The Bistro- Off topic and fun posts!

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is from a 2019 QM2 transatlantic, Southampton to New York.  May 20 was a sea day early in the crossing:

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is from a 2016 Veendam Bermuda cruise.  May 21 was the day we returned to Boston:

 

 

Roy

[KenzSailing]

I have a nuts and bolts question the US based cruisers who have taken long cruises can answer.  Every time I've done a vacation hold with the USPS, the form says maximum hold is 30 days (or one month, can't remember.)  How do you handle your mail when you're gone (particularly half way around the world) for more than a month?  

[Ice Bear]

The USPS offers a free service: Informed Delivery. Sign up online. Access USPS and click on the icon in the top left corner to request it.

 

Every morning that I will have a delivery, I receive an email with pictures of the envelopes. Packages indicate the USPS tracking code. 
 

Now requires annual renewal.

 

Email and Online access, too!

 

Neighbor collected my mail when I don’t meet the minimum number of delivery days.

[SusieQft]

We rented a private mail box (PMB), and get almost all our mail there.  Ours is PostNet, but we used to use a UPS Store before we moved to our current location.  They hold all our mail until we get home.  When we are gone for more than 30 days, we have our mail forwarded there from our house address.  I think you can forward the mail for up to one year.

 

This solution does have a cost, and is less convenient for routine mail when we are home, since we have to drive about a mile to the mail drop to pick it up.  But it is next door to a convenient grocery store, so it is usually not a wasted trip.  And besides the travel security, it also allows us to receive packages in a safe location away from the weather (usually heat in our case) and porch pirates.  At our previous house there was no obvious place for the delivery person to leave packages, so sometimes it took us a while to notice we had received one.  Once we found a package several months after it had been left under a bush.  The PMB was our solution to that problem, and it also works well for extended travel.

 

BTW, the USPS Informed Delivery is not available to PMB customers, but some mail receiving companies will provide a similar service, and also mail forwarding on a selective basis or just all of it..  The post office does everything they can to make things difficult for PMB users.

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise really is today, taken from Deck 12 Aft on Adventure of the Seas somewhat midway between Bayonne and Bermuda.

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

On 5/21/2022 at 1:41 PM, KenzSailing said:

I have a nuts and bolts question the US based cruisers who have taken long cruises can answer.  Every time I've done a vacation hold with the USPS, the form says maximum hold is 30 days (or one month, can't remember.)  How do you handle your mail when you're gone (particularly half way around the world) for more than a month?  

I have used the UPS store for almost 20 years now.  Some glitches, especially since Maryland MVA will not accept it and most of the mail they send out is non-forwardable, but I solved that with having their communications also sent by email.  My store is just a block from my fire house so it is very convenient for me and also for packages.

 

Roy

[KenzSailing]

10 hours ago, SusieQft said:

We rented a private mail box (PMB), and get almost all our mail there.  Ours is PostNet, but we used to use a UPS Store before we moved to our current location.  They hold all our mail until we get home.  When we are gone for more than 30 days, we have our mail forwarded there from our house address.  I think you can forward the mail for up to one year.

 

This solution does have a cost, and is less convenient for routine mail when we are home, since we have to drive about a mile to the mail drop to pick it up.  But it is next door to a convenient grocery store, so it is usually not a wasted trip.  And besides the travel security, it also allows us to receive packages in a safe location away from the weather (usually heat in our case) and porch pirates.  At our previous house there was no obvious place for the delivery person to leave packages, so sometimes it took us a while to notice we had received one.  Once we found a package several months after it had been left under a bush.  The PMB was our solution to that problem, and it also works well for extended travel.

 

BTW, the USPS Informed Delivery is not available to PMB customers, but some mail receiving companies will provide a similar service, and also mail forwarding on a selective basis or just all of it..  The post office does everything they can to make things difficult for PMB users.

 

Ah, I hadn't thought of that.  Thanks.

[KenzSailing]

53 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

I have used the UPS store for almost 20 years now.  Some glitches, especially since Maryland MVA will not accept it and most of the mail they send out is non-forwardable, but I solved that with having their communications also sent by email.  My store is just a block from my fire house so it is very convenient for me and also for packages.

 

Roy

 

Hi Roy, 

 

Hey, my closest UPS store is in a strip mall with a MoCo Liquor right there.  Which makes it pretty convenient for me. 😁

[Keith1010]

On 5/21/2022 at 11:41 AM, KenzSailing said:

I have a nuts and bolts question the US based cruisers who have taken long cruises can answer.  Every time I've done a vacation hold with the USPS, the form says maximum hold is 30 days (or one month, can't remember.)  How do you handle your mail when you're gone (particularly half way around the world) for more than a month?  

We have done it two different ways.

 

If you have family in the area we have forwarded our mail to them.

 

More recently we have taken a post office box and we just take one somewhere that is close to us.  Where we live now there is a mailbox store about a miles away.

 

Word to the wise.  If you want to verify that the forwarding is working (you do a temporary move which can be done for up to one year), start the process early.  In other words, if we are leaving on December 20 submit the form at least seven to ten days before the effective date and we make the effective date at least two week before the day we are leaving.  So in the case of 12/20 effective date 12/4 and submission seven to ten days before that.

 

Why.  It takes a long time for all of this to be in place and on a few occasions we've had to speak with our local carrier. It is a very manual process.

 

With that said since the mailbox we rent is located near us it's really no big deal to do this early and more often than not it takes a long time.  

 

Keith

[rafinmd]

It's a very cloudy morning on Adventure of the Seas so today's sunrise goes back to my very first Royal Caribbean cruise on Enchantment of the Seas back in 2011.  On May 23 we arrived in St. Thomas, USVI.

