Heartgrove

Welcome!

Thank you Sandi, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Happy Saturday! Some photos off of my phone from our stay in Venice last October before heading to the Oosterdam later that week for the Tranatlantic. Our first evening in Venice after disembarking the MSC Splendida in Genoa. Fantastic restaurant, "Trattoria Povoledo", along the Grand Canal near the train station. The quintessential photo subject of Venice. The smaller white building in the middle was our hotel, "Hotel Filu", along the Canale de Cannaregio. It actually hosts a YouTube 24-hour webcam as well. The view the next morning from our hotel looking at the Ponte delle Guglio, and Grand Canal in the distance. My brother's favorite Ventian caffe on St. Mark's Square. The Caffe Florian. In honor of my brother. From our daytrip across the lagoon to Murano. And one of the 16 trains we rode on our trip. This one from Venizia Santa Lucia to Milano Centralle. Stay Safe! - Jack

Thank you Sandi, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! Stay Safe! - Jack

Thank you Sandi, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! I received my first Shingrix vaccine on Monday with little pain from the needle. But yesterday had some of the side effects including shivering and tiredness. Hopefully today I am over all that. We need to contact our PCC after he returns from vacation next week. We have a HAL cruise that we cancelled find it's way back onto our account. Strange? We hosted Easter dinner Sunday. I just love this photo of Lily with my gentle giant. Sam! Stay Safe! - Jack

I do a lot of research, including YouTube, as that way I have a mental image. Here is a link to a video showing Oceankaj cruise terminals. I find it interesting as we sailed on the Zuiderdam from Quay C331 to the Baltic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yod_0ds6BOY

Hotel rooms in Europe are for the most part spartan and smaller than in the US. Your choice looks very nice! Our only requirement (besides location and being clean with good reviews) is an ensuite room. My wife does the hotel choices while I cover the transportation. She uses a well known website online for "Booking" and it actually shows the hotel room class that we are getting. Very handy on our last five-week trip in Italy before our transatlantic to travel home as the rooms truly varied in size - but all were very good. We each travel with a rollaboard and personal bag. Plus I have a 35 L backpack suitcase and my wife uses a smaller day backpack. This last trip we were in six hotels and on 16 different trains traveling in Italy, France, and Spain. Also two Amtrak trains from BWI airport to VA. You shouldn't have trouble with your luggage. By the way we are each in our early 70's. Yes, the Metro requires changing to a bus at the end of the line to get to the cruise terminal. The buses are all low floor so easy to maneuver luggage onto. We sailed on the Nieuw Statendam for a 20-day Mediterranean cruise in 2019 plus my wife did an additional 9-day Caribbean cruise last year aboard her. It is one of our favorite HAL ships. We have two nights booked at a hotel in Norreport on our way home from Hamburg after an MSC cruise. Copenhagen is a great city to visit and enjoy yourself. Feel free to ask anything else. - Jack

We are on the September 2023 MSC Preziosa sailing out of Hamburg. Looking forward to it as originally we had a 14-day HAL cruise that was much more expensive for just two of us. We sailed in YC last year aboard the MSC Splendida but doing Fantastica Experience as we are now traveling with DSIL (two staterooms) as well. Currently trying to decide which MSC cruise (or 2) before our HAL Transatlantic in 2024.

We flew in and out of Keflavik in July 2021. It was while Iceland was opening up again after COVID and it seemed everyone made it a destination. Very crowded arriving and especially leaving. The check-in line was at least 45 minutes and wound back and forth about five times. Passport control was a bit better but not by much.

Good location for getting around! I recommend getting the "3-Day" Copenhagen Card which is good for local transportation. It can be purchased at CPH on arrival and you can then use it for getting to your hotel. It will actually cover a wide area of the region's museums, castles, bus, and trains so is well worth it. I recommend taking the train to Helsingor to visit Kronborg Slot. It is just a short walk from the train station. For the day of your cruise, the M4 Kobenhavn H Metro station is less than 300 m walk from the hotel. THe Metro train will take you to Nordhavn Metro station where there is a shuttle bus to the three Oceankaj Cruise Terminals. We did this in 2017 before the Metro was extended using a hotel in Oosterport and two busses. Much easier now! - Jack

Too bad it is so late in the year after most of the good lines's Transatlantics have left.

