cruzingnut

@WCB, I can't tell you how many times we've been in that variety store in the terminal to get rid of excess Barbados money!  One time we went in with a bunch of change, laid it down on the counter and asked them to give us whatever would equate to it.  They had some very small candies, etc at the counter so they figured it out and we were set.   

It's a shame that lady yelled at the Purell person....really is embarrassing but the funny thing is, is that WE are more embarrassed than the one who should be! 

Glad you are continuing to enjoy your cruising!

Linda R.

9 minutes ago, dmcfad2 said:

@wbcHi. Is there a blog or something where I can see your pictures?

https://cruisingwithbillandmaryann.blogspot.com/2022/02/report-51-castries-st-lucia-sunday.html

This is for their latest one.  Just below the text, you'll see "X # of pictures"; the X is whatever the number of pictures there are for each blog entry so just click on that and you'll get to the pictures.  I think that there is a zoom function once you get to that page so you can enlarge them.  Enjoy!  They do a great blog and pictures!

Linda R.

Glad you made it back onboard and to such fanfare!  Happy belated Birthday!  I'd really love to hear about Howard and Gyl's experience on Crystal and it's great that they could "jump" on your ship instead of having to go home.   I do have a question about the PC dinners; are these only usable in the Pinnacle or can you use them in any of the other specialty restaurants?

Enjoy your time back onboard and stay safe and well.

Linda R.

7 minutes ago, KarefreeKaren said:

Exciting news— spoke with the world cruise/grand voyages desk.  It is their understanding this will be live on the HAL site this evening and reservations open at 7 AM Pacific time tomorrow.  It’s a great itinerary!  They are calling it: 94-Day Grand Australia & New Zealand Voyage. 

I can't wait to see the itinerary for that!!  Sounds exciting!

Linda R.

1 hour ago, WCB said:

Report # 44   Marriott Hotel   Sunday - January 30, 2022   Sunny And Cool  55 Degrees   Part #1 Of 1........36  Pictures.......Day #8

 

Right up the road near the canal, we saw our first iguana laying across the sidewalk, trying to warm up.  We almost tripped over it, as it laid there motionless.  It looked like a young one, measuring about 30 inches head to tail.  Of course, many photos were taken, even close up.  Still didn’t move.  Later on, the iguana was still there, having moved a little.  That was 2 hours later when we walked back. 

 

 

 

Bill & Mary Ann  

 

 

Look at you two, making up your own (land) excursions!  This one is rarely available and you were actually successful in find one of those poor iguanas!  Glad you are able to stay busy enough and good thing you like to walk!   Is Wednesday when you'll be reboarding the ship?  Hope that goes smoothly for you and you are able to resume your cruising.

Linda R.

....heading to the blog now to see the evidence of your "tour"!

So good to hear that you are "free" and even happier to hear that you will still be exceedingly careful!  Last thing you need is Bill getting sick and having to spend another 10 or so days in Coral Springs.  Stay warm, there's a forecast of "falling Iguana's" for the weekend!!  Yes, falling Iguanas....when it gets as cold as it's supposed, they tend to go dormant and fall out of the trees.  They are fine; they just lay there until it warms up and go about their way. 

Linda R.

10 minutes ago, vinonme2 said:

If the cruise is not listed anywhere and Hal will not accept a reservation, what is the value of the voyage number?

@trk_koa

If HAL isn't accepting reservations, then the voyage most likely wouldn't show up.  But, I was able to find a cruise once that wasn't "searchable" by using the voyage #.

4 hours ago, trk_koa said:

We had a future dam deposit for a Grand South America 2024 but it’s now showing on our account as this Grand Australia itinerary. I had requested a balcony at the time and they had me choose categories that are on compass dams. So I chose VB. I had assumed a GSA would be Volendam and asked for a CA cabin, but that wasn’t allowed. 
 

Anyhow. So now I have an actual booking number and it’s this Volendam cruise and shows a category A cabin on deck 6. I opened up the “Make a payment” to find out what they are charging. This midship Vista Suite is over $104K USD for two.  Holy smokes! That’s more than our Signature Suite for the 2023 GWV. 

Can you look at the paperwork and tell me what the voyage # is?  I've attached a picture of one of our bookings with a red arrow pointing to where that voyage # is. 

Thanks,

Linda R.

