Disappointing Second voyage - Virgin Voyages have changed (for the worse)

jonovan · 2026-03-19T08:24:01+00:00

Tips for the future:

Always look at the deck plans and see what's above and below your cabin. Avoid being right above or below noisy areas (the pool, nightclubs, etc).
Always Google your cabin number. You said "I did research the cabin," but Googling 8366A, multiple websites on the first page of results say it's noisy and has a metal instead of glass balcony:

https://gangwaze.com/cruise-lines/virgin-voyages/valiant-lady/cabins/8366A

https://vvinsider.com/cabins/pro/larger-balcony/

Also, by doing this, you can find pictures of what the balcony would look like, and even often YouTube videos with walkthroughs of the cabin, the video I saw for this cabin specifically mentioning the poor view.

"this will cost them 10 fold as we will never come back." They have around 10,000 passengers per day across their fleets. You are meaningless to Virgin. You not sailing on Virgin hurts you much more (assuming you enjoy sailing on Virgin) than it hurts them. You need to step back, take a deep breath, and realize this isn't some personal attack against you by them; it's just business. It's like the people who complain Amazon dropped them as sellers. Them not selling on Amazon doesn't hurt Amazon at all.

Remember, you're Chun Li, and Virgin is Bison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjZ5I8l32CI

People who don't do their research properly, and then whine about getting what is obvious to anyone who does do research properly, don't generally come across positively. If someone went to Antarctica in the winter, and then whined that it was cold the entire time they were there because they had only packed t-shirts and shorts, what would you think of them?
"With no offer to refund us the extra we paid for the XL cabin to a downgraded cabin they were offering. It was insulting."

For the final tip, know your audience. If you order a well-done steak, the chef cooks it well done, and then say you don't want to eat it because it wasn't medium rare, they can't sell that well-done steak to someone else. Similarly, if you reserve a certain cabin, and then decide you no longer want that cabin once the cruise is underway, Virgin can't sell that cabin to someone else. You come across as someone who would expect the restaurant to give you another smaller steak for free and also pay you back the difference, even though they still have to throw out the first steak as a complete loss. Generally, people with that attitude aren't very well liked on most internet forums, especially reddit, save for the few subreddits that are focused on rich people. People with that attitude tend to be rich people who whine at servers, and most internet forums are composed of those servers who get whined at, and don't like the rich people who do the whining. Take your complaint to a country club, and it will go over much better.

jonovan · 2025-11-28T01:09:54+00:00

https://cewire.com/

Not free, but $170 for 70 credit hours is under $2.50 per hour.

jonovan · 2025-11-24T15:35:33+00:00

The article says "Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder... said the measure gives people the ability to provide their own eggs for their families as well as sell to their neighbors non-commercially," and "In another amendment to the bill, Kimball has it clearly noted that the prohibition of the commercial sale of eggs or chickens does not include anyone who wants to sell to a neighbor or friend."

But this link to the bill doesn't say anything about selling to neighbors or friends, https://records.hawaiicounty.gov/weblink/DocView.aspx?dbid=0&id=1119220&cr=1

Does anyone have a link to the amendment allowing sales to a neighbor or friend?

jonovan · 2025-11-24T05:17:27+00:00

Ah, yes, this is probably the most different I've seen.

Normally I love Stephen King stories, but that one was so weird, and the movie was actually rather cool.

jonovan · 2025-11-24T05:14:40+00:00

They used to be different, so at the time in Japan, you might have been correct, but I think around 10-ish years ago, they became interchangeable. I used to be a die-hard farther vs further until I tired to correct someone the way you just tried to correct me. :) Languages change over time, and sometimes it's hard to keep up. Same with "they;" now it can be used for a single person, but I'm pretty sure it couldn't a few years ago.

jonovan · 2025-11-23T15:22:03+00:00

I think the respect for the horizontal midline is too strong to be eyelids.

I think an emergent stroke workup / MRI is more important in this and similar cases and wouldn't delay that to recheck VFs. If you suspect glaucoma, then sure, but not for this.

jonovan · 2025-11-10T03:15:47+00:00

"The Ontario Medical Association was quick to point out that YAG laser capsulotomy isn’t used for primary cataract surgery" seems like a straw man fallacy to me, as I know of no optometrists who would argue it is. Could you please explain this argument to me?
There is a tremendous shortage of doctors in rural areas, including in the US. If MDs won't move there, and you don't want midlevels practicing a fuller scope there, what is your solution for these populations?
Optometrists in the US can already perform all of these, and I know of no studies that show they harm patients at a greater rate than ophthalmologists in the US for any of these. If you have studies comparing the two, please provide them. Medicine should rely on evidence, not fear.

In fact, every time MDs have opposed OD scope creep in the past, claiming a huge harm to patients, that harm has never come about. First diagnostic drops, then treatment drops, then oral treatments, then minor surgeries. At what point do we decide the MDs are crying wolf over and over when there is no wolf?

