Jump to content

PRINCESS CRUISERS: HOW ARE THINGS WHERE YOU ARE?!


Host CJSKIDS
 Share

Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, kiwichick62 said:

Hi from New Zealand, our country is going into total lock down Wednesday midnight.  Husband, daughter and I are all working from home (nothing new for me.)  I have my own home office, daughter works down stairs, husband has dining room/lounge.  We are stocked up on food and supplies, we bought a bit extra every time we shopped, no need to hoard goods or panic buy.  

 

We were to sail on the Sky Princess on a Baltics cruise April 25th which was to be our first cruise with Princess.

 

thank you for checking in from New Zealand!  

 

I'm sorry that you won't make your first sailing on Princess and the Sky Princess and hope you can reschedule soon.  You'll love the crew on Sky Princess, some of my favorites.  

 

Please let us know how you are making out in your lockdown.

Edited by Host CJSKIDS
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, DaisyRose said:

I live in New York on Long Island.  Like many other places, only essential business stays open - supermarkets, pharmacies, restaurants for takeout and delivery, liquor stores, gas stations, etc.  One thing I haven't seen anyone else mention is that the two banks I deal with have sent emails that they are only seeing people by appointment.  We have stopped watching so much news, because we find it upsetting.  We now limit ourselves to a half hour program each evening so that we can keep up to date on the latest developments, plus we can pick and choose what to read on our computers and we do get the local newspaper delivered each day.  Sadly, we have cancelled two cruises we had planned on for this summer, and look forward to our 2021 cruise that is booked.

 

Being a senior citizen, I am considered high risk.  My husband and I have already self quarantined for a week, but now the "official" New York state pause has begun.  I am fine with staying home to prevent the spread of this virus.  I am fortunate to have a house with a back yard, so I can get fresh air without being near others.  However, I miss my grandchildren.  They were supposed to come over last weekend to celebrate a birthday, which we cancelled.  I have enough food for a few weeks because I have a habit of buying three when things are on sale, so over time, it accumulates.  I only bought a little extra when this thing started.  However, I am low on perishables like milk, bread, eggs, fruit, etc.  I have some canned alternatives, but sure would prefer the fresh items.  I will do without for another week or two, but eventually will have to go out to the supermarket and that really scares me.  Like other places, some stores are offering a senior shopping hour.  One store who is not offering a senior hour is limiting the number of people they will allow in the store at any one time so we can all keep our distance.  That is where I will eventually go.  One neighbor went to the early senior hour and reported that the store was not crowded.

 

We are keeping busy with some household chores like cleaning out closets, putting out holiday decorations for Easter, painting the ceilings (luckily we had previously purchased the paint).  My sister and I are trying to keep things on a lighter note by texting each other a picture each day of the the things we are doing to keep busy during the quarantine.  I'm worried about my children - one lives in NYC, but he was directed to work from home already a week before the official pause started.  Also, my daughter works in a large office where one worker tested positive.  And my other son must continue to go to work as he is a 911 operator.  

 

My aunt lives in an Assisted Living residence and no one there has been sick.  All visiting was stopped at least a week ago.  Now residents are confined to their rooms, and meals are now brought to them instead of dining in the dining room.  Luckily, she has a tv and a phone.  I ordered a number of books to keep her busy - activity books, novels, picture books, inspirational books, etc. from Amazon.com.  I think not knowing how long this will last makes it a bit harder to deal with.  I hope everyone will stay safe and maintain a positive approach.

 

Instacart is a great service you can use as well as shipt to have groceries delivered to you.  My parents live on the Eastern end of Long Island and this is what I'm now having them do.  You can even have them knock and leave it at the door so you don't have to see them if you prefer. 

 

Hope you and your family stay healthy and that this is over sooner rather than later for us all. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello from rainy New Jersey!

We are only going out if absolutely necessary.
My son and his fiancé live here and she is still working.  My hubby is a nurse but he is recovering from back surgery so he is home through the end of may if not longer.  We are parents to our other son’s three year old little girl.  She is not understanding why things are closed but we just keep trying to side track her.  Free educational apps, museum tours online (dinosaur fanatic!!) and whatever else we can find.  We are stocked up on food and I just began a sourdough bread starter and an Amish friendship bread starter so we will eat a little too well most likely.

we have an acre so we are out in our yard when it’s not raining..throwing the ball for the dogs, playing hide and seek with our little lady and whatever else we can think of. 
I am going to take some online classes via Coursera or EdX to keep me busy.  Hubby has some CEUs he needs to take for his nursing license so he will do that.

