A Year Ago We Were Fretting About Barrel Chairs....and Now?

[AF-1]

c-boy;   your pic is funny

[hm9912]

23 hours ago, deliver42 said:

At this point, I'd sail with just a bed in the room. Not even a TV

This past Monday we took our first cruise since the pandemic began. Well actually it was a one hour ferry ride from Highlands , New Jersey to Manhattan for a Dr appointment. There was no dining room, no all you can eat buffet, no shows but they did have coffee for sale which happened to be very good.

The sun rising on a clear 50 degree NJ shining on the lower Manhattan buildings was beautiful.

The ferry takes you past the Statue of Liberty, under the Verrazano, Brooklyn, Williamsburg, and Manhattan Bridges. The first stop is the Battery in lower Manhattan near Wall Street. The second stop is 35th Street and the FDR Drive one block from NYU Langone Medical Center.  If one has to travel to a hospital forget an ambulance. Take a ferry instead.

The New York harbor is very impressive.

On the return there are many seafood restaurants at the Highlands on the Jersey Shore.

The wearing of masks is required.

 

[img]https://i.imgur.com/y05Xw2f.jpg[/img]

Edited March 12, 2021 by hm9912

[1965]

4 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

What butter rationing?

Cruisers were reporting getting only 2 or 3 pats of butter at dinner, having to request more butter if desired, & sometimes not getting enough butter to meet their needs. Lol.  

[brisalta]

43 minutes ago, 1965 said:

Cruisers were reporting getting only 2 or 3 pats of butter at dinner, having to request more butter if desired, & sometimes not getting enough butter to meet their needs. Lol.  

 

Never saw that occur. There was always more than more than enough butter at the tables I sat at.

I suspect that maybe someones spouse was hiding the butter. ; )

[cr8tiv1]

8 hours ago, AF-1 said:

Thank you; had my second shot on Wed.  An hour after getting shot; my arm swelled up with hives.  I put some benadryl cream on arm and it went away.  All is good. Nurse said in two weeks we will be fully protected.  So my wife and I plan to visit grandkids in Ashville, NC in April and then we are taking entire family to Hawaii in June.  Life is good.

 

Hawaii is sure drawing a lot of attention.  I won't be there this June.  Wish I was....to meet you.  Hopefully the governor will lift some of the restrictions.  Doubtful.  He keeps moving the goal post.

[Lucky TGO]

On 3/11/2021 at 8:30 AM, tillys mom said:

I think the top priority a year ago was making sure you had enough toilet paper to last forever 🤣

Hi tillys mom ,

I love it LOL!! I can’t stop laughing 😁😁 😁😁

Tony

[K.T.B.]

A year ago (well, actually, a year plus a week as of this typing), I started working from home.  I was also in the middle of planning our 25th anniversary cruise on Island Princess this upcoming May.  I ended up cancelling it in August of last year and had another cruise booked for October of this year on Celebrity Millennium.  Also, the birthday cruise for my wife in August got cancelled (not a surprise) and, shockingly, we got our refund & FCC rather quickly.  As 2020 wore on, I suspected that October cruise was rather iffy and I booked a "back up" cruise for February of 2022 on Ruby Princess "just in case".  I should point out that all 3 cruises were going through Panama Cruise.  At the end of 2020 I cancelled the October cruise and we're sticking to the February cruise.  It just means celebrating our 25th on a ship is slightly delayed is all.  Though I must admit I'm sort of considering booking another "back up"....  lol!

 

But here we all are a year later and there are numerous vaccines available and there's hope.  Things are looking up.

[AF-1]

12 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Hawaii is sure drawing a lot of attention.  I won't be there this June.  Wish I was....to meet you.  Hopefully the governor will lift some of the restrictions.  Doubtful.  He keeps moving the goal post.

I get email updates from Hawaii Health division.  They say the Governor doesn't want to lift any restrictions; but the Lt. Gov says people who are vaccinated should be ok to come to islands without covid tests.  Since we don't arrive until June;  I hope they change the rules.  Everyone in my family should be vaccinated by then.  We shall see.

[sewingmolly]

 

A year ago, final payment was due on our June Caribbean Princess cruise and we were debating cancelling.  The issue was an aging pet that we didn't feel good about leaving.  The final payment was push out a month, delaying the decision, and then pushed out again.  In the end, it was a sad summer - no cruise and the pet went over the rainbow bridge in July.  Hoping for a better summer this year. 

