Pratique

I was part of the team that built the Indy stunt show way back in the early 2000s (lots of late nights on that project). There have always been plants in the audience (the performers rotate through). The flame effects were my favorite part of the show creatively, but adding more heat to the Florida summertime weather was not my idea of fun. 😀

No worries, the ship emissions will offset that. 🙂 More seriously, you've had more luck with bags than we have had!

Looks like you are having a great time at MK today. I used to work at WDW (12 years) so I've had my fill of it and my free passes are long gone. My favorite things to do at MK are anything with air conditioning. Dark and cool is even better (Mansion, Pirates, Space Mountain). Have fun whatever you do today!

I will just mention that 3848 opens into the corridor near the escalator that is used for gangway access, so there will be noise there on port days. If you can move (even if it is deeper into Deck 3) it might be quieter.

Ha I used to do that too until my wife figured out she could use her vouchers for bottled juice. Now she's using up all her vouchers and asking me if I have any unused ones.

I used to do the zip tie trick with packing tape, but now we have the reusable tag holders. One recent cruise I didn't have the holders and one of the tags fell off, so the bag was very late arriving to our cabin. Of course it was my wife's bag that was late, so she was not happy about my cheapness with the zip tie thing.

Has anyone ever told the app that they are unwell when answering the health questions? Serious question - what actually happens?

These new ship builds are pretty big investments. How many years until they break even on those? When the MBAs took over Disney Parks 25+ years ago they did the math and decided not to build a fifth gate at WDW even though attendance was high. Most attractions are designed with a 20-year lifespan but obviously many of them are much older than that. At this point I presume the parks have paid for themselves many times over and they are just a cash cow now.

How many of the new cruisers were sailing because of pent up demand from the pandemic? Will these numbers eventually sink back to pre-pandemic levels? In other words, was there a temporary surge of new cruisers who liked it and will come back versus the one-and-done crowd. I mean, Royal is still building more mega ships that will probably sail full but how close are they to reaching maximum capacity to fill these ships.

Most empirical studies of loyalty programs show that the effect of loyalty status on perceived brand value is higher for high-engagement customers (frequent return customers) than for low-engagement customers (infrequent return customers). And studies have also shown that brand loyalty often exists even without a corresponding loyalty program because it is based more on things like product quality and customer satisfaction than rewards (although everyone enjoys being treated "special" such as "early" boarding of airplanes). If higher fares are causing people to cruise less frequently (because they have less spending power - paychecks not keeping up with inflation), then it is not clear that having a higher status will have much effect on repeat business because these customers are financially constrained. Presumably there is value to the company in offering these loyalty programs, but it is likely tailored toward ensuring maximum revenue rather than specifically targeting levels of new guests versus repeat guests. In other words, the mix or new and repeat should always be such that revenue is maximized. So higher fares do not necessarily translate into a need to welcome more guests into higher loyalty tiers but rather a need to increase the number of new, infrequent customers (who may have to forego another vacation in order to afford a cruise). I will happily take the free drinks and other perks but it is not as big a factor in whether I decide to cruise with Royal (or do something else) as bottom line costs. I may be willing to spend a little more if it comes with substantive loyalty perks, but not much more.

I am also checking in and New Hampshire is not on the list either (app or website). I left it blank.

My problem with FLL is that the best and least expensive flights always tend to be in the morning, and then there is a black hole in the schedules until mid-afternoon. While I don't like having to rush to the airport, 10:00am is doable and better than sitting around the airport for hours. If there was a noon flight, that would be ideal for me, but there never seems to be one.

This seemed inevitable to me. There were going to be too many instances where everyone wanted an AM service and the attendant needs to have them spread ~50/50 across the shift. We've also noticed the same thing regarding the decreased quality of the free food. I would even say that if I had nothing to compare it to, I would still be disappointed.

They have already said the new bridge will be built to current standards, so replicating the original truss probably won't cut it. Also, truss bridges are heavier and more expensive than cable stayed bridges, which is the most likely way they will go with it.

Largely it is doable. My biggest problem is my employer’s VPN is super slow from large distances (such as cross-country). But video conferences are possible. (I even had a Teams call from an American Airlines flight recently.) Hiccups happen when sailing through weather or after dinner when everyone on the ship is FaceTiming at the same time.

I was not referring to safety, I was referring to expanded capacity for taller ships. I agree that new bridge designs should incorporate defensive fortifications as well. Although incidents like this are very rare, we just witnessed one of the most expensive ones in history, so it makes sense to fortify the new structures.

The discussion's diversion to the other bridges seems like putting the cart before the horse. They can future-proof the new Key Bridge by making it higher. They can also go back to the drawing board on the other bridges in light of these unexpected circumstances.

The Army Corps of Engineers said that these are "ambitious timelines" with weather delays and the complexity of extracting the wreckage, which sinking into the mud. We need Yoda to come and do that force thing he did on Luke's X-Wing. No doubt they are trying to set expectations for everyone who wants the port reopened yesterday.

What did you do to the first part of my post before “unless?”

In larger perspective it seems trivial. I read today how most of the shipping companies except Maesrk are going to dump the inbound containers at different ports and told the receivers to come and get it, not our problem to get it to Baltimore. The pain will be spread far and wide and everyone who feels it will be unhappy to some degree. But it is just another bump in the road of life.

Maybe some enterprising guests can pool up for a charter bus.

It seems like the event unfolded very quickly, in just a matter of minutes. If not for the pilot radioing the warning and the quick relay of the warning to the police (and their quick reactions), I think that almost no one would have seen this coming. Especially in the darkness of night. When I am standing or driving on a bridge, I have no sense of what is below the bridge.

There is that saying that nine women can't have a baby in one month. I tend to agree that there is a practical limit to how quickly the bridge can be cleared. It will require special equipment and careful planning and execution. Even if they started tomorrow, there is only so much they can do at once. Six weeks seems like a stretch unless it turns out that all they need to do is lift a few large sections out of the channel in big pieces and there are no setbacks.

I'm not in disagreement with you other than your statement that the ship is not stuck.

Optimistically if they can simply lift the bridge off of the ship with a crane and then refloat the ship, it may not be too bad. The Coast Guard said that there is no flooding of the ship below the waterline, which sounds good. But above the waterline it is a tangled mess and the Coast Guard did not indicate the extent of it yet other than to say that the ship is on the pier and the riverbed. It will be an interesting salvage operation.