IRL_Joanie

On 5/12/2020 at 3:22 PM, PromenadeDeckWriter said:

Hello all, 

 

I came to revisit my post and realized that I never completed my write-up! Apologies to those who waited and were not rewarded with the rest of the details. It's been three years and I still remember that particular crossing. 

 

(Note: I am posting under a new name due to cyberbullying that made me abandon my prior one, and one of the reason why I was off the boards for a few years. Hopefully the experience will be better this time around). 

 

If there are folks that are still interested in "the rest of the tale", I'd be happy to complete this one. (Won't be hard to do so as I have my journal and copious notes). In fact, I am turning this adventure into a book, so hence the reason for "research" through my old post for the nostalgic reminders. 

 

Hope everyone is doing well considering the things going on in the world around us. 

So sorry to hear of your cyber bulling problems:(  BUT very glad to see you back with CC:)  Oh yes!!!  please continue your postings. Even after 3 years it will be appreciated!!

Joanie

On 5/12/2020 at 3:22 PM, PromenadeDeckWriter said:

Hello all, 

 

I came to revisit my post and realized that I never completed my write-up! Apologies to those who waited and were not rewarded with the rest of the details. It's been three years and I still remember that particular crossing. 

 

(Note: I am posting under a new name due to cyberbullying that made me abandon my prior one, and one of the reason why I was off the boards for a few years. Hopefully the experience will be better this time around). 

 

If there are folks that are still interested in "the rest of the tale", I'd be happy to complete this one. (Won't be hard to do so as I have my journal and copious notes). In fact, I am turning this adventure into a book, so hence the reason for "research" through my old post for the nostalgic reminders. 

 

Hope everyone is doing well considering the things going on in the world around us. 

So sorry to hear of your cyber bullying problems:(  Believe me I do understand:( BUT very glad to see you back with CC:)  Oh yes!!!  please continue your postings. Even after 3 years it will be appreciated!!

Joanie

My favorite 2 are:

Hunky Dory now known as Imam. He was our Lido Tray manager on our very first cruise May 2008 on the Oosterdam. Once he knew your name he remembered you forever. Last time we cruised with him was aboard Zuiderdam September 2011 where he was making his way the HAL ladder as a 3rd MDR manager.

Walter aka Wally My "1st Son" on the Zuiderdam (I think 2015 or 16). He is/was one of the Lido Aft Bar waiters who adopted me as his "Mommy". As I said, he was/is My 1st son. Over the next 3 weeks I became Mommy to all the Bar Staff and Grandma to dozens:)

I miss being able to cruise. Lord to be on a HAL ship when this crap  is over.

Joanie

49 minutes ago, Himself said:

Are the National Parks in the lower 48 also going to be closed til July 1?

Father, after doing a quick Google Search I found their Offficial Site with regards to all of their Parks.

Joanie

https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/news/public-health-update.htm

6 minutes ago, Himself said:

My question is Will we have an Alaska season and  if we do have one, when will it start?

If we do have an Alaska season Father, it will not start before 1 July......

Joanie

On 3/25/2020 at 7:17 AM, golfer1903 said:

Ok Hal. It’s been two weeks now since all broke loose 

your emails state Alaska cruises in May stay tuned while we work on current cruises don’t call us n

 

cant wait till last min to find out we been canceled have to make other plans for different type of vacation

 

Do the right thing already and send info on if Alaska’s or Seattle or what’s doing on with Canada and the laws  around there closure 

 

I see glacier bay is closed till July ?  Does that include cruise ships or just land type tours

 

i understand the let’s be kind and wait but a lot of us suffer from anxiety and need some type of info or update or final decision so we can carry on

Just an FYI: Glacier Bay is only cruising. No walking just stay on the ship and enjoy:)

Joanie

22 hours ago, Himself said:

 

 

 

Is this written in stone?  What if this passes by mid May?

I do not know how hard the "stone" is.

Here is one of the written word sites:  https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Alaskan-destinations-among-National-Park-Services-delayed-openings-closures-568978331.html

Joanie

12 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Agree - very optimistic.  Not only are we still in the midst of all of this virus, the Canadian ports are closed until July 1st.

Also closed until 1 July are ALL National Parks in Alaska to include Glacier Bay and Denali.

