shipgeeks

When I sailed on a cargo ship from NYC to Australia, we had 30 days or so with no ports as we crossed the Pacific, so obviously no new food products brought onboard. Nevertheless, we had fresh fruit every day, milk, eggs, yogurt, and full meals (only two choices for dinner). I suspect they kept their own yogurt culture going, breads baked daily, and meats frozen. We never felt a lack of freshness or variety.

For future cruising considerations, I understand Royal Caribbean's new menus have vegan dishes daily, instead of vegetarian. There have been some negative comments re overuse of mushrooms, and the lack of cheese and eggs for protein, from vegetarians, but it might suit you well.

We always get home around 5pm, so we call for a pizza delivery, always an extra-large so we have three days of food in case we can't get to the store right away. While we wait for the delivery, we try to guess how many emails will be waiting for us, then log on and find out and start reading any important ones. Unpacking, and laundry, will be done when we feel like it.

I'm glad! And one more thing: If, when you are close to boarding, your booking says (as mine always does) "You must download the app now", just ignore it, move down the page, and there will be something like "If not using the app, click here". Don't let it bully you; there is always an option.

I might add that we would not even book a balcony. We did once, and we only used it one time - for an hour or so - during the entire 10 days. All our waking hours were spent up on the open decks, or promenade deck or public spaces during wet weather. Our preference now is oceanview, which lets us see the sea in comfort, and lets in the light and a view of the weather.

Yes, except mine is just two alternating pictures, with the word and picture centered nicely in each square. (Sorry, I don't have the ability to do a photo, but thank you, cruisemom, for the ones above.)

My understanding has been that some cruises would have these extras included in the fare, and some not. Very short cruises - 3 or 4-night - would not; otherwise, offered or not, depending on what the marketing people thought would sell best for particular dates and ships.

Not surprisingly, we have accumulated a lot of Things over the years, and having a fairly large house has allowed us to hang onto them. We realize we can't do this forever. Among our many treasures are lots of books about ships, vintage cruise brochures, papers from our cruises, vintage ship postcards, and old cruiseline ashtrays and china from antique stores. Some of the books are being taken to ships with libraries, as we cruise. We are familiar with several maritime museums and archives, but not sure how we would donate a lot of weight! We no longer drive, so we have given up our ebay shop, without an easy way to the PO. We hesitate to just take these specialized things to the local Goodwill, although clothing and such goes there regularly. Anyone else going through this? Any ideas?

Yes, I looked at ebay after I got home, to see if they were still around. Some were in the hundreds of dollars!

There is a 2015 Bollywood movie set on the former Sovreign: Dil Dhadakne Do. It is quite a good movie, about a family cruise to celebrate a 30th wedding anniversary. Excellent cast including Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor, and many others.

Years ago, during a cruise stop at Costa Maya, I was attracted to the purses made of candy wrappers woven together. So many interesting ones that I couldn't decide, and left empty-handed. Subsequent stops at Cozumel had a few, but nothing that I liked. All were $25 or less. Then, I saw some in a ritzy airport shop, but $100 and up. Today, at a church fund raiser, I found one, and it is the perfect size to be my new onboard-the-ship bag, holding my glasses, ship card, mints, and a hanky. Yay! Have any of you ever had one? Mine is Hershey's Kisses wrappers.

Bread pudding, on RC or HAL, with chocolate or vanilla sauce, depending on the bread.

Good enough, thank you! I was just wondering if there was a sign, and lo and behold.....

The problem I see is that they need to continue sailing from ports that make flying in from overseas (UK, Europe, South America) comfortable and affordable. Thus, Miami, followed by Port Canaveral. The passenger mix is one of the main appeals for us, and it fills the ships. Not sure how many people overseas would be interested in flying further, in order to do an Alaska cruise, for example, and that only once, at most. When we last sailed MSC, we did 7 + 7 nights. That option is hardly ever offered now. Frequently 7 + 4 + 3, which does not appeal to us, even though we don't care about the ports. But for those who do, port options are very limited on these short cruises. When we first sailed MSC here in 2002, the itineraries were all around 12 nights. It made the flights worthwhile!

And there is still no proof that the pictures of the flooded hallway were even taken last week. Could have been from long ago.

There IS a post asking for impressions from this week's cruise. The last time I looked, responders were saying "why do you ask?" and "did something happen last week?" No remarks about damage or anything lacking.

Would that be the unmarked path between two stands of green foliage, on the map?

We have done five Royal Caribbean cruises in the last year, and have never used a smartphone or app for anything. We request the dining time we want when we book the cruise. We take paper version of boarding passes to the terminal. The ships we sail do not require show reservations. We request the daily planner in paper form. We've never felt the lack of apps to be a hindrance. I say don't worry about it! There are still lots of us who don't care to be tied to phones, and the cruiselines will take good care of us.

The point is, was this footage from this cruise, or pulled up from some previous incident somewhere ("stock footage")?

We have been on ships in storms that tossed us out of our beds, or blew me all the way across an open deck, among other things. We did not receive, nor expect, regular announcements from the Captain or other officers. We just let them do their jobs. Cruising is not for everyone. If going through a storm on a ship leads one to be terrified, or afraid for one's life, perhaps other, more desirable, vacation options should be considered.

Sunshine is at Nassau today. No visible signs that she was "destroyed" or "badly damaged". Looks pretty good, actually.

I go with Sensationalism. News reports I've seen today use the headlines "severely damaged", "passengers evacuated", and "cruise ship destroyed". But the articles themselves do not mention any of those, not even a hint. On our 50 or so cruises so far, we've had our fair share of storms, rocking, delays, etc. We have not been "terrified" (another frequently used word), but we have encountered passengers who panicked about whether they would survive, after simply seeing barf bags being put out, or feeling some ship movement. I suspect many of the "terrified" passengers in this case were similarly unfamiliar with cruising. Oh, and I thought the photo of the prone mannequin in the shop was a good eye-catcher for those who might be drawn to an image of a deceased or injured passenger.

I had one of the best haircuts of my life on Seaside back in early 2020, and it was only around $30 plus tip. It was done by a young man from Mauritius.

I saw that article on my news page this morning. A bit sensationalist! "Ship nearly destroyed...."

You can have mine. You can have all my tote bags, too, and all the towel animals, strawberries, cupcakes and other things I have to ask to have cancelled. I really don't want Things.