u/quebramar

I know cruises are supposed to be the ultimate vacation, with endless entertainment, smiling staff, happy passengers, and activities happening around the clock. But sometimes I find the whole thing strangely depressing.

You see entertainment staff putting on these huge, almost obligatory smiles, trying to create excitement regardless of how they might actually be feeling. Then you look around and see older passengers slowly dragging themselves around the ship, some looking exhausted or lonely, while everyone is encouraged to participate in yet another activity that promises to be the highlight of their day.

There's something surreal about it all. A floating bubble where everyone is supposedly having the time of their lives, even when the atmosphere sometimes feels oddly melancholy.

Maybe I'm overthinking it, but occasionally the contrast between the cheerful cruise marketing and what you actually observe feels a little sad.

I've also realized that sometimes the best thing to do is absolutely nothing. Skip the trivia, ignore the announcements, forget the scheduled entertainment, and just find a quiet spot with a view of the ocean. Read a book, enjoy a coffee, watch the waves, or simply exist without being expected to have fun every five minutes.

Not every moment of a vacation needs to be optimized for enjoyment, and not every activity deserves our participation.

Sometimes doing your own thing and disconnecting from the whole manufactured atmosphere is the most relaxing part of the cruise.

Does anyone else ever feel this way, or am I just spending too much time observing people instead of enjoying my vacation? 😅

For those of you who regularly get the targeted casino offers from Carnival, I'm curious what the minimum activity seems to be.

How much are you typically putting through the casino, and how long are you actually playing?

For example, if someone only plays slots for an hour or two and puts a few hundred dollars through, is that enough to start getting casino offers, or are we talking several thousand dollars in coin-in?

I'm not asking what Carnival's published rules are, since I know there isn't really a simple formula. I'm more interested in people's actual experience.

If you've gotten offers, what did your casino play look like on the cruise before you started receiving them?

Bonus points if you can share:

- Approximate coin-in / amount wagered

- Hours played per day

- Slots vs. table games

- Number of cruises before receiving offers

- What kind of offer you started getting

Trying to figure out where the apparent sweet spot is without donating my entire bank account to the casino 😂

I actually sleep better in an interior cruise cabin than almost anywhere else.

No windows, no sunlight, no distractions, just complete darkness. I regularly get some of my best sleep on cruises, so I actively look for interior rooms and will often book them specifically because I can get an amazing deal.

Balcony rooms are overrated. Give me my tiny pitch-black cave at sea. 😂

Not because the crew didn't deserve it. I just refuse to participate in the Americanization of tourism, where apparently the customer has to subsidize the payroll.

The cruise line can afford to pay living wages. My contribution to the economy is already buying the cruise.

Post: "MSC was amazing!"→ ⬆️ 100

Post: "I had a bad experience on MSC."→ ⬇️ 50

Apparently you're allowed to criticize MSC, provided you immediately apologize to the MSC shareholders in the comments.

"I've been on 12 MSC cruises and never had a problem" is apparently a valid rebuttal to someone else's terrible experience. 😂

Just purchased a NYC promo package and staying at the west 57th street hilton club property for memorial day.

Was this a good deal? I have only ever seen 3D2N packages for NYC prior.

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As a remote worker traveling with two laptops, I have to admit the Wizz Air sizer is a slightly terrifying experience.

My “personal item” contains two laptops, chargers, cables, power bank, headphones, and basically my entire ability to earn money. 😂 So standing at the gate wondering whether the bag is going to fit is not exactly relaxing.

Interestingly, I had no baggage check at all in a few airports, but Budapest was a different story. Thankfully, Wizz Air allows you to remove electronics before putting the bag in the sizer, which made a huge difference.

Took the two laptops out, put the bag in… and it fit. 🙏 Crisis averted.

And honestly, I get it. The rules are the rules, and if you're buying the cheapest fare, you can't really expect unlimited baggage. Airlines have to enforce their limits somehow.

But when you're working remotely and carrying two laptops, watching your entire mobile office go through a tiny sizer at the gate is definitely an adrenaline-producing experience. 😂

Anyway, another European low-cost airline boss battle survived.

I'm probably done with European low-cost airlines until summer 2027, when a carry-on bag is supposed to be included with every fare.

My nervous system will appreciate the break. ✈️

Just survived my latest encounter with the Ryanair baggage sizer at BGY. 😅

As a remote worker, my “personal item” is basically a mobile office: laptop #1, laptop #2, chargers, cables, power bank, headphones, and approximately 47 other things that apparently need to fit into a bag designed for a sandwich and a paperback.

The stressful part is standing there thinking, “Is this bag actually going to fit, or am I about to financially ruin myself in front of 200 people?”

Thankfully, Ryanair allows you to remove electronics before putting the bag into the sizer. Hallelujah. Once the two laptops came out, the bag fit without a problem. And at some airports, Ryanair doesn't care to enforce this rule...

And honestly, I get it. Low-cost airlines have to enforce their baggage rules somehow, and if you bought the cheapest fare, you can't exactly be shocked that they care about the size of your bag.

But having to perform open-heart surgery on your luggage at the gate while praying that everything goes back in afterward is… an experience. 😂

Anyway, I have officially survived another European low-cost-airline boss battle.

Next time I travel with a European low-cost airline will be summer 2027, when a carry-on bag is supposed to be included with every fare.

