Ferry Beach Kayaker

Coronovirus can be very serious, at its worse,it can shut down your kidneys and kill you. Since it just leap to humans from animals, we have no natural immunity. China  thinks this is serious. China have isolated a whole province... shut down businesses, schools, and travel which is not good for their economy. I'm glad the WHO is being proactive. It is a serious health threat right now mostly contained to China. But with our global travel, it is better to be vigilant. And yes, I know the flu kills a lot of people each year.

and we are sick of winter here, this is the forth Northeaster in March and yesterday was the first day of Spring.

We fly out from the U.K. tomorrow to Orlando via Philadelphia and had a warning from AA about expected bad weather that could interfere with flights...If any of you live there just how bad is the weather expected to be? AA are giving out very little information.

 

How often does Philly airport close owing to bad weather?

 

I would be very grateful for any information...

We are having a major snow storm and when this happens most of the airlines cancel flights 12- 24 hours before because the airlines don't want there planes and crews stuck in a city during a major snow storm. The whole north east coast (Washington, Philadelphia, All the New York Airports, and Boston) will be affected by this massive storm. I have learned that in the winter to fly out a couple of days early and watch the weather. If the airlines know they are most likely going to declare a snow emergency and cancel flights they will let you change to an earlier flight with no extra charge because it is a massive mess to move everybody who missed their flights because of a major storm..

NZ tourist board also sells the shuttle bus tickets and other tours. You get off the boat and the tourist board is in a tent on the pier.

We have taken the free walking tours in Rome, Barcelona, Paris, Lisbon, Sydney, New Orleans, and New York, the only one we bailed out of was in New York because of the very weird guide. The others were good. It gives you a good idea of the area, the guides work hard for their tip and not once did they try to up sell us other tours. We tip around 20 Euro’s/$20 for the two of us and 30 Euros/$30 for an exceptional tour that has a smaller number of participants.Sometimes the tours are large but they will usually have 2 guides and split the group up.

I would book a back up hotel and than try Priceline as your date gets closer. If you stick with 4 stars and above, the hotel will be in a good area and Boston public transportation works well.

it is very nice, very colorful with lots of vendors selling Guatemalan products from table mates and tablecloths to local paintings. There is an interesting but small jade museum, a couple of places to get something to eat or drink and lots of places to sit. We actually booked a tour through the local tourist board that was right off the boat. that took us on a group tour to Antiqua which was an hour away for $65 per person in a 12 person van. We did have to wait until they got enough people but the tourist lady walked us over the

the Jade Museum

The MTR is very easy to get around ( although if you have to change train lines there will be some walking through tunnels). I would preprint a subway map and look up what places you want to see and at what MTR stop. There was large tourist posters at the stop in English that would point out what staircase to use to get to your tourist spot. This was one of the easier metros systems I have used.

There is usually a free shuttle from Kai Tak to the Diamond Hill MTR subway station. From there you can take a local train with a connecting local train to the Tsim Sha Tsui MYR subway station and walk over to the Star Ferry. At the port, you may be able to buy a one day tourist pass card for the subway. FYI... just outside the Diamond Hill MTR is the most beautiful Asian Tang Dynasty Garden and a beautiful Buddhist Nunnery. The garden is the Nan Liam Garden and the Buddhist nunnery is the Chi Lin nunnery. Both were free and absolutely breathtaking.

This is happening in America today concerning our political identities. Most liberals live in the same neighborhoods as other liberals, and conservatives live with people who are also conservative. In many cases, liberals do not even talk with a single conservative (in person) during a typical week.

LOL ....I have both liberal and conservative friends and family.

we have a relative out of state who works with large company that contracts maintenance services that do various larger maintenance when ships are in port......his company serves 3 different ports in US and works with multiple cruise lines......he has provided and supervised these services for close to 17 years......he has mentioned to us several times that cruise lines and individual ships do not change their ac/heat air filters regularly, do not steam carpet until badly stained and as noted in prior post they do not address routine mold issues that are hidden out of view........while all that contributes to a ripe environment of potential sickness we do have to remember that people "transmit" the illness and expose others to whatever is being transmitted whether it is gastro or respiratory related. MY POINT: we have to be proactive as we can and go knowing there are various risks. Take precaution with public space and take related medications that you might need. We have been on less than 10 cruises with 3 different cruise lines and one of us has typically come back with a cold but I know that can originate from ship or airplane or anywhere. Go prepared and enjoy your trip!!