Music, books, education, a good meal, lots of FaceTime chats with family...

I keep trying to remind everyone to get in touch with older or infirm family and friends..and above all wash your hands..and wash them some more.  If you go out change you clothing when you get home. Stay well, stay calm, and stay happy....it’s a state of mind!!

 

Love and good health to all!!

Marie (and Steven and Autumn)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Greetings from the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

We have been under shelter in place orders locally for a week.

Tha Grand Princess is anchored in the bay.

The local passengers who were at Travis Air Force base are being released as their 14 day stay ends.

 

Air quality and traffic are much improved.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello fellow Cruisers,

 

We are from London Canada and like everywhere else we are in the Social Distancing Mode.  My Mother and I have a cruise booked on the Enchanted in Sept . so praying that our lives return to normal or as normal as it can be before that time.

I live in a rural community  just outside London, so distancing is very easy .  My two yellow labs are getting me out for walks and are the best company as my husband must still go to work ( Hydro Electrify Worker).

One thing that Ive been doing is getting my pictures of past cruises out and really looking at them !!  What an upper !!!  Try it yourself !!  You'll be amazed how those lovely 'cruisin ' feelings'  come rushing back !!! AHHHHHHH

 

BE WELL EVERYONE !! 

IMG_3822.JPG

P6140360.JPG

IMG_3691.JPG

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello from Southern California.  We are currently "safer at home". All non-essential businesses are closed. Our city closed all of the parks as of today. My husband's employer supports the banking industry so he is considered an essential worker.  Our oldest son works in a grocery store so he too is still working.  I am a teacher and have been home since school shut down on the 13th of March. My district is set to begin distance learning on April 1st. We are being told that we will return to work on April 17th.......pretty sure that won't be happening. Our own school age children begin distance learning this week. Our exchange student from 5 years ago was here on spring break from Penn State when everything started changing. She's been with us since the 6th and will stay with us until she can get a flight home to Taiwan. She was scheduled to fly home tomorrow with her sister who is currently on exchange in Texas, but that flight has been cancelled. They are trying for Friday. 

 

We have done ok as far as groceries and TP. I waited in line at Target for about 30 minutes prior to opening on Sunday and was able to get TP,  paper towels and Clorox wipes. We also found TP  and eggs at Costco on the same day. My son's store, Sprouts, gets fresh produce most days.  The only thing that has been difficult to find is fresh chicken. All stores are limiting hard to find items to 1 per person. I've been buying for our family of 6 + our exchange student, as well as my mom. 

 

The kids( two 21 year olds and a 13 year old) have done a few 1000+ piece puzzles, taken up sewing head bands and hair scrunchies and playing Spikeball in the front yard. Our 17 year old has played more Fortnite than I'd like, but he's safe in the house. The 23 year old has been working 40+ hours keeping produce stocked.  All of the kids have a rotating schedule of daily chores. I've taken to doing long put of jobs like cleaning the junk drawers and purging some clothes. 

 

We just cancelled our Spring Break trip to Cabo and anticipate having to cancel a trip to Aruba at the beginning of June. We are scheduled to go on  the July 1st sailing of the Enchanted to celebrate a 50th birthday, 25th wedding anniversary, a college, high school and 8th grade graduation. Sadly, I have a feeling that will also be a no-go. 

 

Please be safe!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our Mayor has now officially shut down our little beach town on the Washington coast.

She has ordered barricades in front of our beach approaches. Most towns on the Washington and Oregon

coasts have done the same and most have ordered campgrounds, hotels, VRBO's, etc to shut down.

