StLouisCruisers

Gerry, we missed you! Welcome home. I would love to run into you and Joy plus your DH's on a cruise someday! So happy to hear the drink runners are back.🥂

Just got a correction to the surgery date for Rudy. It will be Monday. Meanwhile, hope he's comfortable till then. Glad you were able to get up and do the Daily posting today Roy. Your symptoms coming back at a specific time of day is really strange. Take care!

Bon Voyage to you all! Looks like a good cruise.

Good morning friends! Another cold 30F morning but we can look forward to sunshine and about 50 with wind gusts of up to 15 mph. Yesterday we had a brutally cold wind...brrrr! A great day to honor Holocaust Remembrance Day. I had to punch a clock when I briefly worked at Proctor and Gamble in St. Louis before I got married. It was very old school there including having a switchboard operator seated at the entrance to the offices. They tried to train some of the clerical staff (including me) how to work the switchboard so the operator could take breaks/lunch. I'm sure several of us just continually disconnected calls though!😄 I absolutely love chocolate cake.🎂 I am certainly not a big wig, nor do I wear one. I like the Gandhi quote, and will be interested to see the falafal stuffed pepper recipe. No to the drink or Chardonnay. Our port today is Hualien, Taiwan which has been listed here twice before. I have no photos from Hualien but here are Rich's links to Dec. 17, 2021 and Oct. 20, 2022 when we may have had photos posted. Prayers said this morning for all on the Care list (especially Jacqui, Kathi, Tana, and Sarah), and our Ukrainian citizens fighting for their lives and country. Also our neighborhood was notified yesterday that our neighbor Rudy (one of the original homeowners on this street) had a heart attack Tuesday night. I emailed his wife and expressed our warm thoughts and prayers for Rudy and she said he will have bypass surgery today at an Atlanta hospital so please add him and his surgical staff to your prayers today. Funny story about them. Once we were on a Princess ship (Diamond?) and stopped to glance at the photo albums they had on display in the Photo Department. Right there in a display album was a lovely photo of Rudy and his DW!! What are the chances? I emailed them and told them about it and they said they'd been on that ship about 3 months earlier. Small world! Cheers to all on the Celebration list. Hope it's a great day for you all, and the cruises are uneventful. Wild news about the Noordam breaking loose from its lines in Auckland yesterday as @erewhonreported. Glad to hear all is well now though. That could be a dangerous event. Here are Rich's posts for Hualien photos: Caio!

Not your fault, it happens to all of us. Sometimes it seems like if someone else is posting at that moment it blips or something.

Jacqui, unfortunately we cancelled the 10/10/23 Grand Africa on Zuiderdam today so could you delete it? DH has found he doesn't enjoy cruises of that length post Covid. Who knows, things may improve in the future. Fingers crossed!

Have a great one!

We recently stayed in 1838 on Volendam and it had the wonderful full size shower. Unfortunately I believe our next cruise on Zaandam will have the slippery bathtub instead of the shower only.

Frustrating, isn't it? If only we knew what caused it! I'm sorry to hear about the basal cell, especially on the eyelid. You're on my prayer list! That is a really severe dust storm! We had beige skies while in The Gambia and Senegal but it didn't affect us like your storm did. I don't know how the locals handle it! I'm sorry to hear about the setback for your husband and hope they get him back on track soon. That's a serious infection. Sending good thoughts to your husband for his future eye surgery. Hope you all enjoy that family cruise. I really cherish having our family come along. Very pretty! Well, my eyes were opened driving to the other side of town to my hairdresser's shop. I drove straight through town instead of the outskirts like we do to get to Krogers. There was major destruction all along the way from the tornadoes. Trees cut up and lying on the side of the road, houses with tarps on the roof, houses with holes in them from the trees falling on them, cars smashed, fences flattened, and entire blocks with all the trees gone! It was a mess! Unfortunately, most of the destruction was in the low income neighborhoods and probably a lot of the rental properties. I'm betting some of the landlords will just demo the homes and not rebuild. It was so sad to see. I hope some of these places can be brought back to normal or even better than before but I won't hold my breath waiting. 😳

Roy, happy to hear this morning you had a decent night. I hope you continue to have a good day.🤒

Jacqui @kazuOh my that is an unexpected result from your visit yesterday. I have heard of pins working their way out of a surgical site. DD said she had a sharp pain recently in her foot after surgery and I told her yesterday not to let that go. She should be seen also to make sure none of her hardware is working itself out. Mothers know best! LOL I just hope this is the last time that elbow needs extra work and that you start healing well now. I'm so sorry the May cruise is not going to happen! Hopefully you can plan another cruise to take its place.🙏

I don't know how people stay up so late into the night and function well the following morning! Or do they sleep till noon? My body clock isn't set up that way anymore! 😂 Hope Jacqui got some help with her arm pain yesterday. Anxiously awaiting word on the outcome! Hugs to her. (Just saw Jacqui posted so I will have to go back and read about it). Here's some more hugs {{{ @kazu }}} Debbie @dfishI just heard Dow Chemical is laying off 2,000 people (along with a lot of other companies). I hope they spread those layoffs around the country and it doesn't hurt Midland too badly. Definitely a major employer there.

