Mike_and_Co

I remember when my Dad looked at me and said reflectively "My youngest is 50." It was a poignant moment, particularly as he was nearly 40 when I popped onto the scene. Now, with the kids going on 42 we are about 8 years from having the same experience, though we won't be anywhere near as old as he was, but still... Oh, and pardon me, did you say something about cruising or something? 🤣

Our first cruise was on very small ship where there were just as many chairs in the dining room as there were passengers; no more and no less. On our first night, we joined a retired gentleman who was travelling solo. He was well-educated, cheerful, and quite a warm, good-hearted person. Our conversation moved along quickly through the usual introductory subjects; hometowns, travel experiences, etc. I'm not clear if the main course had been served by the time he told us the tale of recently suffering a relatively serious medical emergency. It involved, ahem, a burst vessel in his stern compartment, so to speak. Now, just to be clear, his language was very direct, more in line with that found in a clinical environment. My wife and I were correspondingly surprised by his, er, frankness in sharing this story somewhere along the 10-minute mark of our first conversation. We both expressed our sympathies. As I say, he was a cheerful sort, and we still speak of him kindly after spending a week in the close quarters of our small ship and associated excursions. It wasn't anything we would call a bad experience, but it certainly wasn't on my Bingo card for our first-ever romantic cruise ship dinner as a couple. We still share a smile whenever we think of the experience. ; )

No apology necessary, you're good. You had a question, someone suggested an additional option you might consider, and now you're exploring an option you weren't aware of. We were in Alaska for a week in early September a few years ago. The week preceding ours was very rainy and cold every day, while we had significantly warmer weather and almost no rain. Layers are your friend. Absent having a cabana, there's lots other places where you can take things in from tables in the Lido Marketplace buffet and at the poolside, etc., but the public spaces can get crowded. On our 25-night Oosterdam trip, we sometimes asked people if we could join them at a table in the Lido buffet area as there were no empty ones available. We also made 'dates' with people we had met for dinners in the main dining room. We ended up having a range of experiences, most of them satisfactory or better. We have made friends with several couples who we have stayed in touch with following our cruises. However, while some people enjoy mingling, others really prefer not to. Many people travel with a companion or even their own group, and prefer not to interact with others. And much of this depends on your own preferences. As a card-carrying introvert, I've found myself surprised at how much I've enjoyed interacting with others on cruises. But again, it's not what everyone wants.

It sounds like an inside cabin will be a good fit for both of you. In our limited experience, 7, 14 and 25-night cruises, we found we just didn't spend much time on the balconies. So we recently booked ten-nights in an inside cabin to give it a try. Since we are doing this soon, I really appreciated hearing everyone's perspectives here.

We had four bags of laundry washed on the Oosterdam during our April 5 to 30 cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Athens. Turnaround was also always less than 24 hours, though they say to allow up to 48 hours. It must be quite an operation as they regularly provide laundry service to keep some 800 crew members looking sharp. Per someone's previous post, I would always write "cold wash, low heat tumble dry" on the ticket. I don't know what they actually did, but everything always seemed to come out in great shape. We always asked for things to just be folded. After the first bag, they took to hanging up our shirts and pants, while continuing to stack the rest in the basket with tissue paper. After calling guest services for pickup the first time, we realized that our stewards took care of it during their twice-daily cabin service (along with just about anything else that needed doing!) We didn't have any luxurious fabrics in our wardrobe, everything we had washed by the ship's laundry was pretty much cotton and cotton blends. (I also rinsed some of my lightweight long-sleeve synthetic sun shirts in the shower myself as they were lightweight and quick-drying.) Our first bag of laundry included 4 shirts, 4 pairs of long medium-weight pants, 6 pairs of briefs, 4 pairs of boxers, 6 pairs of socks and we probably could have even fit in a bit more. We were completely happy with the service we received.

Home Categories Canadian Cruisers 😄 Oops, my bad! Can I activate Google Fi in Canada? Important: You must activate and use Google Fi in the United States (territories not included). After that, you can use Google Fi service internationally. I'll kindly not even mention Medicare any further. Just enjoy your blessings. ; )

I've been trying to read up on this a bit. We currently have service through Page Plus, an MVNO. While this saves us quite a bit monthly, it also brings limitations like not being able to use the phone as a hot spot, and no ability to roam internationally if I understand their terms correctly. Having a French phone number with Bouygues back in 2022 did introduce some issues as no one could call us at our regular phone number, and it seems like there were also some limitations on our ability to text, at least as best as I recall - ? Now, the prospect of loading an eSIM so that we can have multiple services in the phone simultaneously has changed the landscape considerably, though I can't say I fully understand how this works in practice. Comparing all of the service providers and their various plans is absolutely a matter of apples, oranges and the rest of the fruit-bowl combined, along with a healthy measure of nuts thrown in for good measure. Airalo and Google Fi look like contenders, but I'm still trying to interpret the best route to put together the jigsaw puzzle of data, text and calling services with some measure of economy. Bottom line, I don't think I've had this much fun since we signed up for Medicare...

In 2022 we obtained SIM cards from a Bouygues Telecom shop in Paris. I was attracted to the brand because they were good for 30 days and included a substantial data allowance, along with a French phone number which could be used throughout Europe. Most of the other European SIM options I found at the time were oriented to the shorter one-week and two-week stays more typical of vacationers. Having cell data made it very easy to navigate with maps, use Google translate, and to make a few phone calls as we traveled first to Amsterdam, then took a two-week Danube river cruise to Budapest. Although the Bouygues website and the texts we received from the company certainly didn't cater to us as English-speaking customers, our calls to their customer support were absolutely great in that regard. [Also, after installing the new SIM card and thereby finding myself to be an urbane, cosmopolitan world traveler, I immediately set about adding the USA prefix "1" to all my contact numbers.] ; ) Today, I see that Bouyages currently offers 30GB & 30 Days for 39,90€, and they offer your choice of a physical SIM card or eSIM. I also see that my iPhone SE 2 can use eSIM, which I had not realized until today. So, I'll be looking further into Bouyages and also some of the other service options folks have posted here. Thanks!

