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Lindy is "Live from the Eurodam"

lindalans

By lindalans,
in Holland America Line

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lindalans

lindalans

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Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012 15c Sunny in Edmonton

We left Red Deer at 9am to drive to Edmonton Airport and parked my car at Jetsky. I had found it on the internet, and chose it because they had a Westjet check in desk on site PLUS a wheelchair accessible shuttle bus. What a breeze check in was; unloaded our suitcases and all 3 of us were given bulk head seats, which I certainly needed!

A little history….I am travelling with my friends Carole & Stan….because my health has really taken a nose dive this past year, and I don’t think I’d have the nerve to do a cruise alone again!

When I came back from my cruise on the Zaandam to Hawaii last September, my left knee became very unstable and painful (no I hadn’t taken another fall.) I had x-rays done and it showed my replaced knee had dislocated, courtesy of course of the good old R.A. that I have suffered from since the age of 10.

December 19th (and by this time I couldn’t walk at all so was in my wheelchair 24/7) I saw my orthopaedic surgeon and was told they couldn’t operate for several reasons, with the main one being that the bone above and below the knee had completely disintegrated. Facing the rest of my life in the wheelchair hit me very hard and I suffered a severe depression, and just wanted to die. Needless to say my faithful little furbaby Hope pulled me out of it. My doctor suggested a brace, which took 6 months to make, and is not only heavy, but causes my knee to dislocate more often, so I’ve abandoned THAT idea. I do have an appointment set up to see a sports medicine specialist on Dec. 4, 2012 so I still haven’t given up on being able to walk again just yet!

This cruise is aboard the M.S. Eurodam and it’s the 13 day repositioning one from Quebec City, all the way down the East coast of Canada and New England to Fort Lauderdale.

We are 3 in a wheelchair accessible inside cabin (N1011) so we may be a little cramped, but as we don’t intend to spend much time in it, we should be OK. We flew in on Westjet Edmonton/Toronto/Quebec City which was excellent, arriving at 10pm the night before boarding.

Getting a wheelchair accessible taxi from the airport to the Best Western in the city center was challenging and the first taxi driver I approached was darn right rude and wasn’t interested. We ended up using a taxi van, and although it wasn’t w/c accessible, the driver was extremely helpful, and with the help of Carole and Stan I made it into the van in one piece. The driver was a pretty wild driver on the narrow streets of Quebec City, and Carole and I “white knuckled it” all the way to the hotel. At the entrance of the hotel I was faced with a 6” kerb but again with the help of the driver and Carole (while Stan took care of the luggage) I made it! The taxi fare from the airport was $34.50 which I rounded up to $40 because he was kind enough to help.

We had eaten a good meal at Edmonton airport before flying out, and as the restaurant at the Best Western closed at 10pm, we just grabbed a sandwich to eat in our room, before we called it a night.

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Razorback Cruiser

Razorback Cruiser

Posted
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Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012 15c Sunny in Edmonton

We left Red Deer at 9am to drive to Edmonton Airport and parked my car at Jetsky. I had found it on the internet, and chose it because they had a Westjet check in desk on site PLUS a wheelchair accessible shuttle bus. What a breeze check in was; unloaded our suitcases and all 3 of us were given bulk head seats, which I certainly needed!

A little history….I am travelling with my friends Carole & Stan….because my health has really taken a nose dive this past year, and I don’t think I’d have the nerve to do a cruise alone again!

When I came back from my cruise on the Zaandam to Hawaii last September, my left knee became very unstable and painful (no I hadn’t taken another fall.) I had x-rays done and it showed my replaced knee had dislocated, courtesy of course of the good old R.A. that I have suffered from since the age of 10.

