PRINCESS CRUISERS: HOW ARE THINGS WHERE YOU ARE?!

[Reader0108598]

23 hours ago, Cruzinnana47 said:

Like LuckyTgo, we live in MA...(SE part of state)...we aren't expecting snow here tomorrow...but it's going to be COLD, rainy & windy...we were supposed to be flying from BOS to LAX TODAY to stay in LA overnight and start the 1st of our 2 cruises on 5/9.  We expect to celebrate our "non-cruise"  by having Margaritas and an international meal tomorrow.   We just reached our 52nd anniv. this week---would have celebrated that on this trip...stocked up at our local liquor store today (or "Packy" as we call them in these parts...LOL).  

 

We all just have to do what we can to enjoy our new normal!🍷🍹🥂🍸

Happy Anniversay! We celebrate our 40th on the 26th we were also suppose to be on a cruise😞  One good thing you don't want to be flying in this wind! Hello from Western Mass 🙂 I love it "The packy"! lol Try that in Canada they look at you like your nuts...lol Enjoy your drinks,and food  🙂

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2020 by Reader0108598

[Ombud]

I'm looking for things to be thankful for as we embark on the 8th week of Shelter in Place:

 

1. Cruise Critic members for letting me know that 1 of my cruises was canceled so I could complete the form (I was preoccupied with another task). I don't get emails from Princess

2. The Princess horn symphony that I find here

3. Knowing that although I am home (almost) alone, I am not alone ..... others are in the same virtual 'boat' as me

4. I'm only waiting on $5000 to my credit card + 537 FCC. I've gotten the rest and had I gone on those 3 cancelled cruises, that money would have been gone by now anyway 

5. He's been home from college since Shelter in Place closed campuses March 16th. Forgot how much he eats 

6. All adults were 'furloughed' March 16, 2019. 1 goes back Monday, 1 goes back when schools open, 1 is now unemployed as they shut doors permanently 

 

I thought there were 6 Coronavirus cases in my city but turns out there were just 5. I know only 1 person who caught Coronavirus, he died.

[Ombud]

On 5/7/2020 at 2:32 PM, Thrak said:

Celebrated our 48th anniversary yesterday. Drove to Almendra Winery & Distillery in Durham - a very small town nearby where I lived when I was young - and purchased a pizza and 2 bottles of sanitizer that they are producing. (One leaked on the way home and almost the entire bottle of 144 proof alcohol sanitizer leaked out. I have a very sanitized spot on the floor of my truck.) Ordered it all in advance to be picked up. Drove from there to the Durham Park. In the very large park there were very few people. We were never closer than about a bazillion feet from anybody else. We sat in the shade and ate our pizza. We did interact at a store on the way home as we stopped at Schubert's Ice Cream and bought cones of freshly made ice cream. (We ate them in the truck.) Pretty snazzy anniversary celebration.  It was soooooooooooo good to be out.

 

 

Note: For those who feel we violated the rules I offer the "official" info from the local government website for our area:

 

 

A few local restaurants have announced they are going to start allowing inside dining with restrictions. Although we would love to at least go out for breakfast we won't be doing so. To quote Ducky from The Land Before Time, "Nope, nope, nope."

Each county seems to be doing their own thing

 

Stay cool up there. 97° today

Edited May 9, 2020 by Ombud

[Norcalcouple]

Where is your cruise ship?

In case you missed it, here's a link to an interesting story about all of the cruise ships anchored in the Caribbean because there's no place to dock them.

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8301937/Satellite-images-reveal-fleets-cruise-ships-clustering-Caribbean-Philippines.html

[Thrak]

22 minutes ago, Norcalcouple said:

Where is your cruise ship?

In case you missed it, here's a link to an interesting story about all of the cruise ships anchored in the Caribbean because there's no place to dock them.

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8301937/Satellite-images-reveal-fleets-cruise-ships-clustering-Caribbean-Philippines.html

 

I don't normally check the Daily Mail links as the page whines at me to kill my ad blocker. Since it shows as blocking fifty different things on that first page I don't want to disable the blocker. Unblocking ads is one thing but that's a freaking crazy number of intrusive items.