We were on the Amsterdam for a 56 day segment of the world cruise. On the third week of the cruise a a number of cruisers came down with a respiratory infection. This infection stayed onboard the ship for the entire cruise. More and more people got sick including my husband and I. I think more than half the ship was sick. During a Q&A the chief engineer admitted he felt that he needed to change the 1200 ac/heating air filters and needed to get approval from Seattle. There was no increase in cleaning noted. I ended up so sick,I didn't enjoy the cruise. It took 3 courses of antibiotics, 2 courses of prednisone and three visits to doctors once I got home. HAL is doing cost cutting like shutting of heat and air in public places after midnight and postponing things like changing air filters.

We also used the cash machines in 7-11 to get yen from our debit card. The rate was good and there was no extra fees. I used a capitol one debit card.

If you can manage your luggage, take the train... Septa to Trenton then NJ transit from Trenton to Penn Station in New York City. .at Penn astation you can either walk to the Manhatten Cruise Terminal about 25 minutes or take a cab.

We were in cabin 3378 on the Amsterdam from January-March 2017 on a 56 day segment of the world cruise. At three different times we had water gushing out of the ceiling. The first time was 2 weeks into are cruise at 3 a.m., the next was 2 weeks later, and then a month later, 4 days before we were going to end our cruise and they finally moved us to a different cabin. Each time they send the plumber to fix it, and he was taking yellow insulation that had black mold on it out of the ceiling. I ended up with a horrible respiratory problem that lingered after I got home.

I would consider a taxi or Uber if you're not on a tight budget. Public transit doesn't run as frequently on Sat.

 

For public transit you take the Silver Line to the Red Line at South Station where you have two choices:

1). Red Line two stops to Green Line E train and a 3 minute walk. One fare total

2). Commuter rail to Ruggles and a 9 minute walk. Two fares total

 

Post back if you want to do public transit to get other opinions. Www.mbta.com has maps and commuter rail schedules and a planning tool.

Public transportation is easy to take in Boston

We will be staying at Novotel Times Square on W 52nd Street.

Penn Station (train Station) is closer to Time Square than the Port Authority (Bus)

If you fly into JFK...you can take the sky train and then either a local subway train or the commuter train to into New York Penn's Station. The Manhatten pier is an inexpensive taxis ride or a 30 minute walk from Penn Station. From Newark take the sky monorail from the airport to commuter line and then take NJ transit into New York, Penn Station. LA Guardia is harder on public transportation.

Many get upper respiratory infections on board ships including ourselves, mainly from inadvertently putting their contaminated fingers into their own nose or eyes. Not necessarily from perceived and unconfirmed "mold" exposure. I would not without definite confirmation, assume the source of your post-cruise distress.

 

We also had a "water leak" from the fire suppression fixture after they ran their routine test on one ship. It was either quickly stopped or remedied after a call to the front desk, and it was explained this was not untypical after this sort of testing. So yes, there can be "water leaks" in cabins too. How did you get it confirmed your water leak came from the kitchen galley drain?

My ceiling leaks happened three different times over a series of several weeks... the plumber that can to my cabin at 4 a.m. Told me it was a kitchen drain that was directly overhead after spending hours trying to fix it. The fix lasted a couple of weeks then it happened again then it happened for the third time... the yellow form they were pulling out of the ceiling had black mold on it.

By the way I am a retired RN ..I don't put my fingers in my eyes and nose and I religiously wash my hands and use hand sanitizer. Lots of people were sick.

Why on earth would you imply that I think that the HVAC room filters should be changed every week?

 

I have no idea what the schedule should be. But for certain, if there is poor AC in a cabin and the mtce team discovers a very old, very dirty, black filter in the vent that is blocking the air than that is a clue that the mtce sched is substandard.

I was on the world cruise on the Amsterdam ..half the ship was having respiratory symptoms.. the chief engineer said during a Q and A that he needed to change 1100 air filters but had to get permission from Seattle first. I personally had water leak through the ceiling from a kitchen gallery drain three times over the 56 days I was on the cruise. I could smell the Mold in my room. I went on the ship healthy and I developed severe respiratory problems while on the ship that took multiple medications and doctors visits to clear once I got home.