The MSC World Europa appears to begin sailing the itinerary that the MSC Fantasia was sailing up to April 2024. Nothing is on the website for booking the MSC Fantasia after April 8, 2024. We are hoping to sail on the MSC Divina in September plus another MSC cruise before returning to the US on a Transatlantic cruise in October. Right now we are leaning towards the MSC Grandiosa for the 2nd cruise but enjoy the Fantasia-class ships. Anyone know any plans?

Oops! Thank you Ann for your Wine Selections!

Thank you Sandi, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Tina, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here! - Jack

I happen to see that the Carnival Legend has the EB 2024 Transatlantic available for booking. It started me thinking as we have the HAL Rotterdam booked WB for October 2024. One-way airfares are so inflated what was the possibility of a RT flight but originating in Europe? It appears doable but airlines only have fares 355 days in advance so I would need to look again next year. Speaking of airfares, we (3 of us) are cruising with MSC in September to the British Isles. I would just about daily since last Fall check airfares for IAD to cities that would work as we are sailing from Hamburg. It looked as if we would need to fly Icelandair as it was the cheapest. Even that was hovering at $2,400 Economy Standard that required a change of plane in Reyjkavik. We had flown SAS back in 2017 for a Baltic cruise and enjoyed it so I made sure to always check them. They were around $3,700 - $4,500 depending on the day unfortunately for their Premium Economy. In mid -January I happen to check the SAS site - and found our RT flights for the three of us at $2,211.00 for Premium Economy! Whipped out the credit card and secured our reservation right then. Since that day I have never again seen it so low, and right now it is at $5,700. One day it was at $7,500!!! If you are doing your own booking instead of a travel agent, it pays to do a bit of homework. Because airlines use dynamic pricing now I have found it better to check in the morning. An example was our flight in 2017 on SAS. When I checked the flight in the morning I had found that for around $50.00 I could add a flight CPH-BGO (Bergen, Norway). But I needed to check with my wife and by the time I spoke to her the difference was no $400.00.

We were prompted to sail on the Legend from Baltimore as it is only a 3-1/2 hour drive from home. Being 4* on HAL we were a bit skeptical how we would like the Legend but actually enjoyed it. The fact that it was only a 3-1/2 hour drive was a big plus! The Carnival Spirit-class are very similar in layout to HAL's Vista-class and Signature-class compared to other Carnival ships. Other than the dated decor (silver vases and turquoise accents) we found most everything to be positive about the cruise. Other than our hall being noisy two nights with the younger crowd pushing and shoving returning to their staterooms, it was fine. The food was very good in the Deck 3 Truffles MDR, the Unicorn Cafe buffet was busy but we were able to enjoy it, Guy's and Blue Iguana were tasty, and found the Alchemy Bar to be our favorite. I did appreciate the Carnival app for reserving a table for breakfast and dinner in Truffles. It worked very well. Embarkation and disembarkation were without any problem. We stayed at a hotel nearby using their "Park and Cruise" program as we make a point of traveling the day before embarking in case there was snow. Activities during the cruise were enough to keep us busy. A good cruise and worth it to break the doldrums of winter. Next time though we will go during a bit warmer time of year.

We are actually leaning towards the Divina sailing as we have not been to Malta and Mykonos, plus having the YC aboard. This would actually allow us time (7 days vs 14 days for the Poesia) to do a trip through Umbria before boarding the Divina and then a little over a week to travel to Rotterdam for the Transatlantic home. One disadvantage to the Transatlantic is the one-way arefare cost but I am constantly comparing as airfares are so volatile these days Transatlantic's sea days have a laid back atmosphere which is great for decompressing. Our recent November 2022 Transatlantic left from Barcelona which we feel is one of the best cruise embarkation cities. There were a number of Spanish ports plus Lisbon then two days to Madeira. After leaving Funschal it was just over seven sea days before reaching Miami. Not sure if other cruise lines do this but HAL has rugs in the elevators with the day of the week. Great to keep track of time as sea days all look the same! Enjoy your cruise!

