Happy ks

It does boggle the mind at times. Some weeks you just wish they would send home 2 or more people. Christopher has been that person who just slid by so many times now and this week was not only a total disaster, it's a look he's already done....and not in a good way.

I was sorry to see Logan go, but have to admit it is more because I liked him rather than loving his designs.

There are a few elements in a couple of the outfits I would wear. I loved Gordanas and only wish I could wear a dress like that. Carol Hannaha's as well. I like the top of Altheas, but could not wear anything that short at my age.

I think last week a couple of us asked why Christopher was still there, I think we were right. Unless another designer really crashes and burns next week, he'll be the next to go.

Why is Christopher still there??????

I'm asking myself the same question. At first I though he had some talent, but these past 2 challenges he has really shown why an education and not just a "flair" is important. My feeling is that yes, sometimes designers don't have to have the best sewing skills, but they at least need some of that background to understand the basics of design and what can or can't be done. He has a definite fundamental lack of education in garment construction.

Of course, some of the past seasons, where some contestants don't know the name of major designers has me stumped. Wasn't it last season where a contestant didn't know the name Halston? Don't these fashion design schools teach the history of fashion?

Oh well, like any of the other reality shows, the producers treat the viewers like we're a bunch of idiots who merely want bickering, temper tantrums and immaturity for entertainment. It seems as though they are keeping some contestants for personality rather than skill.

Heidi needs a new stylist.....I haven't liked her last few outfits.

I know the show was taped a while back, could it be she was just beginning to show her pregnancy? Perhaps Curt will know just when the taping was done.

Ok so I assume it's ok to talk about who has gone in this thread even before an official "synopsis"

 

Curt has stated there is no reason to wait for him, he's too busy to have his opinions and pics done the next day. It's no big secret who has gone home on Friday.

I'm ready for Nikolas to be gone for good. I don't care that he won this week and he probably deserved the win. He gives me the creeps :eek: I think it's his hair.

I think Louise has done well until this week, I wonder what happened, maybe the stress got to her. I'm glad she wasn't the one to go.

If I had to choose one dress, it would be Althea's for me. Ra'Mon would be a close second. The majority of the designers did an amazing job with the materials they had to work with. Personally I think this season has brought forward some stellar designers, not just with design but execution as well.

I can do without the whining of the contestants about unusual materials used in a challenge. The only part of the challenge that is a mystery is the type of material they get to use. It's done every season and probably every design school has the same type of challenge.

I look forward to the coming weeks :)

I'm wondering why this thread is a week late as well :confused: Sorry to Curt as I know he is very busy, but everyone else??

My husband sat down next to me yesterday when I watched the DVR'd show from this week. I predicted Qristal (sp???) would go before they even introduced the challenge. She's been so close to the bottom every week and her only saving grace is that someone else has been a disaster.

However, I loved that they had different judges with different points of view. And, where is Michael Kors? He hasn't been on for weeks.

I do agree with Curt that they are keeping some of the contestants in the middle of the pack. There are some great designers in this season, some far better than we have seen in past years.

Goldmoon, I agree with most of what you wrote, especially the part about enjoying a vacation and not skimping on everything.

I get annoyed with other pax when they sit at breakfast/lunch and complain about everything costing extra. Not everything will cost extra, you get to choose what extras you want.

Even at hotels with coke machines, we've paid as much as $1.50 per can... and their restaurant charges :eek: Unless you are staying in a budget motel and eating at fast food restaurants or camping and (the horror) preparing your own meals, a cruise can be a great value even with a few extras.

No matter the length of the trip or how we are arriving, we prefer to pack so we are able to handle our own luggage.

We take just enough for a week, sending things out to be laundered or dry cleaned. We can manage, with formal clothing, one suitcase, one large rolling garment bag and one rolling carry on. Plus my large purse so I can have handy our travel documents, my makeup and jewelry.

I do admire people who can pack in a carry on, I haven't been able to yet, but then again I prefer not to take much onto an airplane, I like to be unencumbered as possible.

My kids are just about grown, when I carried them the big "fashion" for pregnant women was T-shirts with "baby on board" and a big arrow pointed towards your bump. No, I did not buy one. I don't wear character T shirts in normal life, why would I want to look like a cartoon while pregnant?

So, almost all of these fashions would have been a hit with me. I would not have dressed like an egg and I would not have worn a jumpsuit. Mitchells was an absolute mess, but the weird thing is (except for the shorts) you do see women dressed like that all the time, too tight tank tops and sloppy big shirts.

So, probably 10 out of the 15 I would have considered.

