Al Miller

Dealer on Anthem told me they are allowed to open the casino at Coco Cay since there is no Casino there that it competes with. However, I went to the island all day, so I did not see it for myself.

On my last cruise my brother cut the waiter off the third time he was giving the speil. He told him we promised to give 10s if he'd just spare us the sales pitch that night.

I find it hard to believe they get none of it. I find it easy to believe they do not get as much of it as they should. And, I also find it easy to believe that a server might just say whatever they need to to get as big a tip as possible. Not saying they all would. But some might.

Youtube is an awesome tool for this. Ship tours and cruise vlogs abound for basically every ship at this point. Only you know what you will like and stuff you don't care about.

Definitely a your milage may vary situation. Give the piece of meat they are slicing from a good look beforehand. Look at the previous persons serving if you can. If the hunk of meat sits for too long under that heat lamp it gets dry. If they slice it with the grain, it will be tough no matter what. If it looks dry to me or they are slicing it wrong, I'll get something else. If it looks okay, you can ask them to slice it thin. They may not have the knife skills to do it, but you can ask. It's better if they cut it thinly. They also seem to want to skimp on the amount, so you can ask for another slice. They could say no, but usually they will oblige. It's not a very authentic Kummelweck, but it okay when the stars align, you get a good carver, and the beef is not overcooked and dry.

These last few "Sales" are really underwhelming. I can find one thing that got any discount at all over what it was last week. I guess they need to make up for the lower fares somewhere.

I do slacks, not jeans and either collared button up shirt or polo. Or just skip formal night.

Shipmate app is great for seeing people have meltdowns over the smallest things. I am not going to give a cruise one star because Sorrento's Pizza is not as good as a local pizzeria. Or because I got charged the $25 towel fee for my kid throwing a towel overboard. Or because I did not know how expensive X or Y would be on board.

I get the whole "getting sued aspect" I guess. But when your security is just plain not physically strong enough to pull apart several drunks engaged in a brawl, maybe you need to reevaluate. Somebody is going to die or get seriously hurt one of these times and then they will get sued for their lax security for that situation. So I acknowledge its a fine line to walk.

Also, if you have a later version of Android on your phone, the "Messages" app will use wifi as well. You could test it at home before you leave. Turn off cellular data on all phones involved and see if you can send texts between the phones in question.

Jay over at the Shiplife lamented that he's never seen any imposing looking security on a cruise ship. I've got to imagine at least part of that may be due to the super small crew quarters. I've seen the behind-the-scenes videos and if you are over about 6-2 ft, I can't even imagine how you'd ever even fit in a crew cabin, let alone those tiny beds. Those recent fight videos show the "Security" getting thrown around like nothing by the passengers.

Research, research, research... Our cruise in April had all but one headliner show cancelled and we were well aware that could happen before we ever got there. If the shows were our main draw, then we probably would have canceled rather than take the chance. But we decided there was enough to do on board to make for a good vacation. But we made an educated choice. And were also aware that this is a problem across all lines. The way things are right now it's not the time to "Book it" and "forget it until the day before boarding." If that's what you are looking for, then yes, maybe wait a couple of years before returning to cruising.

Even with the shields, Starlink's latency beats geosynchronous sat Internet all to pieces.

A side benefit of the low earth orbit satellites that Starlink uses, is the latency that is so important for any sort of video collaboration tools is drastically reduced. IMO, once this gets rolled out it really will be a game changer for those that want to work from cruise ships.

I think we also need to keep in mind that Freedom is a test. I can't imagine they will keep the tap wide open once it rolls out in earnest. I would imagine they'll have to revamp their tiers of service. I am going to venture a guess and say that once this goes official, no one will be seeing the speeds folks are getting on Freedom right now. I could see them still having some sort of social media tier, only suitable for low bitrate video. Say 1-1.5 Mbs. A Streaming tier which would cap out at around 7-10 Mps and some sort of power user tier at 25-30 Mbps.

In April on Anthem the only thing we did not like was the Mac and cheese. It was utterly tasteless. I don't even know how to explain it. It looked normal, but had no flavor at all. My brother thought maybe he had come down with Covid, but then I confirmed it was tasteless. It did not ruin the meal. We just didn't eat any more of that. Everything else was good to great.

Then make that clear in the cruise planner. The emails I get come across like an attempt to fool the me into thinking I am getting a better deal than I actually am. Which I suppose is expected in this day and age. Which is a sad commentary but I guess its where we are.

Still not the "50%" that the email touts. I know it says "Up to 50%" but I've never seen anything even close to that. And they say it every sale. I am just saying 6 months ago "Sale" seemed to mean a little more than it seems to mean these days. I guess that's the price we pay for the fares continuing to be pretty low. It just irks me that these "Sales" almost seem like a scam anymore.

Are these just getting worse and worse over the last 6 months? They send me a big email touting a new sale starting today and I swear almost nothing is actually any different than it was before the sale. UDP went down less than $10 and Voom went down about $3 per day and that is about it. Are some sailings actually getting these huge deals they advertise but that I never seem to be able to get on my sailings?

For a 12 nighter... Man, that is a tight one. If you are willing to pay for laundry multiple times and can maybe forego some of the formal nights, saving from packing as many long pants, dresses and extra shoes. Bite the bullet and only use the on board toiletries. It's probably do-able, but you'd have to be super flexible with your clothes. I suppose a very experienced traveler that knows EXACTLY what to expect from the ship and every port could pull it off. Good luck!

Seems to me, if you enjoyed the ship the first time, you'd probably enjoy it again. You would know what to avoid. You'd know where to book your cabin to suit your preferences. And at the ports, you'd probably have a better idea what to do as well. Also, the headliner shows, comedians, resident bands, pub and bar singers and cast of the big theater shows all change enough month to month that I'd think you be fine. And that break in period where you figure out the lay of the ship will be practically nothing, so you get right down to serious vacation time right away. I am doing Anthem for B2B in November and I've been on this ship/itinerary before. And I already know what dining I want to do, what shows I want to see, what ports I want to get off at (Basically only Coco Cay). I am excited because I already have my game plan mapped out so there should be very little stress.

No surprise here. For every person that says they will no longer gamble if smoking is not allowed in the casino, there are just as many who say the main reason they do not gamble is because of the smoke. The lines just have to choose who they want hear the complaining from. For whatever reason they choose to weather the complaints of non smokers. Maybe we need to be more annoying .

It seems that elevator noises are really not much of a problem for most folks. The biggest noise complaints I hear people mention are on the deck Directly below the pool deck and/or Windjammer. And also, the very lowest decks in the rear with engine noises. And also cabins directly above or below loud performance venues. Especially if you are someone who wants to go to sleep relatively early.

I have a feeling that fairly or not, cruise lines will be holding onto at least some of these protocols well past the point were most other businesses deem it nessesary. (Which is largely already the case) Mainly because of the unreasonable scrutiny they are held to in the media. If just one unvaccinated person gets COVID and dies and it can be traced back to a cruise ship, the torrent of negative headlines decrying how ships are death traps will be overwhelming. Until the lines feel that they are willing to weather such a storm, I don't see a blanket dropping of vax requirements. Now luckily, death rates continue to go down, so maybe that time is moving up faster than I realize, but I wouldn't count on it happening this year.