Lady Chew

While you can get in & out of McDonalds quickly, some of the best stops we've had on private tours were by asking our guide "where do YOU eat" and  eating there.  Not only good food, you will probably meet some locals and get some good stories.

On larger private tours (more than 10 of us) whoever organizes asks the guide/tour company to provide time for at least a snack.

Also, even on a ships tour the ship cannot always wait.  It doesn't happen very often, but occasionally the port (or weather) requires the ship to leave, period.  But in that case Celebrity will get you to the ship somehow.

We have been on two private tours and were going to be late.  Our guides contacted the ship and the ship did wait.  But those were very nerve-wracking experiences which I wouldn't care to repeat!

My sister & I had a retreat cabana for 14 days on the Nieuw Statendam in February.  We were with a larger group who had 2 cabanas & a family cabana, and we were all in a row.  We all used them every day, basically all day.  The attendants took our orders for breakfast, lunch, snacks, drink (even the non-alcoholic ones), helped move chaises & chairs, took dividers up & down, and were attentive in so many other little ways.  They were unfailingly polite & cheerful all the time.

There were 4 attendants in all.  We tipped them each $50 at the end of the cruise.  

I did this with Mr Chew's ashes in February, from the Nieuw Statendam.  The staff who helped me were wonderful, very caring.  We had a small group to see him off.  It was shortly after sunset, right over the wake.  

They cannot tell you in advance exactly when you can do this.  It depends on the weather & location, in other words, someone on the bridge.  We had about 6 hours notice, which was plenty.  When the GS officer phoned me, she told me I could pick anytime that day between 5 pm and 6:30 am.  I asked if anyone ever did pick 3 am, or some other time during the late night/early morning, and she said yes!  (I did NOT pick that time, Mr Chew & I are neither night owls or early birds, but I imagine those hours might have special meaning for some.)

I did have to show them a death certificate and the contract from the funeral home showing the biodegradable urn.  (I also had to show those to TSA when I flew to FLL)

Mr Chew was 6'4" and heavy, and had no size problems in the hallways or bathrooms, or for that matter, anywhere on a HAL ship.  We've been on a few other cruise lines, and the only place he had an issue was on Oceania.  He couldn't stand upright in the shower (and we had a penthouse cabin).  I could barely stand up in the shower at 5'6".  

He would have been more comfortable with a king size bed, but had no real complaints about the queen-size beds we usually had.  The only issue with that was as night, if I had to get around the bed to get to the bathroom.  No matter how hard I tried, I almost always banged into his feet.  No complaint about the other furniture in the cabin.

And there were ALWAYS people larger than Mr Chew.  Maybe not quite as tall, but much much much bigger around.  

OMG!!!!?!!! What/where is this???

We have never purchased any of the artwork on a cruise, but we have attended several of the "auctions" just for fun (ie, free champagne for me, and Mr Chew liked to schmooze with participants & staff).  We participate in the guess-the-weight/etc contests.  Some of the so-called art is absolutely atrocious but some of it isn't too bad.  We have won a few free prints over the years.  Stick 'em in a little frame (we have quite a few that we have accumulated over the years from old school photos, etc) and give 'em to Goodwill.  Tax deduction!!

And we have always seen people from the auctions going through debarkation/customs carrying their wrapped artwork.  

I was just on Enchantment with a friend, and it was a little annoying having the artwork in main public areas, but the larger ships seem to have dedicated areas that don't take up too much valuable real estate.

We usually take long cruises, and have found that the stewards (and indeed, most of the crew) go above & beyond to be of service.  If we have two cabin attendants, we tip each of them separately, in separate envelopes with thank you notes.  (We also turn in comment cards)  If the service has not been extra -great, just basic, or maybe we never see them even though they have obviously done their jobs, we'll tip a little less.

We try to tip any crew member who has been of service to us.  I even tip the young lady, who is usually very junior, who has the fun (not) job of keeping the public ladies rooms clean.  I don't think Mr Chew ever paid attention to who cleaned the mens rooms, so no tips there.  

We have always tipped our cabin stewards $50 a week, regardless of length of cruise or type of stateroom

Our group has always had birthday cakes for the table.  We set it up a few days ahead of time with the head waiter.  Sugar free cake for the birthday boy who needs that, chocolate for the choco-holics, etc.

On 6/23/2021 at 7:38 AM, shipgeeks said:

I use the clear, zippered "boxes" that sheet sets come in, 

This is what I do as well.  I like that you can see exactly what is inside, and I like that they can easily be washed out when I get back home.

We usually pull out the sofa/couch and stand our large suitcases behind it.  Makes a sofa table!  Gives us another shelf, and moving the couch out really doesn't make a difference in overall space.  With zippered luggage, you can also get them open for dirty laundry, souvenirs, etc.  We put the smaller cases under the bed.  We never put one suitcase inside of another - don't want the outside of one suitcase touching the inside of another.  

Just an FYI - there is already a humor/joke/meme thread on the Royal C forum.  800 pages & counting!  But some of the items posted on this thread are new, so keep 'em coming!

I wonder if we'll have trouble walking past all of the cabin doors ... 

