sailingdutchy

On 10/26/2021 at 12:00 PM, Rooanna said:

Ann,

 

Enjoying this wonderful LIVE review/blog.  Loved the food tour you did in Zadar, Croatia and would like to know the name of the tour company/tour for future reference.  Glad you are having a fantastic time.

 

Thanks,

Barb S.  

hi Barb our group really enjoyed the itinerary and also the guide of the Pag Cheese Factory Tour and the visit to the Degarra Winery . The spread that Pag put on was delicious with lots so cheese and wine , olives and prosciutto . The guide is Sime Botica , he has some good humour is very good in his English , explains the area very well and the area that this is in is very interesting . You can reach Sime at simebotica (at ) gmail ( dot ) com . 
 

Tony , sailingdutchy 😁😁

11 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Did he say why he is heading out into the weather again?  Seems contrary to all good sense.

Where is your next (planned) port?

next port is Naples , Colin . You can see from the shape of the boot that there will be some open seas again . 
we are now looking out to seeStromboli , see if there is any action going on there 

Just now, sailingdutchy said:

 

yes things have quieted down a lot and the ship is back in the upright position .

Also Martha found her way back home after the captain gave the all clear and people could move around again . 
 

time for a small glass of grape juice and a little nap before going out on the town again ! 

6 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

Yes, the whitecaps and spray are gone, there is salt congealing on our verandah, I think we are seeing Messina on our port side.  There are other ships in the strait, maybe sheltering from the bad weather beyond.

 

Excitement over……

9 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

 

13 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

Captain just came on again and said we now have 70 knot winds.  He has spoken with the Messina pilot and the winds are lower there, around 10 knots, so we will speed up and try to get there sooner.

 

I definitely am hanging on tight, @0bnxshs,  things are beginning to slide around in the room…

i had to place the extra bottles of wine on the bed so they would not roll away .  The glasses in the cabinet fell over …………and the drawer under the bed came all the way out . 
 

a little motion of the ocean here near the straight of Messina .  Here on the aft cabin I can really see where the wind is coming from and how much we are leaning to the West . The stabilizers are not doing a lot with this kind of wind . 
 

have to see where DW is hanging in out or hanging on ……. 
 

T 

Greetings from the Eurodam and best wishes to all of you at home . We decided to get some wifi on board ship to get in contact with family and to let them know we are thanks to all the measures from HAL safe and well and are having a great time on board ship with our good friends Ann and Pat . We have had some nice independent tours in Croatia and Slovenia , tasted a lot of wine and cheese and saw some beautiful areas in these countries and also in Greece . 

Today it is a sea day and we are on our way to Naples . Holland has decided that we can not have independent tours in Italy so we will be staying on board ship . I do not enjoy sticker tours , too many people on a large bus on a scripted tour for us .  

So far we have had a fantastic time finally cruising again and if we are still not allowed to cruise into Florida , we are on a “ we will call you list “ if in the mean time this decision will be reversed . 
Despite much better vaccination and Covid case figures in Canada it still much easier for our Southern neighbours to cross our border than we do theirs ???
 

Have a very nice Sunday everybody , I will do some more posting again once we get back home . Tonight it will be Tamarind again after we had a delicious Sell de Mer last evening . Ann will possibly show you some nice “ food porn “ 

Tony 😁

9 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

I think that was @Vict0riann on the Eurodam thread. Post #441

 

Hope you hada good voyage home Colin , until we meet again . 
 

tony and Martha

1 hour ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I wish you a wonderful cruise and thank you for the live from thread.  I actually really like the Vancouver airport.  I’d rather take a bullet in my head than go through Toronto.  Toronto is easily the worst airport I’ve been through.  Good luck with your test on Monday!

I agree 100% with you  , not with the bullet but with the worst airport part !  Another one is Ft Lauderdale where often you have to sit on the floor because there are not enough seats .

Martha and I are really happy to join you and Pat @VictOriann ! We are looking forward to see you again on the Eurodam , sharing some meals and a few tours together and on being back at sea after so many months of being away from this wonderful escape of our daily lives ! 

Sea You Soon ! 

Martha and Tony 😍

On 9/28/2021 at 7:42 PM, Kelownabccan said:

Checked the Princess blog....they seem to be giving a free covid rapid test as you get off the ship for Canadians...makes it easy to fly back home.....HAL???....no testing?????.....if not I prob will look at Princess for our first "kick at the cruiser cat"

We will be on the Eurodam from Oct 6 until Oct 30 and we have been assured that HAL will be giving us a Covid test on board ship so we can fly back from Barcelona to Toronto according to the current rules .

6 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Sorry Tony, you didn’t post on the FCL with this one 😞 

Definitely a big Bon Voyage to you and Martha 🥂  Hope you have a WONDERFUL cruise !

I must have forgotten to change our dates from the 18th until Florida to now the 6th until Barcelona on the 30th .

Cheers , Tony 

OOOOOHHHHHH Please do not leave us behind @kazu  we are almost packed and ready to go  and join our friends in Venice , it's nice to have other CC'ers on board .

