tupper10

Thank you for the daily report. The recipes look great for the Tuscan chicken. Wishing everyone a wonderful day. I hope the weather doesn't get too terrible for everyone, these large storms are scary.

I would not do a cruise to Hawaii. First of all some of your ports are tender ports and if the weather is iffy you will not get to land. So essentially you will have a load of sea days and not see very much of Hawaii. I would pick one to two islands you wish to see and do those. We stayed in VRBO's which were much cheaper than the hotels. The food prices are high but by eating breakfast, lunch in our apartment it saved us a fortune. Decide which islands you want to go to, and then book intra island flights as well as the one from the mainland. As others have said I would try to stay at the islands you pick for more than a day or two.,or pick one island to see. If you do want to do a cruise than I would do the NCL one that goes to all the various islands, it will give you a quick taste of each island but not much more than this.

Thank you for the fleet report. Safe travels and fun to Joy and Allen. Lady Hudson your husband sounds like a gem. So nice of him to think of others on Valentine's Day. Kazu hope your elbow starts to feel better soon. You have such great neighbors and friends and the flowers are beautiful. I am going to try and do some much needed errands today, and then a nap later. I could have joined you Roy at 3:30 AM - my wake up time and couldn't fall back to sleep.

Thank you for the fleet report. Glad to see that a few of us are getting good doctor reports. Sorry to hear about Tana and Roy I wish your doctor had given you better news vs just more tests. My son is now home with a port and his drain but he is very glad to be out of the hospital. He has a visiting nurse coming to deal with everything. He is hoping to get back to work soon. I am going to see the doctor again. I don't think the epidural worked at all and I am essentially home bound due to the back pain. Since I can't really do much, I looked into another Panama canal cruise and had our TA book a full canal transit on the Zaandam. We really wanted to do a 1/2 transit but it looks like all of those do the new locks which we really didn't want. I used to live in San Diego so it is an excuse to see some friends pre cruise and my old hang outs. Terry and Sandy it looks like you are having a fabulous time on your respective cruises. Re issues with Holland America - and getting compensated - we didn't have much luck until we contacted corporate so I suggest if you don't get satisfaction you contact the president of HAL by email. Use the name elliot and then advocacy to get all the email addresses you need. So worrisome to hear about the continued gun violence in our country. Here in Florida there are memorials for the Parkland school shooting. Hard to believe it was 5. years ago it seems like yesterday that these poor children were killed. Prayers for those in Turkey/Syria and Ukraine.

We had to cancel our Eurodam cruise for the partial transit through the old locks this year due to medical issues. This year Eurodam has a couple of more partial transits through the old locks. I am not sure if they ship is sold out for these. Then some of the FLL ships leave for Alaska and do full transits going east to west. In the fall, the ships reverse and do full transits going west to east. Next year, the Rotterdam is doing the partial transits from FLL. When we called to re book our canceled cruise it was confirmed that the Rotterdam does the new locks. We didn't want to do the new locks so I looked at every cruise doing the partial transit for next year and only the Carnival Pride out of Tampa does the old locks. All the other ships on the main cruise lines -Princess, Celebrity etc. do the new locks for the partial transit. HA has a few full transits going from San Diego to FLL or FLL to San Diego in Jan, Feb March 2024. It is on the Zaandam one of their smaller ships. We ended up booking this one since we wanted to do the old locks and given that we live in Florida we only will have to fly one way. We were very disappointed that HA decided to have their pinnacle class ship do the partial transit next year and wish they would reconsider this decision. On CC under the Panama Canal board there is a listing of all the ships that do the old locks. For anyone booking a PC cruise I would make sure you check that before booking a cruise through the canal if you want to do the old locks.

We have been to Alaska numerous times. It is nice to get off the ship and do some hikes/walks in the ports if you don't want to do excursions. On our last Alaska trip, late August, we saw a huge whale migration. We were sitting on our veranda and saw a blow hole, we thought it was one whale at first but soon realized it was two to three lead whales, leading a pack of over 100+ whales, right next to our ship with the mothers, babies etc. It was one of the most fabulous sites I have seen in my life. So yes in Alaska it is being in the right place at the right time. You just never know. This is one cruise though where I would absolutely recommend a veranda.

