StLouisCruisers

Thanks for keeping track. That is a LOT of toots!

Did anybody count how many?? Still going!!!

Thanks Gerry!! Sorry I thought I sent this. Appreciate your good thinking.

Thanks Gerry!!

Our rain and storms are gone too and it's nice and sunny out now.

We took the 14 day Alaskan Explorer cruise on the Amsterdam Aug. 26 to September 9, 2019 to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary and it was a very good choice! I just went through the photo book I made of the cruise and the weather was outstanding. I don't think we had any rainy days at all. In fact I would say we had sunny skies about 75% of the time. There were some cloudy days in Anchorage, Homer and Sitka. Tracy Arm scenic cruising day and Hubbard Glacier day were outstanding with completely sunny skies. By taking the 14 day cruise you get to go to smaller, less traveled ports and it was wonderful. No repeats of ports like the B2B which by the way we did once and also enjoyed but this was even better. Of course your weather could vary quite a bit but I wanted you to know our actual experience. Good luck with your planning!

That's a great story of coming across this Ukrainian family. Of course your wonderful heart led you to do something to help them. ❤️ I wish them great success in their new Canadian home!

Storms are currently in the Atlanta area, north of us. I hear Atlanta's Hartfield Jackson airport is not allowing flights in at the moment. I believe that's called a ground stop. Hope Annie @marshhawk, Chuck and the cats are doing okay.

Where else but Fort Lauderdale do we get a chance to get these close up views of ships going in and out. Love it!

That was cool! And different! I loved seeing the people in the Lido unaware of being on camera.

Bon Voyage!!🚢

They are all lined up ready to arrive at 5:35 am. Nieuw Statendam, Caribbean Princess, Celebrity Apex, and finally Volendam. That looks like that will be all for today. Hope you enjoy the parade, but I will be on my treadmill in the next few minutes. Have a great morning and see you all later for sail away!

Rabbit, Rabbit, White Rabbit!🐇 Good morning friends! It's the calm before the storm here. We are at 65F and anticipate thunderstorms anytime between 7 am and 1 pm. ⛈️ Then sunshine and a high of 77F. Time to test out the new larger gutters and configuration! Looking at the Port Everglades webcam I see 4 ships all lined up heading for the entrance to the port in Fort Lauderdale. By the time I finish typing this up they may even be passing the condo camera. Nieuw Statdendam is first. Some of you may even be up watching the parade. Have fun! Thank you Rich @richwmn for today's Fleet Report and Daily. We hope all is well on the Zuiderdam right now even if there is no lettuce for anyone's sandwich or salad. At least that's what I read. I'm sure they can find some in Tenerife! As you all know April 1st is April Fools' Day so don't believe half of what comes out of anyone's mouth today. And watch out for Redneck Bob! Rich has chosen International Tatting Day, Atheist Day, and International Fun at Work Day. Tatting is a fine art but I can't do that, am not an atheist, and don't work (haha) so I am pretty useless today. 😄 Let's see what you all can come up with on those subjects. An interesting quote I guess. The menu suggestion sounds pretty good. Even though I rarely eat avocado I would give it a try because I love chicken tacos. No thanks to the drink, and I have no idea what type of wine that is so will have to wait to pass judgement. 🍷 A big thanks to our Food and Beverage Department ladies for their help on those items. Thanks to our friend Vanessa @JazzyV for the Care and Celebration lists. Prayers for all on the list and that includes those in Nashville, Ukraine, and any other places suffering from disasters.🙏 I haven't seen the aftermath of yesterday's tornadoes yet but I'm sure there are many who need help and prayer today. 🌪️ A big cheer to all on the Celebration list, and those cruising. If you are joining a ship today we hope all goes smoothly and you are onboard enjoying yourself quickly. We are enjoying hearing from our friends on cruises because we live vicariously through you all.🚢 So keep it up! Our port of the day is the great Norwegian city of Hammerfest. It is a small town but lovely and worth a visit on your Norway cruise. We have had that port before on March 8, 2021 (at the beginning of the port of the day on the Daily) and October 22, 2022. Here are the links for your convenience. I will post my photos afterward. Hammerfest, Norway is a port we saw on what we call the Best Norway Cruise Ever of 2016. If you ever see a cruise itinerary that includes ports like Hammerfest, Bronnoysund, Trondheim and Narvik, book it. I always look for cruises that include a couple of new ports and this one was it. Little did we know we'd meet the very personable Captain D. D. on that Prinsendam cruise. He later told us the surveys that were returned after this cruise made it the highest rated cruise in recent Holland America history. We had a ball! This was the furthest north port before arrival at Honningsvag and North Cape. The weather was sunny but very windy so we required tugs to get to the dock. That made our disembarkation about an hour and a half later than planned. Little did we know that we would be leaving early as well as arriving late! More about that later. We took the shuttle bus to the downtown area and started a walk up the steps to Mt. Salen's peak. The port has a bit of distance from where we docked and then a curved road around to the other side of the harbor to the downtown area. Here is a pic from Mt. Salen that shows the distance involved, somewhat. Mt. Salen isn't terribly tall so most of us could make it up the slope to the top. There's a gentle ramp so you could stop and rest if necessary. It's worth the view of the town. After leaving there we walked along the main street towards the Hammerfest Kirke built in 1961 which featured unusual architecture inspired by fish scales. We passed some cute painted mailboxes in front of homes which I couldn't pass up without a photo. Can you tell this is a mailbox? The front of the church and then the side of the unique church. Across the road from the Hammerfest Kirke is an older church built in 1937 called the Hammerfest Church. It was the only building left standing after World War II. We wandered through the cemetery looking at some of the old headstones there. This is the Museum of the Reconstruction. When I looked up the name of the museum, the description read that like most of Northern Norway, towns were razed by the retreating German military forces at the end of the war. Looks like somewhere to visit if you have time on your next visit. We took the shuttle back around the bay to the Prinsendam, but stopped to see what this object was nearby. It's called the Meridian Pillar. Not being able to read the words on the monument I looked it up. Lonely Planet says this about it: Historic Site in Hammerfest On the Fuglenes peninsula, just across the harbour, is the Meridianstøtta, a marble column commemorating the first survey (1816–52) by Russian scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve to determine the arc of the global meridian and thereby calculate the size and shape of the earth. Back on the ship, we were surprised when the ship left the dock several hours early to let a ship (waiting nearby) take our spot. Someone in charge had made an error and double booked this dock and that ship needed to be there at 6 pm, not 8 pm! We watched HAL crew members out at the dock trying to hurry folks along so we could leave. As soon as we moved away from the pier the other ship slipped right into our spot. We sailed out further to the edge of the harbor and anchored, and the port agent brought passengers who were left behind out to us on the pilot boat while we were at dinner! Can you imagine their panic when they saw the Prinsendam was gone? We heard some of them were enjoying themselves in the local bars although who can afford an alcoholic drink at a bar in Norway? Hoping you all have a Spectacular Saturday!

