Fogfog

Showing my age🥰 In 1985 I was in Brugge as a student ..spending the summer in Strasbourg studying French Bought 2 small copper plate etchings on paper..framed. 1 colored, 1 plain…as well as some bobbin lace trimmed placemats and napkins. Whats notable to me is that I am comparatively young and don’t hear folks talk about buying original art or handcrafts in European ports now. guess I was that weird kid. I still own those items I have German tagged Christmas ornaments,a French Bacarrat decanter, all thing I bought with baby sitting money saved up and used on that trip. And more then 40 years later still have those things. Point being.….…...I hope you all find treasures whether as memories of events, meals or pieces to pass on from our sailing. Fog

@Sugar Magnolia Wasn’t able to get into the article about the whale. From the title it sounds horrific. One would think a species that’s normally deep sea would be sick or injured and the remains just got caught on the bow ball or whatever they call that… am I guessing correctly? also..above..I meant..canal ride back to bus..then 45 min to port.

No clever enough to add text. Above is a pic of one of the panels of the Ghent Altarpiece. Had a great tour today. Ghent is a great visit if you have been to Brugge before. 45 min ride, 2 hour walking tour, very informative. 2 hours free..we choose to go get Thai food for lunch, then a canal ride back to the port. Tom is Le Havre…we are headed to Mont Saint Michele.

For those considering this route, we’ve had good experiences at the port stops. We came in early at NYC and were glad to do that, Sail away from NY is magical..and if you are one like me with roots there, I was so glad to be seeing things from the river in such a special way. Halifax, we used Paul. We found him through the CC Halifax boards. Small van. Historical tour Got lunch across the area so we were looking at our ship and avoiding the big bus crush. Iceland, we used the free bus to walk in town for several hours before a private Golden Circle tour. We were 12 and able to have a nice casual dinner at a gastronomic pub before being back on the ship. Used a ship tour for local stuff the next so as to not be pier runners. Amsterdam, we used the very easy, clean, efficient trams. I bought museum tickets online about a month out. We didn’t use any package tickets as we were not going to be in Amsterdam long enough to make use of it. More port thoughts later. On the Haven lounge snack debate…no one is going hungry…and I know from first hand experience, they bring so many lovely options to your suite daily..on top of lots of options for 3 meals daily. We just don’t eat it. And my fellow pax are not deprived in the waist line I wonder if not having open snacks saves from food waste…and germs. We have been offered little bowls of spiced nuts or such with cocktails on occasion. Gotto go. We dock shortly

We noticed the same thing. Have thoughts I’ll share back channel

We noticed this Not a bicycle helmet anywhere..none. Not on adults nor kids We got blessed on weather for sail away and into the lock tonight, sunset. Looking fwd to the posts of pics

Some debate during sail away if any of those paged here in Amsterdam were among the ones paged..ie former pier runners in Iceland. Best line of the day was..”they should have not been allowed off the ship at the next port” ha Great sail away weather, dinner, views

In other sad news..our..” you will be leaving soon” folder is on the bed. Good thing the second load of laundry came back yesterday. We did Van Goh and Rojksmuseums and lunch today ..left as soon as ship cleared. Used tram system which is clean, efficient and easy. Lunch out…carrot soup, cheese, cabbage, watercress sandwich. Headed out in a moment for more touring… so we earn dinner and dessert. ha

No one by that name at the Haven concierge now. The posse that has been there early are band groupies..no one I recognize from Haven and we have been to 3 different shows. With lots going on today, long port day tom and Sat, we really don’t expect to go again...then again last night was a wild hair decision

Where were those 20 or so private boats headed? Officer on the Amacerto shouted we are headed the wrong way 🤣 Changed over from US$to EU Good Morning Amsterdam

Light breakfast and skipped lunch yesterday in prep for salt crusted sea bass at Palomar last night. delicious. enough for 4. salt crust made w egg whites as per waiter. not breading though it’s brown after baking. Idk if it’s gluten free. We’ve seen cookies twice. Brought to room. Haven't been to buffet so do not know if there or Starbucks, Indulge etc. Food waste is a real issue. Servings are large and a lot more goes to waste. Went to Syds for Rock the Pour House II. Stood in line at 830 for 930 show I don’t think band should be bringing in their posse to sit in prime seats before doors open when paying traveling pax stand outside, Have seen it 3 of 3 shows now. Tired this am as we got up at 5:45am to watch the lock transit. We are headed to Van Gogh museum Rijskuseum. and a canal tour. Bought the museum tix about 6 weeks ago. Finally some sun a sun and green. Haven’t seen green since NYC.

