Snaefell3

You made me think of the sequence in Ford vs Ferrari where Shelby gives Mr Ford a ride in a Shelby Mustang. 😲

You've probably sailed lots days with an engine down -- ships have multiple engines, and they will shut one down to do scheduled oil changes, etc, as they sail along on the rest. Engines don't often break down without them seeing trouble coming, and ships postpone oil changes, etc, while they swap out the wonky cylinder or whatever. "Engine trouble" you hear about usually means the the problem is bad enough to need a drydock to fix, or the needed part is a big one that has to be specially built, or both.

You don't get fuel surcharges because of high fuel prices, per se. Lines build the expected price of fuel into their fares. You get fuel surcharges when the lines don't see a price rise coming. For example, it looks like $65/bbl WTI fuel costs were built into our fare for this coming March (or so indicates §2.i of our Ticket Contract). With WTI closing at $74/bbl yesterday, O has the legal right to add a Fuel Surcharge even now after Final Payment, but I think they are using "slow steaming" as a less --uhm-- provocative alternative.

Reasonable attitude. Methinks O's attitude is "Shorter port stays won't trigger the same general fury as extra fees added after Final Payment". 🙄

O's "combinabilty game": The better the sale, the longer the not-combinable list.

Not to be a wet blanket, but be prepared in case river levels on the Garonne in '25 bust Riviera's draft or air-draft requirements. Here's hoping for ya! 🤞

I've *paid* them, albeit not recently. From the Ticket Contract for our cruise this coming March, §2.i: "Carrier reserves the right to charge a fuel surcharge supplement, without prior notice, should the closing price of West Texas Intermediate Fuel increase above $65 USD per barrel on the NYMEX". For what it's worth, WTI closed today at $74.51/bbl.

Checking the Port of Bordeaux's website, I'm surprised that in addition to it's river-cruise sized berths, it has a "Maritime" port with berths big enough for Riviera. Why then, dock downriver at Le Verdon? Bordeaux/Maritime only has 2 berths, and if Riviera is ship #3? Alternatively, river depth might be an issue: shallow vs Riviera's 24' draft, or flooding vs her 165' air-draft -- that sort of thing puts river cruisers on busses all the time. 😞 Sympathies on your 60 mile bus ride to "real Bordeaux".

"Slow steaming". Could indeed be because of motor (or generator) problems, but more likely done to lower fuel costs -- you'll note we haven't been seeing Fuel Surcharges despite higher fuel costs.

The Drake Passage between the tip of South America and Antarctica: Occasionally like a calm lake, but usually home of the "Drake Shake" with 30' - 40' seas and swells.

Bordeaux, proper, is a river cruise port. AIUI Riviera is longer than the Garonne is wide and she would have to go stern first for 60 miles either coming or going -- even assuming she had a shallow enough draft to have not to run aground long before reaching Bordeaux. Methinks the June dockings are downstream at Le Verdon even if they aren't annotated "(Le Verdon)".

I've seen 4 categories of port schedule changes on O. ...and until March I'm a 1-trip newbie 😉 • Politics closed a port (Monterey). • Screwed up berthing: 1 dock, 2 ships, and O wasn't the regular, long-time customer. • Fuel savings from "slow steaming". • Fuel savings from changing track to capture better "mileage" from wind effects. - Yeah, even ships without sails are affected by winds. (You can tell #3 from #4 by whether the changes are announced months ahead or only days.)

What I wasn't sure of is: If you have a butler and you order room service, does the butler do the delivery or does a normal room service runner do it? For that matter do you call the butler to order or the normal room service phone number?

https://oceaniacruises.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005477653-How-many-dining-reservations-am-I-allowed-in-each-specialty-restaurant

Google says "Thank you for your metadata (we're selling it to advertisers)". Remember: "If it's on the internet and it's free, *you* are the product being sold." Most cellphone providers (all US providers?) support "WiFi Calling", allowing normal outgoing and *incoming* cellphone calls and texts without using the ship's piratical-rate cellphone tower. Android: https://support.google.com/phoneapp/answer/2811843?hl=en iPhone: https://support.apple.com/en-us/108066 Caveats: • Make very sure you are in [Airplane Mode] lest you accidentally connect via the ship's tower. • WiFi calls are (usually) billed as if you were calling from your livingroom couch. Best to check. • You're going to get calls from folks who think you are in your normal timezone.

Newbie to O, but figure it's the same as on all the other lines: The room service runners are usually entertainment or other staff picking up a side gig and not in the gratuities pool. We usually pack a stack of $2 bills for the purpose (1 per order). If you're in a suite, not sure how your butler figures in.

Add "naïve" as a possibility.

::wonders what his DW's thinks of the "all mine" attitude:: Other cruise lines do dump all SSBC into one pax's folio. On those lines, if you both want to sign up for something, pre-cruise --often the case, no?-- then the other person can't use the SSBC and has to pay cash (or bother them on the phone).

I pay money to not go back to Princess, but it isn't because of the Medallion. If you think the Faraday cage could keep a cruise line from tracking you in real time, you either don't understand just how many cameras are watching public spaces or just how good facial recognition was twenty years ago.

If you're talking about Princess, you'll find that awkward: your cabin door won't unlock. There are two saving graces though: (1) You have to give permission to that specific person for them to track you, and (2) last I sailed Princess, outside of the cabin corridors your position info was laggy and fairly imprecise.

One more consideration… As the cruise progresses, more and more folks descend upon the guy, and he has less and less time or attention to devote to you. If you're going to book aboard, earlier in your cruise is better.

Midships is closer to the pivot point than fore or aft, and so has less motion. So, too, does closer to water level. Strange. Oceanviews have less motion than Owners Suites.

It's not in the TOS, but is not scorn heaped any who comment after missing a relevant one? 🫣

At debarkation, O will use your leftover SSBC to pay for your wife's --forgive the stereotype-- culinary class if needed. For pre-cruise signups on the website, O will not.

Cricket does *not* have an explanation. ::runs and hides::