Tedw
-
Posts
154 -
Joined
Content Type
Forums
Store
Blogs
Downloads
Events
Gallery
Posts posted by Tedw
-
-
On 6/24/2023 at 5:28 PM, Florida_gal_50 said:
I always take my extra water back. I drink a lot of water daily, 2 to 3 litres. I know some drink a tsp or 2 a day so it does make a difference. I rarely drink bottled water at home and I never get to puffer fish status so there has to be a difference. I definitely drink the tap stuff in the restaurants on board.
HAL takes sea water and uses reverse osmosis to get what is essentially distilled water. They then add a variety of minerals to the water to give it taste.
This is the exact same process that Nestle’s proposed for a bottled water plant I was involved with that was to be located on the Columbia River in Oregon.
-
1
-
-
4 hours ago, OlsSalt said:
Freshly made pasta, which they are now featuring, can feel "heavier and chewier". Sounds good to me. Real al dente. Matter of taste, so looking forward to trying it.
Thanks for that info on fresh pasta. I enjoyed it but the others quickly moved on to the other dishes. Everyone agreed the beef short ribs were amazing.
-
2
-
-
It worked flawless for us last week. I would open the app on my iPhone and then ignore it. I also use an Apple Watch and I would get notifications of upcoming events that I had added to my itinerary. I would also be notified of a chat message on my phone.
one couple in our party had android phones and couldn’t get the message function to work. A quick stop at customer services fixed that and they had no further issues.
-
Just got off the Westerdam’s Alaska tour. We joined two other couples for dinner at Caneletto and enjoyed a family style dinner. It was all very good. The one exception was the shrimp/pasta dish. The pasta was quite heavy/chewy. It wasn’t bad but was the only dish that remained.
We were given the “old” menu with daily specials listed on the left.
-
4
-
-
I just got off two days ago. No karaoke on our 7 day cruise.
-
1
-
-
On 4/10/2020 at 8:54 AM, yorky said:
I know, you are very pessimistic about the future of cruising, I think it’s just too good a product and will go from strength to strength. Nothing wrong with different opinions, that’s what keeps online forums interesting.
I like the way you think. It is human nature to veer towards the worst possible option. Anyone who has spent much time on these boards over the years knows this.
I'm an analyst and numbers guy. Just food for thought, what if this virus drys up over summer and goes away? This is what happened with the SARS-Corona virus. Or what if a treatment filters out from all this. The virus itself doesn't kill you, it is the bodies reaction to the virus in some people that kills them. It causes the immune system to turn on the body. Once that was discovered by doctors aligned with several universities they have been very successful in treating patients. The CDC recommendation of ventilators and no steroid treatments probably killed many patients because it was taking a bellows to a fire. What if there is no "second wave" which is not a thing for viruses historically. The so called second wave of the spanish flu was in the same flu season. Not two different winters. Antibiotics were not discovered nor was the first ventilator invented. one percent of american households had indoor plumbing so sanitation left something to be desired. On top of that most of our medical workers were in europe taking part in the WWI effort.
Anyway, I know many cruisers are in the segment that have significant risk and should probably stay away from public places in general. But if the first rounds of cruises are successful they will be attractive once again. My daughter works for the airlines and people are coming back. It is not a rush but it is coming back. Out here in Oregon, according to state data, people showing up at Emergency Departments, with covid-like symptoms is lower than last January and has been since mid-April.
No one knows what will happen but I do know that there are optimistic scenarios that are just as likely as the projected worst scenarios.
-
2
-
-
On 5/12/2020 at 7:10 PM, debb1952 said:
As of tonights news in Vancouver, NO Cruises will happen in Washington,Vancouver, & Alaska/Yukon this summer. Global BC news.tonight 6:00 pm news
The Coast Guard controls the US ports and has shut down cruise ships. I work with one of the Oregon ports and was expecting over 30 cruise ship calls and they are not allowed to dock cruise ships. Plus their communities are scared. The port will take a significant hit to their budget.