 

Note: Just looked back at the open page and the number jumped to 92 blocked items.

[Thrak]

Going on an "Adventure" in a bit. Going out to the grocery store. It's been a while...

[dosperegrinos]

Coopco:  enjoyed your email because it hits the high notes and low notes perfectly.  Looking back in time to WWII when one of the big things was the rationing of meat, butter, fresh produce.  When Historians write about our rationed items, masks, hand sanitizers and toilet paper I imagine it will still be a subject of jokes.  But what your note also feels like is what I believe is happening to us.  I am picking up on a sense of acceptance now, not only from you but others too. Not a mellowing, but a "rising to the occasion".   As all of this sinks in, the losses are not just numbers, they are people, jobs, savings and goals.  That is a lot to process. But why we write here is because we know we can adapt and will to the new way.  It will take awhile, but I'll be back out there with you,  cruising.   Keep safe &  Carry on.

[Cruzinnana47]

9 hours ago, Reader0108598 said:

Happy Anniversay! We celebrate our 40th on the 26th we were also suppose to be on a cruise😞  One good thing you don't want to be flying in this wind! Hello from Western Mass 🙂 I love it "The packy"! lol Try that in Canada they look at you like your nuts...lol Enjoy your drinks,and food  🙂

 

 

Thank you!   Yes, only someone from MA would get "the packy"....

BTW, we did have a nice day---in spite of the fact it was "wicked" (another MA expression) windy & cold.  Had margaritas at 4pm for our mock sailaway drink.  

Hope you have a very Happy 40th Anniversary and find something special to do that day.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Cruzinnana47

[Reader0108598]

7 hours ago, Cruzinnana47 said:

Thank you!   Yes, only someone from MA would get "the packy"....

BTW, we did have a nice day---in spite of the fact it was "wicked" (another MA expression) windy & cold.  Had margaritas at 4pm for our mock sailaway drink.  

Hope you have a very Happy 40th Anniversary and find something special to do that day.

Boy that wind today! Glad you had a good time 🙂

 

[Kenosha Cruiser]

Thought I would check in after a couple weeks being silent. First of all, happy "Mother's Day" to all you moms! Wish I could take my wife and family out to a restaurant to celebrate, but will have to settle again for pickup food. I'm glad the warmer weather is arriving, spent yesterday digging up a patch of lawn at my daughter's house to plant a garden in the coming days. I love being outside when all possible. I'm still wondering about the cruise we have booked on the Ruby Princess for Sept. 26 out of Seattle round trip. It's the first cruise after the canceled Alaskan season that is still scheduled to go. It's a northern California coastal cruise. I have until July 26 to make final payment and will wait till that date to do so, but I have my doubts this cruise will happen. On the home front in Wisconsin, we are still in lock down mode till May 26th. I don't understand these protesters with guns storming our state capital and other areas demanding the governor open everything up. What's a couple more weeks of waiting. I'd rather be safe than sorry (just my feelings). Our city (Kenosha, Wi.) now has 629 coronavirus cases with 19 deaths. Wisconsin as a whole has 10,000 cases and about 400 deaths. I've heard some news that a vaccine may be available by Sept., that would be incredible if true. Hope everyone is doing the best they can. Stay safe!

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

 

[voljeep]

4 minutes ago, Kenosha Cruiser said:

First of all, happy "Mother's Day" to all you moms!

yes, from us as well … wow, what a difference a year makes, huh ?

 

last Mothers Day - at this time - about noon - we had driven down to PE/FLL, checked into the Hilton Marina for a 2 night pre-cruise stay ( something we had never done before ) - and were waiting at the Southport Raw Bar, seated at a nice outdoor table, having lunch,  waiting for the text stating our room was ready ..

 

this was the little 4 day cruise on the CB after the 'dry/wetdock' to fix the propulsion issues as I remember.  We were very fortunate enough to be able to accept an upsell to a PH suite ! ( again, something we had never done before , and haven't since) 

 

but back to the current day ...

