Bermuda Escape Cruises - insights, information, and more just on Bermuda

[bluesea777]

I did some further digging in our Bermuda Government Travel Authorization ... and came across THIS ...

 

COVID-19 Testing (azova.com)

 

I sure hope this will help you - and others ....

 

Please let me know.

 

This link came from this page: Travel Testing Frequently Asked Questions | Government of Bermuda (www.gov.bm)

 

 

[akronmaid]

Which excursion to St. Georges?

St Georges Discovery (3.5 hours) or

St Georges Old Town and Nature Experience? (2 hours)

 

Transportation, Free time, and quality of tour info would be helpful

[BQEC]

On 8/28/2021 at 2:10 PM, bluesea777 said:

I did some further digging in our Bermuda Government Travel Authorization ... and came across THIS ...

 

COVID-19 Testing (azova.com)

 

I sure hope this will help you - and others ....

 

Please let me know.

 

This link came from this page: Travel Testing Frequently Asked Questions | Government of Bermuda (www.gov.bm)

 

 

Wow! This is amazing! Thanks. 

[SRHall64]

2 hours ago, akronmaid said:

Which excursion to St. Georges?

St Georges Discovery (3.5 hours) or

St Georges Old Town and Nature Experience? (2 hours)

 

Transportation, Free time, and quality of tour info would be helpful

My dad and I did the St Georges Discovery on the July 27 departure.  We were in a taxi van with one other couple.  We had about 30 minutes free time in Kings Square area after our visits to Fort St Catherine and St. Peter's Church.  We then drove over to Tucker's Town and back to the ship.  Our driver/guide was very informative and we enjoyed the tour.  We did the afternoon option so traffic on the way back meant that it was closer to 4.5 hours.

[bluesea777]

Viking Orion has some company today at the Dockyard .... Crystal Symphony arrived this morning, over a day early (yes, it sped down to Bermuda from Boston in less than 36 hours) so to spend time here before leaving tomorrow (Wed) 5pm, two days early, to avoid hurricane Larry's wrath .....

 

 

Symphony is on the left (King's Wharf) and Orion on the right (Heritage Wharf).

 

I have not seen or heard anything about Orion's next few days ... 

 

 

[JM0115]

9 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

Viking Orion has some company today at the Dockyard .... Crystal Symphony arrived this morning, over a day early (yes, it sped down to Bermuda from Boston in less than 36 hours) so to spend time here before leaving tomorrow (Wed) 5pm, two days early, to avoid hurricane Larry's wrath .....

 

 

Symphony is on the left (King's Wharf) and Orion on the right (Heritage Wharf).

 

I have not seen or heard anything about Orion's next few days ... 

 

 

Orion will leave the Dockyards this evening and head out to sea in a southwesterly direction. Will return to Bermuda some time on Friday staying away from as much wind and wave as possible.

[bluesea777]

30 minutes ago, JM0115 said:

Orion will leave the Dockyards this evening and head out to sea in a southwesterly direction. Will return to Bermuda some time on Friday staying away from as much wind and wave as possible.

 

Makes sense. Hopefully Orion will be able to meet with the pilot at dawn on Friday morning so to bring ship into Hamilton early enough so pax can make to their homebound flights.

 

According to Windy, it looks like Orion will need to go NW first and then S and then around the south of Bermuda.

 

P.S. how did you like the last week's cruise and Bermuda? Please do tell .....

 

 

[JM0115]

55 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Makes sense. Hopefully Orion will be able to meet with the pilot at dawn on Friday morning so to bring ship into Hamilton early enough so pax can make to their homebound flights.

 

According to Windy, it looks like Orion will need to go NW first and then S and then around the south of Bermuda.

 

P.S. how did you like the last week's cruise and Bermuda? Please do tell .....

 

 

We did two weeks. Back to back. It has been great. The water has been special. Warm to swim in and beautiful to look at. The crew is amazing and the food and drink wonderful  as well. We will wait and see what happens over the next few days🤞🤞.

[Heidi13]

11 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Makes sense. Hopefully Orion will be able to meet with the pilot at dawn on Friday morning so to bring ship into Hamilton early enough so pax can make to their homebound flights.

 

According to Windy, it looks like Orion will need to go NW first and then S and then around the south of Bermuda.

 

P.S. how did you like the last week's cruise and Bermuda? Please do tell .....

 

 

 

The dangerous quadrant of a TRS is north of the eye, so steering any N'ly course with an approaching TRS should be avoided, unless navigational hazards are present. After departure and once clear of the North coast, based on the TRS projected track, a S'ly course until clear of land, then SW'ly courses would be the prudent action.

[bluesea777]

12 hours ago, JM0115 said:

Orion will leave the Dockyards this evening and head out to sea in a southwesterly direction. Will return to Bermuda some time on Friday staying away from as much wind and wave as possible.

 

11 hours ago, JM0115 said:

We did two weeks. Back to back. It has been great. The water has been special. Warm to swim in and beautiful to look at. The crew is amazing and the food and drink wonderful  as well. We will wait and see what happens over the next few days🤞🤞.

 

Now I just saw your signature that you're still on the Orion - the second part of the B2B ... I thought you got off the ship already last Friday!

 

7 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

The dangerous quadrant of a TRS is north of the eye, so steering any N'ly course with an approaching TRS should be avoided, unless navigational hazards are present. After departure and once clear of the North coast, based on the TRS projected track, a S'ly course until clear of land, then SW'ly courses would be the prudent action.

 

I looked at Cruisemapper a couple of hours ago .... and yes I was wrong! You both are correct.

