Now for something completely different

[Blackduck59]

So I just heard on the news that we in BC have opened up vaccination registration for children 5 years and older. This must be getting things started for when this is approved which may be soon. We are also starting the 3rd dose boosters for seniors in assisted living and elder care facilities as well as immune compromised. We also continue to make it difficult for the unvaccinated, we have proof of vaccination required for many activities and the computer generated cards have a QR code so pretty hard to fake. Masks are mandatory indoors again (from late August). Much of the public service is now required to be vaccinated, no vaccine no work, you get placed on unpaid administrative leave which means no unemployment benefits. It seems choosing not to get vaccinated is beginning to have consequences (about bl**dy time I say). 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Blackduck59

[frantic36]

6 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

So I just heard on the news that we in BC have opened up vaccination registration for children 5 years and older. This must be getting things started for when this is approved which may be soon. We are also starting the 3rd dose boosters for seniors in assisted living and elder care facilities as well as immune compromised. We also continue to make it difficult for the unvaccinated, we have proof of vaccination required for many activities and the computer generated cards have a QR code so pretty hard to fake. Masks are mandatory indoors again (from late August). Much of the public service is now required to be vaccinated, no vaccine no work, you get placed on unpaid administrative leave which means no unemployment benefits. It seems choosing not to get vaccinated is beginning to have consequences (about bl**dy time I say). 

 

Exactly. I am sorry, but a once in a generation pandemic needs tough measures and if it doesn't fit into your individual freedoms that conflict with protecting the community as a whole...well bad luck!

[possum52]

17 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

So I just heard on the news that we in BC have opened up vaccination registration for children 5 years and older. This must be getting things started for when this is approved which may be soon. We are also starting the 3rd dose boosters for seniors in assisted living and elder care facilities as well as immune compromised. 

The Therapeutic Goods Administration, which is the medicine and therapeutic regulatory agency of the Australian Government, has requested that Pfizer provide data from their trials with children aged 5-11 with the view to start vaccinating them asap. Boosters will be given here to certain people as well.

[NSWP]

I drove past my golf club at 8.55am this morning, there were a dozen desperados waiting out the front for the doors to open at 9am, anxious for a tap beer and gamble. Poor souls must have withdrawal symptoms. I trust they had their vaccination certificate with them.  Sad times, clubs and pubs down here reopened today after being closed since 15th August.  Think I will wait until the end of the week when the covid germs might have settled before I enter the club house for an adult beverage and a feed.🍽️🍷

Edited October 11, 2021 by NSWP

[Snoopkat]

I am also waiting a couple of weeks before going to the hairdresser and making restaurant bookings. I've waited this long, what's another week or two. Some businesses have chosen not to reopen to avoid having to deal with a potentially angry public.

[Blackduck59]

Well we have come to the disappointing decision to cancel our New York to Quebec City Cruise on the Caribbean Princess. Maybe another time on another ship with a different line.

On a more pleasant note we are looking at a Viking Pacific coastal in April, I think that was the domino that lead to the other cancellation. Lynn latched on to the Viking thing and we can't afford both so we decided on the small ship closer to home. It will be interesting for me as I have been to a couple of the ports in 1976 while on a deployment as a Sea Cadet in HMCS Yukon. Funny thing Viking Orion is a "small ship" but she is considerably bigger than HMCS Yukon was. There is a military grid reference called "Whiskey 601", off the coast of Cape Flattery which has notoriously rough seas at times (it certainly was when we came through in 1976, we had waves breaking as high as the bridge and went through every 2nd one. It was rather uncomfortable. Maybe this cruise will actually happen. One point of interest the ship actually stops in Victoria, we hope to be able to disembark here rather than carry on to Vancouver the overnight and have to come back home. It will be interesting to hear the port "talk" for Victoria 😉.

[MicCanberra]

Good luck, hope your new plans go well.

[GUT2407]

1 hour ago, Blackduck59 said:

Well we have come to the disappointing decision to cancel our New York to Quebec City Cruise on the Caribbean Princess. Maybe another time on another ship with a different line.

On a more pleasant note we are looking at a Viking Pacific coastal in April, I think that was the domino that lead to the other cancellation. Lynn latched on to the Viking thing and we can't afford both so we decided on the small ship closer to home. It will be interesting for me as I have been to a couple of the ports in 1976 while on a deployment as a Sea Cadet in HMCS Yukon. Funny thing Viking Orion is a "small ship" but she is considerably bigger than HMCS Yukon was. There is a military grid reference called "Whiskey 601", off the coast of Cape Flattery which has notoriously rough seas at times (it certainly was when we came through in 1976, we had waves breaking as high as the bridge and went through every 2nd one. It was rather uncomfortable. Maybe this cruise will actually happen. One point of interest the ship actually stops in Victoria, we hope to be able to disembark here rather than carry on to Vancouver the overnight and have to come back home. It will be interesting to hear the port "talk" for Victoria 😉.

