ComputerTravelGuy
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Posts posted by ComputerTravelGuy
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My wife & I are booked on a HA transatlantic cruise sailing on Nov 5, 2022. Using masks in a crowded port, plane ride, or during crowded cruise assemblies would not be a deterrent for cruising. But the possibility of a quarantine overseas or onboard ship is a concern (and might cause us to cancel).
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On 4/2/2015 at 5:12 PM, polySeraph said:
After lunch it was time to get back to the hard work of sightseeing while sleepwalking. (Actually, I had gotten about 5 hours of sleep on the plane, but ComputerTravelGuymhad gotten less and was blinking and yawning.) The next stop was another vineyard. This one used organic methods.
Sergio pointed out the plants and used and told us how each was used to deliver a quality product without the use of pesticides and other chemicals.
I wish I remembered more of his explanation - it was very interesting - but it was after lunch and I was working on a sleep deficit. I do remember his saying that they used the llamas after the harvest to eat the weeds in the vineyard and supply fertilizer.
After leaving the vineyard, we headed to Viña del Mar to spend the remainder of the day driving through the scenery before Sergio dropped us off at our B&B in Valparaiso. I was able to get a short nap and awakened just as we were entering Viña del Mar.
The Famous Flower Clock.
Another great view of the Chilean coast.
Thorough review with fun pictures of South America cruising. A good reference for future planning.
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On 11/23/2013 at 8:34 AM, polySeraph said:
Our itinerary had a nice combination of sea days and port calls. During the sea days, our roll call had fallen into the habit of meeting in the Observation Lounge at 4:00 pm. Some days we would have 6 and other days, 20+. We would talk about our shore excursions, sometimes sharing photos. Several of us were reading Dallas Murphy's Rounding the Horn (recommended by a roll call member) and comparing thoughts on the book. Sometimes small groups would form and go to dinner together.
Our day in the Falklands was low-key and utterly charming. We spent the day in Stanley with another CC couple. The four of us took a shuttle for $20pp to Gypsy Cove to see the magellanic penguins. We arrived so early that we were practically alone with the penguins, the beautiful vistas, and the signs warning us to stay on the paths due to the danger of landmines. The photo of the Sun that I posted earlier in this thread was taken at Gypsy Cove.
http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q651/polyseraph/South%20America/04Stanley02_4x6_zpsdc0384e9.jpg
http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q651/polyseraph/South%20America/04Stanley04_4x6_zps65a0174e.jpg
When we got back to town, we took a free shuttle to the local museum and later walked back to the pier. We stopped at a grocery store and loaded up on soft drinks to take back to the ship and had lunch at a pub. It was good to fill up on fish and chips and (of course) mushy peas. We learned that there was no draft beer for sale anywhere in The Falklands, although the pub's owner did allow that there was probably draft beer being made in basements all over the island. We checked our email for a modest cost and caught the tender back to the ship.
http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q651/polyseraph/South%20America/04Stanley06_4x6_zps53fe78cd.jpg
http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q651/polyseraph/South%20America/04Stanley09_4x6_zps3a43cd68.jpg
With The Falklands dropping astern, the next highlight was Cape Horn itself. We all knew that some of the worst weather on the planet occurred in the vicinity of the Cape, but the day we were there, it was gloriously calm. The Captain was able to completely circumnavigate the Cape. We all took lots of photos. Of all the photos we took, my favorite was the (slightly grainy) sunset photo ComputerTravelGuy snapped with his iPhone 3G. The photo with the Chilean Coast Guard helicopter was pretty cool too.
http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q651/polyseraph/South%20America/05CapeHorn01_4x6_zps5aa8d4cf.jpg
http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q651/polyseraph/South%20America/05CapeHorn04_4x6_zpsce8fe7c2.jpg
Still one of the best reviews of South America cruising. A good reference for future planning.
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3 hours ago, rkacruiser said:
Your observation is one of my most vivid ones during my cruise to Manaus. We crossed the "Bar" late at night; I stayed on deck to watch whatever I might see. The change of the color of the water was so obvious even at night! (The exterior lights of the ship certainly helped me see this.)