 

We are very fortunate- my only current concern is when I run out of fresh produce. (It is 75 miles

to our closest Costco and Trader Joes). LOL

 

We only go to the Post Office to pick up our mail.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wife and I were walking on the American River bike trail this morning. A man came up to us and asked what was going on. After talking to him a bit it became obvious he was homeless and possibly had some mental health issues. We tried to explain why all the stores were closed, but he had trouble grasping it. I hadn’t thought how this might affect people with cognitive issues who are used to things being a certain way. Scary not seeing people out and about and everything closed. I really didn’t know how to help him. He grew frustrated with our attempts to answer his questions and went to somebody else.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am on my first day at home.  I run a non-profit childcare center and one of our workers had contact with a roommate of someone who tested positive yesterday (from another town) so we closed in a hurry.  I am so disappointed because we had so many healthcare workers depending upon our care and if people had stayed at home, we would still be open. I hope we re-open after 14 days and the majority of our kids are better off with us than at home.

 

Bars, restaurants, and stores are closed.  Groceries are difficult to get.  I could not buy our milk for the child care last week- we had to order commercially.  I have been isolating for some time as I am most likely a carrier as I have contact with 150 kids and their families daily.  Just work and home with minimal store runs.  
 

Now, I am reading CC and hoping August is a go.  About to get to work on my dissertation.  In that sense, this closure is a blessing for me.  
 

stay safe everyone,

Cynthia

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

 

thank you for checking in from New Zealand!  

 

I'm sorry that you won't make your first sailing on Princess and the Sky Princess and hope you can reschedule soon.  You'll love the crew on Sky Princess, some of my favorites.  

 

Please let us know how you are making out in your lockdown.

We are doing fine here thanks CJSKids  Three adults here and we are working from home, we have enough room to spread out.  Think we will be ok.  Only my husband will leave the house once a week for groceries.  The more we limit contact the safer everyone in the country and world will be.

 

Once things have settled down and it is safe to travel, we will be looking at booking another cruise with Princess.  I have enjoyed reading what others have bee up to on this thread.  🙂

 

Be safe and take care everyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tomorrow I get to be a tester for an on-line appointment with my oncologist (finally in follow-up phase after a second bout of breast cancer in 2018, but caught it so early I just considered it cancer with training wheels).  Saves me a trip north to Denver - yay!  To treat myself it's another walk tomorrow afternoon before the weather is slated to turn - would LOVE to be walking with New Cruiser Girl 2's beautiful labs and I'm guessing they'd be very interested in the mule deer that are everywhere here.  Then I think it's time for ice cream.

 

Ah - for those who have Comcast, I understand they have a new section for educational programming materials available to home-schooling activities.  Guessing that's becoming common with most on-line providers, but thought I'd mention it.

 

Take care all!  April is next week?  Yikes!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BTW for our Washington state cc’rs - just saw new release that 300 medical personnel from Ft. Carson will be deployed to Washington to provide support.  Looks like they will focus on routine medical needs /procedures to free the local medical staff to better focus on COVID 19.  
 

https://www.kktv.com/content/news/300-medical-personnel-from-Fort-Carson-to-deploy-to-Washington-State-for-COVID-19-response-569075881.html 

Edited by LoriPhil
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello from Australia,  Im hoping everyone is staying safe. We are gradually getting into a complete lock down. We have a family member who is a Intensive Care paramedic who has been tested and isolated twice. Very worrying. We are being positive that we will all recover from this terrible situation. 

We were travelling with friends doing land tours and cruising, they have not cruised before with Princess,  we were all excited and doing a countdown for our June Alaskan cruise.  We are disappointed that we had to cancel. We have now rebooked for 2021 after working through a nightmare of non refundable excursions, hotels and some flights. Fingers crossed it all works out. Please stay safe and health 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bravo Vancouver - what a wonderful community celebration!  I’d guess that the healthcare workers AND participants get real joy fro this.  Wouldn’t it be a great thing for other communities to do?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, CruiseVA said:

I'll buy you one of those on our next cruise 😉

 

You didn't quote me, but based on the time-stamp of your "liking" my post about Mai Tais, I'm assuming that this was meant for me. So, is that TWO drinks you're now buying me, or just one!?

 

I just finished meeting up with my black market connection for some TP and hand sanitizer.