Joanie

On 3/19/2020 at 11:43 AM, GreenValleyDogWalker said:

Returned from a wonderful, relaxing cruise (Mexican Riviera) on March 7th

 

Discovered several red bites on my back on about the the 10th of March - itchy, itchy, itchy !

 

After trying SEVERAL different lotions, creams, etc. to stop the itch, for the last week, finally went to the Dr. yesterday - and was diagnosed with bed bug bites ! Dr. thought about 10 days old.

I always sleep on my back - My husband has Sleep Apnea - DID not sleep on a bed in our stateroom on the ship, but sitting up in a chair, next to his CPAP machine. - he has NO bites ! 

Just thought everyone should be aware. 

 

I am going to send an email to the execs at HAL - 

One and only cruise we took to Cazumel, Cabo etc., aboard Oosterdam in 2011, I started itching like crazy before we headed to San Diego. I had what appeared to be bites on my lower legs and ankles. Hubby had nothing (we do share a bed.)

It was not until we were home and I realized that these were not BB bites as I'd suspected but Sand Fleas. Sand fleas are nearly invisible, though I did see a couple while I was lazing on my verandah.

My Dr did say that it is almost impossible to tell the difference sometimes between bites of various insects....

Joanie

Just read in Cruise Industry News

QUOTE: "Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) saw two of its ships, the Columbus and Vasco da Gama, meet some 12 nautical miles off the coast of Phuket, Thailand to undertake a unique passenger transfer and repatriation operation involving 239 passengers." UNQUOTE

More Here: https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22639-cmv-pulls-off-at-sea-passenger-transfer-between-ships.html

Joanie

DELETED

Joanie

5 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

I appreciate the new thread.  For the last couple of days I tried reading the other thread and found it to be very hard to determine was was real and what wasn't.

Thanks KK. I felt the same way.

I'm happy to have this thread!!

Joanie

Just saw this on Yahoo News. Awesome to see the Cambodian Premier shaking the hands of Westerdam Passengers as they came off the ship:) https://www.yahoo.com/news/video/cruise-passengers-took-cambodia-bus-204551389.html

Joanie

3 hours ago, AlanF65 said:

 

Joanie,

How it appears on a desktop:

 

How it appears  on a Galaxy S9+ (only much smaller), its not the color, its the font, its a problem for the forum software.

Since the post you've quoted, I have changed the font and color. I am now using Tahoma as the font at  size 18, with the color being #000066.

Sail, can you try again? I think you, as well as AlanF65 may have posted to a slightly older post:)

The only thing I have left to change would be the size of the font.

Joanie

Joanie

4 minutes ago, fatcat04 said:

Perfect. 😀

Thank you!!

Joanie

13 hours ago, DivotMaker said:

 

Thanks for posting this...Indeed very hard to read (see below)

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, I've changed the color, and noted someone above posted my favorite font causes problems, and now that I can actually see what the problems are, let's see if this post is better.

Edited: Thanks to all for their Screen Shots. What gets me on seeing them is the Font is NOT Comic Sans Serif, which is the font I have always used. I've chosen Tahoma for this post.

Joanie

15 hours ago, Aquahound said:

 

Joanie, I don't know if anyone has told you this, but your font is almost totally unreadable on mobile devices.  There's a problem with this site pertaining to that particular font (comic sans).  I highly suggest changing it so your posts can be read.

Hmmmm...... Can you take a screen shot of one of my posts, such as this one? I cannot see any problems with the preview of all devices it shows (The final button up top right)

I've tried a modified color of the one I've been using, so if it id the color then I fixed it. If not......

Joanie

1 hour ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

Pointless thread. Wrong place, wrong time for these ships. It has nothing to do with them being Carnival Corp. it could’ve happened to any ship in the region. 

What I find funny is that a few booked passengers are upset that even though the ports of entry were closed by Government Agencies and have placed at least 2 cruise ships under full mandatory quarantine, they seem to not feel any anger at the airlines who have stopped all flights into and out of the same cities/ports.

Take a breather people. Life is worth living, even if it means we quarantine a couple of cruise ships for a few days.

EDITED: I hear no demands of the airlines to protect us from any airborne contaminants. Is it their job to do so or the cruise lines....I would like to see that, but they cannot. So all I can say is Deal With It as life continues on.

