John and Diane's Caribbean Getaway for John's Birthday

[CvilleJane]

On 2/11/2022 at 5:45 PM, tennisbeforewine said:

In answer to a question about pickle ball and wind, John said that it depends on the location of the court.  Since this court is a bit sheltered, he said today was the first time they noticed any wind problem.  On the (old) Amsterdam, the court was right at the top of the ship, so wind was almost always a problem.  It also depends on the location of the ship, since mid-ocean can be pretty windy.  Hope that helps.

Definitely helpful! Many thanks for your kind reply!

[tennisbeforewine]

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands

 

First of all, let me apologize for so many days without a post.  I have been fighting a really rotten cold and haven’t really had the energy to do much except blow my nose and take some really world-class naps - and no, it’s not covid.  I’ve had this problem before with air conditioning, and it has raised its ugly head again.  Today, however, not only am I going to try to catch up, I’m feeling much better and plan to go ashore with friends.

 

Sunday was a good day, since we had five of our best cruise friends come aboard.  Leslie and Handler arrived mid-day, while Jeff, Ann and Cathy came onboard earlier in the morning, having taxi-ed over from the Zuiderdam.  They’re on for six or seven months (!!!), and just transfer ship to ship to ship to accommodate their travels.  Leslie and Handler will be joining us at our table for dinner, but Jeff, Ann and Cathy prefer anytime dining.

 

During this week’s cruise Jeff, who has been in President’s Club for quite some time, is observing his 3000th day on board. “ How can anyone do that?” you may ask.  The key, I believe, is staying onboard for about seven months of every year.  He will be celebrating with dinner at the Tamarind this evening, and eight of us (our table of six as well as Ann and Cathy) will be joining him.  I don’t know if he’s HAL’s passenger with the most days, but if not, he’s certainly close.

 

It was wonderful to see everyone dressed up for the Valentine’s Day Gala Night.  John pointed out to me while we were deciding what to pack that my red Valentine’s Day gown was one that I’d had since 2008 and that it was time to find a new one.  That translates to “Check out Nordstrom online.”  I actually found two that I thought I’d like, so I ordered them both, since Nordstrom makes it so easy to return things.  The one I thought I’d just love was a disappointment; I don’t think that neck to ankle sequins are appropriate at my age.  The one that I was sure I would dislike was really quite nice, so that is what I packed.

 

On short cruises - and most people are on these for one week - the concept of “gala night” is quite different than on the long cruises that we’re used to.  One of our friends commented that on a recent short West Coast cruise she had to speak to the maitre d’ to have him ask a man to leave the main dining room.  What was he wearing on Gala Night?  A tee-shirt and shorts.  Even on non-formal nights, men are asked to wear collared shirts and shorts are NOT allowed.

 

We met, as usual, in the Ocean Bar, since our beloved Crow’s Nest is just so different now.  I’ve added a couple of photos of our Valentine’s Day outfits.  Then we proceeded to the dining room, where I had decorated the table with all kinds of Valentine’s candy.  Those in front of Ginni’s place were non-chocolate, however, as she is highly allergic - poor thing.  No See’s candy for her.

 

Today the six of us are meeting at 10:00 to find a taxi-van to tour the island.  We don’t plan to be out more than about three hours since it’s a fairly small island.  I don’t know whether lunch will be on shore or back on the ship, but I do plan for one of my wonderful naps.  My cold is almost gone, but the rest will do me good.

 

Tomorrow is Amber Cove (Puerta Plata) in the Dominican Republic, a country we’ve never visited.  The other side of the island of Hispaniola is the nation of Haiti, and we’ve been there, but it’s always good to add another country to our list.

 

[Sea42]

I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better. It's not fun when you spend part of your vacation not feeling well!

You all look so nice for Gala Night!

[tennisbeforewine]

Thursday, February 17, 2022

Amber Cove (Puerta Plata), Dominican Republic

 

Yesterday was an interesting day, when we spent a couple of hours with Hyacinth, our driver/guide, circumnavigating the island of Grand Turk.   We learned that Grand Turk, is only one of the three Turks.  In addition, there are seven Caicos islands, and most tourism takes place there, primarily on the island of Providenciales.  We also learned that Carnival Corporation had purchased a section of beach, dug it out, and built tourist-type shops.  Included in the area is a large Margaritaville complex, with a restaurant (lines out the door), hotel, and enormous pool with tile at one end and a “beach” at the other.   

