boone2

17 minutes ago, bnickle said:

It was just delicious! Try to make a reservation; it’s been busy each night we passed it by.

They used to take them but not anymore.  We go early and have a late lunch early dinner 

We always eat at Colom when in Barcelona. The food is great and very reasonable 

Thank you for this thread. We are toying with the idea of a river cruise next year so it will be very interesting to follow along. Safe fight!

I worked on Hal for a few years and at every orientation meeting for new crew it was emphatically stated that crew should not fraternize with guests and under no circumstances should go to their cabins even if invited 

Im sorry. There’s no way I could cruise without my NZ Sauvignon Blanc. It’s my only drink of choice   Can’t imagine being on a NZ cruise and them not having it onboard.   We did a transpacific in 2022 to NZ and never had any problems getting it but I guess they must have stocked up in the US 

We sailed the Grand Vancouver to Auckland last October. The ship was in very good condition. We had previously sailed on her many moons ago during her first year of operation.  We enjoyed the cruise but 2 ports were cut making too many sea days together for our liking.   Wasn’t keen on the buffet.  Found to very “Samey” for our liking after Royal class buffets but we only used it for a quick breakfast and a light lunch.  Other than that we really enjoyed the ship 

On 10/24/2023 at 3:16 PM, Astro Flyer said:

We’re considering flying ANZ again like back in 2009 from LAX to SYD via AKL in economy (cruised back to LA). We’re considering their premium economy in March 2025 to Brisbane & would appreciate any insights you could share about ANZ…thanks. 🙂

 

We flew ANZ from Auckland to Vancouver last year after our transpacific, in premium economy. Best flight I ever had. I never sleep on flights but I was so comfortable I slept for at least 8 hours   The service was fantastic.  Can’t recommend it highly enough 

Great review and amazing photos 

We sailed on the grand from Vancouver to Auckland last October.  I had sailed on her previously  when she was brand new   I thought she looked great. I have sailed on HAL many times but only as crew so I don’t know the passenger experience so much, I prefer the Princess offerings 

Loving the posts. Originally from the UK and lived on Anglesey 45 years ago. Worked in holy head and Conway.  You’re right about holyhead. There was nothing much about it then and doesn’t seem to have changed although the Red dragon wasn’t there then😀

My kids do t even go over the border for a day trip without insurance as I’ve drummed the horror stories I saw on the ships to them 

As a former nurse on cruise ships I was  beyond belief at the number of people who chose to travel without insurance.  Thank you for your reminder to people and good to know the medical centre is still performing well 

On the grand in October the laundromat was free as we’re the soap and dryer sheets. Very surprised. Although we qualified for free laundry I prefer to have more control over how my is washed. Hubby sent his out though 

Really enjoying your blog. I love the variety of things you do in each port and your efforts to find out as much as you can about each place you visit 

Love to read of the interesting things you do ashore getting immersed in the cultures. Thank you 

1 hour ago, LACruiser88 said:

Having been to Alaska a number of times, IMHO the Chilean Fjords are much more dramatic in scope.

Totally agree. And much more pristine. As I said before.  I just don’t get Alaska. Maybe I’m jaded by working too many cruise ship contracts there.  

Really enjoying your blog.  We did the exact same itinerary a few years ago on the Star. One of our favourite cruises. Especially the Patrick watts tour on the Falklands. One of my life highlights.  We did Machu Piccu as a separate trip a 3 months previously.    Worked out much cheaper than a ships tour and spent a week in the sacred valley acclimatizing.  I also loved the Chilean glaciers way more than Alaska   
Thank you for taking the time to post 

Nice to see you made it in to Pago Pago. That port  was cancelled on our transpacific in October which was a shame if only to break up the sea days.  Really enjoying your commentary   Thank you for doing so 

Terry 

Just now, Daniel A said:

If you're returning to the U.S. by air, a passport is required by the United States.

Exactly. And as a former ship board nurse I have seen this in the past. 

What happens if you have a medical emergency and have to be disembarked to a country requiring a passport and then have to travel home from that country. Can’t understand anyone leaving their home country without one. My (now adult) kids had passports from the age of 9 weeks. (Photo looked a bit different at age 5years) and the both have passports of 2 countries as the are dual citizens  

Why would people call the news when they won’t take responsibility to obtain what they need for travelling. On our recent transpacific the IT officer was inundated with guests who didn’t know they needed an electronic visa for NZ or Australia. And couldn’t get them until we got to Fiji   He said they were blaming Princess for not telling them. It’s says right on the website that you are responsible for your own travel documents 

We did the grand transpacific in October.  We had booked an obstructed view as the price of a balcony was 7000 more at booking time  Halfway through the first week we enquired if we could upgrade to a standard balcony.. We went to look at the cabin first and it was in the exact area we always book when we book a balcony. The price was 600$ - for the two of us for 3 weeks. Glad we waited till we were on board 

7 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

 

There is no rhyme or reason, no pattern to predict how many, or when, medical disembarkations take place on HAL, or other cruise lines. I have worked itineraries (the security officer is very much involved in all medical disembarkations), anything from regular one week long Carib or Alaska cruises, to Atlantic and/or Pacific crossings, to two-week Panama Canal transits, to a full world cruise where we went weeks without medical disembarkations. Then the next week, on the same itineraries, there were multiple! Of course, the longer the itinerary, i.e. a grand world voyage, the higher the odds you will have a, or multiple, med. disembarks however, you can never tell ahead of time how many, if any, you will have!  

