mk-ultra

I've never had much of a wait getting off of an Oasis-class ship. If you really want to speed your way off of the ship, select self-assist disembarkation (where you wheel/carry your own luggage off instead of putting it out the night before) and hop off as soon as they allow it. It'll be a straight shot off of the ship with no waiting, and you won't do the luggage hunt in the terminal. Bonus: no big lines for taxis either. I always do self-assist since at most I'll have one suitcase and a garment bag. Usually just the suitcase.

Yuppers. And if you're PRIME or above, no 5% fee. I love that it codes as a travel purchase instead of a c ash advance. I always bring a chunk of cash to get going, but since I'm prime, not only do I not pay the 5% or the $8.25 (or whatever it is now) to use the ATM, I get a couple of percent BACK on my BofA travel rewards 🙂 I just pay it off every night when I get back to my cabin so I don't run my utilization up too high.

I believe it's either your active duty / retired card (like you use at a PX/BX) or your DD-214.

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It's great book. Unusual, as is usual. 😛 Love Margaret Atwood.

Personally, I always pay for it. Even on vacation I've got a tech job where I still need to able to connect 24x7. Being able to do ancillary, non-job-related stuff is a bonus. Sounds horrible, but I take care of work emails once a day or so, just so I'm not ambushed by a massive backlog when I get back. So far, I'm very much disliking the Starlink performance on ships that have been converted from o3B. I'm doing AK in May on Quantum, and at those latitudes it's already sketchy.

Chuckle. I see similar psychology at work at blackjack tables. A player who is superstitious or otherwise just ignorant of the statistics only notices when another's play seems to be to their detriment. "You took my 10 with a dumb hit!" "You stole the dealer's bust card!" "You should always do X!". Odd, they never seem to notice when a play they dislike turns out to favor them.

I've done it (L2 aft facing loft). With the sliding door closed, I never heard a peep. It wasn't noisy even sitting outside. Still prefer the side L1s though.

Loader at the bottom of the belt: "Fra-gi-le, that's a town in France, right?" [boots box into the aircraft]

On a DX package, you'll find most everything covered. It's not like dive-bar "well" alcohol. Their idea of "well" (gin for instance) appears to be Tanqueray. Bombay Sapphire, Hendrick's, etc. all available at or under the $14 DX drink limit. My last 7 night cruise, I only think I busted the $14 limit 3 times, usually for a good wine I recognized. As others have said: supply chain issues. They've gotten better, but they're occasionally out of even common things.

Correctamundo. Once in a great while, as sort of an "intro to table gaming," I've seen them drop the minimum bet to $5 on BJ tables. But that's early afternoon, usually on a port day when they're trying to drum up business. I'll add one perk to being Prime/Masters in the Club Royale tier system. In addition to not getting hit with the 5% fee, if you cash in using your Sea Pass card (with a credit card tied to your account), it codes as a purchase, not a cash advance, on the credit card side. You'll get the usual points on your credit card. You can sit down, put down your Sea Pass card, and ask for $X on it. Pit boss will take care of it and bring you a receipt to sign. Be aware -- all of the low minimum BJ tables pay 6:5 on BJ. That quadruples the house advantage compared to the higher-minimum 3:2 tables. Gotta read that little screen to the dealer's right to figure out if it's a sucky table to play at.

Oh, sorry. My bad. Yeah, did see a cruise ship docked not far aft of the QM.

Just returned recently from a cruise out of Port Los Angeles (LB). I decided to stay at the Hilton Hotel Maya, and wow... did I like that hotel. It's about 15-20 minutes from the cruise terminal, depending on traffic. Granted, there isn't much around the Maya, but it's perhaps a 15 minute walk across the Queensway Bridge into DTLB (or just grab an Uber/Lyft). Rooms, food, service, bars, everything -- all excellent. Well, there is one very cool thing withing easy walking distance: the Queen Mary. If planning on the Queen Mary, be sure to check their web site first. I think they're still only doing booked tours, and it looks like they sell out fast.

Are you intending to fly-in the day of the cruise? You might want to look at the number of flights into WPB vs. MIA. MIA as a destination airport is going to have many more options of getting there than WPB if something goes wrong.

Just recently off of Navigator. It's been converted to Starlink. As of now, not impressed (I know they haven't finished building out their constellation). When it worked, it worked very well. That said, service was spotty. Way more variable than the previous o3B service. Frequent complete outages. This wasn't at oddball latitudes -- it was LA > Cabo > Mazatlan > PV.

FWIW, the "Private Journeys" thing doesn't get any kind of response. T-minus 9 days. Sticking with stuff I booked. Sounded interesting, but nope.

Pretty non-offensive and intuitive for a non cruiser. She at least went in-depth on Allure. I'm both a wilderness hiker and camper... and avid cruiser. One of the better "not for me" articles I've read. I respect that.

Day one, go to the MDR and talk to whomever is working the Maître d position. They'll sort you out.

For me, no contact until 2 weeks out. Also, no problem since I didn't have any special requests. Mentioned I like Corona as a beer, and my fridge and the counter above it were absolutely stuffed with Coronas for the entire cruise.

2. Kummelweck sandwiches Them's fightin' words. You'll pry my Kummelweck from my dead, cold hands.

I'll heartily second the Aqua80 show. Hands down some of the best entertainment I've ever had on a ship. If you're an '80s music nerd (my high school generation) there are a lot of pleasant surprises -- it's not all just mainstream pop.

I'll be on Navigator Dec 30 - Jan 6. All new ports to me (Cabo, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta). Out of curiosity, I called and gave them my preferences for doing something more curated than a regular excursion (think private car with someone who can deal with my restaurant-level Spanish... food excursion that is more than watching someone make guacamole... actual sailing vs. being on a sailboat just motoring around). Wondering if any of y'all have gone this route. https://webapps.royalcaribbean.com/privatejourneys/

Grand Princess got the O3b satellite internet upgrade when it got Medallion-ized. In general, it's a heck of a lot better than the older geosynchronous high earth orbit systems. Between CA and MX it was reliably 1.5-2Mb/s. The O3B constellation concentrates their most effective coverage at mid-latitudes covering most of north and south America , EMIA (and Carribean, natch). It's less spiffy at higher northern latitudes (think 49N and above... basically Vancouver north). O3b is going to be launching their 2nd gen mPOWER satellites starting next month (adding 11 more to the constellation). Good news for cruisers. Same footprint though: 50N to 50S.