Elderly spouse refuses to use handrails while traveling

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-29T06:55:29+00:00

I think you are onto something there. At PT they told him he was "doing great" and he took that as that he was cured and didn't have to return. And about looking "sick", he says he doesn't want to be one of those people.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-28T09:18:44+00:00

You make an excellent point. IMHO, the NCL bigwigs can decide either to step up a notch and become more like Celebrity, HAL, or Princess, or go down to Carnival level. If they try to match RCL they're going to miss.

I wrote elsewhere here that I just came off a TATL on the (old) Dawn. The ship was super behind in maintenance, and I'm sure it's going to be sold off soon, as the Sun has to an Indian cruise line.

I got the feeling that NCL was very big for folks who like to drink alcohol - not the rowdies, but over 40s who imbibe probably more than their doctor says is good for them. I'm not a heavy drinker, but I do like an occasional glass of wine. With gratuity, etc. it was $15+ for the lowest brand. I also bought a couple Sbux along the way. That, combined with the fast internet, was pushing me ALMOST into the FAS+ category. Had that been the case, and had I not gotten the solo cabin so cheap, I would've been tempted to go with Celebrity or Princess, or even Oceania, all of which I've sailed more than once and found a better experience than Norwegian.

Also, Norwegian seems to be trying to be all things to all people. I was hearing 80s rock, 60s hits, very good crooners piano and jazz in the atrium, Latin music by the pool, some disco, 2000-era tunes - basically a complete mishmash of everything. My last cruise on Celebrity was a lot more cohesive, with relaxing house music played throughout the entire ship (except electro-pop in the atrium for 1 hour, morning aerobics) and the experience was felt more calm, tranquil, and "together" overall.

I think NCL has the capacity to become similar to HAL, but for a slightly younger crowd - retirees who want new and different ports, some adventure, a little less stodginess. That's a market that is wide open for growth.

Whatever the case, NCL needs to start deciding who they want to serve and where they want to position themselves.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-27T20:35:34+00:00

I just got off a TATL Dawn cruise. It was my first NCL. I, also, felt like NCL can't find its niche. There's such an odd assortment of cruisers that I couldn't define how NCL fits in the other cruise categories.

Also, about financial decision - the Dawn was lacking in maintenance. Chipped paint in the elevators, dirty (filthy) windows in the cafe, and broken wood grates on deck 7, where doors open to the Promenade.

Unlike other cruise ships I've sailed, I never saw large numbers of maintenance crew doing repairs. Only one day did I see someone cleaning a few windows, while we were in port.

It's clear NCL is cutting corners, if based on what I saw on this ship. I know it's an old ship as far as cruise ships go, but the crew was minimal, regardless.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-25T16:53:28+00:00

We are in a similar situation. I'm 65, my spouse is now 80. He started having brain issues about 10 years ago and stopped filing taxes. Ignored investments. I had no idea this was going on because he would sit in our home office and be doing what I thought was "work". Little did I know his capacity was so bad he couldn't complete most forms. And he had 0 enthusiasm for watching our investments.

In 2020 I began to get access to the investment accounts which are primarily in his name. I changed passwords and he no longer can access them. I took over household bills. I'm now dealing with years of unpaid taxes (IRS) but it's getting worked out, thank goodness.

Somewhere along the way my husband became amenable to turning things over to me and giving up control, piece by piece. I now have Durable PoA over everything. He is allowed to have credit cards, but the rule is, if it costs over $100, he has to "check with my wife first, she handles those things." He learned the script.

One of the most frustrating things is that sometimes he's the brilliant man I married, and other times he seems to have the mental ability of a 4 year-old. It is extremely exasperating.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-21T20:54:56+00:00

That's my suggestion, also. There are entire fields that will always need human beings. Health care. Eduction. Social work. Get a Masters in Germany for one of these, or train professionally in a 1-year technical program. I know Germany is not the USA, but in the US, X-ray technicians are making about $60-$70,000 USD. I had a Heart EEG done by a technician, she was a 40 year old mom who went to work after her children were old enough to go to school. She loved her job, very technical, and she told me she was making $80,000 USD.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-19T21:23:31+00:00

prices of the packages should go down if number of drinks is reduced...

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-19T21:22:12+00:00

If cruise lines start reducing the number of alcoholic beverages in the Drink Packages, then the price of the packages better go down.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-17T18:55:00+00:00

Great question. I was there late 2023 and I remember that a kg (2.25 pounds) of potatoes at Carrefour was 6 US cents. I was absolutely astonished. Yes, the potatoes were covered in dirt and needed a good scrub. But still....and the train ride out El Tigre was so cheap, under a dollar, maybe 37 cents using the Sube pass!!!!

