Jim_Iain - Summit Live Post B3B Greenland / Iceland / Canada Aug 7, 19 and 31, 2022

[IWillGoAnywhere26]

Hey, Jim! Just wanted to say it was great meeting you yesterday (on the stairs) and chatting for a few minutes. We fly home from Reykjavik but it's great knowing we'll be able to come along on your next 2 cruises.

Mary Ann & Dave

[81Zoomie]

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Nothing official but when asked the agent said they generally release them in November, but post Covid they have been releasing without much advance notice leaving the agents to scramble.

Thank you!

[hcat]

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I lived in Plainview in Nassau County for about 4 years.   Now I'm going to show my age.....    At the time Plainview was mostly duck farms and they were just building the Long Island Expressway.  

I grew up in Mineola ( Nassau County) ....my husb is from W  Sayville..which was .a maritime village,,,oysters, clamming,  fishing, etc....When we started dating it was a distant  journey .   Duck farms moved east to Moriches..most if not all have closed. We  still live in Suffolk...very suburban now,  but nice to be near water,  beautiful parks and not too far to wine country. Memory Lane

[jagoffee]

8 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

We simply suspend or Dish account when on a long holiday.  Then bill drops  to $5 a month.  It and every other bill are on auto pay.  Have a neighbor take our mail in every 30 days.  Works fine for as long as you want.

Thanks for the VPN suggestion!

You leave up to 30 days of mail in your mail box?  Our Post Office allows up to place a hold for up to 30 days, so we use this approach.  They always allow us a few extra days.  

[abbydancer2003]

5 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Amuse Bouche

 

 

Yuck --- tonight's choice is Beet --- I absolutely hate beet but Iain enjoyed it.   I just our assistant waiter to not leave it. 

 

 

 

When that happened for us last week (anything with fish) the waiter brought something else, usually fruit.  In this case, the beet had some kind of fish on it, so he brought us the beet without the fish.  I'm not a fan of red beets, but this was OK.

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, RedneckBob said:

Hi Jim_lain,  I am a newbie on Celebrity and just started reviewing your posts. Excellent updates on your current cruise and previous cruise. Sorry for the rough seas yesterday. Hope things can get better. The posts have helped us on booking future cruises. Now maybe I can help you. 
 

I understand you have never been to Greenland or Iceland plus Prince Christian Sund. We were there in 2010/2012 on HAL. The best way to describe PCS is that in 7 hours you will see what it takes 7 days to see on a cruise in Alaska. Now for Greenland and Qaqortoq; I don’t mean to alarm you but let me show you what happened on our visit there in 2010. We were on the Maasdam in an inside cabin and when we woke the morning in Qaqortoq and went to the Lido for breakfast this is what we saw. It is not a fake photo!

 

 

The top of the iceberg was at the same level as the Lido Deck or Oceanview Cafe on Celebrity. 
I hope the iceberg has melted before you arrive. By the way do you know the half life of an iceberg 😀.

Continue to enjoy this great adventure!

 

RNB

I'm really excited about Greenland.... maybe more than Iceland.    As we head north we are just sailing through pretty heavy fog and can't see more than a couple hundred feet.   Things are suppose to improve.

[cft8]

Finally caught up! I enjoyed your report from earlier this summer, and will be eagerly following this one not only because I enjoyed your writing but also because we're doing the Canada & New England leg next year, which will be my first time on Celebrity. We've been to a few of the ports back in 2017 with Royal so we are excited to revisit those and see some new ones!

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, IWillGoAnywhere26 said:

Hey, Jim! Just wanted to say it was great meeting you yesterday (on the stairs) and chatting for a few minutes. We fly home from Reykjavik but it's great knowing we'll be able to come along on your next 2 cruises.

Mary Ann & Dave

 

Mary Ann -   Thanks for stopping me on the stairs.    Was really nice meeting you and Dave.   It's always fun to meet those we have chatted via cc with over the years.   Yours was a definite memorable user name. 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

I grew up in Mineola ( Nassau County) ....my husb is from W  Sayville..which was .a maritime village,,,oysters, clamming,  fishing, etc....When we started dating it was a distant  journey .   Duck farms moved east to Moriches..most if not all have closed. We  still live in Suffolk...very suburban now,  but nice to be near water,  beautiful parks and not too far to wine country. Memory Lane

 

A couple years ago when back on a business trip I drove out to Plainview and found my old house.  That big hill we use to glide down on roller skates screwed to wood turned out to be only 2 feet high.  LOL 

[Oceansaway17]

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Checked on two requests -

 

1. Rich the cruise director will be on until 9/11/22.   Evidently a large number of staff will end on that date.   Many extended as had never been to Iceland, Greenland an Canada. 
 

2.  B2B testing as of now is planned for turn around.  Retreat host has already booked the room and has the schedule for the passenger time slots and will be preparing the letters. 
 

She has not heard of anything otherwise at this point. 

aw the JJ Cruise you tubers will be on the B2B and so you might get to meet them. 

[Jim_Iain]

Attended a Zenith Lunch today hosted by the Hotel Director, Zepher.    As 14 of the 16 Zenith's are B2B, The question of whether there will be B2B Covid test.   He hedged and say the decision has not been made yet and they are investigating.   The number of potential positive cases on the ship may have a bearing on the decision. 

