HeWhoWaits

{carefully peeling off the sticker before discarding the empty bottle}

The bagels on Royal aren't bad if you get them before 8:00 a.m. while they're still fairly fresh (think store brand pre-packaged quality, definitely not New York deli). After that, they've been sitting out too long (thus becoming like hockey pucks).

As an individual of partial Irish descent, it pained me to type about the superiority of Scottish whisky to Irish Whiskey (thus the caveat that read generally). As for American whiskey, I do not include bourbon in the discussion. Bourbon is an entity unto itself to be savored appropriately (yes, it's technically whiskey, but...). Best alcohol-based extra activity I ever participated in was a "Bourbon and Bacon Tasting" on Holland America because everything is better with bourbon AND everything is better with bacon - the ultimate combination!

The other ships are in the thread titled "First Royal Caribbean Ship You Sailed On Pt 1"

With Park West art, the value proposition varies across their offerings. There is much to be said for being an informed consumer as pointed out by @PhillyLady earlier in the thread. Over time, we have purchased a total of 32 works from PW (some on cruises, others at land-based auction events). The PW appraised value at the time of purchase totals to just over double what we have spent. The most recently updated PW appraisals we obtained put the value at about 3.5X our total spend (a 50% increase in $$$ value). For comparison, we obtained independent appraisals on the seven highest value items. In six of seven cases, the independent appraisal was higher than the PW appraisal. We definitely do not feel scammed by PW. We collect what we like for the personal enjoyment of the artwork but if we were to consider it as just an investment, only real estate has performed comparably to our purchases from PW over the same period of time. (past performance is not indicative of future results) Does everyone have the same experience? Absolutely not, but that does not mean the auctions themselves are a scam.

They spelled it in American and Irish. You are quite right that proper Scottish and Canadian producers dispense with the e. Given that Scottish whisky is (generally) superior to Irish whiskey and Canadian is (typically) superior to American, the correct spelling is whisky. Interesting note - while verifying that I had the correct local preferences, I learned that whisky is also prefered by the Japanese.

The Celebrity version of this activity when I partook was discounted by half for those with a drink package. It was not a pre-paid activity and the discount was applied on the spot.

The individual would need to book everything they want at the current prevailing pricing. Time for refunds varies - we've had it happen within 48 hours, we've had it take several weeks.

Looking forward to the blog post reviewing their reaction.

For the sweet - do the Cupcake Decorating class. If I'm making/eating sushi, I want it to be the real thing.

Sadly, August cannot happen with my schedule. You will have to throw down one or three on my behalf.

For those who don't speak "Southern," @CruiseRoyalDad has just sweetly insulted me twice in the kindest of ways. "Bless your heart" is a passive-aggressive way to say "you're ignorant/foolish" without coming right out and saying so, while "aren't you cute" is sarcastic or dismissive way of saying the same thing. @CruiseRoyalDad isn't wrong in doing so, BTW.

I know that Charlotte likes to try to be the Queen City, but it was Cincinnati's nickname long before Charlotte was anything but a bunch of donkey cart paths. We are also closer to the Cape Fear River than to the "sovereign republic of Mecklenburg." Can't get from the Coastal Plain to the Central Piedmont without crossing the Cape Fear or one of its tributaries.

Cincinnati is not in North Carolina.

Hopefully you won't ever hate your room assignment.