gsrunyan

Don't forget before you travel to have your bank raise your daily limit. Last spring while shopping at Delft pottery in Delft, Netherlands, our card was denied because the purchase was over the daily limit. I couldn't get any Euros out of ATMs until the next day.

Glenn:cool:

You might want to consider a bridge camera: good zoom on a single lens. Last spring I used one on our transatlantic. Photos at: http://www.pbase.com/gsrunyan/trans

The Sony HX100 I used gave good images, did panoramas and could track our entire cruise if you want to plant your images on a computer map.

Glenn:cool:

I'm camera shopping for my upcoming cruise. I wasn't expecting to do this until two weeks before Christmas when my 8 year old Nikon Coolpic L1 was unexpectedly knocked out of my hands and hit the pavement resulting in several pieces flying off it.

With you next camera, get in the habit of wrapping the strap around your wrist. If it does not come with a strap, buy one from Jodie's Camera Straps. Not only will this limit the possibility of your new camera hitting the pavement but lower the chance of it being stolen out your hand.

Glenn:cool:

Our Vista Suite is listed as having a refrigerator. On other lines we have sailed, the "refrigerators" were coolers but not refrigerators; that is, they will keep something already cold, cold, but will not cool something warm.

Are the refrigerators on Maasdam really refrigerators or coolers?

Glenn:cool:

Book your own flight: depending on the time of year, flights from Ft. Lauderdale to Minneapolis can be less than $200 per person one way. Check Kayak, Priceline and other sites.

Glenn:cool:

There are no TSA inspectors at the port.

If not TSA, who are those guys going through our carryons?

TSA does stand for Transportation Security Administration, right??

Glenn:cool::cool:

Both of these scenes have large differences in light within them. You might want to learn how to use HDR (High Dynamic Range) where you meld together an underexposed, an overexposed and true exposure into one image. This will brighten shadow area and darken otherwise blowout areas.

Glenn:cool:

We have been going between Celebrity & HA and I can't remember if you can carry bottled water & pop on with you when you board. We are going in early February & can't wait.

We have found in the past that TSA inspectors don't like 12 packs of soda cans. We have had no problems, however, having two or three boxes of cans come onboard as luggage.

An empty water bottle also avoids problems with the TSA.

Glenn:D:D:cool:

Since HAL and Princess are both owned by Carnival, can I get credit for my two Princess cruises to my HAL mariner club account?

Glenn:cool:

Check out Weatherbase.com. It gives historical averages, highs and lows, precipitation, for virtually every place in the world.

Having lived in Florida for 30 years (now in Colorado with the grandkids), I can't remember any cold Xmas in South Florida-unless you consider 60's cold. Remember Florida and most of the Caribbean are warmed by the Gulf Stream every day of the year.

Glenn:cool:

Was the camera bag your carry-on?

 

We usually travel with a camera bag for under the seat and the wheelie for the overhead compartment.

The camera bag is my carry on-has cell phone chargers, plug converters, anything small. My wife has the wheely and it goes above.

Glenn:cool:

Traveled to SAS to Copenhagen 18 months ago. Had no problem with my camera bag under the seat. Mine is 24" long and 8" high. You can probably slide yours under the seat in front on its side.

Be sure you get to SAS check-in early: our connecting flight to Chicago was late-I got my suitcase 2 days later and my wife got hers 4 days later on the ship at our first stop!!

Glenn:cool:

I love the game-I play several hours a day on the computer. However, I gave up duplicate many years ago because I found some folks take the game too seriously. When I was a senior in college, almost 50 years ago, I used to play each week at the local YMCA whenever I could find a partner in my rooming house. One night, A husband got mad at his young wife for incorrect bidding (they got low board on the hand) and threw his cards in her face. :eek: Too much!! I never played duplicate again.

I wouldn't want such bad behavior to ruin our cruise.

Glenn:cool:

I have psoriatic arthritis-similar to osteoarthritis but not susceptible to the meds for the former. I arrange private tours when the cruise tours require walking a lot. We reserve our cabin early enough to get a midships location.

Glenn:cool:

I have played roulette in Mississippi, Louisiana, Las Vegas and on board Princess. Although the game has the best odds for the house, I have rarely done worse that breakeven and have walked away with hundreds on occasion.

It is true that the wheel has no memory. However, every dealer has tendencies on how they spin the wheel and counter spin the ball. If red comes up 5, 6, even 10 times in a row, the dealer is unconsciously spinning the same way each time, go with the flow.

You can make good money playing the dozens (1-12, 13-24, and 25-36) but often with the change of dealers, the pattern changes and you lose money quickly. A similar bet, often ignored by most players, is columns-like dozens, each column has 12 numbers. Often a pattern emerges here when others disappear.

Most importantly, I consider playing roulette, and my wife at the video poker machines, as a form of entertainment, not an income source. That makes it much more enjoyable.

Glenn:cool: