JRG

You're ok. Just don't let anybody talk you into disassembly of the curling iron to inspect the components, that usually happens next in these type of threads, It's just normal thread drill down, thats all.

Yes, that is the catch until you find the blend you like. The sampler box helps. I finally found the blue blend Cafe Crema which is one of the blue pods used on ship I assume, and the Expert pods are interchangeable with the blue and its runs about 55 cents per cup for coffee. For the latte's you use a different pod which is a double expresso and the blend I use Expresso Gusto Intenso X2 works pretty good for me for expresso, lattes and macchiatos and lungo too. And I buy them on Amazon too. No more Starbucks.

How can this not be considered Pursuit of Happiness? The defense rests its case. The OP has a valid point. I can go by 3 different names and I'm in the same boat and there have been times when I didn't want use the one that was on my name badge.

Thank you counselor, objection sustained. For the record, CC will consider the statement "whilst excersing a constitutional right" be superceded by : "expressing their opinion about how they interpret their own freedom"

Perhaps the OP was referring to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness...which feels like it is getting stepped on whilst exercising a constitutional right? Nickname or Preferred name is a data field on many forms and applications existing especially for this purpose.

This was the estimated damage to the US Supply Chain from the port strike as reported by CNBC. Canadian ports strike over but supply chain will take weeks to recover (cnbc.com)

Okay, the answer is definitely on the Voyage Log that you get at the end of your savorous journey, but it is not in the egg count. The Voyage Log tells you exactly how many passengers, crew, nautical miles, eggs, etc.. . HAL would not lie to us on our Voyage Log so everybody start pulling your Voyage Logs.

Doesn't it really matter though on a ship by ship basis, as to whether or not understaffing has happened or is happening. The best source would be the trip reports similar to the Live from the Westerdam types of hard-knocking journalistic posts. Thats where I get my ground intel from. I think the one clue might be if the cabin stewards have been reduced from 2 to 1 per day, I do not know if that has changed back. I was wondering if this affected the lifeboat safety drills of the crew, to have it reduced might affect the safety of the passengers or affect the efficiency of the lifeboat drill. Maybe we can tell on a ship by ship basis if staffing has been reduced from the placemat they give us at the end of the cruise journey where HAL tells us how many eggs we consumed. You should be able to solve for that arithmetically and forego all of the oversell.

Does this 'workaround' have a financial detriment to the cruiser? and/or Does this 'workaround' have a financial detriment to the home country whose law is being avoided. Or are we just teasing the audience?

Thanks for the link. I didn't read this a few days ago but it is certainly pertinent to this thread, I need to think about this before commenting because I can't believe what I am reading but this is what they said, quote unquote: Nuclear power is the best energy source for responding to climate change and realizing carbon neutrality because there is no carbon emission during electricity production," said North Gyeongsang Governor Lee Cheol-woo. "We will lead the nuclear power renaissance and build a global innovative nuclear power industrial ecosystem centered on the Pan-East Sea Are there any maritime experts who have discussed this here on cc before, or is the emerging technology that we just didn't know about?

You are right mom, it's not really complicated some of the time, but the one exception you point out is exactly where it gets complicated and it occurs at a very high frequency here on cc. You can confirm that by using the database as I suggested to CruiserBruce and looking at the issues people have when the PVSA gets in the way when booking certain B2B's But you are correct it does not always have to be complicated.

Quite frequently, posters are directed to the correct area in CC but there is a slight learning curve; in this case if you go to the West Coast Departures Boards forum, then use the database search engine and enter the key word "B2B" Be sure and specify the search is for "This Forum". You can try by title too. then scroll down and you will learn, it is not a tease. Go ahead, use the search engine.

Its complicated.

They call them Collectors Cruises because they collect your money first and then you savor the journey of finding out later that it's not the exact B2B sometime later on. (I'm joking of course) It seems thought that they come in a few different flavors, depending on whether you stay on your ship (and maybe with your same cabin) or as a poster said , side-to-side, or even with different lines. They are not as convenient as they could be either, if you are staying on the same line , especially in the US in the drive-to-port markets.

I had to ask Mr. Bing but yahoo, that says it all. He concludes that his theory reaches a point of diminishing returns at the atomic level. Mr. Bing says he updated his 1965 theory in 2005 to validate this, its limitations. But that was 2005 and this is 2023...and its not a law of physics but a theory and it looks like it has held up in our lifetime with computers. As a cruiser, I just can't wait for Viastar to take care of business and get personal internet service provided from a satellite wherever you are cruising, so we don't have to pay for slow plans. The futuristic answer to alternative fuel or energy systems for ships probably lies "somewhere not over the rainbow" but beyond the rainbow in the electromagnetic spectrum. That would be my prediction.

