donaldsc

Hardly seriously. Took me maybe 2 minutes at most to find it. Google is your friend. I can't figure out why so many people on CC don't seem to know that. DON

Is 65 lbs strong enough for you - https://www.homedepot.com/b/65/N-5yc1vZ1z0x8ct/Ntk-elasticplus/Ntt-magnetic%2Bhooks?NCNI-5&sortby=bestmatch&sortorder=none DON

I just got a brochure in the mail that claims that Oceania is having a 4 category upgrade until Labor Day. I went on their site and I can't see where any of the cruises have such a large upgrade or a resulting reduction in price. Am I missing something or is this the kind of BS that cruise lines always do. I have never sailed on Oceania but I thought that with this upgrade it might be worth trying them. DON

We have always bought annual policies from Allianz. The only thing that I can say about them is that the one time I had to cancel a cruise they handled it well. The main problem w Allianz is that the basic level for trip cancellation is low although you can increase it to up to $15,000. This means that if your trip losses are more than $15,000 you are maxed out on that part of the policy and are not covered. That is enough for me especially as I can self insure if necessary for anything more than that and my main interest is medical and evacuation. DON

They are all about the same which is the length of the gangplank - maybe 20 or 30 ft. If you mean something else - repost with a clearer question and at least restrict your possible destinations to a specific continent. As written - your question cannot be answered. DON

My point was that if you have double doors and negative pressure in the room none of vile cigar smoke smell will get out of the room. I would bet that if one took a survey of people's attitude towards cigar smoke the majority of people would agree w me about how bad they smell and how badly the odor is retained on the clothes of people who smoke them. DON

Are they hermetically sealed double door negative pressure rooms to make sure that none of the air and odors that are within the room get out of the room. They should also make the people who are inside wear some sort of full body suit that they take off before they leave the room. Have you ever had the misfortune to stand next to someone who smokes cigars even if they are not smoking them at the time. DON

There are lots of ships in port WEB sites that show what ships will be in port on any given day. Glacier Bay is considered a port. You can look all of this up on the WEB yourself. These sites are very useful for all sorts of cruising questions. DON

I generally tip using any of the basically universal currencies - either dollars or euros. The server is going to have to convert the currency to whatever they want so make it easier for them. Also although nobody has asked - don't be a smart -A and tip using $2 bills just so they remember you. They will remember you but for the wrong reason. To most people including Americans in the US a $2 bill is play money. DON

There is nothing inherently wrong w the bulk sites such as Viator or TripAdvisor. They are convenient to use and most of the time they work well unless there are issues. The problem is three fold. One is that the tour operator has to share the fee with the consolidator which reduces their income. More important is that when there are problems you can't deal w the tour operator directly but you have to deal w the consolidator. This can be a real issue if the problem needs an immediate solution. Finally you loose one of the real advantage of doing private tours as you can not work with the tour operator to modify the tour but you have to work through the consolidator. If you can live with these issues and I prefer not to sites like Viator work. There is a way that you can use the bulk sites to find a good tour w/o actually purchasing the tour on the bulk site. What you can do is to go onto the bulk reseller sites to find the tour that you like and then do a bit of work to find the identity of the company actually doing the tour and book the tour directly. When I do this I make sure that the tour company knows that this is what I have done. They get to make more money on the tour and they generally treat me well. Hope that this helps. DON

Check out the details of these models - https://sdmodelmakers.com/ms-oasis-of-the-seas-40-inches-1350-scale-model.html?category_id=13 DON

We had force 10 winds when we came back from Antarctica. It was great. I also did a trip to S. Georgia. When we left Ushuaia several of the ships that were going to go to Antarctica did not leave port because of the winds. We were heading in a different direction to the Falklands and then to S Georgia so we avoided the weather but our captain said that the Antarctica bound ships might be stuck in port for several days. On our last day in S. Georgia we had 70 mph winds. We were supposed to do a zodiac trip that day. Needless to say the zodiac trip was cancelled. DON

There are ships in port sites on the WEB, Check out the ships for each of the ports for the time you are cruising. Then see if they match. DON

As someone who has built accurate scale model ships, I am not very impressed with the detail on any of them. They may look better in real life but the pictures and the details of the models look really cheap. DON

I have just learned something. I did one cruise with a grandkid on Princess where she slept in the pull down bed and it came down from the ceiling. It did not interfere during the day. I don't remember which Princess ship it was. DON

This is going to sound like a really stupid post but here goes. We will be taking several tours in Athens and we have been told that we can take an Uber to the tour meeting place. I have looked on the WEB and it appears that Uber in Athens is a mixed bag. My specific question question is on the Uber app itself. I assume that it comes up in Greek which is to be expected as we are in Greece. Is there an option to have it come up in English so that I can read it? DON

https://www.amazon.com/Ghirardelli-Assorted-Chocolate-Squares-4-85oz/dp/B007AJG21U/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=ghirardelli+chocolate&qid=1661443078&sr=8-11. $11.00 at Amazon and it is good chocolate. Take one out of the bag each day and put it on your pillow. In the past the stuff that Princess put on your pillow was not very good chocolate. DON

Why should an elite status passenger be treated any better than a passenger who does not have status - especially if you have both cabin level. Better perks - yes. Better treatment - no way! DON

Post the itinerary. Seems to me that almost any 10 night itinerary in AK would be better than almost any 8 night itinerary. After all in AK what is important is what is outside of the ship and the places and times of the port stops and what is on the ship is irrelevant. DON

If it is a pull down bunk it stays in the ceiling if it isn't being used. What difference would it make since you will never see it. DON

It is also possible that it is very well purified and they then add back some electrolytes to make it taste better. Not in the same area but sort of related. I use distilled water to make espresso in my espresso machine but I have a brew mix of electrolyte water that I add to the DW. Distilled water is bad for the espresso machine and it also does not make good espresso. DON

It is the same reason that some people always drink bottled water at home. They are convinced that the tap water is not drinkable and bottle water is better. Now I will agree that in some places the tap water does not taste good but in most places it is tonally drinkable. DON

I did not know that this group existed. Many many thanks. DON

This is probably a wasted post but here goes. We are booked on a B2B Greek Island Star Flyer cruise. Our dates are 1 October and 8 October. We will be staying pre-cruise (at the Athens Marriott and post-cruise at the Electra Hotel as that is where Clipper Lines placed us. This gives us several days for touring in Athens - 30 Sept and 1 October out of the Marriott; 8 October on our changeover date out of Piraeus and 15 and 16 October out of the Electra Hotel. I am going to be setting up several private tours on those days. If anyone is interested in joining us leave me your e-mail address and we can chat directly instead of doing it on CC. I also have 1 tour available to Ephesus out of Kusadasi on 10 October. I have also posted this message on the relevant roll calls as not surprisingly because of the small ship size the CC interest in these cruises has been almost non existent. DON

All of this info is easily available on the internet. Go into Google maps and then click on the restaurants near your hotel. Google is your friend. DON