-
We were ready to book last weekend on an 11 night cruise, no perks but a pretty good price. It dropped a lot between then and Monday. Our TA called to let us know and we saved almost $600 per CC cabin. The interesting thing was the CC cabins, which I understand our larger on M class ships, were offered at $500 less than veranda cabins. We had a great selection and got the class upgrade as captain club members in a nice mid-ship location. By noon when I looked again all those cabins were gone.
I usually tell people the best deals are the ones that they don't promote but this promotion was actually a very good one. At least for us.
-
On 3/14/2020 at 8:58 AM, spryder said:
Man had symptoms for the last five days of the cruise.
We have to remember that there was not much alarm going on from Feb 23-March 6. I would know because friends and I flew to Las Vegas on March 11 on packed planes to watch a basketball tournament. At the same time there was a construction convention with over 100,000 attendees. It was only on about March 13th that things started shifting quickly. Unless this passenger was watching news via the internet he probably just thought he had a bad bug.
Was the cruise ship making lots of announcements about symptoms of covid and to report if you have any symptoms right away. I highly doubt it. So, because of timing I give this passenger the benefit of the doubt.
-
Al Bacio is very good coffee. One of my favorite things is a Latte after dinner and before the evening show.
-
Southwest has over 700 aircraft. A little over 30 of them are are the 737 8 that are grounded. They should be able to substitute other planes in. I have a family member that services planes for southwest and after the grounding all fights are still on schedule.
-
2
-
-
So when you chose "free wifi" as one off your perks, does that include two accounts for the cabin? I assume it does as when you choose "free gratuities" it covers for each person.
-
My wife had to visit the Dr. last week when we were on Silhouette and I noticed that in the reception area they have a container full of packages of motion sickness medicine available for the taking alone with instructions on their use.
I don't have major issues but I always take some ginger gum (amazon) and quickly chew a couple if I think I need to. It does seem to work very quickly. My two friends are more sensitive and swear by the bands.
-
I'm a bargain hunter by nature. Being flexible is good advice. I will say that my best deals never are a part of any email or advertising campaign. I just search various sites that list all the cruises and watch the trends for the pre-screened itineraries we have identified as meeting our needs. Then when I see an indication that they price may have dropped significantly we pounce on it.
-
2
-
-
No judgement on others but we generally toss our phones in the safe before heading for dinner the first night and check out until we return. It is rare that you can disconnect from all but the present and we rather enjoy that. Family has the Celebrity number and will connect to us in the case of an emergency.
-
1
-
-
8 hours ago, rosewood jo said:
I’m the one that called celebrity one touch. They gave me names of shows to be on our feb 22 silhouette sail. I then got links off of you tube of their talent: below
https://youtu.be/DauFKHhfqUI COSMOPOLITAN
https://youtu.be/lMw8YGNnzkg PEARL
https://youtu.be/uindXdWkHkw
https://youtu.be/J6j-fn5PUUc
https://youtu.be/BhrZk15V8Ss
https://youtu.be/_shqEBFoyMA ROPE/ SILK SCARF DANCING
SHOWS OUR WEEK ON SHIP
https://youtu.be/SaaIUbSfdRo - MIGUEL WASHINGTON
https://youtu.be/Fb-_PFvUV-k - BILLY MCGUIGAN GROUP - BEATLES https://youtu.be/qBuiNkbQWbQ - DOMENICK ALLEN - MUSICAN -Sinatra,Foreigner https://youtu.be/LUGPU7Wr2VU - LORRAINE CROSBY
https://youtu.be/LFBjCjEf5EM - HARD DAYS NIGHT BEATLES
https://youtu.be/K1p74ZyVuQw - HARD DAYS NIGHT BEATLES - ON RESORT DECK IF WEATHER PERMITS https://youtu.be/x26tHakJrTU SILENT DISCO - many nights thru out the week https://youtu.be/RK8W5k6GzGM - REIGING ROCK IN ATRIUM
https://youtu.be/58jEkLmb4Cw - FRISKY FEUD ADULT SHOWThanks for that! My wife and I will be on this cruise also.
-
5 hours ago, rsail203 said:
I used the site where agents bidded for our business. After a few bookings I found an agent that I clicked with and she also gave extra OBC. She answered my questions and if she wasn't available there are other agents that take care of my requests.