I think Shirin was one of the few who made her model look like she was wearing a beautiful dress, you saw that before you saw the bump.

Here are a few more ideas (some already mentioned) to save $$ on a cruise. We have found these to be helpful, especially during these hard times

 

1. Tip your room guy up front = better service I think.

2. Rumrunners can cut your costs in half

3. Bring soda and water on with you, plastic cups too. Skip the soda cards

4. Get off the ship and set up your own excursions

5. If you have an iphone, install fring and use VOIP to make calls back home for pennies if you can find a free wifi. Also, don't use onboard internet.

6. Haggle on prices all the time when off the ship. This includes excursions that get cheaper if you can get others to join/share

7. Avoid spas, casinos, auctions and pictures

8. Hit speciality $$ restaurants when they are on sale.

9. Take a "mixer" water bottle off the ship to get your booze fix.

10. Take baggies to breakfast for bread/snacks in your room and take fruit as snacks/lunch off the ship.

 

If you do these you are bound to knock at least a $1000 off your tab. Hope these help!

 

B & G

Just a couple of things I think are wrong with your suggestions:

#1 Tipping up front does absolutely nothing, you will get the same great service if you wait until the end. All of the things I see listed from people who tip up front or tip extra are the same standard things they do for everyone.

#3 Don't take too much water, the water served in the dining room is fine to drink.

#8 I've never seen a specialty restaurant on sale.

#10 Some ports will confiscate any food items you take, with the exception of closed, pre-packaged foods. Getting off cruise ships in Mexico we've walked by trash cans full of food carried off the ship.

Just to add, when we've been in port where it is easy to re-board the ship, we have gone back onboard for lunch. Not always, because it can be a shame to miss local cuisine.

I was surprised that Christian or Leanne Marshall were not in the All-Star Show.

 

Barb

I don't think it was fair that Jeffery (sp) was in the competition after being the winner of a season. So am kind of glad that other season winners weren't on.

I'd suspect some of the former contestants contacted either couldn't make it or didn't want to go through that again, but there were a few others I would have rather seen than Jeffery (sp).

My kids and I thought it was so weird that Mychael changed his name from Michael. Long boring story, but we have a relative who changed her name. The family and even her friends make jokes about it and it's funny how she reacts tothe teasing. There was nothing wrong with her real name and it's so weird for someone you have known all your life to suddenly have to call them by a different name. She even wears a party name tag "Hello my name is _______" to family events.

I do think Ari has her place in design, probably not clothing worn by people though. More like designing costumes for outer space movies like the weird bar scene characters from Star Wars, or B horror films.

There were a few surprises, some of it looked great, other designs could have come off the rack at Macys or Davids Bridal.

Did anyone else notice Mountaha on the runway?

I wan't expecting the winners design to look like much of anything before the fashion show, but it did look very cute.

I think Korto should have won based on her restaurant dress alone, it was gorgeous. Why didn't she win, her stuff was lovely, well made and looked like it was for real people? Daniels was innovative, but for the majority of real people not at all wearable. His restaurant piece was absolutely shabby and looked like it was created by a high school student.

I'm so out of the loop when it comes to fashion :o

For once the first to go is the one I was rooting for...to go! If I see one more person cry I swear I'm going to throw something at the TV, that is so stupid. They need to get a grip and watch the earlier seasons.

The All Stars show was great, nice to see some of the familiar faces, a shame to see a couple of them there....ones who have already won should not be eligible again.

Once they got to the top 3 I knew who was going to win, it's always the designs I like the least. I think I'm way off the fashion trend all the time. I really like Daniel and I'm happy for him, but his clothes looked sloppy and I just didn't care for the workout T's with skirts.

What fun to have PR back :)

About time we got to watch it again.Love the show.

Ditto.

I don't think it's on until 10 pm here, so I will DVR it. I looooove being able to fast forward through the commercials. Sometimes I start watching an hour long program a half an hour into it, I catch up to the show by the end.

What Janine stated is true. If you want any cosmetic work done, don't bargain shop for it, even injectables. Go to the best MD skilled in that area.

I work with a couple of women who have started messing with their faces and the look is....comical.

We have been on ten cruises so far, all but one in balconies or oceanviews. Last October, we had a balcony on a cruise from Venice to Fort Lauderdale. It was great but no essential in any way for our enjoyment. In February, we sailed from Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires in an inside. We will go to the Caribbean later this month, again an inside. And we have a cruise booked for January, another inside.

Can we afford balconies? Yes. Do we need them? No. We are retirees who have seen more of the world than most anyone on this board, having lived both in apartheid South Africa and communist Soviet Union. We have a pretty good idea about traveling and what goes on in the world.