Heard some folks using The Drop earlier today. Nice flat seas. Going to try that fish you had the other night at Palomar. @Sugar Magnolia did the posse make it to the club or did long dinners time change do you all in?

Check in in NYC was a nightmare. Plenty of blame to go around. While we were disappointed, many others had it far worse. Prima arrived late..and we knew she would. She berthed at 10am. Our check in was 12. We arrived at MCT about 11 as cross town traffic was lighter than expected. taxi was about $18.00 When we arrived we gave bags to porter, tipped and went in to cool our heels. When they opened lines around 11:30 ish we were about 24th in Haven line and I am guessing about 400 in other lines. I couldn’t tell when the high status latitudes folks were. Have some first hand accounts from friends re that if you’d like more. It isn’t pretty. At 12:40 they open the facial recognition and carry on bag screening…multi stations. And only 1 for Haven. Then the survival of the fittest race down the terminal to cue again to check in…lots of open agents for status..yet only 2 for Haven. Very slow. Got put into a room with metal chairs like the DMV…and told to complete an immigration form for Canada…which was pure theater as many on ship in gen pop told us they didn’t do it and we are US passport holders. We watched them bringing off pax from previous sailing ..still..at 1:20pm About 1:40pm they announced to the room of now about 100 Haven pax that we were going up to Haven..again a free for all. There were Haven pax dragging their own 30” roller bags, people pushing elderly parents in wheel chairs..it was crazy. Arrive into Haven lounge onboard after almost 3 hours. Friends in gen pop had it far worse. Our Haven tags were supposedly mailed in March…never came. we are told Haven doesn’t get any priority for bags for embarkation. They certainly don’t tag and handle them like YC does at the piers in Fl…we haven’t sailed from Genova. The Haven pier lounge had juice, small bites..MCT, not Brooklyn. Many of us were feeling full on “BettyWhite” after it all. Interestingly…with YC we are all in with prem bev pack and wifi Not so with Haven So every time you order a drink they need your card…all cruise long..both at the bar and dinner table And..while in port they tax you on every drink for embarkation. IDK if we paid taxes while in Iceland. We are at sea and arrive in Amsterdam in the am. With YC we don’t get nickeled and dimed like that since it’s all bundled. No one was happy with embarkation.

Yikes. So sorry. Big difference between green n mint for certain. We had started recruiting folks for Abba, then met a couple from Dublin…got distracted at the bar, in conversation, watching marine traffic and lighthouses. I wanted to move our 4..but by then it was 12:30am. I believe the others made it. Last night was the night to go out in spite of losing an hour. We have last SD tonight at Palomar Lock transit and Amsterdam tom. Sent out second laundry yesterday in prep to pack-as we stay over in London a bit. We get the boot before too long.

Was fascinating watching the lighthouses and marines traffic late last night port side.

We understood Captn out to mean we arrive at the locks at 6am for the lock transit

@mking8288 tracking the marine traffic. Russian fishing ship port side Naval ship passed us port side Been interesting

We lose another hour tonight. You may need an espresso martini or Red Bull cocktail to bring it come Abba time.

Compared to the shops in key West, I suspect so 😆

Maybe just paint is damaged on the quarter round? that is the end of the bar. Staff hovers there. Pax stand there. Service door not far. So kicked often Sink around the bar on that side too. @mking8288 how was the chicken parm today? Did Hudson’s step up their game? With Commodores busy for F2F immigration lunch crush etc.. yet dinner should spread out. We got about 20 min of sun behind a wind screen today in spite of the temps and..20knts.

Have things improved at Hudsons do you think? Or do you prefer Commodore? With the buffet, Local, Indulge, and 2 mdr options… I do wonder about crowd control and if folks have gotten into routines With sea days I think there is missed opportunity for “taco Tuesday” for lunch at LL, etc to spread out folks at some venues.

Glad that FB, IG and so on didn’t exist a few years ago…being older than google has its rewards. Less evidence 😘

Re Haven food Should clarify…being 15 days TA…the flex is things like changing up sides etc..things in Haven. Not bringing outside things into dining. Dining is also offering an additional choice lunch and dinner for sea days as we are a long sailing..such as chicken cordon Blu. So lack of flex could be due to ship, length of sail etc. With YC, we got flex doing 4 b to b, as we were seeing the same menus weekly for 4 sailings over and over. We were fine with menus in general as they rotate, we just had been on awhile.

Had seen pics of earlier versions of that party…we had forgotten to pack vinyl shorts and boas to attend…. Let’s just say this body is not 21 and not ready for prime time and it’s been awhile since I’ve been dancing on top of a speaker at the Limelight … 🤣