ILoveScotland

Just getting over here after being on the roll call for the Brilliance cruise off and on for the past 24 hours. The Brilliance is in St. John, New Brunswick today and is staying overnight and leaving tomorrow afternoon. Because of that she will not stop at Bar Harbor as planned. So, unless there's some major problem, she should arrive at Cape Liberty Friday morning.

Now the question is how many of us on the roll call will actually get to the ship. So many of us are impacted by the storm, and even someone like me wonders if the Newark Airport will be open and USAirways flying there by Thursday. I've even looked at the possibility of renting a car, but the idea of driving 10-11 hours, even if spread over 2 days, is not a good one.

Anyway, at long last the clouds are leaving us here after what was a harrowing day for me yesterday as the waters of the canal behind my condo rose and rose and rose some more making those of us in close proximity think of the flooding caused by Irene last year. However, about 4 p.m. the rain stopped, and the wind changed direction, and the waters started going down.

So, all is well. But, this storm is gigantic with clouds reaching 2000 miles across and causing snow in the NC mountains and on up through the mountains of West Virginia in addition to the hurricane force winds, rain and storm surges in the NE.

Well, back to see how my fellow roll call cruisers are.

Beth

Forgot to say....all the airlines have waived their fees for changing flights for those of us flying to or from airports affected by Sandy. Since I qualified on both counts I have changed my plans and am not going to New York City on Wednesday. Instead I'm flying to Newark on Thursday and staying in a hotel near the airport and will go over to the Cape Liberty cruise port on Friday. I'll miss my two nights in the big city, but there's always another time plus I had a week there in May.

The Brilliance is still north visiting Nova Scotia today, I think, so there should be no problems with her getting to Cape Liberty Friday morning.

Beth

Today was her last day - I just got a FB message from her and she said she was ok during the week, very little nausea and her appetite was good - drank a lot of fluids - keeping our fingers crossed that the chemo did what it was suppose to do - and praying a lot too!! Thank You for your added prayers and thoughts -- carol

Glad the chemo hasn't been to hard on her. Now prayers for it to have worked!

Beth

I made myself go to bed last night. Slept pretty well but had dreams of a river overflowing its banks. Woke up before sun came up so waited until enough daylight to look outside. The lovely canal is over its banks a wee bit but just that. We will continue to have rain all day, but my anxiety level is greatly reduced.

Now Sandy is headed north with forecast for her to make her left turn toward Delaware, NJ and NY tomorrow. The forecasts are not good in terms of wind but mainly storm surge and rain. Even the West Virginia mountains are supposed to be affected by getting up to 3 ft of snow! A local weather guy said he thinks the name Sandy will be retired as happens with major storms.

Beth

Gas has never gotten above $4.00 here although it has come close. What always amazes me is the difference in prices within only a few miles. It's still $3.58 here, but the place where I got it for $3.33 is not 30 miles away.

The outlying clouds of Sandy have reached us, but we're not to have any rain until tomorrow. So, I'm going out today to do every chore I can think of from grocery shopping to stopping by the pharmacy to buying cat food and litter for the two weeks I'll be away. Then I can stay home all weekend and organize and pack.

And watch the Weather Channel to see where Sandy goes. There are several models with predictions that she'll go ashore anywhere from Washington, DC up to Boston. Most seem to think it will be around New Jersey. For now the prediction is that will happen by Monday night which means I should have no problems flying to NYC on Wednesday and boarding the Brilliance on Friday.

The only problem might be that the Brilliance is heading south from Quebec City, so we don't know how the storm will impact the route she'll take.

Carol, hope the chemo works for your cousin and glad to know there are lots of options for bone barrow if it comes to that.

Beth

Home from my retreat. Bought gas for $3.39 a gallon and then saw it for $3.31. It was only that low in one little stretch of highway.

Hi Chuck. I've never been to Hawaii. From the east coast it is a major undertaking. I can get to Europe more easily.

Beth

Carol, hope the chemo works for your cousin. If not, have her doctors even started looking for a bone marrow donor?

I'm in Wilmington, NC which is about 90 miles south of New Bern. I've come down for an overnight retreat for clergy participating in a health program. The drive took less than 2 hours which was good. I'd expected 2 lane highways but had 4 lanes for about 70 of the 90 miles. Home tomorrow afternoon.

Beth

We did the round trip with Vantage Sept. 2011 and loved it. It was great having a guide on each stop. If the stop was more than 20 minutes we gathered on the dock and had a walking tour of the surrounding area. Many tours were included so we didn't have to worry about paying or signing up. We took Vantage air from the Boston area but probably wouldn't do that again. Their routing wouldn't have been our first choice so would prefer to do our own.

Carol

Carol, this is great information to have. From reading the Vantage information I thought I understood that the majority of tours are included.

