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NorthernLite

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  • Posts

    1,235
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    Wisconsin
  • Interests
    Traveling, history and disabled rights
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Azamara, Celebrity
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Mediterranean

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. We lived in Rome and later sailed the eastern Med many times in the Fall. Normally the rainy season begins between October 1st and December 15th. That's the averages. Winter just be prepared for light snow. During the rainy season it will be cold and drizzle to pour a lot. Do not wear corduroy because they hold that cold water. I wore water-proofed short leather boots, tall merino socks and bespoke jeans so I did not get the evil eye while doing my daily shopping just like the Italian ladies. So plain on anything from a longer raincoat to clear ponchos that dry fast once back on ship. We are heading out soon for our February holiday and hope one of the B2B cruises are warmer than Tampa. I will wearing cashmere or more casual sweat shirts for the car and dinners out.
  2. I have quarter and full zip Aruba Tommy Bahama's for adding when I am cold which pretty much covers the entire state of Florida due to A/C.
  3. It has finally happened. After 30 years in a chair my knees that recovered to almost normal with rehab and helped my husband transfer me via a standing pivot no longer is very safe for both of us. We will take a gait belt and sliding board but we would buy a portable hoyer except I gave up flying so our van is already filled for back2back cruises. Any companies or does special needs for Celebrity handle these? I would love to arrive with it already in our HC suite.
  4. Please do review your cruise back here! I have been looking at the Columbia, Snake or both for awhile. I believe Pearl line goes around most of the Great Lakes but after the warmer weather ends they head up past Quebec and sail along the east coast and does the coastal areas of the Mid-Atlantic before heading to the Gulf of Mexico for the much warmer winters. The American Cruise Lines uses 2 of their paddle wheel type ships from St Paul, MN down to Saint Louis, MO then Saint Louis, MO to New Orleans. We saw one of their ships at dock in LaCrosse, WI. If you are more of a gourmand than the ship serves there are at least 3 very decent restaurants within an easy walk or roll including one French. The best part of the area from Saint Paul to about Dubuque is why we often go up the Great River Road. I would love sneak peaks of HC suites including bathrooms.
  5. If you are using a travel agent use them for this; if not email and follow up by snail mail to the address for passenger questions. Ask for simple pictures of the tendering area. We went on Crystal's Serenity Northwest Passage cruise from Anchorage to NYC complete with our own ice breaker through a good deal of it. I know I did not have the balance for a RIB but my husband did and a table mate, retired Navy Captain with a posterior cervical injury while mine is anterior, also did once. He can walk well on flat services but brought a lovely old silver topped cane just in case. After getting back from a rather smooth ride about 500 meters each way his back muscles were telling him where they were and that was as wobbly as mine if I needed a muscle relaxer. My husband walked on down and did keep a decent grip on the bench edge. Then let me know why they were wiping me out of the line up of shore excursions that their department for such things had assured me were no problem for a person who could not, even a little bit, walk or stand. All the places that were marked tender I had questions about and why I called rather than use their app. First with a regular adult size Quickie manual there was no way to get down the narrow downslope to the tender area and most tenders like Nome would either leave me in the RIB or my butt and chair seat soaked through getting the last few feet to solid beach. They straight out lied about inaccessible school buses in Alaska. We still hoofed it in Dutch Harbor to get pictures for my cousin as my Uncle has been on the Wichita up there before being called back to head to the Coral Sea. But St John, NB, Bar Harbor, ME and Newport RI have always been a tender for most ships. If you get a company like Holland America they brought the tender on the old New Amsterdam up over the davits about 3 decks higher than for the able bodied folks and once secure they swing the tender door open and I rolled over and a crew member helped my casters make a soft landing. Then we went down to the rest of those going ashore and loaded them. The reverse was the same with letting the majority of first then further up me, my husband and a women using a rolling walker. Silver Seas ships are, I believe, even older than Crystal's 2 ocean going ships. My husband did get a great pic for his abilities with anything digital of a polar bear on an small ice flow having his lunch of seal and the red blood against the blue white ice and the yellowish bear came out with sharp edges of contrast between each. As we left the Passage and headed to Greenland we had a decent display of the Northern Lights. But 2 days later for the last RIBs scheduled just to cruise the UNESCO site for most calving glacier coming off northeast Greenland just a few made it as close as our drone's, the Captain and the last icebreaker after ours thought safe. They turned the other groups back before they got to the walkway down and several in the first group were very happy they had worn the rental tall wet boots. So, good pictures of the tender area including how you get there are needed. Be honest with yourself about your abilities but hey, we all have to go sometime. And have every measurement and weight anyone could possibly need in both American standard and Metric. Oh, and try the Silver Sweethearts idea and go to their blog or any where someone might be able to answer questions and may get you a pic of that area of the ship.
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