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JIm & Chom  booked on the

Nieuw Statendam, 21 Day Southern Caribbean Wayfarer/Seafarer, January 12 2022

On 3/22/2020 at 5:47 AM, Krazy Kruizers said:

All you WC travelers.

 

If you can -- please keep us all updated on your travels to arrive home safely.

We departed the ship Sunday morning as scheduled, 8:00AM. Enjoyed the ride through the mostly residential part of Fremantle. Beautiful!.

The Perth airport was a breeze, almost deserted. Our flight to Melbourne wasn't until 2:00PM so we relaxed in the Qantas Business lounges until then. First in the domestic lounge and then in the international lounge when it opened at about noon. The Qantas people were helpful and cheerful. It was a pleasant experience and the lounges were amount the nicest I've ever seen. Food and drink, good and plentiful. 

Flight to Melbourne smoothe. Lounge good but not as good as Perth. Neither were the people.

Flight to LAX was uneventful. An oddity, we arrived in LAX before we departed Melbourne, time wise.

LAX was mostly deserted. Less than expected number of  travelers. No lines at security or immigration. American lounge adequate. Not nearly as good as Qantas in Australia.

Flight to Dallas 30-40 minutes quicker than scheduled due to strong tail winds.

DFW also mostly deserted. Couldn't find lounge or American Airline people to ask. Had coffee at McDonald's. Pretty good. Waited at the gate.

Flight to Ft Walton Beach, FL also uneventful and  arrived sooner than expected.

Arrived Ft Walton Beach exhausted but elated to be home at last. Unfortunately our luggage didn't make the trip with us. Hopefully the airline will find them.

In totality the trip home was very good. The  Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a wonderful aircraft.

looking back to the cruise, the first 60 days or so, were great. A very enjoyable cruise. Went to several bucket list places. Totally happy and satisfied about that part of the cruise. Then everything became unglued. A very stressful time.

Unfortunately in the future when I recall GWV 20,  I'm sure I'll remember the bad part more than the good part.

I'm very disappointed in HAL. As far as their stated greatest concern in this cluster was for the 'health, safety and wellbeing of their guests' and that there was no medical facilities available if needed by a guest if they returned home via the ship. If that was true they would not have subjected us to the exposure of a possible fatal illness. Of those of us who were expelled from the ship, how many will get coronavirus? How many will DIE? 

Airports and airplanes are germ factories and we were forced to endure that rather than the virus free safety of the ship.

Jim & Chom

Cabin 3346

To scrapnana and others.

the Perth airport is a breeze. No lines at 9:00 when the first transfer group arrived.

You could possibly be only 15 minutes from arrival at airport to the gate.

There were no porters at the bus stop. A coin op place to rent a trolley for your luggage is nearby. Visa tap works. Swipe didn't work for another man who tried to get a trolley.

Good luck

Jim

We arrived Fremantle about 7:00 AM and the expected disembarkation at 11:00 turned out to be more like 3:30 for the first wave ashore. The second group was supposed to depart at 10:00-10:30 PM but was forced off the at 6:00-6:30 PM. 

Many folks made made hotel reservations in anticipation of next day flights up to 1:00 PM. Australia refused to allow that so hotels bookings canceled. Those passengers were going to be required to leave the ship anyway and go to the airport.  Later the government relented and said OK you can stay overnight. Now nobody had hotel reservations. 

Got the picture? It's a cluster. Been like that for over a week. 

I am am supposed to leave the ship tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM My flight is at 2:00 PM. Hope tomorrow is different and goes as planned.

Note to Kindergirl. We have not been told of any possible problem upon arrival back in Ft. Lauderdale nor of any termination of the cruise. There is speculation on the ship among passengers that both might be an eventual possibility.

India and Sri Lanka have now been canceled. India because of visa problems and we were denied entry in Sri Lanka.

Ports added in Australia; Broome, Exmouth, Geraldton and overnight in Fremantle.

La Possession, Reunion also added.

We have heard that there were problems in Reunion with demonstrations and rock throwing at cruise ship guests. Suspect Reunion will be canceled and that this will not be the last change.

Jim 

On 3/3/2020 at 10:36 AM, Good Buck said:

Thank you very much. Yes I am still interested. If you can mail it, my address is Vicki Buckelew, P.O. Box 1547, Burnet, TX 78611.  I will send you any postage cost, if you will include your return address.  

