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charmedones 21-Sep-20, 11:46	Travel I found Lord_shiva comments about Petra interesting and I love travel, which we may not do for a while. In fact, just about to cancel our Cancun trip for November but was hanging on hoping things would get better. But, they are not. I will post more here later but would like "changing teams" thread to be used for changing teams and opinions about that and steps to try and eliminate the happenings. Looking there and seeing unrelated items waste time looking for solutions on that topic.
baddeeds 25-Sep-20, 16:57	I also enjoy traveling as well. However, we haven't gone far, out of the country in a long time. The last time was over 1.5 years ago. It had to do with Covid-19. But, it's fun just to get away from it all and travel in the process. So, it's something that I like doing.
charmedones 26-Sep-20, 10:52	We cruise a lot Out of interest, has anyone cruised with norwegian Cruise Lines,Celebrity or Holland America? We have cruised with Carnival and mostly with royal Caribbean. With royal we are diamond members and have cruised many times on the biggest ships in the world. We have also done 3 transatlantic cruises and one transpacific. I think I told too many people about the transatlantics as the prices have more than doubled from then to now. Miami to Barcelona cost us $550 US plus taxes/pp for 12 night cruise. Most people can't take that much time off but the key is the one-way flight back. We had to stay 5 days (darn) to get an exceptional charter flight back home so we stayed in Barcelona for 2 days and then went to Madrid for 3 days. Flight prices are so dependant on your flexibility it can turn an inexpensive vacation into a very expensive one. Details upon request. Cheers
5imon 26-Sep-20, 11:52	We've been on the Norwegian Pearl, Seattle to Alaska. Also on the MV Discovery from Ushuaia to Antarctica. Both were great trips.
marveagle 27-Sep-20, 11:17	Also a cruiser, mostly with Celebrity and Royal. We are Diamond plus on Royal and Elite plus on Celebrity. Have sailed all over Europe, the Caribbean, Alaska, Canada and more. Be happy to answer any questions about these lines. Did a lot of our sailing when the prices were much cheaper and mainly 14 day cruises after retirement. Often did back-to-back with 7 days both on same ship and between 2 ships. Favorite cruise is touring the British Isles round trip from Southampton, UK. Also like Venice to Rome or Venice to Venice via the Aegean Sea with stops that alternate between Italy and Croatia, etc.
shirlmygirl 27-Sep-20, 12:46	gla I've only been on a cruise once. I got so seasick, I vowed never to go on another. The one cruise was to Alaska in June. It rained nearly all the time. It stopped and was nice weather when we got all the way back to Victoria, British Columbia. The greatest disappointment was when we got to Alaska and it was so dark and dreary. Instead of the mountains that I could see being white and majestic, they were dark. It seems I was looking mainly at a glacier which was scraping rock off the mountain as the ice traveled down. The food was wonderful on the ship, though, but my husband and I never did go to the midnight feast.
shirlmygirl 27-Sep-20, 12:48	PS. I think the gla heading up my post got there by accident. I don't know what it means unless I was trying to type glacier and it got out of place.
marveagle 27-Sep-20, 13:52	Unfortunately, all of the midnight feasts are a thing or the past due mostly to the huge wastage as very few people attended them. They were eliminated on the lines I travel with chocolate night being the last. Also, the formal nights are now optional on most lines.
shirlmygirl 27-Sep-20, 14:33	We couldn't imagine why anyone would want to eat a lot of food at midnight.   We certainly didn't but we did enjoy the food onboard. I do remember that it rained "cats and dogs" as my Mother used to say, meaning heavy, but we were interested in a Russian church in Ketchican, if I remember correctly. It seems from spellcheck that I got the name of the city or town incorrect.
charmedones 27-Sep-20, 20:45	Enjoy the Royal Ships We enjoy the entertainment and I participate in almost all the sports activities I can and since marveagle has cruised much more than we have he will know what I mean when I say we earned so many ship shape dollars on each transatlantic cruise that we bought T-shirts, caps, lanyards, mugs and as many Royal Caribbean logo items. You got $1 for participation and 5 for winning an activity so we did every dance lesson, my wife went to yoga, track walk, basketball, mixed couples events they called the Olympics, shuffleboard, bean bag toss, mini-golf etc. & days of different dances and at the end of the week we didn't remember one of them by name as, without repetition, you get them mixed up, but it was fun. On our last transatlantic in 2010 they stopped all ship shape dollars and I still have some not redeemed. You also get a miniature plastic cruise shape for winning the major competitions. We have only done one back-to-back and it was from Ft. Lauderdale to Rome for 14 days. Then the next 12 days we did Rome to Athens, Rhodes (Greece), Euphesus (Turkey), and Alexandria (Egypt) and Sicily. Met many Egyptians begging for money as the government kept the grants other countries sent them. That was in April 2010. I thought they had nothing to look forward to and could not see myself sitting around doing nothing. Later that summer, the revolution started and Royal cancelled all cruises to Egypt. I would have been right there with them knowing what we saw. It was terrible. The people were great and thankful when we just gave them a US dollar. As Canadians, we know nothing that they went through. It was a spectacular trip seeing where Mother Mary last lived outside Euphesus, 4 of the ancient wonders of the World, including the Pyramids. I rode a camel around briefy. They try to charge you a minimal amount to get on the camel and try to charge you a lot more to get off, but I wasn't buying that and paid them nothing to get off. It was a trip to remember.
