markeb

You were there a day late…

Crossed in front of our bus less than a mile north of the train station! (Summit)

Why? Despite 20+ years of Law and Order telling us the opposite many if not most investigations do not result in charges. Evidence and legal elements of proof actually come into play. Which likely includes “intent”. And the agency conducting the investigation may not have the resources to analyze and interpret the various third part visuals posted on social media.
 

Everyone can agree it’s wrong but there still be no case. Not as unusual as people seem to think. 

Yes. Does she have her own CC number?

It’s easiest if you each have a logon. If you have a WiFi package you’ll each have your own logon. If you both have a Captain’s Club number you already have two accounts. 

12 minutes ago, ladysail2 said:

Is a bodega similar to what we call a corner store ( even if it’s not on a corner)?  Sometimes called a convenience store?

Yea and no. There’s actually a definition from the board of health! Dealing with size and what they sell and do. 
 

Generally they’ll have basic grocery items such as milk and eggs. Most that I’ve been in have a sandwich and breakfast counter. Some have hot bars. They’re not a full service bakery. They have a certain feel (and attitude) that may not be unique to New York, but they’re recognizable as New York. I think the mix of retail and ready to eat is the main characteristic. 

2 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Interesting difference in perspective: what you, as a New Yorker, referred to as a bodega was referred to by someone from Louisville, KY as a supermarket.

That’s kind of funny actually. Not a native New Yorker, just a frequent visitor and I don’t know that I’d ever call a bodega a supermarket. I mean there are bodegas everywhere and some of them have a decent product selection, but they’re still bodegas. 

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I consider it an ok sauv blanc. It’s produced by the Wagner family (Caymus) and runs about $20 + or - a bottle back home. Certainly the up charge wont break the bank… the inconsistency is puzzling. 
 

Im now on a recon mission for Whispering Angel… stay tuned!

Whispering Angel is on the Luminae menu on Summit. Don’t know if they actually have it. $17. 

3 minutes ago, zitsky said:

What kind of Pinot Noir do you prefer?  And do you know what they have by the bottle on board?

Burgundy when I can afford it, usually Village and occasionally Premier Cru. Grand Cru is outrageous. Willamette Valley, Russian River, and Sonoma

County. After that I have to know it to buy it. 
 

I’ll know more tonight on what’s available. They’re selling Penner Ash by the glass at $25/glass. Last cruise it was by the bottle at about $80 or so. It’s a great Oregon Pinot Noir. If I do the business school thing and just consider the package as a sunk cost, it would by worth $9.60 a glass!

2 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Bring a bottle (or 2 if there are 2 of you) on board?

If I’m going to drag two bottles of Chardonnay onboard it will be something much better than Mer Soleil and almost certainly not a Wagner wine. But that may just be me. 
 

We should have grabbed a couple of bottles of Pinot Noir in Anchorage before getting to Seward. Oh, well. 

2 minutes ago, Cap_D said:

No data collection at all.

That was reported. If the case was closed with no action (apparently) any formal report would likely not be released and could even be coded as law enforcement sensitive. On principle I doubt Celebrity or any other cruise line would give access to their proprietary data without a warrant anyway.  And I’m not sure that what’s been reported would even get probable cause for a warrant. 
 

So maybe they have data, maybe they don’t. And we’ll probably never know. 
 

Conspiracies are fun, but someone always leaks information. No evidence of that here either. 

12 minutes ago, Cap_D said:

As reported on in the linked article above, the investigation seems conveniently limited, and the Captain's (in article) reported recollection of depth, but not distance is suspect.

The news source also quoted unnamed sources who reported the ship anchoring. I don’t have a lot of confidence in them. I’m not sure what’s suspect. 

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Not a video but I can’t be sure about “live” mode. Will check it out with my next round of pics!  Thank you! 😊

If you open the camera app, there’s a “bullseye” icon at the top. If it’s yellow, you’re in live mode. Push that icon and it will turn white with a line through it and you’re out of live mode. 
 

Otherwise it’s probably a file size and bandwidth problem. 

1 hour ago, KroozNut said:

Better late than never, and I stand by my original statement here.

I don’t know what your original statement is. The captain was not removed. A criminal investigation by the state couldn’t substantiate a violation. And the actual root cause investigation is likely still going on. Which will probably determine that Celebrity’s procedures for identifying state restrictions not noted on federal charts needs to be updated. 
 

The captain may be responsible, but if he did everything by procedure, it’s the processes that need to change. 

Tonight in Seward. Loving this lens!

MIL lived in Olympia for much of her life. Because the rental car fees at SEATAC were so crazy, we’d sometimes take the light rail to Seattle and spend the night and pick up the rental in downtown Seattle. She loved salmon. That fish market that’s such a tourist show has a deadly serious side. Walk up and talk about buying fish and they’re all business and very knowledgeable. 
 

Found out one of our favorite places didn’t survive 2020. They had great seafood not far from Pike Place. 

