Heartgrove

Thank you Rich, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Off to my doctor appointment in about an hour. Should be good. We are on the Oosterdam next year for today's port. Looking forward to it! Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

I beg to differ as any passenger that books one of their cruises means that they are not sailing with HAL. Fred Olsen does the small ship ports that HAL is not able to do now. They are even capable of using one of their ships to sail inland on the Seine River to Rouen, France. That is a cruise similar to what HAL would have done with the Prinsendam. A few years ago HAL had four ships sailing in Europe but now three, at times four.

One thing that HAL should do is take a page from MSC's operation. MSC has four older, smaller ships that they continue to operate. They feel that if they sold them to a smaller cruise line, those ships would in turn become competition for their remaining ships. Better to run the life out of them and scrap them than create a competitor. HAL, in my opinion, hurt themselves by selling the ex-Amsterdam and ex-Rotterdam to Fred Olsen Cruise Lines to now sail as their Borealis and Bolette. Fred Olsen touts believing smaller is better and is very proud of their small ship fleet. Their fares are competitively priced as well.

With your wife needing to move by cane, make certain the hotel has an elevator/elevators. The Hotel New York in Rotterdam, for example, does not have elevators.

So sad to see Jasper on fire. We stayed at the Whistler Inn down the street from the Maligne Lodge for a few days in 2006. - Jack

Enjoy the MSC Seashore! We sailed on her in May in YC but were around the ship quite a bit. It too is the largest ship we had been on but never really felt that crowded. Sue enjoys the casino and always found a seat. Regarding the buffet, everyone crowds to the forward portion but there is plenty of space aft. Seems to be a quirk of MSC passengers. The best pizza! - Jack

Thank you Rich, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Good results with my bloodwork yesterday. My doctor should be pleased tomorrow. Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Thank you Rich, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Got up early today to have to be poked for my doctor visit Friday. I dislike the fasting bloodwork! Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

There were four S-class, four R-class, four Vista-class, and then two Signature-class. The Pinnacle-class has been the first time in recent history to have only three in the class. But I agree with the 2026-2028 timeframe - barring unseen business problems. If Carnival Corporation would continue to gut Costa Crociere, the Costa Deliziosa would make a good candidate to transfer to HAL as it is only 14 years (2010) old and similar in layout to the HAL fleet.

I never said it was ordered, only planned. The story was different for the Acadia. The only P&O ship with a Cunard funnel.

The Cunard Queen Anne was to be the fourth Pinnacle-class for HAL. I wonder if that was intended to be the Rotterdam (VII) but once that hull was instead allocated to Cunard, the Ryndam became the Rotterdam.

The Hotel New York has not opened it's bookings yet for July 2025. Check back in another month.

We are on the Rotterdam for the October Transatlantic. Originally we were going to fly to Zurich two weeks before and work our way North to stay in Den Haag before the cruise. The night before embarking we had planned on the Thon Hotel across the water from the terminal to take a water taxi across. Situations changed and we needed to shorten our trip. Using UAL points we are currently flying into Brussels (cheapest compared to AMS, CDG, FRA, MUN, and now ZRH) then taking a short train ride to Rotterdam. Staying now at the Holiday Inn Rotterdam-Central Station a block from the train station as a base to Amsterdam, Den Haag, and surrounding area. I usually check regularly for flights and have been very lucky a number of times saving money/points.

Depending on when you submitted DH, it might take two weeks. When I submitted mine, I hadn't even booked a cruise but received Gold. Sue submitted her's but did not receive a number until we booked our first cruise in 2022. we have since been elevated to Diamond. One thing I have done is to be assigned to a MSC Concierge. He is like a HAL PCC and I have him do everything related to MSC for me. We book our cruises through him and then any changes after the fact, Our MSC Divina Grand Voyage Transatlantic was cancelled for this November. He helped us get a refund in two days and book a different cruise.

@summer slope Happy Birthday, Dixie!

