DCThunder

I did 28 days on Island this summer and the food was fine, if a bit unimaginative, especially in the buffet. The cruise was from Southampton and we had a lot of Brits aboard, so some of the food was designed for the British palate. I didn't eat in Sabatini's so can't speak to that, but the Bayou Cafe (steakhouse) was very good. Island doesn't have the same selection of specialty restaurants as the bigger ships.

My travel companion always ordered a large pineapple juice at breakfast. It was free up until 10 am. After that, they charged for it so she brought a can of Coke from her cabin for lunch.

Don't stay at the airport. Take the National Express bus (cost around $25) from LHR to Southampton and stay at the Moxy hotel. Then take an Uber to the ship the next morning. Depending on when your flight arrives, you'll need an hour or so to clear customs and immigration and collect any checked luggage and get to the National Express stops at LHR. Then a little over an hour to Southampton and a 10 minute walk to the Moxy/ I've checked in there and been in my room by early afternoon, and if your room isn't ready they'll hold your luggage so you can walk around and get some lunch at a pub. The Moxy is a Marriott brand so you get/can redeem Bonvoy points if you have them and book through the hotel website and not a 3rd party site.

Yes, I was on that same cruise and agree that the RIB trip was unique, especially putting on the orange survival suit. I also wandered through the outdoor museum and it was interesting in its own understated way. I intentionally didn't mention the Prince Christian Sund passage as a ship coming from Boston most likely wouldn't be passing that way unless they're also going to Iceland. If (big IF) I ever went back to Greenland, I'd want to go further north, but that may be the province of the expedition ships. And there are other places I'd like to go before I went back to Greenland.

I visited Qaqortoq and Nanortalik in August 2023 but as part of an Iceland/Greenland cruise out of Southampton. Didn't get to Nuuk as that is much further north on the west coast of Greenland and we needed to get back to Southampton. My TL;DR version of Greenland is: The scenery is extremely beautiful, especially in good weather, but once ashore, there isn't much to do. You can walk around the small towns or do a very limited number of excursions such as a RIB trip out into the harbor to see icebergs up close, together with a vodka toast with ice chipped from the iceberg. A travel companion did an excursion to the "ice sheet" but they didn't actually get to walk on the ice, but did get the same vodka toast. I'm glad I went to Greenland, but it's not somewhere I'd need to go back to again.

The answer to my question is probably obvious but here goes. I have a Round Australia cruise from Sydney booked for 2024 following a Trans-Pac from San Francisco. I understand that the "on-board folio" will be in AUD, but does that mean that a USD$12 cocktail would be AUD$18.87 (using current exchange rates)? And would USD$250 of OBC be AUD$393?

All of the above are correct. I'm not a coffee drinker, but the Amuleto in Horizon Court on Lido was always busy during breakfast hours making lattes etc. In fact one of the bartenders we got to know did double duty as a supervisor of the coffee bar there during his mornings. It made for a long day for him, he said.

I was on a fantasy football/general discussion message board in the early 2000s that did the same thing and wiped-out post counts. The wailing and gnashing of teeth over that change was unbelievable. And this was a board of mostly "football guys"...

I'm going to try a variation of this later this month in Civitavecchia. I'm not planning on getting to the ship until around 12:30 pm rather than trying to be in one of the first groups to board (I'm Elite). I have a theory that being later to the port is actually faster to board than getting there early. I've boarded in Civi before so I have a baseline. And I've been on Island before, so I don't need to "explore" the ship immediately upon boarding. I have to pick up my medallion at the port so will be Blue, but as said upthread, that's a five minute process.

Now I'm curious. When did the CC message boards first start? Are the threads from the very beginning available?

Many more "progressive" communities/cities in the US have banned single use plastic bags for environmental reasons or imposed a 5-cent fee for them. But it is not a national ban. A few states have banned "disposable" bags but mostly it's at the community level where it's a real patchwork of where they're banned and where they aren't.

LOL. Well played!😉

For the fares those lines charge, they should deliver it to you home.

Fair enough. Thanks.

I take your point about a full-scale firefighting team response, but a security officer investigating a smoke claim would have the same effect. Passengers couldn't deny a SO from entering the cabin as they might deny a steward access.

I did a B2B out of Southampton this summer. I got my In Transit card, got off the ship, did the Titanic walking tour, had lunch, and when I got back, walked onto the ship as normal. I may have shown the In Transit card once, but it was easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

I wonder what would happen if the OP or someone did a 9-1-1 call reporting smelling smoke from the cabin suspected of containing the balcony smokers? I'd imagine a full-scale firefighting team response to that cabin, which would certainly be embarrassing or costly to the cabin occupants.

In my somewhat limited experience, senior officers of the ship can usually be found walking around the public spaces on the ship. They are certainly available at various events scheduled in the Piazza or elsewhere such as the Elite/Platinum receptions or the Frequent Traveller luncheons. Buttonhole one of them after/during the event and provide as much information as possible about the smoking events. Take a picture of the cabin tablet with the names of the guests, or of smoke coming up from the balcony. Even if you can't initially speak to the captain, talking to the Cruise Director or one of the deck officers will get the issue up the chain of command rather quickly, I'd wager. Or ask to speak to the officer in charge of Guest Services, not one of the 1 stripers who man the desk. You could also talk to a Security officer and file a security report on fire hazards. That would get some action.

Pro tip: Bring along some Tide pods (or equivalent) and dryer sheets from home and then you don't need to worry about buying detergent/fabric softener.

As long as you have the medallion, you can leave your phone in your cabin. The bartender will scan the medallion and charge it accordingly. No phone app involved.

Nope. I've never had them ask for age.

If you are a Costco member, check out the comprehensive travel insurance (trip cancellation, medical, and evacuation) that they sell. It is offered through Cover-More, which is a subsidiary of pf Zurich Insurance. You can't buy it on-line only by a phone call, (unless you booked through Costco Travel), but the premiums are very reasonable, and the coverage is better than offered through the Princess Platinum plan.

Rudolph chili? 🤯 Did Santa know you'd taken out his lead reindeer? Oh. the humanity!

Exactly. The location of the olive pit is the crux of the matter. This would be an interesting fact pattern for a 1L Torts examination.

Any lawsuit would need to allege that the Princess galley staff was negligent in not making sure that there were no olive pits in the lobster cakes. The OP says that the pit was in the lobster cake, not as a garnish as is described in the Crown Grill menu posted above so that becomes an element of the suit. The simple Merriam-Webster definition of "negligence" is: "failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances." The Blacks Law Dictionary definition of what would be required for a "negligence lawsuit" is at this link as it's too long to post: What Is a Negligence Lawsuit | The Law Dictionary. The TL;DR version is that there are four elements to the cause of action that must be met and it is questionable if the OP meets all four of them, at least based on the facts of the case as presented by him.