mugtech

         We took  b2b cruises on the Gem out of San Juan end of October 2016!!!!  It was a total of 14 days with 10 different ports plus San Juan!!!!   Got to know a Cubs fan, listened to the World Series on his radio!!!!  Cubs won the World Series for the first time since they started making Lincoln head pennies!!!!  Saw places where Elton John hangs out!!!!  Voted by absentee ballot, said I was checking out investment possibilities!!!  They believed me!!!!  Had to go online to see election results!!!  The Gem is our favorite Norwegian Ship!!!!  We especially liked hearing Leo play all kinds of music and talk to him about life in the Philippines!!!!  They still had Second City in 2016!!!  Met the author of a book about the founding of Second City many years before, as a newbie he got to play gopher for one of the principle founders!!!!  Bought the book and read it when I got home!!!!  It was great!!!!  My Grateful Dead friends also loved it!!!!  Turns out the founder  was doing lights when the Dead were doing the music for Electric Kool Aid Acid Tests in San Francisco!!!  We were platinum, got free laundry both cruises!!!  Got two dinners for two each 7 day cruise!!!!  Got two free bottles of wine!!!!  Got chocolate covered strawberries first night of each cruise!!!

         Took our first Norwegian cruise in 2010!!!!  Flew to Honolulu, did not need a passport!!!  Took our only cruise ever on a USA flagged ship!!!!!  Only cruise we ever took which did not and was not scheduled to stop at a foreign port!!!!  Got to meet some of the actors for Second City!!  Best comedy I ever saw at sea!!!  Some had worked with Steven Colbert!!!!!  They gave a free class on the fundamentals of improv comedy!!! We saw lava flowing into the ocean as we passed the shore at 9 PM!!!!  The lava caused steam to rise out of the ocean!!!  We had great food at a ship sponsored luau!! The weather was in the 80's and sunny every day!!!

        Got to board the Jewel in a great international city, Singapore!!!!  Our first stop was Ko Samui Thailand.  They sell the best mangoes in the whole world!!!  Only $1.25 each!!!  The stores along the coast had great air conditioning!!!  They let you stay in the air con as long as you like!!!  All the excursions which included elephants were cancelled because of the cruelty to the elephants!!!  I was proud to not take those excersions!!!  They had one of the biggest coconut plantations in the world!!!!  They claimed 3 million coconuts were harvested every year!!!!  Most of the harvesting was done by trained monkeys!!!  The monkeys worked for less than minimum wage!!!!

           We got to stay in Bangkok overnight!!!!!  Saw some wonderful golden Buddhas!!!  We made three stops in Vietnam!!!  Got to see the provincial capital of Hue, scene of a great battle during the 1968 TET offensive!!!  Ate great Vietnamese food!!!!

            Cruise ended in Hong Kong, still very British!!!  They still drive on the wrong side of the road!!!  Hundreds were waiting in line for cabs, but we got a cab after only a 20 minute wait!!!  The driver spoke no English but took us directly to our hotel!!!  The driver did not expect a tip!!!!  We met family members who work there as domestic helpers!!!  They took us to great restaurants!!!  We avoided packed public transportation by walking!!! They have sheltered walkways above the streets to avoid having to cross the streets!!!

          We plan to take a similar cruise in the near future!!!!!

       We got to sail a 12 day Mediterranean out of Venice  left at 1 AM on the Spirit, my favorite ship built last century!!!  Venice was beautiful that early!!!  Late pull out allowed us to do a night excursion to the churches!!!  We were allowed to disembark in Barcelona at 6:30 AM.  Earliest time ever!!!!!  We had booked far enough ahead of time we got double lattitudes points!!!!  As a result our next cruise we were Platinum with all those great benefits!!!!

5 minutes ago, Denise T said:

My very first cruise was on the Pearl two years ago. That ship got me hooked on cruising. The crew was so friendly and helpful. I loved everything about the experience. Our cabin steward was always responsive to whatever we needed. It was a great itinerary (Canada/New England). The drinks were good. The weather was awesome. The scenery was spectacular. The food was awesome. I am going to Canada/New England in October of this year on the Sky. I have heard all sorts of complaints about the Sky. I still intend to enjoy every moment of that cruise. You will enjoy yours as well. 

