tupper10

I suggest good quality hiking pants that quick dry for both you and your wife. Jeans are the worst thing to wear if they get wet. There are many different brands, of pants, and the ones I have I wear at night on casual nights- they are black or brown and with a nice top - look fine. My husband does the same with his. One of mine converts to shorts and another to crop pants (for your wife). It makes it much easier to pack to have these all in one type clothes. Also a trick for cold weather areas is to pack some silk long underwear. I take a small back pack on my excursions, with my water bottle etc. and start the day if it is cold with my silks underneath and if it gets warm I just head to the bathroom and remove, stuff in my backpack and I don't have anything bulky to deal with if the weather gets warm during the day. The silks also help with the wind. Another thing is to bring a winter hat - again they take up little room but make a huge difference.

Try contacting corporate - elliott advocacy lists the email contacts.

We brought fleece hats with a visor and a must is long underwear, silks are best. Also you must have sun glasses and some people wore good ski googles since the sun reflecting on the ice is very bright. My husband bought the gloves you wear to take pictures that you can pull down a part of them to hold the camera. For our excursions - We wore silk as a base for our gloves and them mittens/gloves as the warm layer. I wore my long underwear and my old ski bibs for pants, then long underwear, a turtle neck, a fleece and neck warmer (not a scarf it gets in the way), the jacket I was given and my visor hat with sun glasses with a strap so if they fell it was just to my chest. For socks get a pair of silk socks and then fleece or wool - you want things that dry quickly. It is not the cold that is the issue it is the wind. Our ship provided us with hiking sticks but if Viking doesn't I would recommend you bring a pair - they are a great help on the hikes you do when you land. On the ship the dress was casual - essentially no one dressed up at all and just pants and a sweater were fine. We all brought our jackets, hats, gloves etc to meals since the captain would tell us to run outside to see - you name it so we had to be prepared. It was the most fabulous cruise we have ever taken and that is despite the fact that I spent some 'quality time' in our room crossing the Drake, especially on the way back. So glad you decided to do this cruise - it will be the trip of a lifetime and I hope you have spectacular weather - we had such good weather we went the furthest south of any ship that season and none of the crew had ever crossed the Antarctic circle until we did.

Trick I learned camping and hiking pretend it is that time of the month and wear a pad -helps when you use a potty bush. 🙂

You will love it - we did the expedition with Silverseas and still have our jackets. We did not need to buy boots as they were also provided. Almost all of the expedition cruises provide jackets that are red in color and you must wear them when you do the zodiac landings. I assumed this is so the crew knows where everyone is who goes ashore.

Having just recently sold a car I didn't need, I suggest you contact ALGO, (algonation.com) Carvana, give your vin, etc. The rates you get to buy your car are well more than what the dealerships give you and they pick the car up from you with no hassle at all. We used ALGO and received almost 7,000.00 more than the dealer offered. Happy Birthday to Pauline. And Happy belated birthday to others who just celebrated. I hope everyone stays safe in the newest storm to hit and keeps their power. @RMLincolnSorry to hear about Covid - I hope it is a quick case with no lasting effects and that you schedule your husbands surgery soon. Debbie: Glad the doctors finally agreed to do the surgery you have been wanting. We did Antarctica on a small expedition ship so no ideas on which way to go though I can say that the Drake can either be a lake (what we had on the way to Antarctica) or a nightmare (what we had coming back). I would make sure you take some motion sickness medications that work for you and take them before you hit the Drake passage.

I have food allergies as well and since you get the menu the night before if there is nothing on it that you like or can eat the chef will prepare you a special meal.

Call the agency listed here on CC and they will help you get the best insurance at a reasonable price.

