josephsschmoe

Yeah, they want $224 for a 7-night Alaskan cruise. Probably not worth more than $100.

Hello Wine-O.

How are you? Been anywhere interesting recently? We did Ponta Delgada en route to Southampton last April. Funchal was a better experience.

Mr and Mrs Jopseph S Schmoe (representing the Schmoes of Tallahassee) are currently signed up for a Summit repo from Bayonne to San Juan.

At one time, you mentioned an insurance carrier. Can you PM a name?

CU Soon

"Life's not easy when you are a Schmoe"

Mr Joseph S Schmoe (representing the Schmoes of Tallahassee) recommends the inclusion of a wench.. It's hard to get much done without a wench these days.

Join the Roll Call for the trip and go to the Meet and Greet and/or Sailaway

 

Mr and Mrs Schmoe have been able to clear sea-sickness by finding a horizon to stare at during daylight hours. After dark, some additional help may be required.

sorry..3 typos in 2 lines...another case of fat finger

Joseph S Schmoe is losing his touch

When we cruise, Ms. Schmoe gets the drawers. Mr. Schmoe is relegated to storing packing cubes on the wardrobe shelves. Mr. Schmoe removes the cubes for access as needed.

Join the Roll Call for the trip and go to the Meet and Greet and/or Sailaway

Mr and Mrs Schmoe have been able to clear sea-sickness by finding a horizon to stre at during dyalight hours. AFter dark, some additional help may be required.

Trader Joe's sells 12oz water bottles shrink wrapped on a cardboard pallet (bottom of cardboard box actually)

Just got back from AUS/NZ last week. Taking Brilliance back in September, and up in the air of what to do Spring 2019. Enjoy your Silhouette cruise.

AUS/NZ on our bucket list

Most likely following cruise is Infinity to Barcelona next Spring (2019).

Barcelona to Buenos Aires next fall is interesting but we can't do it.

CU soon from Mr and Mrs Joseph S Schmoe (representing the Schmoes of Tallahassee)

Wine-O

What's happening?

You travelling soon?

The Schmoes are heading for Southampton on the Silhouette next month

FWIW standard practice for the Schmoes is to take the number of changes anticpated between clothes washing events + 1-2 days.

We too are avid fans of packing cubes. If you live near an REI, they are always marking down Eagle Creek cubes..we have several. If you have nothing better to purchase, you can use your 20% bonus salwe coupon. Amazon house brand cubes are also fine.

Start with a few cubes and see how you like them.

For shoe bags, we have multiple vinyl and/or cloth bags distributed as promotional items by local business establishments. These bags typically have shoelace type strings along their sides to to make them usable as back packs. They are useless as backpacks but they make great shoe bags when you travel.

You are citing old verbiage. This is the current wording available at this address:

https://www.celebritycruises.com/company/customer-support/help-and-faqs/pre-cruise/before-you-board

"Guests are not permitted to bring alcoholic beverages onboard; with the exception of embarkation day when guests are permitted to bring onboard with them up to two (2) bottles of wine (which are subject to a corkage fee) per stateroom. Security may inspect containers (including water bottles, soda bottles, mouthwash, canteens, etc.) at any time and will dispose of alcohol concealed in such containers. Alcoholic beverages that are purchased from onboard shops or in ports of call (which must be presented to security upon re-boarding), will be secured by ship's personnel. Alcohol secured by ship's personnel will be returned to guests just prior to the conclusion of their cruise vacation. Guests who are under the permitted drinking age will not have alcohol returned to them."

So..before the rain begins...

What's going on?

The last time I looked (2016), the wine allowance was two 750ml bottles per cabin.

Now the guidance just says "two wine bottles per cabin" so 1.5l containers are now permitted.

Anyone know when the modification was issued?

Hey Mikey...what going on?

The Schmoes are looking for a 2008 TA also. Won't have a feel for how to handle things until the TA schedule is released.

So what ports would you like to visit?

Ms. Schmoe sends her regards to Maureen.

I was told that the TA certificate had to be used before the end of December. If you don't book by then, you will have made a donation, but you still have the option between now and the end of December to cancel and get your deposit returned.}

We have used SouthExcursions for both of our South American cruises that ended in Valpo.

 

Their guides are excellent and you can tour Valpo, then visit a winery in Casablanca and end with a tour of Santiago.

Be careful and check recent reviews for South excursions. When we did this in 2014 we wound up with an inexperienced guide who had no local knowledge and limited English skills. Other South Excursions guides seemed to be much more experienced.

We assumed our encounter to be a one-time deal.

Several months after the trip we checked the boards and saw similar complaints to ours (with other guides).

