The Fleet Report and Daily for Thursday February 1st, 2024

[bennybear]

Rabbit rabbit, rabbit!  
 

A special thanks for all the kind words,  @kazu @cunnorl@smitty34877@RMLincoln@Quartzsite Cruiser@HAL Sailer@puppycanducruise@StLouisCruisers@Haljo1935 @cat shepard@dfish@erewhon

@grapau27just to clarify the friend wasn’t in the photo at the crown bar.   
 

@ger_77 sending extra hugs, always tough to make those decisions.   But better safe and the next cruise will be that much sweeter. 
 

@smitty34877 yikes, I am so sorry to hear your household is not well, such a concern for Tana.  

@marshhawk sorry you’re not well,  but glad to hear you have a plan for dear bubbles.
 

Yes please remember to enjoy each day and be thankful.  
  

[AroundWithMAPTravels]

Rabbit rabbit white rabbit (would prefer chocolate bunny with BIG ears over a white rabbit, though)

transited the canal twice: one was a partial, one was a full transit.  The full transit was a bit different than most people’s experience…. We were on the tiny Lindblad/NatGeo Sea Voyager (about 60 passengers). Did the transit from colon to the lake during the day. The ship had special permission to overnight in the lake and go to Barro Colorado island the following morning.   Visited the Smithsonian institute there and hiked through the rainforest.   Howler monkeys and leaf cutter ants were fun to watch. After a full day there we continued on toward the Pacific.  This part was done at night, which put a different perspective on the operation.   Compared to the traffic directly near the canal, it was eerily dark and quiet anchored near the faraway Barro Colorado island.  

🙏 and good thoughts to all!
 

and now, two more “curious” questions for the Dailyites:

 @rafinmd, I love the sunrises and alternate menus!   Question is:  out of the 365 (or the leap year 366) daily possibilities , are there Any that you have not been on a ship? Sounds like you DO have many many good memories!    
Now a general question for all Dailyites:   I am a wine lover.  Enjoy it as often as I can (hopefully daily!). Many of you post daily about what is on your menu for the day and end with “…and wine”. Seems like this group really does like wine and tries to enjoy it as much as possible…. Daily?🍷😍. True?

[kazu]

28 minutes ago, AroundWithMAPTravels said:

Now a general question for all Dailyites:   I am a wine lover.  Enjoy it as often as I can (hopefully daily!). Many of you post daily about what is on your menu for the day and end with “…and wine”. Seems like this group really does like wine and tries to enjoy it as much as possible…. Daily?🍷😍. True?

 

What’s a day without wine??  😂 

[57redbird]

3 hours ago, RedneckBob said:

My problem with the shops are that the clothes were too small for me. If Oceania expects me to sail with them all the time, sell larger size shorts! I had no problem on HAL. One time on a cruise I forgot my belt. So when we arrived in St Lucia I went to a local store to buy a belt but the largest belt they had was a 32” waist. I told the clerk my waist size and she suggested I buy two belts and tie them together! 😳

Hubby forgot his belt & had the same problem in Mexico - I can't remember how that turned out.

[rafinmd]

40 minutes ago, AroundWithMAPTravels said:

@rafinmd, I love the sunrises and alternate menus!   Question is:  out of the 365 (or the leap year 366) daily possibilities , are there Any that you have not been on a ship? Sounds like you DO have many many good memories!    

There are a few days when I have not been on a ship and even more when I have not been on a BHB.  The alternate menu will go on hiatus sometime this summer for a period.

 

February 29 will be a special case.  I have never been on a BHB on February 29,  I did come relatively close with the Zaandam in 2012 and one additional cruise would have made it happen.  I was on Crystal in 2016 and 2020 and while I do not normally list non-HAL alternates I will make an exception for leap year.

 

Roy

[Haljo1935]

Rabbit Rabbit White 🐇 🐰 🐇 

Well - candy is good sometimes and insurance is always important; I changed a password yesterday and reset many today for my team, so that should suffice. Pass on the quote and meal, maybe try the drink and wine. Have been to Gatun Lake once right at the restart and had a great day. No pictures; however, as they're on my computer and I'm using my phone. We did an excursion where you cross in a smaller boat then meet back up w/the ship. We had monkeys 🐒 all over our little boat!

Dr sent 2 referrals, hoping to hear from those doctors soon. One is a neurologist to see if the cause of my numb left foot can be identified as well as address tremors in my left hand. I will continue PT for the frozen shoulder unless the neurologist says to stop. The other is an eye doctor. She also requested I take intermittent leave to deal w/all this. Work is not happy. Ugh

Prayers and positive thoughts for all.