 

stay safe

peace out

[avonlady6390]

I was on that cruise as well since I live in florida I booked 2weeks in advance for a quick getaway.  The drive down to Ft. Lauderdale was horrible rain coming down in buckets and very windy.

[Lindaru]

Happy Mums Day to all!

One year ago today we were in Lakewood, Washington, in the America Best Inn, where we spent the day with my step-son and his family in Spanaway.  This was the day before our Alaskan cruise departing out of Seattle and our first cruise ever to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.

The weather was beautiful and starting to get pretty warm (the trip from McCall, Idaho, to there was cool and cloudy with the threat of rain).

We parked our Ford Bronco there where it would stay until we returned and loaded the majority of our luggage into their SUV.  Step-son would be driving us to Pier 91 the next day.

I remember feeling all the butterflies of anticipation as we hung out in their back yard after dinner and discussing what it might be like to cruise.  Daughter-in-law had purchased a cruise for her parents a while back and assured us that we would just love it.

We are venturing to the store today.  Hubby insists on getting me flowers for Mothers Day, so will make him happy by picking some out.  Also hoping to see some decent brand of toilet paper I can snag as my last toilet paper purchase was in March and it is soon to run out.

We are in Phase 1 and should hear in a few days if we have met the criteria to advance to the next phase.  Retail has opened for curb side pick up, children summer outdoor activities and day care, and some outdoor areas to the public with social distancing.  Bars, indoor restaurants, gyms, salons and the like are still closed.  Those of us older folks are still encouraged to stay home as much as possible.  We were only going to the store once every eight to 12 days (that much only because things were out of stock) and now it has only been six days since our last time out.  Hubby is feeling a bit more adventurous, I believe, because I had no plans to go anywhere today until he said we were.

Stay safe all!
 

[Thrak]

Son-in-law complained of intense abdominal pain on Friday night. Took him to the hospital and they kept him for surgery. Removed his gallbladder yesterday and he'll be coming back later today. On the plus side the surgery went well and he had to be cleared for corona virus before they would do the procedure so we know he doesn't have the crud. He has one week on his new job and this had to happen. The surgeon claims he will be back to work in no time but it's really terrible timing for a new job. I think he's safe though as the company that hired him was pretty much thrilled to find someone with his level of skills and emergency surgery is, by definition, unplanned and unavoidable.

[dosperegrinos]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

 

Frank Del Rio's President of NCL Cruise Lines, message is now on the front page at cruisecritic.com. Interesting VEEEEEERRRRRY interesting.  Good article with a tie-in to also info on all of the major Cruise Lines. Perhaps a glimmer of hope.

[LoriPhil]

Thrak  - So sorry about your SILs surgery but glad they got it handled quickly.  Emergency rooms can be troubling but they are probably one of the cleanest, most protected areas around these days.  I spent about 3 hours at ours last weekend with my 100 y/o mom, who fell and broke her tibia and ankle.  Unfortunately they had to take her to rehab because she is not ambulatory and needs fairly constant medical and therapeutic care during coming weeks.  Happily it’s a great facility with no Covid, and in lockdown for the duration (all new patients are quarantined in their rooms for first 14 days, with all rooms being large, private and equipped with lift chairs and work tables).  Hate that she’s going through this right now but moms a toughie and calls daily, and I bring care packages of my yummy oatmeal cookies, special notes and cards a few times a week.  Well... drat.

 

78 deaths in our county but the numbers have slowed.   Phil and I are geezers so we stick close to home and I always mask-up when at the store - senior hour grocery shopping at 6 am is great!  Gov is slowly opening up some commerce with cautious restrictions to start, though Mayors can institute more stringent rules (eg, Denver retained lockdown until May 8).  Take-out only for restaurants still, which is fine with us; love those left-overs!

 

In the meantime the trees are beginning to blossom, oaks are budding out and bears are roaming the neighborhood.  Got stung by a bee that slipped up my pant leg today while I was raking.  Ah, Spring.  Think I’ll go pour some wine now.