 

We passed through the shops to the taxi stand, where we found a taxi/van driven by Hyacinth.  She was a wonder; while navigating the narrow roads of the island, she told us the history of the place and all about what we were seeing.  The island is only about seven miles long and a mile and a half wide.  It was hit by a severe hurricane a couple of years ago and because of its flat geography, has not fully recovered.  The double whammy of hurricane and covid have pretty much devastated the island, and tourism only began mid-December of last year.  Regardless of their circumstances, however, the residents are open and friendly, Hyacinth being one of the best examples.

 

After we returned to the port area, we decided it was time for lunch.  Our friends Bill and Jane had recommended that we try Jack’s Shack, about a half mile down the powdered sand beach.  We were lucky enough to grab the last table out on the sand, and then find some menus.  We skipped the hamburger/fried fish section and decided that, since we’d never had them, that conch (konk) fritters were going to be our lunch.  When I picked them up, they were fresh out of the deep fryer and served with a dipping sauce that was hot enough to burn my lips off.  In a word, they were delicious.  Thanks, Jane and Bill.

 

Last evening was an amazing celebration.  Jeff Farschman, whom we’ve known since 2008, celebrated his 3000th day on board an HAL ship.  That doesn’t include purchases; it’s just feet on deck.  He was inducted into President’s Club several years ago (at 1400 days), but we’ve been told that there is no one currently sailing who has 3000 or more.  Jeff spends about seven months a year at sea, so it will take him about four more years to get to 4000 - and he’s counting on it.  There were nine of us at The Tamarind restaurant to help Jeff celebrate, and midway through dinner about 20 officers joined us to even further enliven the celebration.  It was a wonderful evening.

 

Today we called at Amber Cove, another HAL-created port with a large visitor center, several restaurants, a pool, zip-lining, and several other activities.  We wandered around the port, but since it seems that John has caught my miserable cold (his first in two years), we really weren’t in the mood to go further afield.  The next time we call here, though, I’m jumping on that zip-line, grabbing a seat at the swim-up bar, and maybe even renting a kayak, an activity I really enjoy.

 

Tomorrow is a sea day, leading up to Bimini, Bahamas, on Saturday and back to Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday.  The days seem to rush by, and after Sunday, we’ll only have one more week to go.

 

[cccole]

Thank you soooooo much for your posts.  Your daily reports and photos are great.  I refer to your and Jeff's posts from previous cruises when I am going to a destination that I remember you have been to.  How fun to share Jeff's  3000th celebration, and how nice for so many officers to join you.   I remember in 2008 enjoying lunch at Jack's Shack with my daughter and friend, waiting for my son to return from a scuba trip.  I keep hoping that one of these "live froms" will be you cruising with your grand daughter and her sending a postcard to her parents!!!!  Thanks for taking us along on this cruise. Cherie 

[Sea42]

Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I love that, after all of your travel, you still go beyond a walk around the port and have fun adventures!

[hotzej]

OK I hear you figured us out.  We sure hope to see you soon?

Actually, when I asked you about where to get the tests it was for another cruise we scheduled when we could not do this one, but you are right, we are on our way Sunday

[Iris5383]

Thanks for posting! I love reading about your excursions and life on the Rotterdam. I think that may be our next ship.

[tennisbeforewine]

Friday, February 18, 2022

At Sea en route to Bimini, Bahamas

 

Boy, has today been a day!  John was feeling better from his cold this morning, so after we had breakfast we headed to our 8:15 covid test appointment, which is required before doing a turnaround for back to back cruises.  And then it started.  The phone rang about a half hour later with a message that a member of the medical staff would be making a “house call” for a PCR test for John (not for me).

 

Sure enough, a nice nurse showed up, had John swab the nose again, and told us she’d call in about a half hour either way.  Well . . . it was a positive test, so John was asked how much time he’d need to pack things together.  We still have no idea where he was infected, but at this point it really doesn’t matter.  He found out that the quarantine time was now five days, so they said he’d be in a quarantine cabin for the remaining two nights of this week’s segment and then be required to stay in a hotel on shore for an additional three nights - at HAL’s expense.

 

Our first response was “Oh No” (not exactly in those words).  Next week is the official birthday week and we not only have a wonderful table reserved in the Pinnacle for the birthday celebration, but our friends Bill and Jane are flying down from North Carolina to help celebrate.

Oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do.  John moved into his quarantine cabin, learned how to use in-room dining, and it turns out he’s only about 15 rooms down the hall - behind the DO NOT ENTER door.