The worst thing about the Sky was the wifi, in 20 days from Baltimore to Quebec and back it did not work ever.  Did not even use my free loyalty minutes.  Found the crew to be vert atrentive, really liked Laguna Larry in the sushi restaurant, funny and infornative.  Warning, the pile of green stuff with your sushi is not avocado, treat it as such at your on peril.

        As a Frankie Vallie fan I loved our Panama Canal cruise in 2015 on the Sun from Tampa.  A band was on that played all Four Seasons music, then as we headed north to Mexico another band replaced them fron Vegas, and Oh What a night, they played more of the same.  In addition, the dining room where we ate was called............ The Four Seasons.  I have always believed everything the Four Seasons told me, especially " Dawn go away, I'm no good for you."

5 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

I would be extremely disappointed to miss Madagascar.

Would hate to miss a Risk territory.  Cancelled the TP when they eliminated Kamchatka.

         Could someone please bring us up to date on the shortened cruise on the Dawn, compensation offered, and any restrictions on the ship concerning food.  Thank you.

1 hour ago, FPMoosally said:

 

Heheh. Yeah, northern Minnesota is the place to be!

 

 

Philippines slightly warmer.

     Who wants to go to Bermuda in February?

36 minutes ago, Smitheroo said:

Norovirus is spread by hand to mouth contact so ideally you should never eat anything with your bare hands because you dont what you have touched since you last washed them.  You can wash your hands frequently and still touch a contaminated surface. 

You best avoid the Boodlefight restaurants in the Philippines.   A mat of banana or coconut leaves is spread across the table and everyone is forced to wash their hands.  Then food is piled on the table and everyone eats using only their bare hands, no utensils.   The big pile of white rice placed in front of each patron is for that person only, all the other piles are fair game.

         One other advantage of TA's, they have the best 12 step program meetings.

          Had to warn people about cruise ship jewelry and art?  Watch out where those huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow.

Heard rumors one is actually aloud to view the world from either side of the ship.

No

        Still have issues with the website, did you see those prices?

         If it really was the heartbeat of Jamaica you must have scored some righteous weed.

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

 

 

Not really the help we were hoping for but at least they got back to you in a timely matter.

 

Nothing like timely bs.

4 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

When you say the smallest you have sailed in, do you mean in comparison to other insides or do you not typically do insides? When looking at the insides, they look at least to be a little bigger than other insides (like the Jade) as they seem to have the heavily coveted small sofa 🤔

 

We usually sail inside cabins, was smaller than the Gem, Sun, Jewel, Breakaway, Spirit and Pride of America inside cabins.  Also smaller than any inside cabins on Royal Caribbean ships.

They have a special noon time meal , called unch, to celebrate the Noel season.

        Sky is a good ship for port intensive cruises.  Our biggest gripe back in September when sailing from Baltimore to Quebec and back was the terrible wifi connection.  Every day we were told "Maybe tomorrow"  never even used our free time.  Agree the inside cabin was the smallest ever sailed in, no reason to spend time there.

         Ever since those prior propulsion problems, plus the fact that they eliminated the observation lounge, we have made it a point to never book Star, no matter how tempting the prices and itineraries are.  Wonder if we will ever be informed what really happened.  I get the idea that since Paul Harvey died we never get to hear the rest of the story.

7 hours ago, little britain said:

. 
Lots of interesting looking fruits like dragonfruit 

 

was wondering if they have any Thai mangoes,  if not we got good ones near the docks.  Also wondering if they have any soursap,  a not too sweet fruit but worth trying.  Thank you for all the pictures and info.

        I enjoy playing duplicate bridge, in 2023 we had a TA on the Explorer from Miami with 9 consecutive sea days because the weather did not allow stopping in the Azores on day 7.  It was a very enjoyable way to spend the afternoon, usually 10 or 12 teams.  Unfortunately it conflicted with the trivia competition, would do it again.  There was also bridge for beginners.

           Thank you for posting the Sichuan menu, wife is drooling at the picture.