StLouisCruisers

St Patrick's Day Today is Corned Beef and Cabbage Day, Submarine Day, and Camp Fire Girls Day Do not let a flattering woman coax and wheedle you and deceive you; she is after your barn. -- HesiodMeal Suggestion for today - Butter-Roasted Halibut with Asparagus and OlivesDrink of the Day - Cubbie BlueWine of the Day - Villa Maria Cabernet Sauvignon Hawkes Bay Ngakirikiri Gimblett Gravels 2020Destination of the Day - Kobe-Osaka, Kyoto, Japan Eurodam Oranjestad Aruba, Netherlands Antilles 08:00 - 23:00 Koningsdam At Sea Destination San Diego, California eta 3-25 Nieuw Amsterdam At Sea Destination Fort Lauderdale Port Everglades eta 3-19 Nieuw Statendam Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 07:00 - 15:00 Oosterdam Ushuaia, Argentina 08:00 - 17:00 Rotterdam At Sea Destination Fort Lauderdale Port Everglades eta 3-18 Volendam At Sea Destination Fort Lauderdale Port Everglades eta 3-18 Zaandam At Sea Destination San Diego, California eta 3-18 Zuiderdam Luderitz, Namibia 07:00 - 17:00Eastern Hemisphere Noordam Dunedin, Port Chalmers, New Zealand 08:00 - 18:00 Westerdam Kochi City, Japan Kochi 08:00 - 17:00 Sandi for Rich and Roy

An adorably athletic doggie!

@aliaschief and @Quartzsite Cruiser thanks to you both for the laughs. Thoroughly enjoyed the memes. @Heartgrove your Sam looks so sweet. How could anyone resist him? @richwmn you have mail!

Bon Voyage!!

Thank you for the wonderful photos taken at the Millennium Cross. I've never walked up there. Lenda nice photos taken in Coquimbo and the vicinity. Looks like the skies cleared away from the shoreline later in the day. Love your panda photos! What a face! Glad you're feeling better now but it's a tough way to lose 10 pounds. Start slowly with activities. I hope the weather isn't too, too bad. So cute! We have so much bamboo growing wild in our county. We could supply several pandas. Excellent photos of the gardens there. Very nicely kept.

Beautiful color Mustang. The wheels are nice too. Glad you had a good ride!

Have a wonderful cruise! Are you on the NS? You mentioned NA for Saturday but I believe that's incorrect. Western Caribbean on NS leaves Saturday. Hope I can post your ship's destination correctly for you! Safe travels all the way to Melbourne and bon voyage wishes as well. That NY to Auckland flight should be a real doozy! Get up and walk often! Happy CC Anniversary @1ANGELCAT!

Finished the treadmill, ate breakfast, drove to the gym and did my workout. Also cut DH's hair for him just now. He called yesterday to get an appointment for his physical exam and believe it or not they had a cancellation for his doctor at 2 pm today. So he will do that and get bloodwork done next week. Roy, I'm sorry I missed fixing the Volendam this morning. I have it on my list as Ft. Lauderdale but after I fixed Nieuw Amsterdam and Rotterdam I must have forgotten. Please excuse the mistake.😟

