Locksmth

$129 per person for 3 dinners in specialty restaurants on the first night. 

Tonight we we are in Icey Straight and the buffet maître’d offered us 30% off on any restaurant. Tonight only. 

We are on the Equinox right now. A couple of pictures from last night. Hope I’m not hijacking the thread. 

Past the Lions Gate Bridge. 

Diver Scallops Wellington in the Murano. 

Could you please post up the diesembarcation schedule?  It would nice to schedule our pickup when we return next week.

Great blog btw.  I have been following it intensely

Paul, we are boarding this coming Sunday, May 26.  What internet package do you have and what does it cost?

Ok, my wife has put the kybosh on the pickup idea.  From the airport you can take the Canada Line train to downtown Vancouver pretty cheap.  If you get off the train at Vancouver City Centre Station it is about a 600 metre walk to the Shangri-La Hotel.

If you are looking for dinner when you arrive you have some pretty good options very close to there.

Hmm...I live in Vancouver (suburb) and I'm taking the same cruise immediately after you.  Gonna watch carefully.

Would it be creepy if I drove to the airport and offered you guys a ride to your hotel?

2 minutes ago, mom says said:

Sorry that your health care providers have been lax in educating you on how to protect yourself while immune compromised. It is one of the most common recommendations. And no one here was talking about people with compromised immune systems due to disease or disorder. That's a whole separate subset of the population- one that has to be very careful about even setting foot on a ship,  let alone lining up at a buffet. 

 

PS: for the average healthy person, there are,  in fact, things you can do to boost your immune system. But this is veering way off topic.

I wouldn't (nor did I) suggest in any way that anyone else was responsible for my immune system, or lack there of.  However, being a pig at the trough is not in anyone's best interests.  Common decency and hygiene are worth the effort for everyone.  Sorry if you can't understand that.  

PS: "boosting your immune system" is something that starts when you are a child.  Don't for a moment believe that taking some vitamin or other substance is going to do you any good against the runny nosed person handling your food after touching their nose/face.

13 minutes ago, Mike981 said:

 

Winner-winner~

Loser-loser.  Being a pig in public is never an excuse.

1 hour ago, mom says said:

Isn't avoiding all buffets (land or sea) a standard recommendation by the various cancer societies? Don't depend on others to safeguard your own health.

I have never been told that.  However, your (or my) immune system can't be built up in preparation for a cruise.  Good hygiene can!

On 4/17/2019 at 7:45 PM, Mike981 said:

I'm all for being smart and sanitary, but you will not change some people.
The best defense starts before you go on vacation.
Build up your immune system.

Try having leukemia.  Your idea doesn't work so well.  Better that everyone is a little more sanitary.

2 hours ago, DebInAntigua said:

They share a lot here, including which labs have tested their products - https://zoono.com/pages/our-technology

 

But if you want access to their actual lab data, you have to contact them for permission.

I'm the suspicious kind of guy.  They make a lot of claims, but really don't provide any data to back it up.  24 hours is an awfully long time for any anti-bacterial agent to remain effective.  Just saying...

ZooNo looks interesting, but their website doesn't reference any clinical trials.  In fact, no science references at all.  I'd be skeptical of their claims.

I carry $10m emergency medical.  Costs me $450 and it expires in a month 8(.  I was just curious if the US Coast Guard charges to airlift you off of a ship.

Socialized medicine has its advantages.  Most I would be out of pocket for air evac in British Columbia would be about $90.

That's a pretty pricey option.  If you evacuated from a ship in US waters by coast guard helicopter, is there a fee for that?

34 minutes ago, Gimpy McFarlan said:

We are seriously considering taking Millie on a B2B leaving Vancouver on 5/10 and returning to Vancouver on 5/24. The ship arrives at 7am and there is an Canada Air flight to Toronto at 10am. The later flights are all red eyes AND more expensive. The flights the following day are A LOT more expensive since it is a Saturday so staying overnight is not economical. We prefer walking off the ship ourselves. We would not need to go thru US Immigration until Toronto. Is making a 10am flight possible? 😬

I doubt if you would make your flight.  It takes 30 minutes to get from the cruise ship terminal to YVR via Canada Line rapid transit.  Budget 90 minutes to clear security etc and you'd have to be off the ship and moving by 8AM.

On 3/18/2019 at 1:02 PM, sandycruzr said:

The cruiselines do a great job of scaring passengers into buys their overpriced excursions!  You couldn’t pay me to take one of those excursions and be packed on a bus with a hundred fellow passengers when oftentimes for the same price I can have a private tour!

Took a bus tour in LA from the cruise line.  They took us to the walk of fame and let us out to come back an hour later.  My wife has mobility issues and decided to stay on the bus.  They refused to allow this and made her sit in a parking lot for an hour.

I'm sailing at the end of May.  What internet package are you using, and what does it cost?

Ate there just a few weeks ago. Thought it was great.

Thanks for sharing your photos.

 

Do you recall the name of the dessert in this photo?

This is the baked Alaska at the pinnacle grill. I was a bit disappointed. The ice cream was very hard and overall it didn't have a great deal of flavour.

Burger and fries at the Dive In on the Nieuw Amsterdam

IMG_0858 by Rick Streifel, on Flickr

Just came back from a week on the Nieuw Amsterdam sailing to Alaska and thought I would share some food porn as a way of saying thanks for all the info I have received here!

IMG_0899 by Rick Streifel, on Flickr

Click on the link below for more pictures

https://www.flickr.com/photos/137354493@N04/albums/72157668221859120/with/27316239955/

Question, how are the insects in port? Do I need bug spray?

Also, the best guaranteed site to see Eagles is the Vancouver city dump. There are hundreds of them living off the vermin and seagulls that also live there. There is an abundance of farmland nearby and they are always overhead.

We live a few km's from there and there is almost always an eagle flying over our house.

OUCH on the unlimited internet pricing! :eek:

 

There are loads of wifi spots in the ports, if you want a list let me know and I will post them.

I would love to know the wifi spots in port. We are aboard on the 21st!

Its a downhill walk with no stairs from your hotel. About 6 blocks I think. There is a ramp that leads from the street down one floor to the checkin area. Shouldn't give you any trouble at all.