 

 

Roy

[BEAV]

This was a pop-up ad that I came across 

while on line today.  And, NO, I wasn’t shopping for a Crystal Cruise when it popped up! 
 

So are they selling USED (oops, pre-owned) bedding products that were ransacked from the ships?! Or have they not yet gotten the word that promoting a defunct cruise line’s products aren’t the best marketing strategy?! 
 

On the other hand, maybe some Crystal Society members will want to buy some for nostalgia. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

Happy Shopping, but don’t look for extra Society points on your purchase! 😉

 

https://www.downlitebedding.com/crystal-cruise-line-bedding/

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by BEAV

[KenzSailing]

1 hour ago, BEAV said:

This was a pop-up ad that I came across 

while on line today.  And, NO, I wasn’t shopping for a Crystal Cruise when it popped up! 
 

So are they selling USED (oops, pre-owned) bedding products that were ransacked from the ships?! Or have they not yet gotten the word that promoting a defunct cruise line’s products aren’t the best marketing strategy?! 
 

On the other hand, maybe some Crystal Society members will want to buy some for nostalgia. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

Happy Shopping, but don’t look for extra Society points on your purchase! 😉

 

https://www.downlitebedding.com/crystal-cruise-line-bedding/

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the love of all that is holy, don't buy any bedding that was ever used in 852 on Serenity.  Trust me on this.

 

 

[BEAV]

8 minutes ago, KenzSailing said:

 

For the love of all that is holy, don't buy any bedding that was ever used in 852 on Serenity.  Trust me on this.

 

 

 

Sage advice, I’m sure.....

 

But I checked the box “bedding only from decks 10 and 11.”

 

Why would I want to buy sheets from steerage? 🤷‍♂️

[KenzSailing]

14 hours ago, BEAV said:

 

Sage advice, I’m sure.....

 

But I checked the box “bedding only from decks 10 and 11.”

 

Why would I want to buy sheets from steerage? 🤷‍♂️

 

Well of course that's how you roll, Lord Grantham.

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise really is today.  Despite low hanging clouds the sun did eventually show itself from my balcony looking towards Hamilton.

 

 

Roy

[meg1021]

13 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

Today's sunrise really is today.  Despite low hanging clouds the sun did eventually show itself from my balcony looking towards Hamilton.

 

 

Roy

When I'm browsing through the message boards, I always make it a point to look at your sunrise/sunset pictures.  It reminds me of the beauty in nature, which I find, is a calming thought in this crazy world!  Enjoy your current trip on Adventure of the Seas!

[KenzSailing]

On 5/23/2022 at 5:08 AM, Keith1010 said:

Word to the wise.  If you want to verify that the forwarding is working (you do a temporary move which can be done for up to one year), start the process early.  In other words, if we are leaving on December 20 submit the form at least seven to ten days before the effective date and we make the effective date at least two week before the day we are leaving.  So in the case of 12/20 effective date 12/4 and submission seven to ten days before that.

 

Why.  It takes a long time for all of this to be in place and on a few occasions we've had to speak with our local carrier. It is a very manual process.

 

 

Yeah, that's good advice.  Whenever we do a simple vacation hold, the odds seem to be 50/50 that it will go off without a hitch. 

[rafinmd]

26 minutes ago, KenzSailing said:

 

Yeah, that's good advice.  Whenever we do a simple vacation hold, the odds seem to be 50/50 that it will go off without a hitch. 

That sounds optimistic to me.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise really is today.  it's from the starboard side of the Adventure of the Seas more or less 1/3 of the way from Bermuda to Bayonne:

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise once again really is today, taken on the Adventure of the Seas headed back to Bayonne for turnaround day:

 

Roy

[Keith1010]

So on another thread we are talking about food; Tongue, and all sorts of things.

 

This reminded me that growing up we would go to this deli where you could get knish and could take it out.  This was not your normal Kinish.  They were large.  I would say a five inch by five inch square and an inch tall and golden color and delicious.  They would come piping hot and they would give it to you in white wax paper in a paper bag.  I can taste it now.  I haven't found them since.

 

OK three other food memories.

 

Pretzels.  At my high school we would sell soft pretzels as a fundraisers.  One for fifteen cents and two for a quarter and they arrived hot and almost wet like.  Lots of salt.  I would go from selling them to basketball practice but sometimes I would buy one or two myself.  I am not sure if the coach would have approved but I was one who the coach would encourage to get a little more meat on the body.  LOL.

 

When we would go to the shopping mall I have fond memories of the candy counter where they sold loose candy and all sorts of nuts. Cashews, or mixed nuts. Very salty and hot.  They would put them in wax paper bags. Do you all remember the warm nuts.  Is that an East Coast thing or even a New York thing or was that all over?

 

Keith

[Mrs. Claypool]

The Sears in San Diego certainly had a hot nut counter when I was growing up.  But my mother never bought any because they were "an unnecessary extravagance."

 

Now I buy my own cashews in the 2.5 pound jar from Costco.  Then I look lovingly heaven-ward and say-- "Hey, Mom!  Watch me stuffing my face with cashews!"

 

Emily  😋

[ctjon]

From our 2019 cruise from Tokyo to San Francisco.  This was a tour on the in port day in Tokyo before we actually sailed.    A bunch of sights such as this.

 

 

[rafinmd]

On a very overcast morning on Adventure of the Seas today's sunrise will need to be from a different May 27.  This is from 2016 on NCL Breakaway, then docked at Kings Wharf in Bermuda.

 

 

Roy