xenagurl

Another thumbs up for Armando de Silva. I met him on the Jade over 3 years ago and had a chance to sit at his table during the officers dinner. He was pleasant, helpful, funny, accomodating and obviously loved his native Madeira. I even have a recording of him during an officer Q&A. He's very good at what he does.

All of this tea talk! :) It's time to name some favorites.

Currently this is what's on my "Tea playlist". I'm not sold on any one brand or flavor. I drink what I like and I like various teas for a variety of reasons.

Harney and Sons --- Loose, and pyramid bags. Too many types to count, but I am drinking quite a bit of their Holiday Tea lately.

Their summer flavors are coming out and I'll be heading back there to stock up. Visit their tea room if you can, it's a couple of hours away from NYC and a nice day trip. (One of my trips to Harney & Sons)

Tiesta Tea --- Goji Berry Calm (loose)

Yogi Tea --- Ginger (bag)

Trader Joe's --- Peppermint (though Stash's Moroccan Mint is one of my favorites) --- Organic Ginger Pear White Tea (bags) --- Organic Mint Melange when they have it.

Twinings --- Ultra Spice Chai and Green Tea Nightly Calm (bags)

Yes I love tea so much I'll even photograph it! LOL

One would certainly hope! :D

 

Still, part of my point is that even with theoretically-handpicked, 100% organic tea leaves, if the leaves are of poor quality or the curing is poor, then one will still end up with a poor product. Making the statement that the tea is handpicked and 100% organic alongside people saying "this tea is remarkably weak" is a sidestep, not an actual counterpoint.

On that we can agree. I suppose I'm looking for the bright point in this. I do love tea and hope that this one can be brought back from the brink. With such a wide ocean, and so much possible bad tea, we might all go the way of Boston in 1771. However I will make my decision next cruise. ;)

Celebrity started carrying this brand of tea in early 2014. There are some rather disparaging comments in the forums over there, as well. Apparently it's a somewhat new commercial food service brand based in Singapore (as previously mentioned) that some cruise lines are starting to use because it's cheaper. (There's also some degree of controversy about the company, but that's neither here nor there.)

 

I will point out that belladonna can be "handpicked" and "100% organic" as well, but I'm not going to drink that steeped in water, either.

Quite true, but I do think it would be a stretch to think that the tea contains that Cyanide or Curare wouldn't it?;) At least one hopes not! Taken in its context one would assume that it refers to organic tea leaves of the particular type that is being offered. :)

That is clever for devices that can be charged on the desk and that don't have those big square plugs like our camera has.

 

If a person has a CPAP they need an extension cord since the CPAP must be on the nightstand by the bed, and that is not near the plug on the desk.

 

The OP was asking about a fan as well. Not sure your device would work for that either.

mking8288 posted a helpful photo. They do in fact rotate, and I plug my large Canon Rebel battery charger there. I've no idea if they'd work for your camera charger or other device however I was posting that suggestion for those that actually would find it useful. I'm certainly not encouraging you to look into bringing something that you personally don't need.

OP --- No I guess that wouldn't work for your fan. :) Anyway I don't think you'll have much issue bringing an extension cord. You can always try and see.

I've had one or two that I don't remember seeing much, but my room was quite clean and when I did meet them they came across as shy people. My room was clean though, so that was all that mattered. In general I find them to be outgoing and pleasant. I've had some enjoyable conversations with some and look forward to seeing others on future trips.

Well at least the new brand is organic. That is a plus. I've not heard of it, but now I'll at least try it on my next cruise.

For many reasons and the reasons do change. Currently. It's nice being on the water. It's an inexpensive relaxing vacation and my husband prefers them to many land options.

OP this is what I was referring to: http://www.belkin.com/us/BST300-Belkin/p/P-BST300/

They also have a similar one here: http://www.belkin.com/us/BSV300-CW-Belkin/p/P-BSV300-CW/

If you are not using your items while they are charging this is a much lighter option than a power strip with extension cord, and of course you guarantee that no one will trip over it by mistake.

From an NCL tea drinking Brit, I can assure you that in no way is Litpon decent tea!!

 

Ever since I tried to brew a cup with 4 bags on my 1st NCL cruise 5 years ago and it got nowhere decent enough to drink I have resorted to bringing my own - struggling to believe that there is anything worse than Lipton :eek:

There isn't. Sorry OP ;) I was at a job where all they served was Lipton (for very obvious reasons :cool:) and if I'd forget to bring my tea, I'd be forced to use theirs with multiple tea bags. I thought I was the only one when a co-worker came into the kitchen area one day, saw me and said "I thought it was just me."

I don't know about an extension cord, but I bring a Belkin multi plug & USB hub so that I can charge more than one device at a time and I have never had an issue. As long as your cord and plug is UL rated/certified you probably won't have a problem.

My parents, specifically my mother doesn't. In her words "It feels like a cattle car". I like it, it has a lot more activities and the layout is nice. However my favorite class is the Jewel. Particularly because you can walk around the whole ship easily on deck 7.

Interesting, thanks for the notice. I nearly always bring and drink my own tea as I am very finicky about tea types and brands but for those times that I might forget to bring something to the table, it's good to know that I might want to skip it!

