scubacruiserx2

Nice pictures. I'll be aboard the Zaandam next Dec capturing my own photographs of Antarctica.

Thank you , that sounds great ! We would love to see Antarctica and spend more time in the Patagonia area . :) :D

Or a hose in the right hands can do wonders.:D

We have a large area around our pool and we could only afford Spray Deck at the time when it was installed .

We do have to be careful when cleaning it as too much pressure will cause it to flake off of the concrete foundation .

You're right it does look like Oasis....very interesting......I assume the rooms themselves are normal hotel size??

I'm not sure as we didn't look inside of them . They are called Atrium rooms and we had a Broadway family room .

http://www.manninhotel.im/our-rooms

They are new and comfortable but don't have the character , view or beach like the Driftwood in Vero Beach .

Gracie, glad to hear you weathered the storm safely, and your power is back on. I'm sure you are glad to be able to head off on your cruise knowing that your home is safe.

 

Our clean up from Matthew was minimal compared to most. We picked up a lot of plant debris and replaced some yard ornaments and potted plants, and a few other yard chores that needed doing anyway. No power washers were required. :D

 

Joe and Pat, what a difference a year makes! Pat, you have certainly come a long way from this time last year. I'm sure your dive trip and cruises you have planned will be wonderful. :cool:

 

 

 

 

We will be staing in one of those Boardwalk balconies on Oasis in a couple of weeks! I think our view will be sightly different than yours in your hotel on the IOM. :D We are 2nd cabin from aft, so we will have a wake view, even though it won't be quite the wake view we prefer. It will be an interesting experience to be able to watch the shows in the Aquatheater and all the activities on the Boardwalk. Barry will love it. I will, too, but I imagine there will be times when I will miss the tranquility of our usual aft balconies. It will be a different experience, so we figured we would give it a try.

That sounds like a great cabin and view . Enjoy , and take lots of photos and videos !! :) :D

The pool area is looking good.:D

Thanks Mic mostly Pat's labor . To paraphrase Thomas the Tank Engine , ' little hoses can do big things ! ' . :) :D

At the hotel on the IOM , the interior looks like the Boardwalk cabins on the RCI Oasis class .

We were to the left with a street view , and on the right , interior balconies .

We met Karen and Ron and went to a lovely dinner at Samphire . which I didn't photograph .

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g190928-d7803025-Reviews-Samphire-Douglas_Isle_of_Man.html

Following a good nights sleep I was up early for some photos and a walk while Pat and Ty slept .

With the bay at my back , looking down the street , toward our hotel , behind the orange building .

The other side of the street

I noticed that these photos overlapped and tried to stitch them together to create a panorama . And this is what resulted .

A Frankensteinian photo !! :eek:

Fueled by lunch it was time to think about returning to the ship. So it was time to return to work trying to capture the amazing beauty of this area. Walking along the volcanic beach I paused to shoot this quick video clip

A little closer toward the bus were these beautiful flowers

On the bridge you can see the geological upthrust that shaped the mountains of this area

Returning on a different route toward the ship we encountered different views of the Cuernos.

As we passed this viewing point I wanted to stop and take photos from outside of the bus , but the time was growing short and we had along trip ahead of us

With one last close up of the torres and cuernos we began the long ride to the airport .

Feeling a nap coming on , I contemplated the dinner that would be served at the Pinnacle Grill that evening. It was an evening at Le Cirque and this event happens only once on this cruise. ;)

Have really enjoyed your postings as I have retraced many memories of our Valparaiso-Antarctic-Buenos Aires cruise three years ago.

 

Awesome job...thanks!

Well thank you and welcome aboard . We hope to do the same trip in the future and a pre cruise stay in Patagonia !! :) :D

Yes, and a fire hose would have blown those screens right out of the frame!!:D Amazing the difference a year brings, so glad all is well with Pat and you both are able to continue your adventures around the globe!! :)

Thank you Gracie , and we're thrilled to be diving in a couple of weeks and a couple of cruises on the horizon , after you have completed your's . ;)

We did a little happy dance to celebrate Fall here when the mercury plummeted below the 70 F line for the first time in 5 months . :) :D

This is my day to catch up on "Cruise Reports".

As usual -- wonderful reports and great pictures.

Yes -- a little humor with the "dish washing".

Thanks , but the humor is serious ;)

Backpackers wash their dishes in the toilet !! :eek:

LOL,

I am a bit surprised you don't have the fire hose to wash down the area.

That one is just right for Pat . :) :D

That's one great spacious balcony on the Connie, Joe!

 

The water in Bermuda looks very inviting too. We have never been there.