This is exactly how we got to the agent we use. She has been awesome since we connected with here 9 years ago. I will still use the bid process and unless it is a significant difference (only happened once) I just email her and have her set it up.
In the one case we got a quote for about $350 less per person and I asked her if there was any chance she could come close. She spent 30 minutes researching and said that the other agency had apparently negotiated a great deal on a large block of rooms and I should grab their offer right away.
Another time we made a deposit with a line we hadn't traveled with before, later decided to cancel and use a different line. This cruise line would not refund our deposit in a timely manner and our agent harassed them them several times until the deposit was credited back to our card. At some point I think she kind of took it personally that they were abusing one of her customers. haha. That is the kind of agent you want.
-
I found this whole discussion very helpful. We hope to take a TA cruise one day.
-
1
-
-
I guess our primary focus is getting out of the wet and dark Pacific NW winter. There are ports we like more than others but they are not the primary drivers of our selection. It is nice to see new places but I can see that we will have been to most of the available ports in the next few years. I guess when it comes to ports I mostly am affected by having too many that we don't care for. Those itineraries are once that get eliminated.
-
So maybe I missed it, but is this something you can only sign up for once on board? And if so, how do you do that?
It sounds like a great plan for our next cruise.
-
We have just been in the Eclipse 14 nights 03/18/18, and I can tell you that they had to put the booths in the auction to fill the boat, 2 months before departure 25% of the cabins were still available. On the other hand, for the Silhouette cruises 9 and 12 nights of 03/15/19 and 03/24/19 they are selling quite fast so that the prices are going up. All the opposite in both cruises on the same dates.
I noticed that our 12 night 2/20/19 Silhouette cruise have very few balcony rooms left and they are listed at over $1,000 more than we paid per person when we reserved last November.
-
We did this a couple of years ago and the taxi was far cheaper for 4 of us because it was a flat rate with, as I recall, a small fee for persons 2-4. This compared to the shuttle vans that charge per person. In our one experience the cab was much quicker. We walked up to them and they were loading our luggage in seconds. I did find it interesting that the vans has the nearest curb and the taxi's were were behind them on another curb. The vans were working overtime to keep people from seeing and walking to the taxi line.
Not sure if the pick up arrangement is the same or not now. But it was one of the few cases I've found where it was much easier, faster and cheaper to take a taxi.
-
There’s more to it than a spreadsheet and accounting.
We have sailed with classic, premium, and no package.
Paid for it out of pocket or as a promotion.
We aren’t BIG drinkers either, but my experience is that the cruise is more fun, more of a vacation if you feel free at the pool or the show, or the casino to order a drink because it’s “already paid for” than ala carte pricing.
It’s psychological for me.
If I’m relaxing by the pool and someone walks by with a tray of the drink of the day, I can say “ we’ll take two please” and it’s guilt free. If I have no package, I would think twice and probably not indulge.
The psychology of having things prepaid is one of the reasons we love cruising. I don't have to think about cost of menu choices, entertainment, etc. It is all prepaid. We only have a drink or two per cruise so we have never had a drink package. As for specialty dining, the fact that it is a flat rate makes that work well for me. Again, no need to review prices, just order what looks good that evening.
-
Thanks! This is all new to us. I think DH was told that his dry mouth is a function of this mouth breathing. He never had dry mouth before sleep apnea came along. That is why they've recommended a nose model to him, not a mouth-model. I really don't know a lot but I guess I will find out tonight.
I'm just excited, that the rest of us will be able to sleep soundly on this cruise. It's taken a few years to convince DH that he needed the machine.
I received my machine 2 1/2 years ago and never leave home without it. I sleep so much better. I was give the top of the line ResMed version which my brother who was in this business said is state of the art. It has a heated hose that is heated by the cpap unit. There are a lot of options for what you put on your face. I have had good luck with a newer version that just covers the nose.
Not sure how it is for others but I never really dreamed that I know of until I got this machine. I suspect I never got into the deep sleep dreaming mode without waking up from lack of breathing. The biggest benefit for my wife is that I no longer snore while using a CPAP.
Rudi's Wiener Schnitzel still on the menu?
in Holland America Line
Posted
This dish was available one night on our June 18th Alaska cruise on Westerdam.