Near the city of Manaus, the muddy brown water (from the Amazon River) met with the blue somewhat acidic water (from the Rio Negro). On our river excursion, our guide had us place our hand in the water. We went from warm blue water 30*C (about 86*F) to 22*F muddy brown water. Very well defined interface that didn’t mix until many miles downstream. And as previously stated, the volume of water is 55 millions of gallons per second according to wiki which alters the ocean blue color to greenish color miles out to sea. Stunning.
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On 12/6/2019 at 9:09 AM, Btimmer said:
The Captain never said we were to the right of the channel; he, in fact l, said we were in the channel per the pilot.
However a large cargo ship passed on our port side coming down stream and their pilots apparently knew where the channel was. I, by no means, want to deprecate the value of the pilots and the difficulty of their task of keeping a ship on course in the dark with no channel markers. I felt from a passenger's perspective the Captain handled the entire situation with highest professionalism.
The only channel markers or buoys I noticed were near and around Manaus.
Two Updates:
1) Confirm what Btimmer stated that the Captain indicated we were “in the channel” per the pilot. Also, a few hours after we ran aground, I noted a large container ships go up river on our starboard side (even closer to the Northern bank). BTW - visit Btimmer’s blog which gives great info on our cruise (near daily updates).
2) Fascinating to see the dark blue ocean water change color to a greenish color as we pass the mouth of the Amazon River. The Amazon fresh water extends miles into the ocean (we’re well over 12 miles from Brazil) pumping 55 million gallons Of fresh water per second into the Atlantic (according to Wikipedia). The Amazon River is massive force of nature!-
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6 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:
Those who "fuss" when one travels to a country/region that USPHS have identified has health issues and do nothing proactive to protect themselves before they depart lack my sympathy for their plight. Researching where one is traveling should be part of one's planning.
Traveling is a skill set and planning is essential. Several from the ship expected to walk around Manaus like it was a sleepy tourist town. Manaus is a major industrial port city - not really walkable by travel novices. HAL or Private Tours are essential to safely hop from site to site. The best sites were along the river near Manaus that our private tour showed us (pink dolphins, Indian village, floating village, jungle walk, and seeing the colder muddy water (22*C) alongside with clearer warmer water (30*C) near Manaus.
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1 hour ago, AmazedByCruising said:
Huh, didn't the hospital understand you'd be sailing on the Amazon?
And why would you need to smuggle anti-malaria drugs? They're not restricted are they?
When visiting Zimbabwe with my (then) girlfriend, we decided to not take the pills for the side effects en were religiously using Deet all the time.😀
Well, I was amazed (but being amazed is my middle name 😀) that I couldn't simply buy antacids on the ship (whereas they did sell toothpaste), I was referred to the infirmary. Luckily my cruise mate could supply me from her magic purse.
On a cruise like that I'd expect the ship to have loads of Deet in stock and the CD to say daily that you need to protect yourselves. Ships do provide you with (even free) meds for seasickness, and food for being hungry. I'd expect them to bring Deet and not just Tonic.
BTW - There wasn’t any Insecticide with Deet on the Volendam for sale. But you can buy “essentials” like diamonds, luxury watches, booze, and t-shirts on our cruise ship. Seriously, passengers have to plan for their own protection (shots, pills, Deet). A few upset folks who didn’t bring Deet were fussing at the Cruise Director who suggested passengers buy it in an onshore, Brazilian Pharmacy.
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The Volendam will soon exit the Amazon River and turn South to Belem, Brazil - our last port in that country. I’ve had a great time on the cruise so far. I was fascinated on the ship running aground, the Captain’s eventual steps to free the ship and his verbal & written communications to passengers. We bought a few HAL excursions (enjoyable) and several private excursions (enjoyable and a bit less expensive). Amazon River excursions are a must as walking around an Amazon port industrial city is dangerous and not fun but traveling to a jungle, or taking a boat to see Indian villages, pink dolphins or floating homes is quite fun.