Sorry to hear, good luck with the Viking replacement

[mr walker]

Yes good luck with it Lyle. One things that's come out of COVID is the need for us all the be flexible & if Plan A doesn't work, remember there are 26 letters in all. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

22 minutes ago, mr walker said:

Yes good luck with it Lyle. One things that's come out of COVID is the need for us all the be flexible & if Plan A doesn't work, remember there are 26 letters in all. 

And lots of numbers. For the trip we did earlier in the year I had Plan A with sub plans A1 (which also spilt into A1.1 and A1.2) and A2, Plan B and Plan C, both of which I hadn't really started on the subplans but was considering options. Luckily it all came together so we could do Plan A using the A1.2 variant. 🤣

[Blackduck59]

47 minutes ago, mr walker said:

Yes good luck with it Lyle. One things that's come out of COVID is the need for us all the be flexible & if Plan A doesn't work, remember there are 26 letters in all. 

 

Well this latest plan puts us on a cruise almost 5 months earlier. It is a fairly new Viking ship as opposed to one the oldest ships in the Princess fleet. Even at full capacity Viking Orion has only 930 passengers. One of the huge surprises is the drinks package is only $20.00 per person per day. We don't drink much but that's less than 2 drinks a day cost for unlimited drinks.

We may try the east coast thing in 2023, it won't be with Princess.

I don't think Oz/New Zealand will happen before 2024, assuming we have the budget to do it right.

[MicCanberra]

Good plan

[Docker123]

Sounds nice Lyle. Hope you enjoy.

 

Just check on the drinks deal, and your consumption. I believe Viking has complementary beer and wine with lunch and dinner. For some, that can be enough.

 

[Blackduck59]

19 minutes ago, Docker123 said:

Sounds nice Lyle. Hope you enjoy.

 

Just check on the drinks deal, and your consumption. I believe Viking has complementary beer and wine with lunch and dinner. For some, that can be enough.

 

 

Indeed they do, but if you want a cocktail or soft drink then it's a la carte. Or if you wanted beer or wine outside of a meal... Like I said $20.00 a day is nothing compared to other lines. Many things are included that make Viking attractive to us. Don't forget no kids, no casino, no smoking (except one small area at the aft section of one side on the top deck) all these things make the extra cost worth it. I doubt we could ever make Viking our go to cruise line because of the cost but this one seems a great way to start cruising again

[OzKiwiJJ]

It's a shame you've decided to give up on the Princess cruise, Lyle, but Viking should be fantastic.

 

Don't give up on Princess completely. They'll get their technical issues sorted out eventually. I suspect they rushed the implementation of some of the features thinking reduced passenger cruises would be a good time to bed them in but obviously they hadn't got all the bugs out. 

 

The Lift and Sip idea is a bit stupid for the bars but a good idea for places like the theatre, trivia, bingo, etc. So far it's only been tried on Sky, I think, and they may have taken it further than was originally intended.

Edited October 25, 2021 by OzKiwiJJ

[Blackduck59]

8 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It's a shame you've decided to give up on the Princess cruise, Lyle, but Viking should be fantastic.

 

Don't give up on Princess completely. They'll get their technical issues sorted out eventually. I suspect they rushed the implementation of some of the features thinking reduced passenger cruises would be a good time to bed them in but obviously they hadn't got all the bugs out. 

 

The Lift and Sip idea is a bit stupid for the bars but a good idea for places like the theatre, trivia, bingo, etc. So far it's only been tried on Sky, I think, and they may have taken it further than was originally intended.

 

Thanks Julie, I appreciate your support for Princess, I know Lynn's best friend who passed away a little over a year ago loved Princess. I'm just not feeling it. When almost every thread on the Princess board is mentioning some new problem with the new version of Medallion that was supposed to be better has even other new issues well that just says prepare to be frustrated; I can do that at home for free. I think the other issue was the ship they have on that journey, I've been in RVs (Caravans) with bigger bathrooms. It just feels to me that Princess has failed to "read the room" as it were and don't seem to know how or even care to fix their approach. It's like they set their Gyro compass to magnetic north but are using true north charts.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Most cruise lines have some issues. Princess bathrooms are small on all classes of their ships unfortunately and most of their cabins don't have sofas, but because of that they feel more spacious than Celebrity Solstice and have much better storage and closet space. So win some, lose some.

