles. Just keep all four bottles in your cabin on the first cruise. They do all have to be carried on, not put in your checked luggage.

Servers didn't come into the smoke-free annex very often on the Venezia in October.

I just got another survey email today. The button doesn't work so I can't take the survey. I tried it in two different browsers. This is an Alaskan cruise (NOT an Australian cruise) on Carnival Spirit, but the email refers to it as Carnival Spirit-Aus.

Back in 2008 almost every port stamped passports. Now very few stamp anymore.

Just be sure that any stamps are done ONLY by authorized officials of the United States or a foreign country, not a novelty tourist stamp. I had one done at the Yukon Suspension Bridge while on an excursion into Canada on an Alaskan Cruise. About a year later a friendly United States Customs and Border Protection pointed out the stamp and told me (with a smile), that it technically makes my passport invalid. Luckily, he just let it go and I have gotten a new passport since then.

That's a tough one. Is that a CaseIH165? or maybe Puma 195?

Even if you you booked it on your own, you can still call Carnival's 1-800 sales number. They will be able to give you some upgrade options, possibly better than what you can get online. If you don't like the options they offer, you aren't out anything other than the time it took for the phone call.

If there is going to be a charge could depend on what the original offer offer code you booked under and what the new offer code is. The OBC will probably be determined by the new offer code, but also depends on what the original OBC was for. Was it a FCC? You would be better off calling a PVP, travel agent, or Carnival direct to get a accurate answer.