April Fools' Day Today is International Tatting Day, Atheist Day, and International Fun at Work Day Every dogma has its day. - Anthony BurgessMeal Suggestion for today - Chicken Tacos with Avocado SalsaDrink of the Day - Bourbon RenewalWine of the Day - Cambridge Road Martinborough Dovetail 2020Destination of the Day - Hammerfest, Norway Eurodam Puerto Limon, Costa Rica 06:30 - 16:00 Koningsdam Dry Dock Vigor Ship Yard until 4/12 Nieuw Amsterdam Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 08:00 - 15:00 Nieuw Statendam Fort Lauderdale, Port Everglades, Florida 07:00 - 16:00 Oosterdam At Sea Destination Manta, Ecuador eta 4-02 Rotterdam At Sea Destination Half Moon Cay, Bahamas eta 4-02 Volendam Fort Lauderdale, Port Everglades, Florida 07:00 - 15:00 Zaandam Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico Riviera 17:00 Depart Zuiderdam At Sea Destination Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands eta 4-02Eastern Hemisphere Noordam At Sea Destination Hobart, Tasmania Australia eta 4-04 Westerdam Keelung, Taiwan 07:00 -17:00 Sandi for Rich and Roy

The room stewards always tell us they don't get the bed configuration ahead of time and just leave the beds the way they were the previous cruise. We just ask for queen size if necessary and they get it done during dinner hour normally.

They probably have waffle weave and the plush terry robes. Same as I have at home, waffle weave for summer and plush terry for winter. I don't take a robe with me when I pack. We always get the waffle weave on the ship probably because of our oceanview room category.

This reminds me of a fond memory. When the grandkids were a little younger, we would play Christmas Bingo, a set of Bingo cards I found with Christmas objects like wreaths, Christmas trees, holly, snowmen, all kinds of cute stuff. To cover "I-wreath" or whatever I would bring bags of Christmas M&M's and hand out to everyone. You had to have a lot because you know how everyone loves to gobble up the M&M's as we went along.

Yes, January 5, 2017 on Seabourn Quest. It was the 95th anniversary of Shackleton's death there on a ship named Quest. Ironic! They are very strict on cleaning your outerwear in both S. Georgia and Antarctica as you know.

Watching the Rotterdam turning around at Key West as it leaves. Looking hard for you guys on your balcony but don't see anything yet. Maybe at dinner?

Just checking it out. Looks absolutely awful. 😪

I think they have a notice inside the mesh bag your folded HAL robe comes in that says if you would like to purchase one to let your steward know and you would receive a new one. Having them monogrammed would be cool. I have doubts that they still do that, but would definitely ask.

