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! We will be in today's port of Edinburgh in exactly two months on our upcoming MSC cruise of Scotland and Ireland! So excited to be cruising one more time. We booked this cruise over a year ago and received the maximum discount plus perks that MSC offers. Looking forward to photos that are posted today. It will be DSIL's first European trip! The painters have been really rolling so hope to be 80% done by the end of the week, and to finish next week. The neighbors have complimented us on the choice of colors. Stay Safe! - Jack

I wouldn't call the city of Trieste, with a population of 228,000, a "small" town.

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! - Jack

I own all three lenses mentioned and recommend all three. My wife uses the 18-135 on her A6400. She liked initially using the 16-50 that I had but I convinced her to switch to the 18-135 that actually came with her camera. The 70-350 is great for reach and I use it on my A6500. That body normally has my Zeiss F4/16-70 on it. When we were in Iceland in 2021 and had a rental car I was using two bodies, my A6500 and my A6000. Made it a lot easier than switching lenses. As for my Rokinon 12mm, it gets used as needed. My advice is to pickup a used A6000 as an extra body. KEH is a good source. Mine goes in my bag and hardly takes up any room. I will never forget onetime my opthmalogist telling me this sad tale . He had just started on a three week vacation in New Zealand when the board on his Nikon fried. It took a few days to buy a new body. For my A6000 instead of a body cap, I have a 7 Artisans fixed 18mm f6.3 lens on that body (same size as a cap) so is actually ready to use - when it is bright in the sun. - 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! We have been to Civitavecchia twice, once to embark/disembark and once as a port call. These photos are of our first time in 2019 to board the Nieuw Statendam on a Western/Eastern Mediterranean Collector's Voyage. Between our B2B, Sue and I just liesurely walked through the town as we didn't want to do the trek to Rome. Most cruisers 1st view of their sailing adventure. Our first view of the Nieuw Statendam One of the many ferries that sail from here. One of the defenses to protect ancient Civitavecchia. The sailaway. The sailaway. And we are definitely underway as the pilot boat departs. Stay Safe! - Jack

Just a point to make. The last day to submit laundry is two days before disembarking. That way it will be returned on your last full day of the cruise, the day before disembarking.

Having sailed in a Neptune Suite twice in the past but then after sailing on MSC in Yacht Club, I will make do with a VC/VD to sail additional times in YC.

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! - Jack

We have been on a 20-day Mediterranean cruise aboard the Nieuw Statendam when it was new so are familiar with the itinerary. We have also been on a 15-day Transatlantic aboard the Oosterdam last Fall so familiar with an extended cruise on the ship in question. Further, I just recently looked at a 10-day itinerary for the Island Princess on a possible 10-day cruise for Fall 2024 in the Mediterranean. We usually travel to Europe for five-six weeks and do two cruises during that time but trying for three in 2024. The Island Princess cruise would be a perfect fit for the days we were looking at between a MSC cruise and a HAL Transatlantic. I looked at YouTube videos, Marine Traffic photos, and CC reviews. In the end I decided against it for a number of reasons. Some of these are: the lack of seating in the stateroom with the Princess policy of only including a couch in Mini-Suites and above; the general layout looking at deck plans; and just a dated look of brass in the interior. Some reviews commented on how additional staterooms added (compared to the original configuration the sistership Coral Princess) took away public space for an increase of 107 staterooms/214 passengers. The price also was a bit high for the per day cost but that varies so much by a number of factors including port fees and operational costs. Not fully decided but will probably plan for an additional MSC cruise. In answer to your question, I would book the Oosterdam if it was just between the two.

Your #19 and #23 entries are incorrect for the YC on Fantasia-class ships. But ... we actually prefer them as they truly are a ship within a ship.

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! - Jack

Dixie @summer slope, I am so sorry to hear your news. It will be for the best. Think of you!