Joanie

On 2/2/2020 at 7:10 PM, sail7seas said:

We can all  guess bu t, is there someone  here  who would  really know if an entire ship fully  crewed and full of guests could/would be quarantined.  Hypotheticals  are not my favorite but my

 

guess, is Yes.  If there were confirmed cases of the virus, they would  load  necessary provisions, tie up the ship, quarantine all   on board and only those who would assist in  taking care of the ill and assessing the situation would  come aboard.  CDC , NIH,  in   (  U.S.),   WHO and the like

 

bUT it would be terrific if someone here could give a reliable response    to a very interesting (IMO)  question.

 

 

 

I think the cruise line(s) have to wait to see what official responses are from varying agencies, CDC, US Embassy, and other types of carriers such as Airlines and possibly Cargo ships.

This morning my Yahoo News has this: "Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - Cruise lines worldwide will deny boarding to passengers and crew who have recently travelled to China, a global industry body said Monday, as fears grow over the deadly new coronavirus." Full story here: https://www.yahoo.com/news/cruise-ships-ban-recent-china-visitors-global-industry-102710302.html

I believe that everyone is trying their darndest to keep the Corona Virus from spreading and killing millions.

Joanie

On 1/28/2020 at 10:58 AM, CruiserBruce said:

What differences were you expecting to see? As you point out, the operation to present 2000 dinners as opposed to 5000 is just a matter of scaling up.

That is the only difference I see between the 2. HAL does the exact same, just on a smaller scale.

Joanie

OK, so the title off  the page is, "Inside Carnival’s massive cruise ship kitchen operations," but I see no difference between Carnival and HAL, except for the number of passengers and Crew.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/inside-carnival-massive-cruise-ship-193945452.html

Joanie

12 hours ago, Iggysue said:

We do aft wraparounds every year - they are our first choice!  We are usually Deck 7 or 8 though - so perhaps being further away from the engines would make a difference.  We have never had the problems you've described!

Before Hubby started cruising alone we always booked an aft wrap around. On the Vista ships we did our best to book Deck 5 aft wraps. We never ever heard engine noise, nor any other noises.

Joanie

19 hours ago, sail7seas said:

Joanie,  Nice to see you posting.  Hope you have been well.

Uh Yeah I definitely get it Sail!!

I am doing OK:) I'd love to be on a cruise instead of home but...... So while Roger is cruising I get a chance to have a StayCation:) I I LOVE having Grubhub and Doordash:)

Joanie

16 hours ago, T8NCruise said:

 

A Freaking Men???

If you slam a door on your fingers - very ouchy, and I sympathise - no one's fault but yours.

Oh yeah it was very very ouchy:)  But heck, it allowed me to give the middle finger salute to the Captain:) It was also hilarious when we pointed out to the Canadian Nurse, who'd bandaged me, that the way it was wrapped and looked like a 'male' uh..er....how to say this and stay in family mode..........body part.....LOL  She was so embarrassed:)

Joanie

19 hours ago, sail7seas said:

It is a  word we see  /read here and itr always seems to make me thinkof  someone begging to get as much out of an undesireable situation as they can squeezefrom a bad cicumstance

 

Machines breakon land, at sea., did you  never lose hot water or heat in your home   or place   of  business?   Did you never see or hear of a burst  pipe in a friends', neighbors', family members' home?  Probably not their fault but oh gee, if that had been on a ship, it likely was not anyone's fault so why should there be an expectation of 'payment' fo some inconevience?  Anyone agree?  Most  disagree with me?When we see   posts from  cruisers on a ship where something went amiss,why do they run here to ask, how  much should I get?

 

 

I am very uncomfortable with some of that attitude.

 

The worst, IMO , are the long lines of complainers when weather has  caused a delay or missed port  Weather?  Since when did HAL get the chore of causing b ad  weather?

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Freaking Men!!!!!!!!!!!

Did I ask or demand ComPensation from HAL when my Veranda door slammed shut with 4 of my fingers getting caught in it, when 1 of them requiring stitches?  NO I did not! I did not ask for or even demand all the required medical attention that was required for the daily Doctor's care I had to undergo. HAL did not charge me a dime for the Medical.

Sail, I think in this day and age, people are enabled to the point of a kind of Gimme, Gimme mentality?

Joanie