The Daily for Sunday Mar 28, 2021

[mamaofami]

Checking back and surprised to see we’re still pending. My favorite sushi place in Boca Raton, Florida,  has a special name very similar to the drink of the day, only it’s on the moon. Really great sushi roll.
 

I love seeing the port pictures of the places I haven’t yet visited and might never get to.

 

Carol

Edited March 28, 2021 by mamaofami

[cat shepard]

1 hour ago, garlictown said:

🌴Happy Palm Sunday!🌴 Still morning here in CA. 😎

I did have that drink in Cabo on the beach🍸---it's an easy 2 1/2 hr. flight south and we've stayed at Estancia in Cabo and thoroughly enjoy MX.

We started off our b2b experience in South East Asia from Singapore to Shanghai on HAL🛳️and then jumped over to a Viking river cruise from Shanghai to Beijing! We stayed on our own a week after and had a fabulous time in the capital of China. My husband and I like "mixing & matching" cruise lines for more exposure and spending more time when the cruise ends.

🙏Prayers to all in need! 🙏

We took a Covid test after returning from Maui to be on the safe side and tested negative. ✏️

 

Congratulations on testing negative!

[Copper10-8]

5 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

....................................
Today is also Cat Appreciation Day

................................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Copper10-8]

Day three in Shanghai was Amsterdam's departure day. One of the very few "negative" things about being at the Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal is that the Huangpu River river is not wide enough for cruise ships (with the exception of small ones) to make a 180 (u-turn) there. We were facing up river so, in order to depart and go "down river" back to the East China Sea, we had to go in reverse/stern first for a couple of miles where the Huangpu is wide enough. The Chinese port authority dudes had a better idea and that was to carry out that maneuver in the morning when the majority of Amsterdam's guests were ashore on their last shorex enjoying a final bit of daytime Shanghai.

 

 So at about 10:30 AM, the gangway was pulled and a beverage staff with a couple of easy-ups, chairs, a beverage station, and some edibles left at our berth for returning pax, and we were off in reverse under local pilot control (see the hat; tried to exchange one for mine but alas, no luck 😉). A cruise ship does not have any rear view mirrors so Captain Fred E., standing on his starboard side bridge wing, relied on the officer on the aft mooring deck, complete with portable radio and rangefinder) as well as on his instrument/radar panel on that wing. We completed the 180 down river and were back at our berth in about an hour awaiting our returning pax for our 5:00 PM departure to sea. Next stop; another very interesting port: Hong Kong   

[StLouisCruisers]

2 hours ago, Quartzsite Cruiser said:

 

@StLouisCruisers  The port of Xingang and the port of Tianjin are the same, but the port has changed greatly between 2002 and 2028.  It is the largest man-made port in China.  Tianjin is also the name of the nearest city which is about an hour inland.

 

Lenda

 

 

 

Well that explains my confusion.  I could see on the map that the two were a distance apart and I thought there might be a newer port since our trip was almost 11 years ago.

 

I remember a few days later the Diamond Princess was the first cruise ship to arrive at the new Shanghai cruise port.  The media were there to film us getting off the ship.  We felt like celebrities.

 

http://english.sina.com/china/p/2010/0428/316902.html

[Dismomx5]

Good afternoon. It is a dreary day in southwestern Ontario today. We're at 9º C at the moment, tomorrow 6º, Tuesday 17º and Wednesday 3º. Thursday is going below freezing. YUCK!  Mother Nature is pulling out all the stops to make choosing the right clothes to wear. 

For all those who worked together to get the Daily out. It is appreciated.

My kitty is appreciated at all times around her by myself, hubby, not so much. She, however, appreciates him since he always does the litter-a throwback 37 years when I was pregnant lol

 

Prayers to all who need them, and blessings to all.

 

[Cruise Suzy]

3 hours ago, dfish said:

The picture is actually Chicken Biscuit Skillet as they had a video for this one and I never did see the finished product. 

 

When I print to PDF, here's the photo that appears

 

You are correct, the two recipes are exactly the same except for chicken vs. turkey.

[sailingdutchy]

Day 2 in Beijing : Because we stayed overnight in the city we were nice and early in Tiananmen Square at this nice photo opportunity 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under watchful eyes from Mao and this civil guard we entered the Forbidden City 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When inside we saw people from all of the different provinces of China proudly wearing their costumes 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just what some in our little group was looking for a 4 * Toilet …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I asked this group if I could a their picture of their colourful bright shawls and before I knew it they pulled me into their group so it was now a Chinese - Canadian team ! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very nice to get some smiles ….. we appreciated each other .

