DirtyDawg

1 hour ago, BND said:

I made that point on one of the other previous posts on this same topic.  It's done, so people need to decide how important it is to them and then either stay or move on, but I wish they would quit complaining before even experiencing it.

But if people around here never complained before experiencing a change in service on a cruise line  CC's total post count wouldn't be 50M, it would be around 50. 😉

2 hours ago, Luke gs Daddy said:

We are taking 2, 18 YO Seniors from high school on a cruise without their parents, staying with other adults.

We were told to have a notarized letters for taking them.

What say you?

Seems weird to me since they are legally consenting adults.

 

Thanks.

First thing. I have no idea if you require notarized letters or not.

Second thing. I applaud your courage to bring two 18 YO adolescence homo sapiens on a cruise with you. Good luck -  We'll all be preying for you! 😁

21 hours ago, clevercruiser said:

We are currently on Carnival Celebration and are switching over tomorrow (Sunday 19th) to Oasis OTS in Miami.

 

This is the first time we have ever done two consecutive cruises and we are a bit worried about potentially

being turned away from the RCI terminal as we have no choice but to arrive at least two hours before our

official check in slot, which is 12.30 to 1.30pm (the earliest available when we did online check in).

 

Has anyone ever done this before?  What is likely to happen when we arrive at terminal A? 

 

I don't want to be yelled at for being too early, but I don't think we can hang about at the Carnival terminal either.

If we explain why we are early will they at least allow us to wait in the terminal area?

 

Just identify yourselves to the gate agent as Boris and Liz. Say you've both had a bad past year and see if they'll take pity on you. 😀 😉

Psst. That's Boris Johnson and Liz Truss for our American friends on here on CC. 😊

1 hour ago, Worn out mailman said:

It's amazing how self involved humanity has become. Why not just enjoy the sound of the cruise? If I opted to listen to my music from home while on my cruise, something would seem wrong to me. 

Boy, I hope I have respectful people around me in my sailing. Same goes for all of you. 

Humanity has not gotten any more self involved. As a species, we've always been a self-involved bunch of A-holes. We just have better technology to express our self-involvedness today. If Adam and Eve had Bluetooth speakers back in that garden, they'd have been blasting something on them, ticking off all the other animals, rather than picking that apple. 😉

Prey for some respectful folks on your cruise but pack some ear plugs! 😁

22 hours ago, thefog said:

Has anyone had their shore excursion cancelled a month before their cruise?

Cruise shore excursions are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. 😉

21 hours ago, Jimbo said:

  Big Gap In Prices

 

Embarkment day $279      70 minutes

Sea Day $399                      70 Minutes

Port Day $319                      70 Minutes

Yikes!

Do they include 2 bottles of Champagne with that? 

9 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 At my age, I have to turn the volume up so I can hear it.  Besides everyone needs to listen to "On the Road Again" at full volume. 

 

LOL. "On the Road Again" needs double full volume!

Gotta love Willie!

35 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

@StormySeas Were you expecting different answer in two different threads?

 

 

Chill @DaKahuna, this duplication stuff happens around here. The official Mods will rectify it soon enough. 

BTW. turn down those Bluetooth speakers of yours while you're on your balcony .  🔊  😁

On 1/30/2023 at 10:17 AM, gnome12 said:

For a whopping $5 per game!

That's $5 more than anyone ever paid me to play hockey! 😉

3 hours ago, bookbabe said:

One of the articles I was reading talked about her life pre-politics, and I learned she was a professional hockey player in her youth.  I am not surprised.  She really was a force to be reckoned with, and a very admirable lady.

I think her pre-politics career gave her the skills to get her elbows out (Gordie Howe style) in the male dominated world of politics! 😁

Former Mayor of Mississauga, Hazel McCallion passed away this morning.

Residents of Heaven, hang on tight, there's a Hurricane coming your way! 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/hazel-mccallion-dead-at-101-1.6730009

Yes, this has nothing to do with cruising and I don't even live in Mississauga. But we live close by and Mrs. Dawg and i have been honoured to have met Hazel on many occasions over the years. "Think like a man, act like a lady and work like a dog."  She was a great Lady - yes with a capital L.

7 minutes ago, gmbhardy said:

 

Well there you go, obviously the Cruise Line likes @PapaGoose way more than they like you!

Criminy, I just tried it and they wanted to charge me $6,565.10 for USD $500.  

Just now, PapaGoose said:

I might have been cutting my dad some slack language wise… 😉. 

😁 My Dad grew in Montreal and he was taught lots of interesting 'language' back growing up. Of course being Montreal, his interesting 'language' was in both official languages! 😱

46 minutes ago, PapaGoose said:

 That’s what my dad would say is “better than a kick in the pants!”

My dad used to say it a bit differently. "better than a puck in the n*ts." 🏒 🥜 😱

2 hours ago, Ret MP said:

That's for sure.  However, if you prefer not to go on shore, the ship has those guaranteed slots that you put your bank card in and get cash back.  Those are my favorite slots, always win.  But, then those other stupid machines take it back again.  

