Crusan with Susan: HAL

It's been over 2 years since our last cruise. During that cruise, we paid the $100/person for the FC Deposit. Of course we had no idea of what was to come in the next year. Ken's diabetes caused his ankle to collapse. For the next 1 1/2 years he was in and out of hospitals and Dr.s' offices. Ultimately it appears they were able to fuse his ankle and save his foot, but he's still a long way from moving well. But we hope that a cruise will be a good way to finally get a little rest and relaxation.

So I booked us an inside handicapped accessible room for $750/person with gratuities included. At that point, we weren't sure if he'd still be in his wheel chair full time or in a boot when the cruise date came. Turns out, both. So when prices for a verandah cabin dropped to $799/person shortly after final payment, I called to grab one of them. But they said we'd loose our gratuities, unless we wanted to upsell to a signature suite for $999/person---then, somehow, we would be able to keep the paid gratuities. Sounded a bit fishie, but I liked the idea of a suite, so I took it. Only thing that was a bit annoying was they wouldn't increase the OBC for booking a suite with our FCC. They said it stays at the level of your original booking. At least it was only a loss of $50 OBC. And we still had the OBC for owning CCL stock.

Then came the months of waiting to see what cabin we'd be assigned---and hopes for an offer to upsell to a Neptune Suite. Almost a month before our cruise, we got an offer. At $399/person, it really wasn't a bad deal, but I noticed there were a lot of cabins available so I declined it and hoped for better offer. 2 weeks after the upsell offer, we got an offer to buy into their new Club Orange. Still not interested. The benefits of priority boarding, special area in the restaurant for breakfast, tote bag, upgrade within booking category, designated concierge, and whatever didn't seem worth an extra $500. But they did say they'd put me on a waitlist for a Neptune Suite offer (whatever that means!).

As it turned out, we did get a waitlist call on Dec. 2nd (8 days before our sail date) offering us an upsell to a Neptune suite. But they still wanted the $399/person for it. I mentioned I hoped it would have gone down from the previous offer to which she said she could give it to us for $299/person. So, Merry Christmas to us, I took it! Maybe a bit much for the benefits, but I'm ready to be spoiled for a while. I do look forward to the breakfasts in the Pinnacle Restaurant, easy access to the Neptune Lounge, and the larger table on our verandah---as well as a much larger cabin. It'll only be our 2nd time in a suite. Only had a choice of 2 suites to choose from. We ended up going with SA 7082. Turned out to be a great cabin. As I'm sure all the Neptune Suites are.

The itinerary is one I love for the snorkeling opportunities.    Turned out Ken didn't leave the ship in ports, but I did.

My links to each day:

Dec. 8, 2019 drive day---Atlanta - S. Florida

Dec. 9, 2019 Wakodahatchee Wetlands

Dec. 10, 2019 Embarkation Day:

Neptune Suite 7082:

We had never been on the Zuiderdam before, so I'm including a bunch of random pictures from around the Zuiderdam:

Around the Zuiderdam:

Dec. 11 & 12 Sea Days:

Dec. 13, 2019 Bonaire (and a great Friday the 13th)

Dec. 14, 2019 Curacao

Dec. 15, 2019 Aruba:

Dec. 16, 2019 Sea day:

Dec. 17, 2019 Amber Cove, DR:

Dec. 18, 2019 Sea Day:

Dec. 19, 2019 Half Moon Cay:

Dec. 20, 2019 Debarkation:

I dreaded the drive from NW Atlanta (which I did all of since Ken's driving ankle is in a boot), but the overall experience made it well worth it. I had a great time. I think Ken did, too. Since this was the first real vacation he's had since his ankle collapsed 1.5 years ago, I'm sure he needed this trip, too.

(As it turned out, this was the last cruise Ken and I will ever take together! Just 6 weeks after debarkation, Ken was diagnosed with Glioblastoma, a terminal brain cancer. Being spoiled on this last vacation for the 2 of us means even more to me now!)

Thursday, December 19, 2019

2019-12-19 Half Moon Cay:

I was worried that our day at Half Moon Cay would be cancelled from the way the captain talked yesterday. But I was happy to see some blue skies when I got up.

Pretty nice sunrise.

Now to see if we're able to anchor and tender in.

We had company at Half Moon Cay today---the Veendam (HAL's small ship now, like the Maasdam). I never realized how small the Maasdam was until I saw the Veendam from the Zuiderdam (a mid-large size ship).

and we were greeted by another rainbow, too!

Wonder where that guy is coming from.

I've read the snorkeling over by these rocks is good, but I hesitate to go there by myself.

some of the beach leading to the above rocky coast.

AFter a quick breakfast, I was off to the tender. Wanted to get to the island before the predicted bad weather got there.

Looked pretty good at this point!

The new childrens playground is pretty impressive! Nice job, HAL!

Looking right.

Looking out towards the ship

Looking left to the new playground area.

Heading in!

ultimately heading to the left along the wall by the big pavilion.

The water was beautiful! Mostly calm and probably about 83.

some of the artificial reefs looked like they were more submerged now.

but they still attracted fish

snapper

?? don't know what these guys are, but there have always been quite a few of them here.

snapper hiding in the rocks

one of the barracudas here---there's always a lot of barracudas here, too.

looking towards the kids playground.

looking farther up the beach.

towards the expensive pavilion.

a juvenile wrasse

sargeant major---pretty common in the Caribbean and Hawaii.

school of tiny fish

juvenile puddingwife wrasse

the rocky area by the playground.

snappers and a soldier fish

surgeonfish

a shell

variety of fish

blue head wrasse

female blue head wrasse

more barracudas

black jack

school of medium sized fish

our ship with a tender coming in.

looking towards the bar area.

just another picture of the Zuiderdam.

the large school of fish again

the school of fish swimming away from the jacks.

I don't think the 2 boys here moved from their chairs. They were on their phones or tablets playing who knows what.

the beach was filling up.

I decided to head to the shopping area on my way to the picnic lunch.

also came across the volleyball courts with people actually attempting to play. I stayed and played for a short while, but they kept calling more people over so when there were more then 6 people per side, I decided it was getting crowded.

on to lunch.

Lunch!

again, the desserts look a lot better then they really are.

a map of the island.

walking along the road

for having been through a a lot of weather, it looked pretty good.

love my bougainvillea

heading to the beach.

walking back to my area along the beach---as it started to rain.

Apparently tide was coming in. A lot of the front loungers were in the water. I did what Ken likes to do and set up a few rows back.

Looking back at some of the rentals.

the place cleared out quickly when the rains started.

I was going to leave then, too, but the line was out of the covered area, so I figured I might as well be in the water.

Hung out there for about a half hour, then decided to head out again.

lines weren't any better.

was quite the fun getting to the tender.

First time I noticed Half Moon Cay classified as Eleuthera, Bahamas.

After waiting in line about 1 1/2 hours, I finally got on the tender. Then waited another 30 minutes for the tender to fill. Finally got back to the boat. The long wait was still worth being able to spend a wonderful morning there.

BAck on the ship, loving the Christmas decorations.

Loved this little tin foil critter in Lido.

I decided the soup last night was so good I'd try it again. Tonight it was chicken corn soup. Sounded weird, looked weird again, but tasted really good.

Last night with our favorite waiter--Edo. We usually find someone who we feel deserves a special tip---this time Edo was the one.

Last show on the Mainstage. Tonight it was comedian Jeff Burghart again as well as the pianist comedian John Bressler.

both were very good.

They often announce no recording. Not sure that includes no flashless photography. But if there is no announcement, I like to take a photo to remind me of who the performer is.