BTW - we had two folks in cruise critic group that we heard contracted malaria. I will try and find out the details but will remind future cruisers to Brazil to take simple measures to avoid malaria like not being outdoors around dusk & dawn, wearing long pants & shirts and using insecticide spray or wipes with Deet. We were amazed by cruisers who didn’t bring insecticide with Deet on the cruise (A basic step). As for malaria pills, talk with your doctor. We opted not to take the malaria pills but definitely took the Yellow Fever shots and Typhoid pill series. But again, discuss this topic with your doctor.-
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16 hours ago, Wehwalt said:
Credits of $3.03 for port charges and $75 per the captain's letter were put on my folio overnight.
We received a HAL letter yesterday indicating the $75 was for poor internet and TV services (we had recent outages) which seemed rather a high refund amount. But no refunds for missed ports or missed excursions (since we arrived in Santarem in the evening & departed early the next morning). The letter indicates that the Volendam was “under the local pilot’s control” when we ran aground.
From my perspective, HAL isn’t responsible for running the ship aground - common occurrence in the Amazon River - refunds to passengers (me) wouldn’t be required IMHO. But I’ll let the maritime lawyers for HAL and Brazilian pilots sort that one out. -
16 hours ago, Wehwalt said:
Credits of $3.03 for port charges and $75 per the captain's letter were put on my folio overnight
1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:That would have been a big hit to the potable water supply, after a trip up and down the Amazon, unless they took water in Manaus or Santarem. I've taken water in Manaus, and it wasn't great, and we used a lot of bleach to ensure proper sanitation.
We watched as our ship took on water in Santarem ... filled the forward pool a day later after purification. Unclear if we took on water in Manaus (having too much fun with pink dolphins, Indian villages, floating houses, etc).
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4 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:
... The water taken from shore must be kept segregated from the rest of the ship's water supply, and not used, until a coliform bacteria test is done on it, and this takes 18-24 hours to develop. These are all standard cruise ship sanitation practices as required by USPH, EU, and WHO.
Yup, the pool wasn’t filled until 24 hours after we docked at Santarem - purification.
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26 minutes ago, HokiePoq said:
This is a very interesting thread...thanks to all contributors. I hope the Volendam (dear to my heart as it was our very first cruise ever) is okay. We did Amazon Explorer on the Veendam. I am wondering why a larger (I think) ship was on this itinerary. Veendam and Maasdam (busy in Australia) are the smallest IIRC. When we entered the Amazon our wonderful captain told us after the fact just how shallow the water was getting through. We were there for Carnival in Rio so it was rainy season with high water upstream, no problems. Same captain led us through ice fields in Greenland on the Veendam. I had never considered the opposite....low water upstream before rainy season. As I loved this itinerary and would do it all over again, the timing is something to consider. Thanks again to OP and all contributors.
We’re at the end of the dry season so the river is at the normal low level. The Amazon River is just starting to rise based on rains from upstream according to your guides. Docking HAL tenders aren’t an issue but at all docks, we have either a steep uphill climb to get to the Manaus or Paratins main streets. At Manaus, they provided a free shuttle but at Paratins, passengers had to walk up a steep incline (from the river to the city street). Folks with walkers were struggling ...
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1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:
Ship's elevators are notoriously finicky, which is why there is one electrical engineer assigned solely to doing elevator maintenance.
...Are the pools fresh water? I thought HAL pools were all salt water, so they may have refilled from the clear water in Santarem.
My thoughts as well for the elevator but appreciated your detailed knowledge here. Thankfully, they’re back in operation.
Just tested the water in the forward pool and it’s fresh water. Can’t say if it previously was a salt water pool but it’s fresh now - just taste tested it. Understand from ship’s announcements that the forward water tanks and pool were filled but guessing the water had to be purified to HAL purity standards and not Santarem standards. -
On 11/30/2019 at 5:52 PM, SilvertoGold said:
We were also asked to conserve water. The Captain reported that about a third of pax did so. Not sure what went into this accounting for how many complied, but he seemed happy with the number.