That is really interesting to know about the research panels, the scenario is similar IMO to the evolution of 8086,8088,286,386,Pentium and Core CPU's over the last 40 years. It was hard to get that info from our solar panel salesman. Thanks

It's a no-brainer. unless regulatory agencies deem out or interpret relevant laws to allow the costs associated with a project retro-fit be allowed to determine a new 'cost basis'. This would be better than US sponsored subsidies if your goal was to rely more on ships and less on new builds. And the thinking would be that the new 'cost basis' would satisfy ore qualify the vessel for a different type of special treatment like that which thet Pride of America received under its PVSA exemption, and then perhaps coast-wise luxury transportation from point to point in the US could be test marketed under limited exemptions. So if it is very, very expensive to retrofit, that is okay as long as the expected ROI is realistically achievable. Think of all of the work that would be created in the US if this stimulated the building of new smaller vessels? Maybe a clean burning engine retro-fit is a viable option in some limited cases, who really knows. Of course, a few things have to happen in the right order for retro-fit costs to satisfy the code, but that is one feasible example of where one of somebody's beloved old ships might find a second life. Some of the smaller vessel companies that operate under the PVSA law are facing their own economic challenges and some do not appear to have been protected in the manner in which that PVSA law was written. Some are abandoning their exclusive itineraries as well. This is one feasible avenue to salvaging old ships or extending their useful life , just up for discussion that's all, even if its in the future.

(1) need more discussion here for me (2) survival on tourist dollars makes this true (3) makes sense, shipbuilding companies have an on-going concern and it makes sense that they will be building what the market is asking for, port size being one of many parameters. But need more discussion here for sure.

I think it would make for a more serious discussion except that it falls apart when attaching it to subsidies. What Government are you thinking about US, as a stimulus for shipbuilding industries, one ship at a time? Does not seem likely or worthy of an internet discussion, it would get out of line quickly. I would redline this part of the original post and the question becomes legitimate. The part of the post which screams out to me is a cruiser saying, "I am worried that my carbon footprint is too big", "is my industry doing all it can during the lifecycle of a cruise ship big or small" "I care about the environment". These are things many people may feel exactly the same way about. So we seek out the truthful answers Discussing negative and detrimental environmental effects of ship building and scrapping is a serious discussion in and of itself.

Agreed. I drove my first hybrid car (in England) and was surprised at the Fahrvergnugen in the Mercedes we rented. When output from solar panels break through the current physical imitations of photovoltaic panels that exist today this becomes more feasible for the big ships Smaller ships are likely to be the first beneficiaries if that isn't already existing.

Phil Collins once said on the Johnny Carson show that "A good drummer makes an average band good and a bad drummer makes a good band average. The same can be said of a CD. A good one knows when to be funny and when to be informative and when to be serious. So yes, a CD can make a cruise better for a passenger.

I just wanted to extend a Welcome to the forum, I am certainly not the ambassador but I am a student of the game, you could say, when it comes to astronomy and cruising. I spent much of the covid-19 stay-cation years at night by my ringside firepit, which is also a compass so that i could watch the movement of stars and planets from a fixed position. The movement of the satellites gives some idea of orientation and they are easily seen on a regular schedule too. Welcome

Not if we strip them down properly from their polluting chemical components and create artificial reefs to reinvigorate and stimulate marine life in the vanishing reefs. And provide a safe Eco-tourism opportunity for future divers and snorkelers. Or maybe we use them as temporary housing for homeless people in harbors, or offshore, especially our US Veterans who need housing. Or maybe we find a way to use the labor that wishes to migrate to the US and train them to provide hospitality type services under reasonable and humane working conditions, which somehow makes cruising more affordable for the average cruising Jane and Jone Doe. Or maybe we find a way to use old ships as depositories for plastics that we successfully retrieve from our oceans until we find a way to manage the plastic eating enzymes that are under development (opinion only, no source info here). Maybe then the Albatross chicks of the North Pacific Islands will have a better chance to survive and maintain their existence. Probably not the exact answer you were looking for but with the proper goal congruence on the subject, we can better steer clear of the problems you refer to. Rare editing comment, We are creating problems right now, not just down the road as your question beckons.

I consider a glut you were referring to a backup of ships waiting to get dismantled (prematurely perhaps) from the supply of ships meeting their end, not what pile is left at the end, but how the heck do we really know what is happening in these countries, some leftover materials are probably being dumped back at sea and we are probably seeing evidence in the ocean foodchain (i.e pcbs) . It certainly seems like there would have been a 'spike' in the numbers of vessels and probably a backup in labor and resources needed , all due to Covid-19 ,but maybe the brokers have a system where ships are kept 'at sea' until there is a vacancy in a holding area of something.

Yes, the Prinsendam comes to mind. So that is one possible scenario.