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! Happy Independence Day! With regards to frying eggs, my father once told me a story from his WWII days. His Armor unit in the US Army was training to fight in Africa. They were training in a US desert out west. It would get so hot during the day that they would be able to fry an egg on the hood of his Half-Track. But for all that training, they were instead sent to England to prepare for the European Campaign. Stay Safe! - Jack

Amazing how rescues recognize what has changed around them. No kennel but back into a home again. With Oke' and Juno, I crated them for about the first week after I adopted them. They needed to gain my trust but after about the fifth night, Juno just climbed in the crate by herself! Packed up the crate the next day. Sam just came in to the house (we had read to not bring them in the house immediately but to walk a rescue in the neighborhood first) and settled right in. When it came to nighttime, he climbed in to Juno's old bed in our bedroom - and that was it. But now as he has aged is more restless and is sleeping in our Front Room with a fan by himself. Another sign of about six - eight months to go. It will be serious when we need to switch to chicken and rice for food. That is what Oke' ate the last month.

Just for comparison, as Sam is about 56-58 kg (125 lb) and I'm sure bigger than Ivan, he gets per day: Tramadol HCL 50mg x 3, Gabapentin 300mg x 3, and Vetprofen 100mg x 2. All of this due to his hip dysplasia/arthiritis. It is not very convenient as all of these are controlled substances with no refills. I have to call the vet's office monthly to get the Tramadol and Gabapentin refilled at CVS. But ... he is worth it! I'll agree with weather being a factor. At least this year Sam is agreeable to staying inside with the heat and rain. For Ivan, the Tramadol should just be easing his pain. With the Gabapentin they get a bit addicted (what I would call it) as without it they may become restless. I use to give Sam Cosequin for the Glucosamine but his joints are beyond use of a supplement. He does get the 100% recommended dose in his food though. I hope Ivan improves soon. - Jack

So sorry to hear this. The hardest part of pet ownership.

Yes, the Queen Victoria that you sailed on is still sailing. The Arcadia story is a true cruise ship historical story. My understanding is that Carnival Corporation, exercising corporate power over its companies, decided to switch the HAL ship (I guess what would have been the Noordam) to Cunard. Work continued to progress as it has the Cunard funnel. But Cunard finally convinced CCL to agree to a completely new build for them. One of the major points that Cunard made was that the bow and hull needed to be strengthened to withstand North Atlantic sailing year round. By that time the Noordam was in the pipeline so the Arcadia transferred this time to P&O. Yes, the 2024 Fall cruise plan has had probably 20 or so versions! Plan, and plan again. We just decided to actually switch our Transatlantic from the Rotterdam leaving from Rotterdam to the Nieuw Statendam leaving from Civitavecchia a month later. This way we can spend more time in Italy and not spend two days travel to Rotterdam. It has required looking at different cruise pairings for MSC as some of their ships will begin migrating to their winter sailing ports by then and won't be available for the Mediterranean. So the plan is the short 4-night that includes Olbia from Genoa, a few days later a 7-night from Civitavecchia to Santorini and Mykonos that ends in Genoa, cross the pier to leave 8 hours later on a different ship for 11-nights to Funschal and Tenerife that goes back to Genoa, and then a few days later the Transatlantic. Time to relax on the long sea days after all that.

Graham, I will add that the P&O Arcadia is the "fifth" Vista-class and sistership to the Zuiderdam, Oosterdam, Westerdam, and Noordam. Originally ordered by HAL (built between Westerdam and Noordam) but then allocated to Cunard as the Queen Victoria - and then re-allocated to P&O to be finished as the Arcadia with a Cunard funnel.

