Zacharius

Snapper is pretty common for fried fish head in the Caribbean. Was there snapper on the menu at some other time during the week that would have used the rest of the body?

Not even all restaurants allow it. It really depends, both on individual restaurant policy as well as health code laws in the location where the restaurant is. I'm curious to see what official answers are, but my GUESS would be no for two reasons - (a) food safety issues, because that fish (of which the cruise line doesn't really know its origin) will inevitably be coming in to contact with other products, and (b) it is essentially bringing food on to the ship and then leaving the country, which may or may not run in to customs issues.

Yes, this is definitely the case where flying in to/out of Canada adds some (sometimes substantial) money, often in the form of taxes. Flying in to a US city and then getting across the border by land is common for both Americans and Canadians. Just make sure you add actual cost on top of "opportunity cost" for lack of a better term, and remember that you're not protected like you would be a for a flight. Missing a train because a flight is delayed, or vice versa, often means you're SOL since they are not on the same ticket (much like purchasing separate plane tickets, let's say Southwest LAX-SEA and Alaska SEA-ANC...if Southwest gets you to Seattle five hours late and you miss your Alaska flight, too bad, neither airline cares and you may very well find yourself purchasing a last minute, walk-up fare). Just things to consider, always.

Keep in mind that true "premium economy" doesn't generally exist on domestic US flights. You may be getting an "economy plus" product, but that's usually just a few extra inches of legroom. Premium Economy is generally a wider seat, more legroom, and upgraded amenities (such as better meals, etc.). Many people confuse the two, but they're very different (with very different pricing as well) The MAX is really a small part of it. It's an impact, but not a big one. MAX makes up only 4.5% of Southwest's current fleet, only 1.8% of United's fleet, and only 2.5% of American's fleet. Now, they can use the "MAX is grounded, our capacity is way down, we have to charge more!!" line to justify higher prices, but in reality it's not much of an impact on their fleet size. The biggest thing is that the US economy is just doing really, really well right now, so more people have more money to travel for both work and pleasure, increasing demand faster than fleet size. This is why prices are up. When the US economy goes back down over the next few years (because economies always go up and down), the prices may very well go back down. But for now, in this economy, they'll stay high because demand is high. I fly 125,000+ BIS miles each year, and book flights for others totaling several hundred thousand miles more each year. I have never, ever, ever seen any proof that using something like Incognito mode helps. An airline would, frankly, be stupid to do it...if American and Delta are offering the same price, but American sees your IP address constantly looking up the same flights and decides to raise the fare in some mythical effort to pressure you to buy, but Delta doesn't, you'll likely just go over to Delta. Thus, American has lost your business because of it. Not a very smart business move by American.

Everyone's opinion and experience is going to be different. Only you know you and if you think you can do 12 days. If you're concerned about spending 12 days on a ship, remember (I assume) many/most of those days you'll stop in a port. If you're concerned about a 12+ day trip in general, only you know your time and money constraints.

Technically they would call it antipasto or antipasti, depending on if it's before a meal or just a plate of meats/cheese/veg. Many Italians tend to be very pro-pasta.

Still better than KLM's (airline) India team tweeting recently about the safest places to sit on a place to survive a crash...

Hell yeah...it would make me stay, not leave.

Considering the wings are filled with jet fuel, I wouldn't want to go swimming in them...

Considering the wings are filled with jet fuel, I wouldn't want to go swimming in them...

I'm a bit of a craft beer snob, and I can assure you I simply didn't drink any beer on my last Royal Caribbean cruise. Wasn't worth the calories for the mediocrity of the selection.

Well that sucks

Currently living in US. On paper, I get something like 6 weeks of vacation time a year (plus sick time), and it can build up over the years to a max of something like 10 weeks. I also do an extensive and exhaustive amount of work travel, so we're all pretty much given the opportunity to get our work done and take whatever time we can, so last minute trips for me are fairly common (for example, if I did a nonstop week of work in Kuala Lumpur, it's not unusual for me to just take a few days in Langkawi or Samui before heading home, and I don't need to use vacation time for that).

In my personal opinion, they're a waste of money. But that's me. I have a very specific way of packing and staying organized, and it works for me. I also use the smallest bag possible, which forces me to be organized and efficient with my packing. To me they're just extra money spent on something I can do myself, but I understand lots of people enjoy them. I guess you just need to know how you pack first, and then determine if they're worth the spend.

And for me, having something around my wrist is just...aggravating. I hate the feeling. I definitely just have my card in the pocket of my swimsuit.

Water. Always water. I drink one glass or water per alcoholic drink, side by side. Not "I had five drinks, now I need five glasses of water". Nope, get a water every time you get a drink, and sip on them both. It makes a world of difference.

We had one trip to North Africa a few years back where my bag stopped its journey in Madrid for two days, and hers for four days, before continuing on to our destination...so it was then that we decided all future trips would be split between each others bags. Luckily, nothing has gone missing since, but we're ready just in case.

My wife and I each bring one average sized roller bag, plus a backpack. We do usually split our clothes between each others suitcases, so if one goes lost, we each have some clothes (instead of one person having all of theirs, and the other having none). We don't overpack, but we certainly don't feel the need to underpack. We don't usually pay baggage fees, and the bags slip under the bed once empty, so the incentive just isn't there to cram everything in to as little baggage as possible.

Have a drink. Watch sail away from balcony. Repeat throughout week.

Last time I did it about 18 months ago, they were definitely not letting us in until the time on our ticket, or at least within about 15 minutes of it. We tried, they said no, so we watched the (usually) Korean and Chinese tourists play with squirrels like they were house pets for 30 minutes.

Statue of Liberty is not only accessed through Liberty State Park. You can absolutely get to Statue of Liberty from Manhattan (usually Battery Park), and in fact that's the way most tourists get there as most stay in the city, not Jersey.

Just two things to consider: 1) Flight pricing and schedules can change drastically, even on the same date in two different years. Not saying don't do it, but don't necessarily expect it to be the same (or even close, possibly) a year from now. 2) I live out of a suitcase and an airplane seat. I fly 125,000 miles each year, mostly international, and book tickets for probably about 400,000 additional miles each year for colleagues. In the 12+ years I have been doing this, I have never seen trends that I can set my watch to. The cheapest ticket may be 330 days from departure, 250 days from departure, or 1 day from departure. Many people say 3 months, 6 months, etc. etc. I just have never personally seen any trends that I can seriously follow. The one thing I do know is to never assume booking further out is cheaper. It's like a cruise - there are plenty of times booking a cruise one or two weeks out is cheaper than a year out.

Still makes me scratch my head that they can rent out the entire boat and then turn around and tell people who have already paid "here's $100, enjoy". Ridiculous.

It's not just "technically" part of the United States. It's a full fledged part of the United States, albeit not a state. Immigration is handled in the same way, by the same agency, as if you were departing/arriving Tampa, Seattle, San Diego, or NYC. For example, once you clear immigration in San Juan, you have free reign within the United States without immigration checks.