 

So many tempting destinations, so little time.

 

Norris

The FV balcony on the M class is better than on the s class in terms of size and aft view !! Our's is annotated with the cabin number .

Cabin was a spacious 271 sq. ft and the Veranda is 242 sq. ft. Most of the area is covered , but there is a uncovered cantilevered area for sunning .

On the deck below us is the penthouse with a whopping 1432 sq. ft and the Veranda is 1098 sq. ft . !!

Bermuda and it's beaches are beautiful !!

Horseshoe Bay

The East bound TA is one of our favorite cruises that we would like to do again .

HI All!! Power is back and all is good! That was such a scary couple of days watching that storm and praying for it to move just a little east, and it did. The power of millions of peoples prayers and thoughts all hoping for the same may or may not have made a difference, I believe it did. We were all so very lucky it did NOT follow the path predicted.

 

We are indeed getting ready for our Equinox cruise, but it's out of Barcelona, not Southampton :) . Happy to be able to do so since a couple of days ago we didn't think we'd be going and in fact didn't think we'd even have a home ...

 

So very sad what has happened in Haiti, they got the brunt of Matthew's fury and so ill equipped to deal with it. Am sure the death toll will rise as the days go by, they need all the help they can get. Mother nature's fury just never gives Haiti a break at all.

 

Hope everyone has a good Sunday, this one is far better for us than we expected and we are thankful for it.:)

Amen , Gracie , well said !

Hurricanes , earthquakes and poverty are grim part of life for much of Haiti !! :(

It was a beautiful day here,a very welcome change. We decided that cleaning up after Matthew and getting our yard back in order after was the best use of our time today, so our WDW trip will have to wait.

 

We were delighted to see that Matthew no longer seems to be looping back to the south. :)

Us too Nancy , we're in the same boat !

That is good news about the storm, hope the clean up wasn't too intense.

Our clean up was a labor of love , having been spared from damage !! ;)

And with our pool patio cleared , Pat seized the day pressure cleaning . And like a good hunter stalking his prey , I shot this dear with a small Canon .

It was a year ago this week that she had life saving surgery and I've tried to be a better , more loving and attentive spouse since then . ;)

Notice that I said tried . ;)

With all the sights that we had seen and all the exercise that my shutter button finger had gotten we had worked up quite an appetite . Fortunately our guide knew just the place to eat and soothe sore fingers . The restaurant is set on an island in the middle of Lake Pehoe. Seeing it only inhances the anticipation because it requires crossing on a long foot bridge to reach it.

The restaurant is part of the Hosteria Pehoe the park's oldest hotel

The view of the Paine Massif and Lake Pehoe is amazing !

With a good view and great company we settled down to some serious eating.

This was a fresh hearts of Palm salad

The small champagne flute in front of us on the table holds the potent Pisco Sour. A link here best describes it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisco_Sour

On our first visit to Chile our guide showed as a good brand of pre- mixed Pisco Sour in the grocery store. If you shake it a frothy foam is created.

We enjoyed the Pisco and lunch so much that we forgot to take pictures !

We are booked for the Eclipse April 16, 2017 TA. It will be our first TA. Glad to hear about the calm seas.

Congratulations on your cruise !! This was our second TA in the Spring on Celebrity . The first was on the Connie with the new kid on the block the Solstice , tagging along for the ride ! We scored an FV just before departure and also had calm seas on the crossing .

Bermuda is beautiful !

Enjoy the review and we will be glad to answer questions if we can . :) :D

I found a SD card from this cruise in my back up camera today and so I have a few new photos from this cruise .

The early bird get's the sunrise .

Joe, glad to see you did not lose power! Thankfully, we didn't either. We are still getting wind and rain from the outer bands of Matthew even though he is still well north of us. Supposed to be sunny tomorrow. :D BTW, we are just north of Minneola, top left on your map. Looks like we were in the clear in that picture.

 

I have been watching the future track of Matthew and I do not like the way it loops back to the south. Looks to me like he is heading back through the Bahamas. Hopeflly, he will not go back to Haiti. There is already way too much devaststion there.

 

I saw 5 ships on the port Miami webcam today. One of our past cruise table mates was returning from a cruise on one of them. They re-routed her cruise to Costa Maya and Cozumel and had good weather there, but I'll bet the last part of her trip back into Miami was rough. I'm not sure what time those ships sailed, but the ones I checked weren't boarding until 5 PM.

