Wind 30 Apr-16 May, FLL-Tower Bridge

[les37b]

3 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

Sorry, Les. We missed this post while having lunch in the dining room. 

 

Isn't 738 lovely, by the way. Although between leaving our cases at the dockside and getting them in the suite the extendable handle of one has been bent and us now stuck in a semi extended position. Grrrr. 

 

That's a strange coincidence. I know with certainty my suitcases arrived at the port safe and sound. The guys collecting the luggage didn't lift a finger to remove from the taxi.... But made it clear they expected a tip to lift onto the brute..... Which they didn't get because they just sat and watch me and the driver take them out the boot of the car.

 

I hadn't noticed until the final day when packing started, one of the wheels had taken a corner drop and the mount cracked. Got SS to glue it, but not impressed and more than a suspicion of what may have happened.

 

3 hours to go now..... And weather looks great... Give us a wave...

[Tothesunset]

1 hour ago, les37b said:

 

That's a strange coincidence. I know with certainty my suitcases arrived at the port safe and sound. The guys collecting the luggage didn't lift a finger to remove from the taxi.... But made it clear they expected a tip to lift onto the brute..... Which they didn't get because they just sat and watch me and the driver take them out the boot of the car.

 

I hadn't noticed until the final day when packing started, one of the wheels had taken a corner drop and the mount cracked. Got SS to glue it, but not impressed and more than a suspicion of what may have happened.

 

3 hours to go now..... And weather looks great... Give us a wave...

Been waving like a daft thing from the back of panorama! I take it you are in the Hilton? 

 

All tidied away now but the suite is like a furnace so have had to report the a/c to reception. 

 

Quite like the bags of nuts, raisins and M&Ms:

 

[les37b]

18 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

Been waving like a daft thing from the back of panorama! I take it you are in the Hilton? 

 

All tidied away now but the suite is like a furnace so have had to report the a/c to reception. 

 

Quite like the bags of nuts, raisins and M&Ms:

 

 

Ah you found what I left behind! Tissue in the air vents! lol

 

Actually, it was warm on our first day too, but once underway, the Aircon worked well. It was never freezing, but was cool enough to feel comfortable.

 

Looks like you hit the sweetie jackpot! We didn't have anything like that.... But I did notice as we left, the attendant (lady) looked different from the (male) one we'd had. I guess you don't have the same female butler either?

 

My wife is on the balcony on the top floor. I expect no one else is out there in another room. I've been glued to the TV watching Football. That ends in 45 mins so will be all camera and waves on sail away.

 

I've stuck a yellow square on the glass of the balcony which should assist locating.

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by les37b

[spinnaker2]

Have a wonderful adventure!!

Looking forward to reading all about it.

 

[Tothesunset]

Bit of downtime now. The M&Ms are open, a couple of diet cokes cracked and all the sundry bits of life like adaptors, chargers etc placed and functioning. 

 

Butler is called Lorife but we haven't seen her yet. All we need is for her to keep the fridge stocked and sort laundry collection/ delivery. Shouldn't overstretch her. 

 

The muster drill is at 6, sailaway at 7, Meet and Mingle 7.15. Hope we can stay awake! Looking forward very much to meeting our CC buddies. 

Edited April 30, 2019 by Tothesunset

[les37b]

I’m fairy sure that was our butlers name. (I know it began with L.....)

 

Well we got back to the hotel after a Chinese just in time for sail away. I doubt too many people have witnessed, filmed, waved goodbye, hello on two separate continents, but that’s gonna happen in 16 days.

 

i did look to see if I could see anyone waving, but alas no one to be seen.

 

I have just been emailed by someone on board that’s worthy of a chuckle. ( I’ll pop it in the epost)

 

Anyway.... it looked a pleasant start and the weather so far faultless.

 

Heres how it looked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by les37b

[Daveywavey70]

Bon voyage TTS. Looking forward to hearing all about it with your wonderful take on life.

[Unibok]

Looking forward to hearing about your adventures, TTS!

[Tothesunset]

Well, my phone won't connect to the WiFi but OH's will. Identical phones and software but mine shows SS site as insecure. See if the IT guy can help but I think it's an SSL problem and the phone needs a factory reset. Not doing that here! 

 

Reports will come only if OH permits. 

[Silver Spectre]

Superb photos Les

[Tothesunset]

Update on connection. No 1 son is IT manager and reckons that this is not an unusual problem and needs the SS server to grant my device permission to access without going through the normal connection window. He explained it somewhat more technically so I'll shove the messages under the IT bods nose and see what happens. 

 

Splendid dinner last night on the MDR. Very tasty lamb rogan josh, very nice wine and good company. 