 

Just a bit as to how a medical disembark works; the ball starts rolling with one of the two physicians onboard - each HAL ships has two; one with primary responsibility for the passengers/guests; the other for the crew. The doctor(s) will be presented with patient who suffered a medical emergency. The infirmary on the ships, and the staff who run it (doctors and nurses) are there to stabilize the patient, similar to an E.R. on Terra firma. Yes, the docs are E.R./trauma hospital qualified as are most of the nurses; they can run blood and many other tests onboard, take X-rays, administer meds from their on-board pharmacy, place patients on oxygen, apply splints, get you crutches and a wheelchair, etc. but they are not specialists in all forms of medicine like you'll find in a Level 1/II trauma hospital on land such as LAC Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in my particular area.

 

If a medical emergency, i.e. heart attack, stroke, major trauma, etc. presents itself no matter what time of the day or night, you will hear the announcement made over the ship's P/A system by the officer of the watch on the bridge (the recipient of the 911 call) and a team of 1st responders will come running (the old "Bright Star" call). The patient will be transported to the infirmary by the stretcher team and the two docs and staff will attempt to stabilize the patient. If the latter's condition is not stable, i.e. he/she requires advanced and or specialized treatment ashore, the senior doc will make that recommendation to the captain for a medical evacuation of that patient. The captain has no medical background so will rely on his doctor's expertise and will 99% of the time go with that recommendation. He will bear the final responsibility for that decision

 

The next decision to be made is how fast to get the patient to a land-based critical care facility and that has to do with where in the world the ship is at the moment, how far that critical care facility is in relation to the ship's position, and how to get the patient there as fast as possible. Options will be a) a medical evacuation by air (read helicopter), b) a medevac by boat, and c) a medevac by land, meaning the ship will steam as fast as possible to the nearest port where the patients is taken off the ship via the gangway to a waiting paramedic/ambulance.

 

Medevacs by air are inherently dangerous, no matter what. Something can always go wrong when a helicopter is hovering in very close proximity to the bow (usually, at times the stern - the aircraft commander, not the ship's captain, has the final say as to the location) of a moving ship. That's why it's SOP to have at least two of the ship's fire teams standing by with charged fire hose (water and/or foam) lines when an aerial medevac is in progress. In the case of a military organization like the US Coast Guard, or Royal Canadian Air Force performing the medevac by helo, a flight surgeon (yes, that's also a medical doctor) from that military unit will discuss the patients condition via radio with the ship's doctor and he/she (the flight surgeon) has to sign off on the medevac before it can take place.

 

Criteria like the helicopter's range/fuel/loiter capacity will come into play. If the ship 's position is beyond those criteria, the mission is scrubbed and you will have to go to Plan B. Now, in the past, a medevac by helicopter has taken place beyond the normal range of USCG helos. There are very few helicopters around that can be refueled in mid-air to extend their range. That was the case in May 2013 with the Westerdam medevac in the Pacific far off the coast of Baja California where a HH-60G Pave Hawk helo from the California Air National Guard out of Moffett Field, near Sunnyvale/Santa Clara County received fuel in mid-air from a HC-130J Combat King II (the combat rescue variant of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules) in order to extend its range and then successfully medevac'd a patient from the bow of the Westerdam to fly him/her to a trauma hospital in San Diego. That's the exception to the rule! 

 

If the helicopter medevac is a no go, the ship will have to steam post haste to the nearest land fall where either a coast guard vessel or rescue boat (again the land facility has to have such a boat and trained crew available - it can not be done by a glass bottom boat or whale watching vessel) can meet up and where the patient can be transferred to that boat via the tender platform of the cruise ship. Or, as stated if that's out due to, i.e. bad weather/rough sea/rolling swell conditions, the ship will have to sail into port and dock where a transfer directly to land can take place. 

 

Lastly, not every country in the world has the capabilities, be it aircraft/boat, trained crew, logistics, etc. to perform a successful medevac from a cruise ship. There is a difference if you find yourself on a cruise ship off the western or eastern seaboard of North America or Western Europe, compared to say, western Africa, Antarctica, certain parts of Southeast Asia, or even certain areas of Mexico and Central America. That's not a secret and it's not to take anything away of the hardworking and brave military units of the countries concerned in those areas of the world!   

 

As far as how to prevent medical disembarks from cruise/HAL ships? It's just not that easy! I have been involved in medevacs of an 86-year old male who suffered a stroke, but also of a 32-year old crew member who suffered a heart attack with no prior adverse medical history. Where are you going to draw the line as far as "You can't sail with us?"                         

As a former member of the medical team( nurse) on board thank you for a very succinct  description of the procedure.   As you say there is no rhyme or reason to the number of medevacs.  On a 49 day of the Amazon we had one disembark across the Amazon by boat. That was a very healthy cruise with no night time call outs. The following week in the Caribbean we had emergency calls every night and at least 3 disembarks in a  7 night cruise.

We just completed the transpacific on the Grand Princess. I thought the internet was great. Sometimes hard to download pics but I could stream. The one place we had no wifi was Astoria believe it or not.  Even in the middle of the ocean no problems 

On the Grand last month all laundry machines and powder were free. I was amazed. Even though we had elite benefit of free laundry I prefer a lot of my items to be washed on a delicate cycle so went to use the machines. Now finding one free was another story. It was a 28 day  cruise 

Terry