Found out 4-Star Mariners & above continued to have laundry services (not us lowly 3-Star Mariners). But we still had towel animals each day (so obviously a critical service). We’ve been conserving towels & water but washing a few items in the sink, as needed.
Forward pool has been re-filled a day after the late stop in Santorem (guessing giving Engineering time to treat the water after restoring forward tanks & pool after running aground).
Several of the Forward cruise and passenger elevators were also fouled up for the day after the grounding (wouldn’t go to floors selected) but they’re all back to normal operation 24 hours after running aground. Not sure if running aground and forward elevator issues were connected but the elevator issues started early next morning after running aground (and shaking the bow before coming to a halt).
All excursions and shore activities resumed normal operation in Manaus and the port trip to Paratins was as published.-
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19 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:
It's not that the water is too hot or muddy, it is against regulations to make water when within 12 miles of land. Surprised there is no laundry service, as many ships use the condensate collected from the AC system as the source for laundry water, and this can run into a couple of hundred tons a day in humid weather.
Can you provide the international regulation that doesn’t permit making water within 12 miles of land? Not familiar with this reg.
Also, I wasn’t too surprised that bow thrusters were used - the Captain was using all means to get off the sandbar (but agree that future issues might result to the bow thruster years down the road). A full inspection of the hull, thrusters, etc is planned in Manaus. But our ship was exposed in the channel and there is heavy shipping traffic on the Amazon River. Possibly using bow thrusters to help free us from the sandbar was the lesser of two evils.-
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13 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:
Thanks for the recap however, Volendam does not have azi-pods; she has the good old propeller and ruder system
I stand corrected, the Captain used stern thrusters to pivot the ship back & forth 30 degrees to break the bow free from the mud. Used bow thrusters to plow a channel through the mud before finally breaking free. I have videos showing thrusters being used but currently lack the bandwidth onboard to upload. 😞
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1 hour ago, richwmn said:
Could someone on board please provide any schedule changes for the next few days? I would appreciate it, and so would many others.
We missed Santarem daytime tours (just an overnight to replenish water and inspections) and missed the second port in Boca De Valeria due to the late arrival in Santarem.
BTW - No laundry service while on the Amazon as the water is too muddy and too hot (as compared to ocean water temperatures) for the ship to make water. Water onboard is conserved for drinking & bathing. Plan to have your laundry cleaned before entering the Amazon.
The weather is hot 86*F or 30*C and humid but the rains haven’t started - very low river depths. But the rains are forecasted for next week.-
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22 hours ago, chengkp75 said:
Grounding in the Amazon is a fairly common occurrence. Even the charts used by the pilots are completely out of date, and it is very much like the 1800's on the Mississippi river where the pilot's knowledge, gained over years of experience, will know where the channel has shifted to. My last time up the Amazon, about 4 years ago, we ran aground, with two pilots onboard, and there were about 6 other ships aground at that time, one had been for nearly a month. Our electronic chart was so out of date, we were shown as passing through an island that had shifted over time.
Ships will have depth sounders, not sonar, but that only tells you the depth directly under the ship, not what is up ahead.
Grounding in the Amazon rarely causes damage to the vessel, the most serious problem is sucking silt into, and blocking the sea water cooling strainers, causing the engines to overheat and shut down.
This is the start of the rainy season in the Amazon basin, so the river will be rising daily. We were there in the summer (northern hemisphere), and the river was falling, and fell nearly 10 meters in 30 days.
I’m on the Volendam now and the emergency signal (two quick blasts and one long) happened at 4:11am with an announcement that we ran aground shortly thereafter. After several unsuccessful attempts to free the ship from the sandbar under the bow, the Captain sent out tenders early in the morning to determine depths surrounding the ship (to find where deep water was). The captain transferred & dumped fresh water in the forward tanks and swimming pool and then used stern azipods to pivot the ship 30 degrees back and forth. Then he used bow thrusters to help dig a channel up front (minimal damage since just mud).
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So you are taking the Midnatsol.