They seem to be booking more travelers than they have guides for and then recruit student/teachers on an ad hoc basis when they run out of trained leaders.

During the 15 months since our tour, they may have gotten their situation under control.

If you do South excursions, call your booking representative in Vina and make it clear to her that you want a leader who has experience guiding.

So if I wanted lox, bagel and cream cheese with capers and onions that could be accommodated?

Be careful what you ask for.

Mr Joseph S Schmoe (representing the Schmoes of Tallahassee) once asked for smoked salmon and peppers. Room service promptly delivered two omelets..one with smoked salmon and one with peppers.

Also, while smoked salmon is on the menu, it is not what you would call lox. The salmon was smoked whole and then vivisected as needed. Lots of flakey flesh. Unusual experience.

Our cruise had a heavily European demographic..those Germans eat meat 24/7. We're talking blood sausage and roast beef at 7am

Good luck

Thank you

Mr. Schmoe was hoping for a laundry deal.

Currently there is a TA (c.c) who is offering a $350 coupon book for booking. These books are distributed on board after boarding.

Has anyone ever received this booklet? What does it contain?

Laundry?

Premium dining?

Other?

Thanks

 

...

 

We order room service breakfast on Celebrity with the expanded menu. Ham and Eggs, pancakes, smoothies, and more are available. We indicate what time it is to be delivered. Breakfast at 6am is no problem. It has always arrived within 5 minutes of our order time.

 

Mr and Mrs Joseph S Schmoe (representing the Schmoes of Tallahassee) suggest that you exercise care in what you wish for.

Mr Schmoe ordered a bacon and cheese omelet from room service on a recent trip. Room service supplied us with two omelets...one with bacon and one with cheese.

Oh well...at least the meal arrived in a timely fashion.

Life's not easy when you're a Schmoe

Arghhh.....

Mr Schmoe posted an incorrect link yesterday. The exact model of binoculars favored by the Schmoes is no longer sold.

The following link reflects the currently sold version of the binoculars that Mr and Mrs Schmoe use...

http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-UpClose-10x50-Binocular-71256/dp/B006ZN4TZS/ref=dp_ob_title_sports

The binoculars in the link posted yesterday should be perfectly satisfactory also.

Neither pair are very expensive and they both will get the job done. They should both work fine

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph S. Schmoe (representing the Schmoes of Tallahassee) suggests that you pick up a pair of 10 x 50's from Amazon for somewhere around $30. This will be fine for your first pair of binoculars and they will be quite serviceable. If you like them, you can purchase a more expensive pair with better optics later.

Mr Schmoe offers that $30 binoculars will offer 90% of the serviceability of $300 binoculars at 10% of the cost.

Make your purchase early enough so that you can become comfortable with them before the cruise. If something is not working, you will have time to resolve the problem prior to travel.

Mr Schmoe did, at one time, purchase a defective pair of binoculars from a local retailer (this is before Al Gore invented the internet). The binoculars were exchanged with a smile. Manufacturing has greatly improved during the last 30-40 years so quality control should not be a problem.

Many sources recommend 7 x 35's for a starter pair. There is nothing wrong with this but Mr. Schmoe finds that 10 x 50's offer greater utility.

Mr and Mrs Schmoe always cruise with binoculars.

The Schmoes store their binoculars in their vehicle between cruises. You will be surprised at how frequently you will use them when they are readily available.

Good luck.

This is what the Schmoe's use.....

http://www.amazon.com/Celestron-Impulse-10x50-Binoculars/dp/B00LPMCD70/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1445949050&sr=8-2&keywords=10+x+50+binoculars&refinements=p_89%3ABushnell|Celestron

They work fine....if you like them, you can spend more $$ on better optics later

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph S. Schmoe (representing the Schmoes of Tallahassee) suggests that you pick up a pair of 10 x 50's from Amazon for somewhere around $30. This will be fine for your first pair of binoculars and they will be quite serviceable. If you like them, you can purchase a more expensive pair with better optics later.

Mr Schmoe offers that $30 binoculars will offer 90% of the serviceability of $300 binoculars at 10% of the cost.

Make your purchase early enough so that you can become comfortable with them before the cruise. If something is not working, you will have time to resolve the problem prior to travel.

Mr Schmoe did, at one time, purchase a defective pair of binoculars from a local retailer (this is before Al Gore invented the internet). The binoculars were exchanged with a smile. Manufacturing has greatly improved during the last 30-40 years so quality control should not be a problem.

Many sources recommend 7 x 35's for a starter pair. There is nothing wrong with this but Mr. Schmoe finds that 10 x 50's offer greater utility.

