mk-ultra

So, finally managed to set foot on the ship at 9:42PM last night. There were people who started the process much later than I, who didn't board until two hours later after braving a massive line wrapping around the terminal and down the sidewalk. Needless to say -- lots of grumpiness that first night. Ate a chili dog, had two cocktails, and zonked out in my cabin. Ain't no delay gonna make me grumpy. Laugh and shrug it off. Wednesday morning now. Chugging along southbound at 19 knots abeam Monterey. I'm an early riser, so beat the crowds to the Horizon food court trough for brekkies. Sea day. Internet is Starlink. Usable, but nothing to write home about nor better than the old o3B service. Ambitions for today: Blackjack in the casino (lots of it). Some stuff I bookmarked in the Princess app I can't remember at the moment. More blackjack. Elevators are every bit as messed up as I remember from Ruby Princess. How hard is it to get that right? Beautiful morning out. Smooth seas. Coffee on the balcony.

So... I got antsy waiting at home. Arrived at the port at Pier 27 at 12:40. Not busy. Did the bag drop then went upstairs and did the check-in. Whole process would have been perhaps 15 minutes, but they were having issues with the tablet computers they use. Apparently, they normally use the ship's WiFi for a more direct connection. This time, they had to use the port's. Shrug. So, maybe 30 minutes. Easy peasy. After getting that done, I went across the street and just north to Houston's for a leisurely lunch. The food is as fantastic as I remember, but prepare yourself for a wallet biopsy. Ain't cheap. Back at the terminal now at 3:15. Still not crowded but definitely picking up. Just as easy to wait here as on my couch.

For those of you who will have a bunch of time to kill, here are some food and one entertainment suggestions (vetted by a local -- me): Fog City Diner - right across the Embarcadero from Pier 27. High end diner food. A little pricey. Pier 23 Cafe - short walk south down the Embarcadero. Classic American grub. Reasonable prices. Outdoor deck on the water out back. La Mar - Pier 1. About a 10 minute walk south along the Embarcadero. Fantastic Peruvian food. High end with prices to match. Seating on the water out back. Ferry Building - Just south of Pier 1. Lots of restaurants and shops. Most open until 8 or 9 PM. Pier 39 - 10-15 minute walk north along the Embarcadero. Lots of restaurants and shops at every price point. Has the Ferris wheel that recently moved from Golden Gate park.

There are two low tides every day. One caused by the pull of the moon and the other caused by the pull of the sun. I sail in SF Bay, so I checked tomorrow's tide tables. Low tides look pretty normal to me. 🤷‍♂️

For anyone who hasn't checked their email yet: DELAYED EMBARKATION Please be advised that due to an increased amount of silt buildup at our assigned cruise berth and severe low spring tidal levels in San Francisco Bay, Crown Princess will not have the necessary under-keel clearance necessary to berth on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, in the early afternoon. As a result, your embarkation has been delayed. Check-in will begin at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, December 12, and embarkation will begin at 8:30 PM. Please do not arrive early as seating in the terminal is limited. Guests who arrive early may leave their luggage and enjoy the surrounding area. All guests must be aboard by 10:30 PM. Please keep any essential items such as passports and other travel documents, medication, baby formula, and pajamas in your carry-on baggage as checked luggage will be delivered to staterooms late at night. In recognition of the delayed start to your cruise and to offset any expenses you may incur due to the delay, all guests will receive a $25 onboard credit.

Two small errands to run tomorrow, but I should have my bags packed and zipped up by noon. 11:30 check in start time on Tuesday for me. For the sea days at the start and end, decided to book a night at Crown Grill and Sabatini's.

Recently off. Zero issues. The cabin decor looks a bit dated (you can squint and ignore it). 2008 ship, so you're not going to have stuff like USB-C in your cabin. Overall, great upkeep and service. Overall, very nice trip.

Four days. FOUR DAYS. This is the part where the anticipation is insufferable. I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas. Impatiently.

As far as trains go, just do it if you're not in a hurry. It takes about 4 hours to drive south back to my old stomping grounds (Emeryville to San Luis Obispo). The train, on a good day, is 8 hours. Relax. Get to know some fellow travelers. It's a different mindset, but very close to cruising, You'll meet some super-sociable people onboard.

I've got one of those jobs where there is really no such thing as a vacation. I'm expected to be reachable, or at least assign someone to be my proxy. Proxy assigned. My email inbox is at zero. I went into work today and sorted out the 8 shipments we received while I was working in North Carolina with one of my engineers. I looked at my accrued PTO left... and it's maxed out at 240 hours. So: I hit the vacation button early. My blissful face isn't expected to show up until January 2nd. I do kinda miss the days where being on a ship equaled being unreachable -- but I'll take what I can get. 🙂

Did they give you the dreaded/welcomed 10-40G form to claim your winnings?

