luvcruisn'

Love the Grumpy pic. Thanks for posting where the ships are.

:confused: What's different about taxis in Florida from anywhere else?

I had one cab driver at the port in FLL who assured me that he knew how to get to the Amtrak Station, but he ended up in the station parking lot, a fair distance from the station itself. I looked around and saw a ramp that took us to the station. When we got there, he just sat in the car and popped the trunk open, but didn't help me with my bags. I had to get them out of the trunk myself. That is the only time in my life that I didn't tip my taxi driver.

hi

 

 

Called Avanti wonderful service 954-655-7376. make sure you get their business card it cost me $7.00 from port to airport. I did not use them airport to hotel. I did use them airport to cruise port again $7.00 that was in November

 

 

Mary

 

Wrong number 954-655-1376

My taxi from the port to the airport in FLL a few years ago cost me $15 plus tip, so $7 is a great price.

For those of you going on the Panama Canal cruise -have a wonderful time. I have done the transit twice, and loved it both times. Enjoy your cruise!

We were supposed to have a port lecturer on my transatlantic on the Eurodam in April 2013 from Fort Lauderdale to Civateveccia. However, he had a flight delay from his previous cruise and didn't reach the ship in time. We were supposed to have 6 sea days in a row and then one port. However, we had to miss the port due to high winds, so we had 9 sea days in a row. We did have a lot of activities, though, but it would have been nice to have had the lecturer on board.

Sorry that I can't help you. I've been on the Westerdam, but only in an inside cabin. I haven't been on the Volendam. I've been to Alaska twice however, and really enjoyed it. Have a wonderful cruise.

I'm sorry to hear of your father's passing. It sounds like you had a wonderful relationship with him.

Hi Lisa and Tom. Have a fabulous "make-up cruise," and here's hoping that 2014 is a good year for us all. I, too, recently had open-heart surgery, and am very glad it's in the past!

Probably, in the 70's it was much the same as anywhere else;) My son spent much time in hospital in the UK in those days, and the cadiac care was top notch. Where I live now we've gone backwards, at least in my local area hospitals. Private and semi-private rooms seem to no longer exist, it's usually 4-bed rooms, and even worse - men and woman together. I hate that.

It seems to depend on which hospital and which ward you end up in. I was recently on the cardiac ward at the Vancouver General Hospital after having bypass surgery, and all of the rooms on that ward were private. My brother, though, when he was recently in Burnaby General, was in a 3 bed room with one empty bed, and a woman in another bed. It did seem a little strange.

Happy birthday for yesterday Lisa. Enjoy many more years of cruising!

Loved the BBKing band on the Eurodam this past April. Went there most evenings - great place to listen to music and talk to others as well. Bar staff very gracious as all I ever drank was water.

Enjoy your cruise and your transit through the canal Joanie. It's one of my favourite places - I've been there twice now and hope to do it again. Looking forward to more of your posts!

A question - just found this blog. Is there an entry anywhere that describes what cruises Jeff will be taking over the next seven months?

From another post: "This is a link to his blog........scroll down to June 20, 2013 for his cruise itinerary."

http://amazingvoyages2.blogspot.com/

I've been following Jeff's blogs for a few years now. His pictures are so good!

Thank you so much Dave for posting all of those wonderful pictures, menus, and daily planners. I have really enjoyed reading all of your posts. Loved the towel zoo - somehow I missed it on the Eurodam transatlantic that I was on along with VictOriaAnn.

Dave, I have been following along since you started posting. Your pictures are wonderful. Thanks so much for doing this.

Iceland would never have been on our to do list but after our cruise stop we decided we could easily have spent some more time there. The scenery is amazing.

After my last cruise that ended in Civitavecchia, I flew to England to visit my nephew. The air was about the same cost to fly back to Vancouver via Air Transat or Icelandic Air. I took Icelandic Air and stayed two nights in Reykjavik. I really enjoyed my stay. I took the Golden Circle tour, and then swam in the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon can be done on the way to the airport if you have enough time. That swim in the geothermal pool was actually one of the highlights of my entire trip.

Do they really have a such a closet with clothes in various sizes donated by guests to be used by those who don't get their luggage?

When I was on the Veendam, I had to have all of my clothes put in the laundry at the same time due to a problem in my cabin. They do have various clothing sizes on hand for passengers having luggage/clothing issues. I was given two tops - a T-shirt, and a polo shirt, and a pair of pants, a package of "plastic underwear," some socks and a pair of slippers to wear until my laundry was returned the next day. I was told that I could keep the clothes if I wanted. I kept the T-shirt - it was an "On Deck for the Cure," one, but returned the other shirt and pants. I was told they keep clothes for purposes such as this.

I will miss that unenclosed area as it was very nice to sit outside after a day in port, and watch the sailaway from that area. Comfortable with the tables outside to have a snack and watch the sea traffic go by.

I didn't purchase anything. The young woman managing the Merabella shop where the LeVian Jewellry was situated gave some very nice talks on the LeVian jewellry, and on other types of jewellry as well. The talks were usually followed by some sort of gift drawing. On my cruise, one woman won the gift drawings four times.

The cruise line told us that Ecuador wanted everyone on board to have either the Yellow Fever shot or the waiver that it was contraindicated. I had no problem with it, as I had had the Yellow Fever shot for my Amazon cruise in 2009. The booklet with the Yellow Fever information was requested at check-in for the cruise.

You can hop on the local bus for about $1.00 each and take it into the next town then go into the bus station and buy a ticket to Coyhaique about $5.00. The bus takes you on the same road as the ship tour and it's fun to be with the locals. When you arrive in Coyhaique make sure you buy your return ticket to ensure a seat on the bus and get back in time. You may be able to buy a round trip ticket but we didn't know about it until someone on the bus informed us that we had to make a reservation for our return. This is sort of their Greyhound bus service.

 

We enjoyed doing this on our own and the drive going through the Andes was beautiful.

I did this local bus tour to Coyhaique on my own in January 2011. I bought a return ticket. The bus was very fast, about 3/4 hr. from Aysen to Coyhaique. I didn't start out early enough, so I just took the bus to Coyhaique and returned on the same bus. The scenery was very good, and it was fun to watch people get on and off in the different areas. It's best to go into Aysen and buy your ticket right away to Coyhaique, so that you have some time to look around the town before returning to Aysen, and then going back to Puerto Chacabuco. In Aysen, the grocery store would only take Chilean money, no US or credit cards, so no one bought anything, as none of us had any Chilean pesos with us. The store did have Chilean wine for sale, so if you want to buy some to take back to the ship, make sure you have some Chilean money with you.The bus station took US dollars, and the bus from Puerto Chacabuco into Aysen took US dollars.

An OBC is onboard credit that is posted to your account as a credit when you sail. Then your hotel charges, etc., are subtracted from the credit.

No matter what, I always seem to do late boarding. If we leave the port at 9:00, I am on by 7:00, if we leave at 5:00, I am on by 3:30pm. I am usually doing extra shopping for items I couldn't find before I left home, or doing more sightseeing. On disembarkation morning, I usually leave as late as I can, as I always book later flights or am staying over a day or two in the port city.

Does anyone have any info re: a group on the Prinsendam Amazon River cruise Nov. 25/09? It's been sold out since April except for the Penthouse, with absolutely no opening up of cabins at all. (I'm on a wait list.) I did a google search and found some travel agencies had booked group space and then sold all of their cabins, but I haven't found anything else.