reallyitsmema

Lots of horns this week for you, Ocean Boy!:p

Precisely.

 

People bring it on board. Sanitizing will clean a ship up, but so long as people bring it on board and then others fail to clean their hands appropriately it will spread on any ship. Just because the news hasn't reached CC doesn't mean that there haven't been cases of Noro on Oasis or Allure.

Passengers might be the ones who initially bring it on the ships but I think the crew is also another source of the virus spreading. The Crown Princess has had noro for weeks now and actually had to come back two days early this week so the ship could go through a major cleaning. They departed Port Everglades late last Saturday, originally decided to skip their first port so they could make Curacao and Aruba but eventually turned around without ever hitting a single port.

Hopefully, the crew was given a chance to rest and get better and the virus will not pass on to those embarking today.

....................

I really see no point getting all worked up about a possible storm two weeks from now. If it is going to snow, there is nothing you can do about it. If you book a cruise from a northern port in the middle of winter, there might be weather. If you book a cruise from any port, at any time, there might be weather. Nothing anyone can do about it.

Edited for the quoted person's edit

I'm not worried at all i have 4 wheel drive and will have no problem getting there if the roads are open.I was curious what happens if the roads are closed an not 1 guest can make it to the ship if they delay the ship.Some are saying to get a hotel the night before but if the roads are closed there not going anywhere either.

New Jersey declared a state of emergency last year due to a big storm and the Explorer sailed as scheduled. People got to the ship and people got off the ship. When does a state of emergency actually close the roads? Last time I remember roads actually being "closed", was blizzard of 78.

What the OP is talking about is sailing out of Bayonne. Last year the port was closed by snow the day before we arrived. Question is, what would have happened if it happened the day we were scheduled to arrive. Not only do new passengers have to get on the ship, the old passengers have to get off. If everything is shut down, what happens then.

BTW, we are on the same cruise this year as OP.

If the port is closed, no ship is coming in so no one is getting on or off. If that is the case, you get a hotel, if there are any, or you stay home until you know the ship is coming in and then drive to the port.

We use an aquapac. The come in many different sizes and shapes. Never had a leak.

Thank you for the recommendation!

 

We did just obtain a long form with the perfectly raised seal! Knowing he wouldn't get a passport, we made sure the birth certificate and license are perfect!

Is he going to call his case manager today? Make sure he gets something in writing saying he can leave the country. I know your TA is trying to help but you need something official. No matter how many stories are posted here, all cases are different. You want to be able to have a great cruise with nothing hanging over anyones head.

Has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with a court order about not leaving the country (that would be for someone on parole/probation, not child support unless someone had been arrested for FELONY non support and been put on probabion/parole). There may be a court order that states he may not take THE CHILDREN out of the USA but that doesn't appear to be the case here.

 

This is a TREASURY DEPT (IRS) rule that was instituted about 11 years ago (maybe a little longer) in conjunction with the State Dept. about not issuing passports AND confiscating tax refund checks for past due child support. Treasury can also send requests to local governments requesting license plates not be renewed and D/L be confiscated. This is usually done for state supported (welfare) cases when fathers have not been paying and states are supporting mothers and children with federally subsidized housing, Medicaid, food stamps and cash.

 

And people can get caught in Catch 22 situations like my husband (whose kids are 42 and 39). In 1984, the State of Iowa REQUESTED the child support case be transferred to Missouri. Missouri took jurisdiction, collected the money and sent it directly to the Mother (she was never on welfare). Missouri also reduced the child support from $800 per month to $500 per month (this was per Missouri's guidelines at the time and done in court). Child support was paid faithfully until the oldest was 18, didn't go to college and left his Mother's house. Child support was paid for the youngest through FIVE years of college. We went to court in Missouri in 1998 when the youngest graduated from college and the judge, after looking through all the records from the State of Missouri, issued an order that child support was paid in full and would cease immediately.

 

In 2001, we began getting letters from the State of Iowa that DH was over $50,000 in arrears. In 1996, Iowa changed the laws on out of state child support to NOT allow other states to modify child support amounts without permission of the State of Iowa. The State of Iowa is trying to RETROACTIVELY collect the $300 per month difference from 1984 through 1998 when the youngest graduated from college.

 

We have spent more money on attorney's because we need three-Iowa, Missouri and now Arizona to resolve this catch 22 we found ourselves caught in than almost the total amount Iowa ever wanted.

 

So non payment of child support is NOT always what it seems.

 

We have a court order so DH can renew his passport.

