The Daily for Monday Jan 18, 2021

[happywandering]

1 hour ago, cookingmom said:

As primarily a “lurker” on CC, I must admit to loving the friendship and keen wit exhibited in these posts. We are all essentially in the same boat (pun intended!), waiting out this pandemic and dreaming of future cruises. But this morning, as I was waiting in a local mall for the stores to open, the memory of cruising came rushing back when the mall used the same “musical tones” to signal that it was opening time that HAL uses prior to making announcements. Oh to hear those distinct tones again at sea...

The friendship offered by this chain through humor and beauty is delightful indeed.

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

 

 

 

Oh kudos!!  It's not every day I get some ancient Roman humor here!! 

 

High fives!!  (Or should I say "High Vs!")

🙌

Edited January 18, 2021 by cruisemom42

[Sharon in AZ]

59 minutes ago, cruzn single said:

@Sharon in AZ, I think we are on the same September cruise, and I, too, am wondering how soon it will be cancelled.  

It's the Zaandam Sept 4th sailing out of Boston.  We booked it B2B so it would be round trip Boston.  They've cancelled all the New England/Canada cruises up to that departure so my thoughts are that this will also be cancelled.  Funny, I just got off the phone with our PCC trying to figure out which holiday cruise I wanted to pick and asked her what her thoughts were about September and, of course, she was very vague.  I just can't see how things can open up in time with the slowness of the vaccine, etc.

 

Anywho...... I now have two cruises I'm thinking about for this December, one is a 14 day and the other is a 12 day.  Right now I'm leaning toward the 14 day.   We been to half the ports on both but both have new ports we've never been to.  Planning is fun and sure can my mind off of all my "do nothing" days.

[Seasick Sailor]

42 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

 

I hope we didn't offend her/

 

Roy

@StLouisCruisers, @rafinmd, @cat shepard, @DeeniEncinitas:

St Louis thank you for asking about us. Allen is doing well. His allergy was Sophie.  Had his 1st covid vaccine last week and next on 2-10. Sophie is in love with her friends at her new home. A 3 legged cat, Jerry (shot by a 22 and left for dead) thinks he's Sophie's boyfriend, a rabbit that cries unless he sleeps with Sophie, and 2 older 18 year old cats that both think Sophie is their baby. She is the "big boss of the applesauce"

 

I found the Daily to be my refuge from political posts until it wasn't anymore, so I've stepped back til after the inauguration or if our Daily gets back to happy posts.

Joy

 

 

[summer slope]

@Seasick Sailorso happy to hear Sophie is comfortable in her new home.  And yea for Allen getting his first shot.   Welcome back, we've missed you.

Edited January 18, 2021 by summer slope

[StLouisCruisers]

3 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

@StLouisCruisers, @rafinmd, @cat shepard, @DeeniEncinitas:

St Louis thank you for asking about us. Allen is doing well. His allergy was Sophie.  Had his 1st covid vaccine last week and next on 2-10. Sophie is in love with her friends at her new home. A 3 legged cat, Jerry (shot by a 22 and left for dead) thinks he's Sophie's boyfriend, a rabbit that cries unless he sleeps with Sophie, and 2 older 18 year old cats that both think Sophie is their baby. She is the "big boss of the applesauce"

 

I found the Daily to be my refuge from political posts until it wasn't anymore, so I've stepped back til after the inauguration or if our Daily gets back to happy posts.

Joy

 

 

Well I don't blame you for that!  I feel the same as you.

 

Good news about the Covid vaccine Allen had.  And the new home for Sophie sounds like heaven for all those pets.  

 

I will be happy to welcome you back when you are ready!

[Copper10-8]

Amsterdam at the port of Tianjin, People's Republic of China. Tianjin is officially the cruise port for the PRC's capital city, Beijing but it (Beijing) is at least a two to two and a half hour car drive (90 miles) away, not counting traffic jams. Port Tianjin Xingang or "Tianjin New Port" is located on Bohai Bay's western shore and centered on the Haihe River's estuary. The port is located approx. 40 miles east of Tianjin City and covers a land area of over 46 square miles, with over 20 miles of quay shoreline and over 170 cargo ship berths. The port is state-owned and operated as an independent corporation.

