DCThunder

I always do in the US, and have assumed that this was the proper etiquette practice elsewhere in the world, but I don't want to be accused of "flashing cash for better treatment".😉

LOL, from the headline I thought you wanted the kid in Economy while you and hubby were in First Class...

Is it the general practice in the UK (or elsewhere across the pond) to leave a few pounds/euros in the room for the housekeeping staff at a hotel at the end of a stay?

If you think that's bad, you should go read Quora.

In my experience, amuse bouche is not something typically offered in American restaurants. It's unusual even in the high-end fine dining establishments, outside of the foodie type places in NY, LA, Vegas, etc. But if it is offered, we do refer to it as amuse bouche.

Try opening the Princess website on a different browser. I don't know your preferred browser, but I've sometimes gotten that (or a similar message) on MS Edge and then gotten right through using Brave.

Beats me, but it was not like my mother used to make.

I was on a HAL Alaska cruise at the end of September. The day we cruised Glacier Bay was rainy, foggy, and temps in the low 50Fs. There were quite a few people in the hot tubs in the uncovered parts of the Lido Deck on the stern despite the rain. The cover on the main pool was almost always closed and that pool was rather busy, especially with kids.

Sports24 shows all the Premier League and Champions League matches so I would assume that the Sky Network must not have the rights to the World Cup games. (Obviously they didn't pay off FIFA officials enough to get the rights.) Since I guess the regular leagues are on hiatus during the WC, Sports 24 is going to be showing a whole lot of Australian Rules football and Rugby if they can't broadcast the WC. In the US, the rights holder is Fox Sports. I don't know the details of how the ships carry and show NFL games, but Fox NFL games are available on the stateroom TVs so you could suppose that if ships get the correct satellite for NFL games, they could show WC matches. I would expect that you could bet WC games on the Ocean Sports Book however.

Calling the food "gimmicky" or "cutesy" are very apt descriptions. The escargot are "deconstructed" as chopped up snails, mixed with butter and herbs, put inside a breadcrust shell, and deep fried. The intent is to have little crispy balls of snail and garlic butter that explode in your mouth when you bite into them. And while they taste good, they are just sort of weird. The tuna tartare is chopped up ahi tuna, mixed with some other ingredients and then pressed into a mold leaving a disc of hopped raw tuna with a very nice aioli type sauce. It was good, but an unusual presentation. And Ombud, the baba au rhum was dry as dust and not very good. I'd give it a pass if I ever went back to BSLM. One consolation is they do make a wonderful French 75. They say that cocktail is named after a cannon used by the French army in World War I. Try one of those and you'll understand why.

I have not been impressed with the food or ambiance of Bistro Sur La Mer the two times I've eaten there on Enchanted. From my observations, it is often not very well attended compared to Sabbatini's or Crown Grill. However, as always, YMMV.

Well, this is partly true.

Maybe they were really crawfish.

FWIW, I was talking to someone on a recent cruise who hit their 150 days of total cruising in the middle of the first leg of a B2B cruise and they were given a new Elite medallion at that point and got the mini-bar set-up at the start of the next leg. So I'd think your friend should book a WC as 3 segments.

Don't New Englanders call milkshakes "frappes"? And don't get started on the differences between sandwiches called submarines, hoagies, grinders, wedges, heros, and Lord knows what else.

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Best snack is to grab a couple of bags of popcorn from MUTS and take them back to the cabin. I used to save a bag to take to the bar the next day to have with a before dinner cocktail. It would be nice if the bars offered some sort of bar mix, but I guess that's a casualty of COVID and cost cutting.

There is a Crooners on Enchanted. I've sat in it many an evening and during the day it's a great place to read.

Probably includes weed and blow too. It is Mexico, after all.😈

I had a question about shareholder OBC disappearing from a booking and the chat person told me they didn't have access to that sort of information, and I needed to talk to someone at the 800 number. So the more complex the question, the less valuable chat may be. YMMV.

Call at exactly 0600 Pacific time. There is often a very good chance of getting someone quickly on the phone at the opening bell.

Bingo! This also leads to the perennial question: Who is more obnoxious? Wine snobs or craft beer snobs? 🍷 🍻 Also, the Salty Dog Gastropub on Enchanted is also a waste of space, IMHO.

It would also require the pharmacy in the Medical Center to actually stock Paxlovid. Perhaps they do, but perhaps not. From what I've read, it isn't prescribed routinely for passengers who test positive. They are just put into solitary and said, we'll talk to you in 5 days...

Downsides to Thanksgiving at a restaurant is you can't get seconds on everything and I prefer dark meat to white meat. And do we get turkey sandwiches later that night while watching football?🏈

Free at last, Free at last, Good Lord almighty, I'm Free at Last!