 

PS: I am a non practicing attorney who has been heavily involved with this case (doing 90% of the legal research to help pay the bills). I was also accorded the privilege of being co counsel for the last Iowa hearing. The case is now in the hands of the Iowa Attorney General, who has found some HUGE errors in the Iowa computations and the original papers filed with the State of Missouri by the State of Iowa in 1984. Hopefully, we will see this end before my DH heads off to another world (he is not particularly well).

Chill out. You have no idea if there is a court order or not, you don't know this case, neither do I. I asked a question and then told the OP her brother needs to contact the agency involved. Because of privacy laws, the OP is not going to be able to discuss the exact details of this case and the brother needs to make the calls.

Nice pictures, too bad the whole family couldn't make it for the holidays.

Agreed completely.

 

OP, I think you might be missing the bigger issue here, that being can he join you at all on your cruise. Additionally, and with no offense intended to my fellow board members here, this is not where you want to be getting your answers. He may even need to contact a lawyer about this.

 

BTW, the Customer Service Reps at the RCI call center may not have the correct and legal answer either. As many have mentioned on these boards, you can talk with 3 different people and get 3 different answers. The answer you want to hear may not help you when you're standing at the pier trying to check in. :(

At a minimum he needs to contact his case manager. I did a little searching on the Mass DOR site but could not find anything that addressed this directly. He shouldn't jeopardize what ever agreement he has right now as far as paying the arrears just to go on this cruise. He doesn't want the arrangement turn to a demand for full payment.

OP, get him to call tomorrow and see what they say. I really would be afraid to see what happens when his ID is checked. The cruiseline submits the manifest a few days before for an initial review, he could be flagged then and have some "friends" waiting for him at checkin.

Good luck, I hope you get this worked out so you can have a great, stressfree cruise.:)

Hello all!

 

My brother and sister-in-law are joining my husband and I on a Royal Caribbean cruise next month leaving Puerto Rico and visiting Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten and St. Croix. (We are leaving from Boston, MA)

 

The problem is this. My brother is not able to obtain a passport because of outstanding child support. He currently pays his support and continues to make payments to his previous outstanding obligation. But because it is over $2,500 he is not able to obtain a passport.

 

He has a driver's license and a government issued birth certificate but is there any reason he could be denied boarding? Or entering and exiting the ports? Will he have any problems?

 

He visited St. Thomas 2 years ago and had no problems but obviously this is a bit different and I just want to make sure there won't be a problem!

Does he have a court order against him that says he can't leave the country? Since he can't get a passport, I would guess there is an order. He should investigate this before trying to leave the country. He needs to contact the agency that is in charge of his case.

brings me back to the darn Nancy Holloway case.....

 

She's drinking with 4 of her friends and at 2 am they let her go off with 3 random guys???

 

No it's all Arubas fault!!! Hello??? But no dear Nancy Grace made a career out of it!

Natalie Holloway.

Whatever, clearly you don't know me. :rolleyes:

Will, you seem like a very level headed guy. You know what you do and don't do, you don't have to prove anything to anyone here, so just ignore posts like that.

Now, go do your homework, you have school tomorrow.:eek:;):D

So we went from "does RCI have a curfew and do they enforce it" to "good parent/bad parent/can teenage kids be trusted" in less than 3 pages .... what a surprise. :rolleyes:

 

I suppose it would be futile to ask everyone to keep to themselves their gratuitous opinions about parenting skills and the honesty of teenagers generally, and stick to the topic.....

 

Just a suggestion.

You are obviously new to this forum.;)

This thread has actually stayed on topic longer than most kid related threads in this forum.

:eek::eek::eek:

21and under?! I thought it was under 18?

It is under 18.

We have been on many RCCL cruises. While I am rarely up at that time, my son who is a teen says that the crew does enforce the curfew and starts clearing kids from the public places right at 1. This was true last spring on Allure and last summer on Mariner.

We have seen the same thing. Security does not let the kids linger at all after curfew unless they are with a parent. I have seen posts here lately stating that curfew has changed to 2am though on some ships.:eek: Haven't seen it on any of our cruises but some say they have.

Just google it, there are many places that sell the beads. You should be able to find them in your area.

Of all the cruises I've been on the toilet seat seems very much like the same size and shape that I have in my own home.

 

So uncomfortable? It's a toilet seat, how comfortable should it really be?

You must have very strange toilets at home if they are like the vacuum toilets on cruise ships.

Sorry to be a bit thick( or a thick brit) but what do you Americans call checked bags ?

 

It is the cases that the porters take or your hand luggage ?