It's always something, isn't it? Hope the washer arrives safely and the dryer ASAP. Once they're delivered put that no admission sign up! I agree Grytviken is pretty remote! But it's so interesting and cool to go there and worth any chance you have to make the voyage. I see you got chairs to sit in to what, remove the boots or have someone help clean them? We had a device with brushes attached, and handrails to hold on to placed on the shallow area at the shoreline. We could stand and rub our boots against the brushes while dunked in sea water. Once on the ship you removed them and put them in your "cage" on a covered deck and the crew cleaned them again for you. I heard about the medical debarks and hope everyone is okay. I'm hearing from my family in St. Louis they are under a tornado watch. I told them to be ready in case it quickly turns to a warning. Think about what is going with you to the basement and to stay away from windows. Dogs, of course, and wallet, purse, wedding rings, etc.

Thank you so much, Roy! This must be one of the rarer stops on cruises.

Lenda said: We've been to several countries in Africa, and I would also recommend stops in Namibia and South Africa. I think I'd be interested in doing the Grand Africa some day. Nah, I'm good!!

The roofers are here right now removing and replacing some gutter and downspout. They showed up about 25 minutes late (Southern time). One man named Diego told DH he had been in this country about a year and was in Mexico before that. DH said he spoke English well but DH didn't want to go any further inquiring about him. Seemed safest in this day and age. I have to agree with Terri @Cruzin Terri on how stressful it is having work done on your home. I know they aren't remodeling my bathroom but even something as simple as gutter work causes stress because you never know if things will end up as it should be or just bring more problems!😬 Roy, good to see you back to posting as normal. I would prefer your alternate menu today, too. Besides Nancy @ottahand7's photos of Robinson Crusoe Island from offshore, we may not see any. I scanned last year's postings and yours were the only ones we saw. Do you feel up to posting them again today? You had two posts on page 4, #77 and #84. They were very interesting. Happy birthday wishes to your DS! I hope the golf and dinner go nicely and you will have DH and DD there tonight as well. Sorry to hear about Gdansk being removed from your upcoming cruise. I understand your feeling very tired these days. I am feeling sort of exhausted some days lately. My shoulder, upper arm and back pain have been wearing me down I think. It's been a week. I hope it eases slowly since I've been babying it. Right at the moment I am comfortable so maybe I'm on my way back to normal. Annie, I've got a tab open with the bird feeder and have enjoyed taking a peek every once in a while. I hope the cats are enjoying it too. I would have loved to see the flying squirrel you mentioned attacking it last night. And filling in patient information paperwork at the doctor's office is sure a chore! They sure don't make it easy! Thanks for your photos today Nancy. It looks really interesting. Yes, I read the thread about the grandfather passing away in Luanda and trying to repatriate him to the United States. So sad the insurance companies are arguing about it. Who is primary? That poor family. Did you read anything on the threads about people getting sick from fruits and vegetables from South Africa? I think they had to throw out a lot. Hope they can replenish soon. I bet you're doing a fine job of entertaining River. How was your DB's birthday celebration? I hope he's doing well with his knee replacement. Also hope Sue's migraine has eased. Yes, that is an unusual overnight stop. Wonder why? Good to hear you have improvement however slow. I hope we don't hear any more reports of damaged luggage from these services or people will be reluctant to use them. And some folks cannot handle their luggage on their own. We all enjoy hearing there is progress with your DH no matter how small. Hoping that continues! Sorry to hear winter showed up again but glad to know you and the dogs are doing okay. Once we get behind it's hard to catch up on all the chores and planned activities. Going around Africa has been on my radar for years and things got stalled due to Covid. However, I think I've gotten to the point it's not so important anymore. Maybe Senegal, The Gambia, Morocco and Egypt are enough for us. I remember those days...having 6 or 8 cruises on the books. That's when we realized how important a spreadsheet with all the cruises, booking numbers, costs, dates for final payment, etc. was necessary. Now we have one cruise booked the remainder of the year. And I'm not feeling any urgency to book more at the moment. However, I do need to stop spending my days monitoring Cruise Critic and get the last three cruises' photo books made. I've procrastinated enough! I can still check CC but no need to have it open and in front of me most of the time. Oh, and congratulations on your new booking with only a $25 deposit. Glad you were ready to pull the trigger. If this roof fix doesn't do the job, I don't know what to do. Let's hope no new wetness shows up with the upcoming rain. Sorry to hear about your hand pain now. I get it. If only there wasn't a new pain or ache every single day! Bruce, love the memes! The picture of the old time stove and granny cooking on it reminds me totally of my grandma who lived on a farm and had a stove nearly identical to that but not that color. You burned wood in it to provide the heat to cook. Can you imagine trying to figure out how hot the oven or stove top was to prepare dinner, baking bread or rolls, etc? Amazing! Boy you are quite the sleeper! Sorry to hear you had to go through so much at the dermatologist's office though. I hope everything works out well on your leg when you have the biopsy in July.