 

We prefer the entertainment on Princess, especially after our last Solstice cruise where they blasted the music everywhere so you couldn't even have a conversation sitting right next to each other. Plus we're a bit older than you folk so our tastes may differ. Princess has a show band rather than using canned music for its production shows and the show band also doubles as a jazz band some nights which we love.

 

Princess has much better drinks service in the bars but no sommeliers in the MDRs, although there were signs of changes - bar waiters delivering drinks to table waiters - on one of the last cruises we did. 

 

My ideal cruise ship would be a cross between Princess and Celebrity. Celebrity cabins but with the Princess-style walk-in closet next to the bathroom. Princess lounges and bars as per the Grand Class ships. 

 

But I think we might have to look at some of the more upmarket lines now. The newer Princess and Celebrity ships are getting too big and don't suit us as well as the older ships did.

[Blackduck59]

So we booked the Viking Pacific Coastal today. We went with the deluxe veranda, it was a prime location, deck 5, midships, starboard side. The Penthouse verandas that were left weren't in as good of a location. We went with location over cabin size. I don't know if we will every sail Viking again but at least we will have this experience.

[GUT2407]

43 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

So we booked the Viking Pacific Coastal today. We went with the deluxe veranda, it was a prime location, deck 5, midships, starboard side. The Penthouse verandas that were left weren't in as good of a location. We went with location over cabin size. I don't know if we will every sail Viking again but at least we will have this experience.

Yep, location, location, location for us. I like to be close to the lifts, Mrs G has some health conditions that mean mid ship is where we want to be, cabins above and below to keep noise down. Early cruises we loved a deck that was 2 up to buffet, 2 down to MDR. Back then 2 flights of stairs I could do. Now that the elevator is a must, and ships are so much bigger, that issue is no longer a consideration.

[OzKiwiJJ]

49 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

So we booked the Viking Pacific Coastal today. We went with the deluxe veranda, it was a prime location, deck 5, midships, starboard side. The Penthouse verandas that were left weren't in as good of a location. We went with location over cabin size. I don't know if we will every sail Viking again but at least we will have this experience.

I'm sure it will be lovely. I'd like to try Viking one day.

 

We prefer midships where possible, and with cabin decks above and below. We did have a foward cabin on the Crystal cruise we did and it was OK. We also scored a very cheap deal on an aft suite on Carnival Legend once. Great views over the wake but quite a bit of vibration when the ship was running at full speed.

Edited October 31, 2021 by OzKiwiJJ

[Cruisers47]

Hi

 

interesting discussion on favourite ships.

 

our first cruise more than 10 years ago was on Norwegian and we had a sofa and coffee facilities.   The next one was on Princess to NZ.  No sofa and the cabin was so small..,Diamond Princess.  
 

I like Celebrity but now with the drinks etc included and us being Diamond where we get 4 free drink each day, also the diamond club that makes a difference in the price.

 

just had a look at the prices for Princess.   I think they charge $1000 to go from Melbourne rather than Sydney.   They have a locked in support in Melbourne because we will not expand the port.  Really silly of the Victoria Government.

 

we have been on most cruise ships, Crystal which I love, Celebrity, Oceania, Azamara.   Value for money when you are diamond is RCL, even if we have to fly to Sydney.  But saying that we are booked on Azamara in Europe for next year and also RCL in Europe.   I am sure both will be lovely.

 

eileen

[Blackduck59]

There were penthouse verandas available on the same deck but more forward and aft. They were $400.00 and $500.00 per person more. That meant a less ideal location for between $800,00 and $1,000.00 more. We went for location although the penthouse veranda is 60 square feet bigger.

[NSWP]

4 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

There were penthouse verandas available on the same deck but more forward and aft. They were $400.00 and $500.00 per person more. That meant a less ideal location for between $800,00 and $1,000.00 more. We went for location although the penthouse veranda is 60 square feet bigger.

You are 'Livin the Dream, young Lyle, above all enjoy !!

[OzKiwiJJ]

When we went on holiday to SA in February I accidentally left something at the motel at our first stop. I phoned the motel once I discovered it was missing (on Feb 18th)  and asked them to send it on to the hotel we were staying at in Hahndorf two nights later. It didn't arrive. I phoned the hotel at the end of the Murray River cruise, it still hadn't arrived. I phoned a couple more times and still no luck. I have just received a call from the hotel saying my parcel has arrived. Almost 8.5 months late! They are sending it on to me. I wonder how long it will take this time.🤔

[MicCanberra]

Lucky you are seeing it at all, I suppose