BSR

Out of curiosity, I wiki'd Serenade of the Seas, the vessel for this 274-night world cruise. With capacity for 2,490 passengers, it's a lot smaller than Royal Caribbean's megaships, which carry 5,600 passengers at double occupancy, 6,700 if maxed out (sofabeds in many cabins). On the other hand, Serenade of the Seas has twice the passenger capacity than the largest ships in the Oceania line, 2.5 times the largest Crystal ship. I guess that makes Serenade of the Seas a mid-sized ship, although almost 2,500 passengers still seems really large. That's a heckuva lot of berths to fill. Passengers don't have to commIt to the entire 9-month voyage since the world cruise is broken up into 4 segments. But even just 1 segment is still a really long cruise. I wonder how sales are going. Has anyone here booked yet? 😄

A friend of mine went on a 3-week cruise and gained 20(!) pounds. He was a little overweight (10 lbs at most) before the cruise but came back noticeably larger. It got to the point where he just busted up laughing when people's eyes got as big as saucers upon seeing his remarkable weight gain. I asked him, "Dude, what did you eat?" He said, "Everything."

My uncle had a brief stint as a piano player on Holland America. The crew told him that because the world cruise was so long (120 nights at the time) and because world cruise passengers tend to be quite a bit older, 2-3 passengers die during most world cruises. They even had a separate fridge on board to store the bodies! So how many passengers on this 274-night cruise are going to expire before it's over? The ship better have a really big fridge.

A balcony cabin (I'd get so claustrophobic in an interior room) + port taxes (mandatory) + gratuities (optional, but don't be an asshole) divided by 274 nights comes to about $645 per night for 2 passengers. Since that covers all food, entertainment, transportation, and lodging, you're getting pretty good bang for your buck. But how many couples have $177,000 to plop down up front?

Royal Caribbean is offering its first ever world cruise, and they're going BIG. It leaves Miami on December 10, 2023, and returns to the same port on September 10, 2024 -- 9 months, 150+ destinations, all 7 continents. While it sounds like the adventure of a lifetime, I have to wonder who can actually go. First, you would either have to be retired or have a very nice, understanding boss. Then you'd need a heckuva lot of disposable income. Even an interior stateroom is $61K (times two for double occupancy), a balcony stateroom is $79K, plus $4700/passenger in port taxes. Of course, you'll spend for all sorts of extras: shore excursions, gratuities, Wi-Fi, drinks, laundry, etc. You would need someone to take care of your house & car for 9 months. And you'd need to be in good health because the shipboard physician will be able to handle only basic medical issues. Granted, very few people have the time & money for a 9-month cruise, but If you could, would you go? You could see so much of the world yet unpack only once. You'd see so many places you might not visit otherwise. Transportation from place to place is on the same ship, as opposed to a nonstop chase of planes, trains, and buses. You never have to worry about meals & entertainment. Plenty of downsides too, however. You'd be on the same ship in the same room for a very long time. You'd be in close quarters with the same people for 9 months, which is great if you like your fellow passengers, not great if you don't. Most passengers will be older, if not much older. You might not end up liking some destinations yet spend too little time in places you love. All told, it seems like the kind of thing that sounds great in theory, but I have my doubts that reality would match up to expectations. I think I'd feel too claustrophobic after a while. If I did have 9 months and a big budget to travel the world, I'd prefer to pick my own destinations and timeframes as opposed to being locked into a preset itinerary. But hey, if I met a smokin' hot sugarbaby with no particular plans for 9 months ...

I agree, boycotting travel to LGBT-hostile countries will have zero impact on the policies & culture of those countries, but that's not why I would avoid them. I would feel too uncomfortable in a country where gay sex is punishable with fines & prison time. We all travel for personal pleasure & education. Would I learn something by traveling in Saudi Arabia? Yes, I'm sure I would. But knowing how deeply homophobic the country is and always being on guard would preclude any possibility of "personal pleasure." There are so many LGBT-friendly countries I'd like to visit that I doubt I'll be able to tick all of them off my bucket list. Even if I were lucky enough to go to all my wish-list countries, I'd go back & revisit some LGBT-frindly places before going to any LGBT-hostile country.

