u/agwdevil

I don't see too much discussion of the cinematography of the show. I'm doing a slow rewatch of the series while we wait for each week's new episode, and I just started S3.

The opening scene in Turkey is utterly gorgeous. And the scene in the tunnel >!where Standish is abducted !<is lit so well.

It occurs to me that even in the dingiest scenes, the lighting is bright and crisp enough to see faces and details -- this is not a murky show. Compared to most other things on television this is beautiful to look at. (Not "Vince Gilligan in Albuquerque" beautiful, but the craftsmanship of the camerawork is impressive.

I'm looking to take a Baltic Cruise next July. There are two specific ports (Riga and Gdansk) that I want to visit so have been researching cruises that hit those ports. This is a special occasion and I can spend a little more, but the Premium cruise lines are still out of my budget.

I travel solo usually, so that limits my options (and makes fares higher). I see my options (within price range and itineraries) are MSC, NCL and Princess.

MSC cruises the Magnifica around the Baltic, and has a rolling on/off itinerary. You can start the cruise at several different ports and have disembarkation while other people are still mid-cruise. I have watched videos are read reviews on MSC, and they seem to fall short on certain areas, but have the cheaper fares to match. I might consider splurging for Yacht Club on MSC. Probably looking at a 7-day round trip from either Copenhagen or Berlin in the first half of the month.

NCL goes from Copenhagen to Helsinki on the Jewel, which I hear is a lovely small ship. I would prefer the 10-day cruise on July 6, but the fares for that sailing are almost double the 7-day cruises on 7/24 and 8/7. So would be looking at the 7/24 one, probably. (Do fares sometimes drop?)

Princess sails the Caribbean Princess, doing 12-day round-trip cruises from Copenhagen. Fares are higher and there are two cruises where I can afford a balcony. I have not done much research into Princess, as they are not as "solo" friendly as NCL and some other lines.

I am not very much into crowds and activities -- prefer to chill and relax and watch the scenery. So having tons of "things to do on board" is not important to me.

Looking for any feedback on these three specific ships or this particular area of the world (in July), as well as comparisons between these three lines.

(I have only been on one cruise so far, NCL from Florida to the Caribbean. Enjoyed it a lot. I am planning an NCL transatlantic cruise, a Viking River Cruise (with a partner), and a Celebrity cruise to Bermuda (also with a partner) in the next 9 months. So I will get a range of experiences between now and when I do my Baltic sailing in July 2027)

I am on a cruise on the Pearl later this year. I realized I am in an adjoining cabin, and looking at options to switch. One option is 9540, which is pretty much right around the corner from the stairs.

In terms of potential noise level, is the adjoining cabin worth worrying about, or is it a non-issue; and would the cabin near the stairs be potentially worse?

ETA: These have been great answers and they are very helpful, and I'm sure they will be helpful to others who come by. While answers were rolling in, I called NCL and was able to move to a similar cabin -- far from stairs and *not* adjoining -- I just had to move from port to starboard. So I'm set, did not have to make the adjoining vs stairs decision, but appreciate all the feedback.

(This problem is not specifically with MakeMKV but I have to believe it has come up for MakeMKV users).

I just got a new external Blu-Ray drive (Buffalo BRXL-PUS6U3B-TU). Reads all my discs (except for 4K of course). I'm trying to decide whether, when I travel, I want to travel with the drive and a folder of discs, or whether I should rip several discs and travel with a hard drive.

I got MakeMKV (with the Beta key, thank you reddit sub, I will very happily purchase it when that option is available). I have VLC Media Player and I downloaded Microsoft's Easy DVD.

First disc I am experimenting with is the Criterion Blu-Ray of Killers of the Flower Moon. I ripped a copy and wanted to see the difference between how the software read the disc, and the MKV folder.

Both programs read the disc fine (no menus, just play). VLC did not read the MKV folder (dunno why yet, that is not my immediate question), Easy DVD read the MKV file perfectly. I saw that MakeMKV had an Integration setting for VLC, so clicked it and re-ripped the disk, but VLC still did not read the MKV file (again, not the immediate question).

I read that VLC would process the menus if I installed Java. So I downloaded and installed Java.

***Both programs suddenly said that the film was the wrong region. Both programs said that when reading the disc, and Easy DVD said "wrong region" when reading the MKV folder***

I saw that VLC had a setting to switch the region w/in the software, so I found that and set it to Region A and it worked. Processed the menus, read the disc, all was perfect. Yay.

But Easy DVD does not seem to have a way to switch the region. I checked my Device Manager and the drive was Region 1 so no issues there.

I uninstalled Java, and Easy DVD was able to read the disc, and also read the MKV folder. Re-install Java and neither works.

I have to believe there is a Java configuration setting that fixes this? Has anyone seen this?