 

We were supposed to be going to Port Canaveral tomorrow for a Segway ride and dinner at Fishlips, where the PC webcam is located. Needless to say, that is not going to happen now! Instead, we are thinking about a WDW day if it is as nice as the reports are claiming it will be. The strategy of going the day right after a storm served us well during the 2004 hurricane season. The day after the storm the parks were empty! Everyone who could get out before the storm hit had done so, and the new crowd coming in had not arrived yet.

 

Speaking of WDW, there was one day they closed that was not hurricane related. That day was September 11, 2001. We were there celebrating our anniversary. They closed the park we were in at about 11 AM due to security concerns. We still lived in Connecticut at the time, and were grateful we had a rental car. Our fligt home was cancelled so we ended up driving the rental car home. That was definitely a memorable vacation, but for all the wrong reasons.

We're really glad to find out that you are OK - and NO loss of power !! ;)

We hope that you have a great day at WDW !! One of our daughter's friends shared a photo of her at EPCOT today and the weather looked great . :cool:

Goodness, I have just seen the news that over 850 people died in Haiti alone. I do hope it doesn't circle back over it again.

The loss of life in Haiti is truly tragic !! :(

The forecast is for the storm to return as a tropical depression on Wednesday - a much different animal than a hurricane .

As we continued to circle the Paine Massif the most prominent feature came into view - the Cuernos. The Cuernos del Paine are the " horns of Paine" which are the dark areas on top of the lighter mountains. The darker area is softer , sedimentary rock which is perched on top of the harder , lighter colored volcanic rock.

Another shot from the moving bus

Our next stop was the Ranger Station were our guide paid the $40 p.p. fee for park entrance. As my wife used rest rooms I took this picture of 2 backpackers walking.

When my wife came out of the rest rooms I knew that something was up. When she showed me this picture , many silly thoughts filled my head but in an effort to avoid "potty humor" , I'll let the readers supply their own lines.

Back on the bus we treated to more great views. :)

Joe,

Thanks for the information.

Having just been on the Atlantic and very pleased our Captain managed to avoid the eye of Tropical Storm Ian, by sailing south towards the Azores, instead of due west Cork to St John's Newfoundland, I am tracking the progress of the ship (Azamara Quest) which left Newport, Rhode Island last night. There are passengers that we met who are still on her. Their destination is New Orleans!

Hopefully they will be OK , but it could be a bumpy ride !!! :eek:

The reports are showing it to be downgraded to a tropical storm , early Sunday morning . We got an E-mail from Gracie 115 this morning and they are fine , but without power . They are booked on the Equinox October , 25 th TA from Southampton , and we really hope that they get a smooth ride over . :) :D

Thanks for that, major re-organisational skills required as long as the storm is affecting the ports. It also affects a lot of people, some who will be disappointed in one way or another, while others will probably feel they have gotten a better deal. Such is life I suppose.

Glad that you are all safe anyway.:D

Hurricanes have a major impact on millions of people . There are about a million people in Florida who lost power and 3 lost lives . And it's not finished yet and expected to return later next week .

Most of our shutters will remain up with a few safety exits until the end of the season .

After the stop at the second lake , our next 10 minute stop was at the Paine River where there is a cascade.

We were getting ever closer to the Paine Massif but you can't ignore the power and beauty of the cascades.

Here is another view of the cascade

The Paine River

As we were shooting pictures my wife told me to look behind us where a guanaco had just gotten a drink . He then preceded to walk past us as if we were invisible.

The wind had started to pick up and it continued to remain windy throughout the day.

Thanks so much for your excellent pictures and review!

Good luck with your tango lessons! :)

You're welcome Bill , and thank you for writing in . :cool:

We saw this article of how cruises using Port Canaveral handled Hurricane Matthew .

HURRICANE MATTHEW: Updated Cruise Line Cancellations and Reimbursement Policies

IMPACTING TRAVEL | JANEEN CHRISTOFF | OCTOBER 06, 2016

HURRICANE MATTHEW: Updated Cruise Line Cancellations and Reimbursement Policies

As Hurricane Matthew ramps up to a Category 4 storm, many cruisers are wondering if their cruise will be sailing.

The good news is that, for the most part, cancellations look few and far between. The cruise lines have been able to reroute ships, however, many passengers face cancelled flights and difficulty reaching their designated ports. Others are dealing with itinerary changes, and may miss out on ports of call they were originally scheduled to visit.

No matter what passengers are faced with, cruise lines and ports have the best interests of the public and the safety of passengers in mind.

"This is a serious storm, and the protection of people and property is our primary concern," Port Canaveral CEO John Murray said in a statement. "We expect high winds and storm surge throughout the port and have urged the Port community to prepare their facilities so business can resume as quickly as possible after the storm."

