RedIguana

If you read that article closely it agrees with my statement: Monochloramine is sometimes intentionally added to water because it is actually a useful water disinfectant. The Pool and Hot Tub Alliance suggests FAC concentrations in pool water should remain in the range 1.0 – 4.0 parts per million for chlorine to work effectively (FAC should never fall below 1 part per million). It is when you overchorinate the di and tri chloramines form, which are the ones that smell.

google chorine ammonia breakpoints. We deal with it in the water industry because we use chloramines as a disinfection vs free chlorine. It is the extra chlorine that forms the di and tri chloramines.

You do not smell chloramine. It is di and tri chloramines.

It means the pool is overchlorinated. The smell is di and tri chloramines. They do not form until the chlorine to ammonia ratio is over 5:1. Once you hit the 5:1 ratio, any chlorine added reduces monochloramines to dichloramines, and adding more chlorine after that forms trichloramines.

Is this for Elite Plus and up or is it valid for Elite? I don't see it mentioned in the benefits list, so no clue at what level it kicks in.

I am a 2 glass of wine with dinner person. One of my few pet peeves is not having a glass when dinner is served (yeah, first world problems). Hence I always stop by Cellarmasters, Vines, whatever the wine bar is (getting old, sailed too many lines in the last few years) and bring a glass with me.

It's $54.99 + 20% for my next sailing (so basically $66). Add in wifi at 14.99, and you are at $80 pp/pd. That gets you Princess Premier, with beverages up to $20, 4 wifi lines pp, gratuities, a couple specialty dinners, some OBC thrown in, with some other fluff stuff. They are really losing the value game vs their competition right now (Princess and HAL) for those looking for beverage packages and wifi.

Might want to look at one of HAL's pinnacle class ships also. IMHO they have Celebrity beat for food and live music.

Food quality is one of the most important factors in selecting a cruise line for a lot of us. It is why I do not cruise Carnival, and why many of us prefer Celebrity over Royal. If Celebrity lets their quality slip to CCL/RCI levels, it will be off to Princess and HAL for me. From my 1 cruise each with Princess (may/june 2023) and HAL (march 2022) since the restart, they do not appear to be suffering the same quality issues. Hopefully by my Dec Equinox cruise they figure it out.

Texas roadkill is a little more stringy and gamey than Florida roadkill. It is also not as moist, probably due to humidity levels. I would recommend Florida roadkill over Texas roadkill, especially if you luck into some dry-aged.

There might be some instances where you can do better later (possibly black friday cruise pricing with black Friday wifi/beverage pricing if you can time them just right), but as a rule you come out pretty far ahead booking AI and upgrading (hopefully finding the upgrades on sale pricing). The best prices I have seen on these boards for the premium package is 45.99 + 20% ($55.20 pp/pd) and $13.99 for WiFi (so $70 pp/pd). The best I have seen on my limited celebrity cruises is 55.99 + 20% and 14.99 for internet. If the AI price is higher per day than these (remember to factor in the upgrade costs), it might be worth gambling on waiting. Run of the mill sale prices are typically 65-75 + 20% for premium beverage and roughly $20 or so for internet. I'm pretty sure a more experienced Celebrity cruiser will chime in if my figures are off. 🤪

Cruise mapper will also have the locations

RCI's package is comparable to the Premium on Celebrity as far as the beverages that fall under the package go.

I think I have one set of 80 lb and one set of 100 lb. The ratings are direct pull, not vertical as on a wall, so anything over 10 pounds or so on a wall might slide down. Unless you are hanging very light stuff, spring for at least the 50 lb.

In the case of a cruise I am tracking, it was $2700 the week before the sale, and is $3500 during the sale so far. I expect it will drop back down after the sale, or will get back to that price on the final black friday/cyber Monday offerings.

The published itineraries are usually the times the passengers will have in port, not the actual arrival and departure times. If the itinerary has 8-5 listed, the ship will most likely arrive before 7 and depart sometime after 5:30, with all aboard at 5.

