ThePenguin1

7 minutes ago, rjbean4 said:

Might help if you take a closer look at what has been going on.  This thread was started by  Kindergirl looking for advice when it was announced her parents were going to have to disembark the Amsterdam which was doing a world cruise in Fremantle, Australia and a lot of people pitching in to help.

I have been following along, hence my comment,  BUT the guys at FlightRadar are probably not and are wondering WHY so many people are watching this plane.  I accept your apology.

Meanwhile over at FlightRadar,  why are so many people watching this one plane?

This is the best thriller I have read in a long time,  so many twist and turns in the story.

7 minutes ago, DoggyDaddy said:

All right, what is a URT? An upper respiratory???

 

DD

The abbrevation for "Unresolved Romantic Tension", a cousin to UST. A facet of many tv shows, movies, and other media such as fanfiction. Occurs frequently between two main characters who either don't realize, or won't admit to harboring infatuation for the other.

3 hours ago, hal2008 said:

 

May be someone on this board will know better.

 

One of the post above as well as CDC website mention that rRT-PCR takes few hours.

 

Why is screening in Japan takes 2-3 days?

You wud assume that people being takem on the evacuation plane by USA wud get the best screening possible but 14 people were found during the transfer from bus to plane based on tests done 2-3 days ago.

 

Bit confused.

Its just logistics, the lab might be miles away.

The Japan Government was only using "government labs" for running the tests,  they are now allowing "private pathology labs" to run tests which is allowing for quicker results.

Serious question to do with corona virus,  If confined to your room for 2 weeks would they let you smoke on your balcony?  I could not go 2 weeks without a smoke.  Perhaps the rules would be relaxed if quarantined inside your cabin? Anybody onboard know?

11 hours ago, RuthC said:

My muster in Barcelona, joining a segment of a longer cruise, was about the same experience as yours. 
Everyone reported to the same lifeboat, heard a very short talk, and were dismissed. Couldn't have been a full five minutes. 

Thank you Ruth C for the backup.

5 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Not true. Takes maybe 20 minutes.  Smaller group, more focused. I know because we were a small group that joined a cruise in progress. 

Unless you are a Indonesian crew member or my wife how dare you comment on my trustfulness of my comment timing.  After speaking with my wife, she advised that it was way under 5 minutes for the two of us to receive our briefing in Barcelona.   Your observation may have been different to ours, but I stand correct in my recollection.

If you check in and go back ashore and "miss" the muster drill, its awesome,  you get invited to your own muster drill and it doesn't take more than 3 minutes. Best tip I ever got.

Short answer YES,  You are 100% correct in your thinking.

We always stay at The Yokohama Bay Hotel,  it has lots of shops/restaurants downstairs and is only a $8 taxi to the port (5 min).

I always ask for and receive two shots of Grey Goose in a tall glass to take back to my room, it is charged as two drinks though on to the SBP.

I just navigated this yesterday for the first time,  the guy on the phone was so helpful.  We booked a 12 night from Rome in Oct 2020 ( with free SBP) last week then received an email yesterday.  We re-fared and saved $500 and still got SBP plus free gratuities.  So ended up saving $850 in the space of 7 days.

Bob, we did this 2 years ago and had a balcony,  "realistically" we spent 15 minutes out there looking at the glacier taking some photos etc. and then back inside and walking around the ship.  The outside public areas were a mad rush for the first 20 minutes then thinned right out.  Although its nice to have a balcony, If you need to save the cash, you are not missing out on anything by not having one.

7 minutes ago, TTFromSommersTown said:

p.s I applied for my Australian eTA on Friday and from the time that I pressed enter on the last page until it was approved was less than 10 seconds.

On behalf of Australia, we apologize for your lengthy delay.  This process should take no longer than 2-3 seconds.  I`ll get the tech guy`s onto it right away.😁

On 7/3/2019 at 7:41 AM, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

We had Khachapuri which is a Georgian cheese bread

 

 

Quote

This looks awesome, I`m going to find a recipe and give it a whirl.

1 hour ago, DeeniEncinitas said:

We always stay at EUROSTAR GRAND MARINA HOTEL.

 

We always stay here to, Its nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of Las Ramblas, but only a stones throw away.

Price check stopping in Hawaii on the way home for a couple of nights,  it really breaks up the long trip home.

We couldn't take coffee off the ship throughout Japan either.

7 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I suspect that, like many things HAL, it varies from ship to ship.

It was on a TA on the Oosterdam back in October.

The SBP still allows you to get drinks from the Explorations Cafe on the final morning, we got coffees, water and cans of soft drink before departing the ship.

The great thing about HAL ships and the clientele, is you can always walk straight up to any bar and get served straight away.

You should see what the NSA has on you.😁

A 7 day Caribbean cruise would also attract a very different clientele compared to a Panama cruise.

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

 

You had no coffee cup lids on a HAL ship?

Hi Copper,  On the Oosterdam Transatlantic back in Oct/Nov,  I asked for a lid and was told "we have stopped using lids to reduce our use of plastics to save the environment".  I was shocked as I see it as a health and safety issue.