USN59-79

Keep in mind that the "visa organization they recommend" CIBT makes their money by charging you a fairly large fee to obtain a visa or in this case a K-EBT. It costs less than $9. if you go online and get your own. However, CIBT charges $60 per person to get it for you plus the cost of the electronic visa. So of course they told you you had to apply (thru them). Since it takes less than 24 hours for you to apply online and get the K-EBT, I plan to wait until a month or less before the cruise before I will apply for it.

Thanks. Sounds like a good alternative to the Lido.

We have never eaten lunch in the Pinnacle. Is it also half priced for 4-5 star guests?

Thinking of shoe size reminds me of my parents shoe shopping at Nordstrom's in the 1940s. At that time, its first Seattle store was just a shoe store. Our feet were measured (with the shoe on) with a step-in X-ray machine. Guess they didn't know then that X-rays can be dangerous. And feet do get larger as we age. Last month I tried on a pair of jungle boots that I had worn when in Vietnam in 1970. Size 9W wasn't even close. Ray

I am on the same 42 day upcoming Westerdam cruise with Hank and I feel similarly. What I have noticed over the past couple of months is some HAL ships like Nieuw Statendam consistently get poor reviews and the Westerdam consistently gets excellent reviews. This will be our first cruise in 3 years and we are looking forward to it. Ray

I realize that only Jacqui's doctor can give her advice concerning her injury. Thought I would mention what we did in 2015. We were ten days from leaving for Dover for an 89 day cruise on the Ocean Princess around Africa and back to Rome when my DW tripped and fell and broke her arm. Local hospital put it in a cast and she asked her primary care doctor if she was OK to travel. He told her how to take care of it and about 3 weeks later she had the cast removed and X-rayed on the ship off the coast of Africa. Worked out fine for us and was a great cruise. We paid the medical bill on the ship and were later reimbursed by TriCare. Ray

I was surprised to see mapo tofu as the food suggestion today. Was thinking that we may be the only couple on the daily that knows what it is, knows how to make it, and enjoy eating it. This morning I took @57redbirdadvice and donated my boot to the kc help program in Bremerton. Apparently they are all over the country and often pair with a Salvation Army thrift store to supply free medical supplies like wheel chairs, crutches, etc. to those who need them and cannot afford to buy them. They were happy to receive it and I was happy not to have to look at it. Ray

Just returned from my physical therapy for the leg fracture. Coming along well; I can walk OK with just the small brace and without a cane. The doctor set me up with PT twice a week at a local therapy center. Think it will get stronger faster with these exercises. Wonder what to do with the big boot I wore for a month. It is in pristine condition and looks too expensive to just throw away. Any ideas? Thinking of tin can day. Assume everyone knows that cans are made of steel or aluminum (or aluminium for Graham) although some may have a tin plating. Ray

Thought I should report that my broken leg is healing nicely. Saw the doctor last week and he replaced my huge boot with something much easier to use. It like if you took a lace-up boot and cut the bottom and toe part off and added three velcro straps. My shoe fits over it and of course I can drive with it. Recently Sara has been walking to our mail box to pick up the mail as our steep driveway is slippery for me. She brought in the mail and a few minutes later said she had left her keys in the mailbox. We both went down there to look for it and alongside the road back but couldn't find them. The only thing we could figure was that someone had noticed them and dropped them in the outgoing mail slot as the individual mail boxes don't have names or addresses on them. So we drove to the post office and left a note for our mail person that if he found keys, drop them in our mail box. Next day we checked our mail, but no keys. Since our front door key was one of them, I went to the hardware store to buy a replacement for the front door lock. I decided to go with an electric push button lock that also had a key. Took awhile to install it, and just as I was starting to program it with a new code, Sara says "I found the keys!" Somehow the keys had fallen from her pocket into her umbrella and she found them as she was going out for the mail again. She liked the original lock better, so I took out the new, installed the old, and got a refund for the new one. It was a good day.

