TiogaCruiser

I remember a woman in a swank SF hotel cafe once who enviously looked like Lauren Bacall and dressed with such expensive style. But then she took out a little bear from her purse, set it up primly in front of her luncheon order and proceeded to start feeding it and talking to it. Wonder if it was the same one. I also thought, well she has figured out dining alone.

Thaddeus was a large Steif bear- about the size of a 14-16 month old, IRRC. He went places in her arms (she carried him like a child). This went on for the several years we knew them. Her husband was not eccentric like that (actually quite logical and warm). He just went along with it..........

Maybe I'm confusing people but wasn't or isn't there a lady who brings a Teddy bear to dinner? Not even sure she is or was a HAL cruiser. As I vaguely remember the stories she would bring a Teddy bear to dinner and have a place set for the bear. Might even have carried on conversations with the bear. Really not sure and this might be nothing more than my foggy memory. :o

Like someone said there may be several, but there was a (former) friend/business associate of my folks that did that several cruises, and everywhere she used to go. Even fancy restaurants. She dressed the bear, Thaddeus, and got him a high hair and ordered dessert for him. It was more than eccentric.

Sadly, it's too late now to plant them. They should have been in the ground by November:(

Can they be started indoors in pots, or is it just too late in holland?

I was imagining blue outer petals fading to white above

Just got back to this thread - time difference and all that. You all certainly have whetted my appetite for a South American cruise. I would really like to add Antarctica, but don't know how keen my DH would be. Just have to work on him!

What do you think would be his reason to not be too keen?

(Maybe we can help clear that up).....

Am not at my computer or I'd post "something" that might help convince him.

Tomorrow I'll do so. :D

The actual percentage of the supplement may not go down but if the ship isn't selling well the total dollars may go down ( thus lowering the cost).

March may be after the penguins migrate- depending on the year.

Have you considered adding Antarctica and going earlier?

I don't doubt that something very strange happened to the OP. Just think that there is a very important piece to the puzzle that is not here....

Yep, you said so- you were right.

Amoba, in your original post, you say the following in the first sentence of your opening paragraph:

 

"On my HAL Veendam cruise Oct 5, 2012 from Boston to Quebec City, I was put in a room with 2 twin beds and 2 other people, strangers to me, even though I’d paid nearly double for a single and different cabin."

Based on your post, other members reacted in a very supportive way, saying that you should never have been forced to share a cabin with strangers, particularly one with insufficient beds for three, and that as you had paid for a single cabin, you should be requesting/demanding some form of compensation. While calling out your name over the entire ship's PA system and the card confusion were in themselves interesting issues, I think that it was the shared cabin and money issues that grabbed people's attention.

 

Then we learned over subsequent postings that you in fact never shared a cabin, and didn't even meet the other two women until three or four days into the cruise. So yes, there is some confusion as to exactly what happened and, unfortunately, your attempts to clarify the situation have, at times, served only to muddy the waters further.

 

At this point, it appears that you received what you paid for, albeit with a bit of stress in getting things straightened away on embarkation. Chalk the cruise up to another of life's adventures and be stronger for it.

 

I wish you the best.

So well said.

I did a single share recently and the match was supposed to be gender and smoking status.

When I booked the rep said they would match gender and try to match age. Not sure if smoking status is now dropped with the rule change to no smoking in cabins. I ended up not getting matched. :)

If you can sail on short notice you may be able to get a better rate and single supplement.

One too many wines, LOL.:D

Haha. 4 oz instead or the usual 2.

I would not pretend to know how she can afford it, but cruising doesn't have to be all that expensive, especially if one is a little older. There are families that put the seniors on a cruise ship simply because it is cheaper than assisted living!

A cruise ship doesn't provide Assisted Living services (help with eating, dressing, bathing, toileting and other activities of daily living). So do these families then pay a caregiver to go along?

