billco

I backed off on the extra tipping when I realized a lot of the wait staff were playing me.

Been to a few. Not sure I would accept if invited to another one. Usually end up sitting next to a ship's officer who would rather not be there. Also, there are those who won't shut up talking about all their cruises. Food is pretty good, but being vegetarians, we have to check in advance.

Well, we departed Oosterdam in Ushuaia this morning due to medical reasons. I can’t say enough about how Patrick, our connoisseur made the departure efficient and easy. He took care of all the details including flight arrangements and getting us to the airport. This morning Patrick and a steward got our luggage and accompanied us to the tender. Patrick stayed with us to get our passports and get us on the van. The van driver and his assistant didn’t just drop us at the airport, but stayed with us to get checked in. Also, the medical staff was outstanding.

Whoops. Meant Benito Quinquella Martin

I made a huge mistake with Uber. I put Quintella Benito Martin as the address. Should have put Quintella Benito Martin Passenger Terminal. Driver spoke no English. Took us to a place a few miles in the opposite direction. Used Translate to get it straightened out. He was a bit grumpy, but had a big smile when I gave him a $20 tip

I have an app called Channels DVR, which allows me to watch my local tv channels wherever I am as long as I have WiFi. I’m a 49er fan. It started out fine last night (the hotel internet not the game) but started cutting out. I had to resort to texting with my son to keep up. At any rate the end result was fine. Hope internet is better on ship.

Thanks! We enjoyed following your blog. We recently accepted an upgrade offer to Neptune. I wonder if that was why our time was changed from 2:40 to 12:00.

If I print my boarding pass on the web site, it says Benito QuinQuela Martin Checkin 2:40 PM /Group F If I look at my Navigator App, it says Benito QuinQuela Martin Checkin 12:00 /Group F. Think I'll go with the Navigator App.

Thanks so much. Perhaps somebody at Passenger Services desk would know.

Did you have a chance to inquire about the Panomax 360 webcam? https://hal.panomax.com/oosterdam I would imagine the internet person might know something. Thanks

If you get a chance, could you ask why the Panomax Webcam is down? I was really looking forward to viewing the past two cruises and my upcoming cruise. https://hal.panomax.com/oosterdam

We sail next week on a 22 day Antarctic cruise. We have only been on one 4 day HAL cruise and we accepted an upgrade to a Neptune Suite Of course, we loved it. On this cruise, we started out with the lowest cost Oceanview and upgraded after buying Club Orange for the same price the upgrade would have cost. Not too long after, my wife started saying she wished we had booked a Veranda, so we moved up to the cheapest Forward Veranda. Then we got an upgrade offer to a signature suite. Well, we only live once. Today, we got an upgrade offer to a Neptune Suite. I was waffleing on that one until they told me they would take our cost of the Club Orange off the price of the upgrade. They offered a choice of three cabins fairly close to the lounge. We picked the one directly across from the door. We were going to buy unlimited laundry.

I'll go two more steps - hypnotists and vulgar comedians.

Just to be on the safe side I bought a Neewer USB Lens Heater for my telescope.

Agree. At $3000+ Swarovski binoculars are quite above that price point.

A woman on another Roll Call posted the following: "I use Nikon Monarch M7 10 by 42. I love them. I use an OUFABE harness to hold them. It’s elastic and takes all the pressure off my neck so I can wear them comfortably all day long. Binos are only good if you can have them with you always and have fast access to using them." I imagine they are pretty good as they are pretty expensive for binoculars. https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/binoculars/16766/monarch-m7-10x42.html I'll be bringing a Dwarf 2 telescope that I bought for taking photos of the Total Solar Eclipse in April. Hope it won't be too cold for it. https://dwarflab.com/products/dwarf-2-smart-telescope

Striking photos show arches and cavernous hollows carved into world’s largest iceberg https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/17/climate/iceberg-a23a-erosion-photos-scli-intl-scn-climate/index.html

Have they mentioned Richard E. Byrd who was first to fly over the North and South Poles and headed several Antarctic expeditions among his many accomplishments? I served on the commissioning crew of the USS Richard E. Byrd (DDG-23) from 1963-65.

Actually, we are not on vacation. I have been retired for over 30 years and have sailed on over 50 cruises. Cruising is just an extension of our daily life and how we do it is our business.

Posts like this used to be attacked almost unanimously. Shows the direction princess is going, I think. Have you looked at Virgin Voyages. I think their approach might suit you.

We will be watching the eclipse off the coast of Mazatlan, Mexico on the Discovery Princess. Also, looking forward to Spain on August 12, 2026.

https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/

We cancelled our private tour to Volunteer Point and booked the ship's tour to Bluff Point. We were lucky as there were only two seats available.

Glad I found this thread. We sail on a 22 day Antarctica cruise on HAL Oosterdam on January 29. I have been following a blog https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2978886-bit-of-a-blog-hal-oosterdam-south-america-antarctica-decjan-202324/ on the current cruise, which is the same as ours (Buenos Aires to San Antonio with 4 days Antarctic cruising). She has posted lots of photos, so I don't think internet has been an issue. They don't show lectures on room tv citing copyright issues. Info on what to wear was really helpful, especially N95 masks and ozone layer. Never would have thought of that. I will be bringing a Dwarf2 telescope that i bought for the upcoming total solar eclipse. It's also supposed to be great for wildlife. @HaveDogWillTravel You always post a lot of good info.

We just accepted an upsell offer to a port side Signature Suite.