Other than being entertained, I like to learn new things on a cruise. In December, 2019, on the Westerdam they had a class on using your cell phone as a camera. I had no idea of the capabilities of my iPhone camera, such as editing the pictures until I took the class. He even took us out of the classroom to wander around the ship and learn new ways to compose pictures. I did enjoy the Microsoft courses, but after a few hundred days on HAL I think I attended them all. On our next Westerdam cruise the class was no longer offered. Ray

As of today it appears to be required. Looks like it is inexpensive and easy to get online, so I will wait a couple of months and apply for it. What gripes me is the lack of info from HAL and on their website. When you click on visas on the check in pages, you get a couple of paragraphs of blather that basically says "some countries require visas so you should check to see if you need one". Ray

Interesting that those of us on the 10 April Westerdam cruise received an email from HAL on 9 August notifying us of the change from Vladivostok to Buson. They have yet to notify us if we need to apply for an ETA visa for Korea. Was that mentioned in your itinerary change to Sokcho? Ray

We are on her for 6 weeks starting 27 March and my feelings exactly align with Hank's. We started on the Westerdam in 2020 for a 6 week cruise, got put off in Cambodia, then booked the Noordam, got transferred to the Westerdam, etc. I have heard very good reviews of the recent experiences on the Westerdam. However, my DD and DSIL just got off the Nieuw Statendam today after a B2B and she described a very lousy cruise, mostly caused by lazy, inattentive crew. Little to no entertainment, dirty tables in the Lido where she had to ask a crew member for a cloth to clean a table before she could sit there, almost no crew wearing masks, and so on. The got the non-alcoholic beverage package and after waiting 20 minutes for a beverage the waiter would stand there with a receipt to sign expecting you to add a tip. When my DSIL ordered a non alcoholic beer he was told they were out, but he could go down another deck and get one there. I just hope that attitude doesn't migrate to any other HAL ships. Ray

It is actually more complicated than that if you get a Mariner discount. If you are thinking that you get a $250. package for $125 with your 4 or 5 star discount, they don't figure it that way. You pay the 18% on the original price, not discounted price. So as a 4 star mariner you end up paying a 36% gratuity. Ray

Surprising the things we remember from CC. I distinctly remember reading about the WC with the Eastern Orthodox "Priest" creating such a disturbance onboard. Apparently when he would venture from his stateroom he would attempt to solicit donations from fellow passengers, but for long periods he wouldn't allow the stewards to enter and clean his cabin. Speaking of Durban and WCs we stopped there on the 2014 WC and embarked Father Desmond Tutu and his entourage and disembarked them in Cape Town. I still have his autographed biography that was given to us onboard at the time. We really enjoyed meeting him. I am pretty much over my broken leg. Need to see the orthopedist on Friday. Today I plan to go under the kitchen sink and clean the drain of a year's accumulation of grease. Ray

I just noticed a paragraph of 5* Mariner Society benefits. One is a $30 internet service credit. I wonder if I could get just $30 of internet service on a short cruise? Might be enough just to check my email every day or two. Princess in the past provided their Elite members a package that worked fine for that for free. Incidentally, in 585 days cruising on HAL we have never purchased their internet package. Ray

My understanding is that many Indonesian men have the same first name and Putu is one of the more common. I believe it means something like first son. Ray

A thought on fixed seating in the MDR. Most of our cruises (pre-covid) we booked no more than a month or two before departure. Usually they would say we are waitlisted for early dining. Soon after boarding we would go to the MDR and talk to the head person. Almost always he would assign us on the spot to a table. Ray

Thanks for your inputs. This cruise is a B2B2B starting in Yokohama and ending in Seattle. For some reason the middle one was twice as expensive as the other two. I booked a signature suite for the first and last ones but it didn't make sense to do it for the middle one. I think I will keep it as is without CO. Ray

We have booked a restricted view outside cabin for 14 days on the Westerdam. We have never had club orange but I am wondering if CO at $15. per day P/P is worth it. We generally have fixed MDR dining and eat breakfast and lunch in the Lido. As 5* we already get two special dining perqs, do we get two more with CO. I am just wondering if the $430 for the two of us is a good deal. Could my TA find out in advance what cabin we might be upgraded to? Ray