[rafinmd]

5 hours ago, Cruzin Terri said:

We have a considerable amount of Shipboard credit.  So last night we went to the Ship’s Boutique to look for shorts for Jim. NOTHING!  The shop has the most pitiful clothes I have ever seen.  I noticed this in November when we were on this ship.  I thought that maybe things would have changed since then.  It is worse.  I could do better at Good Will.  We will wait until we get to Antigua on Saturday.  There is a nice store there that sells decent clothing.  We will go shopping there.

I can identify with that at least when it comes to socks.  I normally use packing cubes and know I included a cube of socks for the Eurodam in 2022.  I had packed socks for the trip to Florida and for the trip back home, but apparently my cube of socks fell off the edge of the bed while I did my final closing of the bag.

 

I discovered it when I got on the ship and had no socks except the ones I was wearing.  I almost went without socks for a day but wore the same socks for about 4 days until our first port of Aruba.  Sadly, that was a Sunday and the good stores were all closed.  My last stop was a souvenir shop called something like "Made in Aruba",  Fortunately, they had socks made in Aruba but they were smaller and tighter than the ones I would normally wear.  From then on I had socks going out to the laundry just about every day wearing the socks I had brought on board as soon as they came back.  The HAL shops were no better than Oceania's/

 

Thinking of you as you will either trust Jim to stay on the ship or lead him around.

 

Roy

[ottahand7]

1 hour ago, AroundWithMAPTravels said:

Rabbit rabbit white rabbit (would prefer chocolate bunny with BIG ears over a white rabbit, though)

transited the canal twice: one was a partial, one was a full transit.  The full transit was a bit different than most people’s experience…. We were on the tiny Lindblad/NatGeo Sea Voyager (about 60 passengers). Did the transit from colon to the lake during the day. The ship had special permission to overnight in the lake and go to Barro Colorado island the following morning.   Visited the Smithsonian institute there and hiked through the rainforest.   Howler monkeys and leaf cutter ants were fun to watch. After a full day there we continued on toward the Pacific.  This part was done at night, which put a different perspective on the operation.   Compared to the traffic directly near the canal, it was eerily dark and quiet anchored near the faraway Barro Colorado island.  

🙏 and good thoughts to all!
 

and now, two more “curious” questions for the Dailyites:

 @rafinmd, I love the sunrises and alternate menus!   Question is:  out of the 365 (or the leap year 366) daily possibilities , are there Any that you have not been on a ship? Sounds like you DO have many many good memories!    
Now a general question for all Dailyites:   I am a wine lover.  Enjoy it as often as I can (hopefully daily!). Many of you post daily about what is on your menu for the day and end with “…and wine”. Seems like this group really does like wine and tries to enjoy it as much as possible…. Daily?🍷😍. True?

Daily yes but as I tell my doctor only one glass a day.  🍷😂

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, AroundWithMAPTravels said:

Rabbit rabbit white rabbit (would prefer chocolate bunny with BIG ears over a white rabbit, though)

transited the canal twice: one was a partial, one was a full transit.  The full transit was a bit different than most people’s experience…. We were on the tiny Lindblad/NatGeo Sea Voyager (about 60 passengers). Did the transit from colon to the lake during the day. The ship had special permission to overnight in the lake and go to Barro Colorado island the following morning.   Visited the Smithsonian institute there and hiked through the rainforest.   Howler monkeys and leaf cutter ants were fun to watch. After a full day there we continued on toward the Pacific.  This part was done at night, which put a different perspective on the operation.   Compared to the traffic directly near the canal, it was eerily dark and quiet anchored near the faraway Barro Colorado island.  

🙏 and good thoughts to all!
 

and now, two more “curious” questions for the Dailyites:

 @rafinmd, I love the sunrises and alternate menus!   Question is:  out of the 365 (or the leap year 366) daily possibilities , are there Any that you have not been on a ship? Sounds like you DO have many many good memories!    
Now a general question for all Dailyites:   I am a wine lover.  Enjoy it as often as I can (hopefully daily!). Many of you post daily about what is on your menu for the day and end with “…and wine”. Seems like this group really does like wine and tries to enjoy it as much as possible…. Daily?🍷😍. True?

We have a bottle of wine with our meal on a ships speciality restaurant but very rarely drink any alcohol in our house.

[ottahand7]

@marshhawk.  I hope you will get over what you are battling.  John and I are still coughing.  Thinking of you tomorrow when you provide Bubbles the last act of kindness.  It is never easy. 😿🌈

[Pushka]

I've just booked a HAL cruise through Japan. And so just started reading this thread. It's a really nice feature. 
 

