WayneLaR

You missed the point. I didn't mention anything about a breakdown. I'm not interested how it is divided, only that it all goes to crew.

My issue with the auto-grats and some lines not divulging information about the program is that I am not confident the entirety of the money goes to the crew. I wouldn't be surprised if there are many lines that are taking 10%?-20%? or more off the top as an administration/accounting/payroll burden. The "vig" if you will. If lines would come out and unequivocally state the entirety of the grats collected are returned to the crew, I think most people would have no issues with this type of program.

We just returned from 2 weeks in the south of Spain, France and Italy, including a lovely 9 day cruise on X, and the only mask wearing we saw was one family staying on the same deck as us. None of the crew, tour drivers and guides, or any of the locals were wearing masks. Based on this recent cruise, I would say masks are a thing of the past. That family either had a medical issue or were a bit fanatical as they rarely left their cabin and took all their meals in the cabin.

bub, I had a 20 day TA booked that wasn't past of the Extraordinary Sale a while back, but one of the legs (the 13 day of the 7 & 13), was. So I asked my TA to split it to get the savings and I was able to keep my original cabin for both legs.

Karma eventually catches up with people like that.

Sorry, Jon, have to disagree with you there. It's haddock or bust around the maritime provinces.

And not a thing wrong with that, MEF. I'm not sure there is a person on this board with unlimited financial resources. Every single one of us has to decide what is important to us and make those decisions accordingly. No one should be derided for how they choose to spend their hard earned money. Have a great cruise.

If they are monochrome without easily discernible logos or markings, you'll probably be alright. As per Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption, "how often do you really look at a man's shoes?"

Since the OP inquired about TV programming, may I ask if there is any possibility of NFL games?

Judging by the whisk(e)y selection, whether it be Scotch, Bourbon or Canadian, not sure why you'd want to bother bringing it out of your cabin. Would it kill them to put even a modest single malt on offer? If I was shelling out the bucks for a suite, I might be a bit disappointed. Short of winning the lottery, I'm unlikely to be faced with that "problem".

Ok, here is my contribution to all this. We have a 20 day TA on Marina in Nov, A1 cabin w/ OLife, no air, booked in Feb of this year, just deposit so far. Balance due in June and still within the no penalty cancellation window. The 13 day Lisbon to Mia is part of the sale, but not the 7 day BCN to Lis portion. With that as context, I'm happy to report our TA, with a little persistence on my part, was able to get us a ~$1,300 CDN reduction in our fare, all while keeping OLife and our original cabin selection. There seemed to be some reluctance from them?, O?, but in the end I'm satisfied with the outcome. Sharing this in case it helps anyone else. Persistence, as they say, does pay off sometimes.

For me, it is kind of nice to make a bit of effort every once and awhile. I'll be wearing a smart sport jacket in the evenings on our Nov Marina transatlantic. Lord knows the ladies in our lives put in a bit of effort for us, so I figure the least we can do is run a comb through our hair and throw on a jacket. 😊 As my dear departed father always told me, a man can be under dressed, but he can never be overdressed. That sage advice has served me well over the years.

That makes sense. Thanks LHT!

Not following on this one, Jon?

We are in Fredericton and are doing an Oceania TA this November. Barcelona to Miami. Priced airfare to BCN from Fredericton using AC and also from Portland and Boston. AC, believe it or not, was cheaper (premium economy), than we could get from US carriers. And premium economy on some US carriers is not the same as AC or WS for that matter. WS was always our carrier of choice, but now that they have departed Fredericton, AC is the only game in town for international flights.

Hi Jon, as you know we are on this cruise with you and I got the same answer from our TA. Disappointing.

I still have 3 feet of snow in my front yard. Want to trade places? 😀 Although in the backyard, with a southern exposure, I can now see my pool. So that's encouraging. Still a solid block of ice, but at least visible. Spring comes slowly to these parts.

Thanks for doing this thread, Joe. Really enjoyed it and the pictures along with it. I'll look forward for the recap with the Tenerife recommendation as we will be there in November on a Marina TA cruise.

Nice kicks, Joe! And happy belated birthday! Really enjoyed your daily updates. Thanks for doing this.

There was a show on Discovery a few years ago, Mega Cruise Ships or something, and one of the episodes detailed exactly the process LHT28 describes above. I was impressed how rigorous the inspection was before any bit of food is accepted onto the ship.

Jackdeb if that was meant for me, you do realize my comment was very much tongue-in-cheek, right?

That's why the Yeti was invented. 😀

Everyone does realize that no Canadian, at least any I know, refer to peameal bacon (back bacon) as Canadian bacon? (whether it has the peameal crust or not)

Gary, I can think of, ahem, one thing you forgot to schedule... 😊 (And that's the best part of vacations!)

51 days is not enough time to fulfill that request? Yikes.