AnnieBelle

I’m going on a cruise out of San Diego in December and I will stay at the Hampton Inn downtown on the Pacific Highway. It’s close to Little Italy and the waterfront.

Last Christmas we were on deck 7 and someone on a deck 4 verandah was out there naked. I’m not sure if he didn’t realize he was on full display or didn’t care 😆

On 8/16/2022 at 6:03 PM, Btimmer said:

A few hours ago, Captain Eric announced that due to unfavorable weather conditions, our final Icelandic port has been cancelled and tonight we will begin a 2 day slower than normal cruise back to Greenland.  Stormy seas are projected.  
 

We had expected to mail postcards in that next port, we hurriedly completed them and went off the ship at 9pm and inquired at the port guard shack if there was somewhere we could mail postcards.  He grinned and whipped out a 2" thick stack of post cards from another ship, and said to us, "I'll fit yours in with these!"

 

That's the bad news.  The good news was that we had an excellent private  shore excursion today using Your Day Tours.  Our tour was a Golden Circle Plus tour and involved stops at Thingvellir National Park, Geysir, the Gulfoss Waterfall (spectacular), a horse ranch, and a stop at the Secret Lagoon thermal pool.  The weather was excellent and we were gone 9 hours.  
 

More details (some pretty important) will be in my blog, and pictures will be posted tomorrow during our sea day.

We used the same tour company! Did your guide serve you a snack after the secret lagoon?

I did a similar private tour and it was my favorite part of visiting Iceland. Looks like we hit similar place. Godafoss was so beautiful! And I loved the thermal pool at Lake Myvatn.

I’ll be leaving out of San Diego in December and have a room booked at the Double Tree downtown but was told that it was an older hotel that was showing it’s age. I also booked a room at the Hilton airport/Harbor Inn. For those of you who know the area, which reservation would you keep? I’m a Hilton gold member so want to stay in a Hilton property.

I will be on the Konigsdam 22 Dec 22 for the 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise 😀

Do cruise ships typically have excursions to Galapagos Island?

I’m excited to be on this cruise starting tomorrow! Took my Covid test last night and I’m good to go. 

It’s the same policy on HAL.

Two questions about the Rotterdam - is there still a drawer at the end of the bed? And the small make up mirror in the desk drawer, does it have a light on it? Thanks!

Oh my goodness, this makes me even more excited for my upcoming cruise on her. This will be our first trip on a pinnacle class ship. We always have at least one night in the Tamarind- those shrimp crackers are so good! I have a feeling our Christmas cruise will be a little more full of people. Thanks for sharing your trip!

@SFO PETERthe expiration date is11-19-21 which is crazy because I ordered them on 11-11-21! They were manufactured on 3-19-21. I’m reading that the expiration date is one year from the manufactured date. I guess I’ll contact e-med and make sure this is true. We need to test on 12-21-21. Has anyone else been told it’s now a 12-month expiration?

I bought the 6-pack of home tests and finally opened the shipping box today. I downloaded the NAVICA app and read that even though it says a 6-month expiration apparently they are now good for one year. We will do a practice test before we leave and will still have two tests to take with us to do before our cruise. At this point, I am excited to have this upcoming cruise to look forward to and am willing to do whatever I need to do to be able to go. 

I bought the the e-med test that is supervised online. We will take it the day before we get on the ship.

1 hour ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

The 11 night itinerary goes to different ports than this sailing, unless there is a different version than the one I'm sailing on Wednesday. We have ports where you cannot go out on your own, such as Dominica (substituted for Martinique, which is not allowing cruise ships) and I think St. Kitts.

Yes, I was notified that Dominica was subbed for Martinique. Sounds like we will have the same itinerary. I’ll be interested to know what we can do on our own at the different ports.

That’s strange because my Pinnacle reservation shows up on my itinerary and my cruise doesn’t leave until the end of next month.

I’m curious if you’re having to stick to only HAL excursions or if you can branch out in your own. We will be on the 11-day Southern Caribbean cruise next month and even wondered if there were any ports that rented golf carts.

Is this the one that takes you from the port to the Dutch side?

I’ll be on the Rotterdam in December and Martinique is one of our scheduled starts. Is it best to plan on sticking to HAL excursions?

My TA recently told me HAL is at 70% max. Sounds like they are not necessarily selling that many cabins right now.

10 hours ago, fusion927 said:

Rotterdam update: there is one newer style freestyle machine, but is turned off (I don't expect it to be on anytime soon, the self-serve beer taps are off too).  You can get the freestyle cup.  It looks to be about 16 oz double wall plastic cup.

 

We upgraded to the elite beverage package.  Whenever I want a soda, they give me the can and a glass of ice.  No fountain guns (yet)

Interesting - I don't know if my friend would want to upgrade to elite but I'm considering the unlimited Coca Cola package. I wonder if I would just get cans of soda even though it's for unlimited fountain soda (which is my preference anyway).

Following - years ago while on a Princess cruise I had bought a cup that allowed for soda refills. I set it down by the sink in one of the public bathrooms and when I came out someone had taken it.

I asked my TA about possibly dropping my friend from the reservation if she decides not to go. My TA said it will be easy to drop her but as I’m reading other responses, I’m wondering about her insurance. We always do the platinum HAL insurance. I’m guessing she may not get that back.

I’m scheduled for an 11-day cruise so I hope the longer cruises are going to be allowed. We have until December so fingers are crossed!

I was going to recommend a spruce tip beer at Skagway Brewing but I see you’ve already been there.