 

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by LoriPhil

[Lindaru]

Almost forgot!  One year ago today on May 11, 2019, the two hour drive from Spanaway to Pier 91.  I remember seeing a Princess cruise ship (ours) as we rounded a curve to go to the passenger drop-off.  I remember how excited I was to see it and know that it was real!

The lines to get through everything went pretty smoothly and quickly as we had an aft suite and got the priority lines.  We did have quite a bit of carry on because of needing to make sure we had clothes for the next day in case something happened to our luggage, our camera equipment, tablet, lap top, first aid bag and the like.  The first thing that happened when we got on the ship was someone wanted to take our photograph.  It was already hot in Seattle and I was a sweaty mess.  Really not a good time to get a photograph taken but what can you do?  I wanted to head to the aft elevators but I was directed towards the piazza elevators where we had the long walk once we got off with our luggage to our suite.  Got in.  Set things down.  Turned on the television so it could run its safety message course in order to be able to get to the real programs.  Unpacked and soon it was time to navigate the stairs down to Club Fusion for our muster drill.  Hubby walks very slow on stairs and we were huddled into an area of people standing shoulder to shoulder.  After that was over, went back and unpacked, and soon I felt the ship moving.

 

I remembered to grab my camera and go out onto the balcony so that I could get video of us sailing away and some still pictures.  After I had gotten plenty of those, we headed to the buffet which was not crowded at all where we got an ocean view table and were even joined by a gentleman who had chosen bananas for his meal.

Afterwards we went out for a smoke on the promenade deck in the smoking area and then back up to Lido so that I could try one of those mocha milk shakes.  It was love at first taste!  I made sure to have one sometimes two of those every day on our cruise.

We walked around the piazza for a bit and then headed to our suite.  It was time to kick off shoes and watch something on the television.  We were both pretty exhausted.

 

[nini]

Thrak- I am so glad that your SIL's surgery went well and that he could have

it taken care of!

[LoriPhil]

What great memories from your cruise last year - don't you love Alaska?  We were originally scheduled to be flying out to Vancouver today for our 12-day Alaska Cruise on the Pacific Princess (2 days pre-cruise at Pan Pacific).  Ah well - have booked the same itinerary for next May on the Coral and will also do the same when the 2022 Alaska cruises are available, as a backstop.

 

Today we've finally got a cloudy, cool, moist morning promising some rain that reminds us so much of an early-season stop in Juneau.  Think I'll take my coffee out on the deck and day-dream a bit.  All we need are the sounds of eagles and gulls.  Ahhhh, nice!

[Lindaru]

3 hours ago, LoriPhil said:

What great memories from your cruise last year - don't you love Alaska?  We were originally scheduled to be flying out to Vancouver today for our 12-day Alaska Cruise on the Pacific Princess (2 days pre-cruise at Pan Pacific).  Ah well - have booked the same itinerary for next May on the Coral and will also do the same when the 2022 Alaska cruises are available, as a backstop.

 

Today we've finally got a cloudy, cool, moist morning promising some rain that reminds us so much of an early-season stop in Juneau.  Think I'll take my coffee out on the deck and day-dream a bit.  All we need are the sounds of eagles and gulls.  Ahhhh, nice!

 

We are having the same kind of weather here today.  I was wearing shorts the previous two days (like I was doing a year ago) and now time for the wind breaker.

The funny thing is we have a wooden front deck and walk-way.  As crazy as it sounds, I sometimes stand outside in the sun and breeze with my coffee in hand and pretend I am on the wooden promenade deck of a cruise ship.

We do not have sea gulls but we do have osprey, so it sounds a little similar to the eagles.

