The Virtual Explorers' Lounge

[Hobson1754]

1 hour ago, Twitchly said:

Well, we did it — 21 days’ worth of packing in carryons and one personal item apiece! It helps that the personal item is big, but it will fit under the seat in front of me. Especially when I remove the bulky neck pillow that’s inside!
 

Except that there’s no actual seat in front of us, since we’re in the front row. Guess we’ll see how that goes.
 

We leave for London this afternoon, spending a few days there before we hop on board Mars next week. Hard to believe this is finally happening after canceling last winter! I can taste that waffle now …

Very impressed - have to say your carry on looks nearly as big as my case but maybe it’s the angle in the photo.  You may find London a little unsettled when you arrive tomorrow as, & you may have heard, we are all awaiting news of the Queen who we believe is very ill.  Hope it doesn’t blight your time in London. Safe travels.

[Twitchly]

54 minutes ago, Hobson1754 said:

Very impressed - have to say your carry on looks nearly as big as my case but maybe it’s the angle in the photo.  You may find London a little unsettled when you arrive tomorrow as, & you may have heard, we are all awaiting news of the Queen who we believe is very ill.  Hope it doesn’t blight your time in London. Safe travels.

We just heard of her passing. How very sad. She is irreplaceable.

 

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by Twitchly

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, Twitchly said:

We just heard of her passing. How very sad. She is irreplaceable.

 

 

Here is a good writeup of what is planned after her death. Tomorrow at noon the bells of St Paul’s and Westminster Abbey will toll for one hour. God Save the King.

Edited September 8, 2022 by OneSixtyToOne

[Twitchly]

2 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Here is a good writeup of what is planned after her death. Tomorrow at noon the bells of St Paul’s and Westminster Abbey will toll for one hour. God Save the King.

Thanks for that.
 

Our hotel is next to Buckingham Palace. We arrive tomorrow morning. I imagine the crowds will be considerable.

[OneSixtyToOne]

21 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

Thanks for that.
 

Our hotel is next to Buckingham Palace. We arrive tomorrow morning. I imagine the crowds will be considerable.

The ascension council meets tomorrow to officially name the king at St. James Palace. The next day, King Charles III attends and the official proclamation is read followed by the singing of God Save the King for the first time since 1952. That is followed by a salute by cannon fire in Hyde Park. You are lucky to be witness to this historic event.

 

BTW if it’s not cancelled try and watch the changing of the Horse Guard. It’s pretty amazing. It’s held inside a small intimate courtyard and if you arrive about 15 or 20 minutes before, you can get a great view. 

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by OneSixtyToOne

[TayanaLorna]

14 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

Thanks for that.
 

Our hotel is next to Buckingham Palace. We arrive tomorrow morning. I imagine the crowds will be considerable.

How exciting to be part of history.

[vslparis]

On 8/28/2022 at 10:28 PM, Twitchly said:

Makes me happy to see someone on social media use a term like “redolent.” Such a great word. I must use it more often. (Yes, I’m a word nerd though I try to keep it under wraps!)

I too love the fact that someone would use  redolent in a sentence.  My fear these days is that we will lose the power of speech ( and only text) along with the richness of language. I have often said to my children ( who are in their late 30's ), think about the feeling that you get when someone says a situation is "bad " vs when they say  a situation is "horrendous" .  That shows the power evoked by language.  OK now I feel really old 😆

[Peregrina651]

10 minutes ago, vslparis said:

I too love the fact that someone would use  redolent in a sentence.  My fear these days is that we will lose the power of speech ( and only text) along with the richness of language. I have often said to my children ( who are in their late 30's ), think about the feeling that you get when someone says a situation is "bad " vs when they say  a situation is "horrendous" .  That shows the power evoked by language.  OK now I feel really old 😆

 

Bad="I burned dinner." Horrendous= "And you will just have to eat it that way."

[SantaFe1]

20 minutes ago, vslparis said:

I too love the fact that someone would use  redolent in a sentence. 

Oh, I’m glad.  I used it again two days ago.  My husband harvested some basil and I made pesto and pasta and told him his basil was redolent.  I know,  so old… but I love words.  
Hope you and family are well vslparis!

[EJLobster]

On 9/2/2022 at 3:08 PM, Peregrina651 said:

 

Plus, at least in my supermarket, coriander looks like the flat Italian parsley and they are displayed side by side. You have to make sure to read the labels on the bunches.

Or sniff them.