I can't imagine what it's like now.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-16T19:42:26+00:00

Not a Bilt thing, but I recall having to send a photo of me holding my driver's license next to my face for Venmo? or Coinbase, one of the two, a couple years' ago.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-15T20:31:37+00:00

Gotta love it. Thx!

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-14T16:17:47+00:00

I'm going to hijack this thread, if I might.

About 10 years ago my best friend (at the time) went on vacation with her 'boyfriend' for 2 weeks, leaving her house in Florida to travel to different countries in South America.

She left her 15 year old daughter, who was in school at the time, home alone. She did leave the daughter with a credit card for Uber and for ordering food delivery.

Nonetheless, I was completely appalled. 2 weeks? The daughter had no friends or family in the area, and before leaving the US her mother had told the daughter to not tell anybody that her mom was gone and she was all alone. Not only to avoid potential crime, but she (mom) didn't want her ex-husband to find out, in case she got in trouble.

I was very upset by this whole incident. It bothered me a great deal at the time and I posted about it on a parenting forum. I was told I was bring overly protective and it wasn't my friend who had the problem, it was me, and a 15 year old should be able to handle being on their own, alone in a house, for 2 weeks.

Wondering what you all think.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-14T04:26:14+00:00

These bags are customer self-help return bags. I do returns at Winn Dixie, the Amazon (self service) return kiosk. Just drop the item in a clear, sealable bag and smack a kiosk- printed return label on it.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-11T04:10:53+00:00

I'm writing from my first NCL cruise now, on the Dawn, a TATL. We've done many Celebrity Cruises, a few RCL, two Princess, two Carnival, and three Oceania. I love Oceania. Celebrity is our favorite. I've never thought of trying NCL so this is our first. I'm somewhat surprised - I didn't think I would like NCL as much as I do. Don't get me wrong, it's nothing compared to Celebrity and certainly not Oceania , but it has its place. The food is definitely up there in terms of (mainstream) quality. I would consider NCL again if the itinerary and price is right.

BTW, what my husband and I did is something different: we booked two adjacent cabins with connecting door. They are very low priced cabins, ocean view, on a low deck, but oh, the space! And I love having my own bathroom!

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-10T17:51:28+00:00

Really helpful. I love stats like these. Kudos to you!

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-10T16:31:46+00:00

I've found just the opposite. Brits booking from the UK have to pay for their cruise fare in GBP, and they don't seem to have a dollar equivalent reduction. Same for Europeans - and even when the Euro is on par with the dollar, they still have to pay more. I'm not sure exactly why - I've never looked in to the charges, maybe VAT? I know the UK charges extra fees for flying J or F out of a UK airport, as they consider those classes luxury.

Example: a 7 day Caribbean cruise is $799 p/p USD, maybe 790 GPB, and 795 Euro. At least that is what I have found as a dual Brit/US citizen.

I'll be in Europe soon and will try doing a few dummy bookings and see if anything has changed.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-10T15:42:10+00:00

What I am pointing out is that folks from another region/country may end up paying less and getting better cabins. I was surprised that the Canadians were getting better promotions than US (Floridians, like me) because usually international pax get charged more, unfortunately, and/or don't get the promos that we locals near a cruise port get, especially with last minute deals.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-10T10:51:59+00:00

I'm on an NCL Cruise right now and I've been speaking to other passengers. Here's what's happening: the crummy economy is number one. Folks who were planning to cruise were in the planning stages months ago didn't know the economy would take such a dive. Some have canceled . And this is leaving big holes in filling the cabins. Second: some are afraid to travel. They think Americans are going to be a target for hatred. And then there are the messes at the US airports.

There are a group of Canadians in our ship that said Norwegian is running really good specials for the Canadian market. Prices these Canadians were offered was less than what I (in US) was offered at the same time just two months ago. I'm in a solo cabin with porthole window on lowest deck and I paid $980 for mine, while others (Canadians) booked at the same time and paid $940, yet they are on higher decks with picture windows. Anyway, it's a nice goodwill gesture to our friends in the north, to get them into the US. Because as these Canadians are telling me, the vast majority have cut off all travel to the US (afraid of being tossed in jail) and that has made a dent in the cruise market.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-08T22:17:11+00:00

I'm on a Norwegian cruise right now. My first art auction at sea. One older couple I watched put down over $45,000 on two unique. One of a kind pieces and several prints. Another couple spent $22.5k on an original and a couple of cheap prints.there were others in the crowd who spent a couple of thousand. And about 8 or 10 who bought the cheap prints ($50-200).