A cruise ship provides only the room, board, entertainment and clean up. It's closer to an Independant Living community. Including when one needs acute medical care beyond what can be provided on site, one is sent to the local hospital.:eek: there's a thread going regarding a gentleman who got admitted into a hospital in Italy.....

Just speculation but doesn't this sound like a last minute upgrade gone bad?

BTW, the Wine "Sticky" is still up top...someone mentioned it had been unstuck but it's there now!

That would be me. By golly, it is there (locked).

I thought I saw it released a few months ago after several threads were terminated. Was I hallucinating?

Wow! If I was paying that amount I wouldn't expect to have company.

 

I didn't know that. Thanks for the info

 

I would think that 175% is probably a better deal for HAL than the last minute get aways that some people do as couples.

 

Puts a whole new light on travelling as a single and the challenges they face.

Thanks for the info. I always thought they were solo

Forgive me for going OT: I believe the percentage is based on the cruise (and totally my guess but the probability that they will be able to match. Had they done so and the potluck roomie had paid the same fare, HAL would have gotten a pretty good return for the cabin.) The cruise i am describing was sold out at one point (big group and high demand cruise) before they opened another sailing. The single share rate for the newly opened trip was only $85 less (for 3 weeks) than paying the full single supplement. That was when bookings opened. The rack rate was also less but it was essentially the same cruise.

Wondering if the OP thought she paid the Full Solo Supplement but was actually apart of the "roommate" program??? And I think she said she booked directly with HAL and not thru a TA or thru some Cruise Program....

OP did you have copies of your booking invoice with you? And showed it to the Front Desk staff and they would not fix it but it took "other passengers " to fix the room problem ???

 

Boy what a mess, but there are some pieces to this puzzle that are missing. Can you clear things up with the missing details.

The Single Share program is to put 2 people together. OP states there were 2 others (making 3 with her) and only 2 twin beds. That really redefines the word "cozy." (One has to wonder how the life boat allocation fit into this- but the lodging and sleeping arrangements are totally unacceptable as OP states them. (I'm still curious as to where the supervisor and the front desk staff thought everyone was going to sleep........ what a pajama party.)

In the past there have been people coming to the forum to say they were bumped or told they would have to share a cabin with a party they were traveling with if they were to remain on the cruise and when more info came out it was that they had booked via Interline. That does not sound like it is the case here- OP stated the other two were from the large group AND she did not know them.

Does HAL have a shared-singles program where they try to find room mates later for a reduced fare, but require you pay for a solo single fare up front in case they do not?

You don't pay for a solo. You pay a fixed rate(percentage). And if they don't find you a roommate the fare remains the same. When I did it earlier this year the single share was about 175% and the Single occupancy rate was 200%.

"On my HAL Veendam cruise Oct 5, 2012 from Boston to Quebec City, I was put in a room with 2 twin beds and 2 other people, strangers to me, even though I’d paid nearly double for a single and different cabin. When I asked the front desk for help in getting the room I’d booked, they refused, stating there was nothing they could do."

So 3 people in one regular cabin with 2 twin beds? Where were you all supposed to sleep?

Welcome to cruise critic and thanks for posting the info.

Keeping each other up to date is one of the things CC is about.

There were a number of threads about this last summer when the changes were implemented without warning, then postponed until February. At that time there was a sticky started by one of the Mods. The "sticky" became "unstuck" and sunk with the rest of the threads (many got locked as there was quite some contention with a few posters).

Personally, I think it would be good to have a sticky about it so someone coming in new or returning will be aware of this big change.

I spent 21 days on her and love her. Yes, the Retreat area was not used that much and I can't say there was much going on with food or beverage service. Also, the hot tubs do block the view if you are sitting in the covered area. Count me in as having enjoyed the hot tubs (they really could have been warmer- 2 were tepid and 2 were around 90).

One of the things I really liked about Veendam was the other exterior decks that have loungers and chairs on them. We were on a scenic cruising intense trip and there were a multitude of places to enjoy outdoors.