December 19th (and by this time I couldn’t walk at all so was in my wheelchair 24/7) I saw my orthopaedic surgeon and was told they couldn’t operate for several reasons, with the main one being that the bone above and below the knee had completely disintegrated. Facing the rest of my life in the wheelchair hit me very hard and I suffered a severe depression, and just wanted to die. Needless to say my faithful little furbaby Hope pulled me out of it. My doctor suggested a brace, which took 6 months to make, and is not only heavy, but causes my knee to dislocate more often, so I’ve abandoned THAT idea. I do have an appointment set up to see a sports medicine specialist on Dec. 4, 2012 so I still haven’t given up on being able to walk again just yet!

This cruise is aboard the M.S. Eurodam and it’s the 13 day repositioning one from Quebec City, all the way down the East coast of Canada and New England to Fort Lauderdale.

We are 3 in a wheelchair accessible inside cabin (N1011) so we may be a little cramped, but as we don’t intend to spend much time in it, we should be OK. We flew in on Westjet Edmonton/Toronto/Quebec City which was excellent, arriving at 10pm the night before boarding.

Getting a wheelchair accessible taxi from the airport to the Best Western in the city center was challenging and the first taxi driver I approached was darn right rude and wasn’t interested. We ended up using a taxi van, and although it wasn’t w/c accessible, the driver was extremely helpful, and with the help of Carole and Stan I made it into the van in one piece. The driver was a pretty wild driver on the narrow streets of Quebec City, and Carole and I “white knuckled it” all the way to the hotel. At the entrance of the hotel I was faced with a 6” kerb but again with the help of the driver and Carole (while Stan took care of the luggage) I made it! The taxi fare from the airport was $34.50 which I rounded up to $40 because he was kind enough to help.

We had eaten a good meal at Edmonton airport before flying out, and as the restaurant at the Best Western closed at 10pm, we just grabbed a sandwich to eat in our room, before we called it a night.

 

HI , Lindy .

I am so glad I came across you're post .

WE sailed together on the Alaska 14 night 2010 cruise .( Carolyn )

I will follow you on this venture also . You go girl .

Looking forward to you're next post .

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Bookfinder

Bookfinder

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Lindy,

 

It is so good to have you back. You have been missed. I really enjoyed your posts during your Hawaiian cruise. I was worried about you and was hoping that everything was OK and that you were just taking a break.

 

We will be on the Eurodam in November so are really looking forward to your post.

 

Enjoy your cruise and welcome back!

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lindalans

lindalans

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Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012 4c wet and windy.

After a good night’s sleep we ate a light breakfast and checked out of the hotel at 11am. I asked reception to call a w/c accessible taxi as we waited in the lounge area. It wasn’t long before she came back and told us that we would have to hire it for 12 hours!! Needless to say we weren’t impressed so we said we’d have to go the van route again. However when said van arrived it was a car, and he shook his head when he saw I was in a wheelchair! I headed back to reception and got a different girl, Marie Evie, who seemed very knowledgeable, so I waited as she made a phone call. She said she had located someone, but he was busy, but could pick us up at 12:15pm to take us to the port.

Jonathan was punctual and spoke excellent English as both his parents taught English. This pleasant young man chatted to us as we headed to the Eurodam.

Apparently w/c accessible taxis are few and far between in Quebec City, especially on a Sunday. I happened to see his surname on his taxi I.D. and it was Berger, which is Carole & Stan’s surname too! We liked him so much that we booked a 3 hour tour for 9am the following morning as we overnight on the Eurodam and don’t sail until 5pm on the 15th.

On arrival at the port check-in was a breeze. Our luggage was dropped off and with no line ups we headed straight through security, had our ship I.D.’s done and boarded at the same check-in as suites. Our cabin was ready so we dropped off our hand luggage, then headed to the Lido as it was after 1pm so the dining room was closed.

The Lido was practically empty, and we were quickly served as the 48 hour no serving yourself was in full force. Guess what? Trays are back in the Lido on the Eurodam!! Chick, one of the servers, explained that there were so many complaints they were brought back! I wonder how many of the other ships have them again?