Sorry to hear about more people passing and funerals today. Cruising Along - it sounds like things went well with your doctor. I hope your kidney issues resolve. Sandy you are doing quite the task, as is Debbie, Vanessa and the others who post the drink and wines. It is quite a task and done nowhere else on this site by any group of people. Thank you all for doing this every single day and thank you Rich for doing this in advance for this group. I loved the pictures of the Cat in the Hat and all of the new puppies that have been posted recently. Vanessa for now you can take me off of the care list. As I thought the surgeon said I needed surgery since I have a broken bone in my lower back and it will not get better on its own. As of now it is scheduled for early May but I am hoping they can move it up to April since I have my son's wedding in mid June which will entail traveling by plane though thankfully not a long flight. The surgeon swore I would be fine to do this since it gives me 6 weeks of recuperation time. We had booked a wonderful long cruise this summer to Iceland, Scotland and Norway on the Rotterdam, for this summer, but given the very long flights and the intensity of the ports, we thought it would be best to cancel. We have had this reservation for over a year so I am quite bummed out with having to cancel though I know it is for the best. So now I have to cancel all the private shore excursions, hotel etc. Oh well. We booked a Princess cruise for July 2024 doing Iceland and Norway. For those of you who have taken princess can you let me know if this is a mistake. The ship is the Sky Princess and it goes out of Southampton which allows us to take a non stop flight from FL and is port intensive. I actually liked the fact that it was only 14 days since we thought we would spend some time in London seeing the sights either before of after the cruise. I hope everyone has a good evening.

I don't know which ship to pick but if you want to go with the Rotterdam you can save some big $$ by booking an ocean view and then get the retreat for the entire cruise which gives you your own cabana and butler service for breakfast and lunch and a quiet shared hot tub. Just another idea for you.

Sandi so sorry to hear about your DB. I hope he is able to get the medications at a reasonable cost to him. Terri - so sad to hear about Tana - she is incredible how she goes on day to day and how you and your entire family help her. Marshhawk - sorry to hear you all got sick from your dinner. Hope you are feeling better now. Lenda so glad your husband is doing well after his back surgery. You have both been through a lot this last year. Kazu- PT is fabulous and so glad your range of motion is getting better. I hope it continues and you don't need anymore surgery. Sad to hear about everyone's medical issues. The meal looks great and the pictures of the port were fabulous.

I was told for cruises after 7/31 to apply in April after the shareholders meeting though I was not given a specific date.

Have a great day everyone and prayers to those in need of them. Early this morning I woke up with my step son to watch the launch but it was canceled at 2 minutes to lift off. We have another one later today so I have my alarm set. Though we live pretty far south if we look north we can see the rockets after take off and see the separation as well. It is an amazing sight to see. I know the people who live by the space coast get a much better view and one day I'd love to see one up close. I love to read and sitting on a promenade deck with a book in my lap is how I love to cruise. I used to be able to read by the pool or on the aft deck but now with the playing of non stop loud music on almost every ship those relaxing days are over. I really don't understand it since with the advent of our phones with our own music lists and headphones every one can listen to what they like vs the muzak that is now played everywhere. This is one of my pet peeves. It is one of the reasons we stopped sailing on Celebrity because w/o paying for a suite you cannot get away from the piped in loud music. Off of my soapbox now. I see the back surgeon this Thursday. I am wondering if we will be able to do our port intensive cruise to Norway and Iceland this July with a very long flight to Amsterdam. Just in case I booked a later trip to Alaska out of Seattle with the 25.00 sale. It is only a 7 day cruise and the flight is much shorter for us. I will be very disappointed if we can't go to Europe but I have to be realistic. Loved all the pictures of Norway today. Graham your pictures of South Beach are terrific. Ironically just this morning on our local NPR station there was an entire segment about the Art Deco hotels in Miami. Here is the link to the segment. Also for those of you coming to FLL/Miami area there are some wonderful sponsored Art Deco walking tours by the preservation society. https://www.wlrn.org/arts-culture/2023-02-27/a-battle-over-the-soul-of-miami-beach-will-developers-destroy-or-save-art-deco

@arzzWe also have the GE side by side and are happy with it. I love this thread everyone here is so nice. Seeing all the different ports and pictures have changed what future cruises I have booked - now if I can only manage to actually go on them it would be wonderful. Our travel insurance approved our cancellation of the Panama Canal cruise and according to them the 'check is in the mail'. I have already spent the $$ booking a new Panama Canal cruise for next year - we decided to do a full transit vs the 1/2 way one. It will allow me to see to my friends in San Diego where I used to live.