Until then, Ryanair and I need some time apart. ❤️✈️

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I'm hoping someone here has dealt with something similar.

My X account was initially locked for alleged “violent speech.” I appealed that decision, and while my appeal was still pending, X subsequently suspended the account for “inauthentic behavior.”

The strange part is that I wasn't even using the account during this period. I wasn't posting, interacting, or doing anything that could reasonably be considered inauthentic behavior.

I appealed the new suspension as well. X Support replied:

"To ensure that your account remains secure, please complete the security verification we sent you. Once done, you will be able to access your account again."

The problem: there is no security verification.

I haven't received a verification code, link, prompt, or any other verification request. I've checked my email, spam/junk folders, and the account itself, and there's nothing there.

So now I'm stuck in a bizarre loop:

Account locked → appeal pending → suspended for “inauthentic behavior” while inactive → appeal → X says complete a verification that was never sent.

Has anyone experienced this? Is there another place where X puts the security verification, or is this likely an automated support response?

I'd really like to get the account reviewed by an actual person rather than continuing to receive automated responses. Any advice on getting past this would be appreciated.

Carnival just changed my sailing, replacing Princess Cays with RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay.

What are my rights here? Is this considered a significant enough itinerary change that I could cancel for a full refund or potentially move my cruise to different dates without a penalty?

Has anyone dealt with Carnival making a similar port substitution? Would they offer OBC, a Future Cruise Credit, or a penalty-free date change?

Trying to figure out what I can reasonably push for before I just accept the change.

Thoughts?

I genuinely love HGVC properties. Every time I stay at one, I'm impressed with the quality of the accommodations, and I really like the consistency of the experience.

I've also figured out a pretty good way to get access to them without owning: I do a sales presentation maybe 1-2 times a year. Usually I'll get something like 100k-150k Hilton Honors points for each presentation, plus 3 nights in Las Vegas or Orlando. At this point, I actually enjoy the presentations because the incentives are pretty damn good.

Eventually, I'd love to become an HGVC owner through the resale/secondary market. But every time I run the numbers, I just can't make it work for me.

The $70 fee to make a booking outside of your home week really bothers me. Then you have maintenance fees, the upfront purchase price, and all the other ownership costs. Meanwhile, I can stay at HGVC properties through these promotional stays, earn a pile of HH points, and avoid being responsible for a timeshare year-round.

Obviously, the big catch is that I'm probably going to get blacklisted from sales presentations eventually. 😂

So I'm curious what existing owners think:

Am I actually better off just continuing to play the sales-presentation game for as long as they'll let me?

Or is there a point where owning through the resale market makes financial sense despite the maintenance fees and booking fees?

I'm not looking for the usual "never buy a timeshare" lecture. I already understand the arguments against developer purchases. I'm specifically wondering whether resale HGVC ownership provides enough value over the long term to beat my current strategy of getting 3-night stays + 100k-150k HH points for sitting through a presentation once or twice a year.

Would love to hear from people who actually own resale and have run the numbers.

TLDR: never ever buying a timeshare, but happy to collect the perks from attending presentations.

Am I the only one who thinks it’s ridiculous that HGVC owners are being charged $70 just to make a reservation using their own points?!

You already paid a significant amount of money to own the timeshare. Then you pay annual maintenance fees, and those fees keep going up. The entire point of owning points is that we can use them to book stays.

And yet, every time you actually want to use those points, there’s another $70 booking fee.

It feels especially absurd when the reservation itself might only be a few nights. At that point, the fee starts to feel less like an administrative cost and more like a penalty for actually using the product you paid for.

I understand charging a fee for things like changes, cancellations, or certain special services. But $70 simply to make a reservation with points you already own? That seems excessive.

For longtime HGVC owners: has this always been the case? And do you consider the $70 reservation fee reasonable, or is this just another example of the nickel-and-diming that comes with timeshare ownership?

I've now completed seven 10-day courses and served three times. Overall, this was a good course, but also one of the scarier ones I've experienced.

For about six days, I wasn't able to enter deep sleep. I would sleep, but it felt like I was hovering somewhere between sleeping and being awake. In some ways, it was fascinating and seemed to help with meditation, but at the same time, it was quite scary to experience. Thankfully, around days 8–9, I started feeling like I was finally able to sleep more normally again.

Another interesting change was my relationship with time. Usually, I find myself counting the days and thinking, “Only X more days until this is over.” This time, that gradually disappeared. I stopped caring about how much time was left. The days just passed, and it didn't seem particularly important whether I was on day 5, 7, or 9.

I also noticed that meditation stopped feeling like a chore. Sitting for a meditation period no longer felt like something I had to force myself to do. It became much more natural: almost like it was simply a part of me.

And I think that's probably the biggest takeaway from this course.

My biggest challenge has always been maintaining the practice outside the course. I'm very busy, but if I'm being honest, I'm also pretty lazy when it comes to meditation. Outside of a course, I still tend to view Vipassana as a self-improvement tool, something I do to make myself better, rather than as a way of living.

Maybe that distinction is finally starting to change.

I'm hoping I can carry this feeling with me after leaving the course and make Vipassana less about doing a course every once in a while and more about incorporating the practice into everyday life.

We'll see how it goes.

They recently had $199+tax 150K HH points. Is this one gone? Any others?

They recently had $199+tax 150K HH points. Is this one gone? Any others?