BEAV

Absolutely. Thanks for the memories, Bob AND Jackie!

Motel 6? 🤔 🙋🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

@KenzSailing, this saga proves you should stick to peeling potatoes at The Chez. (BTW, what’s simmerin’ this weekend? 🤔) Leave everything else to the “tart tongued” OLoPP. Quite obviously the “brains” of the outfit….

Moved seats? 🤔 Did you insult Patty, or had you just been to lunch at nearby Taddich Grill and smelled a bit “crabby” 🦀? 🤔

Visions of September 2020 in the Bay Area due to numerous wildfires. I took this photo at 10:00am!

Fact: Female engineers exist (both mechanical and locomotive) Fact: Real men eat quiche

I agree. But so there’s no misunderstanding, I’m going on the hypothetical premise =X= and their award-winning IT team have him sailing as an Elite+. 😉

Unless things have changed….the Elite/Elite+ perks are extended to anyone sharing the same stateroom. So….he may not be able to escape the Mrs. for a “quiet” Elite breakfast after all! 🤦😱😆

They no longer do “expresso” as they wanted a more relaxed atmosphere. So they substituted with espresso. ☕️

Hard to tell how it will all shake out. But if you remain Elite+ on the cruise, don’t forget complimentary coffee/cappuccino/latte/etc in Al Bacio, Elite continental breakfast and evening happy hour while your laundry is getting done. 👍

@Tyler414, about a month ago I followed the blog of a long-time HAL cruiser who was on board Westerdam for several segments. He came away disillusioned at the deterioration of the HAL experience he’d come to love over the years, and “promised” to seek out other lines going forward. IMO all of the mass market lines are struggling with “come back” issues following the shutdown. As a result, folks are looking for that next “pot of gold” when it comes to the cruise experience that fits them. Not a simple, easy search!

I guess the difference is how one spells it! 😉

For a Jaguar or Hundai rice cooker? 🤔

I’m flying to Japan in October along with my Japanese significant other. Having grown up in Japan, he’s going to buy a rice cooker and pay the charge for excess luggage on the airline to bring back. He claims GOOD rice cookers are much cheaper in Japan than you can order on Amazon. He knows his stuff when it comes to rice and rice cookers. And, as you can surmise, he’s not related in any way to Uncle Ben.

Our personal experience on Edge was that the host(s) would routinely seat us with the same team. It definitely didn’t feel like each night was the “first day of school” repeatedly.

After sailing E-Class I came to the conclusion stressing about the lack of reservations is a waste of time and undue anxiety. Just my own personal experience... After trying all four, we gravitated to Tuscan solely because it suited our taste in decor! As mentioned in another post, you can arrange for anything served in any of the four dining rooms. Again, speaking from personal experience. Like the old stage play, “much ado about nothing”!

…just another by-product of global warming.

Back in the early 90’s I worked part-time in an airline call center. The one thing that stuck with me throughout the training course (and still today) was the instructor drilling into us to “create a sense of urgency” with the caller.

Mods generally only merge IF brought to their attention by the “report a post” feature. At least that’s been my experience over the years here… I prefer all posts on a subject such as this one on a single thread, rather than having to comb through several to get all the tidbits of info and experiences. BUT, that’s the nature of the beast in the wonderful world of message boards!

Yes, dear!

What does Artificial Intelligence have to do with a booze sale? 🤔

Read post #29. We, too, have rented a car and driven down the coast when docked in Astoria. Seaside and Canon Beach are lovely towns on the mighty, rugged Pacific Coast. Lots of great lunch spots to enjoy.

The owners of private railroad cars charter them out to interested parties/groups. The persons/groups chartering have carte blanche to make the trips private or public. The trip I took was only a 36-hour segment of an 8-day Chicago-West Coast-Chicago trip. Here’s a couple websites to explore what’s out there… https://www.aaprco.com/ https://www.luxurytrainclub.com/ I’m sure there are others, but that’ll get you started. And don’t forget Google is your best friend! 😉 EZ does it there, Chef Boyardee. I mortgaged my condo to take the trip, so send me promo codes for discounts at The Chez. And put me down for imitation crab, not lobster….

Yes, Denver Union Station. The city has done an amazing job transforming the building into a combo retail/restaurant/transit/rail facility. I was able to take their excellent light rail system direct from the airport to Union Station. In addition, the luxury railroad-themed Crawford Hotel occupies the space and was an enjoyable, as well as convenient, experience.

Life was not meant to cruise solely on the high seas, but also by land and rail… (enter @rafinmd) I was fortunate to travel from Denver-Oakland this week aboard 3 privately-owned railroad cars tacked on the rear of Amtrak’s California Zephyr, complete with our own chef and service staff. A beautiful trip through the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevadas.