mor mor

Excellent advice not to try a new OTC while away from home. I am allergic to Immodium - just like it says on the bottle, it gives me a very bad rash -

The perks are not an issue for us - we like leaving from US ports and eliminating some flights. Sea days vs hours in a plane? Easy choice for us.

Absolutely! Just one example from our recent trip: On the last formal night of our recent cruise, there were four of us at our table, two couples. Both of the men were attired in tuxedos (technically semi-formal, I know.) One of the ladies was wearing a long gown. One wore a cocktail dress.

 

The woman in the gown got extra lobster. Coincidence? I think not!

 

If there is a dress code and we know what it is, we comply. We don't mind packing dress clothes and schlepping them half way around the world just to have one dinner in a single restaurant. We do it all the time.

 

I completely understand that there are people don't want to do that. That's their business. What I don't understand is why some people are so dead set against formal nights.

 

Because right behind them are the people who don't want to wear long pants. And they're being followed by the people who would be more comfortable eating in their robes and slippers.

 

I know what you're saying. You're saying, "That would never happen!" I'm sure that's what people said 20 years ago about not wearing a tie.

 

As we near the end of the rant, I must confess that the passenger who got the extra lobster ordered extra lobster. Looping back around to the question about the formal night food: In my opinion, it's generally a bit better than on a regular night.

 

I do like where you're going with your train of thought though. The more effort you put into looking nice, the better your meal selections.

 

"I'm sorry sir, but that's a clip on tie. I'm afraid the tenderloin is off the table."

 

"That's a lovely gown, madame. Would you care to see the secret chocolate dessert menu?"

Yes! You are the Seinfeld of the cruise industry!

What an interesting topic. I am a List Maker. Making lists for packing and sightseeing puts me in control and lessens anxiety. What if I forget important travel documents? If not for my To Do lists, which I rewrite about every six days, I wouldn't have renewed our passports in time for our next cruise. I make lists for my clothes so I can determine the color scheme and avoid overpacking.

 

For each cruise I make up a three ring binder divided into sections for the ship (deck plan, tonnage, year built, etc.), the hotel, the flights, facts about the ports, currencies and how to say Please and Thank You in the languages we will encounter -- including aboard the ship.

 

 

I also enjoy using "the little grey cells" and planning does lessen anxiety for me too. I do what you do, except I put it in a folder. I have a Word doc packing list which I print out and edit for each trip. DH just has a pad and a scribble and it works for him but I check everything for him too. Though we choose excursions ahead of time, that is the end of cruise management - once on board we relax and go with whatever we feel like. I like pleasant surprises, and if I miss something, why it is because I was doing something else I enjoyed.

mor mor

would love to join you but can not figure out how to do it! How do I get to the roll call?

Thanks

At the top of this page click Roll Call - it directs you to HAL, then Amsterdam, then click the sailing - you will have lots of pages to read.

We are booked from Seattle to Singapore. Join us on RollCall!

Please, sir POA1, may we have another...??? :D

Oh yes Sir POA1.....you brighten my day. Also my limited computer skills, because I learn things when you write . Also my happy cruising memories, which do have a halo of gold.

We live in a popular American resort town in California and it is easy to spot the American tourists - they are much fatter. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

I really enjoyed your well written post. We are from the "silent generation"--as Time mag dubbed us -people born in the 30s, which is the smallest cohert yet. so we never jitterbugged or charlestoned or did Latin America dances, but mostly slow dancing - but most of us enjoy the individual dancing that came about with your generation. (Notice how we are neither the "greatest generation" too young for WW2, OR the baby boomers but we are never mentioned.) I am annoyed by show off dancers too, and once you have seen their routine it is boring. We go ahead and dance in a corner if we feel like it and no one is rude as being old means you are invisible.:) plus you care less what other people think.

I am glad you had a good cruise - the bloggers really were enthusiastic - and I hope you have many happy dancing years ahead with the kind of music you and we enjoy.

Good idea - and I will ask my hair dresser for more solutions. I have heard from others that their hairdresser will give them the magic formula to share with the hairdressers on board. Any other suggestions? I am mostly white but still have blond here and there so grow out isn't too awful.

If it helps, we are 3 star Mariners who travel with our children, all of us on balconies, and we never have smelled cigarette smoke there. So it is very possible you will be lucky too.

She is on Roll call for the Sept 21 Grand Pacific.

Q: Why is there a $3.95 Internet activation fee? I'm pretty sure that the Internet was active when I left home.

 

A: Your Holland America Internet Account has been personally selected from our vast collection of Internet Access Accounts by highly trained professionals wearing sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your Internet Account and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before activating it. Our world-renowned packing specialist lit a locally sourced artisanal candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your account into the finest gold-plated shipping box that money can buy.

 

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the airport where the entire city of Seattle waved "Bon Voyage!" to your Internet Access Account, on its way to you, in our private Holland America Internet Account delivery helicopter. (Did you ever notice the really big letter H in a circle on the deck of the ship? That's where the HAL-o-copter lands when it delivers your account.)