Mr and Mrs Schmoe always cruise with binoculars.

The Schmoes store their binoculars in their vehicle between cruises. You will be surprised at how frequently you will use them when they are readily available.

Good luck.

Warmest greetings from Mr and Mrs Joseph S Schmoe who jointly attended Dreamforce while representing the Schmoes of Tallahassee.

FWIW, Celebrity had a booth in the exhibit area of Dreamforce this year. The booth seemed to be mostly geared towards corporate travel coordinators and had handouts displaying agent commissions. It was an education. Mr Schmoe briefly spoke with the CSR manning the booth. During the exchange of pleasantries, it became obvious that the efforts of the CSR were focused on recruiting new business.

The Schmoes attended Dreamforce 4-5 years ago when it was first opened up to the public. It was OK. By happenstance, we were in the Bay Area during Dreamforce during this years event. SF hotels rooms were simply unavailable at anything approaching a competitive rate. Rooms formerly available for $129 on a last minute purchase now cost $300-400+. We had to do AirBnB down the peninsula. 170,000 attendees all of whom seemed to remain in the area of the convention center. Once we got away from the convention center, Dreamforce was not an issue. 4-5 years ago there was minimal diversity...80/20 male/female. This year, Mr Schmoe would estimate the split at 60/40. Lots of $$ spent on the after-parties. During our initial visit, one of the exhibitors hired some very attractive models to distribute $2 bills to conference attendees (ie they would stuff money into your clothes when you walked by the booth). Mrs. Schmoe still carries the $2 bill that she scored. We did not see that this year but we did get to visit a keynote that featured Jessica Alba. So close yet so far away.

One of the junior Schmoes (female) enjoys employment as an engineer for a large tech company in San Jose. She enjoyed the experience and, believe it or not, we had an educational family experience.

Mr Schmoe also observed that the conference was mostly staffed by salesman selling to other salesmen. Many of the exhibitors offered software that had the capability parsing data in wonderous ways. When Mr. Schmoe tried to question the CSR's about the mechanics of their algorithm, no one had the knowledge to discuss it. We were faced with some very expensive software being peddled by employees who had no clue as to what they were peddling....interesting.

Next years show seems to be scheduled for the first week in October in SF. The conference is now large enough so that an eventual move to LV may be considered. Benioff says that it will not happen. We'll see.

At any rate, the Schmoes plan to be somewhere else.

Life's not easy when you are a Schmoe

Mr and Mrs Joseph S Schmoe (representing the Schmoes of Tallahassee) had the privilege on traveling on the December 4 Infinity cruise from FLL to Valpo.

We did fine during the cruise and we had a great time.

Many other passengers (including our elderly neighbors on both sides) were observed with hacking coughs and various "cold-like" symptoms. Two days before arrival in Valpo, food was served to passengers by kitchen staff on the buffet. Apparently whatever threshold is needed for implementing anti-virus measures was exceeded.

It was really interesting to read about noro infections on the cruises following ours.

Mr Schmoe suspects that this is an ongoing problem on the Infinity. Celebrity does a great job of knocking down the virus but has never been able to fully eliminate it. If the problem could be fully eliminated, it would be gone by now.

BTW, many other posters have documented that the Lima (Callao) port call was replaced by Pisco on the the northward repositioning cruise earlier this month. We too had a truncated Lima visit that was attributed to "port problems." Trujillo (Saliverry) was substituted for one of the two days that we had scheduled for touring in Lima. We enjoyed ourselves but it was not Lima. In view of Celebrity's continued history of missing scheduled port calls in Callao, the Schmoe's wonder if something else might be going on. For the foreseeable future, the Schmoes recommend viewing scheduled Callao port calls as being a matter of chance.

All things considered, we had a positive experience and would sail X again without hesitation.

The OPs original fare may have included a promotion. The OV fare that she is trying for may include a different promotion that does not stack with her original discount. The OV upgrade can probably be had if the OP is willing to give up her original discount

Mr and Mrs Joseph S Schmoe (representing the Schmoes of Tallahassee) had the privilege of visiting Juneau last year. We rented a car near the docks for about $50. Did what we wanted when we wanted. Mendenhall Glacier (great), Alaskan Brewery (also great but Mr Schmoe is memory impaired), Walmart (overrated as a source of memorabilia). There is also a Costco in town. You can learn alot just by looking. Saw lots of humpbacks from the boat so whale watching tour was not high priority....maybe next time.

We rented from Juneau Car Rentals which was formerly the Rent-a-Wreck franchise...only have nice things to say about them