broberts

26 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

 

• Due to state laws, we cannot sell CHEERS! until the second day of the cruise (starting at 6:00am) for voyages departing from our Texas, New York, and Virginia home ports. Drinks purchased on the first day of the cruise will be charged to the guest's Sail & Sign® card in the usual manner. When purchased on the second day of the cruise, guests are charged for the remaining days only (cruise duration less one day)
• https://www.carnival.com/help?topicid=1106

Interpretation:

Our beverage package accounting software cannot handle different port taxes.

🙂

Surely the $100 OBC is enough of an offset.

19 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

A bridge can be built in that amount of time. It happens in other countries all the time. But in America everything is made more difficult with regulations, red tape and labor disputes.

A surprise perhaps, but there are countries that manage to deal with regulations, red tape, and labor disputes while building expeditiously.

More expensive perhaps, but I've been wondering if a tunnel might not be a better replacement. Construction could start as soon as the necessary engineering studies were completed, rather than waiting for debris clearance. No idea if it's even feasible.

5 minutes ago, Alberta Quilter said:

So maybe, the cruise lines recently became aware of the Canadian restrictions.  I said in my post that my experience was a few years ago, but it was about ten years ago.  I'm surprised that border officials wouldn’t have been aware of it, though.

It may be that over time the number of violations has increased to a level Canada is not willing to tolerate.

23 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

If they were engrossed in conversation or looking down on their phones catching up on texts/social media, it'd be easy to miss. And perhaps their viewing angle, it was hard to notice that a ship had slowly drifted off course.

I don't think you are taking into account the sight line. Sitting in a vehicle 190+ feet above the water, several feet from the edge with an intervening curtain barrier, I suspect a person would see nothing less than several hundred feet from the bridge. With no lighting, a ship would be all but invisible.

42 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Guess you didn't pick up on my intent and I should have made it clearer; however I was sure anyone with minimum financial intelligence would pick up on it. The current Cdn. bank conversion rate doesn't matter here...it's what X uses when they charge us either for an online bev. pkg. or onboard as we buy each bev.  They CURRENTLY are using a higher rate.  I didn't post for debate.   Being a finance person myself, I'm quite aware of rates set, when, and for how long, so a lecture isn't required.  "So do your due diligence and base your decision on the package based on the current bank rate."....this is an insulting comment.  End of this conversation at my end.

Since you provided no context in the OP is it any surprised that none of us understood your point ? 

Frankly it is insulting to be told that as a reader it's my fault for not understanding the intent behind the OP.

3 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I don't recall the exact dollar figures, but for an RCI cruise earlier this year, the Canadian cost for a beverage package was also a lot higher. As RCI and Celebrity are both Royal Caribbean Group cruise lines, it may simply be an RCG business practise, using a conversion rate highly favourable to the cruise lines.

US$1800 ~= CA$2440 at today's rate.

Did you include GST in the CA$ total?

1 hour ago, Greybruce said:

We did this a couple of years ago , I had to write a letter to request to disenmbark in Victoria BC , we are Canadian .  Send Royal a message they will advise you.

You may want to reread the 1st post.

1 hour ago, Sandie5 said:

I didn't want to bring back souvenirs of my trip to give others as it would be meaningless. So instead I bought some treats from one of the cruise shops. As I'm crossing borders getting home (US to Canada), I'm a bit wary of bringing food though. However snacks should be ok?

 

What kind of gifts have you brought back from your cruise?

Foodstuffs, (being anything one can consume), can be tricky. See https://inspection.canada.ca/food-safety-for-consumers/bringing-food-into-canada-for-personal-use/eng/1389630031549/1389630282362 for guidance. 

Of course one has to conform first to US import rules.

1 hour ago, lx200gps said:

I don't know if it's new or not, but it was a very easy and painless process easy. I went to:

 

https://eservices.canada.ca/en/reservation/

 

made all the selections for a passport renewal and selected my desired time, date and location from the offerings that came up. Knowing how slammed the passport system is these days, I made a point of selecting the most out of the way Service Canada office I could find near me, correctly assuming that it would not be as busy as a main Passport office. It sure wasn't, the office was almost empty. Note that you don't have to go to a busy Passport office, I went to a basic Service Canada outlet and they handled everything. Once I checked in at the front desk and sat down in the waiting area, it was no more 5 minutes until the lady called me in to her office, went through my application paperwork and photos, and took my $168 fee. I was in and out of the office in about 20 minutes total elapsed time. She handed me back my now cancelled old passport and confirmed I should have the new one NLT the end of April. Sad side note, we got to chatting about NEXUS and she told me that, as a new applicant, her application has been in the system for a YEAR and she was told it could be another year before she gets her NEXUS card.

