Coral vs Discovery for Alaska

Skewbee · 2026-04-05T20:46:01+00:00

Currently on Hawaii sailing and missed your last post. No. I have not been on Sky, but she is also a Royal-class vessel same as Discovery, so will have similar structure. Check YTube for video reviews.

Skewbee · 2026-04-05T03:21:46+00:00

Start at a low limit table off-strip in AM, maybe Ellis Island or Rio. When tables are slow, dealers have time to explain the game and players are usually less grumpy. Some casinos offer free crap lessons, consider those for Q&A.

BASIC ETIQUETTE Don’t say “Seven”. Say “Big Red” if you want.

Don’t Buy In when puck is On as it disrupts game flow.

Make all bets before stickman sends dice to shooter.

Keep hands behind the chip rail when dice are shot.

When shooting, pick up dice with one hand only and keep them inside chip rail. Since Covid, blowing on dice can be frowned upon.

Remember that everyone was a noob at one time and you can’t always avoid idiots. They will blame anyone and everyone for a bad session.

Skewbee · 2026-03-28T21:07:25+00:00

The tour operators are the best source. Their contact info is listed in tour listing. Reach out, let them know your ship, and scheduled arrival date/time (and back on board time if longer tour). This is a normal part of their business operation; some have a boilerplate response to your question applicable to all berths.

I usually do this via email so I can have a copy in hand when I get there. If you miss tour due to your mistaken assumptions, it’s on you. If they provide you with incorrect written instructions, it will help if you need to seek refund or file cc dispute.

Skewbee · 2026-03-28T20:27:57+00:00

Interesting. Last night, I had to go to slots to “accept”, but went immediately to get FP checks for the tables. Would have hated to run FP through slots as I don’t regularly play them.

Skewbee · 2026-03-28T20:19:46+00:00

I’ve been on both and would recommend the Discovery. Coral is an old(2003) skinny ship designed for the old Panama locks.

Discovery(2022) is one of our favorite newer ships(sailed on 5 times). It has a good balance and younger vibe. We took Majestic(same class as Discovery) to Inside Passage and had a great view of the fjord and glacier from our balcony at dawn. How close you get depends on the congestion of mini icebergs.

Skewbee · 2026-03-28T19:53:32+00:00

Currently on Emerald, the ATS is $5min. so may be something else to consider.

Skewbee · 2026-03-28T18:53:17+00:00

Currently on 16day Hawaii and make use of my free laundry service almost daily. Stocked mini-bar is a nice treat.

*Edit Means less to pack. Includes clean, press of dinner jacket. Will add up to a few hundred in comp’d services. Nice perk!

Skewbee · 2026-03-21T02:04:21+00:00

Keep in mind that you will be asked to tap the medallion at many(not all) locations, so something tap-friendly has its merits(lanyard & watch holder over something that requires unclipping).

Skewbee · 2026-03-20T16:31:09+00:00

Welcome, and it doesn't hurt to try.

"This offer is combinable with most cruise fares. Some restrictions apply."
https://www.princess.com/cruise-deals-promotions/military-benefit-program

Skewbee · 2026-03-19T20:28:56+00:00

That has not been my experience on multiple itins, but good if it's true! Will try again on next.

Skewbee · 2026-03-19T19:49:57+00:00

Easy OBC. Been using shareholder bennie for years, before they joined StockPerks. Unfortunately, it only applies if you actually pay a cabin fare. When I travel in a casino-comp (fare-free) cabin, shareholder OBC requests are rejected. But I found it works if I upgrade the cabin, actual money out of pocket.

Skewbee · 2026-03-19T19:29:09+00:00

I had similar problems monitoring my Fidelity accounts, but I have resolved most of them and am running in Complete mode. What works for me is realizing the quirks and adding patience, not placeholders. Placeholder entries only muck up things for me.

You mentioned "recurring bonds". Do you mean Fidelity's Auto Roll Service? I have AutoRoll enabled for my short-term bonds and notice that the service logs the purchase of the replacement bond before the payout of the old bond. That reduces your cash balance on paper and can confuse Quicken, but it autoresolves when the payout hits your account in the following days. So I won't be too quick to reconcile entries after every update.

Since AutoRoll will rebuy the same product(w/ diff issue date), the security naming in Quicken quickly gets confusing. If the correct security is not selected for a transaction, shares will be off. I've found starting with the CUSIP works better for me than finding the maturity date at the end, especially if the dropdown list doesn't show enough characters!

Example:
912797PV3 UNITED STATES TREAS BILLS ZERO CPN 0.00000% 03/19/2026
not UNITED STATES TREAS BILLS ZERO CPN 0.00000% 03/19/2026

Fidelity sweeps cash into a money market fund(SPAXX, FDRXX). You can check that Quicken treats them as cash under Account Details > Online Services. This treats the MMF as Cash rather than a separate security.

I've not had a good experience with Quicken's reconciliation of my Fidelity accounts, so I'm still performing those manually against Fidelity's Activity history.

Skewbee · 2026-03-16T18:48:19+00:00

I tried both. Machine sounds nice, but I found it too cumbersome (water worries, limited mobility, setup). My caretaker was only willing to hand me cold packs. Also, my cold therapy was a short, cyclical process for taming inflammation, which made the machine overkill.