I took a "let's get out of here" cruise a few weeks ago. It was great. Sun, fun and warmth. I came back to snow...and more snow. I'm good on cruises for now, but I'm definitely looking at a weekend somewhere warm if I can squeeze it in.

OV means OceanView, not Obstructed View. There are plenty oceanview (OV) cabins on Breakaway class ships but none are obstructed AFAIK.

 

If I'm not mistaken, only cabins that some people consider obstructed are balcony cabins just above the lifeboats as you can't see straight down to the sea from the balcony and some in-hull balconies that are inside ship's fuselage and have a big cutout on the side.

Well yes and no. I was wrong in that they aren't called OV. On the Jewel class they're OK and OX I think and I don't think that there are any obstructed on the Breakaway, but I don't think that OV is an actual booking type on NCL ships at least not on Jewel and Breakaway class from what I see.

I'm not sure that there are any (OV) cabins on the Breakaway.

However even if there are, I don't see how you could mistakenly book one. They are listed as Obstructed View (OV), so you have the option to or to not chose when you book.

Same day? I'd go with NCL transfers. It's painless and $35 one way.

After trying to go with a cab service with a nutty dispatcher I wound up doing it this way and life was so much easier, despite having to come back to the airport from the hotel. If you're flying in the same day, this is super easy, quick and reasonably priced.

This is kind of how I think. I'm so used to having it when I travel, that I can't imagine not having it. I cannot imagine walking around a foreign country without my passport on me. Most people who regularly travel overseas feel the same way, and the State Department recommends always keeping it on you.

Hmmm I think that's probably personality dependent, and perhaps where one travels. I've traveled regularly for 20 years, alone, with others, some nice countries, some iffy, but carrying my passport is never a constant. Many of my friends are regularl travelers too, for business and pleasure, but it's the same, it depends on the variables stated above.

It probably has to do with personality type. Oh well...Different strokes! :)

 

We had this occur in January 2014 when we visited Tunisia. The ship held onto our passports for about 24 hours. Again in December 2014 on a repositioning cruise that included Ecuador, Peru and Chile. In that case, they held our passports for 4-5 days.

Two different cruise lines, BTW.

Wow! That's quite a long time. I've had it held a day or so (Egypt, maybe Turkey), never longer. Was that because those stops were that far into the cruise?

If she cruises in April she definitely has time to get a new passport. She should expedite it for peace of mind, but this is the time to do it. Before summer vacations and after the holidays. It won't take very long to get it back.

That being said I've been married almost 16 years, my name is hyphenated. I keep saying I'll change my passport to my married name but I've left it like it is (just maiden) because...well no because. If I stop booking trips in my maiden name maybe I'll give myself time to update my passport. :p

I hope that your daughter and new hubby have a nice trip. :)

Lol, are we related? :D

 

This is exactly me!!

LOL Great minds!

I don't. I carry the ship card and picture ID. The only time I carried my passport while in a cruise port was when I was in Alexandria / Cairo. Egypt was still a bit up in the air at that time and I thought that if I needed it, it might be hard to get it to the port representative. It was also an overnight stop, so I thought it better to have it on me.

I feel that statistics show that I'll be more likely to lose it or have it stolen than need it ashore. If the data changes, I'll change what I do. However this policy has served me well so far.

With land vacations, it's a toss up. It depends on the type of safe in the room, the stability of the country I'm in and where I'll be traveling while there.

They all have their great points. I'd base it on which ports are of most interest to you.

Personally I'm a fan of Jewel class ships and in fact just got off of the Jewel on Saturday. The ports were great and of a lot of interest to me but it was the first time I'd been to any of them.

I happen to like all 3 ships for different reasons but if you like an exciting ship. I'd go with the Getaway. They have Vibe and a great spa so it's really easy to relax. The Epic is elegant and literally in a class by herself, and the Jewel and her sisters are cozy and welcoming.

Good points. My thoughts ran along similar lines.

Bravo to Kevin Sheehan for taking a moribund company like NCL and turning it into the most ascendant brand in the cruise industry. I hope he's taking the money and running so that he can be with his family full-time in New York. Didn't he say on Undercover Boss that he commutes every week?

 

All of the Oceania and Regent Seven Seas aficionados will be thrilled that Frank Del Rio will be running NCL Holdings, as I'm sure they were concerned that Norwegian was going to cheapen those brands. Now it is likely that the Oceania magic will be sprinkled over Norwegian.

 

I'm optimistic that this is good news.

I don't think Kevin was meant to be a long term CEO from the start. I think he came in to turn things around and to be the CEO while the company went public. I don't remember where, but I remember having a discussion with someone about that.

I wish I had read this before wasting my time. Their quote on the phone was $15 over what was on the site because of "Obama" :confused: then they were going to charge $10 more for an additional stop 1 mile away...Okay.

When I called to confirm 2 weeks later they couldn't find my reservation, were going to charge me $10 more than the original quote, started talking about some $20 fee into the Port of Houston and then this same dude went on some "Obama" and Obamacare" rant. Yes, rant. I kid you not. What in the world the President has to do with me trying to book a transfer in Houston I'll never know, but in every way the interaction was either unprofessional, creepy or both.

Needless to say I booked my transfer with NCL instead with a price that stays the same! Go figure. ;)

I'd stay far, far away from that "business" that doesn't know how to conduct business.