Jackytar

on my last cruise, some guy was in the hot tub with me, DW, and 4 or 5 others. She clearly had just gotten a new pair of...you know....he was drunk and started motorboating her in the hot tub...my brain hurts just remembering that.

Please tell me you clocked him one. Doing that deserves nothing less as a response. :mad:

I would have that black by the 2nd day...lol!

In that case, make it from black cordage... it'd look amazing. In fact... I might just go ahead and do one in black and gold cordage, just for S&G.

You have answered a question I have had regarding booking a balcony for a transatlantic. I have always assumed I would do it, though I have read about folks who said it was too windy (and often too cold) to use one's balcony on a transatlantic. May I ask in what month you traveled? And did you find the balcony quite windy, or too cold, ever?

Herself and I did the crossing in June 2014. It wasn't too windy for me, though she wanted a light windbreaker a couple of days. That said, I should clarify that we had one of the sheltered balconies; those are basically enclosed with a large opening (from railing height to deckhead, and nearly the full width of the cabin, but covered above and partitions each end of the balcony; see pic linked, below). I would imagine that the open balconies, with the glass front and so on, with no overhead cover, would be windier. Part of the reason we went with the sheltered balcony was because Herself is not good with heights and she wanted the visual security of steel bulkheads. Now that she's done the crossing, though, she feels next time an open-air balcony would work just fine for her.

Daily air temp on our crossing was between 18 and 22 C from about 0700 to 2000-ish each day. A couple of afternoons were quite warm - as in, lounging in t-shirt and swim trunks warm (about 25 C, for me). And there was one day which was grey and overcast and drizzly, and I just had my morning coffee then ducked back inside.

Pic of a sheltered balcony on the QM2:

I admit I'm not normally inclined to wear a lanyard... but if I do, I'll dust off my old seamanship manual and make one. Like these:

I find it interesting that folks find they have to keep repeating that they don't pay much attention to how someone dresses. You just haven't been presented with your limitation yet. I think the question is more about how you would react when the situation occurs, not what you think of the other victims with different expectations.

Context is key. When I'm at my place of duty, I very much care how people dress, and will call them on it, because either they're recruits, in which case they need jacking up for the smallest infractions, to drive home the necessity of attention to all details, or they're instructional staff, in which case they (and I) are setting the example for the recruits, and we'd better by God set a perfect one.

On a cruise, the context is different. Would I prefer people to dress properly formally for formal nights - men in tuxes or mess kit, ladies in suitable evening gowns or suits? Of course I would. If someone doesn't, though, that's outside my left and right of arc, and it's not my job to jack them up. So I'll keep my opinion to myself and work on the second part, which is to say, setting the best example of formal that I can. Which means my mess kit will as perfect as if I were on a formal parade - lint-free, sharply creased trousers, shoes highly shone, all accoutrements and bright-work gleaming.

AwfuA

 

Rude doesn't start to fedscribe that. Iggnorant might be more like it !@! :( Awful. What a jerk. Wonder what he did to serve his country?

As I said, I was kind of taken aback. Plus, if I let anther f-bomb go, I'd likely have been sleeping in the flats, not in our cabin. :)

Thanks Jackytar for resurrecting this near year old thread. Just what we needed. Another dress code topic :rolleyes:

We aim to please; you aim too, please. :) Thread necro-bumping a speciality.

So summary: OP posted an OMG***BBQ about a plane flying 'dangerously' close to a ship, and it turns out to have been nothing of the sort. Other posters here apparently think the FAA has the jurisdiction to pull the license of every pilot in the world, military and otherwise. Most people seem to feel a flyby from a US/Cdn/Brit/other allied nation fighter would be pretty cool.

Sounds like a normal day on CC. :)

The biggest diff between the Atlantic and Pacific is that the Atlantic gets more chop, the Pacific gets more swell (long, rolling waves). The longer waves can make a ship move more than the short chop of the Atlantic. That said, my experience of both oceans is mostly from onboard afrigate weighing in at about 5,000 tons, not a cruise ship weighing 20 times that and with stabilizer fins, to boot. :) I found the crossing on the QM2 from NY to Southampton to be very smooth compared to what I'm normally used to. :D

Favourite thing? Being at sea and NOT having to stand watches :) Everything after that is gravy :D

I'm with the "say nothing" crowd. I haven't actually had it occur to me yet, so I have no prior experience to go on, but if I felt that uncomfortable, I'd ask the maitre d' to change table and/or time. Of course, I might wind up with worse that way.

Seriously, I believe the best I can do is set an example. So on formal nights, I may well be the only man in a tux (mess uniform, actually; Navy equivalent of a tux), and I'll be civil and friendly and keep my opinion to myself.

Has anyone here looked up port fees for a port? Where does one typically find that info? I would imagine somewhere on that port's website, not the cruise line, yes?

Hm. For me, two things that I experienced that I'd consider rude.