 

So far we have not had any announcement or even rumors of positive cases.   May be they don't make announcements until infection rates go above a certain percentage. 

[MarKay525]

5 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

A couple years ago when back on a business trip I drove out to Plainview and found my old house.  That big hill we use to glide down on roller skates screwed to wood turned out to be only 2 feet high.  LOL 

Roller skates screwed to wood - good thing it was only 2' tall!

 

Yes - that huge rock in the front yard that served as home base for so many games at my childhood home has definitely shrunk when I look at Google Street View now. 🏘️

[Jim_Iain]

2 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

aw the JJ Cruise you tubers will be on the B2B and so you might get to meet them. 

Haven't seen them or met them.   I don't watch YouTube videos much but did check out their site to see what they looked like.  

[Jim_Iain]

1 minute ago, MarKay525 said:

Roller skates screwed to wood - good thing it was only 2' tall!

 

Yes - that huge rock in the front yard that served as home base for so many games at my childhood home has definitely shrunk when I look at Google Street View now. 🏘️

 

Those later became known as Skateboards.... I should have patented them.    

[Oceansaway17]

21 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

The tour was 35 miles away so did get to see some of the countryside 

 

these two photos sum up St Johns Newfoundland in what is special to visit.

thanks for sharing.   Aw I see you have responded so I will go look at it.

I hope you have a great time in Iceland.

I am doing it next year on NCL Prima and it starts in Reykjavik 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I just have to say I love how your trip reports turn into such an interesting community.  Advice on how to deal with bills when gone for a long time.  Check.  Lists of books to read.  Check.  Research on meaning of interesting sculpture.  Check.

 

Re dealing with bills:  my bills are all automatically paid by my bank.  I've done this for years with no problems.  I do see the bills electronically so I can fend off any problems which may arise.  The exceptions would be once-a-year things like property taxes, but that can be handled online and I know when it is, so no problem.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

5 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Those later became known as Skateboards.... I should have patented them.    

😁

[Oceansaway17]

4 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Haven't seen them or met them.   I don't watch YouTube videos much but did check out their site to see what they looked like.  

they are really great fun to watch and the drama they had getting to NJ and ship is well OMG.

Had to fly to Phila not Newark and then train to NYC and then taxi to port.

Earlier this year flights cancelled to FL and they drove 19 hours to catch their Odyssey of the Seas.

These guys are a nice married couple very up beat and fun to listen to.  They love Celebrity and did B2B on Edge, Apex. toodles   hope you get to meet them.

[Jim_Iain]

Zenith Lunch 8/12/2022

 

Really nice lunch Hosted by Zepher the Hotel Director and Bianca Captain's Club Manager.

 

I will have to count when we receive the group photo taken prior to the lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Jim_Iain

[Jim_Iain]

12 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

they are really great fun to watch and the drama they had getting to NJ and ship is well OMG.

Had to fly to Phila not Newark and then train to NYC and then taxi to port.

Earlier this year flights cancelled to FL and they drove 19 hours to catch their Odyssey of the Seas.

These guys are a nice married couple very up beat and fun to listen to.  They love Celebrity and did B2B on Edge, Apex. toodles   hope you get to meet them.

 

I can only imagine.    There were so many flights messed up and cancelled.  We started flying in two days early and was sure glad we did.  

 

I have a great deal of respect for those that do live blogging on YouTube.    Maybe some day I'll try but hate to see my self on video.

 

[Bo1953]

9 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Zenith Lunch 8/12/2022

 

Really nice lunch Hosted by Zepher the Hotel Director and Bianca Captain's Club Manager.

 

I will have to count when we receive the group photo taken prior to the lunch.

 

 

 

No Zenith who is vegan, eh??? LOL

 

Other than that, the menu is very nice!

 

Presentation was great, too...

 

bon appetit and bon voyage

[Jim_Iain]

After that great lunch we had to come back to our cabin and take a nap.   I'm not sure how I feel about having dinner tonight. 

 

The desert was fantastic but the only miss was that green foam.  Everyone looked at it squeezed it and asked what it was.   I said I thought it was carpet padding.   It was suppose to be pistachio something.  Many took a taste then set it aside.   I think it was more decoration.    That Chocolate Mouse was about a half pint with a hidden Raspberry Mouse  in the middle.

[Oceansaway17]

3 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I can only imagine.    There were so many flights messed up and cancelled.  We started flying in two days early and was sure glad we did.  

 

I have a great deal of respect for those that do live blogging on YouTube.    Maybe some day I'll try but hate to see my self on video.

 

aw they also had a two day flight and would have missed out both.

check out their video about nightmare getting to ship - JJ Cruise.  wow.  

 

toodles.  looks like you have sea days before greenland.  I can't wait to see what you think?

[Oceansaway17]

13 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Zenith Lunch 8/12/2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

well they say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.  hmmmm   I would pass on this if it was put in front of me.  Would rather have a nice rice pudding with cinnamon on top.  

[Jim_Iain]

Just now, Bo1953 said:

No Zenith who is vegan, eh??? LOL

 

Other than that, the menu is very nice!

 

Presentation was great, too...

 

bon appetit and bon voyage

 

Bo ---   They did have a Vegan and Vegetarian option not on the menu but no takers.  

 

You are the expert on these things.    I saw a post earlier today someone asking about Gluten Free Options in Luminae.   I don't recall you being Gluten Free but you have to be the expert on Vegan options.