 

We hope you appreciate all the hard work and effort that went into bringing you your Internet account, and we think you'll agree that it's a steal at only $3.95. In commemoration of your new Internet Access Account, we have placed your picture on our wall as "Customer of the Year." We're all exhausted, but can't wait for you to log on and enjoy the blazing speeds!

In the extremely unlikely event that you have a problem with your account - lost minutes for instance - rest assured that this is unavoidable. Sometimes the turbulence from the helicopter blades causes minutes to blow overboard. If you encounter this extremely unlikely phenomenon, just consult your ship's Internet manager. He or she is available any time the helicopter is onboard. Just listen for the whup - whup - whup sound of the chopper's blades. When you hear them, please report to the ship's library. It's the room with the Scrabble tables and Eurotrash techno music blaring in the background.

It took a while to stop laughing so I could type. I really hope HAL management reads this -

I have just recently purchased this over the door shoe hanger that hold 18 pairs from Walmart. Hope it will work for our world cruise.

 

Aren't the closet doors the sliding kind tho?

No it's a photo from an ad for the Forever Lazy. Search for it on YouTube to see it in... er... action.

 

You'd probably have to Bedazzle it for formal night. ;)

Thanks! You have solved my problem of what to take on our upcoming cruise. I am thinking outlining a bow tie for DH in beads, and maybe a plunging neckline for me. We will be chic AND comfortable.

I love this thread - keep it coming as it starts my day with a laugh.

You mean to say that I can't wear my cut off's and favourite sports t-shirt into the MDR? That sucks. That means after I finish sneaking my alcohol onboard and drinking it on my balcony with the door propped open, I have to change? :P

Whether the kind that have what amounts to a wire hanger curve on top will work may vary from ship to ship, and door to door. I've found that the flat kind can fit over most doors, including those on ships. Bring some flat over-door hangers, then hang your shoe holder on that.

 

You might also try the heavy-duty versions of those hooks that Scotch puts out--the kind that use an adhesive piece that you can pull off when you are finished. We found that they were able to hang robes.

We always cruise with a shoe bag with a wire hanger curve on top to hang on the outside of the bathroom door, which still closes. Invaluable for those small things that get mislaid: camera, sunglasses, etc, and we also add our pill bottles...

people will always be judged by what they wear.

Interview - wear your shorts and t-shirt - you won't get the office job where business casual is the standard. Wear your scrubs from job A during lunch for clinical nursing job B, not such a huge deal

On the street - group of dudes coming to you in wife-beaters and low riding pants...bad news or a church group finishing up a building project. I'm not going to stick around and find out.

Clothing reflects who you are - its why kids don't want to wear uniforms and express their individuality - yet every career has its own uniform. Some uniforms have a name on them, some don't. But you wear your work uniform [well except here where some of the women dress like they are on their way to a pole dance...]

If you go to a place that has a stated dress code/standard and you flaunt that you are not going to follow it people might assume: You're too stupid to read, you don't care what anyone says, you're going to do what you please, you don't care, or maybe you don't know any better.

Just don't get offended when people look at you and roll their eyes if you choose to ignore. Unless you are in my space or smell really bad, I'm just going to look at you with a bless your heart look and assume you don't know any better or don't care

Well said! If people enjoy not following a dress code, then presumably they enjoy being noticed for being defiant. bless their hearts.

You are right - we are having a heat wave here in San Diego. I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your detailed description of the getting off the ship/airport travails just because I have been there and because you write so well. Thank you for taking us along on your voyage.

We have been cruising with our family of 10 for years and only NOW do I realize we should have had two tables of five, and alternated who sat where as we took far too long at dinner. First in, last out! When it is just 2 or 4 of us, dinner was a normal length. But we never had to wait, and it was never the fault of the servers.

In the lady's possible defense, she may have been married to a sailor. Many of us that spent time on aircraft carriers routinely referred to the bow, stern, and the superstructure as "the pointy end, the roundy end, and the sticky-up part". This was thought to be the height of humor.

 

We took our pleasures where we could find them.;)

Exactly. My husband is a docent on the carrier museum the Midway, and he finds this much the easiest way to explain directions to visitors.

For me it is faster to print out everything and put it in our travel folder - it is only one step instead of the 3 described - plus people behind desks respect that piece of paper rather than squinting at my screen. I rarely have a problem, even so, and never on ship..

We always get good medical/ evacuation coverage but we never insure something we can afford to replace - and have saved enough to take several cruises as a result (we usually travel with family and we may be 4 to 10 of us and that is alot of cancellation insurance!) We have never had a problem so if the next cruise involves a cancellation we are still way way ahead.)

I also thought the Medivac procedure had hurt the passenger - and that is what it says. Let us all hold onto the stair rails...and buy medical evacuation insurance...