“Smart Bags” Have Become Popular – But We Find Some Impracticalities, and Now Airlines Are Banning Them
Author: Bill
We love travel tech, and have talked about how we pack for cruises. If you’re looking to invest in luggage for your next trip you may have seen bags with built in batteries – but we think you should avoid them. In addition to some conceptual flaws we’ve noticed, you may soon have trouble flying with these bags... read more


SP and I had not yet had breakfast in the main dining room, so we decided to start our day in Taste (one of the three main dining rooms on Escape) with a sit-down breakfast rather than the buffet. This prepped us for a day of exploration on shore and then activities back on-board...
On day 3 I woke up this morning not feeling so great. Not sure if it’s something specific that I ate or just a consequence of so much indulgence, but I really did not want to do much. I went up to the Garden Cafe buffet, picked out some of SP’s favorites plus some chocolate milk and peach yogurt for myself, and brought SP some breakfast in bed...

The last day of any cruise is a sad one, but to us, it’s a bit easier when the last day is a port day as the distraction of going ashore keeps us from dwelling on the inevitable. On the final day of our Nieuw Amsterdam sailing we found ourselves visiting Half Moon Cay, Holland America Line’s private island in the Bahamas. We enjoyed the tropical paradise, thought about how it compared to other private islands, and then went back onboard to absorb the last hours of what Nieuw Amsterdam had to offer us this cruise, including dining in the Pinnacle Grill...