kochleffel

Bow cam Self-disembarkation has just been called.

Opinions, and they are only opinions: On hospice, I concur with not considering it unless/until you think it’s time, but a friend of mine is a palliative-care physician. He says that he can do a lot for patients who have chronic, but not necessarily terminal, conditions, or who are recovering, albeit slowly and painfully, but is rarely consulted. On canes, a friend who has joint problems won’t use a cane, because he doesn’t want to look like an old man, which he is. Instead he uses a pair of Leko trekking poles, which he thinks make him look like a hiker. And they were expensive enough to serve his vanity, maybe.

I had dinner in the steak house last night, so still no Ms. I Don’t Like Anything. Filet steak with Béarnaise sauce, which a restaurant in my town spells Bernaise as if it were named for the capital of Switzerland, and truffle fries. Having a light breakfast because I have an online class at 12:30 and will need an early lunch. I hope there is sufficient bandwidth for Zoom. Not showering with a friend and especially not with the Junior Cat. The original Senior Cat in Charge loved the sound of the shower and would occasionally jump in, find that it was full of water, and jump out screaming and shaking water all around. Then after about six months he would forget and do it again.

My choice was to park at the Weehawken ferry terminal and stay overnight in the theater district to see Leopoldstadt. When we return to New York I’ll walk along the Greenway from the cruise terminal at 48th Street to the ferry terminal at 39th. NY Waterways also has a shuttle bus along 12th Avenue.

Confirming: only at the desk/dressing table. A 12-foot cord would probably reach the near side of the bed.

There is a thread in the NCL forum about the Spirit’s having to leave Auckland without being reprovisioned. They are running out of endive (and Diet Coke, which more people would miss).

Missing ports, especially those you especially wanted to visit, is a bigger deal. I’m currently on the Getaway, completely missing Bermuda, but Bermuda is much closer.

I would be especially worried about the endive. Will Norway recall its ambassador to Belgium?

The ship has been rocking since yesterday evening and sick bags have just appeared in the stairwells. I’m not prone to motion sickness but I’m not altogether steady on my feet. Other than that it doesn’t bother me.

By folks with no knowledge of the patient’s condition or the medical resources available? I suppose they would have let the patient die rather than have any inconvenience themselves?

Nature and cats abhor a vacuum.

I’m having breakfast in the 24-hour pub, where ice cream is probably available. Booze definitely is. People at a neighboring table are adding it to their coffee. Last night I had dinner in the French restaurant so was denied the company of Ms. I Don’t Like Anything. Yesterday I completed the second module of an online course and passed the quiz on it.

That’s also what the CN manager on the Getaway said yesterday.

No testing or registration fee now. The reason was high winds. The navigable channel into the harbor is narrow, and ships as tall as this are vulnerable.

I think that the extra distance to Nassau would still have allowed docking somewhat earlier. At a guess, no berth was available until late. The captain called it a tech stop. Just enough to comply with the PVSA. In my signature here, I intend to call it “to nowhere.”

It gets better: the port time in Nassau is from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. Most passengers have beverage packages. Draw your own conclusion. It’s probably hardest for the parents of the hundreds of small children. The gamblers are probably the happiest passengers since the casino is open all the time.

There is a group roaming around with signs. At first I thought it was a protest, but the signs read “Cruisin for a Boozin,” iow a pub crawl. The leader, who appeared to have a head start, lurched into me, and instead of apologizing, shouted an invitation to join them into my ear. I had just gotten coffee from Starbucks, and replied, “Oh shut up.” I took my coffee to a lounge that’s used as a late-night venue but empty at this time of day.

We're not holding you personally responsible! It's likely to be -5F at home tonight. My house has water pipes in the crawl space but I put the downstairs thermostat on hold at 66. The Junior Cat has a heated bed but often stays downstairs at night to watch for polar bears.

NCL has a gathering for solo passengers every afternoon and then some go to the MDR together. Last night tables had been reserved in the Tropicana room, the largest of the three MDRs. As we walked in, one woman declared several times that she DID NOT LIKE Tropicana food. (All MDRs have the same menu and are served from the same galley.) She ordered two starters and two desserts, and for one of each ordered something that she had had before and knew she didn’t like. Further, she didn’t notice that the other dessert was no-sugar-added. It was certainly edible, but not identical to the standard version, which I wouldn’t have expected. She just picked at it, and probably headed from there to the buffet for more desserts that she wouldn’t like.

No, no, no on the drink. My attitude about coconut is that I leave it alone and it had better leave me alone. And it seems like a complicated way to serve smoked salmon. I have been to San Francisco but not on a cruise ship. NCL is trying to set a new record for slow breakfast service but the Nieuw Amsterdam is still in the lead. There was a notice in cabins last night asking everyone to check under the bed and in the closet for a misdelivered bag. Now, when they deliver bags, they don’t bring them into the room, just leave them outside the door. What sort of person would bring a misdelivered bag in and just keep it? Wouldn’t a normal person call guest services, entrust it to the cabin steward, or even phone the room indicated on the tag? I saw Million Dollar Quartet last night and really liked it.

RCI is notorious for IT. Often the website is unable to accept payments!

Dr. Pol’s office cat is named Tater.

I hope that’s Celsius.

I’m not wearing a sweater but I’m also not in Canada. I was at Santorini in May on the Norwegian Jade. Chickpeas are OK but acorn is my least favorite type of squash. I used to know the owners of Elk Cove and it’s the best area for Pinot Noir but Mt. Richmond doesn’t ring a bell.