I must weigh in on the refrigerator discussion, when we built our new retirement home everyone told us to get the french door refrigerator with the freezer on the bottom. I opted for the side to side and I am very glad I did. We have an inexpensive top freezer refrigerator in the garage. If you have any sort of hip, knee, back issues my recommendation is to not get a bottom freezer. Marshhawk - what a sad day yesterday but you know that your beloved pet is now in a better place. All of us need to recognize that we need to take the time to care for ourselves so we can care for others. Sending healing thoughts to all.

Thinking of everyone today, those that are having a hard time and those enjoying travel or just being home and safe.

There is a room where they offer Mah Jongg every day that has card tables. You can play there every day. As best I recall it is on deck 2 starboard side towards the front of the ship, it used to be the computer room.

Hope everyone stays safe in the storm. Annie so sorry about your dear cat. It is so hard to lose our pets. Thank you for the pictures of the port of the day, we are heading to Iceland this summer of a BHB but this is not one of our ports. I hope everyone's medical tests go fine and the results are all good.

Yes they are horrible and I don't think blood type matters, not sure what the chemical is that makes us all "so sweet". Have a fabulous cruise RM Lincoln. Roy hope the providers come w/in a reasonable period of time for you. I wish sweet dreams to all who don't sleep. If not we can gather here at 3 AM to say hi to each other :).

On this class of ship for warm cruises, we pay for the retreat since like you I cannot stand the constant music at the pool. It really enhanced our stay on this ship.

Thanks for the skin so soft hint unfortunately it doesn't work for me. I am allergic to the bites so though I try to avoid them it is not possible for me. My husband doesn't get one bite and I get them all over and even with Deet the bugs just say hmm - she's delicious. St John is one of the most beautiful islands we have ever been too. We did loads of great hikes there as well as beach time. I loved seeing the pictures. The devastation of the island after the hurricanes is so sad to see.

Hello to all on the daily. Eurodam is in dry dock. I know this because our cruise that we had booked for this week on the Eurodam was canceled and well you know what happened to the one before. Weather in South Florida has been beautiful and it looks like we will have another beautiful week. No complaints here about the weather. Glad to hear Roy that you are feeling better. Sandy sorry to hear you aren't sleeping well. I don't know how you function on so little sleep. We have been to Rio and agree with those here, I was surprised at how dirty it was and the petty crime is horrible. We stayed with friends of ours (my Brazilian sister - she lived with my family as an exchange student - I lived in Santiago, Chile the summer I turned 16). They now live in a community that is gated with guards. We were told to take off all of our jewelry except if we were with them, when we were in Rio, since the thieves prey on tourists. We have been to St John's on a land trip and stayed in a wonderful condo there. My only issue with most of the Caribbean now is the sand fleas. Many beaches are infested with them, and if bugs like you, they will bite you all over and are very itchy and you develop welts all over your body. Though St John's was beautiful I will not ever go back to the beach there, having learned the hard way about the fleas. Terri - sorry about your bathroom not being done. I am sure you are beyond tired of living with construction. Prayers to all of those in New Zealand, Turkey/Syria and Ukraine.

Sorry to hear about Sarah's friends passing. So sad to hear how many people are missing due to the cyclone. I hope the rescue crews are out now and searching for people. Sad to hear about the passing of CC members. I don't know what corn nuts are but I will be sure not to eat any given the risk of losing a tooth to them. Watched the finale of All Creatures Great and. Small tonight - I wish it would continue. I guess now I will watch the new Vera's on BritBox. Glad that Sandy is home safely. The Carnival in Rio looks fabulous. We have been to Rio but not on a cruise. I was an exchange student in high school (to Santiago, Chile) and the girl who lived with our family was from Rio so as an adult we went to visit her and her family. Terri I think you are on your way home now, safe travels. I copied down the potato salad recipe, it looks fabulous. Thank everyone for the daily.

Thank you Lenda I will ask about the one using the zip ties.

What a great set of days and I like the quote. Vanessa please take me and my son off of the care lists. I expect I will have surgery after I see the back surgeon in about 2 weeks. Loved the pictures of the port. I hope everyone has a peaceful Friday.