Memo from the British Isles - 14 days Almost Live from Nieuw Statendam

[VMax1700]

The dreaded disembarkation information arrived......

 

 

[VMax1700]

And our "Special Dismembarkation" details.  Go as you please 7.45am to 9.30am.

 

[VMax1700]

Day 12 Invergordon

 

Daily Program

 

 

 

[VMax1700]

Day 12 Invergordon Sunday

 

 

Menus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

m12-day12-_lido_lunch_north_europe_2023.pdf

 

m12-day12-_lido_dinner_north_europe_voyage (1).pdf

 

m12-day12-_mdr_north_europe_2023 (1).pdf

[oakridger]

Thank you!  Are you sure you don't want to stay aboard for the next cruise?  😉

 

 

~Nancy

[VMax1700]

Invergordon, Sunday August 20th

 

It was clean up day in Invergordon and the locals were out clearing weeds and drains and a general tidy up.  To quote one local lady,  "The local council should be doing this, but there is no such thing as a skinny local councillor"  😂

 

 

 

they were all working hard but were quite happy to take a break to talk to nosey cruisers!

DW telling them how they should be doing it! 🤣

 

 

One of the 'girls' was just back from visiting her sister who lives in Cork!  To the people of Invergordon, we apologise if some of the volunteers didn't get their quota of cleaning done! 😉

 

 

[VMax1700]

5 minutes ago, oakridger said:

Thank you!  Are you sure you don't want to stay aboard for the next cruise?  😉

 

 

~Nancy

Would love to do that, but need to go home to get ready for Baltic on Rotterdam in 4 weeks.

Need to put more elastic into the waists of pants etc 🙄

[loveapug]

Thank you so much for your reporting.  We will join the ship on Wed and it is so helpful to learn of your experiences.  Safe travels home 

[Lido deck main]

Thank you for the reports and for the humour. Enjoyable read.

[Windsailer]

Last evening the Captain announced that the number of COVID cases had increased so he was having face masks delivered to each passenger and strongly recommended wearing them. No change for me as I wear them on tenders, tour buses and while standing in line. Not sure what this means for the next cruise.

[ExpatBride]

6 hours ago, Windsailer said:

Last evening the Captain announced that the number of COVID cases had increased so he was having face masks delivered to each passenger and strongly recommended wearing them. No change for me as I wear them on tenders, tour buses and while standing in line. Not sure what this means for the next cruise.

 

Have they said how many cases are onboard? I actually came down with something a few days after I disembarked earlier this month. I didn't test, but the symptoms tracked with COVID. I definitely caught it on the ship because we drove to the port and my symptoms showed up before I'd been anywhere but on the ship and in the car.

[VMax1700]

23 minutes ago, ExpatBride said:

Have they said how many cases are onboard?

Not quantified, just that there is an increase.

Masking on the tender today was at almost 100%

[Windsailer]

My experience was different. I was on the tenders 4 times yesterday. On all but one about 50% were wearing masks. The 4th tender was 100% wearing masks - because I was the only one on it! Tour bus was about 50%, same for elevators. Too bad really. It just isn't that difficult wearing a mask.

[VMax1700]

Good Morning Sports Fans.

 

A quick break from our regular to programming to update you on what you may expect to see on the stateroom TV sports channels.

The past weekend there were 5 English Premier League matches shown live, the MotoGP race from Austria, the Women's FIFA World Cup Final also live and other live events including tennis, Australian Rugby League.

The promo says they will be showing Dutch F1 live this weekend plus PL soccer.  In coming weeks they will be showing live MotoGP, F1, Ryder Cup Golf etc,

 

You can find the schedule for your cruise here https://sport24live.com/schedule

 

[VMax1700]

I know I have fallen a bit behind in posting the Daily Program and Menus, so sorry for that!  

Today is repacking day AKA "why did I bring this? day" or "Did we really purchase all this stuff? day"  so I will update the info as soon as I have a few minutes.

In the meantime, if anyone sailing soon has any particular question, then ask away......

