scubacruiserx2

You're welcome . Your kind action is refreshing and stands out on CC where many people want to take the low road instead .

Sail away from Canada Place and North to Alaska ! This is the newest Princess ship - The Discovery . We sailed on her younger sister The Sky and really enjoyed it a lot Sailing beneath the Lyons Gate Bridge . We would stop at this park a week later .

This cabin would be ours for the first week of our cruise

And with one last visitor we were off toward the ship . We had read on CC that it was easy to board the ship by sending our large suitcases ahead through the hotel which we did ( And it was ) . We were also told by CC and the hotel staff that boarding was easy ( we were in a Neptune suite ) . It wasn't . 3 ships were boarding including the brand new Discovery Princess and the RC Serenade OTS . Instead of being in separate buildings all 3 ships were in intertwining lines crisscrossing each other in different directions . When we asked where the suites lines were we were told to " Just get in line with everyone else " . We've never seen such apparent disorganization . After more than an hour we found the Suite , 4 and 5 star line and boarded .

We decided because of our long day just to have some delivery from a local Vietnamese restaurant . After a restless sleep we were up at the 23rd floor buffet for breakfast before boarding the ship . We had just dodged a hurricane when we left PBI and were hoping for some cooler Fall weather in Vancouver . It was near record heat .

Welcome to Vancouver We stayed at the Pan Pacific in Canada Place And saw the Koningsdam sail under the Lions Bridge . The view was very good but the smell of the Jet A fuel wasn't good reminding me of my Air Rescue days with the Fire Department . The brown window was the tub and you could see a silhouette on it when the bathroom light was on . The hard , black corners of the bed projected far out and were cover by the comforter . I nailed and cut both of my shins which I later needed to go to the ships doctor for treatment and medication - so be careful !

Thank you . But we have thousands of photos to cull and edit so it will take awhile . If you have specific questions about the Canal - fire away . If you would like to see the ABC and D islands now you can look at our review of them on the Zuiderdam at this link .

Oops, I believe you are right. Thank you.

O Canada ! Trip began at 3:30 am, TA ❤️ picked us up and took us to the airport for our 6:00m flight. Told to be at PBI 2 hours early. The airport opens at 4:15, counter opened at 4:45am. Flight took-off to Atl, fairly easy shuttle train experience and next flight to Toronto (Delta, booked through HAL), ArriveCan was a snap, no one was there except a gentleman to direct and assist you if needed. We flew to Toronto to have a domestic flight to Vancouver. In the past CBP Canada was a nightmare in Vancouver, before COVID. This proved to work well. The longest flight from Toronto to Vancouver had no "entertainment" on WestJet. We had been dreaming of these that we had bought at our local Publix . Flight Photos Lunch The Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver

Hopefully it will not be long if the computer will cooperate .

Our sail date was September 25th and it was !

Join us as we spend 6 weeks aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam .

We’re sorry that you didn’t enjoy your NA cruise more . We have never considered HAL to be a cruise line where we looked for entertainment . Destination , the service , the older ships and cabins and the food is the draw for us . We are currently on the 5th of 6 cruises and have enjoyed them all . If we wanted entertainment we would have booked the Malt Shop Memories or Soul Train cruise . Instead we enjoyed the 5 day cruise with our grandson on his 20th birthday . We booked Grand Turk for SCUBA for us and when HAL cancelled it for no apparent reason , he jump on a jet ski instead and we moved on . If we have any issue it’s the Carnivalization of HAL with overpacked cheap cruises and cheap cruisers . Instead of hiring more workers they seem to be trying to balance their Covid budget on the underpaid the backs of the already overworked employees instead of hiring more people . We did enjoy several of the unexpected entertainers during the longer cruises notably Jukebox Rogues , Robert Neary and Unity .

We're on the same deck and had that corner cabin once . We didn't care for that floor as the connecting door between cabins eliminated the vanity storage area . But we always like the aft view and will miss it after 5 weeks of having it from Alaska to Nassau after the NA canceled our port in Grand Turk .

Thanks FeliciaLee . And it was great meeting you 2 also . Unfortunately we have not been able to find the great price that you did on the Seaborne Sojourn on the 29th , so we redirected our energy to a Western Cruise back on the NA . It includes 2 of our other favorite dive spots , Grand Cayman and Cozumel ( if the storms leave us and them alone ) . We booked a Signature Suite this time hoping for an upgrade . And by God's grace we got an E-mail from HAL yesterday offering the last Neptune for $ 200 each and we pounced on it like the hungry masses on the LIDO at lunchtime . 🙏

For those of us who love Grand Turk this is good news . The Nieuw Statendam is in GT today and the Rotterdam is set for Monday 11-7-22 . A video clip of the beautiful area where we love to dive ( and eat ) . This was from the Neiuw Amsterdam's visit on New Year's Day this year .

The NS is scheduled to make GT on 11-1 - 2022 but we were deceived of money by a false promise . Here's the port schedule for November . https://www.grandturkcc.com/Port-Schedule.aspx

We hope so too . BTW the Carnival Sunrise was in GT yesterday and the Carnival Legend is today . Tomorrow is the Carnival Freedom and the Mardi Gras ( The day that we were scheduled to be there ) . We hope that you have a great time in GT and it's beautiful water which we have enjoyed many times , the last being on New Year's Day on the NA . It was the first cruise ship there after they reopened the port from Covid . https://www.cruisetimetables.com/grand-turk-turks-and-caicos-cruise-ship-schedule.html

Of course not . But in all of our years cruising HAL we have had so many changes after we paid .

Other ships have made the stop there .

HAL pulled the same stunt on us . We booked Grand Turk for our grandson's 20th birthday present so we could SCUBA together and have lunch at a place that we love there . Just after we payed they cancelled GT and gave us Key West in it's place . And on our current cruise on the Neiuw Amsterdam when we boarded the ship in Vancouver they cancelled 2 ports and changed days on 1 port and times on 2 other ports forcing us to scramble our plans with our private guides . It's the old bait and switch game after we paid in full for 5 weeks in a Neptune suite .

We weren't on that tour so we can't answer that question . I don't think that was ever considered or asked though . We mentioned that because in today's study onboard when the 2 ladies came in the study , they told us of their experience . If we didn't have the study and they didn't attend we and you would not have heard the story first hand .

You're welcome . The 2 left in Colon were not related to the 40 on the tour .

We were able to speak to 2 of the 40 passengers that were left behind today in our bible study ( The extra 1 was the ship's employee who was with the group ) . It was a very interesting account of what happened . They had to walk 2 miles in the mud and rain after they became stuck for help . The local guild stayed with them the entire time and the tour company bought them new clothes to wear while their wet and dirty clothes were cleaned in the hotel . They stayed at the Marriot near Jaco 68 km. ( 42 miles ) from Puntarenas . They were flown 1st Class to Colon where they rejoined the ship last night . 2 passengers from the ship we taken by ambulance for further treatment in Colon . 2 of the 40 + the ship's employee were unable to fly and will rejoin us in Aruba . All in all a happy ending . 🙂

The gangway is down and people are boarding , praise God and HAL . 🙏