Thanks for trying to keep track of all of us Jacqui specially with all the cancellations and re bookings .

Tony 😅

3 minutes ago, RGEDad said:

On the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Eurodam, the starboard covered area is one of the smoking areas, so I never go to that side of the ship as it is always smoky/smelly. 

Is that the same for the Pinnacle-class ships??

The smoking area is always on the starboard side of the HAL ships , possibly something to do that it is I believe on the opposite side of where the ship is being refuelled . 

3 hours ago, zgscl said:

We always used to do this but the current $25 OBC on a 7 day is a lot less attractive though the reduced deposit is nice. 

Still $ 25 OBC on a $100  or $ 200 FCD that is a very nice interest rate ! 

On 9/25/2021 at 6:15 PM, zgscl said:

Hi All, Sorry if this isn't new but I just noticed on three separate bookings I made yesterday that the best price now comes with a non-refundable deposit. Thankfully I caught this and was able to switch to the HIA bookings, but wanted to warn everyone. As recently as last week all of my new best price reservations had refundable deposits. Not sure if this is sailing specific or a larger change but applied to both my 2022 & 2023 Alaska and 2023 Hawaii sailings.

In the past I have found that we should have a number of 100 or 200 dollar  Future Cruise Deposits ahead of us so they will usually accept a FCD as a total deposit for almost any cruise . So I stock up on FCD and have at least 3 for each of us on hand .

4 hours ago, Cruising-along said:

Greetings from the lovely Eurodam!

Everything has been absolutely wonderful and it’s so good to be back on a ship. We had 2 nights in Athens, and our first night onboard last night. I feel like I’m finally over my jet lag. 

We’re having our first Gala night tonight and tomorrow the first of 2 days in Limassol. 

When we boarded yesterday we were greeted with cheers and waves —everyone is happy and excited. Such a sight for sore eyes!

 

 

Hope to be there on board in a couple of weeks , suitcases are on the beds ............. so busy with last minute stuff that I cant post my nice pictures of Pisco  

Few pictures of our Cairns visit in 2015 , on the way up to Kuranda we took that nice train ride and on the way back we chose the Skyrail over the rainforest which was wonderful .

I wonder if they will allow the Canadians to disembark in the Azores we can stay thare for a few days and If I am correct there should be direct flights from the Azores to Toronto and other Canadian cities .

Just trying desperately save our cruise ! And a few days in the Azores would be wonderful ! 

Tony 

Thank you Rich , Roy , Jacqui and all other contributors .

It looks like such a nice day outside but our day was totally spoiled by an email from Gus Antorcha form HAL  , not that I totally blame him or HAL for this  much more so the politics of it all .

Our cruise from Europe on the Eurodam to Florida which was to leave in 33 days has now officially been cancelled because we are Canadians coming into the US from a Schengen country . As far as the Covid is concerned most if not all Schengen countries have better numbers than the US , and also the fact that Canadians right now can fly in and out of the US without any major problem . 

Sorry people I needed a place to vent  because this is just crazy . For other Canadians who have not been notified yet here is the notification :

A Message from Gus Antorcha 

Dear Travel Partner,

We had hoped that the restrictions on travel to the United States from within the Schengen Area that were first enacted in January 2021 would be relaxed in time for our transatlantic voyages from Europe to the United States. The United States does not currently allow entry to the U.S. for travelers who have been in a Schengen Country within fourteen days of their arrival to the U.S. This does not apply to U.S. citizens and permanent residents or their spouses.

Our records indicate that your clients listed below are not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident or that they have not provided us with their residency and citizenship information. As a result, we regret that we are unable to accommodate them on the following voyages: 

• Eurodam (D158A) - 18 October 2021
  27-Day Mediterranean Romance & Spanish Farewell
• Eurodam (D163) - 30 October 2021
  15-Day Spanish Farewell
• Eurodam (D163A) - 30 October 2021
  25-Day Spanish Farewell & Panama Canal Sunfarer
• Rotterdam (Y164) - 20 October 2021
  14-Day Atlantic Sojourn

We will cancel these bookings as they will not be permitted entry to the U.S. at the end of our cruise. We are sorry for the disappointment this may cause and appreciate their understanding.

Tony 😢😢

1 hour ago, StLouisCruisers said:

Wow, sorry to take up so much space here but wanted to respond to everyone for their many wishes for us today.  Thank you so much my friends!  

A great group of days today. 

 

But first a photo of DH and me cutting the cake at our reception.  I was 19, working at the time, and paid for the entire wedding myself.  We had 275 friends and family members there, but remember things were a lot cheaper in 1969!  My handsome DH was 21 and an engineering student at the time.  I continued working and helped put him through college.  Our daughter didn't arrive until 3 years later after he graduated.

Happy Anniversary Sandi  @StLouisCruisers and many, many more years , like you Martha and I also got married in '69 which was quite the year to do it in .

Love the picture and like it very much that your DH the engineer started cutting the cake from the bottom up , I also happen to be an engineer , graduating in '69 and have done the same thing , so you see we have quite a few things in common 😄

Have a wonderful day 

Tony 😄