Thank you Rich, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Thank you Rich, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Please feel free to ask.

Thank you Rich, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Today is my 55th Anniversary of enlisting in the United States Coast Guard. I have many memories including the days in Basic Training where the Company Commanders would "break us" into conformity to the comradery that would form with shipmates and working as a team. It is something that I will never regret doing and still feel my oath to the Constitution does not have an expiration date. A gangly 18-year old me. Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

We disembark the Oosterdam on May 24, 2025 in Barcelona. But it does not show a sailing until May 29, 2025 and that is from Civitavecchia. A missing five days. Any idea what that is about?

Thank you Rich, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here!r. Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Thank you Rich, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! @kazu Jacqui, so glad that the procedure went well. Hopefully the recovery brings relief. We reached another plateau with Sam yesterday. I guess I measure his deterioration in levels or plateaus. On the walk yesterday, he tripped on a curb during the return. If something like that occurs he is sometimes so weak that he goes down on all fours. About a minute to recover and then slowly backup but his rear legs are in more of a crouch than normal. Thankfully he made it back home without further problems. We made sure that he took it easy the rest of the day. He did his normal head butting to tell me he was hungry! Today is close to normal but a very short walk as he gets tired easily lately. I spoke with his vet later yesterday morning and described what had occurred. Describing the event I told her that I believe that it is almost time and to expect a call from me by next month. We will have him 3 years on August 10 and I want to be selfish to at least keep him that long. Then again he might rally again like he did in March. But yesterday showed me that he is definitely showing his age now. It is a shame that pets can't tell us more. Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

Thank you Rich, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Looks like we get a break in the weather today. A brief storm cam through yesterday afternoon with a bit of rain. Big boomers nearby, and the cable burped. The forecast is a high of 80 so quite a relief. We were in today's destination last September on our MSC cruise. Sue went on a rain-soaked excursion to the Highlands that turned out to be just a drive in the rain but I decided to stay aboard for an in-port sea day. Looks like we are on a Celebrity roll! After booking our Celebrity Transatlantic for April the other day, I happen to find that the Celebrity Beyond will be across the pier for our return on the Rotterdam in October. Southwest without notifying us, has changed our non-stop flight time to Raleigh-Durham to the evening. That totally nixed our plans for a rental car to get home that afternoon. Rather than staying a night in FLL, we booked that as well to extend our trip to return home on Friday. Airfare is cheaper for Friday on UAL plus we get to fly to Dulles instead. Then last evening Sue on her own booked the Celebrity Reflection for her 75th birthday cruise for next June with DSIL. It will now be a tradition for the two of them to do a milestone birthday cruise together. Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack

@ger_77 Thanks for asking about Sam, Gerry. It is rough on him so he is inside most of the time. I feed him about 6:45 or so in the morning and then out to the yard. He lets us know that he wants in by whimpering. We then take him for his short walk before 8 before it starts getting warm. Then its lying beneath ceiling fans and in front of a portable fan down on the floor for most of the day. Dinner feeding about 3:30, a quick trip outside, and back to laying by the fan. These days are very hard on the Northern breeds so we just have to watch out for them. Quite the contrary to the winter when he loves to stay out all day! What a tough life Sam leads!

Thank you Rich, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Very hot yesterday followed by today. We were about 96 degrees yesterday and over the mountain were over 100. Today is forecast to be the same. For some strange reason our allergies seem to be bothering us. I wonder if it is dust because of being so dry? We changed our plans yesterday for our April-May cruises. Instead of cruising from Southampton then down to the Mediterranean, we are trying Celebrity for the Transatlantic. Upon arrival in Barcelona, we just change piers for a seven night MSC cruise which ends in Alicante. Stay there for a few days and back to Barcelona to board the Oosterdam for a 10 day cruise that includes an overnite in Malta. Malta has been a bucket list destination for me. After that use either a ferry or train to head for Italy for 1-1 1/2 weeks. Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need. - Jack