Petunia1950

My theory (and I'm pretty sure I read this somewhere on Cruise Critic, so if it was from one of you, my apologies for stealing your thoughts.  I tried to find it again and of course couldn't ...):   Port Everglades is expecting at least one passenger ship in (and back out) every day this week.  Celebrity Edge is due in (anytime now) and then out again today; Celebrity Summit and Caribbean Princess tomorrow; Celebrity Equinox on Friday; Nieuw Statendam on Saturday; and Celebrity Silhouette and Celebrity Edge (again) on Sunday.  I think the crews are coming in to be vaccinated.  Just my opinion (with fingers crossed !).

My rhyme for picking up pennies is a bit more wordy ... "See a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck.  See a penny, let it lay, have bad luck all the day."  

It's funny to watch a tiny tug push a big ship ... not that Rhapsody is that big.  But still.  Tugs are amazing.

Just now, rafinmd said:

With great difficulty.  I wonder why the tug.

 

Roy

I'm wondering the same -- seems odd.

I can confirm the accuracy of the Holmes quote.  In the days when I was working in an office full of people, if I happened to be wearing sun glasses when I had reason to glare at someone behind the supposed protection of dark glasses, the "evil eye" would reflect back and my eyes would start to twitch.  True story.

Celebrity Apex is arriving in Fort Lauderdale and is visible on the Ft. Lauderdale webcam.  It makes me think and hope that things are slowly getting back to normal.

I'm sad because the HAL forum on cruisecritic.com used to be the place to go for helpful information.  Now it seems just to be a bunch of Bitter Betties who can't say anything nice, but find lots of things to complain about.  HAL did not create COVID-19 -- in fact no one is certain where it came from -- China?  Europe?  Laboratories?  Wet markets?  And who really cares.  The fact is that we have it, and HAL is dealing with it the best that they can.  News reports are estimating that there are more than 50,000 crew members on ships still trying to get home.  If there are as many passengers -- and probably many, many more -- trying to get a refund, or an FCC, or reschedule, it's going to take time.  It will happen.  And there is no reason to make yourself and other miserable while we're waiting for it.  

Just my two cents.

22 minutes ago, npcl said:

The requirements to exit the ship is for the cruise line to provide transportation home that is not on a public commercial flight.  The cruise line has not done so.  Until they do, no one is getting off.

 

The cruise lines have been testing very few people.  Without complete transparency in reporting medical status, and in performing testing, the CDC has no way of knowing if there is COVID-19 or not.  There are several cases where the cruise lines have reported no COVID on board, only to have people tested on shore showing that there was.  That transparency in reporting and testing is also one of the requirements that the CDC included for the cruise lines.

It seems to me that a U.S. citizen getting off a cruise ship in a U.S. port is "home".  So why would a charter flight to some other city in the United States be a requirement?

41 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Den Haag refers to The Hague.  Unsure about the meaning of "uit".

 

 

Trying to interpret what these posts mean:  the Captain may have a family connection with the Dutch Royal Family?

From Google Translate:  Uit Den Haag:  From The Hague.

Met zo'n deftige naam, kan niet anders!:  With such a decent name, there is no other way!  (Copper 10-8's translation is probably a closer translation though ... "with such a fancy name, wouldn't surprise me" but in a pinch Google Translate does a pretty good job.) 

Thank you for sharing.  That was beautiful.  💖

You are able to make reservations in Club Orange, but you shouldn't have to, as wait times, if any, are minimal -- at least they were on the trans-Atlantic last fall.  It may be different over Thanksgiving, but you should be fine.  And yes, you can order dinner from the menu for service in your suite.  Club Orange always offers a selection that is not on the Main Dining Room menu, so you should ask the head waiter in Club Orange for a copy of the next night's menu so you'll know what they will be offering.  In any event, the concierge in the Neptune Lounge can help with that and with any other requests you might have.  Enjoy!

1 minute ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

10 minute wait for the ambulance???

That's what the Coast Guard boat indicated.

2 minutes ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

Yes -- still trying to dock the tender --  somewhere.

Waiting on the ambulance -- the Coast Guard boat just signaled the tender "10 minutes out"

I hope this is not behind a paywall -- it's interesting reading about a few HAL crew members still on board:  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/cruise-ships-crews-stuck-at-sea-paydays-dwindling-and-searching-for-a-way-home/2020/04/14/c7d9c498-78fb-11ea-a130-df573469f094_story.html

2 hours ago, bluesea321 said:

Here is another article, a day by day of the events.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article241740696.html

Wow.  Powerful article.

2 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

Captain Mercer's "walk around" video can be found towards the bottom of his post. You'll never see the Amsterdam like this, not even in dry-dock 

 

http://captainjonathan.com/

That was fascinating.  Thanks for sharing!

19 minutes ago, cdwise said:

I dismissed the subscribe offer and was able to read it but here’s a direct link to the pdf if you want it

 

https://miami.cbslocal.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/15909786/2020/04/Carnival-Complete-Agreement.pdf

I hope everyone -- and by everyone I mean all who moaned and groaned and complained about how the U.S. taxpayers would be footing the bill for this humanitarian effort -- pays attention to this clause in the agreement: 

"Payment of Costs:  Carnival shall be responsible for paying all costs incurred by Carnival, any member of the Unified Command, Broward County, BSO, or any other government entity or local health care facility directly arising or resulting from the activities required or permitted under this Agreement or the Carnival Plan, including but not limited to: berthing costs; the cost of transporting for all disembarking passengers; the cost and expenses of the services provided by BSO in connection with the disembarkation and transportation of passengers; the cost of medical care provided to passengers and crew at any facility in Broward County (which are not otherwise covered or paid for by the person’s medical or similar insurance); the cost of medi-evacuation of passengers and/or crew (which are not otherwise covered or paid for by the person’s medical or similar insurance); costs incurred by the Florida Department of Health; and all costs associated with any deceased persons previously on board."

Just now, SeaHunt said:

Not sure what I'm seeing on the SE port cam?

 

Another Oasis of the Seas crew member. 😢

Many, many ambulances to come.  😢

NBC News is reporting that "the deal is done" -- just waiting on "lawyers' signatures".  I hope they are right!

2 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

 

1. I do not. I could speculate but i won't 😉

 

2. They have been going "pedal to the metal" as Capt. Albert likes to say, for major portions of their journey since entering the canal. They're just trying to get as close as possible to FLL/PE to await approval, hopefully, to get in

1.  Drat.

2.  Thanks -- I guess it was the sudden 0 to 60 after their brief stop this morning that made me think there was another reason ...

For Copper 10-8 -- two questions:

1.  Do you know why the two ships stopped for a bit this morning just west of Cuba, with an apparent tender between the two? 

2.  Why do they both now have their pedals to the metal -- moving at warp speed like they're being chased by pirates?  Is there only a brief window of opportunity for their arrival in Fort Lauderdale?

(at least 3 of us must have seen this at the same time)

Make that four ... 🙂

I don't know what this means, but the Marine Traffic website is showing Zaandam stopped, Rotterdam moving, and a Rotterdam tender between the two.  Just west of Cuba: