The Daily for Tuesday Jun 08, 2021

[lazey1]

I will pass on today's meal and on Roy's alternative along with jumping out of a moving airplane. I am scared enough of flying already, only do it when I need to get somewhere quickly.

Out temperature has been in the low 100's for the most part, windy and almost no humidity. There are 2 major fires to the east of the Phoenix area with no containment in sight. The home of the Az. Speaker of the House has been totally destroyed. The good news is that so far there are no injuries or deaths reported.

A shelter for both humans and pets has been set up in Mesa, just a few miles from me. I plan to take some donations to the shelter for the animals as they are asking for cages, kennels, etc.

Thank you to @bennybear and to @sailingdutchyfor the photos of the port of the day.

Welcome to our happy family style posts @grapau27and thank you for your photos.

Prays for all who need them.

Jane

[grapau27]

10 minutes ago, superoma said:

You may do it any way you wish. We are easy. I guess my idea of British weather comes from watching too many episodes of escape to the country where it mostly seems to be raining when they film!

We do get a lot of rain but we have had no rain for about 10 days so I got the water hosepipe out and we watered our back lawn and our front lawn pictured.

[Vict0riann]

12 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Thank you VictOriann.

I hope you are keeping well.

My TA sent me some great HAL deals for 2023 on the new ship Rotterdam that looks lovely and has got us very interested.

Everyone on here has been lovely on my first visit to the HAL threads.

Graham.

 

Graham, I have a feeling that a lot of advertising for the earliest cruises this summer in Europe will be directed at Europeans - and the Britons!  We had been booked on the inaugural cruise of the new Rotterdam, which is to start on August 1, but we decided that Canada would not be open in time for us to get to England in July.  We were also booked on QE2 in July, and Cunard cancelled that crossing.   We just got our refund back last week on that one.   We transferred everything we had on the Rotterdam to an October cruise in the Med and TA back to Fort Lauderdale.

[bobpatj]

Thank you so much for the Daily,  Rich, and to all of you who posted pictures, WOW!

[USN59-79]

Thanks to @sailingdutchy and @bennybear for the Shimizu pictures.  I was showing them to my DW and she asked me if something was wrong with my eye as I was using a tissue.  They show the reason we always enjoy sailing to Japan.  We will stop there next year on 12 March and 10 April on the Noordam.

[grapau27]

18 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

Graham, I have a feeling that a lot of advertising for the earliest cruises this summer in Europe will be directed at Europeans - and the Britons!  We had been booked on the inaugural cruise of the new Rotterdam, which is to start on August 1, but we decided that Canada would not be open in time for us to get to England in July.  We were also booked on QE2 in July, and Cunard cancelled that crossing.   We just got our refund back last week on that one.   We transferred everything we had on the Rotterdam to an October cruise in the Med and TA back to Fort Lauderdale.

Hopefully October will be okay but keep an eye on UK and European quarantine rules.

A dear friend brought her 3 kids back from her husband's home in Oman a couple of weeks ago and had to Quarantine in a UK airport hotel for 10 nights at a cost of over £2500 about $3300.

She said they were kept in the hotel room all the time with guards in the corridor and the food was awful so she had to get food delivered.

Graham.

 

[St Pete Cruiser]

1 hour ago, bennybear said:

Good morning and thanks all!  That dinner looks great @dfish

 

Well Shimizu was our first port in Japan in 2019,  amazing views of Fuji San!  We enjoyed visiting the nearby temple,  took a cablecar up,  other than my knees!  A lovely tea growing area as well. 

As we were on your cruise, I can a test to the beauty of these pics!  Captain Mark Rowden said it was the best view of Mt Fuji he had seen as well.

[Sharon in AZ]

And now for a Negroni on Mt Lemmon at the cabin:

 

It is turning out to be a lovely afternoon here, the wind has calmed down to a slight breeze and it is 73 right now. 

[St Pete Cruiser]

A couple of my pics , one showing the bow of the Westerdam.  The other as we were sailing away. Perfect day for it. 

[smitty34877]

@grapau27,welcome to the Daily. @mamaofami,It certainly  sounds as if Sam is already making great progress.

We are having a banging thunderstorm and have briefly lost power twice. @ger_77,I hope your power is back soon.