Good morning friends! Well, it took me an extra 10 minutes to post this morning thanks to my slower than normal computer. I updated it last night as it demanded, plus I woke up 5 minutes later this morning. I predict today will be a sluggish day. The weather is 34F but it will be sunny and 67 later on. I will try to get back on track now. Thanks to Rich @richwmn for compiling the Daily material for us. I had three ports to alter due to new itineraries. We have three more positive days to celebrate than yesterday's. Everything You Do is Right Day should be popular among all of us. It doesn't feel that way yet but the day is young, very young! Then we have Freedom of Information Day and Giant Panda Bear Day. I'm all for those days and know you will agree. I have heard the quote before and don't like it at all. Most people I've known are in heaven! The slow cooker whole chicken sounds great to me. No thanks to the drink, but the Sauvignon Blanc sounds fantastic. Thanks in advance to Debbie @dfish, Ann @cat shepard, and Dixie @summer slope. I'm sure Vanessa @JazzyV will be along soon with the Care and Celebration lists. Many prayers for all on our list and others in need. RIP to the entertainer on the Volendam who passed away this past week. Very sad! Congrats to those on the Celebration list and I hope that one keeps growing. Bon Voyage to those heading out to cruise, and for those coming home soon I hope it was a great cruise. Our port today is Coquimbo, La Serena, Chile and this is the third time it has been presented here. In case you missed it we will show you our photos again. The last times were Oct. 13, 2021 and Oct. 28, 2022 and the links are below. Here is my post the last two times we had Coquimbo as our port of the day. We stopped in Coquimbo, Chile on two of our South America cruises. Once in 2012 on Star Princess and again in 2015 on Ruby Princess. Coquimbo, Chile on March 5, 2015, Star Princess circumnavigation of South America. Arrival at the pier and a group of dancers to entertain us. From the ship you could walk through a small marketplace set up for the tourists. Just offshore this seemingly abandoned boat, except for the birds aboard. Besides birds there was plenty of other wildlife hanging around looking for a handout. Local fishermen checking their nets. The result of those nets This mom was happy to show off her chubby-cheeked baby. Awww! On our walk back we noticed the sidewalk area was decorated with these designs. This cross on the hillside is called the Third Millennium cross. Our 2012 trip to Coquimbo on Star Princess included a shuttle bus to drive us to the La Serena area. When we were dropped off it was rather quiet but things moved along as the morning went on. Our friend who was also on this cruise looked hard for a place to make a phone call to her mother who was not in the greatest health. She eventually found a place where you could rent a computer or place phone calls using her calling card. At that time a lot of us didn't have cell phones with international calling plans. You can see how deserted the streets and parks were. An interesting modern-art type fountain with figures. We decided the gardeners here didn't want their flowers eaten by hungry marauders and placed sticker bush branches over them. What do you think about that idea, garden club members? I've checked and this date was a Sunday, so perhaps everyone was already at church. Or sleeping in. As we walked to the market near the Plaza de Armas we noticed most of the pedestrians looked like tourists. After our excursion to the shopping mecca, we arrived back at the ship. An interesting spot to explore while visiting South America. I hope this day turns out to be a terrific Thursday for you all. Stay safe!

Today is Everything You Do is Right Day, Freedom of Information Day, and Giant Panda Bear Day I don't want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there.--Oscar WildeMeal Suggestion for today - Slow Cooker Whole ChickenDrink of the Day - Hornitos Black Barrel Tequila Old FashionedWine of the Day - Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New ZealandDestination of the Day - Coquimbo, La Serena, Chile Eurodam At Sea Destination Oranjestad Aruba, Netherlands Antilles eta 3-17 Koningsdam Nuku Hiva Island, Taiohae, Marquesas French Polynesia 08:00 - 17:00 Nieuw Amsterdam Oranjestad, Aruba 07:00 - 18:00 Nieuw Statendam At Sea Destination Half Moon Cay, Bahamas eta 3-17 Oosterdam At Sea Destination Cape Horn, Chile Antarctica eta 3-17 Rotterdam Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos 07:00 - 18:00 Volendam At Sea Destination Half Moon Cay, Bahamas eta 3-17 Zaandam At Sea Destination San Diego, California eta 3-18 Zuiderdam At Sea Destination Luderitz, Namibia eta 3-17Eastern Hemisphere Noordam Fiordland National Park, New Zealand 07:00 - 08:00 Westerdam Tokushima, Shikoku Island, Japan 07:00 - 18:00 Sandi for Rich and Roy

We have no pets so I don't have that to worry about. But Maxine @AncientWanderer might find one underfoot so it's a good thing for her to use her flashlight. Cruisetimetables.com seems pretty up to date so I'm thinking Volendam is making a straight shot to Port Everglades. Paul @kochleffel is so right about the closed eyes part. If keeping them open 100% of the time is a problem I need to act like Frankenstein with my arms out in front of me to stop me from banging my noggin again!

