Asphodel

This is true. They are also required to have a notarized letter from the parents saying they have permission to take them out of the country and are required to present it with the passports. If not and if they get caught, they'll probably get detained and possibly get tossed in a Federal prison. Don't mess with the Feds. Edit: I wanted to add a couple things to this. We're talking about cruising, you're travelling on a closed loop, in my case Galveston to Galveston. So you have to satisfy Royal Caribbean's requirements for children traveling with guardians other than their parents and/or custodial entities. The other thing is upon re-entering the country, you have to fill out that declaration. One of the things you're supposed to declare is if you're traveling with immediate family or not. Lying on the declaration is not recommended. Another experience I had - and this was when we found out about the "you have to have a letter from the absent parent" thing. My Australian in-laws would often come to the US and we would often go visit them where they chose to vacation, sometimes in Hawaii, other times in Florida. The last time they blew through I decided I didn't want to go so my husband took our kids and on that particular trip they decided to go to the Bahamas. Just a short hop out of the US. But boy, did they get grilled over me not being there and them oh so innocently trying to take my kids out of the country. When they got back my husband made noises about getting the kids Australian passports, tho he never got around to it.

Well, yeah. But as someone who has traveled with small children that were holding passports; and when your name and their names on all the passports all match, even if the husband's passport is not a US passport, I can assure you the customs/immigration agents are going to assume you are the parents and not question you about it.

A passport is proof of citizenship, so it is essentially the same thing as a birth certificate.

Giovanni's. I haven't eaten at Chops but Giovanni's was decent.

I looked and my cruise Feb 2017 is sold out in my category. :blink:

A few years ago on Adventure out of PR, we were at the top tier event where a whole bunch of D+ members got recognized. At least 4 couples, I want to say there were more. All of them were doing multiple back to backs. At least one couple was doing 8 back to backs. There are also cruise ships where you buy the rooms (like condos) and live on the ship full time. I've also heard some of these are set up like time shares so you can purchase a couple weeks or a month tho I can't see the practicality of doing that.

There was a table of 14 that had been recently seated and I suspect they were the reason our guacamole got rushed. Still, I don't think great table side guacamole is worth the $60 (for 2) they charge for dinner at Sabor.

Do you know this for a fact or are you just surmising? I have never seen anything like this in all the decades I've been dining in any of the countries I've been to, US or other. I've been web searching and haven't turned up anything suggesting such is normal table etiquette in Latin countries (or European or Asian). My best guess as to what happened is these waiters were given a crash course in US table/dining etiquette and someone got confused over whose seat he was supposed to be holding.

This made me think of something else I found curious at the time. When we were seated at our table, the person seating us went and held my BF's chair and helped him sit down but not me. Isn't that the opposite of how it's suppose to go?

Table side would be debatable. The cart was there, it was about 10 feet behind our table. We got asked do you want it mild, medium, spicy? And that was right before it got placed on our table. My BF dipped in a chip and was like "WTH is this?" It was runny (for guac) and not blended well. It was not "crafted" to order. Not like Escalante's where they bring the cart right up to your table. Show you all the ingredients, do you want this, this, this? A little more, a little less? I'm not sure they're trying to appeal to a wider palate so much as an ignorant one. Don't understand why they solicit for people to eat there. It was hopping and busy. filled up fast at soon as they opened. I dined at Izumi once a couple years ago. The food was competent but it was very expensive. I could see running up a $150+ bill easily. I got like one appetizer, one sushi roll, and cut out.

Well. I think it's sensible to be up-to-date on all your recommended vaccinations. Including: influenza pneumococcal Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) shingles meningococcal Did you mean anything special? Only if you're travelling to some country that has a prevalent nasty disease like malaria. On the ship, your biggest concern is norovirus. Pack a strong anti-diarrhea drug like Immodium.

I did not know that. To console myself, I'll walk approx 4 blocks down through my subdivision to find the Latino guy who sells food out of the back of a pickup truck and buy me a cup of Mexican street corn. Cut off the cob, with mayo, powdered cheese & chili pepper. The taco truck I mentioned above has the best lengua tacos I've ever had. Fiery green salsa. They also had voter's registration pamphlets last time I was there tho they're not on a corner. More in a parking lot by an H-E-B. My thoughts on Sabor. Our guacamole was not made to order, they just brought it. The guac they make on the pool deck is pretty good but ours was a sloppy mess. The salsas had no spice at all, totally flat. The waiter brought me some minced jalapenos which he stirred into the green salsa w/o asking where I wanted it, I put the rest in the pico de gallo which really needs serranos. I wanted to try everything so I ordered a lot of appetizers. My BF also ordered the tortilla soup which he seemed to like but he thought it was going to be something else he never made clear. I ordered: Gazpacho, it was really strange like ultra smooth tomato puree. Tasteless and flat. I like the chunky kind made with fresh tomatoes, cucumber, bell peppers, onion, oil and vinegar. Queso. Again very strange and where was the cheese? The tortillas didn't taste right. Ceviche. I realize there is more than one style of ceviche but I was expecting the kind marinated in citrus juice long enough that it firms up, mixed with tomatoes, onions, peppers, other things. Zesty. What I got was mushy tasteless bits of raw fish. The fried calamari was okay but everything tastes better fried. BF ordered sides of rice and beans, they were tiny portions! Like 1/4 cup each. At this point we were afraid to order any entrees (barbacoa tacos with BBQ sauce -SRSLY?) and we wanted to go to the show so we decided to cut our losses. The literature said it was $25pp but they charged us $30pp. Ironic they named it Sabor, everything was so tasteless. And Arizona the guy who convinced me to come to Sabor by telling me he'd be my waiter? Come to my house! he said, I will *craft* your tableside guacamole! He was waiting on another table and did not even acknowledge us. Not a dealbreaker, just another strange thing to add to the list.

Our cruise last week there was a comedian we saw our cruise last Feb and yes. He did the same jokes, the same impressions. For that matter I think all the shows except one were repeats from last Feb.

I walked into a plate glass door. Had surgery yesterday evening. It hurts. :( Foodwise, nothing really stands out. Things I can think of offhand - the sushi, chilaquiles, lambchops, congee - all in the Windjammer. Any plain steamed vegetable. My bf chowed down on the hamburgers and anything beef-stew-ish, especially if there was gravy to spoon over rice. The best thing I had all week was the wine tasting in Vintages. Forgot to mention how awesome the sommelier was.

That's a sophistic argument.