 

Thanks for the explanation @Heidi13, and I hope you @JM0115are fine and safe for the rest of the week. Keep drinking the Viking Akvavit - it'll do you good!

 

 

 

 

[JM0115]

7 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

 

 

Now I just saw your signature that you're still on the Orion - the second part of the B2B ... I thought you got off the ship already last Friday!

 

 

I looked at Cruisemapper a couple of hours ago .... and yes I was wrong! You both are correct.

 

Thanks for the explanation @Heidi13, and I hope you @JM0115are fine and safe for the rest of the week. Keep drinking the Viking Akvavit - it'll do you good!

 

 

 

 

@bluesea777 and @Heidi13  thanks for the thoughts. We had a bit of a rough night at sea last night but not that bad. Woke up to a beautiful sunrise and slightly rough seas. Viking Orion current location is at North West Atlantic Ocean (coordinates 31.09555 N / -66.65625 W) cruising at speed of 11.1 kn (21 kph/ 13 mph). We are still heading away from the hurricane west-southwesterly.   Not sure how far we are from Bermuda or from Larry at this point. Currently it is 7:40 AM Atlantic time. 

[bluesea777]

Star Trek SS Viking Orion has gone far and beyond the Bermuda's comfort zone ....

 

 

With Wind Speed ....

 

With Waves ....

 

Stay Calm, Keep On Drinking Viking Akvavit!

 

 

Edited September 8, 2021 by bluesea777

[bluesea777]

 

Blue dot is Bermuda - that's Crystal Symphony.

 

[JM0115]

Due to rough seas they closed the main pool. They drained it rather quickly. Does anyone know what they do with the water? Do they store it to use to refill the pool?

[Tom.in.nc]

2 hours ago, JM0115 said:

Does anyone know what they do with the water? Do they store it to use to refill the pool?

I would really doubt it as it is salt water and there is an abundant supply nearby 😳

 

Tom

[bluesea777]

54 minutes ago, Tom.in.nc said:

I would really doubt it as it is salt water and there is an abundant supply nearby 😳

 

Tom

Trouble is (and we were surprised to learn) the water in both pools on the Orion is fresh water, not salt. If it had been sea water … we’d love it more. 
 

 

[Tom.in.nc]

15 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

Trouble is (and we were surprised to learn) the water in both pools on the Orion is fresh water, not salt. If it had been sea water … we’d love it more. 
 

 

Interesting.  I can’t float in freshwater pools and I floated with ease in Venus’ main pool.

All that wine must have made me “lighter”. I honestly don’t remember tasting the water for saltiness.

 

Tom

 

[miaf]

19 minutes ago, Tom.in.nc said:

Interesting.  I can’t float in freshwater pools and I floated with ease in Venus’ main pool.

All that wine must have made me “lighter”. I honestly don’t remember tasting the water for saltiness.

 

Tom

 

 

Was on Jupiter a couple weeks ago. Definitively a salt water pool.

[Tom.in.nc]

27 minutes ago, miaf said:

 

Was on Jupiter a couple weeks ago. Definitively a salt water pool.

Got curious so I asked Viking.

 

”All of the swimming pools have options for fresh or salt water and this depends on the itinerary that the ship is sailing.
In the main pool we try to have mainly salt water.
Infinity salt or fresh – pending on itinerary.
Spa pool – mainly fresh water pending on availability
All pools are automated in chlorination and manually monitored via our pool man.
The ship purifies seawater for use in swimming pools through a process called reverse osmosis.”

 

So it could have been either.

Tom

[bluesea777]

21 hours ago, JM0115 said:

Due to rough seas they closed the main pool. They drained it rather quickly. Does anyone know what they do with the water? Do they store it to use to refill the pool?

 

Was the Infinity pool also emptied?

 

[bluesea777]

We are hoping that when the pools on Orion are refilled, it's the seawater from the ocean. 

 

We're on Orion Sept 17-24.

 

Where we live there is a shared pool (6 townhouses) and it's filled with salt well water - and we love it. I'm able to float and do my aquatics for 1.5 hours! We have a pool lady here each week and she cleans, tests, chlorinates, etc. Very good job.

 

 

[bluesea777]

Larry is now at his closest to Bermuda - but we are getting fringe winds - about 30-35 mph - a little blow by Bermuda's standards. Life goes on as usual.

 

Outlook - grey skies, very misty, very muggy, Great Sound full of white caps, and .... wait for it .... NO RAIN. A dry hurricane, I think.

 

 

 

Last night's sunset ...

 

 

[bluesea777]

Orion is now backtracking back to Hamilton Bermuda, ETA tomorrow morning at 9:30 am. Hopefully the passengers will be able to make their booked first flight out of island tomorrow late morning/early afternoon.

 

 

Waves ...

 

 

[JM0115]

47 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Was the Infinity pool also emptied?

 

The infinity pool was lowered a bit lower than they normally do for at sea days. Hot tub next to the infinity pool also had its level lowered.

 

pool has remained empty today.

[JM0115]

1 minute ago, bluesea777 said:

Orion is now backtracking back to Hamilton Bermuda, ETA tomorrow morning at 9:30 am. Hopefully the passengers will be able to make their booked first flight out of island tomorrow late morning/early afternoon.

 

 

Waves ...

 

 

We were told by the captain that the pilot would board at 6:30 am for 8 am docking. We will have to speed up as this was at noon going 11 knots and we were ~200 nautical miles from Bermuda at that time. Leaving 20 hrs to make it.