[VMax1700]

Our flight home tomorrow is a late evening flight departing Copenhagen at 7.10 pm so rather than drag our suitcases around all day I have signed up with Copenhagen Luggage Service, who, for €39 will collect 3 suitcases at the terminal, up to 20kg each, and transport them to the airport for us.

 

I had intended to sign up for this before we left home but forgot.  It was no problem to sign up using the ship's internet, however they require colour coded tags (similar to the ship's disembark tags) so that they can identify the bags in the terminal.  The ship has a printer available to cruisers but it is Black and white, so I had to get the Front Desk to print them out on their colour printer.

They also suggest that I send photos of the suitcases to aid identification.  

 

[Sea Viewer]

I have really enjoyed following your trip, especially the Holyhead and Dun Laoghaire  ports. Brought back many childhood memories of annual trip from Manchester to Galway in the summer to visit parents family farms to 'help with bringing in the hay' I was in Dublin for a day last October, can't wait to go back!

 

Mary

 

[kazu]

6 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Our flight home tomorrow is a late evening flight departing Copenhagen at 7.10 pm so rather than drag our suitcases around all day I have signed up with Copenhagen Luggage Service, who, for €39 will collect 3 suitcases at the terminal, up to 20kg each, and transport them to the airport for us.

 

I had intended to sign up for this before we left home but forgot.  It was no problem to sign up using the ship's internet, however they require colour coded tags (similar to the ship's disembark tags) so that they can identify the bags in the terminal.  The ship has a printer available to cruisers but it is Black and white, so I had to get the Front Desk to print them out on their colour printer.

They also suggest that I send photos of the suitcases to aid identification.  

 

 

I am so sorry your cruise will soon be coming to an end. 😔  I have so been enjoying your Live thread.  You are truly eloquent Colin, helpful and humorous at the same time.  Many, many thanks for taking us along.

 

I hope everything goes smoothly luggage wise for you tomorrow and you and Ellen have a very safe and smooth flight home 🙂 

 

And of course, I hope you have a few more posts for us before it is all over 😉 

[madera1]

Thank you for all your detailed posts and for the many photos! 

[ocean sounds]

Very enjoyable, and lots of good information. Safe travels home.

[bluesplayer]

Thank you for all your posts!!  I have followed along.  The menus were very fun to order my "imaginary" meals.  Information regarding UK customs..  glad to be prepared for that.  The disembarkation information is always the same feeling..  HOW CAN THEY DO THIS TO US!!   Have a safe trip home..  enjoyed your posts...  

[POA1]

Thsnk you for a well written, derailed trip report!

 

(Upon a second reading, that's kind of sad on my part. Let's see if I can spice it up.)

 

5 star reporting! I couldn't put it down. Amazingly informative! I laughed. I cried. It moved me! Quite nearly broke my exclamation mark key! ❗

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.  

Safe home.

[birder22]

I just returned home from this fantastic cruise.  I was part of the large knitting group and worked closely with the HAL events manager.  According to her immigration at Liverpool was a nightmare due to the immigration officials not spending the sea days on board and arriving late in Liverpool.  And then the passengers refused to leave the line even when individually requested to do so.  

 

The delay at the Isle of Man was due to the commissioning of the new island ferry.  Tender service had to stop for the ceremony and shore excursions were then delayed.  We did not leave on time due to the anchor catching on an underwater cable.

 

The weather in Lerwick was absolutely amazing.  Warm, sunny, no wind and flat seas for tendering.  

 

Covid was making its rounds on the ship.  Our group tested if they developed symptoms and 18% of the group tested positive.  I expect the percentage was similar for the rest of the ship because of the amount of coughing and sneezing I heard in the second week.  

 

Expect to go through face to face immigration at the first UK port. 

 

[VMax1700]

Again apologies fo rnot posting for the last few days.  

We arrived home late last night (Wednesday).  One of our suitcases arrived this evening (Thursday) and the other one is now scheduled to be delivered to us by 11am tomorrow (Friday).  This was caused by a delayed departure from Copenhagen on Wednesday evening which lead to a short connection time in AMS.

Although my laptop was in my backpack, the mains power adapter is in the second suitcase so I have very little power remaining.

I will finish the report over the weekend.