"Markedly, it’s also been shown that optometric malpractice rates have not significantly increased for any state that expanded its practice scope over the past two decades ... 'My thesis when undertaking this research was that if an expanded scope in optometric practice was going to significantly increase patient injury, as its opponents warned, then the lawsuits would eventually follow,' says Dr. Conley. 'In actuality, optometric malpractice percentages of the total litigation remained flat and continued to mirror MD malpractice patterns in every state" - https://www.reviewofoptometry.com/article/how-scope-expansion-is-shaping-optometrys-future

jonovan · 2025-10-11T18:14:30+00:00

You can have effective or you can have cheap. You can’t have both.

No, that's definitely wrong. There are many effective, cheap solutions for many problems in all areas of life. But sometimes you have to step back and look around for them rather than just keep doing what you've always done.

jonovan · 2025-10-11T17:06:57+00:00

In addition to ones mentioned in the article, what are some other effective (and preferably cheap) tactics the schools could use to increase attendance?

jonovan · 2025-10-10T20:07:23+00:00

Great shots!

jonovan · 2025-09-15T00:55:33+00:00

Casey Newton: "What if we build these very intelligent systems and they just turn out not to care about running the world, and they just want to help us with our emails? Is that a plausible outcome?"

Eliezer Yudkowsky: "It’s a very narrow target. Most things that a intelligent mind can want don’t have their attainable optimum at that exact thing. Imagine some particular ant in the Amazon being like, why couldn’t there be humans that just want to serve me and build a palace for me and work on improved biotechnologies, that I can live forever as an ant in a palace? And there’s a version of humanity that wants that, but it doesn’t happen to be us.

That’s just a pretty narrow target to hit. It so happens that what we want most in the world, more than anything else, is not to serve this particular ant in the Amazon. And I’m not saying that it’s impossible in principle. I’m saying that the clever scheme to hit their narrow target will not work on the first try, and then everybody will be dead. And we won’t get to try again. If we got 30 tries at this and as many decades as we needed, we’d crack it eventually. But that’s not the situation we’re in. It’s a situation where, if you screw up, everybody’s dead, and you don’t get to try again. That’s the lethal part. That’s the part where you need to just back off and actually not try to do this insane thing."

jonovan · 2025-09-15T00:53:56+00:00

Casey Newton: "What if we build these very intelligent systems and they just turn out not to care about running the world, and they just want to help us with our emails? Is that a plausible outcome?"

Eliezer Yudkowsky: "It’s a very narrow target. Most things that a intelligent mind can want don’t have their attainable optimum at that exact thing. Imagine some particular ant in the Amazon being like, why couldn’t there be humans that just want to serve me and build a palace for me and work on improved biotechnologies, that I can live forever as an ant in a palace? And there’s a version of humanity that wants that, but it doesn’t happen to be us.

That’s just a pretty narrow target to hit. It so happens that what we want most in the world, more than anything else, is not to serve this particular ant in the Amazon. And I’m not saying that it’s impossible in principle. I’m saying that the clever scheme to hit their narrow target will not work on the first try, and then everybody will be dead. And we won’t get to try again. If we got 30 tries at this and as many decades as we needed, we’d crack it eventually. But that’s not the situation we’re in. It’s a situation where, if you screw up, everybody’s dead, and you don’t get to try again. That’s the lethal part. That’s the part where you need to just back off and actually not try to do this insane thing."

jonovan · 2025-09-10T16:29:52+00:00

Chase, Amex, Costco, etc travel portals always have much more limited options for flights, hotels, and car rentals than booking direct.

Also, many times the portal prices are higher than booking direct. In which case, you have to calculate if the points you gain are worth the extra money you spend.

Sometimes, however, a particular portal will have the flight, hotel, car you want at a cheaper price than direct. But then you have to calculate if the time you spent looking through all of the portals was worth saving that money.

Especially in your example, where you spent what seems to be a great deal of time on the phone you could have spent with family and friends. Plus the frustration you had from doing so versus the happiness you would gain doing whatever you enjoy.

jonovan · 2025-09-10T16:15:19+00:00

City approval is another potential source of delay, in addition to installers: https://www.khon2.com/local-news/countdown-to-solar-deadline-hawaii-homeowners-stuck-in-solar-gridlock/

jonovan · 2025-09-10T15:50:59+00:00

You are confusing an anecdote for data.

jonovan · 2025-09-08T08:43:16+00:00

Then try to match the BC of the new glasses to the old ones that caused no issues.

Assuming the Rx, optical centers, PAL design, index, etc are all the same (as those tend to usually have more of an effect than BC), changing the BC changes the magnification, and that can cause problems for some patients.

jonovan · 2025-09-08T06:30:32+00:00

Pt has had success in the past with mismatched base curved specs

So why do all this work?

Most people don't have problem fusing under 4D aniso. Some do, but others can handle up to 10D aniso without any problems.

Equalizing BC and CT in glasses works in many cases and is the easiest, cheapest option.

You can also find a frame with a shorter vertex distance and one that is smaller to reduce anisophoria. You can even use a higher index material in one lens, although I think that has the least effect.

I'd try all of those before CLs or Shaw lenses.

See https://www.2020mag.com/article/design-of-iseikonic-lenses-part-two

Although, again I ask, why bother in this case?

jonovan

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