Three cruises out of Port Canaveral have been canceled so far. The Oct. 7 Carnival Victory cruise will not sail.

Carnival noted that guests will receive a full refund that will include any pre-paid gratuities, Carnival shore excursions and any FunShop purchases.

Passengers should expect refunds to be applied to the original form of payment within three weeks, according to Carnival and the cruise line will also provide a 25 percent discount off a future two- or three-day cruise.

Disney Cruise Line has also canceled the Disney Dream’s Oct. 7 itinerary out of Cape Canaveral.

“The Oct. 7 sailing of the Disney Dream from Port Canaveral is being cancelled. Refunds will automatically be processed back to the original form of payment used for cruise bookings. Guests are invited to call us at 1-866-325-3905 or 407-566-7032 beginning Monday, Oct. 10, to book a future cruise at a discount,” says a statement on Disney’s cruise blog.

Royal Caribbean has canceled the Oct. 8 sailing of the Majesty of the Seas out of Port Canaveral. On its blog the cruise line stated: “Royal Caribbean had planned on having Majesty of the Seas take a shorter sailing and depart on October 8. The path of the storm and impact on the ship's departure point of Port Canaveral have caused the cruise line to reconsider its plans and cancel the sailing completely.”

For the most part, all cruise lines will be offering refunds to passengers if their cruise is cancelled. Many also offer additional credit or the option to apply credit to a new cruise on a future date.

While only three cruises have been canceled, there are many more that are stuck in port or have been rerouted and many are not returning or leaving port as scheduled. Here is a rundown of where ships are currently sailing.

READ MORE: Latest Updates on How Hurricane Matthew is Impacting Travel

Carnival Cruise Line

The Carnival Sensation will sail a modified itinerary leaving Miami on Oct. 7 and overnighting in Nassau on Oct. 8. Further changes may be made after the hurricane passes through the area.

According to Carnival: "Guests who opt to sail on the shortened voyage will receive a pro-rated refund equal to the amount of one day of their cruise fare as well as pre-purchased shore excursions for Key West and Cozumel. Refunds will be applied to the original form of payment within three weeks Also, gratuities will be adjusted to reflect the shortened cruise."

The Carnival Splendor reversed its itinerary on the Oct. 2 sailing and will now spend Oct. 7 at sea, returning to Miami on Oct. 8.

The Carnival Ecstasy will spend an extra day at sea, returning to Charleston, S.C., one day later, on Oct. 9. Passengers will receive 25 percent off of a future cruise as well as a $50 credit to be used onboard.

The next Carnival Ecstasy sailing will be just six nights as a result of the delay. The cruise will be pro-rated for passengers and be refunded for shore excursions in Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay.

Carnival Elation will have a delayed return to Jacksonville. Currently, it is scheduled to return on Oct. 8. Tomorrow, passengers will visit Freeport, rather than have a day at sea.

Carnival Fantasy will have a delayed boarding, provided the Port Miami opens on Friday. Says Carnival Cruise Line on its website: "Once conditions become safe on Friday, port officials will begin their assessment and make a determination on when the port is safe to reopen. This could take some time and, assuming the port reopens on Friday, embarkation would take place late afternoon/early evening."

Royal Caribbean

Empress of the Seas will be delayed returning to Miami, visiting Costa Maya on the extra day. The ship will now be returning on Oct. 7. Its next sailing will also be delayed by one day.

According to Royal Caribbean, “To compensate for the missed day, Royal Caribbean will provide each stateroom with an onboard credit in the amount of one day based on the cruise fare paid, which will be credited to guests' onboard accounts. As a gesture of goodwill, we will also be providing all sailing guests with a 25 percent future cruise credit.”

Majesty of the Seas will also be affected. Due to closures at Port Canaveral, the ship will return Oct. 8, when the port reopens.

Disney Cruise Line

Disney Magic will now sail a Canadian itinerary, leaving New York on Oct. 7 and calling at Sydney, Nova Scotia; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Saint John, New Brunswick.

Passengers can remain on the revised itinerary and receive a $100 per person stateroom credit, cancel for a refund or book a new cruise at a discounted rate. For those who want to book a new cruise, passengers receive a 20 percent discount on a future cruise before the end of 2017.

Cruise Ports Close in Preparation

While cruise ships have canceled itineraries, a number of ports have also closed to prepare for Hurricane Matthew.

Port Miami, Port Everglades, Port Canaveral, Port of Palm Beach and Jacksonville Cruise Port in Florida are all closed due to the hurricane.

In South Carolina, Charleston Cruise Port will be closed for the remainder of the week.