After lunch we explored the Eurodam, which is in great shape, before heading back to the cabin to unpack. Our cabin is very roomy with ample space for the 3 of us. As there wasn’t a raised toilet seat or commode as I had requested, I then headed to the Front Desk. They were busy but with 5 people manning it, they seemed to be dealing with things politely and efficiently. The young lady who was looking after me saw the pile of envelopes I had in my hand and said “Miss Shepherd we would be happy to deliver those for you at 5:30pm” so I handed them over, plus the 10 I had for officers and managers. We have 66 people registered for the Meet and Greet which is the largest group I have done, so hopefully it will go smoothly.

When we booked the cruise in March 1st seating in the dining room was wait listed, but on boarding (and no doubt because this cruise was not sold out) we had 1st seating which is what we prefer. However on this first night aboard they were having a BBQ so we headed up to the Lido, only to find it was cancelled due to it being cold. By then we were too late to go to the dining room so just ended up staying there. I had the veal which was excellent. We lingered there talking to new friends, which was pleasant, then headed to the theatre to see the introduction show of who would be preforming for us. Jaycee from Oxford, England is our Cruise Director, and he and the DJ got everyone pumped up for a good time. They certainly had a large audience for the first night aboard, and we enjoyed the show. There are 14 dancers and singers on stage and they seem a talented group. We were in bed for 11pm so we could be bright eyed and bushy tailed for our 9am tour of Quebec City with Jonathan.

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gentlemancruiser

gentlemancruiser

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Trays are back in the Lido on the Eurodam!! Chick, one of the servers, explained that there were so many complaints they were brought back! I wonder how many of the other ships have them again?

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Hi Linda,

Thanks for the update and new about the trays. We didn't have any trays on our Eurodam cruise in September. The taxi situation in Quebec City is shameful!

Bruce

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lindalans

lindalans

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Oct 14, 2012 Monday 5c cloudy, rain later

We started our day today with a 7am wake-up call and used room service for a light breakfast (mine was freshly squeezed orange juice and 4 danish!!!) at 7:30am. We were out on the pier at 8:45am and Jonathan picked us up at 8:50am.

This young man knew his city and its history very well. We had a superb 3 hours listening to him talking about Quebec City and showing us the sites.

There is no doubt about it, it is a beautiful old city, which reminded me very much of the area I came from in the U.K. The old walled part of the city has very narrow streets, many with cobble stones and cars parked on one side, and doors to houses opening directly on to the street. It would have been a nightmare in my wheelchair, and without Jonathan I wouldn’t have seen even a small portion of the wonderful places he took us too.

We covered all the popular places that as a tourist we wanted to see. Some of places were: The Citadel, Houses of Parliament, Governor General’s Home set in a beautiful park, Chateau Frontenac, Battlefields Park, various statues of important people, Museum of Civilization, Notre-Dame Cathedral, and before dropping us off at the port we ended the tour by going out to Montmorency Falls which measures 275’ high and 150’ wide. This 3 hours with Jonathan cost each of us $65 (he also earned a very healthy tip) and we all felt it was well worth it, and I was able to get lots of great photos. At the Eurodam he gave Carole and I a kiss on both cheeks and we were sorry to see him leave.

We boarded the Eurodam and headed to the Lido for a light lunch. Afterwards we spent some time at the pool and generally lazed around.

At 3:45pm I was expecting the lifeboat drill but Jaycee announced it would take place at 4:45pm. We all felt the next hour was a complete shambles, as 5pm was sail away and we had to be in the dining room at 5:30pm. To make matters worse we found out at 4pm that this was our first formal night!!! Iguess I should have checked the Explorer!!!!!!

We rushed back to our cabin, got fancied up and then headed to the drill. It absolutely poured down with rain but we were under the overhang so didn’t get wet.

We enjoyed another wonderful meal in the dining room, and then went to the show at 7pm. It was excellent with one of the singers having a beautiful tenor voice.

I will take the time on our first sea day to do a more in depth review of entertainment and crew names for those interested. We must be getting old as the 3 of us were in bed by 9:30pm.

Thanks for all the kind wishes. Carolyn I will email you when I get home. The Adiago Strings are alive and well on the Eurodam.

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