12cruise2

I just wanted to let everyone know that the flu is very apparent and going around on the ship(s). My DH got it and we DID see medical on board week before last, got antibiotics for his flu/lung congestion plus tests, etc. and follow up. As the doctor pointed out, just dayquil and nightquil aren't enough for most flus this fall; problem is with just taking those meds, you remain contagious and give it to the rest of the passengers per him, plus one may not realize the pneumonia you get with it. (I'm not going to keep getting back on this thread with everyone and their opinions.) The flu this fall is more serious per the doctor on board; now all crew members have to mask starting a few days ago. One fellow passenger, who told me she was on for 7 weeks total, has been self-treating and has serious lung congestion and is around the ship coughing up a storm. Apparently refuses to go to the doctor. So, again, this is a heads up to be aware; bring lots of masks and use them as about 1% of passengers are following the suggestion to wear them on all the ships, basically.

From Reova's response, I don't understand whether Volendam has converted to the new TV system yet--have they? For smart aleck ski ww, A lot of us enjoy movies and sports events on the new TVs. We have no interest in sitting in the shows offered, next to coughing, wheezing passengers who refuse to wear masks. Plus the other options of viewing your bill, menus ,etc. are very handy on the new TVs. We have no interest in smart phones for such things. And we cruise for weeks at a time.

With regard to carrying one's passport while off the ship, we were told in Turkey by a state department official while we were on an extensive two-week motor coach tour that we should never carry our actual passport when walking around; that should be left in our safe; instead, we should carry only a paper copy of the passport with us. He said no one should ever demand your passport out on the street; instead, you tell them that it is at your hotel or in your safe on the ship, and that they could accompany you to your hotel/ship to retrieve it (if it was really needed.) This is what we do, we each carry a photocopy of both of our passports. Only once or twice in all our travels has the ship told us we HAVE to carry our passports with us. And we were in Durban on an around-Africa cruise in 2015, and we felt quite uncomfortable as we saw it on a tour; agreed the area around the dock is dicey. I'm so sorry you had the encounter; it is scary and unsettling; glad they didn't get your other things. Thanks for providing the information; this helps remind the rest of us to be cautious when out and about, too.

With regard to trays in hallways, we have had to use room service for the last few days. Clearly short-handed on NA re picking up trays from cabins. We repeatedly have waited more than an hour for tray pickup after calling, and they STILL wouldn't come. We wanted to nap or sleep and had no desire to keep waiting up after an hour. Services aren't answering phones (d.r. reservations, guest services, etc.) This week on NA they were very full with passengers and clearly don't have the staff to do the job in a timely manner. Plus more than 70 staff went home last Sunday and 70 new staff came on board; very green group, not experienced. Yes, tongs; we ALWAYS go to Lido breakfast and lunch even before it opens and get in and out quickly (or room service, which was delicious).

Roy, we had the same exact dinner as you did last night--on the NA. Except we added chocolate sauce to the ice cream! It was interesting to read about the AutoTrain; I didn't know such a train existed. We're on the NA for three more weeks and are in Half Moon Cay today. DH is a bit under the weather, NOT the cov.; he tested twice. I enjoy reading the Daily tho I don't participate much. Thank you all!

Thanks for the heads up. We board the NA tomorrow--for four weeks! We plan to avoid group get-togethers (which we've been doing since 2012) and have our masks that we plan to wear. We've cruised during most months since July 2021. Got covid once--on another cruise line, darn it! It's the wild west out there for sure. We have our latest booster and have our fingers crossed.

We are on that ship in a few weeks, I'd also be interested to know which cabin you were in that was infected.

Yes, but there is no bar code on the boarding pass "long before the cruise" at least on the web wite, which HAL claims they need for check in; I believe bar code appears on the paper boarding pass when a boarding time is assigned, which usually is a few days before boarding.

And in our pre-cruise notifications from HAL received in the last few days for a cruise coming up very soon, of course the instructions say to post everything to Verifly. I think they also use it for ID purposes. We've never used Verifly at all, in lots of cruising in the last year plus. I'm curious as well.

Re the insurance inactivity, some have commented that flood insurance vs homeowners insurance is a problem--which caused the problem first--was it the water or the other storm elements? One more way for insurance to delay payment--each one says the other is responsible. My prayers for those ailing; we seem to have several Central Texas neighbors who are recovering.

Thank you so much for the wonderful blog and pictures. It's a treat to sail along with you.

I'm not aware of any of the expiration dates being extended for the free tests supplied by the U.S. government three times last year. They were not Binax. Some of the eMed tests had the expiration dates extended.

Be sure to check the expiration dates of the free ones we were given (by the U.S. government). Ours were good for only a month after they were issued! Also, I just learned if you have Medicare or other health insurance, you can get 8 free at-home, self- tests A MONTH since the U.S. govt quit giving them out. We got ours a few weeks ago at our local Walgreens by ordering online at the Walgreens web site and they are good for a YEAR. It was so easy. We have Medicare. Here is the info. When you check in with the Walgreen's store, they are through the pharmacy; speak with a pharmacy tech as the first pharmacy person I spoke with after ordering them was clueless. Maybe you could use one of the monitoring services that have popped up. https://www.cms.gov/how-to-get-your-at-home-OTC-COVID-19-test-for-free These would be good to take on the cruise with you; that's what we're doing in a couple of weeks, to have to self-test, in case, as we'll be on the NA for four weeks--hopefully! As far as regular testing at Walgreen's, we've always gotten the monitored rapid antigen covid test at the store for free--including in July and August. There was no question directly related to travel that I had to answer; perhaps one if we were concerned we would be near people who might be infected, that idea, and of course that is a yes. We have never been charged.