TL/DR: If you install Java, a DVD player program (other than VLC) thinks that the MKV folder is the wrong region; uninstall Java and the problem immediately goes away. Why?

I am not an experienced cruiser, but am planning some for the upcoming year. I see a lot of negative posts about MSC -- people not happy with the buffet food, etc. But a lot of these posts are for cruises in the Caribbean, Bermuda and that region.

I am looking at the Baltic Sea cruises that MSC does, from Stockholm->Oslo and in the other direction, hitting points along the Baltic Sea. These are on the MSC Magnifica, which is a smaller ship.

I'm curious whether there is a qualitative difference in the cruise experience. The Baltic would be less traveled by families and casual vacationers looking for sun and fun, and the ship is less crowded than others. Do the same complaints about MSC apply to this series of cruises?

I've just booked a cruise from Ravenna (NCL, transatlantic to Philadelphia, early November, traveling solo). I've read several threads and I have learned that Venice is quite far and Bologna is closer. I can research transfers once I have my itinerary.

I will definitely stay in Ravenna the night before, that is a piece of advice I learned some time ago.

My questions have to do with whether it is worth it to spend more than a night in Ravenna? Is it worth a one-day visit? Worth spending a few days there?

I expect I will fly into Bologna airport and it is probably worth it to see some of that city.

So I am trying to decide whether to go to Bologna and spend 1-3 days, and whether to plan to spend 1-3 days in Ravenna. I have the funds and time to take up to a week before the cruise.

Any thoughts from people who have spent time in either city?

(I do not want to try to "squeeze in Venice" -- that appears to be a city that needs a lot of preplanning and time; Bologna has a rich history from what I know)

ETA: Enough responses came in that I was convinced to split my time between both cities. For local home-base reasons, I am going to fly on Monday night, and arrive jet-lagged on Tuesday. Wednesday will be jet lag recover. Thursday I am hiring a private guide to show me Bologna. Friday I will travel to Ravenna and explore Ravenna on Saturday. Sunday I embark on the cruise. I will leave this post up as the responses might prove useful to others.

Having trouble searching for this particular preference. I'm headed to Indy for a few days, solo traveling.

I like good food, but don't always need/like/want to sit at a table with service and jump through the appetizer/entree/dessert experience with a server. I really love to just sit at the bar and enjoy some food, maybe a whole dinner, maybe a few apps.

So I would like recommendations for restaurants where the food is good, the bar has a good selection, and it is comfortable and welcoming to eat at the bar.

Any ideas?

I'm planning a trip to a couple midwestern cities this Summer, and I was looking to book a room in Cincinnati/Covington at the very end of July -- but many hotels are sold out, and available rooms are 300-400 a night (instead of half that).

What is going on that weekend? (July 31 - Aug 1)

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

• Total budget (in local currency) and country of purchase. Please do not use USD unless purchasing in the US: US – 2000 USD, can go a little higher. The 2K will include things like extended support
• Are you open to refurbs/used? Yes
• How would you prioritize form factor (ultrabook, 2-in-1, etc.), build quality, performance, and battery life? Battery Life important. Current Dell G15 leaks power even when off, does not hold a charge. My work computer (HP Elitebook) holds a charge for hours. Performance very important, want to spend the money on fast CPU, good video card, lots of RAM
• How important is weight and thinness to you? Weight is Important, thinness not as much. Current laptop is over 5.5 lbs and feels like a brick, work laptop is only 3.3 lbs and feels light.
• Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A. 15-17. Willing to spend money for the larger screen
• Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run. I don’t play games, mostly. The one thing I want the power for is Second Life, which relies more on CPU than GPU. I do all the basic low-level things (spreadsheets, light graphics, word processing, occasionally stream video, email, etc.) Do some podcast recording using Audacity, with a good microphone. Second Life is the only thing that requires significant power.
• If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want? Second Life is CPU dependent, so don’t need to max out GPU. Need great video card, need RAM (32+), need CPU speed. FPS will vary based on where you are, some areas are crowded and laggy which can’t be avoided. Just want max power to play with. Not sure what all the current terms mean (cores, threads, L3 cache, etc) so getting lost reading descriptions.
• Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)? Prefer solid keyboard and mouse buttons, don’t need higher tech inputs (don’t need touch screen, fingerprint, etc). Need USB ports for wireless mouse. Would like an ethernet port (rather than use USB adapter). Helpful to have an SD card slot.
• Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion. I am very tired of my Dell G15. Power cord slips out when I just shift the machine a little. Leaks power even when “off” – I have to keep it plugged in. Feels very heavy to lug around. No mouse buttons, the mousepad is hard to “click”. I’m willing to pay up for more video, RAM and CPU capacity, but don’t need the same specs as someone playing Baldurs Gate (for instance).