Oh, Mary Ann, I'm so sorry to hear this!  Like many others, I wondered what was going on since you hadn't posted recently.  What rotten luck but dang, Omicron is so incredibly infectious!   As others are wondering, I'm hoping that you'll eventually be able to rejoin the ship since you have an extended time planned.  I just hope they don't make you wait too long onshore before you get to rejoin. 

I'm hoping you are not feeling too badly and that you recover quickly AND that Bill doesn't get it too.

Linda from "Ganville "

If you look at your booking info for this, you should see a "voyage number" on it.  If you do find that, would you post it here for the Asia/Australia one you are talking about?  We may be able to find it on the website using that number.  BTW, that number has nothing to with your booking, it's just an ID number for the cruise.  Thanks!

4 hours ago, WCB said:

Report #31   Bridgetown, Barbados   Monday - January 17, 2022   Showers, cloudy, sun -  80 degrees Part #1 Of 3..............80  Pictures

 

Upon arrival to the port, it was raining and heavily overcast.  An occasional rainbow appeared, and we figured it would rain all day.  The Viking Sea, the Tui Mein Schiff 2, and the schooner Alexander von Humboldt 2 were already docked.  Offshore, was another ship that we would identify later as Cunard’s Queen Victoria.  She had no  passengers we were told.  Don’t know the story there, but we are sure there is one.

 

 

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

The Queen Victoria is being used as a "hospital" ship.  I've seen her buzzing around the Caribbean meeting up with other ships to offload sick crew (and possibly passengers). 

Stay well!

Linda

6 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

I can see the Nieuw Amsterdam motoring in to take the Edge's berth. I wonder if it's going to take infected Zuiderdam crew aboard?

They didn't go over to the Eurodam?  From a source I cannot name, supposedly, the N.A. is only taking on new crew to quarantine prior to them going to their assigned ships.

@NMCruiser123, as one of the many following you, I want to thank you too for your very interesting and informative postings during your isolation.  There are so many differing reports on how the passengers are being treated across the cruise lines when this happens and I'm glad to see that HAL did a decent job of it.  Maybe you need to keep this cruise critic name and post again when you get on your next cruise.  I'm sure a lot of us will recognize it and want to follow you again, but having a better experience on that cruise!  Safe travels home!

1 hour ago, Iris5383 said:

This is the cruise DH and I would have been on if we hadn't cancelled. I'll be traveling virtually through your posts. Have a great trip!

We did the same thing....were supposed to be on this one and the following one back to FLL. 

I'm so sorry to hear this!  Please keep us updated if you feel up to it.  We were supposed to get on today for a B2B but canceled...just didn't want to end up sick or in this situation and my fear of flying also played into our decision.  As others have said, we are all most interested in the workings of having to leave the ship due to covid, how they arrange your quarantine and then how you get home.

35 minutes ago, KroozNut said:

 

Interesting, and good to know thanks. When are you sailing? Since you mentioned you received notice of the relocation about a week and a half ago, I'm wondering how much in advance of your sailing is that.

And did they give you a choice of cabins on your reassignment..  were they equivalent accommodations? Depending on the deck 5 location, it may not be that desirable... like directly over the lifeboats on deck 4 for example.

We were supposed to be on the Zuiderdam for B2B Canal cruises this coming Sunday (16th) so it wasn't too far in advance but then maybe they didn't realize they needed more cabins for quarantine earlier than that!  No notice or choice and they just sent us another confirmation.  I happened to notice the cabin was different from what we originally had.  It was in the forward area of midship and the same category as we had on 6.

4 hours ago, KroozNut said:

After following this thread for a while, we're on the fence about whether to push our April sailing on Zuiderdam out.

 

We're on deck 6 aft, and frankly are not liking the idea of living in what seems more like a quarantine ward in a hospital than a cruise ship vacation. Not our notion of a fun time really.. 😏

If they are still planning on using deck 6, they will move you to another location.  We were supposed to be on deck 6 and got changed to deck 5 about a week and a half ago.  So, you wouldn't be in the middle of that mess at least.

@WCB, I'd bet that people were at the ships pool rather than ashore since they music by that lovely huge pool is loud enough to puncture your eardrums.  It's a shame, since it is a nice pool but we would stay on the ship next time we are there. 

That's disturbing to hear about the masks but every single ship sailing right now has covid.  The Zuiderdam has not only deck 4 set aside for covid but they've had to open up the forward section of deck 6 for more cases.  Not good.  Stay safe!

Linda R.