I thought I had read something recently that suggested they also used the polarcirkels, but then, I also had thought that only Fram used those :confused:
I'll make a joke, that because the big ships don't flex, they can't handle high seas. :eek:
Is that really a factor with the little boats?
I can imagine it being a different kind of "ride" over small waves/swells, of course, but presumably it's not like going down heavy whitewater on the Colorado river (??).
Actually, I've canoed down serious whitewater (don't ask how long ago!), and those aluminum canoes didn't flex, either, although the did bob around quite a bit. I'm not sure I'd ever want to do it again, however; I was young and foolish back then, I suppose. We were scouting out routes to take Girl Scout campers the next week.
Thinking about sitting on the sides of zodiacs in, er, "not smooth" water...??
GC
I’ve been following the Hurtigruten Midnatsol ship as it sails around the Antarctic in 2017/2018 season and only saw zodiacs in their pictures. Possibly they have polarcirkels this upcoming season but I haven’t been given this option to select. A zodiac is better able to handle a rolling wave than another, more rigid small boat. But I doubt a Cruise or Navy ship could be built out of rubberized zodiac materials. :-) Also, a zodiac is easier to store and deploy. The polar ships are smaller - crew and passengers approximately around 400 people - so space onboard is more limited than on a regular cruise ship.
Check with Fram to see if they offer options other than zodiacs.
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The Hurtigruten ship we are taking to Antarctica in December 2018 uses Zodiacs. Believe this is the safer, flexible boat design that’s needed in the polar regions. A zodiac can handle waves from calving icebergs since it can flex.
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We are going with Seabourn, which leaves on 12/20. We likely will fly into Buenos Aires on 12/19 to be safe. Maybe even a little earlier so we can see some of the city. It looks like we will fly out of Miami.
Thanks.
IMHO, I would plan on arriving on 12/18 or before so you can see the amazing Buenos Aires city. It also ensures that you are there for the ship’s embarkation on 12/20. If your plane has mechanical issues or there are other schedule delays or weather, you might miss your ship’s departure and be forced to fly or drive to the ship’s next port.
I wouldn’t take the risk but spend an extra day recovering from the flight and enjoying this fun city.
Russ
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Try the Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention Center at San Martin 1225/1275
In Buenos Aires Buenos. Good recommendations in a good area that’s close to your budget. They accept Starwood points and Marriott points can be easily converted to Starwood points, if you have Marriott points to spare.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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BTW - The best part of this review is Peter Rabbit. Seriously, my wife and I are planning a trip to NZ in 2019. We have two other cruises ahead of our future NZ cruise so lots of time to plan. Looking forward to your next installment.
Russ
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On my first trip, I actually wanted to do the opposite! I knew how uncertain everything was, and I'm normally an extremely detailed travel planner. I was worried that I would read about something and then be disappointed about missing it. So aside from figuring out the basic logistics of what to bring along, I chose not to read up about anywhere we might be headed until it was at least announced as Plan A by the expedition leader.
I do, however, agree that if you're on a trip that includes South Georgia, it's well worth reading up on the Shackleton expedition. And I'm glad I read the short guidebook history, so that I had a general context.
(I just realized that I may also have an advantage in prior Antarctic knowledge, given that I live a few km from the Fram polar exploration museum and am expected by local culture to have a working knowledge of the Amundsen expedition! ;))
The Fram Museum was one of my highlights of Oslo. Beautiful city and a great country to cruise - we’ve been to 9 cities and many sites including Nord Cap!
Yes, your basic knowledge of Admundsen and Shackleton expeditions isn’t commonly known by other travelers. We would have to read to catch up.
Westerdams public Sauna vs Pay Sauna.
in Holland America Line
Posted
Thank You! My wife & I have recently started exercising using the elliptical machine, weights, spending 20-minutes in the sauna, and then showering - versus going back to our cabin sweaty.
BTW, There are cardiovascular health benefits with 20-minutes or more in the sauna taken 4x a week according to physician research studies in Finland. We wanted to keep making progress during the cruise. 🙂
Fair Winds & Following Seas, Russ