I would give Martha Stewart the biggest high-five in human history if she featured these penis flytraps in her next edition of "Beautiful Living."

I got my 3rd shot a few days ago, 6 months after my 2nd. Previously I've shared just how rough the first 2 shots were: 2 days of chills, horrible body aches, flat on my back in bed. The first 2 shots were Moderna, this last one was Pfizer, and I'm happy to report no serious side effects this time. I felt a bit out of it the day after, but after sleeping 10 hours, I felt fine. I was dreading the booster like you can't imagine. But now, I'll just make sure to find a place that offers Pfizer. Even if I need a booster every 6 months, bring it on!

I'm so glad we've moved beyond the days of calling them "practicing heterosexuals."

I take the 5th.

Spanish actor Imanol Arias was a handsome enough young man, but now is a stunning silver fox.

To me, an unofficial national anthem is a popular song that expresses a people's pride in and love for their country. The two best examples I can think of are "Guantanamera" and "Waltzing Matilda." The lyrics of "Guantanamera" were taken from a couple of poems by José Martí, whose love for Cuba shines through in his writings. "Waltzing Matilda" is an Australian bush ballad, folk music that depicts life in the Australian bush. The "Guantanamera" video is Joseíto Fernández, the man who first set Martí's poetry to music. The "Waltzing Matilda" video is Andre Rieu playing an instrumental of the song while the whole crowd sings the lyrics. Does the US have an unofficial national anthem? The best I could come up with is "Yankee Doodle," but we don't really sing it any more. For other countries, I thought of "Bella Ciao" for Italy (enjoying renewed popularity, ironically enough, thanks to a Spanish TV series), "Girl from Ipanema" for Brazil, and "Danny Boy" for Ireland. Can you think of any others?

Not residential nor for sale, but the architecture was so good I had to post it here:

Does anyone live in or near Gorda, California? Because gas there reportedly hit $7.59 a gallon *gulp*

I vote for the yawning pillow. PS: if a forum member is insufferably verbose, you can always set him to "ignore." Not that I would ever do such a thing, of course.

I could listen to only half the song before turning it off. OMG, this song makes me puke. I'm not surprised this song went nowhere in the US but totally baffled it was a monster hit in so many other countries. It sounds like we suffered some of the same Europop nightmares, just years apart. The song posted below was a monster hit in Spain the year (1987-88) I studied there. Musically speaking, the song also makes me puke, but at least the singer has a really great rack (which, granted, is lost on me). LOL, I see that YouTube age-restricted the video.

Or a hopeless narcissist. I have no idea who this woman is, I just saw some of her demands thanks to your post. Maybe she is so smokin' hot she'll find some guy who will fulfill all her requirements. But if she were indeed that irresistibly sexy, then I have to wonder why she hasn't already found someone like that.

For many people of faith, a sense of community matters. Yes, you can pray and hear a sermon/homily alone in your living room, but in order to commune with others, share experiences, give and receive advice, the faithful need a community gathering. As a practical matter, churches rely on in-person attendance for donations because virtual attendees rarely send checks by mail. You lose your place of worship, whether in person or virtual, if your church can't pay its bills.

As much as I love pearls, I think men who wear them look like idiots. "Look at me! See me bending gender norms! Ooh, I'm so edgy!" F*cking spare me.

My favorite Alexander Pope couplet: Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer What a snarky bastard. He's my idol!

I saw some clips from their Vegas show. For a couple of 40-somethings (Ricky turns 50 on Christmas Eve!), Enrique & Ricky look great. I knew that Enrique's parents divorced & that he went to live with his father in Miami. I never understood that because Julio was touring all the time & wasn't home much. Enrique was basically raised by his nanny. The reason Enrique & his older brother were shipped off to Miami was that his parents feared for their safety after his paternal grandfather was kidnapped by the Basque terrorist group ETA. Yikes!

I was thinking he's just really, really into Burger King.