Thanks,

Vicki

OK Vickie,

I am in Australia right now, on a world cruise and will return home in mid may. Will get with you then. Check my signature.

jim

On 7/22/2019 at 9:31 AM, Good Buck said:

 

 

I keep looking for a pin or ship ornament from Carnival Celebration. We got married on it in 2003, our first cruise & did not know about either.

I was also married on the Celebration but in 1999. We met on the Celebration in 1997....

I have an extra pin. It's yours if you want it.

The Celebration is my favorite Carnival ship. Met my beautiful wife while onboard in 1997.  First kiss was in the Red Hot Piano Bar, on her neck (hello Joe Biden). We were married in the ship's library in 1999. Good memories.

On 4/22/2018 at 11:36 AM, TUNZAFUN said:

I know this is an old post but I am looking for past NCL oval ship pins. We have a few extra pins that we will sell or trade.

Extra pins we have are:

3 Pearl

3 Star

1 Sun

Pins we are looking for are:

Dawn

Epic

Getaway

Jade

Jewel

 

Thanks for your help

Linda & Tom tunzafun@att.net

I have an extra small oval Jewel pin if you are still interested.

Were azipods around when the Rotterdam VI was built?

Yes, Carnival Destiny, now Sunshine, built 1996 was the first pod ship if I remember correctly.

Rotterdam VI built 1997.

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That is the experience I have had.

 

 

 

You might want to try the fountain gun drinks before purchasing the card. On two different ships I found the "gun" drinks to be anywhere from mediocre to undrinkable. I now purchase a can of soda when I want one.

What sodas are usually in the "gun" and what can only be in the can?

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Celebration, met my wife on that ship and two years later married her in the library aboard the Celebration.

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Yes, HAL does offer paid gratuities and OBC on some bookings. Did one earlier this year and have one booked in Jan 2020 with both of these perks. Call HAL and ask which cruises this might apply. Also check website for deals.

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Thanks for the interesting report, enjoyed reading it very much. Hope the rest of your journey was enjoyable for you and Kay.

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Why ask the location of the lucky coin. Most of the fun, enjoyment and satisfaction is in the search and finding of the coin.

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The fee for a ship transiting the canal can be up to $450,000. If I remember correctly, the fee for the Amsterdam last year was approximately $200,000 with about 1125 passengers aboard. That works out to be $177 per guest just for the canal plus all the other port charges. $500 sounds about right to me for the total cruise. If you call or eMail HAL they may be able to give you a itemized breakdown of the $500.

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It is a website put together by a CC member. Just add .com behind the name provided. We can’t list the complete name as it is against cruise critic policy.

Thanks, I checked it out. Found what I was looking for very easily. Good web site.

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We finished our cruise yesterday on the Amsterdam and it was wonderful.

 

We stayed in a Lanai stateroom number 3361. Pictures have been submitted to halfacts and are there now for viewing for anyone interested.

Would like to view the Amsterdam Lanai pictures but don't have a clue what or where 'halfacts' might be. Will someone please educate me.

Thanks

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Doesn't look to good for Bermuda next week. My guess is Carnival will change itinerary. They should notify you but you could contact Carnival for better info.

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Major impact? No. .... Minor impact? Maybe.......No impact? Possible.......

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Wow! What a wild ride...great pictures... that's the most I have ever seen a cruise ship pitch. At 715 ft and 43,000 GRT, not big by todays standards but not exactly small either. I would have liked being on that cruise.

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If you think 150-200k is low, please consider the pay of a USN Captain who might be the commanding officer of an air craft carrier that costs MANY billions of dollars, has 6000+ sailors, no time off and possibly be in a war zone. If the captain has 20 years service the base pay is about $125k.

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Dress warm, very warm. Depending on where you go it will probably be colder than you think. In Feb 2017 we experienced snow in Japan (Osaka) and China (Beijing) and very cold temps in Korea (Inchon). High wind, snow and freezing temps on the Great Wall. Maybe the coldest and most unpleasant 2 hours I have ever experienced. Nagasaki and southern Japan was cool but pleasant. Shanghai air pollution was extremely bad, slightly better but not good in Beijing.

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Enjoying reading about your adventure on the Rickmers Jakarta. Makes me wish I was still on the south side of the age limit.

One question, I noticed your water glass was without ice. Your choice or is that the only option at mealtimes?

Looking forward to reading the next chapter.

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