[ATC]

Canada US border may be loosening soon. Cruises to follow???

Canada eyeing June 22 to begin loosening restrictions at U.S. border (msn.com)

[Vict0riann]

23 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Hopefully October will be okay but keep an eye on UK and European quarantine rules.

A dear friend brought her 3 kids back from her husband's home in Oman a couple of weeks ago and had to Quarantine in a UK airport hotel for 10 nights at a cost of over £2500 about $3300.

She said they were kept in the hotel room all the time with guards in the corridor and the food was awful so she had to get food delivered.

Graham.

 

 

People have to quarantine in a hotel here, too, coming from other countries.  I'm hoping the rules will be relaxed as more people are vaccinated.  Maybe we could have something like an International Driver's License for Covid vaccinations!  So far, we had our vaccine lot nos. put in our yellow WHO vaccination booklets, but I don't know if that would ever be accepted everywhere.

 

 

[ger_77]

We have power once more!  It was a little nerve wracking though, watching the crane lift the old transformer from the neighbour's yard over our house to the front street, and then positioning the new one in the same direction over our house again.  I stood in the back yard with my fingers crossed, hoping all the straps held!

 

@mamaofami great news about your DH; what a relief it must be for you to have been able to see him via video call.

 

@superoma and @Happily@Sea congrats on getting your 2nd jabs . . . another step closer to cruising!

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

Gerry

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, lazey1 said:

I will pass on today's meal and on Roy's alternative along with jumping out of a moving airplane. I am scared enough of flying already, only do it when I need to get somewhere quickly.

Out temperature has been in the low 100's for the most part, windy and almost no humidity. There are 2 major fires to the east of the Phoenix area with no containment in sight. The home of the Az. Speaker of the House has been totally destroyed. The good news is that so far there are no injuries or deaths reported.

A shelter for both humans and pets has been set up in Mesa, just a few miles from me. I plan to take some donations to the shelter for the animals as they are asking for cages, kennels, etc.

Thank you to @bennybear and to @sailingdutchyfor the photos of the port of the day.

Welcome to our happy family style posts @grapau27and thank you for your photos.

Prays for all who need them.

Jane

Thank you Jane for your kind words.

That is an amazing thing you are doing taking donations to the animal shelters to help the animals.

Graham.

[grapau27]

34 minutes ago, smitty34877 said:

@grapau27,welcome to the Daily. @mamaofami,It certainly  sounds as if Sam is already making great progress.

We are having a banging thunderstorm and have briefly lost power twice. @ger_77,I hope your power is back soon.

Thank you smitty34877 for your welcome.

I hope your thunderstorm passes quickly.

Graham.

[wandb]

Finally I’ve had a chance to sit down and read through today’s “Daily”.  WOW!

I have laughed 😀, cried😢, prayed 🙏, and been amazed all in the last few minutes!!  I don’t post often, but I do try to keep up. 

 

Thank you all for the beautiful pictures, especially of the children and those of Mt Fuji. Maybe one day I’ll get to see it!

 

Exactly 16 years ago we were getting home from our very first cruise ever—-a week on land followed by sea cruise on the Ryndam. I fell in love with cruising the first day. Loved that ship and her captain!!  The people on the HAL boards were invaluable!!

 

Please add my sister to the prayer list, as she has been diagnosed with cancer and is now undergoing some pretty powerful chemo. Thanks!

 

Graham, welcome to the HAL boards. You will love this site and cruising with HAL!

 

Barb

[grapau27]

26 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

 

People have to quarantine in a hotel here, too, coming from other countries.  I'm hoping the rules will be relaxed as more people are vaccinated.  Maybe we could have something like an International Driver's License for Covid vaccinations!  So far, we had our vaccine lot nos. put in our yellow WHO vaccination booklets, but I don't know if that would ever be accepted everywhere.

 

 

We have our NHS app with our vaccines records digitally stored.

To access the app we need our NHS numbers and have to take photos of our passport or driving license photo pages on our phone onto the app.

We then have a scan of our faces or record a short video saying 4 numbers the app asks for.

Our apps were authorised in about 30 minutes but it can take several days.

European countries are talking about vaccine passports not just the paper credit card sized cards we get from the vaccination centres plus covid19 tests at airports.

