Place: Pita Pit
Lunch: Bacon Cheeseburger Pita (no lettuce, no tomato), chicken Quesapita, Pibb XTRA
We had six Pita Pits locally to start with but there's only two left so I figured I'd better try one before they were completely gone as if I'm actually obligated to or something.
I enter and head for the sign that says "ORDER HEALTHY HERE". Please. None of this crap is healthy. You're getting overglorified Subway with potato chips and high fructose corn syrup soda.
Worried Counter Girl looks worried. Probably because I'm the scariest and ugliest person she's ever seen.
Me: "Bacon cheeseburger pita..."
Worried Counter Girl: "Do you want that in a combo with chips and a drink?"
Me: "I'll take a drink, but I want to try the chicken Quesapita thingy."
She spends a ridiculous amount of time entering crap into the register. $15 and change. No wonder everybody refers to this as "the place to overpay for pitas.":
Me, pointing to reader next to register: "Is this for Apple Pay?"
Worried Counter Girl: "We use a points system now."
Me: *stares*
Worried Counter Girl: *looks worried*
Me: *hands credit card*
Much to my surprise, steak and chicken is tossed onto a real grill. She sets up two pita breads, which essentially is a flour tortilla with a kangaroo pocket. Ingredients are placed in the pockets. The bacon cheeseburger is then rolled like a burrito while the Quesapita goes to the grill. Nice. Takes way too long to make, though, so consider ordering ahead on the app or the website.
Both items are delicious. The Quesapita is listed as a side, but it's really a meal in itself. Could use a sauce. Might ask for one next time if I make it back before this location closes too.
Remember a few years back when some rich guy was going to build a replica of Titanic for cruising? Yeah. Apparently, that plan is back on track. Titanic II will have modern engines and propulsion and enough actual lifeboats for all 2,400 passengers (and yes, iceberg detecting stuff), but otherwise they want to give you as close to the original experience as possible.
This somehow seems ill-advised.
I imagine there's a bunch of Titanic fanatics (Tifanics?) excited by this. And I would love to tour the finished ship and maybe even take a ride for a few hours. But not much longer than that. What they're planning is regular voyages that are much, much longer. Transatlantic voyages that follow the original ill-fated path, and elsewhere.
Modern cruising happens on big floating resorts with a dozen or more decks full of restaurants and activities. Multiple pools, some even with waterslides. Multiple restaurants and bars. Clubs., Activities. Theatres. Shows. You typically spend five days practically smothered with activities and food and near daily stops at ports with an abundance of tourist traps and touristy things to do.
Titanic was built in an era when ships of its kind were the primary source of transcontinental travel. You didn't fly to Europe, you sailed there. Unless you were elite rich, you probably sailed in a shared little four-birth cabin that didn't even have its own bathroom. Given they still plan to shoehorn 2,400 people on this ship, I don't see how this design is any roomier. A Princess Cruises Coral Class ship of similar size (well, slightly longer, wider, and way taller with 12 passenger decks) has a capacity of 1.970 passengers.
So who really wants to cruise under those conditions on a voyage that doesn't see a port call for days on end? How long can you stare at the open sea and its vast nothingness?
Bring snacks. And lots of books. And your tablet, pre-loaded with books and movies (even most modern ships don't offer shipwide wifi, you have to go to ship Internet areas and pay a premium to connect), and hope they build charging ports into the new ship. And noise-cancelling headphones so you can ignore your bunk mates.
On the bright side, maybe if the new ship hits an iceberg and sinks, you can write it off as a cruise activity.