Sharon, the original itinerary was San Juan on Tuesday the 14th and Half Moon Cay on Friday the 17th (I have my own Volendam confirmation in my files but we didn't take the cruise). This week they've actually gone to St. Thomas on the 14th and San Juan today the 15th. This is what cruisetimetables.com shows when I check it. No mention of Half Moon Cay. I'd sure love to know what those on the ship know about this but they are busy enjoying their final days and we have heard nothing of the itinerary the remainder of the voyage. When the ship leaves San Juan tonight, I can try to verify the destination through cruisemapper.com. Rich has a difficult job putting these Fleet Reports together, especially when he had to do it months ahead of time! This morning I changed three ship's schedules on the Fleet Report. I don't want to upset anyone with incorrect information. Good idea to use the flashlight especially if you have a pet who might get up and become a trip hazard! This afternoon DB texted he got a last minute appointment with his doctor regarding his oxygen levels. He is often in the 80% range. At the appointment this afternoon he "flunked" his test and is now prescribed oxygen for when he needs it. He says his new medication that his benefactor is paying for arrives tomorrow. He and my twin and I had a little chat today about end of life plans and having the information written down for family who will need to know what to do. They both have books where they can fill in all the funeral and financial information including passwords to accounts. We need to look into that too. Not a happy subject but necessary.

Ann, thank you for the lovely photos too. What architecture! Thanks for replying Nancy. Sounds like our band went home. I'm very sorry to hear the awful news about the band member who passed away. Have you been out today in San Juan? I guess your next stop is Fort Lauderdale on Saturday. That sounds like a slow sail to Florida if leaving tonight. Enjoy your chocolate parade, dressy night, and Caribbean party and good luck with the final packing.

Thanks again to all for your congrats to Ren. We're excited for him! Maxine @AncientWanderer Ren is his official first name. It's a Chinese name and his middle and last name are "American". DDIL had a Chinese father and Singaporean mother. They met in the US while he was teaching here and she was studying here. The married, became official US citizens and raised four children here first, then in Singapore. Ren's older brother has a Chinese name with American middle and last name, too. Over the years we've called Ren Renny also. My nose doesn't hurt today, just right after I slammed it into the door edge. It could have turned out a lot worse. I should use nightlights all over OR perhaps I should force my eyes open while walking in the night. 😵 The main bedroom is darker than the rest of the house because we have sun tunnels installed in the center of the house. They let a dim light in at night, especially if the moon is bright. Annie @marshhawk I hope things are going better today for you! Karen @luvteaching excellent news about your DH! Charlene @cunnorl thanks for posting some downtown Adelaide photos for us. Love the pig!

Thanks everyone for your good wishes for Ren. I wish his buddy and teammate Colton was coming with him but he accepted an offer from a Colorado FC. His Mom liked Colorado better but I think it would have been great to have them together in Dallas. DS says the boys he's joining were so welcoming to Ren and Colton when they were visiting down there. Remember that awful week in Dallas with the ice storms and practices called off? It still worked out well for the boys.

Nancy, how shocking to hear of the death of one of the Ocean Bar Band. Do you know if the current band members are the same as the ones onboard for my Nov. Dec 2022 Amazon cruise on Volendam. That would be right before you boarded in December. We went to see them play whenever possible and they were quite good. Here is a photo of the band when we were on board. Are they the same band? It's possible they switched up band members after our cruise and before the Grand Voyage.