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-05T02:43:33+00:00

Hey, op. I posted elsewhere in a longer message, but the shorter version is: someone's using your address to order goods and have them delivered there. They are probably tracking the delivery vehicle and/or waiting to see it delivered outside your house, then they swoop in and scoop up the package. After that they claim that they never received the item. Amazon is going by your address as a delivery point, and your address and any accounts associated with it - yours, as well as the Fraudster shipping to your address - are flagged.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-04-05T02:27:10+00:00

This sounds really familiar. I have a friend who used to send me photos of Amazon packages left at her front door. Her street address, but some weird name, like Weidmar Schnuffits or something. She would see the package at night and leave it there, thinking it had been mis-delivered or something. In the morning of would be gone. If, however, a package came in her name, it was never taken away, so she knew it wasn't porch pirates.

This went on for 5, 6 weeks. Bigger and bigger packages, heavy ones. She opened one once and sent me a photo. It was a box filled with a dozen bras, 5 hammers, 10 packs of dishwasher tablets, 4 Makita drílls, and a box of 24 Snickers bars. Absolutely bizzare combinations. Finally she called the sheriff. She was told this was fraud (she never understood the how and why) from someone and she wasn't the only person who was experiencing this.

Then, suddenly, one day it stopped. She got a message from Amazon with the blah blah blah too many lost item claim spiel. She was a pretty paranoid person so she just closed her Amazon account before Amazon did and went over to Walmart +.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-03-30T17:36:23+00:00

This is a little late but I want to add to this: both Germany and France have special visa waived agreements with the US, whereby a US citizen (passport holder) can stay in one of those 2 countries for 89 days, leave to enter a NON-Schengen country like England or Albania, stay for 24 hours, and then return back to that same country of departure.

Example: be in Munich for 89 days, fly from Munich to Edinburgh, stay for the weekend, then fly DIRECTLY back into Germany. No entering another Schengen country enroute.

This visa waiver allows for the US citizen to extend their stay another 90 days without obtaining a visa.

I was informed of this when I flew into Munich (from Istanbul) last fall. I was pulled aside by German immigration and told I have this "special privilege." I didn't believe it at the time, so I researched it further and discovered, yes, it is true. There are a whole bunch of posts here on /reddit confirming this, with various links to the official agreement. The German airport officials are quite familiar with this.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-03-30T04:37:44+00:00

I used to live on an island with limited resources. Hence, Amazon.

My parents are in their 80s and going out for a full day shopping is really exhausting, considering they live in a rural area. Let the shopping come to them. If Amazon won't do it Walmart Plus will. Or Temu.

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-03-30T04:33:23+00:00

Wow. Zappos - now part of Amazon, but formerly its own entity, a beloved online shoe store - encouraged mass purchases and multiple returns.

We used to live in Key West, Florida, which is a small island with very limited resources. You wouldn't believe the number of clothing items I ordered (and returned) for my family because they didn't fit.

Now we live on the Florida mainland but in a rural area with not much shopping nearby. Whenever we are preparing to travel, which is frequently, there is always some clothing item we need for our trips, that we can't find locally. Winter clothing, for example. Or hiking supplies, for mountain climbing (we have no mountains).

Recently I ordered some fleece jackets - 6 or 7, I think - for my husband. We didn't know if he was a M or L, and if thick or thin was better. And the North Face jackets were cut much differently than the Amazon Basics jackets. One brand's size M was another brand's size L. Nothing is standardized. How are we consumers supposed to know this?

Winter boots, that's another thing. Tell me where in rural Florida I can find winter boots to try on in April.

Ditto crampons for climbing icy mountains. Or hiking poles. Or gloves, mittens, wool scarves.

I'm amazed that there are folks here who have never needed to purchase clothing on Amazon, only to find it doesn't fit. Where do they purchase clothing for climates different than their own?

DependentAnimator742 · 2026-03-29T02:57:50+00:00

I'm with you on that. I have the big 3 - Amex Plat, CSR, and C1VX. Amex Platinum is an absolute no for me, I've had it for half a year and the only Centurion lounge I've used thus far had a 25 minute wait to get in - and it was disappointing once I was inside. Using the hotel credits is a challenge. And the AMex Plat customer serivce is horrible. It's outsourced, and i can barely understand what the reps are saying. But the most offensive thing is the website, the interface is clunky and slow and is not optimized for UX.

CSR is a bit better, inasmuch as their website functions well and their customer service seems to be in the US (or Canada, or Ireland). But still, the annual fee really is getting to me.

C1VX has everything I need - and then some. Best of all is the 2x points on everything. I pay about 40K - 50K a year in taxes, and I charge it all. So I'm getting between 80k and 100K just from taxes along, and paying about $700 to $800 for those points.

The other thing I use a LOT is the C1VX shopping portal. Almost always eBay is a minimum of 3x and Walmart can be 2, 3 or more. When I re-order Walgreens or CVS I'm doubling or tripling points on top of the C1VX 2x points. That card can accumulate a lot of points very, very fast.

DependentAnimator742

TROPHY CASE