😁

 

[MixerDave]

On 5/8/2020 at 10:56 AM, cheone said:

Only essential travel is allowed in our state until Mid June.  My county has had 36  Coronavirus cases.  Our Governor Inslee on Tuesday, May 5th  did allow members of the household to be in our cars (Prior to that, only  the driver}.  Golfing, fishing, Landscaping, Car Washers with stringent restrictions are  now allowed. No other busineses including all Professionals, including doctors and Dentists are not allowed to open.   Even though Washington State has had a steady drop in Coronavirus since April 1st, Gov Inslee is keeping essential travel and businesses  closed.  He did order that all prisoners over 55 years old, including a serial killer that had 49 murder convictions, to be released from prison.  Luckily, the Supreme court ruled against Gov. Inslee.  Gov Inslee has said that there is a Silver lining with this is that there has been a 70%  reduction in  usage of Carbon-based fuel.

 

Look at the states that are on lock down - all Demoncrat governors.  Let the prisoners out.  In San FranCisco  the homeless now are housed in motels and are supplied alcohol and drugs!

[Ombud]

S submitted his thesis 'draft' today but it's fairly polished. Unfortunately he also just got an email that state university will primarily be in 'distance learning' mode next term. He needs to submit the final thesis by Friday. He has a potential job waiting. I've told him it might be a good time to either get his teaching credential (he already teaches 1 class daily) or do a gap year and grad school in 2021-2023. It's going to be rough out here

Edited May 13, 2020 by Ombud

[Lindaru]

One year ago, May 12, 2019, a sea day!  Lots of photographs of the coast line as we sailed along.

After breakfast, toured around some more and visited the casino.  Hubby played a few games and then we wandered over to Speak Easy to have a couple of smokes and watch the movies playing on the television.  We did later visit the promenade smoking area, but it was rather cold and windy to be out there very long.

 

Discovered the International Cafe and fell in love with their lattes.  Now I had two places to go to wet my whistle!

A few more visits to Speak Easy during the rest of the day, a nice hot soak in the tub, and got to wear the Princess robe and slippers for the first time before retiring to a documentary about the Beatles on our suite television where I promptly fell asleep long enough to almost miss dinner time.

 

😴

 

[Lucky TGO]

Everything is great right now in Boston. The Rowboat is set to go on the first cruise of the year. 
 

[dides]

Just found this thread - been so interesting to read everyone's experiences!  We're from London in the UK.   We are on day 51 of official lockdown but both of us have been working from home since 18th March. Chris is based upstairs in the spare room and I'm in the lounge. We try and "meet" each other for lunch each day just to see a real person rather than looking at folks on endless Teams calls. We never liked working from home when it was an option so finding it hard - all the days merge into one. There have been some furloughs and reduced hours at my company but waiting to see if more are on the cards now the government are extending their scheme.

 

Since we both have (under control) health conditions that class us as "clinically vulnerable" we are trying to avoid grocery queues - initially we had wait times of 45 minutes to get in and 30 minutes to get served at a till. The anxiety of trying to avoid non-socially distancing fellow shoppers and shelf-stackers without masks also made it an exhausting experience. So I found myself stalking the online grocery delivery slots and have now managed to get regular weekly deliveries to our door. We used to have a cruise planner on our wall but now it's a whiteboard so we can track the "use by" dates of our perishable goods. Not fond of advanced meal planning.

 

Until today, we were limited to only going out for essential shopping and once a day for exercise. Now we can travel where we want (within England) and for an unlimited number of times per day. We have found it too busy on the roads outside our house to exercise so plan to go out to the countryside more. Really miss seeing and hugging our elderly parents so have to hope they introduce this social "bubble" concept where we can meet regularly and exclusively with another household. Which parents do we choose though?

 

On the cruise front, we had a short preview cruise on Celebrity Apex cancelled around 2 weeks before embarkation. We were very happy to get our refund after 6 weeks. We cancelled the Enchanted Princess Preview cruise from Rome ourselves before final payment as Italy had it bad way before we did. And our Crown Princess cruise in October from Southampton just got cancelled. Our other Princess cruises this year leave from Port Everglades but I can't see us boarding a plane to get to the US this year. Realistically I think we might be waiting on a vaccine...

 

Sandra (and Chris)

 

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by dides