Technicalities: Butler (Or Loss There Of) And Room Electronics

[crzrr]

Where2next - you and my husband must have learned how to pack at the same place. We bought olive oil in Sorrento and it came home just as you instructed. Made it home safely too.

DrH - you do need a vacation ;)! I hope that it's a fabulous one. I come from a family of physicians and can't say that they have ever brought home specimen jars for anything!

[Dr H]

Karen, my family has been in the smuggling business for generations! My wife proudly tells of her grandmother who smuggled ("schmuggled") gold across the German/Polish border during WWI. My mother, may she rest in peace, smuggled frozen, kosher rib eye steaks, in her suitcase wrapped in aluminum foil, lest it thaw, for our downstairs neighbor when we lived in Italy. (Not that you couldn't get kosher meat in Milan at the time, just that American beef was better, and my mother was a saint.) The beef story. She flew BA from NY to Rome, via London. She did. The suitcase au bouf got lost in transit, but only for 24 hours. Arthritic soul that she was, guess who had to go over to the airport in Venice to collect the lost luggage? Naturally, the Italians never, ever inspect or open luggage. Me they stopped. They made me open the first suitcase. In it were bagels, then a highly exotic food, and a spring form pan. I explained that the strange bread was for Jewish religious purposes, Jews being highly exotic creatures, known best in biblical stories. When asked about the spring form pan (for a sponge cake, Passover was coming), I calmly explained that it was used for making bagels. It worked. The poor customs guy rolled his eyes at the obviously demented American, and passed me through. The suitcase with the bleeding meat was never opened. We ate well that night, mom's underwear needed washing, and yes, the stain in the suitcase never really came out. But we laughed every time we opened it. So trust me, the onions are child's play! When I get to meet you, I will tell you the story of the chamomile tea and the tulips at JFK. (Just to keep you on your toes, the story includes a recipe for traditional Bronx style tomato sauce (pronounced "sawwwse"). Over martinis, of course.

 

David

[California Native]

Kudos to your success with smuggling and it does make for great memories and stories...

but shall we say now....

those were the days!!!

Just a side note...

if you try to bring fruit into California....

I will send that cute little doggy over to sit by your suitcase!

Need to be hardcore about that...

don't want to live through another medfly infestation and have malathion poured over our homes, at the same time hoping the low flying planes don't ditch into your neighborhood!!!

http://www.paloaltohistory.com/medfly.html

I have stage 4 endometriosis..some well known doctors who specialize in this field have theorized that malathion may have contributed a role in that, since I was at ground zero of the spraying (among other factors)

in turn I'm unable to have children....

just because someone smuggled in fruit!

makes you wonder....

if there was no smuggled fruit, there wouldn't be medflys,

then no need to spray malathion constantly at my home, school, playgrounds when I was just a young teen girl.

If there was no malathion, would the scales not be tipped

for the endometriosis? therefore not rendering me infertile.

Just my 2 cents on the topic of smuggling food items

into states or countries.

K.

[jaderbee]

I lived in Corona during the whole spraying thing! They had to hose off our high school every morning after the night spray. In SoCal we're always told we're in a drought and must conserve water. What a waste. If I recall correctly it turned out they just needed a mutated fly to wipe out the population instead of dumping pesticides over cities. Sorry for butting in. Just hadn't thought about the medfly and all the quaratine signs and spraying in ages.

 

Dr. H I hope you and your pickled onions have a fabulous cruise. Your posts are fun to read. :)

 

Liz

Kudos to your success with smuggling and it does make for great memories and stories...

but shall we say now....

those were the days!!!

Just a side note...

if you try to bring fruit into California....

I will send that cute little doggy over to sit by your suitcase!

Need to be hardcore about that...

don't want to live through another medfly infestation and have malathion poured over our homes, at the same time hoping the low flying planes don't ditch into your neighborhood!!!

http://www.paloaltohistory.com/medfly.html

I have stage 4 endometriosis..some well known doctors who specialize in this field have theorized that malathion may have contributed a role in that, since I was at ground zero of the spraying (among other factors)

in turn I'm unable to have children....

just because someone smuggled in fruit!

makes you wonder....

if there was no smuggled fruit, there wouldn't be medflys,

then no need to spray malathion constantly at my home, school, playgrounds when I was just a young teen girl.

If there was no malathion, would the scales not be tipped

for the endometriosis? therefore not rendering me infertile.

Just my 2 cents on the topic of smuggling food items

into states or countries.

K.

[critterchick]

I think my questions have been fully answered. The DVD player stays home, I'll read a book, as usual, on the flight over. Besides, we aren't heading to Casablanca anyway (or Israel for that matter.). I'm probably carrying the laptop, if only to stay in touch with the kids via skype, and not having to encur my T-Mobile European roaming charges. We shall see.

