Jim_Iain - Summit Live Post B3B Greenland / Iceland / Canada Aug 7, 19 and 31, 2022

[Jim_Iain]

31 minutes ago, peanut head said:

Jim, 

If you consider this question too personal please don't answer.  I was wondering, with you and Iain being away for so many days, how do you handle monthly bills at home?   Do you have on-line banking?  I've always wanted to do a long term cruise but just haven't figured out how to handle the day-to-day rigors of homelife. 🙃

Not a problem.   I’m a very paperless kind of person and pay everything by autopay.  Many of the bills are charged to credit card and then autopay. 
 

The few bills like the Gardner prefer Venmo and I just get a text requesting payment and then on app approve. 
 

Really bizarre that i rarely carry cash.  Almost everything I do accept Apple Pay using my Chase Sapphire. 
 

Part of our retirement planning was that we paid off all of our homes.  We don’t have car payments and pay off credit card every month. 
 

In these days I find you can do almost everything virtually.    One of my tenants called and said the refrigerator died.  I just logged onto HomeDepot and bought a new one and arranged delivery to work with her schedule.   She texted back, I love it. 

[peanut head]

7 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Not a problem.   I’m a very paperless kind of person and pay everything by autopay.  Many of the bills are charged to credit card and then autopay. 
 

The few bills like the Gardner prefer Venmo and I just get a text requesting payment and then on app approve. 
 

Really bizarre that i rarely carry cash.  Almost everything I do accept Apple Pay using my Chase Sapphire. 
 

Part of our retirement planning was that we paid off all of our homes.  We don’t have car payments and pay off credit card every month. 
 

In these days I find you can do almost everything virtually.    One of my tenants called and said the refrigerator died.  I just logged onto HomeDepot and bought a new one and arranged delivery to work with her schedule.   She texted back, I love it. 

Thanks for the info.  Another reason to streamline...

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

That was one of the best things I've ever had in Luminae.

I also love it.   It’s amazing how each flavors balances with the other. 
 

One thing we said to each other was they upped their game on the amuse  bouch pot COVID.  They use to have some really bad ones  e.g  Radish dipped in  clarified butter that was like eating rocks.  

[peanut head]

Jim and Iain,

Do you have a favorite ship?

[kwokpot]

20 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I thought the same.  Maybe a guest in MDR crumpled it up and tossed it on the ground, saying what garbage.
 

We usually select something from MDR menu every night. 

They really should have discarded that menu. 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, Dynagirl said:

As I am new to Celebrity, I was curious… Aside from the sticker that they applied to your cruise card to indicate your drinks package, is there an indication that should normally appear on your cruise card to show you have paid for this?

Usual on card it has printed on card. They use to put PAL or CAL.  But now write it out

 

 

 

[abbydancer2003]

7 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Usual on card it has printed on card. They use to put PAL or CAL.  But now write it out

 

 

 

Question on the card itself.  Is your information printed on the card, or is a sticker on a blank card?  On the Eclipse, ours was a sticker that by the end of the week was peeling off.  While waiting in Michaels club to get kicked of the ship I had the concierge make me a new one. (it was my first Elite Plus one, so I wanted to save it).

 

[Jim_Iain]

We had to meet our tour at 12:30 so had to coordinate.   The ship stayed on ship time and our tour was on port time   Newfoundland is 30 minutes ahead.  The hotel meeting place was 2 blocks away. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by Jim_Iain

[cangelmd]

54 minutes ago, peanut head said:

Jim, 

If you consider this question too personal please don't answer.  I was wondering, with you and Iain being away for so many days, how do you handle monthly bills at home?   Do you have on-line banking?  I've always wanted to do a long term cruise but just haven't figured out how to handle the day-to-day rigors of homelife. 🙃

Ooh, I can answer this one. We own 3 homes (don’t ask, we know we’re crazy). DH has worked diligently to get us set up for extended travel as I wind down from my working life.

We have automatic withdrawal for bill pay for all utilities. That was the biggest hurdle, and the last one only switched over during Covid, prior to that we had to prepay this bill, requiring a phone call to get them to apply a credit. He has a chart of other expenses and events like insurance, my Sep-Ira managers bill, pest control and HVAC service, etc.

Our other big concern was security. He set up a Ring security system at home and at our townhouse. Our 3rd house is a rental in a rural vacation area, and we have a management company that kind of looks after that. The Ring system at the townhouse will unlock one door for service people who need access. We were prepared to set up our home with that, but our son and family just moved back to our city, so if we are gone they will be able to let someone in the house in an emergency. Our daughter could do that if needed at the townhouse.

My answer is online bill pay, Ring security and develop a relationship with someone who can access your home in an emergency if necessary. Change your smoke alarm batteries!

[Jim_Iain]

Love the colors of St John’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

The tour was 35 miles away so did get to see some of the countryside 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by Jim_Iain

[Jim_Iain]

[WorkerBee74]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

I am by no means an export but we are 2nd Canadian port today and didn’t report anything since I submitted pre-cruise.  
 