 

Then things changed.  Late this afternoon I received a phone call from Kenneth, the Guest Relations Manager, who told me that the rules changed this morning at about 10:00.

We now had two options:  do his two days on board, transfer to a local hotel for three nights, and then fly home OR do all five days ON BOARD, be retested on the 5th morning (Aruba - John’s actual birthday) and as long as he’s negative, he’s free to escape quarantine.  If he still tests positive, they’ll test him daily until he tests negative.  I gave him the choices, and it took him about five seconds to bet on Aruba!

 

So . . . we’re staying on, either half and half quarantine or (heaven forbid) 9 days in quarantine.  As you can imagine, we’re praying daily for a negative test on Day 5, and I’ll be letting you know how things are going.  The birthday dinner has been moved from February 22 to February 25 and we’re hoping that all eleven of us are healthy and ready to party.  Stay tuned.

 

[Sea42]

Wow, that's a great option for B2B passengers! So glad he'll have a chance to enjoy some of your next cruise.

Edited February 18, 2022 by Sea42

[ger_77]

Well (insert sarcasm font here) of course he'd test positive for Covid, you're there to celebrate his birthday !!!   (end sarcasm)  I'm happy to hear you've passed the test though.

 

So sorry to hear he's moving out on you, but it's for the better.  Hopefully you can get things (like proper cutlery and glassware) to him via Guest Services as others have, and that by his birthday, he'll be freed from Covid jail!  

 

Smooth Sailing!  

Edited February 18, 2022 by ger_77

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, tennisbeforewine said:

Late this afternoon I received a phone call from Kenneth, the Guest Relations Manager, who told me that the rules changed this morning at about 10:00.

 

Hmmm.  

[AncientWanderer]

Hang in there Diane and John!  Diane, I remember that back in October, you and I celebrated our same day birthday on Koningsdam -- me in Rudi's and you in either PG or Tamarind.  Can't remember which.  I hope John gets his special celebration! 🍾  🥂

[Sea42]

I hope John is feeling OK and is not having too difficult of a time in isolation.

[hotzej]

ok we tested negative so we are on our way in the morning.  Hope John is negative soon for his Birthday celebration

[bcummin]

Hopefully John is feeling better and recovering well.

I so wish that things had turned out better for his 80th birthday.

Know that you are both loved and cherished.

Barbara

[ottahand7]

So happy you can remain on board.  I was reading about a couple on the Kdam and one tested positive.  Their partner stayed in their cabin while their partner went to lockup.  There was no credit allowed since partner remained in cabin.  We have our tests today on NS and we really need to be prepared if one of us is positive and one isn't.  We are in a Neptune Suite. Failing to get any credit will play a big part in our decision. 🙄

[hobo1937]

I don't think they are still on the ship. In posts 27 and 29 they mention a friend, Jeff Farschman who is also on the Rotterdam. He has a blog and his post for yesterday in Ft Lauderdale says they disembarked and will be spending 3 days in a hotel there and flying home to California on the 23rd.

[ottahand7]

Thanks for the heads up.   Obviously they decided it was better to stay together. Get the credit for their cruise and book another for a late birthday celebration.  

[tennisbeforewine]

Monday, February 21, 2022

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

 

What?!  Ft. Lauderdale?  Yes, that’s where we are and will be until Wednesday, the 23rd, when we fly home.  What’s up?  Covid.  With back to back cruises, each passenger who is continuing on the next week must have a covid test two days before the changeover.  Well, last Friday, we showed up for our tests and a half hour later, John received the phone call that no one wants.  He was told that the rapid test had been positive, but that one of the medical staff would come by to administer a PC-R test.  Well, guess what?  That was positive too.  Mine, however, was bright and shiny negative.

 

John had an hour to put together what he wanted to take into quarantine with him, and in less than half that time, he was completely packed, because we knew we’d have to disembark in Ft. Lauderdale.  John’s new “home” was about 15 cabins down from ours, and when I got off the next day with Rich and Ginni, John leaned over his balcony and waved at us.

 

The rule has been that if you test positive, you must disembark at the next port.  The next day, however, the rules changed.  Now only a 5-day quarantine is necessary, and if John tested positive on Day 5, he’s be “out of prison” and could stay on board until that day.  That made us very happy and all I had to do was change the date of John’s birthday dinner at the Pinnacle from the 22nd to the 25th.  We were sooo excited.