(Ganville-20 WC)

4 minutes ago, seaoma said:

 

I don't remember where on Deck 6 you said you were located, but it makes sense that it's aft. I really hope that Deck 5 doesn't have QT patients too!!!!  I'm wondering if the people on Deck 4 are the symptomatic passengers? They would be that much closer to medical. Do you know if your neighbors wife has symptoms? 

 

In case you haven't heard of the new social media craze, here's the link. It will give you something to do for a few minutes each day.

 

https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/

 

Unfortunately, it's not aft; they are forward.  Would you want to be in a cabin "downwind" of there?  Not me, that's for sure. 

@NMCruiser123, I sure hope that you continue to feel well and possibly get to leave isolation before the end of the cruise.   What a mess this all is.  People talk about jigsaw puzzles; there is an awesome one in the APP store that I've been playing for years.  You can even import your own pictures into it.  You can find it here:  https://apps.apple.com/us/app/jigsaw-puzzle/id495583717   

While it looks like Disney puzzles, it's not; there are lots of free puzzles and a daily free puzzle.  I typically set mine up (for my iPad) for 100 pieces since that works well with my screen size.  Try it; holler if you need any help with it.

Linda R.

You should have a fine view of the Canal from where you are and you are lucky enough to be on the "better" side of the ship.  There isn't much to see on the other side other than jungle but from your side you'll catch glimpses of the road and possibly the train that goes from one end of the Canal to the other.  Prior to and at the beginning of the transit you'll see Panama City, a huge city with many very unusually shaped buildings.  You may not be able to see them as it might be dark out but the skyline lit up is amazing.  Further along there will be a few towns and the prison where Noriega was held.  We've been through on deck 6 on the Amsterdam (smaller ship) and the view was fine from there for us.  I'm adding a link from when we went through from south to north (Pacific to Caribbean) on Princess a few years ago so you can get an idea of what you'll see.  If you search on my blog for "Panama Canal", there will be other blogs from the Canal.  I started blogging for my Holland America cruises in 2008.  Another link I will include is one of the webcams at the Pedro Miguel locks on the southern end of the canal.  If you time it right, you would be able to take a screen shot of the ship as you go thru there.   Near the top left on the page, if you click on "Webcams" you can go to the other locks for more pictures as you go through. 

Also glad you got the dumbells!! 

I was the one that asked about the cabin #....we were supposed to be in 6038 next cruise until they changed us to deck 5 a few days ago.

https://lindavesadventures.com/2016/03/01/february-28-2016-panama-canal/

https://multimedia.panama-canal.com/Webcams/cerro-luisa.html

I meant to ask; what cabin are you in? 

5 hours ago, NMCruiser123 said:

If any of you on the ship currently want to wave hello as your are walking by on the pier today just look up at the deck 6 forward verandas for a lonely guy with blonde hair on his balcony!  I’m watching all of you walking off the ship with such envy!  Thank you for all the support from everyone in this community, it means a lot.  

Well, your location explains why my cabin was moved from deck 6 forward (6038) to deck 5 midship!  We are supposed to be on the next 2 cruises but are planning on canceling.  I'm so sorry you are in this predicament and glad that you have found someone to talk to at least.  As others suggested, maybe calling some of the other cabins, you can make more friends.  At the very least, you will all be able to commiserate with each other since you are going through the same ordeal. 

Linda R.

7 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

We were just informed that due to Covid cases among the guests and crew, our stop in Guatemala has been cancelled and Chiapas, MX has been substituted.  No case numbers were given.

This is pretty scary that Guatemala has been canceled on the basis of just half the ship being tested?   Yikes.....  I'd be watching for suitcases being offloaded tomorrow in Huatulco possibly. 

37 minutes ago, wdw1972 said:

Someone - I think it may have been Copper or Chengk (sorry for getting the screen names incorrect) during the 2020 portion of the pandemic explained that crossing the canal involves a dozen or so people boarding the ship, who are interacting closely with the ship's crew.  Hopefully someone with a more specific memory than mine will chime in!

 

Sue/WDW1972

There are indeed a number of people that get on the ship.  I took video of them getting off at the end of a transit once and it was like watching a clown car unload!  I counted 13 people!  They are most likely stationed all over the ship to watch the lines, etc., so they aren't all up on the bridge the whole time they are onboard.

Linda R.

Glad there is yet another "live from" thread to follow!  Hope you have a great and healthy cruise! 

One thing I'm wondering about is where on the ship is the group of cabins set aside for quarantine (crew or passenger).  Thinking about the KDam for the fall and looking at cabins right now. 

Linda R.