SharkTums

^^Yeah, that transcript is just insane! I can only imagine how much better it reads/sounds in yelling Italian as well!

^Do you expect any more from the local Thorpe Park GP!?!?

^Ahh, yes. That's a VERY good point. We've had to surrender ours on South America cruises, Europe cruises, and on our upcoming Dubai cruise we have to as well. They still should have grabbed some money and a credit card though.

I totally agree with EVERYTHING you posted. The only thing I guess would be that until you're in an emergency like that you don't know how you'd react. When we were living in California though I had a list (paper and mental) of everything to grab quickly in case of an Earthquake or Fire. That mental list would help me in a situation like that as well.

I don't like this idea at all. The Koch Family and Holiday World have a great business and should continue to expand and improve locally. This is a VERY different beast.

^NOT going to this park!!! I don't think there's enough insurance in the world!

^Oh dear!

They had some experienced cruisers who were on the Costa ship appear this morning on the Today Show. They said that the crew repeatedly was telling people to go back to their cabins. That is TERRIFYING!!! Obviously experienced cruisers knew not to do this, but if you didn't know, you would listen to the crew and follow their orders. It will be sad, if some of the dead were in their staterooms because they thought they should be due to the crew instructions. This is just coming out more and more as a string of terrible human errors.

^Robb will send out a big email to everyone who signed up a few days before the event with ALL THE DETAILS. Like it says in the FAQ, you can assume that whatever time the park opens we'll have ERT 60-90 minutes before that time, and you'll need to arrive about 30 minutes prior to that to pick up your event packet. Basically, it will be an early morning!

^Even though there are usually more people at SFMM, the lines are still almost non-existent because the park is bigger and people are more spread out during ERT.

Very interesting. I sometimes watch the show, and I've seen Buddy compete on the Food Network before, something about him just really irks me though. I can't put my finger on exactly what, but it's something! I give him credit though, he took his bakery to the big time! How did the food compare to some of Little Italy's bake shops?

^You'll see them pop up more because like Disney they put through the most guests. Their brands represent about 49% of all cruisers. That being said, I agree, it seems like their captains have been at fault for several accidents over the years. They may just have a different culture. The whole no muster drill before leaving is insane!

^And how did that paddle shift help you go slower than me!?!? Like I've said before, I'm all for the car shifting for me as it can do it faster and more efficient than I could!

^How do you think Adam did? (Not as good as me!!!)

^Yeah, we did NOT hire a taxi for the Abu Dhabi day, it was a private car and driver, no meter or anything like that. Seems like a lot of the hotels do it though as I had a few different quotes on it. We did taxis around Dubai as they seemed pretty cheap compared to other big cities.

California is a bit busier and more spread out than the Florida attractions. You'll have to rent a car for sure and be prepared for traffic and crazy drivers! If you do a search I'm sure you'll find a ton more info on this board about it.

^Yup. It was probably like the hotel front desk guys brother or something that drove us, but we were safe and it worked so woo!

QFT! Kind of like Gwazi, you can put better trains on a ride, but if it's all beat to hell it won't help. Those PTC's will kill all this Voyage work pretty quickly.

^Absolutely agree. And however dumb the captain was in going too close to shore, not calling a mayday, etc. The fact that when he realized what was inevitable that he brought the ship as close to shore as possible saved even more lives.

^Actually we hired a driver and car for our Abu Dhabi Day and it was less than $150 for 10 hours. Any of the Dubai hotels can easily arrange this for you.

^Yeah I agree. It's super easy to get to from Dubai and relatively cheap. That is not an excuse at all.

^Your instructor basically tells you how fast you can go. You can hear in the video when he tells me to either accelerate or slow down. It's totally based on your abilities and how comfortable the instructor feels with you. They have a dial where they can decide how much power to give you (it's the only mod on the cars). For example, coming out and going back into pit row they dial you down to 20% just so you can't do anything stupid. When you're out on the course it's full 100% unless you don't listen to them or act stupid. The esses are much harder than they look as they are very tight and small. As for Christian, anyone who can do a backflip in a car and cross the finish line has all the F1 cred he needs!

Everyone should sign up to do this immediately! I'm already planning on heading back at some point soon! It was worth every penny!!! These are amazing cars and they let you drive them how they are meant to be driven in a completely safe environment.

^^I would probably have them look at Princess or Royal Caribbean as they will cater more to a North American clientele, which is a better idea for a first cruise abroad. Even though Royal Caribbean skews to a younger demographic, an international cruise will pull the older side of that.

^^^But I would completely understand that and that would be the title of the thread if that happened too! If the Celebrity Solstice sank you can damn well believe everything would say "Royal Caribbean Celebrity Ship Sinks". Like others have said, the parent companies are ALWAYS involved and ultimately responsible leagally and in the public's eyes. Like the Ride the Ducks thing, or the Showboat issues that have come up, Herschend and the parks are always in the news because it's the recognizable part of the parent company. ^I don't know Joe, I kind of agree with chemical_echo. The water didn't have ice bergs and they could see the shore less than 200yds away. I agree it would be terrifying, but it's not nearly as devastating or terrifying as the Titanic!