Interesting about carrots in sauces. I am allergic to carrots, cooked and fresh. When we were in Italy both Northern and Southern I never had a problem because I was told carrots is a common food allergy there. They always have a sauce made w/o carrots. In the US I find I cannot eat at many Italian restaurants or pizza places because they use carrots as a way to sweeten the sauce even in their most basic sauces. Graham I wondered how Sarah was doing with her back. It seems that she and I may have similar issues and I wonder if the shot(s) helped her at all. I am better today but not pain free. Sad about the Eagles but it was a good game. It looks like the people on cruises are having decent weather and a wonderful time. Hoping that everyone who is getting ready to go away feels better and has a great trip. Healing thoughts to everyone not feeling 100%. Kazu - hope the bad weather passes you by.

We have want to do a transit through the old locks and this ship seems to be the only one that does the partial transit with the old locks now from Florida. We have sailed Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Holland America. We are not big party people and like the retreat areas - asking for advice would this ship work for us?

Thank you for the report on the devastating earthquake. It is hard to fathom the level of destruction and death from this event. When I read about these things and Ukraine I thank heavens for the luck of the draw so to speak. We are all so fortunate. Graham I appreciated your pictures of where Vera is filmed. I have read all of the books of that series as well as the other ones. I see that the newest ones are now becoming available here on Brit Box and plan to watch them. Shetland is also one of my favorites. We are going there on our cruise this summer and I am looking forward to seeing the area. We tried to book a private tour but all the guides have already been booked. We were surprised at this since I tried booking in December and thought that was well enough in advance. My back is not doing well today, so I am not sure what the prognosis will be. I was hoping the epidural steroid shot would work but it doesn't seem to be helping anymore. My son can be taken off the lists. He goes home (we hope) from the hospital tomorrow with a port so he can get IV antibiotics at home. His liver abscess is drained but they are concerned that it moved to his lungs so he has a month to 2 month course of antibiotics. We are all praying that this will work because the next step if it doesn't is very concerning. He is getting married this June and he wants to be well to enjoy this very special day. Sharon - just wow about the accident you described. I wonder if it was a drunk or drug impaired driver. Glad your home is fine. We have never been to Ireland though my step niece now lives there with her husband so hopefully one day we will get to visit. I hope everyone enjoys the day and that the super bowl commercials live up to their hype.

Sandi and Dennis enjoy your cruise. Weather here is much better than last week. Saw the picture of the Eurodam going through the canal- made me sad, but glad that others are having a great time. The cruise on RC looked like a lot of fun -you have been longer in Miami than we have ever been even though we live about 1 1/2 hours away. We keep saying we should go for a staycation but never seem to get around to it. It looked like you had a great time at the hotel too. Weather has warmed up here and it was a spectacular day today. Sorry to hear about lost jobs, and people still not feeling up to par, I think many of us get frustrated with ourselves and try to do too much and have to learn the hard way to take it easy. Have a wonderful evening everyone. Pizza tomorrow for us is super bowl tradition. I guess I am going to root for Philadelphia since I went to Penn State and then Penn. When I lived in Philly tickets were pretty cheap to see their games since they consistently lost.

We contacted norwayexcursions.com and they have been very prompt with their emails and bookings. We booked some tours with them for our Norway ports. We are on the Saga tour mentioned here - looking forward to it. We also booked with them for the Golden Circle tour. We sail from Amsterdam on July 29th on Holland America.

We are on this one as well and the one after to do a bit more of Norway. Can't wait.

I think Celebrity suite customers like their own private dining room which HAL doesn't have. I know most of my friends now have switched to Viking, Oceania, Azamara, etc. Unfortunately since Viking and Oceania still use latex gloves in their food preparation I can't go on any of their cruises. Holland America used to use latex too but finally switched. For years due to this allergy we could only sail on Celebrity/ RCL (with our kids). We loved Celebrity''s smaller ships, but once they went mega we stopped sailing with them. Every time I have gone to book with them the fares turn out to be outrageous especially since we want a refundable rate. I know others love the Edge class ships but they are not for us. Glad that you got a wonderful rate- enjoy your cruise. We did that one on Celebrity - but a small ship - fabulous cruise.