We are like you (even though we are 4* on HAL) after sailing on the MSC Splendida in YC from Genoa last October and are now also fans of MSC. This September we are on the MSC Preziosa from Hamburg to the British Isles. And now currently trying to decide which European MSC cruiseto sail on before our HAL Transatlantic in Fall 2024! Looking on the MSC website there are two MSC cruises with YC you might consider in September/October 2024. Of course both are what I call "bus stop" sailing with multiple choices of ports for embarking/disembarking.The MSC Splendida will be leaving from Trieste and sailing to Italy, Greece, and Turkey. The MSC Divina will be leaving from Civitavecchia and sailing to Sicily, Malta, and Greece. This Divina cruise is one of the cruises that we are considering. The other is the MSC Poesia from Copenhagen to Genoa over 15 days. We enjoyed Siracusa on our Splendida cruise and did a daytrip MSC excursion to three small towns nearby.

The "One Pool" is rather small. The Divina should be the same (we sailed in Europe) but having the "One Bar" and buffet is very nice. We spent a good amount of time on sea days there. I feel that if you were in just a Fantastica Experience Balcony or Suite I would do it. But for $2,500 CAD ($1,848 USD) it seems like a lot for so little extra. Not sure if it matters to you but YC does accrue more Voyager Club points.

We have sailed YC on the MSC Splendida which is a sister ship to the MSC DIvina. My thoughts, at the additional asking price, are to keep your current booking. Your Aurea Grand Suite is furnished similar to the YC plus you have the drink package. The only four things that you would miss in YC are: having a butler, the forward view of the Top Sail Lounge, YC restaurant, and being able to jump the queue. You could eat in a specialty restaurant each night for less, and you have three sea days where queueing wouldn't matter.

When we went on our Iceland cruise in 2021, we arrived on the day before embarking and stayed at the Skuggi Hotel by Keahotels. It was very convenient for walking into the "Centre" downtown area, and to Hallgrimskirkja. Also just around the corner from the Green Route minibus stop. Try the wonderful pastries at Braud & Co near the church. We flew Icelandair IAD-KEF which arrived at approximately 6:30 am. Going through Immigration and retrieving our luggage took probably an hour. The airport bus is at the north end of the terminal and will wait until it is full before leaving. That ride is about 45 minutes and will only go as far as the Reyjkavik bus terminal. You need to change to minibuses there to travel to the Centre area. Not sure if Uber is available but cabs are plentiful and quick for getting to the pier where cruise ships dock.

We were on a VO cruise around Iceland in 2021 along with renting a car for the week after. We did carry rain pants with us but never used them as the weather basically cooperated. Only two days out of the fifteen that we were there did we experience the noted Iceland "sideways" rain, but those were days when we were driving. You probably won't need them for rain but they do offer protection from the wind as well. And it is windy most of the time!

In July 2021 we diembarked our Viking cruise in Reykjavik and rented a car from "Blue Car Rental" for one week. They have a city location just north of the downtown area which was less than a ten minute ride by cab. They also have an airport location convenient when flying out. I definitely recommend them! We rented a Dacia Duster at a very competitive rate for a week and drove almost 1,700 km covering Snaefellsnes Peninsula and Westfjords plus as far as Vik on the Southern Coast in the seven days. Most roads are gravel in Iceland. It was the perfect car for two of us and was a 4wd vehicle so I was able to drive the F-roads legally. Watch out for the abundant speed cameras! - Jack

On our YC sailing from Genoa on the MSC Splendida last year, the YC Director sought us out. We didn't have to look for him.

Good Morning! Thank you Sandi, thank you Vanessa, thank you Tina, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for your contributions to the Daily Report. And thank you all for being here! @dfish Debbie, praying that your surgery goes well tomorrow. Sue thanks you for the tip on using the crockpot for cooking a chicken. We had it for Sunday dinner. Very good!!! @kochleffel Sorry for the loss of your cat, Sasha. @0106 Tina, we really miss having Maryland blue crab here in VA. Just about everytime we made a trip to Baltimore we would time it that we could eat at Nick's Fish House in the Port Covington area. Although I really enjoyed in-season having a Soft Shell crab sandwich at the Tidewater Grille in Havre de Grace. Stay Safe! - Jack

I have seen videos of dogs using this type of cart. It is wonderful invention! Sam still has use of his rear legs but it is also taking a toll on his front legs. Last week he did something that caused him to limp on his front leg for a day. We just take it day by day and regularly give him his meds, which is what the vet told us to do.