Good morning friends! Another cold and frosty type morning at 32F with clear skies. High will be 58 and sunny later on. I had a rude awakening last night just before 2 am. I got up to use the restroom and while walking in the dark I closed my eyes briefly and walked right into the edge of a door. Ran right into my nose and forehead. Boy, did that hurt! I kept checking my nose to see if it was bleeding but it wasn't and I didn't see a bruise yet, so I took a few Tylenol and went back to bed. If it had been daytime I would have put ice on it, but I wanted to try to go back to sleep. Never did but I think I'm going to be okay. Time will tell. It doesn't hurt anymore. But there went my restful night. Motto is pry open your eyes to walk around the house at night so this doesn't happen again. Thanks to Rich @richwmn for the wonderful Daily and Fleet Report. (does anyone else think the blue bubbles are a brighter blue than before? Hmmm) I don't know if I'm planning on celebrating our days today. Buzzard Day. No thanks. Dumbstruck Day. I think I already struck myself dumb at 2 am. Everything You Think is Wrong Day sounds rather negative so I'm skipping that one. Today's quote is great and I agree with it. As for the menu suggestion, lots of you don't like coconut so it might not be popular. I like coconut but not curry and prefer not to eat salmon. Don't know why. No thanks to the drink but the wine sounds nice. Probably very expensive, too. The port of Adelaide has been shown here twice before but it's a nice one so I'm fine with that. The link to the two prior dates are shown below. Hope you like the pictures! Thanks to everyone who participates here especially the food and beverage people Debbie @dfish, Ann @cat shepard and Dixie @summer slope, plus our list keeper Vanessa @JazzyV. I'll say my prayers for those on our Care list and anyone here who needs them. I know someone who needs lots of prayers but they prefer their problem be kept silent. 🙏 And three cheers to all on the Celebration list today. Happy sailing and enjoy any other happy events taking place. I got exciting news last night. DGS Ren has made a decision on his future in soccer. He has accepted a place on the Dallas soccer league team. They prepare their boys for professional soccer playing in the future. He will be joining them around August 1 and his Mom will be renting a place for them to live during his remaining 2 years of high school. What a great honor for him! It will mean a lot of traveling back and forth for DS to spend time with them, and older brother to Ren will be starting college in the fall so he would be away anyway. Hoping for a bright future to both the DGSs.⚽🥂 Here are the links to Oct. 21, 2021 and Dec. 18, 2022 to grab your photos. We visited Adelaide, South Australia on the Sun Princess Circumnavigation cruise of Oct. 2017, five years ago. Fond memories of that cruise. On October 14, 2017 we took a CC roll call tour of wine country from Adelaide. We got on our van and headed out of town, stopping once when the driver noticed a chubby koala in a tree. First stop was Mount Lofty for a good overview of Adelaide. Our next stop was a lovely German influenced town of Hahndorf where we were allowed time to explore and get a bite to eat before we headed out to the wineries. The Hahndorf Academy building from 1857. Next we stopped at a bird sanctuary which I will skip photos of so that we can get to the wineries. First one was the Grant Burge winery which was lovely. The view from the tasting room. Next was the Chateau Dorrien winery which was more rustic instead of the sophistication of Grant Burge. Everybody was getting chatty by now! Heading back to the ship. Rows of palm trees Hope everyone here has a wonderful Wednesday! Stay safe from the bad weather.❄️

Today is Buzzards Day, Dumbstruck Day, and Everything You Think is Wrong Day What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner. - Sidonie Gabrielle ColetteMeal Suggestion for today - Coconut Curry SalmonDrink of the Day - Kentucky MadeWine of the Day - Taittinger Prestige Rose Brut, Champagne, FranceDestination of the Day - Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Eurodam At Sea Destination Oranjestad Aruba, Netherlands Antilles eta 3-17 Koningsdam At Sea Destination Nuku Hiva Island, Taiohae, Marquesas French Poly eta 3-16 Nieuw Amsterdam Willemstad, Curacao 13:00 - 23:59 Nieuw Statendam Grand Turk Island, Cockburn Town, Turks and Caicos 07:00 - 17:00 Oosterdam Port Stanley, East Falkland Island 08:00 - 18:00 Rotterdam Oranjestad Aruba, Netherlands Antilles 07:00 - 15:00 Volendam San Juan, Puerto Rico 08:00 - 18:00 Zaandam Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico Riviera 10:00 - 20:00 Zuiderdam Cape Town, South Africa 23:00 DepartEastern Hemisphere Noordam At Sea Destination Fiordland National Park, New Zealand eta 3-17 Westerdam Kobe-Osaka, Kyoto, Japan 23:59 Depart Sandi for Rich and Roy

Normally I've been posting right about 5 am but today I had to double check three ships to make sure I should be changing their destinations or not. Volendam switched the final two ports of the Grand South America/Antarctica cruise. Nieuw Amsterdam has been switched around for about two weeks now. And I'm not sure why but the Rotterdam is doing a different itinerary than shown on halfacts.com/Daily. So I think I posted around 5:10 thereabouts. Lucky you being able to get those extra ZZZ's this morning. Thanks for DB's birthday wishes.

