LordSpain

Remember the three different kinds of butter they used to serve with the bread? Yummy.

Port Everglades is now showing a 22:00 departure time.

https://pevvesseltraffic.broward.org/webclient/public/publicmovements.aspx

Bruce

Current progress of salvage. http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-cruise-ship-costa-concordia-is-dismantled-in-the-port-news-photo/504811300

We did this cruise last year and had a deck 6 port side cabin - we loved it. While there are no guarantees on which side the ship will dock, it worked out well for us last year. There are many tender ports of call as well.

Bruce

Last month we ended a 45 day cruise on the Amsterdam. While there was a lot of meatloaf we wouldn't characterize the food as generally being bad.

Our biggest gripe was the loss of the sandwich station where they made sandwiches to order. It used to be that lunch was one of the highlights of our day on HAL - we could choose our bread, toppings and condiments to our liking - get it toasted etc. Now they have only pre-made sandwiches that are in bags. They are way to bready with skimpy ingredients. We saw people grab two or three just to rip them apart in order to make one decent sandwich. If you happen to get a bag that had been sitting around for a few hours the bread was hard and whole thing had a stale taste. We heard many complaints about this from other passengers.

We will be on the cruise with you but we will be embarking in San Diego. we've done a couple of long trans-pacific cruises, and again we will pack for a 7-10 day cruise. Because we are 4-Star we send out a bag of laundry every morning.

Bruce

Yes. You will find many different ship chips while playing table games.

Trisha;

We are very sorry to hear this and we will miss Virgil. Stay strong. Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future.

Bruce & Pat

It's been a few years since we stayed there, but at the time there were two nice restaurants 6/10 of a mile away. It's an easy walk right along the bay. The restaurants are Island Prime and C-Level.

Here's a link to their website so you can check out their menus.

http://www.cohnrestaurants.com/islandprime

Bruce

We booked it! FYI to frequent HAL cruisers: HAL was not assigning specific cabins on the 45 day cruise because this is part of a 50 day cruise that begins in Seattle - guarantees only. However when our TA pressed that we were 4-Star Mariners she was able to get us a particular cabin. We can't wait!

Bruce

Yes crab legs were on the pinnacle menu but there is a $20 up-charge to get them.

Bruce

Better late than never . . .

Noordam leaving Aruba now.

http://www.portarubawebcam.com/

Bruce

In 2012 we took an upsell from a VA to a SZ guarantee for $699pp (37 day cruise). We were later offered an upsell to an SC guarantee for $1599pp which we turned down. We later received an offer for an upsell to an SC guarantee for 1299pp which we turned down. Two days before the cruise we received our cabin assignment - an SC aft. It can happen.

Bruce

Thanks for the great pictures! On March 30, we'll be in the same spot - we can't wait.

Bruce

Checking in.

Bruce

Here just in time!

Bruce

Here.

Bruce

Here is my comment on the vibration issue . . .

https://plus.google.com/photos/115703190496459823290/albums/5952206754102638673?authkey=CNePt-O7uMzfeg

The bow of the Ruby looks like a big toilet seat.

Bruce

Checking in . . .

Bruce

Holy Horn!

Bruce

Here!

Bruce