 

Met Cara the cruise consultant at the M&M so she's primed for our visit to her. Also met our CC sailors - a happy bunch of matelots. 

 

Suite 738 (the sole Vista on deck 7) is great but still looking for the hidden 'present' Les has left for us. Or has he? Is it a bluff? Am I scouring the suite on hands and knees for nothing? 

 

Looking forward to today's sea day. Still a bit groggy with the jet lag so a sybaritic afternoon nap looks likely. 

[les37b]

45 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

Update on connection. No 1 son is IT manager and reckons that this is not an unusual problem and needs the SS server to grant my device permission to access without going through the normal connection window. He explained it somewhat more technically so I'll shove the messages under the IT bods nose and see what happens. 

 

Splendid dinner last night on the MDR. Very tasty lamb rogan josh, very nice wine and good company. 

 

Met Cara the cruise consultant at the M&M so she's primed for our visit to her. Also met our CC sailors - a happy bunch of matelots. 

 

Suite 738 (the sole Vista on deck 7) is great but still looking for the hidden 'present' Les has left for us. Or has he? Is it a bluff? Am I scouring the suite on hands and knees for nothing? 

 

Looking forward to today's sea day. Still a bit groggy with the jet lag so a sybaritic afternoon nap looks likely. 

 

Ok... I had emailed what I thought the connection problem may have been... but I bow to an expert.

 

Glad you’ve met Cara.... she was aware of your proposed sailing, so I expect she may have already reserved for you. Hope there was no price bump! (She told us she thought there may be from today, but I expect there wasn’t just yet and was a bluff I fell for.)

 

edit... just looked.... price still the same and EB extended.

 

Panic not...... I left no “gift”... I did think about putting all our restaurant bookings attached to the life vest for muster time, but thought I’d probably be better not doing so. The final day was a bit manic too.

Edited May 1, 2019 by les37b

[brimary]

Hope you enjoy your transatlantic cruise on our favourite Wind TTS and looking forward to your reports as we join at Tower Bridge for three back to back cruises when you dock in a couple of weeks.

We received 2020 brochure today and sad to see only one Tower Bridge round trip cruise next year on the Wind,yet there are thirteen 7 day cruises with virtually identical itineraries from Fort Lauderdale round trip from December to end of March.Sad to see the UK dismissed by SS as a place to visit in the last throw of the dice before becoming yet another Expedition ship for RCC.

Is Colin Brown still Cruise Director ? And who are the other key officers and Maitre d?

Hope the Atlantic stays calm for you all to ENJOY.

  

[dusababy]

Disappointing M+M in numbers last night.  Several who signed up didn’t show but what a pleasure to meet face to face Mr.Mrs.to the sunset and now or never. Hadn’t been on our lovely little Lady Wind for several years and she is still the classic gracious charmer as before.  Captain Arma is another favorite and the crew is terrific. I’m always the cheerleader but make no apology......with great cause.   More posts when we have more experiences to report.   Stay tuned.

 

[Tothesunset]

@Brimary,

 

Yes, Colin is the cruise director. We have Captain Arma driving, Staff Captain Zbigniew Jaszewski, Chief Engineer Nicolo Furio, HD Marius Sima.

 

Spent a few minutes with Cara The CC to find that all the Vistas are booked for the Moon 17 Mar 2021 crossing. Already! Now have to decide if we want to pay extra for a veranda we never use. 

 

Very clear weather, 20 degrees c, bright blue sky, lovely calm sea. A good evening for the Captain's reception, I think.

 

Missed trivia - quick afternoon nap was enhanced by jet lag to a full 3 hour hibernation. 

 

Still using OH's phone because mine won't connect, the IT dude signally unable to assist. Might be an issue with my phone's OS but strange that one of the two identical phones works and the other doesn't. Means no photos. I wouldn't use her phone long enough them allow them to upload. 

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, Tothesunset said:

Spent a few minutes with Cara The CC to find that all the Vistas are booked for the Moon 17 Mar 2021 crossing.

 

Still using OH's phone because mine won't connect, the IT dude signally unable to assist. Might be an issue with my phone's OS but strange that one of the two identical phones works and the other doesn't. Means no photos. I wouldn't use her phone long enough them allow them to upload. 

 

Hmmm... something sounds fishy about this Cara person,  She pushed LesB really, really hard to book so unnecessarily early for pricing and an EBB that everyone else knew wouldn’t change come May Day.  And, sure enough, it didn’t.  NOW she is claiming the Vista’s are sold out.  Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were booked since there are only 6 on the entire ship (compared to 24 on the Cloud which is half the size of the Moon), but availability shows up just fine online and I was able to book a cabin without any problem.  Might be worth sending an email to your favorite TA to check for you.

