wcook

Am I the only degenerate who has no interest in a mixology experience and just wants some booze?

Every auction I’ve been to recently has been very clear what you are getting: one-of-a-kind art, prints, etc. And there hasn’t been a hint they you are buying an investment. I suspect Park West has been sued too many times and the lawyers have cracked down.

If you drop your bags off at the port to be brought up to your room, those guys work for the port and have not been tipped. Same with any local guides you get on shore. But everybody on the boat is included in your service fees and mandatory 20% gratuity. Feel free to tip more, especially if somebody has gone above, but you can go the entire cruise without tipping a dime and feel zero guilt.

Customs official: Anything to declare? You: Just some coke we got in Mexico. That’s not a problem, is it?

My mom - who came from a generation where waste was simply not acceptable - always went to a restaurant prepared. A few zip loc bags in the purse and what not.

What comes below basic Prosecco? Don’t expect high quality stuff. But did I mention it’s free?

You show up and register. They let you in and you can grab free “champagne.” Dude will give a speech telling you why owning art is wonderful and how awesome Park West is. Then you get to wonder around and look at the art. Be sure to grab another champagne or mimosa. Then the auction starts. A paining comes out. We learn a little about the painting. Some quick bids and on to the next. High energy, but no pressure to bid or buy. They mix up the auctions with raffles and special auctions. Can get boring if it goes on too long, but I find them to be goofy entertainment. Plus, did I mention the free “champagne”?

Several times on my recent cruise: Elevator *finally* comes. There are already 15 people but they are like “come on in, we can squeeze.” Me: I really should have worn my mask.

Are you sure the excursion starts at 7:45 and end at 8:45? Or does it just have a 7:45 meeting time. Which I would read as starting at 8:00 at the earliest, getting back at 9:00 at the earliest, but probably later.

Years ago on “another line” there was a tour of the French Navy base in Toulon. Not only did they check names, but passports were mandatory. Only time I’ve ever seen a tour care about names. And was obviously a very different tour than the standard party bus to the beach.

Keep in mind that even on ships with solo cabins, a single occupant inside cabin might be cheaper. I don’t worry about the specific cabin types. I just do a search for cruises after specifying one person and see what comes up affordable. I search using one of the huge on line travel agencies because they make it easy to search for one person prices. Not every site makes it easy.

Zero. They force the video to be played. They don’t force you to watch it. Some of the other cruise lines put a code or something at the end of the video which you have to enter/call to prove you watched it. Not NCL. For the curious, here’s the gist of the video: In an emergency, go to your muster station and do what they tell you.

If Noro didn’t keep me from cruising, Covid isn’t.

As my dad would say, “don’t piss on my ear and tell me it’s raining.” Note: my dad was a weird guy.

Worse case scenario is you pay the difference between the bourbon you want and $15. Plus 20% gratuity on difference. Could be cheaper than upgrading the whole package. Note that I wouldn’t hold out hope for excellent bartending. I ordered a bourbon at the Whiskey bar on the Epic last week, got a confused look and was offered Jack Daniels.

I just spent all of last week living in a cabin (Epic). For the life of me I couldn’t tell you which was the door opened. Maybe I’m getting old. Maybe I was drunk the entire week.

No kidding. I remember this one time…. The sea was angry that day, my friends - like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.

Bucket list means whatever you want it to mean. Speaking only for me, I differentiate between bucket list items and check list items. When my mom was a little girl, she read a book about Pompeii. All her life she wanted to go and finally she made it there in her 70s. That’s a bucket list item. On that same trip we went to see the leaning tower of Pisa. Did we have a burning desire to see it? Nah. But it’s one of those things you just gotta see to have seen it. A check list item. It was actually a ton of fun. Not so much the ancient buildings, but the hundreds of tourists taking goofy forced perspective photos.

While there is no way to know for sure, excursions tend to fall into three groups: 1. Excursions that start close to the time the ship docks. This is the majority of excursions. In the absence of other info, you can guess this is the starting time. So I’d assume you have the evening free in your case and research what you want to do. Just don’t go putting down a big deposit or anything. 2. Basic city bus tour. These are the shortest and usually cheapest tour. These tend to be scheduled throughout the stop so you really have to clue until you see what time you are assigned. 3. Tours for a specific time. A “sunset sail” “dinner experience” etc.

In trouble as in going out of business? Nope. In trouble as in not making enough money to keep the shareholders happy? Yep. Expect belt tightening industry wide.

That was his name.

I thought it was going to be about thongs

I used my speciality dining voucher for teppanyaki last cruise and had a great time, with some really fun people. A good choice for solos, IMO.

Between 11:00 and 12:00

I think some of you may be taking this thread a little too seriously