👼Well they say; "It's better to give than to receive." 

38 minutes ago, PapaGoose said:

I appreciate your misjudgement of my maturity DirtyDawg but I’ve been around CC and the planet a little longer than you are suggesting. I hit the 60 yr mark last year and this cruise we are going on quietly celebrates my retirement from 34 years of teaching. Quietly because my DW has little interest in acknowledging her partner is an old retired dude.

Only 60ish? Heck you really are a kid! 😁

I 'retired' several years ago from the investment industry and now I'm teaching at University part-time too keep me busy.  Mrs. Dawg has no plans to retire anytime soon and there's just so much golf a guy can play. 🏌️‍♂️

On 1/24/2023 at 10:51 AM, PapaGoose said:

Just crunching some numbers before our Panama Canal cruise on Norwegian Jewel in February and I see we can purchase on-board credit in US dollars at an exchange rate of roughly 1.265. The going rate right now is closer to 1.365 here in Toronto. I believe all purchases before the cruise are locked in at the rate we had in May 2022 when we booked the cruise. We could purchase $500 refundable OBC in USD for approximately $632 CAD. If we don’t use all of it, my understanding is we will get US cash refunded to us. This can only be done during the last two days of the cruise. I’m pretty sure we will get a better return if we exchange those US greenbacks back here in Toronto once we get home. 
 

Does anyone have experience with this kind of transaction? Is it a reasonable plan? I’m old enough to remember road-trips to Buffalo in the back of the family station wagon because our dollar was worth more than the US dollar. Oh, those were good times….

@PapaGoose welcome to CC!

It's sure nice to have young people joining cruising and us here at cruise critic. Most outsiders believe cruising is just for Oldtimers like  @Fouremco and me.  But your daddy's station wagon must have been a classic by the time you were shopping at par in Buffalo in 2011.  😁

Yep, it wasn't that long ago we were at par with the greenback. But I must agree with @Fouremco that if you get a geed exchange rate on the USD through a cruise line keep it in USD  in a USD bank account for future travels.  

Enjoy your future cruising, kid! 😉

20 hours ago, mil76 said:

As a bonus if you are from the US, some of the big US banks have branches in the Alaska port towns so you can go and deposit your winnings so you don't have to drag all that cash around.  Best shore excursion ever! 

Even better, you can withdrawal lots more cash to fund the casino activities on the cruise back down south! 😀

23 hours ago, poocher said:

I always told my kids (and grandkids) if you’re gonna be a brat, do it at home.  I did not tolerate it in public,

🤔Interesting!

My kids (and now grandkids) always tell me; "If you’re gonna be a brat, do it at home.  We won't tolerate it in public!" 😁

Pssst. They don't know about Cruise Critic. 😉

14 hours ago, Tin can said:

 

Apparently black pudding, or blood pudding as I believe it is known in the States, came to the UK from Europe and apparently was a favoured dish of the Romans.

 

We can take no credit for this delicacy 😀

But I can blame Mother England for producing my Great Grand Mother, my Grandmother and my Mother who perpetuated this abomination! 😄

12 minutes ago, Tin can said:

 

😀 you would cause massive upset if you tried to say that England had any hand in Scotlands nation dish haggis.

 

It would be like me saying mac n cheese or the hot dog for example was given to you by the Canadians.

 

😱 The Yanks can blame us for a lots of bad stuff like Justin Bieber and Nickelback but they can't blame us for those. 😁

27 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

Doesn't this look great, too!

 

 

You owe me a new keyboard you 🤬

I opened your post and upchucked  all over my current one! 🤮

40 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

Growing up in Montreal Canada, this is exactly what we used, couldn't afford any fancy schmancy electric juicer.  It worked great and my mom made a game out of it for my brother and I, so my brother and I would happily do the OJ thing every Saturday and Sunday morning.  Mom was happy to be doing other breakfast things, like cooking the "blood pudding" to go with the eggs.    

 

 

Then, during the Jr. High School and High School, (In South Florida, BTW) "Tang" came into being/popular culture.  After all, we all wanted to be astronauts, right!

Blood Pudding! Thanks for bringing back that nightmare from my childhood. 😬 I was born and started out in  Montreal with an English Mom and an Irish Dad.  Blood/black Pudding, Liver and Onions, Mashed peas, and Spotted something (can't say the word around here, but it's a desert that had beef fat and dried fruits) and that word sounds like that guy from the Rolling Stones. 🤢 And it's not Spotted Keith or Spotted Charlie. 😉

Didn't the Brits rule the world at some point? Why couldn't they steal some better food recipes along their travels?  

4 minutes ago, poocher said:

Not Royal’s fault if we can’t read a menu!!

This is 2023. Of course it's Royal's fault! 😉

11 minutes ago, publicpersona said:

You are about to be ridiculed for your take on it, but I think you are the realist. I am thinking also of the people that bring their stateroom attendant some tchotchke like a rock with “Iowa” written on it, and swear that he or she was genuinely touched and grateful. 

🤯 Are you saying that many cruise line staff could win the Academy Award for Best Actor or Actress? 😉