 

The first thing you notice while standing in the open gangway break on the approach to Tianjin is the absolutely humongous international cruise terminal building, 59,000 square feet of it, which can handle up to 4,000 cruisers, and which began operations in June, 2010 with two large cruise ship berths. There is, or at least was when we were there in 2014, nothing except lots and lots of concrete in and around the port while the first signs of civilization, that being in Tianjin City Center, is about a 50 min drive by car/bus away. 

 

The next thing you notice is the Chinese bureaucracy when it comes to clearing the ship. Our sailors were eventually, after about one hour, allowed to pick up our long gangway from/at the bow (the cruise terminal jetways were not in operation) and hooked it up, but everyone had to be back inside the ship afterwards. It took another hour until the authorities rolled out a little mobile shack, not the love shack by the B-52s, from where the "identification paperwork" would take place. Customs and Immigration in the PRC is handled by agents of the China Immigration Inspection aka the Chinse Border Patrol with the Ministry of Public Security of the PRC (MPS) as a subsidiary. The MPS is the principal police and security authority of the People's Republic of China and the government ministry that exercises oversight over and is ultimately responsible for day-to-day law enforcement.

 

Interesting and funny (not at the time) story about the MPS in Tianjin during our visit. At about the noon hour, a group of about fifteen of them, led by an officer and clad in their olive green military-style uniforms, smartly marched up in a goose-step to the gangway and let it be known (through an interpreter/none spoke English) that they were there to partake in a western-style lunch in Amsterdam's Lido restaurant. There was no prior notice of this happenin' My guards advised me and I, in turn, advised my boss, the ship's staff captain. He thought about it and then made the near-fatal decision to deny the group lunch due to no advanced notice being given. This was relayed, again via an interpreter, to the officer in charge of the unit who was, let's say, less then pleased with the staff captain's decision. The next thing we know was that, after making an about face and smartly goose-stepping back into their huge terminal building, that same officer ordered his troopers to secure/lock up all entrances to the building. No one could go in or come out again, "trapping" several of Amsterdam's passengers and crew inside that same building. Well, you know the outcome of that one; the staff captain was notified and he changed his mind in about a New York minute with a "let them come in and have lunch," which the group did after unlocking all those terminal doors again. That's how things work in the PRC 😉    

 

Oh yeah, it was October 13 during our visit, so Canadian Thanksgiving day, hence the Maple Leafs (not Toronto hockey team) inside the Lido

Edited January 18, 2021 by Copper10-8

[garlictown]

😎 Good Afternoon and thank you for the Daily! 😎

This morning my husband and I were getting our first dose of the Moderna vaccine and will return next month for the second part. Last week our Governor lowered the age to 65 for injections and we hopped on the phone for appointments. A lot of my friends have not been able to schedule so it's frustrating for a population of almost 40 million--that is the population of 21 other states! 🤓

😷 Happy MLK Day and everyone stay safe! 😷

[rafinmd]

27 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

Amsterdam at the port of Tianjin, People's Republic of China. Tianjin is officially the cruise port for the PRC's capital city, Beijing but it (Beijing) is at least a two to two and a half hour car drive (90 miles) away, not counting traffic jams. Port Tianjin Xingang or "Tianjin New Port" is located on Bohai Bay's western shore and centered on the Haihe River's estuary. The port is located approx. 40 miles east of Tianjin City and covers a land area of over 46 square miles, with over 20 miles of quay shoreline and over 170 cargo ship berths. The port is state-owned and operated as an independent corporation.

 

The first thing you notice while standing in the open gangway break on the approach to Tianjin is the absolutely humongous international cruise terminal building, 59,000 square feet of it, which can handle up to 4,000 cruisers, and which began operations in June, 2010 with two large cruise ship berths. There is, or at least was when we were there in 2014, nothing except lots and lots of concrete in and around the port while the first signs of civilization, that being in Tianjin City Center, is about a 50 min drive by car/bus away. 