Explorer of the Seas is scheduled for terminal G on 12/24/2023. I have never seen a port schedule on a search engine site. I usually find them on the individual port sites.😈

Just a heads up that the beverage packages most likely will be over $80 a day per person by the time the %20 grats are added. It's not the old days of sub $50 beverage packages.

It's a 4 hour drive from where I am at. Driving down in the morning would require leaving way too early for my 20 somethings. Driving half way down the night before lets everyone get some sleep and miss rush hour traffic in the morning. Hotel cheap enough to drive down the night before and meet family for dinner. 😋. The Sheraton Fort Lauderdale is actually slightly cheaper that night, but is only a 1 bedroom suite vs the 2 bedroom villa, and it would be late by the time we were able to get there

All the cruise lines consider double occupancy to be full, with a minor correction for the ones with solo cabins. Double occupancy = 100%. Triples, quads, and the assorted others can bring the ship to maximum capacity, expressed as a percent over 100, such as 115%. I have been on sailings over !00% occupancy, a few close to 100% occupancy, and some well under 100% occupancy, both pre and post pandemic. It is not unusual for off season Florida cruises to be under 100%. I expect my December sailing to be less than 100%. The amount of passengers clearly has an affect on housekeeping. Pullmans and sofa-beds do not set up and change themselves. Trash generated by 4 is usually greater than 2. 4 people use more towels than 2, and in my family, the young ladies use more towels than I. Empty cabins do not have to be serviced twice a day.

For regular cruisers from the US it probably does not matter much, although in this case of how much grats have gone up over the last few years it is not unrealistic to see if a change in "extra" tipping is happening. For cruisers from non-tipping or less tip happy than US countries it can be informational. Although I am from the US, I do try to find discussions on tipping for any new country I may be visiting so as to fit it with the cultural norms. I also have no problem asking the waiter at a restaurant, cab driver, etc. when in a new country about their tipping culture.

Are you implying there are times when the machine is not Broken? What alternate universe is this in? 😜

This is actually one of the few instances it would be quite low as far as contaminating the food, as it is cooked after handling the tongs. As @firefly333 would most likely attest to, it is the uncooked stations that have the most risk. Utensil to hand to mouth contamination is obviously a different concern.

The interesting part is that the PVSA is 34 years older than the Jones act. The sad part is that RCI actually uses the term "Jones Act" in their FAQ. Q What is the Jones Act/Passenger Services Act/Cabotage Law and how does it affect me? A The Jones Act (also known as the Passenger Services Act) does not allow ships of Non-U.S registry to embark and debark guests at two different U.S ports, since travel between U.S. ports is prohibited on foreign flagged ships. Note: Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Islands (St. Thomas; St. Croix; St. John) are not in the category of U.S ports under this act. Guests cannot pre-plan or purposely embark or debark a ship in a U.S port that will violate the Jones Act . Any guest who insists on debarking the ship in a port which violates the Jones Act , will accept responsibility for any resulting penalties (penalty amount is determined by U.S. Customs and Border Protection). Cabatoge Law is the term used in Europe - Similar to the Jones Act, the Cabotage Law is the transport of passengers between two points in the same country by a vessel registered in another country. This law does not affect guests joining the ship or leaving the ship in different ports in Italy.

I snagged a 2 bedroom villa at a Sheraton (1000 + sq/ft) in St Lucie for under $180 including taxes for my pre cruise hotel in December. 1 bedroom villas were under $150. I was pleasantly surprised to find something that low that would comfortably sleep a family of four. The Hampton's and Marriot's in the area appeared to have basic rooms under $130. Vancouver last May/June was $300 per night for a basic room at the Pan Pacific (with a $30 dining credit) pre cruise and the suite at The Moda was about $350 post cruise on a weekend night. Vancouver prices are a buzz kill.