I’ll know for sure on the Third Cruise as almost all stops are in 🇨🇦 
 

 

 

 

If you don't leave Canada between ports (as in you don't clear another country's customs), you'd be considered already cleared to enter Canada and thus not have to do customs again.  I don't mean being in international waters. Depending on the Alaska itinerary, it's possible to leave from Canada (ie leaving from Vancouver - would have used ArriveCAN/cleared Canadian customs to enter if you're American), cruise to Alaska, cruise to ANOTHER Canadian port (say, Victoria) - in which case you WOULD have to do the ArriveCAN/Canadian customs dance a second time, and then end either there, or back to the US (Seattle etc).

 

Every time you enter Canada for the FIRST time after being in another country (like the US), you have to do the customs thing.  Trust me, this happened to us in 2019 as we bounced between countries on a New England/Atlantic Canada itinerary and had to clear US customs twice - it was not fun.

 

As well to the OP @5:00_Somewhere, think of ArriveCAN as just another Canadian customs thing... it's just part of entry to Canada now for everyone, whether you're foreign or Canadian - has nothing to do with cruising in particular.  Whenever you have to clear customs, you have to do ArriveCAN.  If you leave Canada to another country (ie the US) and then RE-enter, you're clearing customs again as far as Canada is concerned.

Edited August 11, 2022 by WorkerBee74

[Wink87]

37 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Love the colors of St John’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love the colors and the pic of Iian!

[WorkerBee74]

39 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Love the colors of St John’s

 

 

 

 

Ah yes, our famous Newfoundland doggos!

[5:00_Somewhere]

4 hours ago, Stratford1950 said:

I don’t know if this helps but…when we returned from our cruise in July we had to identify from a drop down menu all the island/countries we had visited on our trip prior to returning home. Very simple process, but annoying.

 

Thank you. I remember drop-down options from our Alaska cruise but, because we only visited the US and 1 Canadian the port,  I never got beyond that, and just can't recall the details. I think I'll take screenshots when I do it for our upcoming New England/Canada cruise next month. 

[Jim_Iain]

The seas were really rough at 10 Meters.  Many of the passengers weren’t doing well in the high seas. We didn’t see any Whales but lots puffins. 
 

Really needed a good telephoto.  Sorry for poor photos - Really grainy. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by Jim_Iain

[Jim_Iain]

58 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Question on the card itself.  Is your information printed on the card, or is a sticker on a blank card?  On the Eclipse, ours was a sticker that by the end of the week was peeling off.  While waiting in Michaels club to get kicked of the ship I had the concierge make me a new one. (it was my first Elite Plus one, so I wanted to save it).

 

 

Ours is printed.  If purchased or upgraded in board they would put sticker on it. 

[helen haywood]

I think the question was about the whole card, not just the beverage package information.  Our past several cruises have had a clear sticky Saran Wrap-ish covering over the sea pass card that has all the name and folio number etc. data on it .  With normal use the plastic starts curling and peeling at the corners.  If the plastic is removed there is nothing on the hard card.  If you want a pristine one as a souvenir, you have to request another one.  I wish they would go back to imprinted cards.

[Jim_Iain]

Dawdled around town after getting back.  Just some fun things that caught my eye. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

2 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

I think the question was about the whole card, not just the beverage package information.  Our past several cruises have had a clear sticky Saran Wrap-ish covering over the sea pass card that has all the name and folio number etc. data on it .  With normal use the plastic starts curling and peeling at the corners.  If the plastic is removed there is nothing on the hard card.  If you want a pristine one as a souvenir, you have to request another one.  I wish they would go back to imprinted cards.

Thanks.   Agree I’ve had my printed one have the printing worn off and needed a replacement. 

[PTC DAWG]

10 meter seas, that is pretty rough, especially on a smaller vessel.  
 

I am enjoying the pictures…good work.  

[DisneyJen]

On 8/7/2022 at 7:21 AM, Jim_Iain said:

Big shout out to @DisneyJen She is getting off Summit this morning and has a great deal of information.     I've survived the last week following them.

 

 

Awww ... thanks so much @Jim_Iain! Just trying to pay it forward.

 

@DJsDH left on Tuesday for business so I was behind the 8 ball with trying to get him ready to be business traveling so soon after our disembarkation!

 

 

[vickykay]

Thanks for the photos of the puffins.  I have a.ways loved puffins so really enjoyed seeing your photos!

[DisneyJen]

On 8/9/2022 at 2:37 PM, Jim_Iain said:

8/9/2022  First Chic Night

 

 

 

sitting at our favorite place in Retreat, going back to the Mall Chanel’s days.    Beautiful sunset as the fog swelled in. 
 

 

@Jim_Iain ... That was @DJsDH and our spot last week! Please give our regards to Cecilia, Mar and Penelope.

 

Cheers!