BunlessInSeattle

6 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

A question to those who masked and did not get Covid:  what kind of mask did you wear? 

My spouse wore a 94 or 95 ( i can't remember which) the entire time, on and off the boat. Exceptions were in the spa, where we were most every day, but was sparsely populated, and once we sat down for a meal.

I wore the paper masks provided. On the ship I was masked the same amount of time as my spouse.  Off the ship, I tended to observe my space and get a feel for it based on crowding, air flow, etc, and would choose wether I would mask or not based on that. 

We are both double vaccinated and boosted. Unable to get a second booster because of our age. Neither one of us have had Covid. 

We were on the same cruise, and were part of that 10% masking. I felt bad for the passengers as halfway through the cruise, you started to see more and more of the red bagged room service trays. I'm personally ready to be done with wearing a mask, but glad I stuck to it on the cruise as I'd hate to be stuck in my room instead of enjoying the ports of call.

Re. the included excursions for Edinburgh and Liverpool...

Is the ending time when they drop you back at the ship?

If your tour is earlier in the day, will they drop you off in the city center so that you can tour on your own? or do you have to go back to the ship?

I am asking as we will be meeting up with friends at each of these ports. 

In Liverpool our included tour is over at 5pm, which is when we are hoping to meet our friends since we are in port until 11pm.

In Edinburgh the included tour is over at 1pm, with the boat in port until around 5pm. 

On an upcoming British Isles cruise, we are planning to meet friends for lunch in Liverpool.
 

Curious as to what to expect in trying to meet up with them. Is there a shuttle to the city center that Viking has? Or should we ask them to pick us up at the terminal? 

6 hours ago, WestW said:

We were recently on the VIking Orion and found the plunge pool to be 55/56 degrees. The temperature is posted in the locker room.  Regarding the Nordic bathing ritual tour, it sounds like you have enough experience to not need it.  The layout of the spa was accurately discussed earlier. 

Thank you so much

3 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

I am curious about your sauna to cold plunge therapy for osteoarthritis.  I have O also.  I like the sauna but what is the benefit of the hot then cold for O.

For myself, it seems to help the inflammation. It works on the same principal as contrast treatment, the theory being that the heat produces a widening, and the cold causes a contraction in not just the vascular system, but the lymph as well. To my understanding, the lymph system does not have a 'central pump' like the vascular. For myself, it does a great job as part of the way that I maintain my ankle. The water does have to be cold enough to cause the constriction, though, otherwise there's no point to it.

There are a couple of things that I am curious about. 

In my normal life, I try to go to the local spa once a week for hydrotherapy, so I am used to a cold plunge in the mid 50s. Anything warmer than the mid 60s really doesn't do anything for my osteoarthritis.

How cold is the cold plunge? 

I've read about the Nordic bathing ritual tour, but am wondering if 1)is that really for me since I go from the sauna to cold plunge on the regular, and 2)is the spa open during that time?

Laugarvatn Fontana Geothermal Baths is a spectacular location on the Golden Circle, I've been there twice. I've never been to Blue Lagoon, though.

One thing that I find important in a spa is an opportunity to sufficiently cool down. In tourist spots, it seems rare that this is available (i'm talking a cold plunge less than 60F). There are a couple of places locally, here in Seattle, but the only other places that I've been able to find that on vacation was in Iceland (see above) and, surprisingly, the Disney spa in Hawaii.

If cold is not important to you, Hotel 1898 in Barcelona has a beautiful spa in the basement. There is a cold bucket, but not the same as a cold plunge imo.

Avoid talking about religion or politics.

Ask engaging questions to learn more about your table mates.

Obvious questions would be why they chose this cruise, what are they hoping to do in each port, what do they like about the ship so far, etc.

What food are they looking forward to on board and in port? What book are they reading right now? Those are topics that usually get discussions going. Food/cooking is pretty universal—most of us love eating.

 

I avoid asking what someone does for work since that is a very American thing to ask and is considered rude by many non-Americans.

These are great suggestions, I'm copying them down for future use

Last week, on the Paris-Normandy cruise, it was Freyja.

Thank you!

I've gone on multiple cruise lines in the past, so please forgive the question...

does Holland America have assigned check in times?

Trying to let our Housesitter know when to meet us :)

How many more months will they be there that their food will cost so very much? Would you guess they are paying 15% more, 25% more?

Oh, it's closer to a 60% increase.

They had budgeted for an increase of 25% in cost, but it's a lot more than that.

They are staying for two months as docents. They have an apartment that is provided for, and everyone keeps bringing them salmon and other fish... but meat and fish haven't been a part of their diet since they retired, and it's the fruit and vegetables that are hurting their budget.

I'm hoping that by sending pantry items, it will free up more of their budget for the fresh stuff.

I'm not worried about them starving, just wanting them to enjoy their time there without stressing too much.

My suggestion would be to use flat rate shipping boxes from the post office. If it fits it ships...send several and that way you won't have to worry about having anything taken from you on the ship.

Oh, we are already doing that, and expect to do another later in the summer, but thought of also taking food off the ship if we were able to.

Not an either or situation, but just seeing if we could do more than we already were.

Thank you for all the words of advice.

The town they are in does not have any chain stores, which while we fully support, makes their dollar (or gift card) not go as far. Our thoughts were more to hit Costco and bring a few things to them.

I might go ahead and ask HAL for more specifics, but if it's a no, it's a no.

Hello,

I'm actually a long time cruiser, but have a unique situation coming up that I can't find the answer to without emailing HAL, and I thought 1) I would get better answers from the community and 2) you all might have some good ideas.

My parents are staying in a port town for a couple of months this summer, but have discovered that while they knew that food in Alaska would be expensive, they weren't quite prepared for the reality.

DH and I are taking a cruise with their town being one of the stops. We were thinking about filling a suit case full of non-perishable pantry items to take to them.

I'm guessing that there is some sort of regulation on this, but can't seem to find the right keywords in a search.

I'm curious about both taking food on, as well as taking food off the boat. I mean, if we have leftovers the evening before, I know I can box it up for myself.... but can I take that box off the boat? I promise I'm not trying to abscond with a filet mignon for my dad! lol

Thank you so much!

I'm taking an employee on the July 5th Westerdam for a planning week, and this is so going to help with making a schedule for what we want to accomplish.

plus, food