We are far more concerned about the size of the cabin than the class. We understand everyone who needs a balcony to smell the sea air, etc. After all our globetrotting we have a pretty good idea and we let our imagination work.

To those who disagree, more power to you. Be happy.

I understand your post completely. If an inside cabin works for you that is great, you probably save a lot, cruising that way. Given that our vacation time is limited now we prefer the balcony for the extra luxury.

Value is different for all of us and we appreciate the value of the balcony. For us, since achieving a higher status on RCI, we are more able to afford the balcony over the OV cabins. Sometimes a balcony cabin is the same cost as an OV for us now.

But...I do have to say that if you upgrade the ship rather than the balcony a more upscale inside cabin would be desireable for us. We look forward to trying other lines in the future, more upscale than RCI and we will more than likely book the insides rather than balconies at that point.

We've cruised in insides, ocean views, balconies and a couple of jr. suites and I have to say...I hesitate to book any lower than a balcony again. Not just for the extra outdoor space but for the air, I can barely breathe in an inside or ocean view :o

We spend a huge amount of time on our balcony, coffee in the morning, a glass of wine before leaving for dinner, just to sit out there for a while in our robes before going to bed. Not to mention reading in the afternoon or just gazing out to sea. Yes you can do this in public areas on the ship but not with as much privacy as on your own balcony, it's just not the same.

For us the extra $45 a day for a balcony is a no brainer, especially that long of a cruise. If money is a huge issue, I very well understand why people prefer interior cabins, after all you are still going on the same cruise.

Value does have a different meaning to all of us and for us a little more luxury has a definite benefit. We find little value in things like souvenirs or gambling but many people spend like crazy on those items and without it they feel as though they don't have a great vacation.

I don't think of dissuading people from over-packing to be negative in any way. As a matter of fact, it's the opposite and rather positive. Not only does it reduce the weight and clutter, there will be more vacation $$ to spend on enjoyment.

I wish I would have read a post like simplelife made with comments before our first cruise. Instead, I believed all the suggestions made and packed like we were going camping for a year, complete with a new wardrobe for all 4 of us. By the time we left and with all the excitement reading suggestions made, I had probably spent close to what another cruise might have cost us.

The sad thing was, most of the stuff was unnecessary, never used, the clothing never worn again since it was "cruise clothes" and much of it donated to Goodwill a couple years later. How I wish I would have not spent a fortune on all the junk we dragged along and dragged back home again.

Most of the time, it's simply a step onto the tender...not a big deal! If it's rough, don't go!!!!

My incident happened getting back onto the ship, so I would have had to stay on the very distant Fanning Island until....the next week??? You don't always have a choice, but if the captain says it's too rough, believe them. There have been a couple instances over the years where people have been stranded at port because of too rough a sea for tendering.

Sometimes it's as smooth as glass and no problem at all. In all our cruises, we've only had the rough seas once.

I've on occasion read about people not being able to tender to shore because of rough seas and are disappointed. Believe the captain when they make that decision, I had a quite painful occurence making the transfer in the past.

Even though the crew had ahold of me, the tender boat bobbed downward when I was stepping onto the ship and I pulled a muscle in my hip. I thought I'd just take some Advil and be done with it by the next day. Instead, the pain was my companion for several months, not much could be done for it since it was a muscle strain. I did the ice, heat, massage therapy but it just took several months to heal.

Thanks for the review but I have a question.......what does adding up onboard receipts have to do with going through customs? :confused:

I would assume that since you are required to report what you have purchased on the customs forms, the OP thought is would be handy to have it added up ahead of time. Onboard purchases are duty free and you do have to declare purchases you make outside the country. You don't have to report onboard spending like drinks or spa services. I usually just keep the receipts and give a ballpark figure, but we don't usually spend much on souvenirs.

To the OP, thanks for taking us on your trip, I look forward to your pics :)

It can depend on the TSA agent/counter you happen to go through any particular day as well. I know I've had my 3-1-1 bag out before and the agent tells me to put it back into my carry on without looking at it. When we went through London on a connection, we were all treated like terrorists and they examined every inch of our bags...not just the 3-1-1 bags.

Whether they are reactive or proactive doesn't matter, you have to comply with what they want or they throw your stuff out :)

I think it will take years for the US to catch up, if ever, to a different way of looking at security. They are more concerned with not offending anyone and they get that from US citizens, many people throw a roadblock because of their feelings and the gov't caves in to them. Just look at how many people don't want to obtain passports to cruise to a foreign port.