 

[Clay Clayton]

Pray for us.  When our Hong Kong to Bangkok cruise got canceled, friends suggested we cruise with them to Alaska. Since I hate flying across the country for just a week, we decided to do a b2b on the same ship to Hawaii. So we will be spending 22 nights on HAL🤔 

 

 

[Liz Masterson]

15 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Pray for us.  When our Hong Kong to Bangkok cruise got canceled, friends suggested we cruise with them to Alaska. Since I hate flying across the country for just a week, we decided to do a b2b on the same ship to Hawaii. So we will be spending 22 nights on HAL🤔 

 

 

Ha! No Mamson’s Waffle for you!

[CurlerRob]

33 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Pray for us.  When our Hong Kong to Bangkok cruise got canceled, friends suggested we cruise with them to Alaska. Since I hate flying across the country for just a week, we decided to do a b2b on the same ship to Hawaii. So we will be spending 22 nights on HAL🤔 

 

 

 

"Ha! No Mamson’s Waffle for you!"

 

Shortage of breakfast lamb chops as well ... 🤬   

 

As I said elsewhere - with friends, at sea, not all bad!  🍺🥌

[UWDawg]

46 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Pray for us.  When our Hong Kong to Bangkok cruise got canceled, friends suggested we cruise with them to Alaska. Since I hate flying across the country for just a week, we decided to do a b2b on the same ship to Hawaii. So we will be spending 22 nights on HAL🤔 

 

 

So I was wondering if you might be embarking from Seattle, but with a quick review, I'm guessing you are on the Koningsdam for the Oct 1-8 HAL 7-Day Alaskan Inside Passage cruise out of Vancouver, followed by the Oct 8-24 HAL 16-Day Circle Hawaii (from Vancouver).  If you were leaving out of Seattle I thought I might drive into town and see you off... maybe some other time.

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

Pray for us.  When our Hong Kong to Bangkok cruise got canceled, friends suggested we cruise with them to Alaska. Since I hate flying across the country for just a week, we decided to do a b2b on the same ship to Hawaii. So we will be spending 22 nights on HAL🤔 

 

 

I will be praying for you Clay. I just set down the book I’m reading to read your post. The book is about a HAL ship that took off a week after our trip on the Jupiter in So. America in March 2020, and attempted to do our route in reverse. We were in the Falklands on March 8 heading toward Buenos Aires when the Zaandam took off from BA heading for Valpo. The book Cabin Fever will tell you the rest of the story.

 

The Jupiter ended in Buenos Aires on Sunday, March 15, and Viking scrambled mightily to get us all home before the airport closed. Re: the Zaandam: there but for the grace of Tor, it coulda been us!

 

So yes, I’ll pray for you on a HAL ship (shudder). 😄🥲

[Clay Clayton]

8 hours ago, UWDawg said:

So I was wondering if you might be embarking from Seattle, but with a quick review, I'm guessing you are on the Koningsdam for the Oct 1-8 HAL 7-Day Alaskan Inside Passage cruise out of Vancouver, followed by the Oct 8-24 HAL 16-Day Circle Hawaii (from Vancouver).  If you were leaving out of Seattle I thought I might drive into town and see you off... maybe some other time.

Your research is correct!  However, we will be in Seattle both coming and going. In order to fly in first at a reasonable price we are flying to Seattle roundtrip. Unless you want to play chauffeur and tote us up to Vancouver on 9/30 we won’t have any time on the outbound but we are taking the red eye (ugh I sworn those off awhile back too but sometimes saving $2000 makes you do things you said you wouldn’t do!) so depending on our shuttle arrival times and whether our one Seattle friend has supper plans we would love to meet you on 10/24. 🤔

[TayanaLorna]

10 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Pray for us.  When our Hong Kong to Bangkok cruise got canceled, friends suggested we cruise with them to Alaska. Since I hate flying across the country for just a week, we decided to do a b2b on the same ship to Hawaii. So we will be spending 22 nights on HAL🤔 

 

 

Will be interested in your Viking vs HAL review.  I was so hungry for info and photos of the BA to Santiago cruise that I followed a HAL Roll Call for the itinerary where a fellow was posting live.  It was his 3rd cruise on HAL for the same itinerary and he loved it.  Only the Viking WC had passed through the waters thus far.  We were sailing on the Jupiter's first year so there was not much Viking info out there for SA.  You must be excited to be cruising again!  Bon voyage.

[TayanaLorna]

8 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

I will be praying for you Clay. I just set down the book I’m reading to read your post. The book is about a HAL ship that took off a week after our trip on the Jupiter in So. America in March 2020, and attempted to do our route in reverse. We were in the Falklands on March 8 heading toward Buenos Aires when the Zaandam took off from BA heading for Valpo. The book Cabin Fever will tell you the rest of the story.

