Eric from San Diego

When the door blew off the Alaska Airlines plane, a co-worker at my school said "that's why I never fly in airplanes." Some people have a heightened sense of fear. Yes there is some danger riding mass transit anywhere or walking anywhere too. You can always take Uber if you feel unsafe.

We have lots of taxis in San Diego. I see them all the time. I usually use taxis, especially from the airport. I hate having to walk up and down through the ubers hunting for the correct license plate. Taxis are also better than users from the airport to downtown and vv. Because it is only 3-4 miles, a lot of ubers won't accept the assignment because it's too little money. Taxis are required to accept all fares at the airport.

Don't know if this helps, but when ever I book any travel, whether it be cruise, airline or hotel, I always use my desktop PC or laptop. This gives me the added advantage that I can print stuff out on paper which has saved me a couple of times. Phones are great but adapting reservation software to use on a phone is expensive and difficult vs using the same software on a PC/laptop browser.

You always have to get your own. You don't mention which countries.

I'm surprised you can't find a similar deal on Southwest into LAX. There is an office for Hertz and I think another car rental company that I can't recall in San Pedro with shuttle to cruise ship terminal. Probably ones in Long Beach too. It might be simpler to just rent a car at Burbank and return it to a car rental office nearest to the ship Pier.

Mushy peas! You have no idea how funny that sounds to an American.

I went on a cruise with a group of 450 gay men. We did have two private parties and ate together in the dining room. But we drank a lot and went to bingo, trivia and all the shows. One woman told me that she had never had so much fun on a cruise as the one we were on. This was on Celebrity. Some large groups can be quite benign as far as disruptions because we they are there to have fun.

I can't say if it happens to everybody, but if you want HAL to fuss over you, book a Have It All, gamble at the casino, take a lot of excursions, use the spa, eat in Specialty restaurants. HAL does everything it can to get the people with a high level of onboard spending to come back. That's where they make their profits.

Turning Point Ministries is an evangelical megachurch in East San Diego. There will be anywhere from 700 to 1000 people who will all eat together at 8 pm in the MDR using as many tables as they need on both levels. It sounds like there will be very few other tables available at that time. They will talk only to each other and stare straight ahead if they pass anyone who is not part of their group. They will be wearing ID badges and probably matching t-shirts so they can recognize other people who are part of their group. They will have guest speakers and probably christian music groups for which the theater and crows nest will be closed to other guests. Expect a reduced schedule of regular events for cruisers not part of the group.

What is your departure date?

Sorry to read the email. Be aware that not only will there be blockages in the dining room, but they will close the theater, crows nest and various bars and lounges for private events. Plus all the people in the group will only talk to each other and mostly ignore everyone else. Affinity groups is one of the reasons I prefer cruises 14 days or more because they sually don't have these groups.

I find this interesting. I have been on 9 cruises and I haven't the faintest idea who the Cruise Director was on any of them. Nor do I remember the names of my cabin attendents or my waiters. I guess I just let them do their jobs and don't worry about it.

The reason a cruise room is cheaper than at a hotel is that the employees are paid $600 per month and work 12 hours a day 7 days a week. You go to Vegas or Hawaii and the employees are Americans paid $2000 - 3000 per month and work 8 hours per day 5 days per week. If you go to a resort in the Philippines you can get luxury hotel room for $125 per night and the food is cheap too.

California has something called the Tidelands Trust. It us in our constitution. Tidelands are controlled by the State, not cities and must be used for public benefit. Tidelands mean a lot more than you would think. In San Diego, Harbor Island, Shelter Island, most of the airport, the Embarcadero up to Pacific Highway, South Embarcadero up to Harbor Drive are all tidelands. Our convention center, Grand Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, Seaport Village, Intercontinental Hotel, Wyndham Hotel and County Administration Building are all in Tidelands even though it looks like they are on solid ground.

Olivia is a LGBTQ whole ship charter, although mostly L. They can go any where they want.