I do have a few questions.

• Were all the tours that were included walking tours, or were there others?
  
• Did you get to go to the visitor center at North Cape?
  
• Were there tours for every port of 20 minutes or longer?
  
• Were there optional tours you could purchase?
  

Thanks,

Beth

Hopefully Sandy will behave and leave all you crusiers to your fun! Would love to hear about your upcoming cruise when you get back. :)

My more serious concern re: Sandy is that I live only about 25 miles from the Atlantic. My condo is on a small canal, and it was flooded during Hurricane Irene last year - not horribly flooded but flooded none the less. So, for now I keep close tabs on Sandy for very, very personal reasons.

Beth

Hi All!

Have you seen the cruise prices this week? I am thinking of a 9 day out of NYC in January. Has anyone ever done a cruise from NYC? I know it will be cold at first but it goes to the Caribbean (warmness). I will be going solo (has anyone done a 9 day cruise solo?).

The exciting news at this house is that I am having 3 new kitchen appliances installed this week.....such excitement!

Hope all are well. :D

Cruising out of New York Harbor is magical - well, I think it is. I've only done it one time so far, and that was in August. I'll sail out of Cape Liberty in a week and a half. Cape Liberty is just across the harbor from Manhattan. I'm a bit concerned about the weather the day we leave, but we'll be heading south winding up in San Juan, so after a day we should hit warm waters.

I did a transatlantic solo six years ago. That's when I met Corkey Carol. Get active on your roll call, and you'll have friends before you get on the ship.

Right now my concern is Tropical Storm Sandy which is in the Caribbean. The forecast is that she'll probably become a hurricane but is expected to stay offshore. I can only hope so.

Beth

A friend and I used her travel agent, and the TA booked a round trip in early March for us through Vantage Travel. The package through Vantage includes a hotel stay the night before and the night after the cruise, a welcome dinner, walking tours in every port and maybe a few other things I don't remember. I don't know about airfare through Vantage, but I think my friend told me it's about $1000 from Chicago. I used USAirways Dividend Miles and am actually going over a day early.

You can go to Vantage Travel's website and look at the packages they offer. We're doing the Voyage of the Northern Lights, because this is supposed to be an unusually good winter for the Northern Lights.

And now 13, 126 and 401! But only 11 until I leave home.

Don't worry, Old San Juan is a safe place. Odds are you won't run into this guy anyway, we've been going there for years and have never seen him. If you do see him, it's up to you whether or not to give him money:D

Thanks, that's what I'd gathered from reading this thread for several weeks. I'm an older woman but pretty fearless (with necessary precautions) in cities and have been to San Juan once so know a bit about the lay of the land so to speak.

I'll be in San Juan in 4 weeks and am staying 2 nights in a hotel in Old San Juan post cruise. I'll be with a friend the first day and night and then alone.

I've been reading this thread for a while and just want to be sure I understand what I've read which is a) He might be a bit pushy but is not considered dangerous, b) there might be more than one and c) Just ignore him and definitely don't give him money.

Do I have it right?

All this talk about traveling all over the world sounds really fun to me! One of the things on my bucket list is an around-the-world cruise. I think that would be great. I am currently saving for it because it can be quite a bit of $$ to put out at once.

Does anyone know someone who has done one? Which cruiseline would be the best, they don't all do them?

 

Hope all are well; seems so. This week was pretty uneventful for me.

 

(I wish I was going on a cruise in 2 weeks.....;))

Have a great day all.........:D

I don't know anyone who's done a complete around-the-world cruise, but I know someone in England who is going from Southampton to Sydney, Australia leaving in a month or so. I think they will be at sea about 65 or maybe 70 days. I can't remember which cruise line, but I'll find out and keep you posted.

Beth

I think I will leave our nieces/nephews all our Bills - ha!ha!

 

I want to start going to places I have never been to - ! I better start making my list - cuz that means it's the entire world! carol

Carol, that's my problem. I really do want to see the entire world. And, at this point I also want to go places I've never been. That's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to the March cruise. But it's also why I want to go around the tip of South America and to East Africa and to Nepal and the South Sea islands and on and on and on - I'm going to have to live to be 150 to do it all!

That doesn't mean I won't continue to enjoy cruising for the relaxation and enjoyment of it all.

Beth

I know the question is about "next" cruise which as I just posted is in 14 days.

However, I also have a cruise in 127 days and another in 402 days. So, lots to look forward to in the next year or so.

14 and counting down - how wonderful it will be to be at sea again.

Carol, I haven't been to any of the Scandanavian countries. I also haven't been to Amsterdam or the Netherlands. I've done land trips to Germany, Austria, Switzerland and a bit of Belgium and France plus Rome for a few days pre-cruise. I've been to Scotland 7 times and England a bunch, too.

