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LandlockedCruiser01

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Posts posted by LandlockedCruiser01

  1. I had THE BEST piano bar experience on Inspiration (R.I.P.) in 2019.  The pianist was David Wiley.  He was very good at his job, no doubt.  He knew what the cruise crowd wanted to hear, and played exactly that.  In other words, Billy Joel or Barry Manilow, not Carrie Underwood, or worse, Justin Bieber.  Even though he was Australian and not American.

     

    But what made the piano bar experience great was me and the two ladies I met the second night there.  They were the ringleaders of their group, and they adopted me, as I was cruising solo.  We bantered with the pianist by interjecting our own lyrics while singing along, requested nostalgic songs, and got onstage to sing karaoke-style while he played.  We became the center of the action each night, and the crowd loved us.

     

    My Inspiration review talks about my piano bar experiences in good detail.

  2. Before I left Carnival due to their Covid worship and their new lack of paper schedules and menus, I sailed with them.  They always had a Latin night on the main promenade, with salsa, bachata, and other dance music played by a live band.  And on other nights, they had light rock music you could swing dance to.  (Songs like the "Come Fly with Me" or "Rock Around the Clock".)  There were always people on the dance floor.  It was mainly 20- thru 40-somethings, with a smattering of older teens joining in.  But no age group was excluded.  If you wanted to dance, you just did it, either with the person you came with or by asking a willing taker.

  3. 7 hours ago, VVVacay said:

    Having changing rooms and restrooms for all people & not designating them by binary genders is a reason my crew booked! It means everyone is comfortable and welcome. A changing room is a changing room, a toilet is a toilet. If you’re in there by yourself, I don’t think the walls care what kind of genitals you have.

     

    It sounds they're one of those one-person changing rooms, like one-person restrooms.  The earlier post made it seem like it's a large, communal changing room for both men and women, with no partitions to speak of.  Which makes Woodstock look like Disney World in comparison.

    • Like 2
  4. On 8/1/2022 at 12:24 PM, kwokpot said:

    That's good to know. I never bothered to inquire onboard. Besides the cost there a couple of design choices that bother me about this spa.  First is the absence of real locker rooms as opposed to unisex changing and shower rooms. The other is the substitution of heated marble slabs instead of individual heated tile loungers.

    No gender-separated locker rooms?  What, what?!  Are you saying both men and women undress to nudity in front of each other, while they change from casual/street clothes into swimsuits/towels?  

     

    I know VV wants to be "woke", but this is a US-based cruise ship, not Woodstock 1969!

  5. 10 hours ago, cantgetin said:

    Just to be clear, VV does not charge for any food at a bar...

    <snip>

    I'm aware of that.  I was referring to the general onboard vibe, not money. 

     

    I'm sure you've seen bars like I described, found in newly gentrified neighborhoods, where mundane fries cost $25, are sprinkled with nutritional yeast and sea salt flakes, and hyped up as "vegan" and "farm-to-table".  And the atmosphere puts off anyone who isn't a snooty hipster or a virtue-signaling trust fund baby.  That's the vibe VV's advertising materials gave off; I didn't expect to feel comfortable there at all.

     

    I'm glad you had a good time on their ships, which gives me some hope in trying them out.  But they REALLY gotta change their ads!  At status quo, they're alienating a lot of people with their "Jersey Shore" image.  Earth to Virgin: not everyone is Snooki or The Situation!  

     

    • Like 1
  6. 9 hours ago, cantgetin said:

    It took me a while to try VV.  I saw the ads from early on and thought it was a ship for "20 somethings spending Daddy's money."  I was totally WRONG. I have one more booked, and plan to book 3 additional the next time I'm on board.

    My reaction of VV was the same: it struck me as a place for trashy Kim Kardashian wannabes, the kind that haven't worked a single day in their lives, and just coasted on their looks and/or trust funds.

     

    Today, I'm a little bit more willing to give VV a chance, but they're still doing p1ss-poor job of making an average burned-out office worker feel even slightly welcome.  They still feel like the annoying, snooty bar that charges $25 for a plate of farm-to-table cheese fries.

    • Haha 1
  7. I very much share the OP's political views on Covid.  But the threat title strikes me as "cutting off the nose to spite the face".  There have to be other options than leaving NCL just because it ports in Bermuda.  What about booking cruises that don't go there altogether?  Or if sailing on a cruise that goes there, simply staying on the ship that day? 

     

    I could rant about Covid politics until I get banned from this site, but even I say that the OP's reaction is a bridge too far.