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving the Forbidden City to go for a nice lunch with Peking duck  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We than made our way to the Temple of Heaven another must see in Beijing 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way back to to Port we waited patiently for the street cleaner to pick up some garbage 

 

 

 

 

Back in the terminal in Tianjin there was document control , DW was asked to stop taking pictures and she had to give her iPad for them to delete these ………. Back on board ship we recovered them 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last year on the Westerdam we were suppose to return to Tianjin again but as everybody knows we did not get that far , we only made it to Cambodia to be flown back home a couple of weeks before our cruise was finished ………. we were so looking forward to a return visit 

 

Tony 

Edited March 28, 2021 by sailingdutchy
had to add and correct a word

[bobpatj]

We sailed on Amsterdam in October, 2007 to many ports in Asia.  We began the long drive to Beijing from the port of Tianjin on an overnight adventure with our tour company.  We spent day one seeing the sites in Beijing, a nice hotel stay that night and then the Summer Palace and Great Wall on day two.  I thank all of you sharing your pictures.

[cat shepard]

This late addition to cat appreciation day.... proper etiquette is crucial to truly appreciate them!

 

 

[lazey1]

I am all for celebrating cats; big or small, red, yellow, black, white, gray brown, solid colors, stripes and spots and any others that I may have missed mentioning.

Jane

[rafinmd]

Tianjin is the gateway to Beijing and the Great Wall.  I've been to Beijing several times:

A Yangtze cruise in 2001

The end of my Trans-Siberian trip in 2003

Embarked there on the Crystal Harmony in 2004

Amsterdam Grand Asia in 2017.

Others have beautifully portrayed the Wall and Beijing already.  I'll take a bit of a different path.  The Amsterdam visit was 2 full days.  The first day I had a LONG excursion to the Great Wall.  I decided the second day to take it easy with a short local tour.

 

The Tianjin Cruise Terminal was opened in 2010:

 

 

My tour was to the Haichang Aquarium.  There are 6 Haichang Aquariums around China and I will call the one in Tianjin bi-polar.  There are both penguins(viewed through a glass but real):

and polar bears:

A highlight of the tour was a very nice dolphin show.

I was back in the early afternoon and rode the shuttle to the Aeon Mall:

I got an lunch there but was unable to get into the wifi as the instructions were all in Chinese.

We were late leaving because some of the tours to the wall ran quite late.

 

Roy

[USN59-79]

3 hours ago, Quartzsite Cruiser said:

I had time (basically ignoring the weeds) to go through some of my 2002 pictures in Beijing.  The Volendam was in port for two days.  The first day, we took a tour to the Great Wall, and the second a tour to Beijing.  Most of my pictures were taken in the Forbidden City, but here are some from the area around the hotel where we had lunch.  It was just down the street from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

 

This is looking down a main road from the front of the hotel where we had lunch and away from Tiananmen Square.

 

This little park was back from the street and between the hotel and the Forbidden City.

 

The Temple of Heaven was our last stop in Beijing.  It looked just like the one in Epcot in Disney World.  😀

 

 

@DeeniEncinitas  The flowers are beautiful, and what a splendid gesture in remembrance of KK. 

 

@StLouisCruisers  The port of Xingang and the port of Tianjin are the same, but the port has changed greatly between 2002 and 2028.  It is the largest man-made port in China.  Tianjin is also the name of the nearest city which is about an hour inland.

 

Lenda

 

Let me clarify the info about the port for Beijing.  Beijing is about 100 miles northwest of the port.  The port itself is Xingang and the nearest large city is Tianjin.  We have been there a few times on both HAL and Princess and there has always been a free shuttle bus from the port to a mall in Tianjin, about 20 miles away.  Behind the mall is a train station where we would take the train to the Beijing South train station.  However, that is not the station for the bullet trains.  There are taxis at the terminal and an alternative is for two couples to share a taxi, but if you have luggage this might not work as the taxis are small.  We once had three couples that needed to get to a couple of hotels in Beijing and we wound up sharing two taxis between the 6 of us.  We have also taken a bus from the terminal to our Beijing hotel.  Hope this helps.

Ray

[rafinmd]

We are now "The Daily".  Merged threads.  Thanks Mods.

