RCI Introduces "My Time Dining" And "My Time Family Dining"

Royal Caribbean International is introducing these new dining plans throughout its fleet. The programs have been under testing for several months to get feedback from guests and RCI says feedback has been positive. My Time Dining allows guests to dine in the main dining room whenever they wish during dining hours. They will not have a pre-assigned table but can be seated with anyone they arrive with a request to be seated with other guests or dine alone. No additional guests will be seated at a table once dinner service has begun. With this plan guests must prepay gratuities and enroll onboard or in advance. My Family Time Dining will offer an expedited 40-minute dinner experience during the first seating in the main dining room for kids 3-11 enrolled in the Adventure Ocean Youth program. A youth counselor will escort the children from the dining room back to the Adventure Ocean spaces for evening activities while parents can dine at their leisure.

Rules for very senior travelers planning vacations

by Karen Fawcett
Just because you may not be running as fast as you used to, or possibly never did, that’s no reason not to travel. Here are nine rules for travelers who might need more time or assistance when traveling.

Check with your doctor
Before booking your trip, sit down with your doctor and discuss what you should and shouldn’t be doing. In addition, you may need extra inoculations plus copies of your prescriptions (generic please) and a summary of your medical records. He or she can contribute valuable advice as to where you should and shouldn’t go.

Use a travel agent
Many people opt to use travel agents whose specialty is planning trips for very senior citizens and those with disabilities. They know which places are more appropriate than others and have the contacts to make your trip less fraught with anxiety.

For example, there are numerous cruise companies that have boats with rooms specifically designed to accommodate people who are less mobile. More than likely, they offer land excursions where the disabled traveler will be able to participate.

If you’re making your own plans, make advanced preparations and think out every possible contingency. Leave as little as possible to chance.

Depending on your situation, there are some countries where you’ll do better than others in the event you encounter problems. There are some cities that are more senior-citizen-friendly than others. Even Paris is trying to retrofit many of its ancient buildings and public spaces to accommodate wheelchairs and those with mobility problems.

You aren’t going to want to book biking, hiking or a trip that’s physically taxing. But there are many other places to go and things to do. Don’t confine your travels to sitting on a porch in a rocking chair.

Inform your airline
If flying, inform the airline of wheelchair needs for departing and upon arrival. Some people don’t think they need this service but airline terminals and connecting ramps feel as if they are expanding every year. Don’t let a false sense of pride cause you to board the plane tired and frazzled.

And there’s a plus. You’ll be ferried through security and if you’re traveling internationally, you won’t have to wait forever to clear customs because the escort will take you to the front of the line. I realized this one time when I was accompanying a friend who had a broken leg. That’s when the bonus of being expedited through the security process dawned on me. I considered faking an infirmity the next time I was traveling alone. How I hate waiting in lines. But, who doesn’t?

Use a porter
When traveling by train, always reserve a porter. For the few extra dollars (and do tip), he can make your life easier by escorting you to your seat and doing battle with your luggage. Do not expect to necessarily find roving porters in the station. In many European cities (and elsewhere to be sure) they must be reserved in advance.

Request accessible rooms at hotels
When making hotel reservations, specify you need a room that’s easily accessible from the main floor and if there are stairs, there’s an alternative way of getting from here to there. Not every facility has elevators (or big enough ones to accommodate a wheelchair) and it’s up to the traveler to do the homework. Many older properties don’t have ramps or places without stairs. Better to know before you arrive than find yourself trapped. It’s no sin to decide to stay at a different hotel because of its layout. If you use a wheelchair, make sure the doorways are wide enough to accommodate it and there are appropriate bathing facilities.

Think before you dine
Restaurants may or may not present a challenge. In Europe, it’s amazing how many of them have restroom facilities on another floor. As they’re renovated, restaurants are required in many places to install WCs on the main floor — but it’s prudent to check before sitting down to eat.

Carefully plan public transportation
Check your destination’s public transportation system. In some cities such as Washington, D.C., the subways are required to have elevators so seniors and the disabled may may more easily use the metro trains.

In Paris, it’s illegal for taxis not to stop for a passenger who is wheelchair bound. Not only that, the driver is responsible for folding up the wheelchair and not charging to transport it in the cab’s trunk without charging a supplement.

Many cities have buses with ramps that can be lowered or that “kneel” to make entry easier. They many not be on every route but are being added as vehicles are being replaced.