 

ToTheSunset, as silly as this will sound, try turning off your phone, wait a minute, and turn it back on.  Ensure airplane mode is off and WiFi is on.  That little technique has worked like a charm for us in the past when we’ve has trouble connecting to WiFi.

 

Looking forward to following along your voyage!

[Tothesunset]

Thanks, Stumbles. Tried the phone thing plus many other moves and no connection. Just have to plead for time on OH's handset (like right now). 

 

The Cruise Consultant's screen display for the moon clearly shows all Vistas unavailable for that crossing. But I've fired an email off as you suggest. If they come back with availability I'll take it from there. We have reserved a veranda cabin pending reply from a UK agent which Les used and got a further 10% discount. If they can do the same for us then we will confirm. 

 

Had a lovely dinner tonight with the 2 ladies from the Shore Concierge desk following the Captain's welcome thing. 

 

Sea still smooth. Happy cruiser signing off. 'Til tomorrow... 

[les37b]

12 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

 

Hmmm... something sounds fishy about this Cara person,  She pushed LesB really, really hard to book so unnecessarily early for pricing and an EBB that everyone else knew wouldn’t change come May Day.  And, sure enough, it didn’t.  NOW she is claiming the Vista’s are sold out.  Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were booked since there are only 6 on the entire ship (compared to 24 on the Cloud which is half the size of the Moon), but availability shows up just fine online and I was able to book a cabin without any problem.  Might be worth sending an email to your favorite TA to check for you.

 

ToTheSunset, as silly as this will sound, try turning off your phone, wait a minute, and turn it back on.  Ensure airplane mode is off and WiFi is on.  That little technique has worked like a charm for us in the past when we’ve has trouble connecting to WiFi.

 

Looking forward to following along your voyage!

 

Availability is showing now as waitlisted. (And the agent that has online selection of suites also shows sold out now.) At my time of booking there was only 1 of the 6 booked, but I know of another on my cruise who booked after me. I’ve no doubt what’s she has said is factual and while she did suggest to me paying in full was the only way to guarantee the price, all agents will tell you the same. What she did say was she’d never seen a  TA sailing selling so quickly because it was keenly priced and said ordinarily the price wouldn’t change, but this time she wasn’t as confident. It was my choice at the end of the day.

 

The price didn’t change, but as we now know, all 6 are booked. I’ve wangled a GTY, which effectively could mean the upgrade fairy should visit. No guarantee.... bookings could get cancelled up to 120 days up or changed. Not too concerned either way. Just a shame no 738 as we know it. I’d be more than happy with that. I’d not be shocked if there was a price change next month though.

 

On the connectivity thing, I also had problems on my iPad. I found closing all browser tabs and clearing history did the trick once I then refreshed the WiFi.

 

Sounds like it’s not quite so simple for this problem.

 

Last day in FLL for us today and we fly home in 10 hours. Already know the flight is delayed. Annoying, but ho hum.

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited May 2, 2019 by les37b

[Tothesunset]

Fair winds for the flight home. Using up the daily 10 mins OH allows me on her phone each day. 

[Daveywavey70]

Can’t you buy extra minutes of her TTS?

[brimary]

TTS....Thanks for the info re Officers on the Wind .Hope you enjoy a smooth crossing and decent weather prior to reaching Tower Bridge .We have now reached the excited stage as we are only 2 weeks from joining the Wind.Enjoy!!

[Tothesunset]

The pretty lady below welcomed us to her home town today through the mist and drizzle. Many PAX in obs lounge, fewer on deck. 

 

Loaded up with victuals in the dining room ready to explore Jersey City and Hoboken. 

 

Its days like this that remind us just how privileged we are in this difficult world. 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2019 by Tothesunset

[jpalbny]

Cool pic, TTS! Glad you could post it.

 

We (native New Yorkers who have lived here 50+ years) finally visited the Statue of Liberty in February. I think Chris did it once in High School but I had never been. It was great, and a lot of fun to climb it. Once inside, it feels really small up in the crown, but a great perspective.

 

Enjoy New Jersey. Had I known the timing better, we could have come down to the City to meet you and give you a private tour...

[Tothesunset]

That would have been awesome, JP. Next time? 

 

On subway now destination Hoboken. 

[Stumblefoot]

2 hours ago, jpalbny said:

We (native New Yorkers who have lived here 50+ years)...

Have a hard time believing you’re 50+ from your pics.  32, sure.  35, maybe.  But, 50+?  Puhleeze!

 

Have fun in Jersey TTS!