Vigorously seconding La Mar. It's high-end Peruvian food and (natch) heavy of the seafood. Landlubbers will be happy as well with their Lomo Saltado. Small warning: it ain't cheap. Prepare for a wallet biopsy.

I know it's still nine days until boarding, but I've already started the packening just because it makes it feel "official" I'm about to have a nice vacation. In the last few years, I mostly gave up on formal nights -- choosing instead to just have my one roller bag to streamline the taxi / airport / airplane / hotel experience. Sure, one pair of slacks and a collared shirt but nothing more fancy than that. But hey... this trip? From my home port with nothing more obnoxious than piling into an Uber? PACK ALL THE THINGS! Garment bag is getting stuffed. More stuffening next Wednesday when I pick up stuff I haven't worn for years from the dry cleaner. More shoes than Imelda Marcos. There's a genuine blazer buried in there somewhere. I have a full ten days to play dress-up on this cruise. Might as well work it.

For anyone on this cruise, @luv2cruisin started our Roll Call thread at:

I'll see if I can get presenter names if/when I attend. So far, I've bookmarked three enrichment talks. Day two, "Whales: Giants of the Deep", day three, "Pacific Mexican Wildlife", day four "Tide Pool Life". Looks like they have at least one a day.

Cruising from SF is a mixed bag. You can go North to Alaska, which necessitates a PVSA stop somewhere in in Canada, I never get tired of AK. I've done every permutation of that cruise... starting here in SF, or Vancouver, or Seattle... or starting in Anchorage and taking the train to Seward for a southbound one-way. You can go South down California's coast (Monterey, Santa Barbara, maybe Catalina, San Diego), but also need to tag Ensenada to avoid the PVSA gods. If you're a local like me though, I've spent tons of time in those places. Last but not least: Hawaii. If you don't mind a good chunk of sea days, the payoff on the destination end is nice. For MX, this is a nice itinerary. Much better ports than if you're coming at it from the Gulf of Mexico side (Costa Maya, Cozumel). IMHO.

Basics: Round trip from San Francisco. Yay! My home port, so no flying or hotels involved. Just a 15 minute Uber ride from home to pier 27. Cabin: M1 category “Reserve Class” (formerly Club Class) mini-suite on Dolphin deck 9. It’s the same size as the rest of the mini-suites, but comes with bundled extras. Bids placed just slightly above minimums to gamble on an upgrade. Don’t really care. Buy the cabin you want; a decent upgrade win is just icing on the cake. Paid the $10 for shipping and received my Medallion doohickey about 14 days in advance of sailing. Itinerary:

I sail Dec 12. USPS shows my medallion shipment arriving tomorrow, Nov 29.

Oooh. I've got a fun one for you. Float the pineapple on top of your margarita, sprinkle with brown sugar, drench in a little 151 or higher alcohol and light the sucker on fire. Sugar will melt and infuse itself with the pineapple. It's not just flashy -- it tastes great 🙂

This is such a Bad Idea™️. The last thing I want to do is give some 3rd party credentials to my brokerage account for $100 OBC. That's one wire transfer away from being thoroughly screwed if stockerperks.com has a compromise. Good luck trying to claw back a wire transfer unless you have alerts properly set up on your account.

As @candy4040 said: casino. If you're looking for low denomination bills like $1 for hand-tipping, the casino cage can be stingy (as in saying "no") if you aren't just cashing in chips or a slot ticket. I usually just hit up my bank in person and ask for a "wrap" of $1 bills. That's 100 singles, and lasts me for a few cruises. Getting cash from the casino charged to the card associated with your cabin has benefits beyond no ATM fees (assuming you pay it off and never carry a balance). You get points. It codes as a travel purchase.

Perhaps not for her, but the option to cancel the order is right there in the app. It's under Choose Your Medallion Wearable > Order History. Click on the order and it'll show the order summary. Scroll to the bottom and there is a Cancel Order link.

I just went through this. Even though I'd completed everything, including my medallion order to ship it to home, it still showed blue lane. To get it to finally put me in the green lane, I had to cancel my medallion order, then order it again. Viola. Green lane finally. Weird.

From what I've heard, 270 on Quantum has an "almost" Kummelweck in 270. Same roast beef, au jus and horseradish -- but not on a Kummelweck bun. I'll be on Quantum this Saturday and will report back in a semi-live thread. 🙂

Quantum departs Vancouver on 5/9 for AK (I'm on it -- yay!). Ports are Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Victoria and ends in Seattle. That hasn't changed -- it's been the itinerary since I orginally booked it quite a while ago.