[voljeep]

5 minutes ago, sewingmolly said:

no cruise and the pet went over the rainbow bridge in July.

we too know about 'the rainbow bridge' - been a couple of years now ... think about that guy most every day

[ontheweb]

13 minutes ago, sewingmolly said:

 

A year ago, final payment was due on our June Caribbean Princess cruise and we were debating cancelling.  The issue was an aging pet that we didn't feel good about leaving.  The final payment was push out a month, delaying the decision, and then pushed out again.  In the end, it was a sad summer - no cruise and the pet went over the rainbow bridge in July.  Hoping for a better summer this year. 

We had the same pet problem before our August cruise last summer. And then the pet also crossed that bridge. And just after that Covid hit and we soon knew that our cruise would be a no go and canceled (though Princess who must also have known waited until after the final payment was due to cancel).

[rdsqrl]

I never would have thought I'd get nostalgic for the Great Butter War of 2019.  

 

I just hope Princess has taken advantage of this year-long pause to expand their fleet of cows in order to churn and stockpile sufficient butter for the masses come the resumption of normal operations. 

[40yearcruiser]

Amid all the gloom and doom of many threads this has been a bright spot. I don't remember the butter war but certainly do remember the barrel chair debate (I also want the chairs back!). And the toilet paper panic now seems so crazy. Exactly one year ago today we were scheduled to fly to Australia for a few days before our cruises from Sydney to Fiji and then back to LA. Everything was canceled 2 days earlier and we were so disappointed--I was already packed. Thankfully we didn't fly out then because we might still be sitting in Australia. After now having 8 cruises canceled (some were those we rebooked being overly optimistic) we now have only a rebooking of the cruises from Australia in March and April of 2022, and a lot of FCC on 3 different cruise lines. We've had our vaccines and are ready to get onboard as soon as we can. Since overseas cruising doesn't look like it's anytime soon, we are taking a Mississippi River cruise in August. The riverboat restarts cruises tomorrow!

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, 40yearcruiser said:

Amid all the gloom and doom of many threads this has been a bright spot. I don't remember the butter war but certainly do remember the barrel chair debate (I also want the chairs back!). And the toilet paper panic now seems so crazy. Exactly one year ago today we were scheduled to fly to Australia for a few days before our cruises from Sydney to Fiji and then back to LA. Everything was canceled 2 days earlier and we were so disappointed--I was already packed. Thankfully we didn't fly out then because we might still be sitting in Australia. After now having 8 cruises canceled (some were those we rebooked being overly optimistic) we now have only a rebooking of the cruises from Australia in March and April of 2022, and a lot of FCC on 3 different cruise lines. We've had our vaccines and are ready to get onboard as soon as we can. Since overseas cruising doesn't look like it's anytime soon, we are taking a Mississippi River cruise in August. The riverboat restarts cruises tomorrow!

Out of curiosity, does the riverboat cruise require you to be vaccinated? Do they say if their crew will be vaccinated.

 

[AF-1]

ontheweb;  if you take the American Queen Steamboat Company; this is their requirement.

 

VACCINATIONS 

 

• COVID-19 vaccination is required for all guests and crew for all sailings beginning July 1, 2021.

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, AF-1 said:

ontheweb;  if you take the American Queen Steamboat Company; this is their requirement.

 

VACCINATIONS 

 

• COVID-19 vaccination is required for all guests and crew for all sailings beginning July 1, 2021.

Good, that seems like a sensible requirement. Have they said what sort of proof you need to present?

 

BTW, what is the itinerary?

[Barry H]

Great thread.

We also miss the barrel chairs. Last cruise brought in a chair from the balcony.

Now we look at a balcony deluxe (obstructed or regular) on Royal class ships just to get a couch and keep the wife happy.

 

Here in Canada I am still noting items not in for a few weeks at a time. Our supply chain is not broken but suffering. Today I walked around with sticker shock at the prices of food going up.

[stoneharborlady]

On 3/12/2021 at 1:34 PM, brisalta said:

 

What butter rationing?

At the time we thought they were rationing butter, as bowls of it were not placed on the table, you had to ask for it if you wanted more.

[40yearcruiser]

15 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Out of curiosity, does the riverboat cruise require you to be vaccinated? Do they say if their crew will be vaccinated.