Bring special items
Pack needed items such as special pillows, bandages and anything that will make you more comfortable during your trip. You may need to check and pay for an extra suitcase. But the additional cost is comparatively nothing compared to searching for something specific in a foreign place — even if it’s a two-hour flight away from you live. Don’t expect drug stores to have what you need or necessarily even be open.

Buy travel insurance
Travel insurance is generally a good investment, especially if you have any type of disability. Better to spend the extra money and be able to be repatriated to the medical facility of your choice. You’ll travel with increased peace of mind as will family members left behind.

Other considerations: Are you comfortable traveling to a destination where you don’t speak the language? Some people are, while others aren’t. Know your limitations and comfort level.

What are the odds of my plane crashing?

by Ned Levi
This year, while many summer vacationers will stay close to home, some will be flying to distant locations. In the last few months, I’ve met more people with a fear of flying than I can count. They all point to US Airways Flight 1549, “Sully’s Miracle,” which ditched in the Hudson River in New York City, earlier this year, shortly after takeoff, due to a double bird strike. That surprised me since everyone survived.

I’ve pointed that out, but it doesn’t seem to matter.

Everyone remembers the bad crashes like Valujet flight 592 in the Florida Everglades, TWA flight 800 in the Atlantic Ocean, Swissair flight 111 in Nova Scotia, and Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, because there were no survivors.

Fortunately, those tragedies are exceptions. More often than not, most passengers survive crashes, to walk away.

According to National Transportation Safety Board statistics of airplane accidents which occurred between 1983 and 2000, 17 years, 51,207 out of the 53,487 passengers in those accident survived. That’s a 95.7 percent survival rate. Even when we look only at the most serious 26 accidents, 1,525 of 2,739 passengers survived. That’s a 56 percent survival rate. If we remove the Lockerbie, Scotland crash, which was not an accident, but intentionally caused by a bomb, the survival rate from serious accidents increases to 61 percent.

I suspect you may be as surprised as I was looking at those survival statistics. Think about this, too: In 17 years fewer than 54,000 passengers have been in a plane accident, yet last year alone, US carriers hauled more than 809 million passengers. The odds of you being in an airplane accident are minuscule.
Over the years, planes have become safer. The FAA here, and government aviation authorities elsewhere in the world, have required more and more safety features installed in planes. Many, for example, are to prevent fire in the passenger cabin in case of an accident or an inflight problem in the cargo hold. Thermal insulation, as well as fire suppression systems are now standard in today’s planes.
If you’re still worried, I’ve done some research and determined steps you can take to increase your chance of being in the survivor group, and I have some of my own practical advice, which comes from my experiences flying in commercial airlines for more years than I care to count, including one aborted takeoff, after which the plane was evacuated.

I know most people want to sit as far to the front of the plane as possible, but according to a Popular Mechanics study that examined every commercial jet crash in the United States, from 1971 through 2006, that had both fatalities and survivors, you’re safer in the back of the plane. In fact, those sitting in the back, as close to the tail as possible, have about a 40 percent better chance of surviving a plane crash, than those in front in first class.

Sitting within five rows of any exit improves your likelihood of survival too. A British safety expert reviewed seating plans in more than 100 crashes and interviewed nearly 2,000 passengers. He concluded that five rows is the cut-off for likely getting out of a burning plane safely. Beyond that range, your chances of survival drop. Also, passengers in aisle seats have a higher survival rate, than those in window seats.

Before booking any flights, I check Seat Guru to ascertain seat quality and proximity to exit rows of the available seats on my flights.

Wear the right clothing to fly. Wear a good pair of shoes or leather sneakers, never sandals or flip-flops. For women, wearing high heels may make an airborne fashion statement, but you don’t want to be wearing them in case of an emergency exit from a plane. Sandals or “heels” make it hard to move quickly within wreckage.

I wear long pants and long sleeved shirts, made with natural fibers (synthetics or high synthetic content blends can melt on your skin in a fire, causing serious and even fatal wounds) to protect my skin from the possibility of intense heat and fire, but more importantly, to be honest, to help me slide down the wing of an aircraft or emergency slide. Experience has taught me going down that slide can hurt.

Loose or elaborate clothing can get snagged on obstacles in a plane’s tight quarters, especially if there’s some damage. If you know you’re going to be flying over cold areas, dress appropriately, and consider keeping a jacket on your lap, especially during takeoff and landing, when most mishaps occur. In cold weather, crash survival may depend on your staying warm.

Take care every one,    keep well     LILIANA    Adios and good ole Ciao

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