I truly do not understand this. With IE there is a setting in the lower right-hand corner of the screen that controls the size of the display on the screen, e.g., 75%, 100%, 150%, 200%, up to 400%. (I expect that Firefox and Chrome have something similar)

 

I would think that most people who are visually impaired, and use the internet, would know about those settings. How else would they read all the rest of the posts on CC, the ones that use the default font/size setting? How else would they be able to read many of the web pages that are in a smaller font? (unless of course they are using a text to talk app, which makes the entire matter moot)

 

Really, I'm just very curious about this, and have been for a while.

I wonder how many people are aware of those settings. In our office where we use our computers for many hours a day there are still several coworkers that arent aware of such (I do a lot of computer tech assistance in our area so it is apparent).

About the difference between browsers and CC- there has to be some formatting differences. Not too long back there was a regular poster whose posts had tiny little letters that were not very visible in Safari (and IE it turns out). I think he said he used FF and his fonts were the same size as others posts on his screen. On my apple devices (iphone and ipad) his and his other half's posts were teeny tiny.

Hi!

 

Will be visiting Chile 2014 on South America segment of Queen Victoria world cruise. I understand that a traveler entering the country must obtain a tourist card upon entering. Most people seem to get theirs at the airport. Since we are arriving by ship wondering how this will be handled. Any help appreciated. Thank you.

 

Patrick

We were given a paper both at SCL and once we boarded Veendam. We had to complete it and carry it with us at all times while we were ashore in chile. I'm wondering if that is what you are referring to.

Oh, thank you for saying that - multiple exclamation marks and suchlike drive me nuts. It's like saying "look at me, look at me" or assuming we can't see it without all the extras.

That kind of packaging reminds me of a cheesy eBay listing. As in:

"New ShiNy Ginsu knife!!!!! It SLicES!!!!!! iT DicCeS!!!!!!!"

Thanks for keeping the slider closed.

As a previous poster said it can mess up the air conditioning - but it can do so for many other cabins too, including those in inside cabins. So the person with the door cracked open may be blissfully unaware they are creating discomfort for a whole lot of others.

Though I am a bit paranoid. A career in the IT industry has taught me that there is no such thing as data security when it comes to sites like Facebook or other open forums. The illusion of data security may be present but in reality it certainly is completely absent. That is why many of these organizations are being challenged by privacy legislation in many jurisdictions and have made certain basic security/privacy enhancements only when forced to do so.

<RANT>I realize there are several similiar social media "data stores" but for me FB is one of most obnoxious. I have never been a member nor do I ever plan to be a member, yet I keep getting "Friend" or "Join" requests from people. And along with it in the email notification is a list of others who "know" me. I have neither joined nor agreed to their privacy policy yet apparently it is okay that someone else uploads my contact info and now they are using it to contact and build a "network" around me.:mad: </RANT>

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I belong to an organization/hobby that ends up involving alot of photography and posting of pictures of each other participating in our "thing". One of the rules we have is that we do not identify the individuals in the pictures. Those who want to have their identity posted with their pictures have their own blogs or websites. Its not totally private but it is a good way to balance sharing and maintaining some privacy.

Some years back i was very active on a certain technology support group forum. For grins i googled myself and was horrified to find pages of my posts come up.:eek: Later, in order to get to a professor's website (his name as domain name) i googled him and got several hits that included posts that were on the same forum obviously by him (as the user name was a clever variation and included some of his "favorite lines."):eek:

Good for her! Hoping she has many more years of health and cruises in her future.

On the topic of a "cruise ship instead of a nursing home"- my goodness it's no where the same. Far from it- you've gotta be able to take care of yourself or have your caretaker there for you. It's not Assisted Living and it's not a SNF, and not to forget if you have a medical need that can't be safely handled by the medical center you're off the ship and having to get your way home.