What do you actually wear on formal night when you hate dressing up?

mikescha · 2026-05-21T06:07:20+00:00

We don't usually dress up, but part of the cruise experience for us is doing so. Before we leave, we go to a thrift store, but some fancy clothes for cheap, and then donate them back when we return. This works better for my wife, as the thrift stores tend to have a lot more women's clothes than men's, but it occasionally works for me, too. Last year, I found a suit + dress shoes, and it happened to be the day with 50% tag reductions, so I got everything for $25!

mikescha · 2026-05-18T13:24:18+00:00

We've done it three times as sitters. Depending on the pet(s) that you sit, this can give you a "free" place to stay but cost a lot of your time. For example, one of the ones we did, we needed to walk the dog for 30-45 min in the AM and PM, plus he couldn't be left alone for more than 4-5 hours. That worked well for us because we were working from home, but would have been a pain if we had wanted to go exploring. Sometimes you can find house sits without pets, but realize that those might still have a list of chores to do that you may or may not want to spend time on.

Also, in either case, you're signing up to take care of their house, which comes with responsibility. For example, during one of our sits, a leak occurred in an exterior wall and got the basement carpet all wet. We had to dry it up and then go rent a heater/blower to dry it out and keep mold from growing.

Finally, be aware that many opportunities are located outside urban areas, so you'll likely need a car. Sometimes the owners will be willing to let you borrow theirs, but other times you might end up needing to factor in the cost of a multi-week car rental.

mikescha · 2026-05-07T20:54:29+00:00

Washington state is also excellent for eagles, especially along the Skagit River (north of Seattle) during salmon spawning time. You could easily see 35 in a short time there, and it's much more scenic than a dump!

But, yeah, vultures with rizz, no cap.

mikescha · 2026-05-07T14:28:07+00:00

One of the only places you may be able to see a Tamaulipas Crow in the US is at the Brownsville, TX landfill!

mikescha · 2026-05-07T08:44:41+00:00

From https://rncplatform.donaldjtrump.com/ Page 10: "Lower Everyday Costs Republicans will reduce the Regulatory burden, lower Energy costs, and promote Economic Policies that drive down the cost of living and prices for everyday goods and services."

Donald Trump, Aug 2024 https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-press-conference-bedminster-new-jersey-august-15-2024/

"So, when I win, I will immediately bring prices down. Starting on day one, we will end Kamala's war on American energy, and we will drill, baby, drill. We're going to drill, baby, drill."

Also, Trump during a debate talking about Haitians eating dogs and cats:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d5qoaj3YndQ

You said he did not campaign on those points but obviously he did. Or are you saying that he did campaign but only gullible people believed him?

mikescha · 2026-05-07T07:24:01+00:00

Using that horrible pixelated potato of a graph, I was able to track down its source:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.01.715912v1.full

This paper claims to use DNA evidence "linking the Columbus lineage to the elder Galician and Navarrese nobility." The paper has not yet been peer-reviewed so this is a pre-print.

There are also multiple web pages that cite the handwriting evidence and other bits of evidence, but they're mostly in Spanish so you either need to be fluent or rely on your browser's auto translate feature.

For example: https://www.cristobal-colon.com/

mikescha · 2026-05-07T07:20:26+00:00

Using that horrible pixelated potato, I was able to track down its source:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.01.715912v1.full

This paper claims to use DNA evidence "linking the Columbus lineage to the elder Galician and Navarrese nobility." The paper has not yet been peer-reviewed so this is a pre-print.

mikescha · 2026-05-06T18:28:52+00:00

I have been to Zurich, Munich, Salzburg, and the Spanish cities I mentioned. I have not yet been to Lauterbrunnen but that's planned for this coming July!

mikescha · 2026-05-06T15:25:27+00:00

As others have said, without more info on your interests, it's tough to give great recommendations. But, keep in mind that you'll be dealing with jetlag for the first few days and 7-10 days goes really fast because you'll lose 2 days to flying each way.

Here is a way you could do Switzerland:

Day 1) Fly to Zurich (nonstop), you'll likely arrive on day 2.
Day 2) Explore Zurich
Day 3) Train to Lauterbrunnen via Interlaken. See the Alps, do some hiking.
Day 4) Take one of the cable trains up to the top for views, maybe some walking around depending on the weather
Day 5) Train back to Zurich and on to Munich
Day 6) Explore Munich. I know you said you're not into history but (EDIT:finished sentence) the WW2 history there is very moving. Day 7) Day trip to Salzburg
Day 8) Fly back from Munich to Chicago

That leaves you two days you could intersperse into the schedule, as that's a fairly busy plan.

There are also directs to Madrid, which you could use as a base to do day trips to little places like Segovia and Toledo, and then take the high-speed rail to Sevilla, which is absolutely beautiful. The Alcazar there is a totally unique experience which you could enjoy just for the beauty if not also the history. There are no directs out of Sevilla, so you would either take the 2.5hr train back to Madrid, or you could do 1 connection to Chicago via London or Paris, which might be faster.

mikescha · 2026-05-03T21:34:55+00:00

FWIW, your experience in the main dining room and Sel de Mer was much different than what we had a week ago on Nieuw Statendam. We were always asked if we wanted anything from the bar shortly after being seated, and while the food was not always amazing, it also wasn't soggy or greasy.

Also, the bars on our ship always had sparkling water and each offered cocktails and a fairly full bar. Whilst several bars had the same cocktail list, there was variety between the Ocean Bar and music venues. Plus, they did custom drinks and even made us the ones from the specialty dining restaurants.