  8. Great review, and thanks for posting! 👍

     

    I have one question, and it's a deal-breaker.  Are you required to be tethered to your digital leash, colloquially known as a "smartphone", to scan QR codes and such?  Or can you cruise old-school, by using paper menus and schedules, and unlocking your cabin with a ship card?

     

    Also, masks and/or social distancing; please say "no"!  Vax card, I can handle.

  9. The "grab and go" contains are all plastic on top of plastic, and I'm sure the utensils used to eat all that food are plastic too.  I hope Virgin Voyages recycles those containers and utensils properly, without virtue-signaling by using paper or sugar straws.  (Looking at you, Carnival!)

     

    I'm as unwoke as it gets.  But I can get behind "innovation" if it's done right.  Even so, I'd much rather see reusable china plates and metal utensils, like on old-school lines.  It takes only one idiot to leave a plastic container on the deck, where it gets blown into the ocean by wind.

    • Like 1
  10. 8 hours ago, ChristopherTracy said:

    if they are able to get to school by public transport then they are able to roam around a ship.

    I concur.  Chicago public high schools don't have school buses.  But... Chicago has excellent public transit by American standards, so that's how teenagers are expected to get to school.  (They get reduced fares.) This is probably also true in cities like New York.  So if a kid can navigate a public transit system, they can navigate a cruise ship.

  11. What about tilting the chair in against the table?  It's a nearly universal sign in the US that a place is occupied.  It's done in bars, in casinos (like at slot machines), at in some casual restaurants.  I don't know how widely recognized it is outside of North America, though, as most crew members are from European and Asian countries.

  12. 15 hours ago, leen50 said:

    At this point, I'm just happy to be cruising. Grateful for what they still have. On our 20 day Royal, every MDR dinner menu listed Cod. They never had it. Oh well, I ate plenty of other stuff.

     

    That's an honorable but dangerous attitude.  Carnival knows people are feeling like this.  So it keeps cutting back its product, using The Covid as a pretext, because the suits know they can get away with it.  Let them get away with it long enough, and Carnival will be as bad as Spirit Airlines or EasyCruise.

     

    Instead of this attitude, we should be speaking out.  We must show Carnival aggressive contempt, not fawning respect.  They're cutting back onboard services, use The Covid as an excuse for it, and get political support for doing so.

    • Like 3
  13. On 5/27/2022 at 7:52 PM, billslowsky said:

    I enjoy getting some intrusive question like "your spouse trusts you on a cruise alone?"  Answer is always, of course, doesn't yours?

     

    Good comeback! 👍  Still, how do you handle social situations with members of the opposite sex?  The kind usually done with one's partner or trusted friends, like dancing.  For instance, there's a band playing, and someone asks to dance with you.  (Meaning classy swing or Latin, not trashy grinding.)  Or conversely, you're in the mood to hit the dance floor, and ask someone yourself.  Cruising and dancing go together like macaroni and cheese, after all.

     

    Do you accept the dance invites and/or initiate them yourself?  If yes, how do you vet new people, to make sure they know that a dance is just that, and will under no circumstances lead to the horizontal kind?  (I'm sure the vetting is more relevant for women than for men.)

  14. On 5/4/2022 at 8:23 PM, navybankerteacher said:

    Yes -- they want to be able to present themselves as being "solo friendly".  And, I am fairly certain that most sailings will have more single cruisers than single occupancy cabins.

     

    There's a world of difference between a cruise line marketing itself as "solo-friendly" with foam at its mouth, and a bona fide solo-friendly onboard atmosphere.  CCL used to be the latter, despite not giving solo discounts.  Well, until it started worshiping the Covid God: that meant obligatory QR codes for menus and schedules, and draconian mask and social distancing rules in all public areas.  NCL, by contrast, was always a Covid atheist, and did more than pay lip service to welcoming solos; I just wish they'd bring back assigned dining.

     

    RCI and X are going out of their way to look solo-friendly, by shoehorning single cabins into low-revenue deck spaces.  But until a solo passenger sails on them and debarks with a smile on their face, it's all just cheap, transparent window dressing.

  15. Carnival still has Elation and Paradise.  They have a classic look: lifeboats at the top, smooth balcony-free hulls, and no crazy bells and whistles.  Unfortunately, Carnival has gone extremely woke: QR codes for everything, no paper menus or schedules, lax dress codes, and social distancing everywhere.  So those two ships are "classic" in looks, but not in the atmosphere.

     

    All in all, we're SOL when it comes to "classic" ships at this point.

    • Like 1
  16. 39 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

    All ships bring in fresh air constantly, even before covid.... [truncated]  

     

    That's very good information! 👍  Now I know.  Still, I'm sure cruise lines will modify their systems to pull in more air from outside, after Covid has been around.  I'm not afraid of it, but I do like the idea of breathing ocean air even when I can't open the windows/portholes, or worse, staying in an inside cabin.