 

I am greatly relieved that while the cabin staff has been relieved of its tails and titles, service has not been compromised. As long they can provide us with a little champagne now and again, I shall be totally satisfied. Service was fine on HAL - no butlers, no champagne, but that was back in 1984. I'm just hoping everything is spectacular. Say, speaking of spectacular, the on line brouchure says we get flowers in the rooms, but several posts allude to picking up flowers in the various ports. Okay, what is the room-flower story? Provided/not provided?

 

Love this board!

 

David

 

Forget the book - get a Kindle reader (or a Nook, Sony or iPad). Then you can have 1000 books to read!

 

In our Sky suite on Journey we had freesias in the little 5-tube vase. They were never replaced on a 16 night cruise and we had stems by the 10th day. Our "head butler" never got the hint to replace them. In our lowly balcony cabin on Quest the flowers were replaced as soon as they got a little wilty. I think it all depends on your cabin team.

 

Not that you need to smuggle your liquor on Azamara, but for future reference, try a Rum Runner or just get a bottle from the local beauty supply shop and add it to your toiletries kit. There's a reason that, of all the flavors in which vodka is made, mint isn't one of them. :p

[OneSmartDaddy]

Thanks for the note, Bruce. Out of curiosity, exactly where did you learn about the new policy? As you write, "officially" it's a no go, but multiple blogs report that you can bring stuff on. The closest I've found is 2 bottles of wine are allowed at the port of embarkation. Somehow, it seems a tad sacrilegious to be smuggling Macallan in a plastic coke bottle. (I'm a Glenmorangie man myself, port finish preferred, and whether or not that goes on board with the gin will depend on the weather in the Eastern Mediterranean in late October). I feel a little self conscious (lazy?) about calling Azamara directly, or at least until I finish paying for the cruise and get my docs printed out.

David,

I will share my Macallan with you. I am planning to bring one liter of the spirits with me, and do as you suggested pick up two bottles of champagne at the duty free as we pass thru Paris. My better half and I are in cabin 7023. I have been reading your posts and enjoying them alot.

[cindilouwho]

Go to a sporting goods store and enter the camping section. You will find special thick plastic bags that are waterproof & leakproof. They have a rolltop secured with velcro. The come in a multitude of sizes. Wrap anything you think may leak in diapers or depends. Bubble wrap just protects but in a breakage situation may leak. the diapers absorb the liquid and provide cushioning. For efficiency remember - you can wear the diapers after you drink for those long shore excursions...just kidding....maybe not ....hmmmmmmm..... bubble wrap can't be multitasked. :eek: :D

 

Happy Sailings - ALWAYS!

[SFL]

Thanks for the note, Bruce. Out of curiosity, exactly where did you learn about the new policy? As you write, "officially" it's a no go, but multiple blogs report that you can bring stuff on. The closest I've found is 2 bottles of wine are allowed at the port of embarkation. Somehow, it seems a tad sacrilegious to be smuggling Macallan in a plastic coke bottle. (I'm a Glenmorangie man myself, port finish preferred, and whether or not that goes on board with the gin will depend on the weather in the Eastern Mediterranean in late October). I feel a little self conscious (lazy?) about calling Azamara directly, or at least until I finish paying for the cruise and get my docs printed out.

 

Dr. H

I forgive you for being a Glenmorangie drinker. I am a Lagvulin/Ardbeg man myself. However, if you decide to bring it, tightly wrap it and put it into your check in luggage.. If it's in a "rollaboard" and you are going thru multiple airports to connect with the ship you may never see that little bit o Scotland again

:D

[Dr H]

I knew there was a reason I liked you from the first! The Med is too warm for Islay malts in October, so I'm sticking to Highland for the trip. But you can serve me Lagvulin or Ardbeg (almost) any day. Have you tried Laphroig's Quarter Cask? Very hard, but not impossible, to find here in the Atlanta area. Definitely worth seeking out, especially if you like the Islays. And yes, I'm well aware of the need to pack, wrap, and check the stuff. Normally, I'm a hand luggage only sort of guy, but for this trip, there will be checked luggage out of the States.

 

David

[SFL]

I knew there was a reason I liked you from the first! The Med is too warm for Islay malts in October, so I'm sticking to Highland for the trip. But you can serve me Lagvulin or Ardbeg (almost) any day. Have you tried Laphroig's Quarter Cask? Very hard, but not impossible, to find here in the Atlanta area. Definitely worth seeking out, especially if you like the Islays. And yes, I'm well aware of the need to pack, wrap, and check the stuff. Normally, I'm a hand luggage only sort of guy, but for this trip, there will be checked luggage out of the States.

 

David

 

Thanks I'll Look for it. On my trip, we stopped in Kirkwall, scotland. I found a beer/whiskey dram shop that specialized in local small batch non US export scotch. They gave out "samples" . As I like the Islay's,I purchased

a Bruichladdich 12 year old and a port charlotte pc6 a really small and now defunct distiller. If you run across it in the Med buy Black Adder. It's a meritage like blend of Islay single malts. I bought a sample bottle but alas laddie it's gone.. But highly unique

Enjoy your cruise and dare I say it the Glenmorangie. However, they do have Highland Park onboard in the Casino, that may suit your tastes.

:D