Antarctica is one of the best places we have ever been, nothing else compares to it. So as the other poster said, this is the one I would do given that your chances of seeing it on a drive by will be very restricted in the future. If you can afford it I would do an expedition ship since you actually get to land and see way more than a drive by cruise. For an expedition ship you can book the cheapest available cabin - since due to the wind you probably can't open the veranda door and everything is most visible on deck and of course on the zodiac landings. All of your proposed cruises sound fabulous.

Cruising Sister my husband is a retired oncologist and he says the one thing patients always do wrong is to not take enough pain medicine. Pain interferes with healing so please take whatever you need to feel comfortable and don't try to tough it out. Pain is your body's way of telling you it needs help. So happy to see that many of us are feeling better, including me, finally, the epidural appears to be helping so you can take me off of the care list. My son is stable and we are hoping that all of these antibiotics will work and he will need no further intervention. Hope everyone is enjoying their cruises and looking forward to their cruises starting shortly. We would be on our Panama Canal cruise right now but I am not sorry we stayed home, no fun being sick on a cruise. We booked one for next year so something to look forward to. I loved the quote and love Lily Tomlin.

The cost of the Celebrity suites are absurd. If I wanted to spend that much $$ I would go with an upper end small cruise ship. Also I do not like it when I pay a hefty fee for a cruise in a veranda that now I am treated as a 2nd class citizen. We experienced this once and decided never again.

Safe travels to everyone. So sad about the swimmer who didn't adhere to the red flag warnings. The news out of Turkey/Syria is horrific, so many lives lost. I received my epidural today for my back and praying that it works. My son is feeling better but needs to remain in the hospital until next week and then go home with a port so he can get IV antibiotics. I am glad he is getting better and we are praying the lung abscess only requires more antibiotics and not a surgery. Prayers for all those hurting and on our care list.

Seasick Sailor on your report it is inexcusable that your doctor did not call you. With broken ribs you need to be watched closely for pneumonia because due to the pain you tend to not take normal deep breathes. Today doctors rarely tape your broken ribs but they certainly give you instructions as to what to watch for and specific deep breathing instructions. Glad to hear that many of you slept last night. Hope that all who had procedures or SO who had them, are feeling better today. I am getting an epidural for the back pain tomorrow. Hoping it works. Thank your for the care list for my son. He is still in the hospital and it looks like he will be there at least through the weekend since he has a drain in and needs IV antibiotics. They are watching the abscess now that moved to his lung which will hopefully drain now that the liver abscess is draining (they are connected) otherwise he has to be on a long course of antibiotics which will mean a port and at home care for around 8 weeks. Hopefully he will be able to go to work if he needs this since he is a special ed teacher and his kids need him. I am so frustrated that I can't be with him, but he lives a long plane ride away and I can't travel right now. Prayers for all especially Ukraine and the people in Turkey and Syria. What a tragedy.

Wish you had the time to do a bit of a land tour - Alaska is so incredible. You will have a wonderful time. Enjoy.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you for the fleet report. Glad to hear some of us are feeling much better and so far no more broken bones. Prayers for those who are facing surgery and for Ukraine and those in Turkey and Syria. I am feeling a bit better but I am glad to be home. My son had his liver abscess drained yesterday and now will be in the hospital for a few days on IV antibiotics. We are praying the drain and IV antibiotics work otherwise it is rather complicated surgery as a next step. Thank you for all your prayers.

Sounds fabulous - at Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff there will probably still be snow on the ground. It should be beautiful and not many tourists at that time.

Is there any other place you are going given how long it takes you to get to Alaska and Canada/US. I

A word of warning for those of you have needed to call an ambulance in recent months. We got a bill from one of the major ambulance companies in the US today for their services when DH was taken from rehab to the emergency room. Medicare had already paid their part of the bill, and our supplemental policy had paid the remainder. DH did a little research on the company, and found that many people have reported they double bill. I doubt I can name the company, but they go by three initials. We all need to be careful and check on any medical bill and compare it with what the insurance has paid before sending in a check.

If you are doing a land trip you may want to wait a bit since depending on the snow pack some things won't be open. Despite what the monthly weather is telling you about rain, it can rain any time there. We have gone multiple times and each time had spectacular weather. This was just due to luck and nothing else. Alaska is fabulous any time.