I don't think that many know how much training one can receive in military schools. When I decided to stay in the Navy, I went to a 36 week school where I was taught just electronics. From there they sent me to a 20 week school on calibrating electronics test equipment. I then got two years practical experience managing a calibration laboratory on a repair ship. Then a 48 week advanced electronics course. In this course the first ten weeks were math; then electronics was taught from a calculus standpoint. I did so well in the course I was asked to stay as an instructor, after a few weeks of instructor's school. When I arrived, they asked me what portion I wanted to teach. I said I really enjoyed the math, I would like to teach that. They replied that I would be a better teacher if I taught the portion that was hardest for me; thus I would have more empathy with my students. So I ended up teaching radar special circuits, like magnetrons and wave guides. Still enjoyed it, got promoted to Chief and then to temporary Warrant Officer and spent three years as the electronics repair officer on a destroyer tender with two tours in Vietnam. When I left the Navy I was able to use this knowledge working for a medical ultrasound company, developing their training courses for technicians who repaired the equipment and doctors who used it. I suppose I am an example of the opportunities that are available in a 20 year Navy career for those who are willing to take advantage of them. Ray

Although I got my degree from Laverne College, I have never seen Laverne College. Make sense? When I was station at Cubi Pt, Philippines from 1973-1976 the Navy had a program where they would provide the classrooms and students and the college would send its instructors to teach Friday afternoon, all day Saturday and half a day Sunday. You could get a degree in 2-3 years. My last tour of duty was at Wahiawa, Hawaii from 1973-1979 and I did the same thing with another California school, Pepperdine University. I earned a Masters Degree in Education at the time. I retired as a Master Chief with a Masters Degree. Never set foot on the Pepperdine campus either. Ray

I am with @XBGuy in that I had never heard of this day as Mathematics Day. Looked it up and it seems to be Mathematics Day in India, not the whole world. For the world, March 14 is Pi Day (3/14 as Pi is 3.14...) and also called Math Day. Like @XBGuy I also received a BA in math at a California college; mine was from LaVerne College (now University of Laverne) on January 30, 1976. I thought we had been to Hakodate. @sailingdutchypictures of the red warehouse shops reminded me we had visited there. Will be there again on 22 April on the Westerdam. I used to be proficient in the slide rule and to mark me as a nerd, I carried a pocket one in my shirt pocket. We were once at a car dealership planning to buy a Pontiac Firebird in 1968. They didn't have the stickers on the window like now that shows the price and all options. They only mentioned the price per monthly payment. I broke out my slide rule and mentioned that the price was almost double what they advertised. The salesman condescendingly said "If you need to save money on a car, maybe you should buy a Volkswagen". I said, "Maybe you are right" and we went directly to the VW dealer and bought a VW fastback. Ray

We had a lot of snow last night and this morning. Stopped for now, but the temperature hovers around freezing. A company was scheduled to start today raising and evening the foundation on my log house. I told them yesterday that they should postpone because of the snow. They said "No problem, we can make it". After destroying a set of tire chains they realized they couldn't make up the steep driveway. Not sure if they will try tomorrow or put it off for a week or two. I thought the drink of the day was amusing. I would modify the recipe by skipping the lemon juice, vermouth, sugar, pumpkin puree, bitters, hard cider and spices. Then I would double the bourbon, add two ice cubes, and enjoy. Ray

Good day from the Pacific Northwest. Luckily, we missed most of the storm that swept across the country this week. Much less pain in my leg, but have to wear the boot for a few more weeks. I wonder who decided that colorful sweaters with a Christmas theme are now "ugly sweaters"? Are those the people we call "Influencers" on social media? Think that I will ignore them. My late cousin was a Navy wife and they were stationed on Guam prior to WW2. Had to be evacuated to the U.S. when the war started. And we also visited it in 2018 on the 60 day Coral Princess cruise, Los Angeles to Los Angeles. I wish there were more cruises like that. Ray