1) QM2 - on departing from NY, we had the safety briefing. Everyone required to muster in their muster areas. Some clown in front kept adding comments to what the officer was saying, and I eventually lost my temper and said, "Oy, shut the f*** up - I want to hear the briefing, not a smartass!" Herself looked mortified and later took me to task. Okay, so the f-bomb wasn't necessary. The idiot didn't say a word after that, though.

2) First formal night onboard in the Brittania dining room, I'm wearing my mess kit. Someone at the table next to ours (two 6-pers tables side by side) recognized my rank insignia and commented that enlisted men are being paid too much if we can afford to go on cruises. This one I had no answer for. I mean, what do you say to something like that? We're not allowed to save up and enjoy a cruise?

I think it's lovely that so many men on this thread can remember what their wives wore on previous cruises, and remember their being complimented on their attire. And some of you even know "technical" fashion terms like bolero, piping, etc. Wow! I'm very impressed! :) My DH would be hard pressed to tell me even the colour of any of the dresses I have hanging in my closet, and he certainly could not recall what I was wearing on our last cruise.

Herself has me well-trained, Ma'am. :)

Wore my mess dress on QM2 New York to Southampton a couple of years ago, and Herself wore a great black evening dress with a cream bolero over it. One or two "You two look lovely!" comments.

Funny story related to it, though - that afternoon, I'm sitting up near the bar by the pool, with my polishing kit, working on my uniform Oxfords. The number of people who stopped to ask what I was doing, like they'd never seen someone polish shoes before in their lives... and one person suggesting I could 'get the staff to do that'. To which I replied, "One man, one kit." From the look on his face, I don't think he got it.

Here's WestJet's policy:

WestJet waives baggage fees for active and retired Canadian military personnel as well as active military personnel from other countries. In order to qualify for this exemption, military identification must be shown.

 

Any military personnel travelling for business or personal reasons can do so with a maximum of four bags on WestJet flights and a maximum of three bags on WestJet Encore flights at no additional charge. We will not charge overweight and/or oversized baggage fee(s) for military personnel; however, baggage exceeding our maximum permitted size or weight will not be accepted as guest baggage and must be shipped via cargo (all applicable fees apply).

 

This exemption does not extend to:

 

Current Department of National Defence (DND) public servants and their families

Serving and former Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and their families

Other members of first-response agencies, peace officers, etc.

Current staff of Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) and their families

Current staff of Defence Construction Canada (DCC) and their families

Current staff of Communications Securities Establishment (CSE) and their families

Honourary Colonels/Captains(N), Lieutenant Colonels/Commanders and their families

Former Staff of the Non-Public Funds, Canadian Forces with a pension and their families

Former Staff of Department of National Defence (DND) with a pension and their families

Family members of the Staff of the Non-Public Funds (NPF), Canadian Forces (CF)

Family members of the Military Family Resource Centre (MFRC)

https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/travel-info/baggage/checked-excess (click on the section headed "Military Baggage Information"

Active-duty RCN here. When Herself and I took the QM2 from New York to Southampton a couple of years ago, I brought my mess kit for the three formal nights. No-one took offense and I did receive many offers of libations (most of which I had to decline, sadly, as otherwise, I'd have lost steering and main propulsion and not found my way back to our cabin...)

I'll be sailing on the Star Princess next year from Vancouver to Hawaii and back, and I'll definitely be wearing my mess kit again. Hope to see my brothers and sisters in arms wearing their mess uniforms with equal pride!

........as well as the over the door organizers........ANY OPINIONS????:rolleyes:

Yeah, we have long thought there needed to be a few thousand posts about how many compartments are optimum.

 

Hank:D

Now you stop that, both of you. :)

As others have said, in the end it comes down to your budget and what else you want to spend money on as well.

For me, the balcony on the QM2 from New York to Southampton was absolutely worth it. I've been in the Navy 20+ years, and there aren't any windows or balconies for us, so when I'm a passenger on one of those floating palaces, absolutely I want a balcony. Having breakfast on it... having lunch, spending a lazy afternoon reading... having a late evening snack on it... Definitely worth it to me.

Pretty much any cruise line is likely to not allow power strips with surge protectors or circuit breakers, as power distribution on a ship has some distinct differences from how it's done on land. Anyone who wants to know why, I'll be happy to explain and provide diagrams.

Okay, I'm used to an ungrounded starpoint system :) Either way, the point about the neutral - or what would be neutral on a land installation - remains. As regards surge supressors - yes, some do as you say, shunting through MOSFETs. There are cheaper ones, though, that simply trip the breaker in the power bar. I'm not going to count on the ship's distribution breaker to trip necessarily, either. I remember seeing a three-phase immersion heater in a galley steamer that slagged, literally, while my ship was on shore power. The only breaker that tripped was the one at the jetty substation. You can bet there was a TI into why the none of the shipside breakers - distribution, feeder, bus tie and shore, to name but four - tripped. The Chief ERA was NOT amused. :)

Did you submit the form for military OBC to Princess?:)

But of course! And reminded my dad to do so as well, as he's retired RCAF.

The reason power bars with surge suppressors or other protective devices is, as was mentioned above, because the way a ship's 120 v electrical supply is connected is different from on land.