One thing that has sparked this post. I live in Australia and see that's where Noordam is cruising. But I've never seen Australia and New Zealand referered to as being located Eastern Hemisphere before but as Southern Hemisphere.  So curious. East of what?  

Edited February 1 by Pushka

[quilty964]

Good afternoon, from a sunny day in Wisconsin!  It was 49F when I was in the car earlier!  I might like the soup today, the drink sounds good, I think my niece made me one a while back.  We have mint in the garden, may have try one when it's growing.  Thanks for all of the photos and sharing today.  @marshhawksorry to hear about your Bubbles...hugs to you.

@smitty34877sorry to hear about all of the sickness in your household, prayers everyone gets better soon.  

To all who are celebrating and on cruises...Enjoy!  hugs to those who need them. 

lo

We did a partial transit of the Panama Canal in February last year, on the Eurodam.  Our DGD recently graduated from college and studied supply chain issues...I showed her pictures and videos of all of the cargo ships, it was hard to believe there were so many of those ships....lots of Amazon orders in process! LOL.

It was amazing how close the ship was to the walls of the canal.  The morning was very crowded on the observation deck.  We stayed on the ship, and the afternoon return trip was much less crowded, could see a lot more.  We walked around the ship to see the different views.  Have a good rest of your day!  K

[rafinmd]

9 minutes ago, Pushka said:

I've just booked a HAL cruise through Japan. And so just started reading this thread. It's a really nice feature. 
 

One thing that has sparked this post. I live in Australia and see that's where Noordam is cruising. But I've never seen Australia and New Zealand referered to as being located Eastern Hemisphere before but as Southern Hemisphere.  So curious. East of what?  

Welcome to the HAL forum and the Fleet Report and Daily.  I would say West of the International Dateline and East of Greenwich, UK/

 

Roy

[Pushka]

12 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

Welcome to the HAL forum and the Fleet Report and Daily.  I would say West of the International Dateline and East of Greenwich, UK/

 

Roy

Thankyou for the nice welcome.  Thats interesting using that point as a reference. Down under we use the Equator as our reference so hence Southern. Great Southern Land and all that. 
 

We will be on Noordam and even though she's cruising Australia she won't be near where I live until December. Might sneak a visit then. 
 

[grapau27]

30 minutes ago, Pushka said:

I've just booked a HAL cruise through Japan. And so just started reading this thread. It's a really nice feature. 
 

One thing that has sparked this post. I live in Australia and see that's where Noordam is cruising. But I've never seen Australia and New Zealand referered to as being located Eastern Hemisphere before but as Southern Hemisphere.  So curious. East of what?  

Welcome @Pushka to the daily.

Graham from England UK.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info.

[rafinmd]

3 hours ago, rafinmd said:

There are a few days when I have not been on a ship and even more when I have not been on a BHB.  The alternate menu will go on hiatus sometime this summer for a period.

 

February 29 will be a special case.  I have never been on a BHB on February 29,  I did come relatively close with the Zaandam in 2012 and one additional cruise would have made it happen.  I was on Crystal in 2016 and 2020 and while I do not normally list non-HAL alternates I will make an exception for leap year.

 

Roy

I think there are about 68 calendar days I have not been on a BHB including 31 i have not been on any ship:

 

For HAL

 

2/29

5/6 to 5/14

6/18 to 7/1

7/7 to7/11

7/22 to 7/24

8/16

8/25-9/24

11/25

12/24-12/27

 

Not on any ship:

 

6/18-629

7/7 to 7/11

7/22-7/24

9/18-9/24

12/24-12/27

 

I usually can fill in the shorter gaps with special lunches, etc or meals on the way to or from the ships but there will definitely be a hiatus in August/September.

 

Roy

[marshhawk]

It is interesting, in one day, about the day, the port, the meal the wine and the drink there have been over 2 thousand views.  in one day.

 

@Pushkawelcome to the daily.

 

 I thought @rafinmd 's geographic description sounded like the directions for OZ  Or a Ray Bradbury book title.

 

I was watching a Midsumer Murder yesterday or as I call them the Barnabies- and I heard something said that would make a fantastic quote.

 

"In the final analysis, we are all, nothing but stardust."

 

I'm thinking well if I'm going to be stardust, I wont have to sweep myself up. Phew.

 

Years ago I went to a dark sky week in Cedar Key Florida, there we were out in the brush, no lights, at all in any direction, and we got to see the dust trail that the earth leaves behind while it goes around the sun.  Wow.  I cant find the name for it right now, but it was named after a person.

