CRUISING, Part 2: HONOLULU TO EUROPE AND BACK

To catch a Christmas European River cruise in 2024, I made two itineraries involving cruises, sailing east from Honolulu to Europe and west from Europe back to Honolulu.

Unfortunately, couldn't find a cruise to the West Coast from Honolulu. Something to do with the Jones Act. Possible to sail to Vancouver, but no options coming or going during these two itineraries for the Fall and Winter of 2024. Also, no cruises from the West Coast of North America to Honolulu during this period. Well, there is one loophole that comes at the end of this posting.

So we start with a flight from Honolulu, and the only cruise heading south, then east, was on the Holland America, from Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale on the Nieuw Amsterdam. Thus, beginning in September of 2024.

Fly from Honolulu to Vancouver on September 26. Stay a couple of days at the Marriott Pinnacle Downtown.
Board the Nieuw Amsterdam on September 29 for a 21-day cruise.
Verandah cabins start at $5509/person with beverage package and WiFi.
Stops in San Francisco, San Diego, various Latin American ports, through the Panama Canal and eventually to Fort Lauderdale on October 20.
Spend two nights at JW Marriott Marquis in Miami.
Fly to Memphis on October 23.

Board the America Cruise Lines American Symphony on October 25 for a 9-day cruise.
Arrive New Orleans on November 2.
Spend three nights at the Saint Hotel in New Orleans.
Fly to Miami on November 6 and stay at the JW Marriott Marquis.

Board the MSC Magnifica on November 8 for a 23-day cruise to Genoa, Italy.
Spend a few days sailing in the Caribbean, then to Madeira, Lisbon, etc., Barcelona, Civiravecchia (Rome), arriving in Genoa on December 1.
There is a large number of Christmas river cruises, but the following is one example.
Fly to Amsterdam on December 1 and stay at the Amsterdam Marriott hotel.
Board the Viking Tir on a 15-day river cruise to Budapest. A veranda room is available for $7,200/person.
Arrive Budapest on December 19.
Fly from Budapest to Hamburg on December 19. Stay at Hamburg Marriott Hotel.

There aren't too many westward bound transatlantic cruises. The following seems possible on Cunard's Queen Anne, which just began sailing in May of this year.

Has 15 restaurants for 3000 passengers.
Board the Cunard Queen Anne on in Hamburg on December 20, 2024 for an 18-day to the Canary Islands, and back to Hamburg on January 7, 2025. Balcony $8195 ($455/day)/person.

Queen Anne will begin its Maiden World Voyage, taking 111-nights from Hamburg on January 7, 2025. balcony room costs $28,169 ($254/day)/person.

Continue on the Cunard Queen Anne from January 7, 2025 in Hamburg for a 26-day cruise to San Francisco, arriving on February 4, 2025. Current balcony room for $6000 ($231/day)/person.
That above leg seems bookable today.
However, the ship then sails to Honolulu, arriving on February 9, 2025. Perhaps this will be allowed. Got to look into it.

If not, then stay at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront and fly from San Francisco to Honolulu on February 7, 2025. Then again, why not take that World Voyage, which ends in Hamburg on April 29, 2025? But then, we'll need to fly back to Honolulu from Hamburg. So many options. Cost for them? Today, the above remains a fantasy. Why spoil those dreams today?

Tomorrow, details on our global journey in the coming spring. A lot of flying, plus three cruises. This one is real. Cost? Return for details.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

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