cowmilker

Yes. We are old. We did it anyway. We went to a travel clinic and consulted a physician. She explained all the risks involved. She did NOT try to talk us into it or out of it. She just gave us the facts. Took us about three seconds to decide. Our reasoning was that the risk is extremely small, we aren't getting any younger, and what if we want to travel to another yellow fever prone place in the future. The risk from contracting yellow fever is really dire (it's very often fatal). We had no, repeat, no side effects from the vaccination at all. Not even a sore arm. And we never have to have it again. It was also very expensive.

We were also on Volendam for the Grand South America 2020 trip. It's fine. We've sailed on Koningsdam and liked it, but we liked Volendam too. No particular motion issues and we sailed through some of the most treacherous water on earth. I wouldn't put my foot on an MSC ship if it was free. I still can't decide if my aversion is due to a pure hatred of MSC or if we just abhor those mega ships (specifically the Meraviglia). All those bells and whistles are useless if the available public space is so crammed with human beings you can barely move. Honestly, I can't say enough nice stuff about HAL. Our other cruise experience (apart from the Cruise From Hell on MSC) has been with Norwegian on the Star. We liked that too, but we're not interested in NCL's big ships.

Looking forward to "traveling" with you, and I hope it's all just perfect. Sounds to me like you deserve a bit of a break.

We are double vaxxed and double boosted, and I am impatient to see if we'll be able to get another booster before our first cruise in mid September. Probably not, but if not, then we'll be watching and if we can get in a port someplace, we'll do that, quite happily. I will be stuck every time they will stick me.

Impossible. Denali is over 800 miles from Ketchikan. You can sometimes see Denali from Anchorage (about 125 miles or so), but we lived in Cooper Landing, which is about 50 miles as the crow flies south of Anchorage, and it's not visible from there.

We were on Volendam in Antarctica in early 2020. One of the naturalists aboard (an Australian named Craig Franklin - who worked with Steve Irwin) did a whole talk about this subject. He has been spending Antarctic summers on board cruise ships (mostly HAL) for many years. He's passionate about the ecosystem and its preservation. Passionate. So, how does he reconcile the two things? 1. He believes that HAL does everything they possibly can to minimize their impact. In particular, he believes that bringing more than 1000 people on one ship to actually the Antarctic up close and personal is a very, very good thing. Doing it in large groups means fewer ships. 2. He also believes that the more of us who actually visit the Antarctic, the better, because we all come home more aware, and yes, sharing some of his passion for the place. He considers it a win-win situation.

Our first cruise with HAL was on Koningdam, for three weeks, in the Med, in an inside cabin. 🙂 Loved it and HAL. We've only sailed in an ocean view twice. Once we were upgraded partway through a b2b2b and the second time was a TA where the ocean view was the same price as an inside. Neither was with HAL. We just don't care. We don't stay in our cabin much and we would NEVER sit on a balcony. I cannot imagine doing that, ever, and I certainly wouldn't pay for it.

LOL. In early 2020, we did more than 70 days in an inside cabin. This September, we are hoping to spend 105 days in an inside cabin. We don't mind it at all. Not even slightly.

TY so much for sharing this. Preordered it. We were on Volendam (Grand South America) until March 20 that year. I remember being so scared we'd end up in a mess like that. They cut the cruise short by two days to get us back to Ft Lauderdale because they were afraid Florida wouldn't let us disembark. As it turned out, Volendam at that point was probably the safest place on earth. 🙂

Rotterdam 1873, Decaf Whole Bean Coffee — BEUKENHORST COFFEE USA (beukenhorst-usa.com) This is what I bought him.

LOL, yes, a bit of looking and it's Beukenhorst, but we got it out of Florida. And it's called the Rotterdam 1873. My husband loves it.

I cannot remember the name of the company, but I bought some coffee (decaf, beans) for DH from a place in Florida because it was the HAL blend. Has the HAL logo all over the packaging. He LOVES the stuff. Loves the coffee on those ships. Now he loves his coffee at home. I bought a very large bag of it and put it in the freezer. I do not drink coffee and think it's vile. 🙂

FWIW, I had cataract surgery two days ago (left eye). My appt started at 9:30 am with tests, tests, and more tests. Wait and then more tests. Consult and then wait. Finally pick out the lens I wanted, and go upstairs to the surgical center and wait. Finally, I had surgery and was returned to my husband for the trip home at about 2:30 pm. So a total of five hours. I never took off my mask for a single minute. They even left it on during surgery. All they did was lift it slightly and put an oxygen cannula in my nose. It was fine. I was fine. Everyone in the building had on a mask, staff, patients, everyone. I don't mind a well fitting comfortable mask one bit and will wear one probably forever. 🙂

We did the Grand South America two years ago (it got truncated slightly due to Covid), and we both got the yellow fever vaccine. At that point, we were 71 and 81 years old. Our reasoning was that we aren't getting younger, it's required only once for life, and if we want to go back, we have the same issue again if we didn't get it. It's also deadly if you catch it. The doc at the travel clinic went through all the pros and cons with us, and ultimately left us alone for a few minutes to talk it over and decide. Barely felt the shot. No reaction of any sort from either of us. The Covid shots are much, much more difficult to deal with. Heck, the flu shot is harder. 🙂 The only real pain was what it did to our bank account. That is one pricy shot.