Thank you, this worked!

Scrapnana, I tried to get your blog but it wouldn't load. Could you give us the address within a post? I'd love to read more. Thank you.

Yay, you're free. And now you should be fine for the rest of the trip with immunity after just having had it. We'll be following along.

Oh, my gosh. I'm so impressed with the crafting that will be going on. Please post a picture or two of items if possible. When we were on the 89 day Princess Africa cruise Dover, London to Miami similar cruise in 2015, the craft project was amazing: the craft lady somehow had many, many magazines, and they'd meet several times a week plus work in cabins. The task was to make a picture ready to frame that was a depiction of an animal or something related to the cruise--by cutting out tiny bits of colored paper from magazines and crafting the picture. Well, the last few days on the ship, they had an art show. I'm telling you, I've never seen more spectacular art work. The two folks we ate dinner every night with for 89 days were especially artistic--the husband made a picture of the ship. I mean tiny bits of paper cut to make the ship, ALL the portholes, doors, soooo intricate. And the wife made a lion. These were works of art, and the art teacher had them displayed for all passengers to see for sale for hundreds of dollars each--and they were worth it! I'd never seen anything like it. And the sad news for the art teacher--she went to the bank in Cape Town to get money and her passport was stolen in the process!

In Fort Lauderdale, you don't have as much free time to yourself as in other ports. You all have to meet in a pre-arrange lounge area, all get escorted a fair distance to immigration, all wait for all to go through, then be escorted back to the ship. Plus, OP has to change cabins and unpack. Always nice to eat lunch when they open almost by yourself, at least for a little while.

We do this all the time in Fort Lauderdale. Be SURE to take your passports to the meeting of all passengers who will be on B2Bs. Everyone is held up in the meeting room until EVERYONE has his/her passport, so 1) show up on time and 2) WITH your passport. The other trick we do is to bring 8-10 of the fabric tote bags with us--the basically no-weight grocery-type reusable grocery bags, not the heavier canvas ones; I put my loose stuff in the bags; to me, it's sooooo much easier than actually repacking everything in the suitcase. I put my bathroom things in one bag, my shoes in another bag, my "drawer" stuff in another, my safe stuff in another, my desk stuff in another; the stewards put the hanging clothes on a trolley and these bags on them, too; easy peasy I think, and the bags really don't take up room in the suitcase. Plus I use the bags as totes around the ship anyway. The stewards are usually quick about having the new cabin ready; I usually find them and mention it to them in advance--go to wherever they are, mention your situation as a heads up; should go smoothly. Also mention it to your current room stewards. Then either the new stewards hand you your new card keys or you go to the front desk to get them. Touch base with the front desk a couple of days in advance as well.

I always start by writing to the highest level person of the company, so who is CEO of Carnival, then carbon copy the Pres. of Holland America. Many years ago, I complained to my local, chain supermarket after they really messed up my Thanksgiving turkey/stuffing/gravy order and ruined my dinner; I wrote one letter, one page, to the Pres. of the supermarket chain. Within two weeks, the manager of the local supermarket arrived at my front door with a huge food/wine basket and a gift certificate for $200. He said I don't know what you did, ma'am, but I was told to get over here and fix the problem! It went through the company's entire chain of command. Always start high up in a company! (So, Josh Weintein, Pres., CEO and Chief Climate Officer of Carnival Corp. and Stein Kruse, CEO of Holland America Line).

Also, have you tried the HP web site? I usually buy extra/new chargers from the manufacturer. https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/dlp/hp-pavilion-laptop-charger

Scrapnana, Might I ask again--how did you know you were positive and end up in isolation in the first place? Did they test the whole ship? Just curious.

I'm curious--what prompted the covid test in the first place? Did HAL require everyone to be tested? Now, maybe I'm answering my own question--you say you didn't have any symptoms so HAL must have required everyone to be tested? Re second test, she mentioned they came to her room twice in a day--we had that on Celebrity, and the second test was the PCR test to confirm diagnosis. So she might have already had one. One should always request copies in writing of all test results, promptly. I'm so sorry you tested positive; but now, the flip side, is at least after this you'll have 3-4 months of immunity, according to our own doctors. I hope your symptoms remain non-existant or mild at worst.

While I think about it, in August on the Eurodam, we found a wine steward--waxing eloquent, loudly to folks at the next table in the Tamarind. Oh, the pitch went on and on and they were eating it up, so to speak, while we were trying to have a nice dinner. We had to ask the maitre d' there to please have the wine steward lower his voice; we weren't paying a premium to have dinner there to listen to a sales pitch.

What good advice? There isn't any reliable, AND I'm paying 18% tip for the service, so that's on top of the already highly inflated price of a bottle of wine.