twangster

I had a few dinners with a celiac in Coastal Kitchen on Anthem in January.  They were very understanding and accommodating.  They identified which entrees were off limits and they were able to modify sauces or secondary items on other plates to satisfy her requirements.  
While not a specialty venue exactly, they do have their own small galley.  Most importantly they immediately understood and were very careful to check with the chef to validate safe choices and then repeated it again for dessert.  I was impressed how they handled the last minute request or special diet on the spot.  

Star Class already can drink twice as much.

With jet airplanes the concept of scheduled transatlantic passenger service pretty much stopped.  All that's left is when cruise ships are repositioned to spend summers in the Mediterranean and winters in the Caribbean.   
The Mediterranean cruise season is primarily during the summer.  It isn't a popular mode of vacation travel during the colder winter months.  Consequently modern cruise lines tend to get out of the Mediterranean during the winter which results in Westbound transatlantic in the fall and subsequently Eastbound transatlantic in the spring so the ships are back in the Med for the summer.
Once in a while there is an exception if a ship needs to cross for maintenance or dry dock purposes but even for those most cruise lines try to match those events to occur before or after a natural repositioning to capitalize on the normal summer cruise trends.   
Transatlantic cruises are not as popular so the rates are often lower to fill the ship.  For this reason I am drawn to transatlantic crossings and I dislike paying almost as much for transatlantic airfare as I do for the transatlantic cruise fare but unless you can spend several months exploring Europe it's very hard to find return ship service.   

Sometimes the point is closed if tides are up but on this particular day it was open.

Star Class already can drink twice as much.

Three of my cruises have this:

I usually like to do check out the nature walks.  I see they added hand washing stations like on CocoCay.



This is where I get the best pictures of the ship du jour.

Continuing on...


Looks like they are set up for a ceremony today.

Not really sure. Different fleet size is definitely a factor but so is median age.  Much of Carnival's fleet is smaller and older.  
With the introduction of mega sized ships Royal grew more efficient in terms of revenue per passenger carried.  Smaller fleet but with bigger ships, Royal has been achieving better revenue performance on a relative basis.  For every mega ship Royal has at sea, Carnival needs somewhere between two to three ships to carry the same numbers, passengers and revenue.
Now remove the guests and move into a mode of maintaining and operating a fleet at reduced crew levels.  That's still a Captain per ship, a senior bridge crew per ship,  marine departments per ship, security teams per ship.  Dock fees, fuel minimums, operating certificates, etc. all on a per ship basis.  The highest paid crew positions are still required while many of the lowest paid positions have been sent home. 
The cost to maintain a smaller ship during these times may be slightly lower that the cost to maintain a mega sized ship but at absolute minimums there is a floor that is reached, a minimum operating cost that any ship requires regardless of size.  That extra two to three ships per million in passenger revenue starts to bite them very hard. 
There are also fewer brands so fewer high priced executive teams running each brand.   Royal Caribbean International, the flagship brand operates around the world.  Carnival as in the red whale tail brand that is the flagship primarily operates only in North America.  Carnival Australia is a completely different organization from a corporate structure perspective sharing only the name and whale tail, it's almost like yet another Carnival brand.  For other regions Carnival operates another brand such as P&O, AIDA, Costa for example.  Like ships there are floor costs to operate each brand using the corporate structure that Carnival uses.   For each brand there are presidents and senior vice presidents, etc. - the highest priced positions.
I also think corporate culture starts to creep in as a factor which underlie the revenue performance and revenue efficiency that was experienced during the good times in the decades leading up to this point.  That's hard to quantify in exact numbers.  During the good times the cost of Carnival's corporate culture and inefficiency was masked by the fists full of dollars coming in.  Stripped of passenger revenue and forced to operate at minimums we see it more plainly.   

Star Class already can drink twice as much.

Star Class already can drink twice as much.

Three of my cruises have this:

Sometimes the point is closed if tides are up but on this particular day it was open.

Sometimes the point is closed if tides are up but on this particular day it was open.

I usually like to do check out the nature walks.  I see they added hand washing stations like on CocoCay.



This is where I get the best pictures of the ship du jour.

Continuing on...


Looks like they are set up for a ceremony today.

Another fun thing to do at Labadee is to jetski

I looked at my watch and it was 5 o'clock.  Time for a Labradoozie.

Another fun thing to do at Labadee is to jetski

I looked at my watch and it was 5 o'clock.  Time for a Labradoozie.

Or ban breathing on the ship...

Steak Diane.
I'm not sure what someone named Diane did to the cruise line but naming this entree after her seems unfair to both Diane and the concept of a steak.

Since there are future classes in store I'd suggest considering  a "kit" DSLR package.  
I'd suggest sticking with a brand name like Canon or Nikon.  Many schools beyond secondary seem to standardize on Canon in their classes.
A package from an online retailer or a big box warehouse store will typically include the main camera body and at least two lenses.  These are usually zoom lenses that will cover a range from wide angle to telephoto and everything in between.   
As photography classes progress there is typically an emphasis on "prime" lenses.  These are fixed focal lengths such as 35mm, 50mm or 85mm but until you get there the zoom lenses cover these.  The benefit of a popular name like Canon or Nikon will be a large used market for future prime lenses and other accessories down the road.

I like to do the zip line at Labadee first thing in the morning so let's get right to the video.
 
 

Since there are future classes in store I'd suggest considering  a "kit" DSLR package.  
I'd suggest sticking with a brand name like Canon or Nikon.  Many schools beyond secondary seem to standardize on Canon in their classes.
A package from an online retailer or a big box warehouse store will typically include the main camera body and at least two lenses.  These are usually zoom lenses that will cover a range from wide angle to telephoto and everything in between.   
As photography classes progress there is typically an emphasis on "prime" lenses.  These are fixed focal lengths such as 35mm, 50mm or 85mm but until you get there the zoom lenses cover these.  The benefit of a popular name like Canon or Nikon will be a large used market for future prime lenses and other accessories down the road.

On July 31st that was an accurate response.  It's now almost three weeks later.
Even if they had ongoing negotiations with a potential buyer on July 31st they wouldn't release that news publically, that's pretty standard in the corporate world.  What if the buyer and seller couldn't come to terms?  They would never state something that isn't a completed deal.  Until the ink has been signed to paper it isn't a completed sale and should the deal never materialize they wouldn't want to influence the industry or a competitor also negotiating a sale of one of their own ships.

Repainting the hull during the 5 year dry dock is pretty common.  Five years in the ocean would net a lot of marine growth.  The anti-fouling paint only lasts so long.  

I'm feeling smug and vindicated. 

Repainting the hull during the 5 year dry dock is pretty common.  Five years in the ocean would net a lot of marine growth.  The anti-fouling paint only lasts so long.