simplelife

Does Starry come in sugar free?

Why did they stop allowing them?

57 days

Went to Taino beach several years ago, so I am not sure about the situation today. At that time, we were able to rent chairs and buy drinks and snacks, There were restrooms. quiet and relaxing

We've always cruised on an academic calendar since we are both career educators. I am retiring this year (and DH is already retired). I already have 3 cruises booked for after I retire at times we've never cruised before (mid-September), Late January, and Early November). The 3 altogether were as cheap as one school-vacation cruise.

July and August are for cooler climates. We did Alaska last July. We still had to wear jackets. I am glad I got to experiwnce Alaska would not be able to withstand the weather other than midsummer. A few years ago we did New York to Eastern Canada in the summer - weather was great!

The older we get the more we find we don't do well with late eating, so these changes do not bother me at all.

85

OPI Big Apple Red has been my go-to for years. I switch it up occasionally, but find myself always returning to classic red.

I never wear heels anywhere.

Some cabins with windows are listed and priced as interiors - e.g. porthole cabins, cabins with windows facing a forward deck with no ocean view. We have stayed in the former many times and the latter once. Both options provide economical options while still providing the natural light that most interiors lack.

We usually get an upgrade offer just after final payment date - sometimes we get an email about it and sometimes it is just in our planner. For our March 5 sailing we got an upgrade offer last week. It was in our planner. The specific cabin was listed. I don't remember the price because I like the cabin I booked and was not interested in an upgrade for this particular cruise.

DH wears khaki shorts and a polo-style shirt on regular nights in the MDR. Elegant nights he wears long khakis (and usually a dress shirt and tie; but the polo shirt would suffice also). This seems to be what most men are wearing.

I think it varies depending on how early the ship is docking for a port stop or debarkation

Port days are the early seated breakfast; sea days are the expanded-menu and expanded-hours brunch

I've been on sailings when hot tubs were working on port days

We usually do fixed dining in the MDR and find that service is better than when we do YTD. We rarely do buffet for dinner - we have done so a few times when we were traveling with a party that was doing YTD. We much prefer sitting down and being served, Juggling plates and waiting in line is not my idea of a relaxing dinner. My opinion only - worth no more than anyone else's - but offered with the aim of presenting scenarios to consider when making dining choices.

We sailed Paradise many moons ago, when she was brand new (back when she was a non-smoking ship). I've booked her for early 2024- trying to do all the older ships again before they get retired

Our next cruise will be a short relaxation cruise - 5 days with stops in Nassau and a private island - we may not even get off the ship on the port days. For that kind of cruise, we usually do Cheers. For longer cruises with more interesting ports, we usually don't. Mathematically, we have to do an average of 10 drinks a day between us for the price of Cheers to make sense (so for the 5-day, we will need to do 50 drinks over the course of the cruise for Cheers to be worth it).

Carnival has early seated breakfast on port days and the brunch on seadays. Also they do have table cloths on Elegant nights (I've notice that most land restaurants other than fine dining have ditched tablecloths as well - it's a cost saving on the laundry bill and also an ecological one - less water).

There's always the happy medium of the Ocean View.

DH and I just made our appointments today (they're about a month out on availability). The appointments are not just for real ID, but any DMV business, With an appointment, there's no waiting in line. You can also just show up with your documents and plan to wait in line however many hours it takes.

In my state, charge is the same as for a regular DL.

Might come in handy if you have to fly while in the passport renewal process.