Would love a Grand Med for 2023or4

12 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Perhaps you do not realize that every location providing vaccines (even the pop-ups) is associated with one of your current (or a new) entity that is considered to be a health care provider. Thus, existing or newly established, you have a bona fide medical record at that entity.

 

 

How is every location providing vaccines associated with individual health care providers?  Maybe just in your state?

We got our shots at CVS.  They did not ask for any information about our health care providers.  We've been getting our flu shots there for years, and other vaccines as needed (shingles, pneumonia, etc) and they have never asked about our doctors.  So CVS has no way to provide info about vaccines to doctors.

We always give the doctors office the vaccine info ourselves.  They add it to our records, but they've never asked for any documentation.

5 hours ago, jelayne said:

From early posts on hotel service changes and personal experience in the past 3 month at 2 different golf resorts where the rooms were not entered by any staff during the stay.  If you wanted clean towels, linens, they left them in the hall, wastebaskets also left in the hall for them to empty.  

Since last summer, we have stayed at quite a few hotels in several states, and it was not a "feel good" experience walking through the halls with trash & piles of used towels outside the rooms.  But unfortunately there was really no choice if you wanted your linens changed and your trash collected.  I wouldn't be surprised if that happens on the ships when cruising resumes, although I imagine the cruise lines will be more proactive about picking up the mess.

Got a picture of our cards on our phones, also emailed a copy to ourselves so they are available that way as well.

Years ago I was given a box of small heavy duty ziploc-type bags for craft items.  Perfect size to hold our originals.  If I hadn't had those, I just would double-bagged them with regular ziploc bags.

59 minutes ago, oakridger said:

My last two cruises in 2019 on Noordam and Oosterdam did have the pre made sandwiches in bags but there was a small, not obvious, space next to them where the staff would make you a sandwich.  The selection of meat/cheese wasn't large but I could pick my bread/roll and toppings. You kind of had to "discover" the possibility. I really wonder why they don't want to make sandwiches when so many passengers like them?  Staffing? 

 

~Nancy 

We saw this as well on the Amsterdam in Alaska, and the Zaandam for New England.  Both in 2019.  You really had to look for the station, and you had to flag down someone to make the sandwich.  But so much better than the premade stale sandwiches.

9 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

Thanks .I do think that we are on to some thing being well hydrated . My wife drinks water all day long & had no side effects to the same JnJ vaccine shot 

I, too, drink water all day long, and I had horrible pain in my legs after my second Moderna shot.  I also had that crushing fatigue starting the next morning and lasting all day.  Very little soreness in my arm, though.  (After shot #1 I had a sore arm for days!  And no muscle pain, and just a little fatigue the next day.)

Mr Chew only had a little bit of soreness in his arm after each shot.

when we were last in Sydney prior to a cruise, we stayed at the Sydney Harbour Marriot for several days.

We took the train out to the Blue Mountains and then used the HoHo bus to get around the area.  We did some hiking, had a meal & a snack, and stopped in a few museums.  It was a wonderful day, not very expensive, and very easy to get around.

First night of a 75-day cruise on HAL.  Main dining room, second seating.  Mr Chew & I sat ourselves down at our table.  While we were waiting for our dinner mates, overheard a woman at a nearby table giving instructions to the waiter about how she liked her water every night, with lemon & a straw.  Finally our table mates arrived.  VERY old. The man sat next to  me.  He wanted to have a conversation with Mr Chew, who was sitting across from me.  The man had a very soft voice so I would have to lean into him to hear what he was saying.  then I would repeat it to my husband, and I would have to repeat my husband's response to the old gentleman.  Made for a very stilted conversation.  At one point, the man started mumbling something in my ear.  I asked him to repeat it several times.  His question - "does this ship go to Angkor Wat?"   The answer - No!  The unspoken answer - how can you not know where the ship goes?  That kind of killed off any further conversation.

The next morning, before I had a chance to arrange to change tables, we got a call informing us that the older couple was changing tables, and they were going to reseat us with another "lovely" couple.  The next night, we say the older couple enter and go right back to our previous table.  I guess they kicked us out!

But, the couple we were now seated with, was the lady with the lemon & straw for her water.  We all became very good friends, and we have cruised & traveled with them for many years since.

My friend & I are waiting to hear what happens to our late September cruise out of Baltimore, that we lifted & shifted from last year.  It was supposed to go to Canada, now maybe it will go to the Bahamas??  We'd be happy with a cruise to nowhere at this point!

We will, too!  

23 minutes ago, BND said:

You can also call the county health dept and have them look her up.  Loudoun County is up to people who preregistered Jan 16th, or so they say.  DH and I pre registered Jan 18 and 19 and as I said we got our first shot yesterday. I think there are some glitches in the database, but registering in Dec, she should have heard something by now.

Yes, we got the same notification from Loudoun, but the statewide site still can't find most people.  We preregistered just after Jan 16.

I've been checking the pharmacies daily, one or two times a day, and got lucky today.  We are scheduled at CVS (a different one for each of us) on Monday.  

Our state-run registration system here in Virginia has been a failure.  Still not working.

But today some appts opened up at CVS, and Mr Chew & I are scheduled for shot #1 on Monday.  Shot #2 already scheduled four weeks out.   I had started checking the pharmacy (CVS, Walgreens, etc) a few days ago, once or twice a day.  Got lucky today!