The checked luggage would be the ones you give to the porters. Your hand luggage is what we call our carryons.:)

Oooh seems like I missed something. You always get to see the good stuff! :D

;)

I was going to comment when I saw the post originally but I knew you can take care of yourself.;):p

He was just questioning how you actually obtained your TA license. Seems he feels that someone can get a license by drawing a picture that they see on a matchbook cover. :rolleyes:

How many Oasis class ships have you cruised????? Thought so.

Nice edit.

Is your all aboard time 8pm or your sail time 8pm? If that is all aboard, then it would be tight but possible If that is sail time then no way, since all aboard is usually 30-60 minutes before sail time.

So even with my mobility issues ( slow moving parts and I do mean slow) we should be able to walk to the Maritime Museum? Is it less than 1/2 mile?Thanks.

I think it is around 1/2 mile and is flat, mostly sidewalks, cobblestones and boardwalk. I know my 70+ yr old Mom and her 80 yr old friend did it last week with no issues and my Mom's friend is a very slow mover too.;) I bet it would be less than a $10 cab ride anyways since it was $10 to go up to the Citadel. These maps should help, I don't see a scale on either but maybe is you google the directions using the exact addresses, you can get a more accurate distance. Too bad FRED isn't running anymore because that would have dropped you at the entrance for free.

http://www.cruisehalifax.ca/our-city/city-map.html

The other option is to negotiate with one of the cab drivers for a custom tour. I know when we got to the taxi line and only wanted to go to the Citadel, the cabbie wasn't too happy because he was looking to book someone to Peggy's Cove or a city tour but he was required to take us.

Edit: I googled it, it says 1.1 km which is about .68 miles. :)

Thank you for all your insight. I see that there will be 4 ships in town the day we are there. I imagine that will fill the city/port area up pretty fast?

You can easily do all three of your choices in a day. I would take a cab up to the Citadel, was $10 last Oct including tip. We took a guided tour of the fort and then walked down the hill to the boardwalk. As you head back to the ship on the boardwalk you will find the Maritime Museum, nice little museum, really doesn't take too long to go through. Pier 21 will be right beside or near where you dock depending on if you dock in the shipyard like we had to last year. There were 3 ships in port when we were there so the Jewel was docked in a shipyard and we were bussed to Pier 21. Not a big deal, less than a 5 minute ride.

I wouldn't worry about 4 ships being in port since I doubt they all will be big. We were there with a Carnival ship, a Princess ship and the Jewel of the Seas that we arrived on and it wasn't too crowded.

It is a very walkable city and our favorite on that itinerary.

I found it.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=900066&highlight=bread+recipe&page=2

Alexis posted via igot2cruz back in 2009.

Here you go. This is what is the raisin and cranberry AUSTRIAN STRIEZEL that igot2cruz calls what you want.

AUSTRIAN STRIEZEL

2 (¼ -ounce or 7 g) packages dry yeast

1 tablespoon (15 g) sugar 2 tablespoons (30 ml) rum

1 cup (250 ml) water, lukewarm

2 pounds (900 g) all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon (1.2 g) salt

½ cup (120 ml) milk

4 eggs

½ cup (120 g) butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract

Zest of ½ lemon

½ cup (120 g) raisins

½ cup (120 g) dried cranberries

1 egg yolk, beaten

Garnish - slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 400F or 200C.

1.To prepare dough, combine yeast, sugar and ½ cup (120 ml) water in a bowl and whisk until yeast has dissolved. In a stand mixer or a large bowl, combine all ingredients except raisins and cranberries and mix for 2 minutes at low speed, then for 8 minutes at high speed using a dough hook. The dough should be soft and elastic.

2.If kneading by hand, add flour a cup (250 g) at a time and knead for 10 minutes. Add raisins and cranberries to dough and mix well. Shape dough into a ball.

3.Cover and set aside in a warm, draft-free place for 20 minutes.

4.Punch down dough and divide into 1 pound (450 g) loaves. Cover and allow to relax for 20 minutes.

5.Cut dough into 3 equal pieces and hand roll each dough into 12-inch by 4-inch strip (30 x 10 cm).

6.Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and spray with nonstick spray. Transfer rolls to the baking sheet and braid,tucking the ends under.Cover and let rise for 20 minutes.

7.Brush braids with egg yolk and let rise for another 10 minutes. Brush a second time and sprinkle with slivered almonds.

8.Bake for 20 minutes, until nicely golden or until loaves sound hollow when their undersides are thumped.

Serves 6.