AH, good point and one I had forgotten. I use our Sapphire card for travel stuff, and yes, we have coverage. Thank you for the reminder.

My concern doesn't have anything to do with actually catching Covid. I am vaxxed X4. There's nothing more I can do about that at this point. I'll get another booster if/when it's recommended. What sort of keeps me anxious is the fact that we are booked on 4 back to backs in the fall. It's a big, expensive trip. Flights are expensive. It's all expensive. We debated and meditated and waited and thought about even doing this, but every year we delay is another year lost, and we don't have forever left to us. So I booked the latter two cruises (Australia and New Zealand, a total of 85 days). Then I decided that neither one of those cruises was really going to happen because Omicron, so I thought, "Hell, I'll just see what Noordam is doing before". This is ALWAYS a mistake. 🙂 She's doing her last round up to Alaska and then a short cruise down the West Coast to San Diego. I thought, "Well, those two might actually happen," so I booked them. This makes a total of 105 days. My absolute nightmare is testing positive during the turn arounds, and getting left behind. We would survive, but I would not be happy. If I thought that all I'd have to deal with is just being quarantined for a few days, I'd be fine with that (I've done it before with the flu, albeit only for two days). So, it's not "Covid phobia," rather, it's "being left behind in port in some godforsaken hotel while everyone else sails off into the sunset and then trying to figure out how to rejoin the ship --- phobia."

We have a turn around day in Vancouver during a B2B and are planning to rent bikes and go to Stanley Park. This is helpful. AryMay, thank you so much.

I am very glad you're both okay.

Well, it's not actually new. It's the same old monkeypox that has been around forever. It just doesn't often show up in people. Monkeypox, smallpox, and cowpox are all related. THIS is what Dr. Jenner noticed way back in the day, that milkmaids had smooth skin. In an era when nearly everyone had smallpox at some point, EVERYONE had scars on their faces as a result. Except milkmaids. They'd all had cowpox at some point. And that gave them immunity to smallpox. So, a vaccine was born. (It wasn't quite that simple, but you get the idea.) Most of us old farts have been vaccinated for smallpox, and for that reason, monkeypox is probably not an issue.

I have found several of these glitches. We are booked for the Noordam starting on September 18 and ending in Sydney in early January. At least five of the ports don't show up at all on the various port websites, and on one of them, the ship says we are docking a day later than the port website says. I finally just decided to make a note of it, make sure anything I book is refundable and believe HAL. Otherwise, I'll go nuts.

I just checked on this. Our iHealth freebies expire in July and August (two different batches.) download (fda.gov) This pdf from the FDA extends that expiration date, in our cases from July until October and from August until November. I printed out those extended dates and taped them to the boxes. Moral of the story here -- don't do a whole lot about this until closer to embarkation date. They are delivering these tests if you order them in the mail in just a few days. This will save us some money. Thanks for this thread. But then, maybe by fall, they will stop all this. 🙂

Thank you. Good points.

Well, it's not a "little" extra. It's sort of a lot extra. The bus costs about $2 pp (so $4 RT). Admission fee is $5. Total $9 pp. Blue bus, if I understand it correctly, is $45 pp. For two of us, that's $72 more. Of course, the savings involves an approximate 3 mile walk (adding together arriving and departing). I do that every single day on a treadmill or behind a lawn mower, so it's not a big deal for me. It might be for somebody else.

I don't know. We shouldn't have to be highly educated in art to appreciate art, any more than you need to be a world class musician to appreciate a song. Maybe I'm just happy to be entertained and it doesn't take a whole lot to please me. 🙂

I don't think it's generational. I'm 73. 🙂 I think it's because I see them as story-telling in their dance. You don't seem to, and that may just mean that I'm the one who is nuts. 🙂 My impression of the former dance/singer things done on cruise ships were simply guys looking all strong and women looking sexy. I KNOW that is overly simplistic, and I don't mean to do that, but that's my overall impression and the reason that I sort of found it all slightly enjoyable but ultimately forgettable. I like abstract art, too. And PMJ. And Hamilton with all its rap. :-)