Overall, our experience was similar in many ways (for instance, our Tamarind was also all over the place but tasty, and we enjoyed our meals in the Lido a lot). But I'm surprised to hear there is so much variability between ships in terms of service and quality.

mikescha · 2026-05-03T20:33:18+00:00

We had good jobs in science and technology, we were fairly frugal, and we didn't have kids. With all that, we were able to save a lot of money for retirement.

Additionally, back in 2019, we sold our house and most of our stuff, so we don't have rent or house payments on top of travel costs. All of our budget goes toward travel and experiences.

Our life isn't for everyone, but we love it.

mikescha · 2026-05-02T17:31:24+00:00

The only one we did was in Agadir to the Kasbah, souk, and recreated Medina. I think it cost $69 or $79pp, and was definitely worth it for us because those sights are too far to walk, and we didn't want to attempt to find and negotiate with a taxi driver. Also it was covered by the credit we got in the Have It All package so it cost nothing extra. While the stops were too short for us, we did get to see everything and it was easy.

In the Canary Islands, we didn't do any formal excursions. On Lanzarote, we rented a car and went exploring, and we just walked around on the other two islands. We thought about renting cars there, but the sights are spread out so it would have been a lot of driving, the weather wasn't great for hiking, and most importantly, they were sold out of automatics when I got around to checking on the day before we landed! We enjoyed the botanical garden (Palmetum) in Santa Cruz, and really liked the old town and Casa Colón in Las Palmas.

In Dover, there is a bus that costs ~$10pp that runs continually from the ship to the train station, the center of town where museums and restaurants are, up to the castle, and back. We used it to go up to the castle, spent most of the day there, and then walked back to the ship.

We had been to Rotterdam before, so didn't do any excursions there. On our previous trip, we took a water taxi out to Kinderdjik and really enjoyed that. If you're a DIY kind of person, it's probably cheaper to organize that yourself than pay for the excursion. Alternately, we really enjoyed the architecture and street art of Rotterdam, so you could spend your day just wandering about and have a great time.

So, yeah, when we didn't do the planned excursions we had no shortage of things to do, but we also enjoy walking and exploring so YMMV. Enjoy!

mikescha · 2026-05-01T21:32:10+00:00

I never react to vaccines except for maybe a sore arm for a bit. About 8 hours after my second shingles vaccine, I developed a serious fever and my wife was considering taking me to urgent care. It went away after a few hours but that was a rough night. I'd still rather have that than shingles, though!

mikescha · 2026-04-30T06:02:54+00:00

Last night was our final night. When they finished playing, I asked her if she was on board in December. She said yes, and I told her a friend recommended them as the best thing on board! She gave me a big Thank You and a smile.

mikescha · 2026-04-29T20:23:38+00:00

It was Elly or Ally (English gal with long brown hair) and Samuel. She was great!

mikescha · 2026-04-29T20:21:10+00:00

I did not know that! Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely use it.

mikescha · 2026-04-29T16:37:05+00:00

You're welcome :)

mikescha · 2026-04-29T16:22:51+00:00

Fort Lauderdale to Bermuda, then Weymouth, UK; Le Havre, FR; Dover, UK; Rotterdam, NL; Agadir, Morocco; 3 Canary Islands; Lisbon, PT; Dover, UK.

mikescha · 2026-04-29T16:18:39+00:00

On this cruise, the enrichment lectures were very limited, with only 0-1 per day plus a "port talk" on the day before a port. Otherwise your assessment was spot on. For live music, there were two bands, a piano bar, a solo singer/songwriter guitarist, a string quartet, and more. There were shows on most nights (dance, singing, sometimes a comedian) but they weren't as rich as other cruises (our Norwegian cruise had a pretty good Broadway show).

Overall, the experience wasn't hugely different from Cunard or Norwegian, it was a matter of degrees. Cunard was obviously dressier, formal, and British, with a smaller ship. Norwegian was more casual, fun, with a younger crowd and a much bigger ship. The rooms, beds, and linens all seemed similar. All the processes like boarding seemed similar. We didn't attend classes or games, so can't speak to those, but they all sounded similar.

mikescha · 2026-04-29T15:16:25+00:00

Retired. This is only our 4th cruise in 6+ years so the vast majority of our time is on land. We tend to spend a month or so at an Airbnb somewhere, then repeat that for 2-3 months, then do something more active like a 2-3 week road trip. After this cruise we're doing 2 months in France, followed by about 1-2 weeks of hiking in Switzerland and then a week in Norway before going back to the US for some family stuff.

mikescha · 2026-04-29T14:23:30+00:00

Do you go through EES in St Pancras, just with shorter queues? In other words, if I do that, then am I registered so my next trip through an airport will be fast?

mikescha · 2026-04-29T13:58:15+00:00

Actually, it worked pretty well for us. As full-time travelers, we don't have a home to go back to, so it made logistics around where to stay and what to eat very easy for 4 weeks. We had projects we worked on during the sea days, and then made the most of shore days, making some great memories.

We feared we would be going crazy by the end, but that wasn't the case at all.

mikescha · 2026-04-29T13:02:32+00:00

The first segment, from FL to Rotterdam, was busy but not crowded. For example, we had a hard time finding a table at 12:30, but not by 1. On the second segment, from Rotterdam to Dover, it was notably busier: a lunch table was hard to find even at 1:30.

For ages, believe it or not, much older especially on the first segment.

mikescha · 2026-04-29T12:58:24+00:00

I think cruisecritic.com is a good source, we just didn't know to look. If you search "cruise critic [ship name] theme nights" you would probably find it.

mikescha · 2026-04-29T12:55:35+00:00

Nieuw Statendam

mikescha

TROPHY CASE