 

Astronomers?

[dfish]

We are really rocking and rolling tonight.  I am usually not bothered by the seas, but Sue and I are both miserable.  Funny part is that we were fine one minute and down the next.  

 

We tried the green apples and bonine and neither are helping.  

 

Otherwise, it has been a nice day.  We went to the port talks, ukulele lessons, Aloha Sunset performance, and a great mariners lunch with Sharon @Sharon in AZ and her DH.

Edited February 2 by dfish

[kochleffel]

7 hours ago, AroundWithMAPTravels said:

Many of you post daily about what is on your menu for the day and end with “…and wine”. Seems like this group really does like wine and tries to enjoy it as much as possible…. Daily?🍷😍. True?

 

In 1980-something my doctor advised me to have a glass of wine every day. I largely did already. Then, ca. 2000, a different doctor prescribed a medication that came with an instruction (from the pharmacist) not to combine it with alcohol. I questioned him about it, because the package insert said that it did not interact with alcohol. He said that it was safe to drink while taking it, but that drinking too much would affect the condition for which it was prescribed, and suggested a glass of wine only every second day.

 

At home I'm more likely to have only two glasses of wine a week. Right now I'm not drinking at all, because the surgeon said not to, but that is only for another week. Not taking ibuprofen is bothering me more.

 

6 hours ago, ottahand7 said:

Daily yes but as I tell my doctor only one glass a day.  🍷😂

 

Which means that your doctor probably may believe that you drink three glasses a day. Many doctors assume that every patient lies about alcohol and so triple whatever the patient reports.

 

[kochleffel]

43 minutes ago, dfish said:

We tried the green apples and bonine and neither are helping.  

 

Motion-sickness meds apparently work best if you start taking them well in advance of needing them. I have no idea how you would tell when that would be.

 

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

1 hour ago, dfish said:

We are really rocking and rolling tonight.  I am usually not bothered by the seas, but Sue and I are both miserable.  Funny part is that we were fine one minute and down the next.  

 

We tried the green apples and bonine and neither are helping.  

 

Otherwise, it has been a nice day.  We went to the port talks, ukulele lessons, Aloha Sunset performance, and a great mariners lunch with Sharon @Sharon in AZ and her DH.

 

Debbie, I'm sorry you and Sue are feeling miserable.  I hope you are feeling better soon.  We're moving around a lot but not feeling sea sick.

 

Lenda

[Sharon in AZ]

1 hour ago, dfish said:

We are really rocking and rolling tonight.  I am usually not bothered by the seas, but Sue and I are both miserable.  Funny part is that we were fine one minute and down the next.  

 

We tried the green apples and bonine and neither are helping.  

 

Otherwise, it has been a nice day.  We went to the port talks, ukulele lessons, Aloha Sunset performance, and a great mariners lunch with Sharon @Sharon in AZ and her DH.

Oh Debbie I’m so sorry you feel the rolling and rocking. Funny but I’m okay and I’m usually the one on the floor. I have had problems walking a straight line!  I think taking the Bonine ahead of time has helped. There was a moment at the Ocean Bar that the bottles went flying but the very deft bartender caught them. I’m not going anywhere else so even though it’s early I’m in bed. 

[kazu]

5 hours ago, dfish said:

We are really rocking and rolling tonight.  I am usually not bothered by the seas, but Sue and I are both miserable.  Funny part is that we were fine one minute and down the next.  

 

We tried the green apples and bonine and neither are helping.  

 

Otherwise, it has been a nice day.  We went to the port talks, ukulele lessons, Aloha Sunset performance, and a great mariners lunch with Sharon @Sharon in AZ and her DH.

So sorry you and Sue are suffering from the motion of the ocean, Debbie.  I hope they calm down for you 🤞 

 

DD DH liked a concoction they had in the shops.  It was not pricey and you just put a drop behind each ear.  didn’t interfere with anything.  I believe it was called Motion Ease.  He found it greatly helped.

 

I believe it was in the shop with the sundry stuff and IIRC, you need to ask for it - it wasn’t on display.

I hope you are both feeling much better today. Crossed

[grapau27]

4 hours ago, Sharon in AZ said:

Oh Debbie I’m so sorry you feel the rolling and rocking. Funny but I’m okay and I’m usually the one on the floor. I have had problems walking a straight line!  I think taking the Bonine ahead of time has helped. There was a moment at the Ocean Bar that the bottles went flying but the very deft bartender caught them. I’m not going anywhere else so even though it’s early I’m in bed. 

Wise decision Sharon when the sea is rough lying in bed is the best idea imo.