Please be absolutely certain you are absolutely allowed to travel and not have to quarantine before coming to Europe and especially the UK.

Graham.

 

[grapau27]

13 minutes ago, wandb said:

Finally I’ve had a chance to sit down and read through today’s “Daily”.  WOW!

I have laughed 😀, cried😢, prayed 🙏, and been amazed all in the last few minutes!!  I don’t post often, but I do try to keep up. 

 

Thank you all for the beautiful pictures, especially of the children and those of Mt Fuji. Maybe one day I’ll get to see it!

 

Exactly 16 years ago we were getting home from our very first cruise ever—-a week on land followed by sea cruise on the Ryndam. I fell in love with cruising the first day. Loved that ship and her captain!!  The people on the HAL boards were invaluable!!

 

Please add my sister to the prayer list, as she has been diagnosed with cancer and is now undergoing some pretty powerful chemo. Thanks!

 

Graham, welcome to the HAL boards. You will love this site and cruising with HAL!

 

Barb

Thank you Barb I have been overwhelmed by everyone's friendly welcome.

We are sending your sister our prayers and we are  really sorry to hear of her cancer diagnosis.

Hopefully the powerful chemo will work and rid her of her cancer.

Take care.

Graham.

[wandb]

29 minutes ago, wandb said:

 

 

Exactly 16 years ago we were getting home from our very first cruise ever—-a week on land followed by sea cruise on the Ryndam. I fell in love with cruising the first day. Loved that ship and her captain!!  The people on the HAL boards were invaluable!!

 

 

Barb

 

I forgot to say that it was an unforgettable trip to ALASKA!   (I want to go back!)

[rafinmd]

44 minutes ago, wandb said:

Please add my sister to the prayer list, as she has been diagnosed with cancer and is now undergoing some pretty powerful chemo. Thanks!

I wish it wasn't necessary but will do so.  Prayers coming your way.

 

Roy

[kazu]

50 minutes ago, wandb said:

Please add my sister to the prayer list, as she has been diagnosed with cancer and is now undergoing some pretty powerful chemo. Thanks!

 

I am so sorry to hear this 😢 Prayer winging her and your way. 🙏🏻 

[1ANGELCAT]

Good afternoon all. It’s another hot and humid day but thunderstorms have been happening and more to come.

   @grapau27welcome to our HAL daily. We’re just as friendly as your Royal daily . 
I always love your pictures of the seaside picnics.

        Don’t forget our sail away at 6:30 eastern time , since it’s still early maybe we’ll have toots.🤞

         Blessings and prayers to all on our lists.

 

[grapau27]

8 minutes ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

Good afternoon all. It’s another hot and humid day but thunderstorms have been happening and more to come.

   @grapau27welcome to our HAL daily. We’re just as friendly as your Royal daily . 
I always love your pictures of the seaside picnics.

        Don’t forget our sail away at 6:30 eastern time , since it’s still early maybe we’ll have toots.🤞

         Blessings and prayers to all on our lists.

 

Thank you 1ANGELCAT that is very nice of you to say.

We are fortunate to live within 5 miles of our nearest beach and have several lovely beaches within 15 miles of our home.

[aliaschief]

Well, we all are in this together so not whining but what I really miss here on Cruise Critic is reading Cruise reviews and following live reviews.

This post and reminiscing of previous cruises along with pictures  help’s fill some of the voids caused by the Pandemic.

Thanks to Rich and all who contribute.

[kochleffel]

This morning I was thinking about my August non-cruise to Alaska. Part of it is by ship, on two ships of the Alaska Marine Highway System, and part by air. There are two short hops on Alaska Airlines, where I don't qualify for a free checked bag -- I do on the airline that I'll take for the longer flights, to and from Seattle -- so I plan to use only carry-on baggage. I'm thinking that I need to do trial packing in plenty of time to reconsider either that or my packing list, but a few years ago I did a two-week trip to central Europe with only carry-on baggage, and less of it than I will take this time. For that I did have to carry a blazer over my arm for the TATL flights, but I won't need one for this trip.

 

I also ordered some camera accessories, including a flotation wrist strap for my small waterproof camera, and a lanyard for what will be my main camera. That will be a compact superzoom camera, a bit larger than a pocket camera but smaller than a DSLR even without additional lenses.