lord_shiva 27-Sep-20, 22:17	Celebration Cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Bahamas I've done that twice. Snorkeling the Bahamas is incredible. The first time I brought my telescope, thinking the sea sky would be dark. It was not bad, but what was most marvelous was the swells. I had not felt them at all until I put Saturn in the eye piece. It gently rose and fell, and from then on I could feel the sea heave beneath the ship. I loved it! And the flying fish. I spent almost all my time on the deck.
shirlmygirl 28-Sep-20, 07:28	I feel that charmedones has experienced many things that I have not. So much physical activity and exercise. I had Polio at the age of two so I have not been able to participate in much of what he has. However, I think I might one day be able to fly around the Universe, after Jesus comes back and during New Life everlasting. Ellen G. White, who called herself a messenger of God, but is referred to by many people as a prophet, saw in vision Enoch on another planet. The Bible says in Genesis, chapter 5, vs. 21-24 that Enoch walked with God and that "God took him". He didn't experience death. He was a very faithful man. You will probably read this with unbelief, but that's OK. I don't mind. I rarely preach to people but this might be a good opportunity to say something along those lines. Believe it or not. It is your choice. But don't jeer at it. God might not like that.
charmedones 12-Dec-20, 12:13	Covid has been a factor For most of us seniors, covid has chopped off at least one year of travel. And with a limited number of years left, that is a high enough percentage. marveagle has done some cruises we wish to pursue. The Venice return cruise visits places we have not been. Although I am Canadian with a Croatian heritage, I have never been there. Everyone we talk too says it is beautiful and are shocked that it wasn't already checked off. Reasons keep getting in the way and maybe in 2022 or 2023 it will be done. If anyone wants an excellent cruise, September 2019 we voyaged from Vancouver to Hawaii, visiting the four main Hawaiian islands, ending in Oahu. Then there is much to do and one target was Jurrasic Park which is filmed at Kualoa Ranch. Will try to post some pictures on here but not sure if it is possible. Otherwise can try a shot on my profile. If anyone has any thoughts or questions, I can try and help.
lord_shiva 03-Jan-21, 15:57	Israel / Jordan The following was from private discourse with Urbana Scott (formerly of Scaggsville). I've only done two cruises, both times to the Bahamas with my dad. We enjoyed those trips very much, but the cruise itself was a big part of the entertainment. I agree--I would not take an ocean cruise. Alaska, maybe, and we looked at a gulf cruise just because the rates were so cheap. Did not go due to surgery my wife needs first. Israel was pretty cool--absolutely add Jordan if you can. Amman is a wonderful city, and we hired a cab to take us (my cousin and I) to Petra. Spent a day there. First we flew to Tel Aviv, which is where we bought the visas for Jordan. They were $80. It took a day, so we spent a day wandering around Tel Aviv while they worked on that. Plan on spending a couple of days there. Then take the bus (NOT the train) to Jerusalem. In Tel Aviv we just walked from our hotel room to the Jordanian embassy. Actually--you will almost certainly still do that--I doubt Jordan moved its embassy to follow suite of the stupid Americans. So that will probably be fine. I would spend two or three days in Jerusalem. You cannot tour the mosque on a Friday. I think it is only open one day a week for tourists. Nope--Monday through Thursday. So be in Jerusalem at least one of those days. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays kind of suck as a third of the population will be closed for business. Absolute must is swimming in the Dead Sea. There is an Israeli side, which I recommend. You have to pay a fee or armed guards will escort you from the premises. Don't take photos at the border crossings.
charmedones 11-Jul-21, 06:28	Anyone seeing travel anytime soon? With the constant shots happening, for those that want it, there is great anticipation for travel to reopen. Out of curiosity, are many planning travel adventures or get-a-ways in the near future. Because of built up demand, pricing might be crazy and yet supply presently is abundant in all areas. Any thoughts?

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