The Odyssey, on-the-sea - Dec 18, 2021

[shark b8]

(I would just add that it’s not for the faint of heart - my age has only recently started with a 7, and Mrs Captain Sharkbait’s age now begins with an 8 - I only mention it because there’s a moderate amount of agility required. No, you don’t have to be 25 any more, but tripping over sailing equipment is pretty easy to do.  YMMV.)

[rkacruiser]

18 hours ago, shark b8 said:

my age has only recently started with a 7, and Mrs Captain Sharkbait’s age now begins with an 8 - I only mention it because there’s a moderate amount of agility required

 

We ain't as young as we used to be!  What I could safely do just a few years ago would be very foolish for me to try it today.

 

You mentioned the "interactive" type job you were assigned on the St. Maarten sailing yacht.  That reminds me of a similar experience that I had at the New Orleans National WW II Museum's exhibit:  The USS Tang Experience.  Each participant was given a card that represented a crew member with information about him and his job.  I was a torpedo man and had to push a button to release a torpedo when commanded to do so when the battle began.  USS Tang did not survive the battle and we sank.  That experience was vividly portrayed as well.  At the end of the experience, all of us learned whether we had "survived or had perished".  I was one of the few that survived.  It was an experience I will never forget!  

[labonnevie]

21 hours ago, shark b8 said:

Going back to yesterday……in Sint Maarten, we boarded the “Stars and Stripes 87”, the yacht which Dennis Conner steered to the America’s Cup victory in 1987, over the Aussie’s Kookaburra.  Everyone on board was given an assignment (mine was “to assure victory”, of course).  Anyway, we did race a Canadian 12-meter yacht, and as was foretold in the stars, we won. (“USA, USA, USA”)  It was thoroughly exhilarating, that first moment when we counted down the seconds to the moment the race actually began, then turned into an astonishingly humbling moment of appreciation of sea and wind power - we all had to hang onto ropes for dear life, as the sails filled with the wind and we found ourselves flying across the sea, at essentially a 45-degree angle to horizontal. Wowie kapowie, was THAT fun!

One of our all time favorite “shore” excursions! Would do it again in a minute.
I was a grinder and of course Stars and Stripes won! Thanks for the memories. 

 

 

[shark b8]

Just about the saddest possible photo aboard a Seabourn ship.  (Had our Covid tests, all negative, fly to Miami tomorrow, and then on to L.A. & then home).  It wasn’t the single most relaxing, enjoyable cruise we’ve ever done, what with the canceled ports and all the uncertainties & worries involved.  Let’s hope it all gets better from here……it’s about time!

 

 

[2SailingNomads]

Agree, hate having to put the cases out (but love it when we are staying on and walk down the hall and thinking - glad that is not us...) 

 

Glad you stayed safe and made the best of it.  Safe travels home.  Just returned from Maui a little over a week ago, and glad they have sensible masking rules as they did back in September and almost everyone obeyed them.   

[shark b8]

Yeah, I go into a funk when a trip comes to an end…..but then always look forward to reuniting with Butch & Sundance!   😎

 

 

[robertmartha]

Shark b8

 

Thank you for taking us along on your sailing...appreciate all your posts and keeping us informed.

Safe Travels back home.

And I agree with your last two posts - putting out and seeing the luggage in the hall is THE saddest moment of any cruise but arriving home to faces like those and planning for the next sailing help ease the transition to reality!

 

Bob

[shark b8]

Well, the “adventure” is apparently not quite over….we were to have an 8:30a departure time, with the usual “quick tour of the city plus airport drop off” shore excursion. It’s now approaching 10:00a, everyone is just sitting around in public spaces - gangway is not in place, some problem with the Barbados ”authorities“.  We happen to have a long time until our flight to Miami, but, well, this just seems par for the course. Probably will still be a while before these kinds of things settle back into a more normal groove.

Edited January 8, 2022 by shark b8

[shark b8]

After 10:30a.  tick, tock.

[mraven]

12 hours ago, shark b8 said:

Just about the saddest possible photo aboard a Seabourn ship.  (Had our Covid tests, all negative, fly to Miami tomorrow, and then on to L.A. & then home).  It wasn’t the single most relaxing, enjoyable cruise we’ve ever done, what with the canceled ports and all the uncertainties & worries involved.  Let’s hope it all gets better from here……it’s about time!

 

 

 

Are you trusting your luggage to Luggage Forward for the return?

[cruiseej]

1 hour ago, shark b8 said:

After 10:30a.  tick, tock.

 

Wow, that's unusual. Can you see on the dock side if luggage has been offloaded and if provisions are being loaded aboard? Or is nothing coming on or off the ship yet?

 

Wow, this sounds like a real mess is brewing. Some people will miss their flights. And people on the following cruise will be showing up within a few hours to board, but the ship needs to be emptied and cleaned before they can board. Uh oh. 

 

I hope Seabourn and the Barbados "authorities" get things settled soon and people can get on their way.