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! I went back yesterday and took a serious look at cruising to the port of Olbia, Sadinia after posting my Daily. MSC has two cruises in the timeframe that we plan on being over in Italy before our Transatlantic on the Nieuw Statendam in November. One is a RT from Genoa that goes as far as Lisbon and returns with Olbia the last port before returning to Genoa. The other which we are now seriously considering is a short 4-night RT from Genoa aboard the MSC Sinfonia. It calls on Cannes and Olbia (two new ports for us) along with a sea day. It would mean that we add about six days at the front end of our trip which would now be 46 days. That would be four different cruise ships on the same trip, three white hull and one BHB! We will have land days between for visiting Italy except for an across-the-terminal in Genoa for #2 and #3. Now to just get the final OK from Sue. ☺️ @kazu Jacqui, I hope Ivan improves today. Senior dogs are so similar to older people. My Sam gets meds four times a day regularly. Sometimes on a punky day I may give him an extra Tramadol for pain. Stay Safe! - 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! Today's port is a possibility for visiting on a MSC cruise for next year that is up for consideration. We have never been to Sardinia. Stay Safe! - Jack

It takes work! In eight years we have probably had as many PCCs. We have our third excellent PCC now. The downturn from COVID really shook up the ranks. At the beginning they would come and go, including one we had for only two weeks before she left. The three best have actually been men. As for getting one from a FB recommendation, after we lost our previous PCC of 1-1/2 years we chose two to contact off of comments by other FB customers/passengers. Made a decision that we would use the first one to contact us. We did and what a mistake! Heard from her one time. Never able to reach her so left voicemails that were never returned. We needed to cancel a booking and spent over a month attempting to contact her. Ended up talking with a woman that supports the PCCs that could cancel the booking. Finally contacted a HAL supervisor to change to a different PCC as we needed a new booking. The supervisor actually went into her voicemail to check her lack of response. By this time we had a name of a PCC to request to be assigned to. He has been with us since last year and really great to work with.

There are a number of "Special" fares that HAL uses and not available to all passengers. One time we were booking a cruise to Mexico when I believe we were 3* at the time. We were talking to our PCC and he tallied the fare. (Do not book online, always use a PCC!) The cost was way less than we had figured for the HIA package. Turned out it was a Mariner exclusive fare that was refundable but significantly cheaper than even the non-refundable fare. Just this past week we booked a cruise for April. We pay for DSIL to sail with us once a year to thank her as she watches our dog when we are are off cruising. It was another conversation with our PCC to book the cruise and he finishes with our stateroom. He then starts on DSIL's stateroom, pauses, and tells us she has a casino offerthat can be applied! Amazingly DW and DSIL were on a cruise together last year and had spent equal time in the casino - but DW didn't get the offer! It was a real plus with us paying as her offer saved us just over $700.00. Hang in there, Mister Matthew!

What a difference two months make! We have decided on a Transatlantic that is departing Civitavecchia one month later so that has affected our choices of available MSC cruises. The Grandiosa will be on it's next season deployment by that time. No definite choice made yet but we are 95% planning on the 8-Night Divina followed by the 11-Night Poesia. But ... I am still curious as to what is planned for the Fantasia.

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! Happy Canada Day! There actually were two chances that I could have been Canadian. On my father's side, his paternal roots had a great (x?)- grandfather that was a fur trapper in the 1600's trapping in Upper Quebec. Instead somewhere along the line someone crossed into the UP. I actually have cousins that use the French version of our surname. On my mother's side, my grandmother immigrated from Ireland through Canada with two sisters around 1912. One sister stayed in Montreal while the other continued on to Chicago with her. My first name came from her brother that was killed in WWI fighting for the British. Sue and I have been to Halifax by water once. It was the same 2015 cruise on the Veendam that I posted photos from the other day. It was the first time we had sailed with Captain Noel O'Driscoll who is now Master of the Nieuw Statendam. The cruise between Sydney and Halifax had seas at Beaufort 6 bumping to 7 so that day when we called on Halifax, it was a terrible rainy day. The weather was so bad that the Carnival ship came up the channel to the port but turned and left without docking. All Sue and I did was walk in the terminal building before re-boarding. Veendam had docked bow to bow with the Queen Mary 2. After our short walk and lunch we just spent the afternoon in the Crow's Nest. Stay Safe! - Jack

During COVID times the cruise companies were very willing to change bookings. All you can do is ask.