 

The Jupiter ended in Buenos Aires on Sunday, March 15, and Viking scrambled mightily to get us all home before the airport closed. Re: the Zaandam: there but for the grace of Tor, it coulda been us!

 

So yes, I’ll pray for you on a HAL ship (shudder). 😄🥲

Book sounds interesting.  We were a couple cruises before yours and grateful to be home before the Covid shutdown but proud of how Viking treated its passengers at the beginning of the shutdown.

[janetcbl]

11 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Pray for us.  When our Hong Kong to Bangkok cruise got canceled, friends suggested we cruise with them to Alaska. Since I hate flying across the country for just a week, we decided to do a b2b on the same ship to Hawaii. So we will be spending 22 nights on HAL🤔 

 

 

Please post a comparison of the two ships when you return.

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, TayanaLorna said:

Will be interested in your Viking vs HAL review.  I was so hungry for info and photos of the BA to Santiago cruise that I followed a HAL Roll Call for the itinerary where a fellow was posting live.  It was his 3rd cruise on HAL for the same itinerary and he loved it.  Only the Viking WC had passed through the waters thus far.  We were sailing on the Jupiter's first year so there was not much Viking info out there for SA.  You must be excited to be cruising again!  Bon voyage.

 

5 minutes ago, janetcbl said:

Please post a comparison of the two ships when you return.

Will do but methinks we will get what we pay for😂

[Jim Avery]

13 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Pray for us.  When our Hong Kong to Bangkok cruise got canceled, friends suggested we cruise with them to Alaska. Since I hate flying across the country for just a week, we decided to do a b2b on the same ship to Hawaii. So we will be spending 22 nights on HAL🤔 

 

 

You will do fine.  We survived the Holidays on HAL with the family.😱  Just take a few important steps.  Avoid any thoughts of using the pool or going to the ice cream cafe.  You will be swarmed with the children onboard.  Hide instead in the Martini Bar.  The Pinnacle Grill is good food and a reasonable uncharge.  Most folks don't waste that on kids.  Keep your drinks level topped up and spend quality time on your balcony and you will be just fine....🍸

[SantaFe1]

12 hours ago, UWDawg said:

Koningsdam for the Oct 1-8 HAL 7-Day Alaskan Inside Passage cruise out of Vancouver, followed by the Oct 8-24 HAL 16-Day Circle Hawaii (from Vancouver)

Sounds like a nice cruise, Clay.  Enjoy!

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, Jim Avery said:

You will do fine.  We survived the Holidays on HAL with the family.😱  Just take a few important steps.  Avoid any thoughts of using the pool or going to the ice cream cafe.  You will be swarmed with the children onboard.  Hide instead in the Martini Bar.  The Pinnacle Grill is good food and a reasonable uncharge.  Most folks don't waste that on kids.  Keep your drinks level topped up and spend quality time on your balcony and you will be just fine....🍸

Thanks for the advice. We are hoping since the cruise is in October and 15 days that there will be a minimal amount of youngsters 🤞

 

We learned to not cruise over the holidays when Mike’s Mom took the whole family on a Mexican Riviera cruise over thanksgiving on Norwegian Dawn. It has a double occupancy capacity of around 2300-but there were close to 3300 aboard and something like 700 of those were under the age of 15.  It was a zoo. 

[PasadenaDave]

15 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Pray for us.  When our Hong Kong to Bangkok cruise got canceled, friends suggested we cruise with them to Alaska. Since I hate flying across the country for just a week, we decided to do a b2b on the same ship to Hawaii. So we will be spending 22 nights on HAL🤔 

 

 

We are currently on a step down cruise from Viking and the plan was to see where Vikings lived.  This is HAL Quebec City to Boston with three ports in Newfoundland.  We are in Corner Brook today and just learned that St Anthony and St Johns canceled due to rough seas from Hurricane Earl.  Replaced with PEI and Sidney.  The Viking UNESCO site was the main reason for this itinerary and HAL.  Oh well Quebec was off the charts, but no Viking thermal spa

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, PasadenaDave said:

We are currently on a step down cruise from Viking and the plan was to see where Vikings lived.  This is HAL Quebec City to Boston with three ports in Newfoundland.  We are in Corner Brook today and just learned that St Anthony and St Johns canceled due to rough seas from Hurricane Earl.  Replaced with PEI and Sidney.  The Viking UNESCO site was the main reason for this itinerary and HAL.  Oh well Quebec was off the charts, but no Viking thermal spa

Sorry to hear you’re missing the ports you wanted but hope you liked Cornerbrook. It’s where we got “screeched in”. 
 

Other than the spa, how is HAL comparing?