Just a point of clarification. The NPS doesn’t actually sell or operate the tours. It’s a contracted vendor. The link on the Denali NP site takes you to the vendor to buy the tours. If they’re oversold, it’s possible the vendor simply can’t support the number of tour requests for that day. I also assume there’s a cap on capacity into the wilderness area and they could be exceeding that cap. We were just there and Aramark was running a LOT of tours about 20 minutes apart. We were on TWT 22 in the afternoon and met up with TWT 26 at our last break. And that’s late May!

I’ll be following along. We’re in Seward boarding Summit tomorrow for the southbound to Vancouver. We had three glorious days in Denali and took the Alaska Railroad to Seward. The round trips just didn’t go where we wanted to see. 
 

Although we’ve been told Alaskans view moose about like we view squirrels…

So, we’re sitting in our room at Hotel Edgewater right now…

We’re not booked at anything approaching the rate you’re seeing. But it’s early season and we booked months ago. When the other hotels people recommended were sold out. We’re in a water view room. It’s nice. Nothing spectacular and small, but the staff has been fine so far. 
 

Most I can say for now. 

34 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

I think you missed my point. 😉

I was trying to say that the Oldsmobile, despite their original problems are valuable now. Boomers are still valuable too as they have the most free time to cruise and the funds to pay for them. (And everyone is subject to attrition at some point.)

My point is they’re not valuable to Oldsmobile. They don’t exist. One of many reasons being they didn’t attract new, younger buyers who would present repeat business. They even tried the “not your father’s Oldsmobile” campaign. GM failing to clearly differentiate their product lines didn’t help either. But ultimately their buyers would have attrited if 2008 hadn’t happened and solved the problem. By killing the patient. 

Boomers will decrease in importance to the cruise lines over time. There are already more millennials in the population than either boomers or X. And some groups are apparently splitting boomers into two groups, which makes sense as it is a huge age range. The older members of Gen X are rapidly approaching traditional retirement age. So they’ll have time and money to cruise. 
 

As stated by millennials in this thread, to attract them they need to offer interesting itineraries that fit their work schedules. Not the long itineraries so many here want. Probably other changes as well. And it’s interesting to hear @keysey222’s comments on the short Caribbean itineraries. 
 

Back to Oldsmobile, value on the resale market is only important if you’re in the resale market. It doesn’t help GM. Celebrity doesn’t want to be Oldsmobile. 
 

Anyway, that’s probably an aside for another day. 

27 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

Have you seen the prices some of those Oldsmobiles are selling for now? 😳

IMO, X will always need Boomers and Gen X'ers. 😎

Have you seen an Oldsmobile dealer lately? 
 

There were lots of problems, but not being able to explain why they were different from Chevy, Cadillac, Buick, and Pontiac didn’t help, and being best identified as your grandfather’s or crazy aunt’s car just made it worse. 
 

Statistically, millennials are the largest generation. Boomers are attriting to be impolite. If they always need Boomers (including me) they have a corporate shelf life…

I suspect it’s complicated. Like most things. I’m actually more curious about Gen Z and cruising in general. Probably millennials as well. 
 

Celebrity’s more or less professed target segment would include both groups. Especially the ability and willingness to spend and a pursuit of experience. Are they cruising as a group, or are they getting those experiences elsewhere? Don’t know. The challenge for a company like celebrity is to attract that group without throwing away boomers and X’ers too soon. 
 

Once upon a time there was Oldsmobile…

In the app. I think they’re posted, but I’ve never looked. 

Are you going straight from Heathrow to Southampton? Or are you going from London after a short stay in London? Or have you not decided? "Easiest" kind of depends on those answers. And your definition of easiest.

There's a thread on this subject on the British Isles/Western Europe board. That board is a wealth of information (down to being able to tell you where to transfer on the Tube if you need to). I'd check the board out in general, and this thread in particular:

If you're going straight from Heathrow, I think most would suggest the National Express bus instead of the train. Your luggage gets loaded on the bus, and you sit back for a nice ride to Southampton. There is no direct train service from Heathrow to Southampton. If you're in London, Waterloo to Southampton by train is probably fastest. Private car may be the easiest, but it's going to be expensive.

If you're only doing one night, it's probably just as well to go to Southampton. If you're going to arrive 2-3 days (or so) before your cruise, stay in London.

On 5/22/2024 at 8:14 PM, 1025cruise said:

Yes. I believe this had already been announced. Charleston doesn't want cruises.

I believe from the article that South Carolina doesn't want cruises. It sounded like Charleston was interested but considered it irrelevant with the state law.

11 minutes ago, dennbr9 said:

They are finishing a current Cruise and docking in Baltimore on the 26th.  It sailed out of Norfolk to start the Cruise.  That would be a pain if you drove to the Port, but so it goes.

So what's Carnival doing? It would be a PVSA violation to move passengers from Norfolk to Baltimore unless they went to somewhere in Central America that qualified as a distant port. Which would kind of screw over your passengers. Maybe both sets if people were planning on a flight to Norfolk since they didn't give much advance notice. Or are they moving an empty ship?

10 minutes ago, dennbr9 said:

It has been in Drydock in Freeport since b4 the bridge incident.

I'd forgotten that. But I recall it now.