HAL4NOW

Storm severity can be very localized and somewhat subjective as to what constitutes severe. We haven't had any severe weather in the mountains this week, but this is our third day without power, and I haven't run out of snow to move. The only tender required ports listed on the itinerary are St. Anthony and Bar Harbor. I have seen people get upset because the tenders weren't running. Loading them in some conditions would require excellent timing and superb athletic ability on each passenger's part. When the captain says it isn't safe to use the tenders, it isn't safe to use the tenders.

I haven’t cancelled yet but the timing is bad for hurricane season. when I looked at cruises to Newfoundland, all of the ports were cancelled for numerous cruises - including this year. And, they are all tender ports, I believe to add complications to it. My main reason is Newfoundland and the 3 ports there. If anything like Fiona whips through, I would be also be very concerned about PEI, possibly Halifax & Sydney (no loss IMO), as well. It’s a really sketchy time to visit Newfoundland - they are subject to brutal storms and I don’t want to be on a cruise counting on certain ports and disappointed I didn’t get there - I know better. No final decision yet, but the risk isn’t worth the cost (especially as a solo) so I am leaning to cancelling. That makes sense. The single supplement is pretty hefty. It looks like many years there have been zero severe storms, while other years have had multiple storms in the Maritimes. This chart shows that August and September have the highest number of storms according to a Wikipedia article, although a couple of the storms were Typhoons that hit British Columbia. We are hoping for the best but understand when ports are skipped for weather reasons. Safety does matter.

Time to put an extra layer on and go start shoveling again. We only got about 8" last night to add to yesterday's 24". Still no estimate for power restoration. @kazu Jacqui, sorry to hear you won't be on the September Newfoundland cruise. I was looking forward to meeting you in person. Out of curiosity, which ports are most likely to be missed?

I think we will have to renew our passports between our August/September 2023 cruise and our April/May 2024 cruise. Our passports don't expire until July of 2024, but that would be less than six months after the April/May cruise and some of the countries we are visiting prefer (demand?) passports that expire at least six months after arrival. It would be nice if the old passport was still valid while the government takes their time with renewal. At least we have an enhanced driver's license that will get us into Canada and Mexico and the Caribbean by sea or land. It also allows us to board domestic flights.

We got a pretty good dump of snow overnight (18"). Power went off at about 1:00 AM this morning. It had only been on since 3:30 AM yesterday, after being off for 20 hours. Puget Sound Energy has not provided an estimate for when power will be restored. Snow hasn't stopped yet.

Now they get to face Netherlands on December 3rd. As a Holland America cruiser, I can root for both sides; I can't lose 🙂

The difference between lemon cream pie and lemon meringue pie is the meringue topping (made with egg whites and sugar). A lemon cream pie might be a lemon meringue pie, but not necessarily. It may have a whipped cream topping or no topping at all.

We just happened to have a Lemon Cream Pie in the freezer; transferred it to the refrigerator and will enjoy later.

Thank you for reminding us to look at the HAL site. I booked a 21-day Panama Canal cruise that will include my DW's birthday in April of 2024. Love the $25 deposits and we also received $400 OBC for early booking.

We received that same letter (or similar letter) when in isolation on the Koningsdam. The letter came on October 18th to the room; the FCC was applied to our Mariner accounts on November 16th.

College opportunities will always be there; soccer opportunities will be short lived. I received my BA at the age of 32 and wasn't the oldest graduate that day by any stretch of the imagination. One lady in our class was in her 60's. Taking college courses is even easier now with so much available on flexible schedules.

I was talking with a guy at the starting line of the Sound to Narrows (a 12K race in Tacoma, WA) who had just had open-heart surgery. I wondered why he was even attempting the race and hoped he wouldn't end up killing himself trying. About 10K into the race he passed me with a big smile and said he was doing great.

Like @MISTER 67 , @Quartzsite Cruiser, and others, I don't think D.B. Cooper's actions are worth a day of celebration. That being said, it seems that our nation loves celebrating infamous outlaws. Why did we hear, in our history classes, of the perpetrators of the Boston Tea Party as heroes of the American Revolution? During the wild west days there are too many infamous outlaws to even mention them all, but most will recognize Billy the Kid, Doc Holiday, Jesse James, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, etc. Then there is Bonnie and Clyde. And the whole Robin Hood thing (okay, not just an American problem) seems like a wonderful justification for doing the wrong thing for the right reason. We in the Pacific Northwest seem to have our share of outlaw legends. You can add the Barefoot Bandit story to D.B. Cooper's story. The Barefoot Bandit was an infamous teenager that stole numerous planes, boats, bicycles, and cars. He would break into homes and take whatever he "needed" to live off the land. And then there is Richard Russell (aka 'Bebo') who stole a commercial plane from Sea-Tac Airport and flew it around the Puget Sound doing barrel rolls and other maneuvers before crashing into Ketron Island. People seem to be fascinated with sin.

Would honesty work, or would it get you in trouble? "I have an unreasonable boss who thinks everyone in Houston has extra money to throw away. She insists that we start out asking for $1,000. Do you have $1,000 available today, or am I underestimating your wealth? Can you commit to the $1,000 level right now?" Then move on to the conversation that seems to be working. Allow your good rapport to shine through all of the BS.

Mary, have you sailed the Nieuw Statendam with full capacity? A few months ago, none of the ships felt over-crowded because they were sailing with 50-60% capacity.

Hey Jacqui, We did the Circle Hawaii out of Vancouver on the Koningsdam; our first time on a Pinnacle class ship. We had good service and a wonderful time, but the ship seemed crowded often. I miss the elbow room of the smaller ships.

You can ask; if they are able to assign a room, they will. If it isn't a room you would prefer over the interior room you already have, then just decline the offer and enjoy your cruise.

Nine minutes is a lot; it is just that even after the nine minutes had been announced, Wales players took a couple more flops that resulted in "non-play" time but didn't result in additional stoppage time. I know when I was playing soccer in college most of the stoppage that took place in yesterday's game would have never happened. The norm should be to play on.

Wales was much more eager than the USA players to get to the ball when the score was 1-0. USA ended up making an unnecessary foul in the penalty box because they were playing soft and not pushing the ball up the field. Wales was also allowed to keep rested because the officials were accommodating all of their flops as if they were serious injuries. Then he didn't add all of the stoppage time back on, at the end of the game. A tie with England would be a miracle.

When my DW asked for Paxlovid it was provided (at a cost). We had insurance and hope it will be reimbursed, but she is worth it either way.

Donating the turkey to the good bank is a wonderful idea. Turkey is quite a bit more expensive this year, and we buy them for our local food pantry now to give to families in the community. The grocery stores that used to donate dozens of them to our food pantry are no longer able to continue doing that.

Crew appreciation is for Black Friday Sale.

Yes.

We were able to order soda without any extra charges. We did not have HIA. The staff did their best, under the circumstances.

You can phone (800) 355-3017, Office of Personal Cruise Consultants, and then don't put in the 5 digit extension when they ask for it. You will get the option to press 1 for a new booking or 2 for an existing booking. When you get to a person, ask to speak to a supervisor because you would like to change PCC's. You may get a new PCC assigned to you, after explaining your situation and what you would like HAL to do about it. The new PCC may not be any better than the one you have. We were successful in acquiring a new PCC, but she is no more responsive than the previous one we had. They do not return calls or respond to emails. They do not answer their phones. I was hoping that having a PCC would give me one contact, but even when I am able to speak with a PCC, they want to transfer me to another department or they say they cannot do anything, and they refer me to another department.