Tom47

We liked to go to the library to read. We bring kindles and sometimes paperbacks to donate. We are sad that there is no library on Apex, as we will on it 1 yr from now.

Antarctica rules for expedition landings on Antarctica specify pax count under 250, + crew, or max 500 combined. Our ship had 234 pax. Rules may have changed since then

We are Elite+. We did an Antarctica expedition cruise with Hurtigruten. It was 21 days on the ship, + 3 days ashore in Argentina(package deal from TA). It cost about 24k for 2 of us in 2016. It included S. Georgia and the ship was small enough to dock in Port Stanley. Expedition landings were by zodiac boats. We recommend it..

We decided to do the Antarctica cruise while on a China river cruise with Vantage travel. They offered an Antarctica cruise on Hurtigruten. One of the travelers in our group said "You're from Buffalo, and you worried about the cold? It was 40s-50s while we were there!" Our Antarctica cruise was from February to March and the temps were indeed 40-55. The Expedition leader told us that our cruise was the only one that season to make all the landings. Our Drake passage was smooth also. Buffalo and Western New York are pretty much recovered form the terrible blizzard during the week preceding New Years. However, the death toll is now up to 45 Hamburg, south of Buffalo, got 81 inches of snow, while we in N. Tonawanda, north of Buffalo, got 49 inches. We do love being retired, and did not go out until it was safe.

While I do like Caribbean cruises, we did do an Antarctica expedition cruise on a Hurtiigruten ship.. It is currently drizzling here.

We are considering HAL for a Baltic itinerary not offered by Celebrity. We have never sailed on HAL, 8 times on X.

I posted this on Facebook, and DW commented Spongebob Square-pants. When our granddaughter was just learning to speak, she called him "FunBob Fairpants"

We have never been on HAL. We are also monogamous, 52 years married. Celebrated on Allure this spring with family(50th Covid Cancelled).

According to this article, an upside down pineapple indicates the couple participate in "the lifestyle"(swingers). I have been on 24 cruises and have seen straight up pineapples, indicating pinnacle status on RCI cruises, but never an upside down pineapple. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/swinging-holidays-are-on-the-up-heres-why-7khpbdqbn

Sorry to hear this, as we have a Celebrity cruise booked in Jan, 2024. We have never been to Key West or Belize and I picked this cruise for that reason. We are Elite+

We did a private tour through Viatour and recommend them. Our guide took us to places in the ruins before the crowds got there and even took photos of us at some of the buildings..

My sister used to cruise on Costa. she told me that she lost all her loyalty point because she did not cruise for 2 years. She stopped cruising with them when they ran out of toilet paper mid cruise.

You're Welcome.

DW and I have recently started reading another Canadian mystery series, set in 1946 rural British Columbia. My review of book 1 A killer in King's Cove https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4980425188 We recommend the series and think that Louise Penny fans will enjoy it.

Thanks Nordski. DW and I both read this series.

I rec'd the below email from Celebrity: HOW WILL THE SALE OF AZAMARA AFFECT MY CAPTAIN’S CLUB AND AZAMARA CIRCLE ACCOUNT? Points and status earned in either program on or before February 1, 2023, will not be impacted. For Azamara sailings that conclude on or before February 1, 2023, members will continue to earn both Captain’s Club and Azamara Circle points. For Azamara sailings that conclude after February 1, 2023, members will only earn Azamara Circle points. For Celebrity Cruises sailings that conclude on or before February 1, 2023, members will continue to earn Captain’s Club points and Azamara Circle points, if they have at least one Azamara sailing. For Celebrity Cruises sailings that conclude after February 1, 2023, members will only earn Captain’s Club points. AS A CAPTAIN’S CLUB MEMBER, WILL I HAVE STATUS AND POINTS WITH AZAMARA IF I HAVE ONLY EVER SAILED WITH CELEBRITY AS OF FEBRUARY 1, 2023? No. To have had status or points with Azamara, you must have at least one past sailing with Azamara as of February 1, 2023. WILL THE RECIPROCITY BENEFITS BETWEEN CELEBRITY CAPTAIN’S CLUB AND ROYAL CARIBBEAN CROWN & ANCHOR SOCIETY CONTINUE? Yes. There will be no change to the reciprocal benefits between Captain’s Club and Crown & Anchor Society.

There is a discussion of all of these programs here

NEXUS lanes are available at many land border crossings both ways on Canada/Us border. That's why we had interviews with both Canada and US customs. Whirlpool Bridge is a NEXUS only bridge and although the Canada Customs officer allowed us to cross free of charge w/o NEXUS, we had to reenter at another bridge(Rainbow) Plus there is the Canada Customs Airport benefit. I did some research on this and I am a retired US Customs Inspector(20 years ago). NEXUS includes GE, TSA Precheck and Canada airport express. It's a bargain.

I have used NEXUS/GE at Newark airport, returning from Europe. I applied only for NEXUS and did my interview at Whirlpool Br., N. Falls, NY I know that NEXUS is $50 vs $100 for GE My interview was with both US Customs(CBP) and Canada Customs. The GE kiosk at Newark recognized both myself and DW w/o a problem. I know about SENTRI, but don't cross the Mexican border and don't need it. We had to cross into Canada to have a picture of our eyes taken, for Canada Customs airport express lanes I recommend NEXUS if you live close to Canada border. We recently renewed w/o an interview. We have clean records You may have NEXUS interviews confused with NEXUS privileges. NEXUS interviews can be done at Preclearance airports in Canada, and land border crossings.. US airports only do GE interviews.

It does and we have used it.

That happened to us in Newark at a connection, where we had to go thru TSA again. We have NEXUS passes, $50 for 5 years, includes TSA, Global Entry, Canada/US land birder express lanes and Canada Customs airport express lanes. Personal interview req;d at a land border location.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians. I remember talking to Canadians who came to the US to buy their turkeys over 40 years ago.

Thanks

We want to do a 2025 14 day rt from Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Copenhagen to include Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki. Those itineraries are not available. It appears smaller HAL ships don;t allow casino smoking. We are also looking at Princess and Royal. I like your quote about chocolate. We like Aldi's dark chocolate(Moser Roth)

I have never cruised on HAL. We are considering HAL because of itinerary. Our preferred cruise lines are Celebrity and Azamara, which do not allow smoking anywhere indoors, including the casino. I subscribed to this thread to find out which HAL ships prohibit smoking in the casino, since we have found that it is necessary to walk through the casino to get to the theater. I have no objection to outside smoking areas. I close with a quote from a now deceased American "Can't We all just get Along?" (Clue--Rodney)