[SLSD]

2 hours ago, shark b8 said:

Well, the “adventure” is apparently not quite over….we were to have an 8:30a departure time, with the usual “quick tour of the city plus airport drop off” shore excursion. It’s now approaching 10:00a, everyone is just sitting around in public spaces - gangway is not in place, some problem with the Barbados ”authorities“.  We happen to have a long time until our flight to Miami, but, well, this just seems par for the course. Probably will still be a while before these kinds of things settle back into a more normal groove.

Oh no!  I hope this resolves soon and I hope other did not have earlier flights.  Thank you for all of your reports from this cruise.  Good information, photos, and text.  

[jenidallas]

16 hours ago, labonnevie said:

One of our all time favorite “shore” excursions! Would do it again in a minute.. 

 

Mine too… I don’t frequently do short excursions, but I’ve done this one twice and would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

If you don’t want an active job or have some limitations, they’ll assign you to man the drinks cooler or something else less demanding.  

[highplanesdrifters]

On 1/7/2022 at 10:30 PM, shark b8 said:

Yeah, I go into a funk when a trip comes to an end…..but then always look forward to reuniting with Butch & Sundance!   😎

 

 

Love the mirror poses. 

Edited January 9, 2022 by highplanesdrifters

[shark b8]

On 1/8/2022 at 7:39 AM, mraven said:

Are you trusting your luggage to Luggage Forward for the return?

yeah, I held my breath and figured that the problem at the beginning was a one-in-thousand, and maybe the odds against back to back problems would be enormous?  Also, I requested that they add the 3rd “emergency suitcase” in on the paid shipment, the one we hastily assembled on our day-before stay in Miami -to their credit, they agreed to it .  Anyway, we’ll see.

[shark b8]

So, as it turned out the disembarkation problem with the Barbados authorities seemed on the serious side.  Disembarkation began 3 hours late, all shore excursions were cancelled, everyone was told they had to go the airport immediately.  We all did….and then everyone was forced to wait at the airport curb on hard benches, for between 2 and 3 hours, before the truck with everyone’s luggage arrived. (We waited along with everyone else, in case our luggage didn’t “forward” and somehow ended up with everyone else’s.) All of this, as veteran Seabourners will attest, was very un-Seabournlike, although in fairness, from a distance it appeared that they were trying to do everything right, but were running up against a stone wall.  I’m coming away from this trip with the strong feeling that there’s a long way to go, before the travel world returns to some sense of normalcy.  Lots of issues, big and small.

Edited January 9, 2022 by shark b8

[shark b8]

So we’re now at an airport hotel in LA before tomorrows flight home….. watching football (so there’s a little “normalcy” right there, I guess). 😎🏈

Edited January 9, 2022 by shark b8

[shark b8]

9 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Love the mirror poses. 

I didn’t “pose” it either, I swear!  Turned around and there they were….

[SLSD]

49 minutes ago, shark b8 said:

All of this, as veteran Seabourners will attest, was very un-Seabournlike, although in fairness, from a distance it appeared that they were trying to do everything right, but were running up against a stone wall.  I’m coming away from this trip with the strong feeling that there’s a long way to go, before the travel world returns to some sense of normalcy.  Lots of issues, big and small.

I want to thank you for your very even handed description of your experiences.  You never complained, but just told us what was happening.  Your travelogue gives those of us who are still just armchair travelers at this point, a window on what is happening .  Some will think--it's not that bad, I want to book a cruise right away-- I'm tired of waiting.  Others will say, "I need to continue being patient until cruising doesn't resemble an obstacle course."  I hope you had a good flight home.  I look forward to your future reports.  

[shark b8]

16 hours ago, SLSD said:

I look forward to your future reports.  

thanks for the kind words….we’re scheduled to be on the Encore in April so would enjoy cranking this up again, especially if it remains of any value to folks who read it. Let’s just hope that things start to improve, seems like we’ve all been saying that for a very long time!

[Dunnedg]

Shark B8. Thanks for all the info. You say everyone was taken to the airport. Any idea what happened to those who were not flying home on Saturday? It no longer makes a difference to us as we have cancelled and are just spending more time in beautiful  Barbados. Had we not cancelled however our flight is not until the Monday so would be interesting to hear how we would have been dealt with.

[cruiseej]

@Dunnedg From a post elsewhere, I believe anyone who was staying on Barbados had to take an additional PCR test at the pier and wait for results to be cleared to enter the country. 

[tv24]

Shark b8:  You did a great job!  I read all your posts, enjoyed & learned from them.  Thanks for all you fun and detached point of view.  Kudos!

[shark b8]

Dunnedg, I haven't found out any additional details about how others fared last Saturday, so I can't really answer your question.  It's shame you couldn’t cruise, but as I say, there are plainly a fair amount of procedural things which are not performing at 100% (not to mention the ongoing Covid craziness) - I guess it's a long slog back.

 

Now, the clock is ticking on the return of our luggage.  They tell me it's still awaiting customs clearance in Barbados, and that I'll get a tracking link once that's done.  Nuthin's easy.  😱

[Covepointcruiser]

After reading your experience I know I will never do luggage forwarding.    We are allowed two checked bags each and will have no problem handling them.   I have also put air tags in our luggage so I have a secondary way of tracking them.   We also fly to the port city 48 hrs in advance which works for ting and if a bag gets delayed.   Sounds like the luggage handling was a nightmare!