We were really getting low on the TP, and I thought for a while that I'd have to resort to an all cheese diet. lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Checking in from Arizona.  Although we are not ordered to stay home we've been sheltering in place for almost two weeks now making visits to the grocery store or walking around the neighborhood for a change of pace.  I had been volunteering two days a week at our local library but that was suspended for at least 8 weeks.  Our libraries are closed as are schools, gyms, eat-in restaurants, etc. very similar to what's happening around the USA.  As I make my grocery store "runs", I also shop for my 93 YO MIL and find joy when I can get everything on the list by only going to one or two stores in a day.  Yesterday I found flour for the first time in two weeks and that was a source of great happiness.  Who would have thought a couple of weeks ago that I would be so happy to find something that was always available?  Other than that I've been reading, cooking more, and keeping in touch with friends.  I also would have been visiting friends in Florida right now but cancelled that a couple days before I was supposed to leave.  And our May cruise to the Baltic was axed by Princess but we cancelled two days before that.  There will be better times to travel and we definitely will travel when it is safe to do so.  Stay safe and healthy Cruise Critic Community!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Checking in from southern New Mexico. Cases are starting to show up here, first one to the southeast in El Paso, TX about 2 weeks (?) ago, first here about a week ago.

 

Retired end of December, perfect timing for shelter in place!

 

My daughter-in-law has formed a Facebook group for several of us to communicate regarding face mask production. Currently making cloth surgical type masks to cover N95 masks, which are in short supply. Governor Lujan-Grisham has officially closed us down as of this afternoon. All essential businesses to close. Schools are closed.

 

Our area has beautiful places to hike/walk in the currently gorgeous weather we're having. Silver lining to the pandemic: it's spring! Southern NM has beautiful weather in the spring.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed that our mid-October cruise will be a go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Everyone from the Sacramento, Ca area.  Thrak, I used to live in Chico, so I enjoyed your pictures.  The aisles look the same here.  I just know from internet pix, I haven't been out since March 13th.  Billco, thanks for the report of your walk on the American River.  The river runs right through the middle of Sacramento County.  The sun is shining again today, and for me that makes the day better.  My best wishes to you all.  Hang in there! (remember the old kitty poster?)

On 3/21/2020 at 11:33 AM, Thrak said:

California is nuts. Here are a couple of pics from today's newspaper.

The Pasta aisle in Safeway:

ajax-request.php?val=Image_2.jpg&action=loadImage&type=Image&pSetup=chicoenterpriserecord_live20151014&issue=20200321&crc=cer_dly_200321_a_001.pdf.0&edition=Chico Enterprise Record&mtime=083926&paperImage=chicoenterpriserecord

 

The Toilet Paper aisle in Safeway:

ajax-request.php?val=Image_1.jpg&action=loadImage&type=Image&pSetup=chicoenterpriserecord_live20151014&issue=20200321&crc=cer_dly_200321_a_001.pdf.0&edition=Chico Enterprise Record&mtime=083926&paperImage=chicoenterpriserecord

 

Some restaurants are doing take-out but others are closed. Stores - other than grocery stores - are mostly all closed. Libraries and theaters are closed. 

 

Here's a shot of the mall parking lot:

ajax-request.php?val=Image_0.jpg&action=loadImage&type=Image&pSetup=chicoenterpriserecord_live20151014&issue=20200321&crc=cer_dly_200321_a_001.pdf.0&edition=Chico Enterprise Record&mtime=083926&paperImage=chicoenterpriserecord

 

The paper says that, so far, there are no confirmed cases in the county but we are in full post-apocalyptic mode. It's very weird. I thought I'd make a stew but there are no potatoes in the stores. I was going to make a pot of chili but there are no beans in the stores. It seems people are hoarding food and stuff. It seems a bit counter-productive to me to snatch up all the soap and sanitizer. That just means nobody else can keep clean so they will end up infecting those who took all the cleaning stuff.

 

We're just hanging out at home. We have food and wine. We have (had?) a month long camping trip planned but the campgrounds seem to be closing. Hoping all this clears up so we can take our November/December cruises.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2020 at 8:56 AM, LoriPhil said:

 Buffet service in the yard

8633A5EA-4C0A-411E-A687-8DD0A580AD38.thumb.jpeg.cb98d861e1cab81efced9ccc534e4223.jpeg

She's adorable! Such a beautiful animal. How long was the visit from such a beautiful animal? Thank you for sharing

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She was there for about 20 minutes or so, but she and her pals make the rounds of the neighborhood so I watch for them each morning.  In the summer one or two will dig out a hollow under the deck and nest there in the heat of the day. Even though they’ve wiped out our garden and flowering plants, I do love seeing them.  Yay spring!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...