TL;DR version now follows, for the techies in the crowd:

On land, your house has a 240 volt supply that comes into your power panel, in the form of two 120 volt buses and a neutral bus (your ground plug - the third, round one - also connects to the neutral bus). You can see this in your circuit breaker panel by looking at the circuits for your stove and dryer, as both of these use 240 volts, and you can tell because the circuit breakers are paired, with a little rod or tie piece to make them operate together. All the 120 volt circuits are one of the two 120 volt buses and the neutral bus. If you have a voltmeter and you measure from one of those buses to neutral, you get 120 volts. If you measure from one 120 volt bus to the other, you get 240 volts. All good so far, yes?

Most electronics these days don't use the ground plug. Instead, they use what's called a 'polarized' plug - one of the prongs is wider/taller than the other, and the receptacle has different size holes to match. This forces the plug to be inserted in only one orientation, unless you've been very, very foolish and filed the larger one down (do NOT ever do this). The larger one is the "hot" connection; it connects to the 120 volt bus. The smaller one connects to the neutral bus.

Now, on power bars with surge protection, circuit breakers, etc., the breaker is only on the "hot" side, with the large prong. If there's a problem, the breaker trips, and opens, and then there is no voltage in the power bar.

On a ship, however, it's different. On a ship, the power is distributed as two 60 volt buses. There is no neutral bus. The ground connection on the receptacle connects to the hull (it's used as earth, just as an actual earth rod is used with your house's power system)

So, if you measured on a ship from one prong to the other, you'd measure 120 volts. If you measured from each of the prongs to the ground prong, though, you'll get 60 volts, each way.

Now consider that power bar. If the surge suppression, which is designed to work with a land-based electrical system where it's 120 and neutral, trips the breaker, it will open what it thinks is the hot side, true. However, what would be the neutral side on land still has 60 volts on it on a ship. So the surge protection has NOT completely cut off power to your electronics and there could still be an electrical fire or other problem, because there's no protection on that side of the power bar.

It IS possible to buy power bars which have what are referred to as "double pole" circuit breakers or surge suppressors; these open both the hot and neutral sides, so they will protect properly even used onboard a ship. However understandably, Princess Lines and other cruise lines can't possibly inspect all the power bars cruisers might bring on board, nor can the cabin stewards and other hospitality staff be expected to be familiar with every possible brand and model of power bar. So it's just easier to confiscate all power bars in the interest of electrical safety.

(This would've been a lot easier to do with some embedded graphics. :D)

As a Navy Brat born and raised within spitting distance of CFB Esquimalt I STILL think nothing looks as good as man in his mess uniform! Love to see it.

Which sailing date are you looking to do?

Sept 23 - Oct 8, 2017.

Wondering if you are a currently serving member of the Canadian Armed Forces or on retired status ? Retired CAF members require specific, direct and written permission of the CDS in order to wear their uniform for EACH occasion. See

http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/faq/index-eng.asp?cat=dress&FaqID=124#ans-rep .

Seems like a lot of trouble to go through, just to look "tiddley" for a cruise ship formal night ! :D

 

...VTX-Al (retired RCN/CAF)

Yep, still in. Currently posted to CFFSE - 'scuse me, not any more; to the Naval Training Development Center (Pacific), now that they've re-structured naval training here and in Slackers. Just about to head off to Saint Jean as an instructor at recruit school there. I wore my mess kit on the QM2 two years ago after double-checking with the Base Chief's office and getting a thumbs-up. :) The way I see it, I already have perfectly good formal attire; why rent a tux? That said, yes - once I retire, if I'm still cruising, I'll get a tux and check with the guidance on the DHH website for occasions to wear miniatures. Probably not on a cruise, but def. Battle of the Atlantic Sundays and Remembrance Day parades. Other than that... gonna sit on the front porch of the old C&POs' home, glare at the youngsters and yell at 'em to get their damned hands out of their pockets. :D

What trade were you? I'm an ETECH, at least until the not-amalgamation takes place and the Green Empire takes over the stoker and HT world :)

You'll see everything from tuxedos and cocktail dresses on down through slacks, open collar shirt and sport coat with ladies in black slacks and sparkly tops.... Dress uniforms are perfectly great and always look spectacular, so by all means, go for it if you want. You won't be out of place, and will run chive many admiring comments...

We've done the trip three times feom LA, on the Star one of those time. Each time my hubby brings his tuxedo, along woth two other formal suits, while I'm dressed to the nines also...many others do similar...while others opt for more casual but still dressed up...

Have a great cruise - we really love all the sea days for total relaxation and unwinding...

Happy sails....

Thanks very much. I've been to Pearl Harbour many, many times, through the good offices of the RCN; the drawback was always that command would never authorize leave off the big island, so I've never been to any other part of Hawai'i. I'm very much looking forward to this. As for the at-sea days, I enjoyed them when Herself and I took the QM2 from New York to Southampton a couple of years ago, and I admit I enjoyed turning heads when we entered the MDR on formal nights. Mess uniform *does* look spiffy and I like having occasions to trot it out. :)