Question: On my recent singles cruise, I was assigned to a big dining salon table with a group of strangers. I didn’t mind at first, and looked forward to making new friends. However, I was like a fifth wheel, while the people there were loud, obnoxious and as friendly as angry cats. I’m booked for another cruise next month, and don’t want it to happen again. How can I avoid this? JBG, Atlanta GA

A: You have several options. If you have a bad experience at your first dinner aboard, go to the purser and ask for a change of table assignments. If you’re cruising alone again, when you check aboard, ask the purser to match you up with other single cruise passengers at a table for two or four. You may be able to opt for a male or female dinner companion who also has requested a dinner companion.

If all else fails, skip the sit-down dinners and eat all your meals at the buffet. Then, at each session you can sit alone or choose to join one or more other lonely-looking passengers as you go to the tables.

Seniors love nostalgia, and there’s no better way to go back in time than while you’re stuck in time while on a cross-country or foreign flight. Or while you’re wasting time sitting in a lonely airport waiting for that incoming flight that is still far, far away.

Of course, to choose your own movie menu, you’ll need to take with you a DVD player or other current portable gizmo that has a slot for them. You can buy the discs on line, new or used. You can also rent them from Netflix or other lending service. You may also be able to check out the DVDs free at your local library.

Here are our choices for fighting boredom on flights and in the airport, not necessarily in order of preference:

1. Airplane: Craziest flying collection of puns of all time!
2. Flight of the Phoenix: Original one with Jimmy Stewart
3. Air Force One: President Harrison Ford offs bad guys
4. The High and the Mighty: John Wayne without horses
5. The Spirit of St. Louis: Stewart does Lindy flight

Gotta add Casablanca, even tho there’s no flying, except at the end when Bogie says goodbye to Bergman as she’s about to board, when he snarls, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”

We’re going on a cruise that includes ports in the Mediterranean soon, and we’re not sure about the tipping practices there. Friends who've cruised say we should use only cash. What do you suggest?

A: There are all kinds of answers, depending on where you are. For example, for cruises, you may have your cabin steward and dining staff tips automatically added to your bill at a rate of up to 20%. You can set this up as soon as you go aboard. This will save you from the inconvenience of doling out cash a dozen times a day for each service.

When you’ll be wandering around the Riviera on your own, expect to tip just about everyone. This includes waiters, bellhops, taxi drivers, garage attendants and others. All prefer cash tips, rather than adding in the 15 or 20 percent on your credit card form.

The simple reason is that it gives them a chance to avoid some of the heavy income taxation in France and other European countries. For example, your $5 cash tip goes into the server’s pocket. A credit card tip is usually recorded, and after taxes, in real income is worth as little as $3.

When in doubt about tipping, ask for information on the local tipping customs when boarding your cruise ship and when you check in at hotels.

Bon voyage!

Completed in 1512 after four grueling years working while on the flat of his back, artist Michelangelo created his masterpiece. The enormous painting is still as brilliantly creative, vibrant and exciting today as it was centuries ago. Visitors to the Sistine Chapel can only stand in awe of the enormous panorama above them depicting the creation of mankind and other familiar stories of the Bible.

To rediscover the epic Hollywood version of the history of Michelangelo’s amazing project, get the DVD of the 1965 movie, “The Agony and the Ecstacy”, starring Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison.  

For more information and/or you plan to visit the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, go to mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html