 

The next thing you notice is the Chinese bureaucracy when it comes to clearing the ship. Our sailors were eventually, after about one hour, allowed to pick up our long gangway from/at the bow (the cruise terminal jetways were not in operation) and hooked it up, but everyone had to be back inside the ship afterwards. It took another hour until the authorities rolled out a little mobile shack, not the love shack by the B-52s, from where the "identification paperwork" would take place. Customs and Immigration in the PRC is handled by agents of the China Immigration Inspection aka the Chinse Border Patrol with the Ministry of Public Security of the PRC (MPS) as a subsidiary. The MPS is the principal police and security authority of the People's Republic of China and the government ministry that exercises oversight over and is ultimately responsible for day-to-day law enforcement.

 

Interesting and funny (not at the time) story about the MPS in Tianjin during our visit. At about the noon hour, a group of about fifteen of them, led by an officer and clad in their olive green military-style uniforms, smartly marched up in a goose-step to the gangway and let it be known (through an interpreter/none spoke English) that they were there to partake in a western-style lunch in Amsterdam's Lido restaurant. There was no prior notice of this happenin' My guards advised me and I, in turn, advised my boss, the ship's staff captain. He thought about it and then made the near-fatal decision to deny the group lunch due to no advanced notice being given. This was relayed, again via an interpreter, to the officer in charge of the unit who was, let's say, less then pleased with the staff captain's decision. The next thing we know was that, after making an about face and smartly goose-stepping back into their huge terminal building, that same officer ordered his troopers to secure/lock up all entrances to the building. No one could go in or come out again, "trapping" several of Amsterdam's passengers and crew inside that same building. Well, you know the outcome of that one; the staff captain was notified and he changed his mind in about a New York minute with a "let them come in and have lunch," which the group did after unlocking all those terminal doors again. That's how things work in the PRC 😉    

Oh yeah, it was October 13, so Canadian Thanksgiving day, hence the maple leaf's inside the Lido

 

Things changed quite a bit in 3 years.  First, we had a jetway by then, and things went quite a bit smoother.  Our Captain was Fred Eversen and Staff Captain Jon Smit.  Not sure if they were the same pair you had but they either learned from sad experience or passed on their experiences to their successors.  I had a long tour to the Great Wall and were somewhat delayed but on the road by 8:30.  I don't have any photos but the area was still pretty desolate.

 

Roy

[Copper10-8]

2 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

 

Things changed quite a bit in 3 years.  First, we had a jetway by then, and things went quite a bit smoother.  Our Captain was Fred Eversen and Staff Captain Jon Smit.  Not sure if they were the same pair you had but they either learned from sad experience or passed on their experiences to their successors.  I had a long tour to the Great Wall and were somewhat delayed but on the road by 8:30.  I don't have any photos but the area was still pretty desolate.

 

Roy

 

Same captain; different staff captain 😉 

[ScottishMaid]

30 minutes ago, garlictown said:

😎 Good Afternoon and thank you for the Daily! 😎

This morning my husband and I were getting our first dose of the Moderna vaccine and will return next month for the second part. Last week our Governor lowered the age to 65 for injections and we hopped on the phone for appointments. A lot of my friends have not been able to schedule so it's frustrating for a population of almost 40 million--that is the population of 21 other states! 🤓

😷 Happy MLK Day and everyone stay safe! 😷

Nothing happening yet for us in LA County, the largest county in the US at over 10 million inhabitants. That must be bigger than several states.

 

[StLouisCruisers]

@Copper10-8Those Chinese soldiers look so skinny, they probably needed a good meal!

[Copper10-8]

15 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

@Copper10-8Those Chinese soldiers look so skinny, they probably needed a good meal!

 

Did you see that waist line? What is that, a minus 5? 😉 

[StLouisCruisers]

That's what I was thinking.  Poor guys.

[Copper10-8]

9 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

That's what I was thinking.  Poor guys.

 

Well, they had a good lunch and on departure, I gave them all HAL pins and got a lot of smiles and "Xie Xie's"😉 

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Copper10-8

[erewhon]

Thanks for all the daily reports, photos and humour.

It's a cold wet summer day.  

[Sharon in AZ]

5 hours ago, Red Haired Lady said:

You can see from the water in the pool that the sea was a bit rough!

 

Everyone always likes food pictures.  This was the gala dinner.

 

This picture cracks me up....  there are people in the pool!  I'm surprised it wasn't closed.  And thank you for the food pictures, I'm one of those that loves them.