Why are people saying go to the ER? If the person has already been seen by several physicians they probably do not need to go the ED unless they're experiencing a sudden worsening of symptoms. And even then, they should try the after hours service with their PCP unless they believe it's a life threatening and immediate emergency.

 

An ER is the last place you want to go to get help with a lingering problem, for one they're prioritizing life threatening problems over a cough, second follow up care is very difficult to coordinate if you go to the ED unless you're admitted for observation/treatment, and third an ER visit can be very expensive especially if you're not admitted.

 

An Immediate Care/Urgent Care center might be one option for after-hours treatment, depending on the location. However most primary care/family care practices have multiple physicians, so you could get a 2nd (3rd) opinion from them. As was mentioned, pulmonologist would be a respiratory doc that I'd probably start thinking about over an ENT.

 

You may want to ask about a PPD test just to be certain (assuming you weren't vaccinated for BCG).

 

I assume you also had a chest x-ray done and that was negative for anything unusual? Did they prescribe an albuterol inhaler and did that help (e.g., Ventolin)?

 

Added in Edit: I came home with a nasty cold this past Feb. Between the stress on your body from travel, the exposure to a lot of infectious agents especially ones that don't normally circulate where you live I have to imagine that odds of getting sick go up for a few weeks whenever one travels. Hope you feel better soon!

I agree with the above, the ER is not the place to be diagnosed or for follow up. It's for emergency care. So go if you are in respiratory distress but it is better going to your doctor and then specialist like a pulmonologist and infectious disease doctor.

I developed a very nasty respiratory infection on the Amsterdam sailing a 56 day segment of the world cruise from January to March. I say about 1/2 the ship had it. I ended up needing three rounds of antibiotics two rounds of prednisone, a steroid inhaler plus the rescue albuterol inhaler. I saw my family physician and my asthma doctor. The chief engineer admitted doing a Q&A he needed to change all the air filters in the staterooms but he was waiting permission from Seattle to approve the cost. Who knows what was blowing in the room. IF I didn't get better with the third round of antibiotics my doctor were going to send me to an infectious disease doctor. One annoying thing although so many were sick the Amsterdam didn't go into the super cleaning mode since it wasn't noravirus which they have to report. I did have a chest x-ray towards the end to rule out pneumonia.

When getting off the ship in Incheon- is there anything to do? HO HO ? Taxis?

I am on Princess in July and they have not set up excursions there.

We are there 12:00 to 10:00 PM so it would be OK to do on our own or maybe with another couple.

Does Princess provide a shuttle?

We were in Incheon in February on a Holland America ship. They did provide a shuttle to the Sino market which is a centrally located area. Korean tourism gave us a map unfortunately it wasn't to scale and wasn't that helpful. We ended up being in Incheon for 2 days since we missed our next port Juju because of wind. We are walkers, and after walking through Sino Market and getting something to eat. We walked to the park up on the hill with a statute of Douglas McArther and a Korean War memorial, it was quite pleasant. The next day we again was dropped off at the Sino Market, this time we walked to the cultural museum then to Chinatown which was neat. It was Sunday and filled with local people. Next to Chinatown is the fairly tale neighborhood filled with Disney figures from Peter Pan to Spider-Man. I do recommend that you copy out a map from a Korean tour book or website before your visit.

For a back to back if it is a US port of entry you have to clear immigrations and the ship usually has to have a zero passenger count on board as was Australia. We did a Boston to Montreal and then Montreal to Boston for one back to back and Sydney Australia to Auckland New Zealand and then Auckland New Zealand to Sydney Australia. We didn't have to take our luggage off although both times we had to change rooms. We had to get new key cards.

Hi Marianne,

I do love your description. We been home for 3 weeks now and we are finally well. That respiratory infection we pick up on the Amsterdam was quite ferocious. It funny we came home to two late snowstorms. The second being a powerful northeaster. Have a great rest of your trip.

Holland America now has a policy to have utilities turned off in public areas between 12 midnight and 5 am as a cost saving. So that means heat and cooling will be turned off between 12 midnight and 5 a.m. I would think if you are cruising in real hot areas it may be hot in the morning until the AC can adequately cool the area and cold in an area where the heat is turned off.