In Toronto at least the passport office has been rolled into the service Canada office in the same building.

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

Perhaps it is the extensive travel that brought me into question?

Probably, especially if the travel included countries that concern security agencies, (most of the world 🙂).

48 minutes ago, cruisetonowhere10 said:

Oh yes, the only place mushy old bananas belong is in banana bread.  Certainly not in some of the forms you’ve seen. 

Fried in butter they are delicious and go well with grilled pork etc. 

Cooked with a bit of sugar and lemon juice for a fantastic jam.

1 minute ago, artistcleveland said:

Thank you broberts and Ferry_Watcher. 
are all posts in the Roll Call presumed to be on the same topic (“roll call”) in spite of various questions?

thx

Yes. A roll call is just a thread devoted to a particular voyage.

The + is for multiple quotes. Tap / click on the + in each post you wish to quote. A count bubble will appear bottom right. Tap Quote in that bubble to start your reply.

39 minutes ago, LoganTheCruiser said:

My family and I are going on a Royal Caribbean Alaska cruise departing Vancouver. It ends in Seattle. It stops in Victoria BC as it's last stop before Seattle. We would love to get off early in Victoria, rather than sail back to Seattle with the ship, and spend more time exploring Victoria. I submitted a request with Royal but it was denied and they said because of the "Canadian Coasting Trade Act." Does anyone know if this is accurate? 

 

It also feels a little unnerving to know that we couldn't get off whenever wanted to. Almost like we're hostages. I understand forfeiting the remaining nights on your room if you left a cruise early, but for them to actually say, no, you can't get off, you're a hostage until the end...? What if I got sea sick and wanted off early? 

Since the voyage started in a Canadian port if would indeed be a violation of the act to transport passengers to another Canadian port. See https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/policies/coasting-trade-canada/coasting-trade-act-transportation-passengers-cruise-ships.

That said, I doubt a Canadian could be denied landing. However there may well be fines and other penalties incurred by the cruise line. I believe passenger cruise contracts allow such charges to be passed through to the passenger.

9 minutes ago, artistcleveland said:

If I see someone's response to a Roll Call member's question, and would like to add my response to the original questioner, how do I do that? Do I need to "quote".  

For example, "B" has responded to "A's" question.  I would like to add my reply to A's question.  

 

Also, "Reply to topic" at bottom of page seems to relate to varied topics on the same page of the Roll Call.

Bottom left of the post you want to reply to (A) tap Quote. If there are multiple posts you want to respond to, tap the + in each post. 

48 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

I managed to skip breakfast not that it helped yesterday.

I find that skipping meals is counter productive. My best weight control is when I eat at regular times.

11 hours ago, KINGBOBOFTHENORTH said:

You can absolutely make an 11:30am flight, especially if you have TSA Pre. And the drive from Port Canaveral to MCO is only 35 minutes, not an hour.

According to Google maps it's about 47 mi. Presumably there are speed limits and traffic.

1 hour ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

In case you still have a decent selection of seats I’d go for the bulkhead seats if they’re still available so you can have some extra legroom. Easier to get in and out without the aisle passenger having to also stand up. For the overnight flight I try to put my backpack on the floor in front of me and have a leg rest. Of course for takeoff and landing you’ll need to stow it in the bins but nice for stretching out a bit. Enjoy your cruise, sounds like lovely ports!

It's a decent idea. But some body types may have issues with the trays. The trays come out of seat arms and may not extend enough to accommodate some.

13 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

Somehow I'm again seeing photos in the right hand column.  I can't remember how I got that to stop (a long time ago).  Can someone help?

Narrow the browser window.

28 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Perhaps they are worried about passengers getting hypothermia, though, as we all know, all fans do is make a breeze and move the air around, they do not lower the temperature. 

🙂

Perhaps the concern is more to do with the possibility of using metal and rigid plastic fan blades as weapons. Visions of a slasher with his fan running through the passageways 😄.

19 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

I find Cruise Critic on a phone to be pretty miserable and try to avoid it but you can adjust font size in your browser or your phones accessibility settings. Exactly how depends on what kind of phone you have. I suggest though using a tablet or computer.  

Depends on the phone. My phone and tablet have almost identical font sizes. I'd prefer something a bit larger, but it is readable.

On Android in Chrome text size can be scaled using the menu (3 vertical dots, top right), Settings, Accessibility:

42 minutes ago, lots-of-km2 said:

 

I'll call TD Visa to ask the specifics about coverage in Australia on their card -- specifically, if there's any issue with using the card's CDW insurance there, what the coverage specifics are, and what the deductible is.  That will inform the decision I end up making. 

Good thinking. Insurance tends to be a highly regulated business. Providers usually need to be properly registered in any jurisdiction in which coverage is provided.