     

    That said, I spent 95% of the time on the ship (when not sleeping) on the Lido deck or in various public indoor spaces.  So the bathroom cabin thing is a minor issue.  The sprays I served their purpose well.

  17. 49 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

    Nope, every ship has one.  It is not a fan in each bathroom, it is a common exhaust fan for many cabins so the fan is not heard.  There will be a round vent in the wall.  Every cabin gets a certain amount of fresh air delivered, and the bathroom exhaust balances out removing the same amount of stale air.

     

    Well, that's different.  But the fan strength was still too weak to pull out the post-shower steam and the bathroom usage odors.  Plus now, after Covid, we need stronger fans to facilitate air exchange, preferably from outside and not just recirculating the ship air.

  18. 14 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

    Every cruise ship cabin I know of has an exhaust vent in the bath, it just doesn't have a switch, it runs 24/7.

     

    I didn't notice this on any of the cruises I've been on.  I didn't hear any fan whatsoever; the bathroom was dead silent.  Then again, they were all on Fantasy class ships; maybe they don't have bathroom exhaust fans, while newer ships probably do.  So that travel-size Axe body spray sure came in handy.

  19. When it comes to air fresheners, I usually slummed it with travel-size Axe body spray.  It's been used by middle school boys to attract girls since the day it was invented, but I improvise it as a bathroom air freshener.   The bottles are small and cheap enough to simply discard at the end of my cruise, I can spray them like full-size Glade air fresheners, and they block out bathroom odors pretty well.

     

    That said, I use them for odors caused by toilet usage, because ship bathrooms don't have exhaust vents like land bathrooms do.  That said, I never had to deal with musty-type smells in my cabin, and hopefully, I'll never have to.

    • Like 1
  20. I concur with the people saying "12:00 PM or later flight".  I honestly don't have any desire to linger in the local city after debarkation.  I'm tired from not sleeping enough on the cruise, I'm out of clean underwear and socks, my clothes are dirty, I'm sunburned, my feet are blistered, and I just want to get home!  Then sleep in for 10 hours, unpack, wash my cruise laundry, put the souvenirs in their rightful places, upload my cruise photos to the internet, and get ready for the next workweek.  Plus, I always get pretty bad debarkation vertigo, despite never getting seasick; that'll thwart the enjoyment of any post-cruise days in the local city.

     

    Most, if not all, cruise lines offer airport transfers.  That's what I always did.  I got to the airport on time every time.  I ended up putzing around the terminal aimlessly for hours, due to how early I got there, but at least the chance of missing my flight home was exactly 0%.  

  21. 1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

    My opinion regarding the water quality issues is much like the Radon "scares" that we experienced a decade or two ago.  Are the water quality issues a concern?  Are the Radon issues a concern?  Yes.  But, there are more potential health issues for our citizens in my area than either of these.s is much more significant than any other environmental hazards that may exist.  

     

    Well, like I said, I'm pro-military and conservative.  Even so, I think that respecting an area that provided land to build on is very honorable for a military branch to do.  Which includes taking enough care of the surrounding environment to ensure that the nearby human and animal populations aren't affected.  But that's just me.

  22. On 4/3/2022 at 3:53 PM, rkacruiser said:

     

    And, maybe better quality water than what comes out of my tap.  (Some concern about PFAS contamination of our area's ground water because of our proximity to Wright Patterson Air Force Base and the use of such chemicals by the Fire Department at DAY.  We have been repeatedly assured that our drinking water is safe.  Which I do choose to believe.)

     

    Well, the US military has a p1ss-poor track record of caring for the places it builds its bases on.  They pollute and trash those places like the world is ending tomorrow---and I speak as a staunch pro-military conservative.  So I'd take their words with a grain of salt.  But if you still haven't gotten health problems you wouldn't get in, say, San Francisco or Chicago, then I guess they're telling the truth.

    • Thanks 1
  23. 1 hour ago, OurSlowSimpleTravel said:

    Thanks everyone!

     

    I have and I'm not really sure if it will be more enjoyable. For me they would be but for my daughter she would probably be happier at the beach lol.

     

    Why not do both?  Half of one, remainder of the other.  Just find a way to decide fairly which one to do first.  Maybe play rock-paper-scissors for it.  Either that, or let the weather conditions dictate; you don't need as warm a temperature to walk around as to swim on the beach. 

     

    Just remember that not all cities and their beaches are equally safe.  Cozumel and Progreso are generally OK; Pacific coast cities, not so much.

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