My hypothetical CCL investment dropped about 8.5% or roughly $150 this past week. One of my worst investing losses from my active-trading days was a shipping line that had a great story but sank some 20 or 25% in the after-hours market one stormy night. I awoke adrift in a sea of losses to the sound of pundits screeching like seagulls as they solemnly exercised their 20-20 hindsight. I ruefully gathered my bedraggled and sodden surviving dollars from the oily waters and pondered my next move as we slowly rowed to the safe harbor of my cash sweep account. What with the risks of cyclonic storms, piratical raiders, and all the other perils attendant to trading on the open seas, I guess I don't have the stomach for that kind of rough sailing any more. I think I'll just go back to the money bin where I can swim in peace. ; )

New guy here again! I recently became aware of the potential of getting a $250 CCL stockholders credit for our 25-night HAL cruise. It looks like all the smart guys on Wall Street aren't great fans of the stock, but $250 OBC / ~$1,700 cost for 100 shares is about 14.7% which seems like pretty good return, (and potentially more if we take another HAL cruise). Naturally, I'd also get all the risk associated with owning a stock, but am I missing anything here? Also, my only current brokerage account is in a rollover IRA as I like to keep all of our distributions in the money bin we bought from Scrooge McDuck. I like to swim around in it and toss it up and let it hit me on the head. Anyway, would owning CCL stock in a tax-deferred account be an issue?

HAL notes that: "The base Surf Wi-Fi package included with Have It All includes access for one device for each of Guest 1 and 2 on a booking." The HIA cost is based on a 'per person' charge. So, I am guessing that if we purchase internet access 'a la carte', we would only get access for one device at a time unless we purchased the 1-4 devices plan; is that correct? As an aside, and for others who may follow, it was quite difficult to decipher costs in advance based on the limited information provided on the HAL website, (though now that we have booked we have much more visibility to pricing). As one example, I was pricing various add-ons 'a la carte' in order to compare the costs to the HIA package. I estimated an out-of-pocket cost for drinks, and also used 25-days x 2-people x the $29.99 one-day internet rate. I subsequently found that the actual 'a la carte' internet cost will be much lower than I had budgeted for the 25-day duration of our cruise thanks to @crystalspin and others providing links and recent prices. Am I confused here? It's almost like HAL doesn't mind if we spend more than we need to - what's up with that ?!? ; )

This whole thread's been helpful, but that one took me a while to figure out as I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box. I was picturing the little emergency packs of tissue that are available at travel stores; no definitely not that... : )

Thank you again. Forums are wonderful places to look, listen and learn. Otherwise, it might be possible to somehow get the wrong impression concerning what experience to expect...

Well oops is certainly a start… ; ) OBC is like scrip at the company store, but as you note it’s used by most lines so we’re left to deal with it as best we can.

Thank you. When we went to France, we tried to learn a few phrases such as please, thank you and good day. Now I find that it would be useful to learn the languages of TA and OBC and ShoreX. I guess it can't be any more difficult any other language, but I expect it will take some application and practice...

Hi, I'm Mike, a new guy here. The Mrs. and I have been "shopping" various cruise lines, (Viking, HAL, Celebrity, Princess, Azamara), and I'd appreciate if we could learn more from experienced cruisers here on the forum. We have very limited cruising experience. Our one-week 34-passenger small-ship tour of the inland passage in Alaska included kayak time, zodiac time, and shore walks for all on board, so it was a very inclusive experience by nature. Our 15-day Emerald Danube river cruise included many "basic" shore excursions, and the additional-cost "Discover More" excursions were all booked while we were on board. Availability was generally very good and I don't think very many people were unable to book whatever they wanted to. It appears we are now looking at an entirely different world on the larger ships. Our interest remains largely focused on shore excursions. In essence, the ship is more a combination of transportation and lodging than a resort destination to us. I understand that excursions sponsored by the cruise line tend to be more expensive than those provided by on-shore vendors that we might contract with independently. However, it seems the sponsored excursions also offer a simpler approach to making bookings. So, some questions follow. 1) HAL: The "packages" offer excursion credits in $100 increments. It appears that an $80 excursion would "cost" $100 of credit. A subsequent $120 excursion would then "cost" $100 of credit and an additional $20 out of pocket. In this scenario, could we book the $80 excursion with "cash" so we could apply the $100 to more expensive excursions, or would we have to use the excursion credits first? 2) It appears an Antarctic cruise is only allowed to put 100 people on shore at a time. Additional people are apparently allowed in the water in kayaks, etc. It also appears that some people have booked Antarctic cruises and subsequently found that there was no space for them to actually land and set foot on the continent. It seems that would be a disappointing scenario as the marketing always features meeting penguins onshore. Is this something someone here has more knowledge of? 3) In general, it appears that prices are up, excursions fill up early, and more expensive cabins get priority in making reservations. Is Viking (or some other cruise line?) any better than other lines in terms of allowing passengers the opportunity to participate in excursions and thus avoiding the disappointment of not being able to book popular excursions? Thanks in advance. While I've been attempting to read up on the subject here, like all forums, the information is widely scattered and, I anticipate, also subject to significant change over time.