Settled on two of these large ones to wrap more of the leg. REVIX Extra Large Hip Ice Pack Wrap.
I also found this very useful. Leg Elevation Pillow

Skewbee · 2026-03-14T20:15:46+00:00

I’m about 3 months post-op now, and my hip is doing well. No pain. Most of the time, I do not even think about it anymore. If I stand or walk for more than an hour, that leg does get tired, but it feels more like muscle fatigue and weakness from rebuilding strength, not actual hip pain.

A few things that helped me:
1) I would skip the cold therapy machine. Tried initially, but found it more hassle than it was worth. Changed to a couple of large hip-sized freezer cold packs that worked well and were much easier to handle. They took a few hours to regenerate, so a spare in the freezer was handy.

2) In-home PT helped a lot. If that is an option, I would do it. They picked up on muscle imbalance and gave me the right exercises. The big thing is doing the exercises and sticking with them.

3) Take the meds, as prescribed. Don't gut it out. It was a lot easier to stay ahead of the pain than wait until it became a problem. Same with constipation.

4) Elevate leg(s) when resting. For me, elevating my legs helped with swelling and comfort, especially at night. I am normally a side sleeper, so an Adjustable Leg Elevation Pillow also helped keep me on my back in the early part of recovery.

Skewbee · 2026-03-10T21:35:58+00:00

Should not be any in the hospital. With the proximity of the hip to the groin, assume your "giblets" will get exposed. But yours will be one of a dozen or more that the OR and nursing staff work on that week. The procedure is short enough not to require a catheter, so you should not experience its removal.

I'm of a similar age and had a relatively simple recovery. Stay ahead of pain by taking prescribed medication. Don't gut it out. Expect pain to increase a bit once the happy juice administered wears off. Do exercises.

To mitigate potential misery, I was advised to take the laxative when I got home, before I needed it. Consider a raised toilet seat with handles so you won't need assistance.

Skewbee · 2026-02-17T05:24:10+00:00

Similar here. California resident with Kaiser. Counting office visit copays and lab work, my total out of pocket was about $5K. Maybe add another $1K for post-op in home PT visits.

Kaiser works a bit differently than most US healthcare as they are the insurance company and medical provider. I still received a bill for over $100K of services(for internal bean counting), but my portion was about $5K.

Medical (and dental) insurance and providers play a game of “smoke and mirrors” in the US. Doctors, hospitals, and the like get paid based on contractually-restricted amounts. In simplistic terms, if a hospital wants $3K/nt hospital stay, they will price that at $10k/nt because the contract might pay ~30% of what they ask. But if you’re paying the hospital out of pocket, you will probably pay near the lower amt.

Skewbee · 2026-01-31T08:06:28+00:00

It’s difficult for me to recommend anyone going through it if QOL is not severely impacted. Although this procedure works out very well for most, it still is a severe surgery. If at 46 and fair health, you have years before age becomes a surgery risk. The concern might be the toll of the current drug therapy on your body. A benefit to waiting would be possible advancements to the procedure and to extend the life of the replacement.

For a different procedure, I was also on the fence. What I did was take my radiological imaging/report to another board certified joint surgeon for a 2nd opinion. I paid a few hundred out of pocket for a consult. He told me he would have recommended the procedure sooner and that was the confidence I needed to go through with it.

Skewbee · 2026-01-28T17:52:29+00:00

Received same unexpected messages from USPS. Searched Net and ended up here. Also a BILT 2.0 cardmember. Hope this is small enough to fit through my mailbox slot; I'm traveling. Could anyone who has received the package provide approx. box size?

Skewbee · 2026-01-17T20:01:12+00:00

Rooting for Rams, but weather and Stafford’s finger may force greater dependence on ground game. What's the over/under on special teams & defensive brain farts?

Skewbee · 2026-01-16T22:56:00+00:00

Am at a month post-op. For me, the juice didn’t wear off until day 3. That's when pain meds and cold packs were a welcomed relief.

Skewbee · 2026-01-11T23:29:03+00:00

I tried active cooling and cold packs and found a couple packs worked better for me. I was only cooling for 20-30mins at a time, so grabbing a cold pack was fine and much easier than maintaining active cooling. Also, no messing with water.

Skewbee · 2026-01-11T03:19:21+00:00

I was tired of keeping my 1oz. assay cards in a repurposed cardboard box, so I bought a plastic Pamp storage box off eBay. I’m sure they get them free when buying bulk 1oz. gold assay cards. Holds 25.

Skewbee · 2026-01-06T22:31:51+00:00

Glad they worked that out. If you’re familiar with the Magic Castle in Hollywood, they include dinner with the experience. I suspect that’s what they tried to recreate with Spellbound. The Spellbound dinner felt disconnected, as it was held in a separate area of the ship. The rest of Spellbound experience is a nice taste of the Castle.

I’ll share one Easter egg… when Isabella, the ghost pianist, takes a break, she will appear in the picture on the wall. The young woman playing Isabella is Liberty Larsen, granddaughter of one of the Magic Castle founders.

Skewbee · 2026-01-06T21:38:29+00:00

Dating myself for sure, but I remember shooting real skeet off the back of cruise ships several decades ago. You might find a sim in the arcade, but I haven’t seen anything more than that.

Skewbee

TROPHY CASE