 

Roy

[DeeniEncinitas]

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

Hi all!! Sorry we have been out all day just got back! Want to bring some cheer!

Our little guy was gone all day and this am he was not in the nest! We just came back and as we drove up no one in nest😞 So I figured he is enjoying his or her freedom! I went upstairs just curious and guess what? There he was! We call him little Chub Chub!

I will need to sit down this evening and look at our Daily!

Denise😊

sorry pic isn’t perfect! But you can see how big he is getting❤️

[Sharon in AZ]

4 hours ago, richwmn said:

No, today is the only day I have posted it there. I may start doing it each day, but I'm not trying to compete.

 

Well I think it’s a great idea, if you want to document the Daily in an easier format and save it for future reference. I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate the time you take to post the Daily every day. You have created a special place for all of us at an unusual time in our lives. Thank you!!!

[richwmn]

25 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

We are now "The Daily".  Merged threads.  Thanks Mods.

 

Roy

Glad to see they merged the threads, but I'm still unsure as to the reason that approval was necessary.

 

[durangoscots]

5 minutes ago, richwmn said:

Glad to see they merged the threads, but I'm still unsure as to the reason that approval was necessary.

 

I suspect the drink plus the reference to w... was enough to do it. Double alerts.

 

Been to Beijing a couple of times ..... once for 4 days in 1984 or 85 (Can't remember which) as we passed through on my train trip from Hong Kong to London. I arranged to meet with people from the museum and spent all of one day looking at the bones of "Peking Man" better known as Home erectus. Interesting. I was given instructions on how to get back to my hotel by bus, but once my fellow riders learned where I needed to go, they saw me on and off at the correct spots. Quite the experience.

 

Susan

[GeorgeCharlie]

We were in Tianjin early April 2018, for a 2-night/3-day port visit and took a 3-day private excursion to Beijing.

 

Our first stop was to see (well, sort of) - the main attraction for our visit - the Great Wall of China.

 

They said we were in for an unique experience, as Beijing only gets snow in April on average every 30 years.

 

Guess it was our lucky year!!

 

It was a 4-day Chinese long weekend, so it was still fairly busy, but quite slippery.

 

[lindaler]

1 hour ago, richwmn said:

Glad to see they merged the threads, but I'm still unsure as to the reason that approval was necessary.

 

I dropped back by and was surprised to see the merge or at least the title merging since most posted on the pending thread. Wish they would give you an answer as to what was wrong. Thanks for getting it straightened out Rich. 

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

3 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

 

 

Well that explains my confusion.  I could see on the map that the two were a distance apart and I thought there might be a newer port since our trip was almost 11 years ago.

 

I remember a few days later the Diamond Princess was the first cruise ship to arrive at the new Shanghai cruise port.  The media were there to film us getting off the ship.  We felt like celebrities.

 

http://english.sina.com/china/p/2010/0428/316902.html

Looking at the map when I checked on the two different names for the port, I could finally understand why the local train between the station at the mall and the central station took an hour.  The mall was in Tianjin West.

 

In both 2002 and 2005, we docked at the old port terminal.  In 2018, we were at the new terminal.  What a difference between the buildings,

 

Lenda

[superoma]

9 hours ago, POA1 said:

This was bound to happen sooner or later because your posts about ships' positions, food and beverages are so outrageously controversial.

Nice to see you here, but I suspect you have been lurking all along!

[ger_77]

@richwmn it's nice to see you're out of the brig now!  I've been enjoying all the photos, as we haven't been to this port, but hope maybe one day to be able to see it as well.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

Gerry

[kazu]

5 hours ago, Dismomx5 said:

We're at 9º C at the moment, tomorrow 6º, Tuesday 17º and Wednesday 3º.

 

I’ll take it.  We are below freezing with freezing rain, hail and possibly snow.  and then back to the deep freeze.  I’d prefer snow over ice but honestly, I’d rather have neither 😉 

[kazu]

3 hours ago, richwmn said:

Glad to see they merged the threads, but I'm still unsure as to the reason that approval was necessary.

 

 

I’m glad to see they were merged too, but this is a regular thread and the most viewed on the HAL boards.  there is never anything “bad” on it or negative so I can’t help but wonder why it took so long to get the thread from “pending” to active.
 

I honestly can’t conceive it being because of talking about the days of the week or the drink of the day.

It’s perplexing but more perplexing is why so long to clear it?