 

THEN, the other shoe dropped.  The Chief Medical Officer called John for a chat.  He explained that he has never had a Covid patient test negative on Day 5, but that even if he did, he could not eat at any of the restaurants on the ship for a total of 10 days.  Bummer!  Our choice, at that point, was to hope that John would test negative on Wednesday, but then have to eat in our cabin for the rest of the cruise, or to disembark and spend his last three days of quarantine in a Ft. Lauderdale hotel.  So . . . we decided to disembark and, after spending three days in beautiful downtown Ft. Lauderdale, fly home.

 

Having decided that, we found out from Mary Ann’s blog that the ship pays for the hotel and allows $100/per person/per day for meals.  That sounded pretty good until our driver dropped us off at what looked like the No-Tell Motel.  We decided that it was probably built in the 50’s and hadn’t had much of anything done to it since then.  The room was decorated in several shades of brown (none attractive), and contained two queen-size beds and not much else.  The young lady who checked us in told us, “You can’t leave your room.  We send you three meals a day.”  I asked if we were given a menu and she told us that the two choices were “take it or leave it.”  (not really, but that was pretty much it).  In addition, this hotel is used for overnight stays for cruise groups and busses are provided to take them to the cruise port.  The man in charge of this operation had a bullhorn in his hand and knew how to use it.  He thought he was pretty funny, too, because he just kept on talking.  The groups and their leader were in the front of the hotel, but somehow his spiel was broadcast to the garden/pool area where our room was located.  All in all, it was not a pretty picture.

 

That was it!  I tried to get in touch with the ship with no luck, but we asked Rich and Ginni and Leslie and Handler to go find our new BFF Kenneth (the Guest Relations Manager) and ask him to please, please, please do something about this.  We really aren’t terribly picky, but moving from a Vista Suite on the ship to this place was not what we had in mind.  About two hours later we received a phone call from a lovely young lady in Seattle, Mary Beth.  She told us that she cringes every time she sees that HAL is still using the (unnamed) hotel.  She gave us wonderful news, though.  We could check out and choose a hotel of our own and HAL would still cover it.  Bliss!  It only took about 15 minutes to find a really nice hotel (well under HAL’s limit of $300/day), call a Lyft, and head out.

 

Once settled into a really nice suite-type room, we ordered room service and that was it.  We were two happy campers.  We know that we are to eat all meals in our room, which is fine by us, but we can use Uber-Eats or any other meal delivery service to feed us.  The rules also say that we can walk outside for fresh air, and we do a lot of that, too, but John stays out of stores and I go in to buy whatever we need.

 

While we’d much rather be onboard the ship, the chances are that John would be in quarantine all week and I’d be hosting his birthday dinner without him. That just wouldn’t work. He wouldn’t even be able to visit with Jane and Bill, who flew down from North Carolina to join us.   On Wednesday we spend John’s actual birthday flying from Ft. Lauderdale to Denver to San Luis Obispo.  After all of this, I am really looking forward to being in my own house again.  We’ll continue to isolate in the house for a total of 10 days (from testing date), but it will at least be home.

 

Thanks for following along.  I realize that this blog leaves quite a bit to be desired, but it is the most unusual cruise(s) we’ve ever been on,  Thanks for your patience and for following along

 

[Sea42]

Oh, I'm so sorry things turned out like this for you and John. I hope John is feeling OK and wish him many more, happy, less hassle filled, birthdays.

Safe travels home!

[lstrong]

Oh my, this is not the happy ending I had anticipated. I am so very sorry!  But thank you for posting. You convinced me not to do a back to back anytime soon!  May God bless all your future travels. 

[cruzingnut]

Thanks for updating us Diane....I'm so sorry this ended up this way for you both.  I can't believe they sent you to that hotel!  What were they thinking?  At least you were able to get that changed.  It seems that this situation with hotels is handled differently from ship to ship and I hope they get their act together on this soon.  Have safe flights home and please update us as you have time on how things are going for you both.

 

Linda R.

[colonialinnkeeper]

Diane and John,

   So sorry that a wonderfully planned birthday celebration has turned so up-side-down.  Hopefully, another one will be perfect in every way but in the meantime, Happy Birthday, John.

    Thanks too, for giving all the information about what happens during a positive test and quarantine.  We leave in just four weeks for a B2B and feel much better knowing the details of what happens with a positive test.  Safe travels and both be well.  Lauri