 

Refresh my memory, which ship were you on?

[Red Haired Lady]

Just now, Sharon in AZ said:

 

This picture cracks me up....  there are people in the pool!  I'm surprised it wasn't closed.  And thank you for the food pictures, I'm one of those that loves them.

 

Refresh my memory, which ship were you on?

Maasdam

[Happily@Sea]

3 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

 

The first time we were supposed to see Ushuaia we had just been to Stanley, Falkland Islands.  This was in 2012 which was the 30th anniversary of the Falklands "conflict" with Argentina.  The harbor master denied our ship entry to the harbor because of where we had just been.  Big grudge holders!  We just went on to view all the glaciers in Glacier Alley during the daytime hours instead of later that night which was the original schedule, so it worked out nicely.  We have visited Ushuaia three times since then with no problems and I've enjoyed every visit.  I hope you can get there someday.🙂

 

The Falklands conflict was 30 years ago from 2012 - it doesn't seem like that long ago [almost 40 years now] . That's a weird feeling to realize it has been that long. International events don't usually insert themselves into my remembrance timeline.

[Sharon in AZ]

19 minutes ago, Red Haired Lady said:

Maasdam

 

Duh, I noticed that you have it right at the top of your post when I went back to show the pictures to DH.  Sorry.

[baltic17]

Love all the South America pics.  We really enjoyed our trip on Zaandam several years ago.

 

Thanks to all.  Just a quiet, sunny day here.  Tomorrow isn't supposed to be quite so sunny but still dry so maybe a little weed pulling (at least where other can see them).

 

Time for New Scandinavian Cooking on PBS.  Need to do a Norway cruise.

 

Prayer for all who need them and congrats for another good day.

[ScottishMaid]

A year ago we were headed to Auckland and on to the Maasdam and we did get into Norfolk Island on that cruise. Captain PJ van Maurik must have learned from the previous cruise. The ship crew built a structure to go between the tender deck and the Norfolk Island ferry boats. At the island tall strong Aussie guys hauled us up onto the pier.

We were glad to see Captain PJ in charge as he got us into Ushuaia on the Veendam 10 years ago after trying for several hours. He doesn't give up easily.

Edited January 19, 2021 by ScottishMaid

[Red Haired Lady]

After reading about other people's cruises in S. America, I guess I should not feel so bad about missing Norfolk Island.  I was able to go ashore in both the Falklands and Ushuaia.  However, in Ushuaia we left late because the wind was so strong the ship could not get away from the dock with the wind blowing.  When the sun went down the wind went down and we could leave.

[dfish]

4 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Oh no - that doesn’t look like an easy fix.  I think some stuff is going to have to come out 😞. I remember when we were going to re-side our house.  We were warned that if they saw this, the price went up.

Luckily we apparently did ours in time or lucked out.  No complications underneath.

So sorry for you 😢 

Yes, the price has gone up.  I don't know how much yet, but the work had to be done.  Fortunately, that is the only problem they ran into.   I did know there was some damage that needed to be fixed because the wallboard beneath the window was soft and the window frame was rotted.   I also have a spot on the ceiling that needs to be fixed due to an improperly installed roof a number of years ago.  I also had people come out because of problems with that, but no one could pin point where the water was getting in.  We put a sealer on the roof until I got it replaced.  

 

I think that is about it for my money pit.

[dfish]

3 hours ago, Sharon in AZ said:

It's the Zaandam Sept 4th sailing out of Boston.  We booked it B2B so it would be round trip Boston.  They've cancelled all the New England/Canada cruises up to that departure so my thoughts are that this will also be cancelled.  Funny, I just got off the phone with our PCC trying to figure out which holiday cruise I wanted to pick and asked her what her thoughts were about September and, of course, she was very vague.  I just can't see how things can open up in time with the slowness of the vaccine, etc.

I was surprised when they let you book this because they wouldn't let me do that.  We had a b2b from the 11th to the 25th that was supposed to be round trip Boston.  Then, they changed it to round trip Montreal, so we wanted to drop the last week and replace it with the sailing starting September 4th from Boston.  Because of the CDC 7 day ruling, they wouldn't let us do that.  So, we cancelled and now we've booked Norway for 14 days in the same time period.