My bucket lists includes a cruise around the tip of South America - Buenos Aires to Valparaiso or vice versa with an excursion down to Antartica and a safari to Kenya and Tanzania. Within the last year I've decided I'd like to go to Australia. Oh, and I want to climb Mt. Everest - don't think that will happen nor could it ever have happened, but I am intrigued by those who do. I would love to see the Himalayas, though.

I need to win the lottery, because my rich aunt died and didn't leave me any of her wealth! :D;)

Beth

I stood in line for about an hour, but I did vote today. I have no other obligations until Tuesday so am going to use the weekend and Monday to sort my clothes and toiletries and other things I need to pack for New York and then the cruise.

I have an overnight trip on Wednesday, but I won't need much for that plus I will only need casual clothes.

Carol, I get excited for others, too, and I love to hear where people plan to go, where they've been and where they want to go. My upcoming cruise up the coast of Norway is something I've wanted to do for almost 20 years. I would probably not have known about the coastal cruises on the small ships if I hadn't had a conversation with someone who'd done it and told me all about it.

It's been a lovely, warm day with some rain that's now gone out to sea.

Beth

Thought I'd give us a lift this morning since no one has posted for a couple of days.

North Carolina began early voting yesterday. I volunteered at one of the election sites handing out literature for one of the political parties - not legal to say which one here but wouldn't anyway. One idea behind early voting is to reduce the lines on election day. OMG, the line was 30 minutes long at 8:00 a.m. and stayed that way. I had planned to vote when my 2 hour volunteer shift was over, but no way.

I'm going back this morning at 10:00 and volunteer for another couple of hours. Today I'll vote even if I have to stand in line a while. I'll be in the Caribbean on election day so have to do it now. I'm a big believer in voting - how can I complain about or rejoice in the outcome if I don't vote? Not trying to make a political statement here either, just post my own behavior. I've probably missed fewer than 5 elections in my lifetime, and those were for local elections only when I didn't know the candidates.

Realized yesterday I leave in less than 2 weeks and haven't done anything about sorting things to pack. Think I'll do that over the weekend.

Speaking of which...have a good weekend everyone whatever you're doing.

Beth

This is what 1/2 of my wardrobe is like...I live in MN and would have all of those things already! Do not forget gloves. :)

My problem is that I moved from the NC mountains to coastal NC in June and got rid of some of my heavier clothing since winters are mild here. However, even then I didn't need thermal underwear or ski pants although I guess I could have worn them a few times. I had some old snow boots, but I threw them away.

I think I'm about finished buying the extras I need since I do have a heavy coat with a hood that is also a rain coat, and I have some gloves that should work.

For now I just need to pack a few colder weather items for a day in NYC in a couple of weeks, and then it's down to the Caribbean where there is definitely no cold.

Beth

Today's my birthday and everyone is gone....just me and a few fish in my aquarium! So, I will celebrate with the over 55 group! Actually my family was here yesterday, at least 16 of us! Best part about this whole thing, I thought I was a year older than I am....just realized it a few weeks ago!...Woo Hoo!

First, Happy Birthday! Enjoy your solitude after your day with family.

My birthday is in November, but somehow or other until I reached my "maturity" I seemed to always get into my head that with the new calendar year I was already the age I'd be in November - i.e. if I had just turned 49 in November I would think myself 50 as soon as January came around. Never made sense. Now I hold on to my real age as long as possible!!!

Beth

Quiet weekend - on purpose. There was a street fair downtown, but I didn't go. Maybe next year.

Tomorrow I'm going to start a packing list for my cruise. I'll need one warm outfit since I'll have two nights and a day in NYC. Thankfully I'm a good packer, plus I simply don't need to take a lot of clothes and no more than 4 pairs of shoes - only 3 pairs if not going to be in New York.

I'm also buying clothes for my cruise up the Norwegian coast. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg on clothes I won't need here along the coast, but I also don't want to freeze in the cold Norwegian winter.

So, I found some snow boots that are light weight and very comfy and can be used as rain boots. I've ordered some plain thermal underwear and an inexpensive pair of ski pants. I have also bought a light weight quilted down vest which will be great for winters here without a coat. I also bought a knit cap when I was at the beach - picture attached, not best of me especially since my bangs were under the cap.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Beth

Hi All!

 

Just checking in and to say hi. I love all of the conversaton about your upcoming cruises (which I am not on! :mad:) but I learn so much from you all. Nothing new here. I just found out at work that they are increasing our vacation time by 1 week for each year; very nice benefit, more cruise time possible. Seems all are well; hope so. :)

Oh, but you do have two cruises planned - and the time will pass more quickly than you can imagine.

Great to have an extra week's vacation time.

Beth