Cruising as we knew it...

With the reopening of cruising on the horizon, what will change?  The CDC has procedures in place for resuming cruising departing the USA.  They are requiring 98% of the crew and 95% of the passengers be fully vaccinated.  However, the Governor of Florida does not agree with vaccine passports.  This should not be political.  Everywhere else in the world, requires proof of vaccination to board a cruise ship.  His political views are holding up the resuming of cruising out of the US!  

Cruising has been working well out of Singapore, Israel and Tahiti.  Galveston, Miami and Los Angeles all have ships waiting to board passengers.   Let's see if hey can resolve the issue of vaccination passports.

Princess Cruises is well ahead of the game.  A couple of years ago they introduced Medallion Class.  When Lexie and I sailed Canada New England it was on that ship.  They were still testing it and it worked so well!   It's a wearable device either on your wrist or on a lanyard around your neck.  It pairs with your cell phone.  Boarding is streamlined, no waiting to see an agent to get your cruise card.  The medallion replaces the old cruise card.  It's sent to you by Fedex or you can pick it up at the pier.  You scan the medallion and walk on!   It has a GPS so you can order a drink on your cell phone and they will bring it right to you, wherever you are on the ship.  When you approach your stateroom door, there is a display that welcomes you back and unlocks your door!  There is a messaging app for any other passengers you may want to connect to.   Want to know where someone is?   The GPS will give you their location!  With the pandemic, they have added "dine your way".  It is a reservation system like Open Table!  The days of first and second dining times are gone.  No need calling for a specialty or dining room reservation, just go on the app book the time and number of guests!  It's brilliant and now installed on every Princess ship.

I'm not in a rush to take a cruise.  I've got two booked, one in June and September 2022.  Both cruises are in balcony cabins.  I will never book another inside or ocean view cabin again!  They say cruising will not be virus free but they will do everything they can to ensure it's as safe as possible.  

A friend asked me to book a cruise out of Athens in August on NCL.  The ship is full and they aren't taking a wait list.  I checked Celebrity and Holland America that just announced sailings.  All the inside and ocean view cabins are already booked.  Prices are very high and I don't anticipate them dropping.  Are people wanting to cruise soon?   You better believe it!

Alberta!

When I worked at Pacific Western Airlines, Don was my boss.  Don and his family moved to Calgary with the rest of the executives in the late 70's.  I made many trips to visit Don and Margaret.  They have a daughter Jennifer who was Cheryl's age.  Business trip, take Cheryl, Margaret will babysit and the girls can entertain each other.  Don sadly passed away from cancer a few years ago but Margaret and I are still friends.  She still lives in Calgary but one of her sons is a lawyer in London.  She was born in Scotland and may be moving to the UK or maybe 50/50 Canada & UK.   I haven't spoken to her about this but we will do a catch up.   She posted this on Facebook yesterday.  

Well got my UK passport pictures done at AMA yesterday.  One step closer.  Sat in an area with a young man 25+, when the lady asked me what I was waiting for.  Knowing what was coming down later felt pressured to run my errands.  He commented on “how he felt terrible for christians not being able to worship? I asked where in his bible did it say you had to sit in a brick building with hundreds of others to worship? Can the christians follow other groups and just figure it out?  He then went to tell me about how his constitutional rights were being violated.  Well I lost my shit!!!  I asked him has your niece died of covid, should you be at a friends sons funeral today, had you paid for a trip of a lifetime and had it cancelled, do you have a child you haven’t seen for 18 months, do you own a business that is down 85%, have you had more acquaintances die from covid than you have visited, do you spend more time alone than in the company of friends, are you on the side of end of life knowing this is your reward time and you sit and watch it go by, do you volunteer and things for others to fill your time?? To all of which he said NO. I used my good words and said this might shock you, BUT NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS!  YOU HAVE HARDLY LIVED, THIS IS A BUMP IN THE ROAD OF LIFE. The lady offered me a different seating area! I stayed put. Son life is never going to be all about you!

Yesterday, BC with a population of 5,071 million had 572 new cases.  Alberta with a population of 4,371 million had 2,271 new cases.   I thank our Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry for getting her message across to the people of BC.  We have our anti maskers and while I've never encountered any, they anger me on the news.   Alberta has a huge amount of anti maskers and people who don't follow the public health guidelines.

Just in case you wonder where I got my information on Alberta:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-covid-coronavirus-1.6015480

Margaret was a psychiatric nurse and she really got her point across with this anti masker!  

 

Gardening humour

 

Census 2021

 

Yesterday in the mail we received our 2021 Census.  I was really happy as it was so thin, I thought it was the short form.  Wrong!!!  In the one page sealed together envelope along with the secure access code is a website to complete it online.  Darn, I was hoping I would get a person at the door like we did years ago.  Always nice to have company, it's been a while.

I signed onto my laptop and when I got to question 60, I realized we got the long form.  I had to go into my files to get electric and gas bills and then find last year's property taxes.  They asked about the languages spoken, first learned language and our parents ethnicity.   The question on what was your sex at birth was followed by what is your sex now was a surprise.  I had some great answers for the second question but they weren't in the selection.   

In 1960 when the census person went to the house of my friend Jo Bell when I was visiting, her mom was answering the questions.  Jo and I were listening as we thought it was interesting.  The fellow asked "where did your husband sleep on the night of ??   Her mom answered "he told me he was at the fire hall but I wasn't with him!"   He was a Vancouver fire fighter.  She said a few more things that I can't remember verbatim but it was really funny.  She was a very funny lady!

Cheryl told me she got the short form.  If you get the short form, you are lucky.  I have lots of time to do this so I really didn't mind.   

Good advice

Laugh when you can, 

apologize when you should

and let go of things you can't change.

Kiss slowly, forgive quickly, play hard, take chances, 

give everything, and have no regrets.

Life is too short to be anything but happy.

Happy 83rd Birthday Richard

Happy 83rd Birthday Richard!   Richard is my brother-in-law.  I am fortunate he is also a neighbour.  I invited his two grandsons Jack (behind the 3) and Sam (hiding in the 8) for a social distance outside dinner!  Luckily the weather co-operated and the sun came out.  

When a family member has a birthday, the birthday person chooses the menu.  Richard wanted chili.  Sam doesn't like chili so I also had hot dogs.  Chili, hot dogs or chili dogs were a big hit!  I bought a tuxedo cake as it's the kids favorite.  Richard likes it too!   

So nice to have family for dinner!   It would have been nice to invite others, but next year we can celebrate with the entire family!

I enjoy Herman