Finished with my gym workout this morning and on the way home stopped to take a photo of the waterfall at the 18th hole of the golf course. Your Tenerife resort looks so beautiful! What a wonderful way to celebrate a special occasion. Thank you so much for the lists today and your mention of DB. I'm glad to hear you had such a great time on Ruby Princess. Sounds like after cruise #2 you are hooked! Thank you very much Graham. He would love it! Happy Birthday to your Mom, @Mr. Boston Glad to hear of your good rest last night. I've been taking one Benadryl at night and sleeping much better too. Thanks so much for the birthday wishes, Melanie. That is a work of art! I'm encouraged hearing about the latest aide. Sounds like a keeper. Another batch of crazy memes! Thank you. Thanks a bunch Terry! Many thanks to you too, Gerry. DB will appreciate it. I'll be sure to let DB know of all the kind people's wishes here.

I'm up posting the Daily early and at 5:30 am see Eurodam heading for the port entrance. I have no idea how many miles out she is, but she shouldn't take too long to get there. Perhaps 15 to 30 minutes.

Good morning friends! It's a cold 32F and still going down. Later today will be sunny and 51 for a high. March is always like this in the South! Seventies one week, thirties the next. Thank you Rich @richwmnfor assembling the Daily for us before your World Cruise. A couple of ships have changed their itineraries so I hope I have posted them correctly. At least the Zuiderdam is in the correct locaton today. We have several varied days to celebrate this Tuesday morning. Most importantly is National Pi Day and I think you can figure out why. 3.14! I'll let the mathematicians rhapsodize about it all. I rather like National Potato Chip Day myself. You can't eat just one. And then Learn About Butterflies Day. I know we'll have a nice discussion about that later on. Another life quote this time by Gershwin. I don't know about Paleo but we did fix meatloaf for dinner last night. Let's see what Debbie @dfishtells us about the Paleo version. Today's drink is a classic and the wine is from Tuscany. I'll pass on both. Thanks to the food and beverage ladies for all their research to enlighten us on the food, drink and wine. Thanks also to Vanessa @JazzyVwho is the keeper of lists. I pray all on the Care list improve. For all the disaster areas across the globe, we pray for you all as well. As to the celebrations, those bring a smile to our face. Happy cruising! Happy birthday wishes go to Brenda @bennybear and my DB. He turns 70 today! The port today is Penneshaw (Kangaroo Island), South Australia which is a repeat from July 15, 2022. I have not been there before and have no photos to bore you with today. 😉 If you'd like to go back to that date to retrieve your own photos, please do. We appreciate it! I'm going down to the treadmill shortly, then after breakfast I'm supposed to go the gym. I'd better get motivated! Welcome home to Graham @grapau27and Pauline @Paw13. I know your birthday week trip was a tremendous success. Hoping all here have a terrific Tuesday!

Today is Learn about Butterflies Day, National Potato Chip Day, and National Pi Day Life is a lot like jazz... it's best when you improvise. - George GershwinMeal Suggestion for today - Paleo MeatloafDrink of the Day - Old FashionedWine of the Day - Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore, Tuscany, Italy 2015Destination of the Day - Kangaroo Island, Penneshaw, South Australia Eurodam Fort Lauderdale, Port Everglades, Florida 07:00 - 16:00 Koningsdam Fakarava Atoll, Tuamotus French Polynesia 08:00 - 17:00 Nieuw Amsterdam At Sea Destination Willemstad, Curacao eta 3/15 Nieuw Statendam Puerto Plata-Amber Cove, Dominicana 08:00 - 17:00 Oosterdam At Sea Destination Port Stanley, East Falkland Island eta 3-15 Rotterdam At Sea Destination Puerto Plata-Amber Cove, Dominicana eta 3/15 Volendam St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands 10:00 - 18:00 Zaandam At Sea Destination Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico Riviera eta 3-15 Zuiderdam Cape Town, South Africa 07:00 ArriveEastern Hemisphere Noordam At Sea Destination Fiordland National Park, New Zealand eta 3-17 Westerdam Kobe-Osaka, Kyoto, Japan 12:00 Arrive Sandi for Rich and Roy

I'll be there. In addition to these three BHB's my friends are leaving on Sky Princess and I promised I'd watch for them.

Next up is Saturday March 18, 2023. Still time to edit your post.