 

We will be on the American Duchess, which is one of the riverboats of American Queen Steamboat Company, for the full Mississippi from Minneapolis to New Orleans. They have 4 riverboats with varied itineraries. As of July 1 this company requires all crew and passengers to be vaccinated. We haven't been given details yet on what proof of vaccination they will require. They will begin cruising this month with a required COVID test, masks, distancing, etc., which (as of now) will still be in effect after the vaccine requirement kicks in. We're not thrilled with the mask requirement but were considering this cruise before the pandemic and with all other cruising at a standstill decided this would be a good year to give it a go.

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, 40yearcruiser said:

We will be on the American Duchess, which is one of the riverboats of American Queen Steamboat Company, for the full Mississippi from Minneapolis to New Orleans. They have 4 riverboats with varied itineraries. As of July 1 this company requires all crew and passengers to be vaccinated. We haven't been given details yet on what proof of vaccination they will require. They will begin cruising this month with a required COVID test, masks, distancing, etc., which (as of now) will still be in effect after the vaccine requirement kicks in. We're not thrilled with the mask requirement but were considering this cruise before the pandemic and with all other cruising at a standstill decided this would be a good year to give it a go.

Thanks, I hope you really enjoy the cruise. It sounds wonderful except maybe for the restrictions. Do you know if you can get off at ports and explore on your own?

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, 40yearcruiser said:

We will be on the American Duchess, which is one of the riverboats of American Queen Steamboat Company, for the full Mississippi from Minneapolis to New Orleans. They have 4 riverboats with varied itineraries. As of July 1 this company requires all crew and passengers to be vaccinated. We haven't been given details yet on what proof of vaccination they will require. They will begin cruising this month with a required COVID test, masks, distancing, etc., which (as of now) will still be in effect after the vaccine requirement kicks in. We're not thrilled with the mask requirement but were considering this cruise before the pandemic and with all other cruising at a standstill decided this would be a good year to give it a go.

I just looked at their website; looks like a really fine cruise. Again, enjoy!

[ontheweb]

7 hours ago, 40yearcruiser said:

We will be on the American Duchess, which is one of the riverboats of American Queen Steamboat Company, for the full Mississippi from Minneapolis to New Orleans. They have 4 riverboats with varied itineraries. As of July 1 this company requires all crew and passengers to be vaccinated. We haven't been given details yet on what proof of vaccination they will require. They will begin cruising this month with a required COVID test, masks, distancing, etc., which (as of now) will still be in effect after the vaccine requirement kicks in. We're not thrilled with the mask requirement but were considering this cruise before the pandemic and with all other cruising at a standstill decided this would be a good year to give it a go.

I just spoke to DW, and I am now going to go back to their website and order a brochure.

[ontheweb]

15 hours ago, 40yearcruiser said:

We will be on the American Duchess, which is one of the riverboats of American Queen Steamboat Company, for the full Mississippi from Minneapolis to New Orleans. They have 4 riverboats with varied itineraries. As of July 1 this company requires all crew and passengers to be vaccinated. We haven't been given details yet on what proof of vaccination they will require. They will begin cruising this month with a required COVID test, masks, distancing, etc., which (as of now) will still be in effect after the vaccine requirement kicks in. We're not thrilled with the mask requirement but were considering this cruise before the pandemic and with all other cruising at a standstill decided this would be a good year to give it a go.

I found this on YouTube about the American Duchess. It is not quite 3 years old, so some things may have changed, but I thought you might be find it interesting.

 

Insider Video: Sailing the Mississippi on American Duchess - YouTube

[AF-1]

ontheweb;  I saw that video before.  It is good.  Also my in laws did the American Queen some years ago.  They loved it.  

[Daniel A]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I found this on YouTube about the American Duchess. It is not quite 3 years old, so some things may have changed, but I thought you might be find it interesting.

 

Insider Video: Sailing the Mississippi on American Duchess - YouTube

 

27 minutes ago, AF-1 said:

ontheweb;  I saw that video before.  It is good.  Also my in laws did the American Queen some years ago.  They loved it.  

Some years ago, I was looking to book a Mississippi River cruise where you brought your own RV and drive it onto a barge then travel down (or up) the river.  I always wanted to do that but, now that's no longer an option - or is it??