Good morning friends! Thanks to John @Copper10-8for posting so early today and getting everyone off to a good start with all the funnies. Roy @rafinmdI'm happy you had a good night and thanks once again for the clear, sharp map showing the position of the ships. Great job! And thanks to our leader Rich @richwmnwho set it all up and is now able to enjoy his World Cruise! We are sitting at 36F this morning, expecting partly cloudy skies and a high of only 47. I am going out this morning to see my hairdresser and that's about it. Maybe I'll attempt to sort my photos for my Island Princess cruise last summer. Shutterfly switched things up a lot during the slow years of 2020 and 2021. Now I'm finding it harder to create my treasured cruise photo books. I'm going to push through and see what happens. Australia Day sounds like a good day to celebrate, as well as spouses. I never wear clashing clothes so that one I'll pass on. The soup dish sounds good so will be interested to see what Debbie @dfishhas to say. Another typical Marilyn Monroe quote!🤨 Today I said prayers for our Care list and people of Ukraine, Tana, Sarah (good luck today), Jacqui and Kathi, then I hopped on the treadmill. Now I can cheer on our Celebration list people. Port of the day is Punta del Este, Uruguay and that was posted once before on August 18, 2021. I have not been there, just Montevideo. I read it's a resort type city. Here is the link to the former posting for all who want to retrieve their photos. Hopefully we will see some. Have a safe and great day everyone!

It's such a shame! She's only slightly older than my own DD. Well, Tana couldn't have a better group of extended family to care for her. I know there is a lot of love in that family.❤️

She must have notified them of her whereabouts because they really zoomed in on her! Nice!

Last she reported is it's much better but will swell some after standing too long, so she puts the boot back on near the end of the school day. Hopefully that will pass soon. Those were hilarious Bruce! Thanks, I always appreciate a good hearty laugh.🤣 Tana is quite young still, right? If you don't mind me asking, how did she get PF (pulmonary fibrosis I believe that is)? It's so sad when the young adults like Tana and Patricia take ill like this. Thanks to all for your Kotor photos today. So many of us seem to enjoy it there. Isn't that water beautiful?

I'm seeing some tornado damage in SE Texas on the news and send my best wishes to all in that area. I hope it's just property damage and not loss of life there. Thanks, Graham. Keep us updated after her injection(s) tomorrow. I know she is appreciative of your and Pauline's support and help during this trying time. I hope the family improve rapidly so you all can go on that Disney cruise! We had great times on their ship (Dream) when we went with family. Very unique experience.

So a shelfie is a selfie! Got it! 📚

Jacqui @kazuWow, I'm really sorry you have to go back in for an emergency visit to have your elbow looked at again. Hopefully they can figure out what the problem is that's causing you so much discomfort. Prayers for good news and no more bad news for you! Carol @mamaofamiwhat a bummer that you can't find those glasses. Funny how they seem to grow legs and wander off! Good luck with the new pair!

Good morning friends! Well, it's a rainy dark morning, 51F and expected to rain for several more hours. High today will be 65. Looking at my weather app I see my family members in Missouri, Ohio and Michigan are having snow so I'm not gonna complain!! Thanks Roy @rafinmdfor posting the Daily today for Rich @richwmnwho is hopefully enjoying his World Cruise tremendously. Opposite Day is an interesting concept. We could do a lot with that. Library shelfie day brings to mind times spent in the school libraries volunteering my help. My kids didn't admit to it but I think they enjoyed having me at their schools most weeks. I don't drink any coffees but I hope everyone else can enjoy their Irish coffee this special day. The quote is quite funny. Will wait to see the stew, and no to the drink and wine. Prayers said this morning for our Care list, especially Sarah, Tana, Jacqui and Kathi. Extra prayers for Carolyn @Cruising-along's Patricia's family. May she RIP. Also want to remember the Ukrainians who are fighting for their lives and country. Also, the shooting victims in the news this week. What is wrong with people?? Congrats to all on the Celebration list. Enjoy your cruises travelers. Mine is coming up in a little over 2 weeks. Trying to figure out how to pack for 7 days since that doesn't happen often. We are not light packers! Today's port of Kotor, Montenegro is always a joy on a cruise. I could go there every year if given the chance. I hope you do get to see Kotor @Mr. Boston-- you will enjoy it immensely. Also hope you like cats! Kotor was our port of the day on May 17, 2022 and November 23, 2022 so here are the links to Rich's Dailies so we can all go back and get our photos. Here you go! Here are my photos. Sorry so many but I just can't stop taking pictures when I visit there! Kotor is another wonderful walled city that everyone should have a chance to see. We first went there in August, 2017 on the Westerdam. The second time was on the Pacific Princess in late November, 2018 so quite a difference in weather. It was rainy and cool that time. The third time was in June 2019 on a segment of our 50th anniversary Family Cruise. The family hadn't joined us yet but we can't just go to Europe for a week or 10 days! We had to add on to it. The weather was pretty that time, too. We got the coveted docking spot right across from the old City walls on Aug. 2017 on the Westerdam. You can see the old City of Kotor across from the ship in this shot, along with the activity going on below us. We got off and headed over to an entrance to the city. The first thing we ran into was this "couple" in front of a cute souvenir shop. Kotor's Old Town is full of centuries old palaces. This one is Bizanti Palace This one is Beskuca Palace This one is Buca Palace And this one is Pima Palace Here you see St. Tryphon Cathedral There are many narrow winding paths to follow here. The town is full of cats. In the past I've posted photos of the stairs with about 7 cats lounging on them. Here they are, photo taken in Nov. 2018. And here is the Cats of Kotor shop with a cat you have to step over to gain entrance. Looking upward on the hillside over the city, there is a path you can pay admission to take and see everything from way up there. We didn't go up there, but our tablemates did, and they sent me a photo taken from way up high. Here's their photo. For those afraid of heights, I apologize!! St. Lucas, Serbian Orthodox church Lots of stonework in this town I could go on all day Leaving Old Town we saw the dancers had arrived to entertain the crowds A little church on the walk up the mountain. The sailaway is just as pretty as the town, so don't miss it! If you haven't made it to Kotor yet, I hope it happens in the future. I could visit here every cruise and not tire of it.

I'm thinking the same way as you are. By the time the view arrives for the aft balconies it is gone in seconds.

Good morning friends! It's a very chilly 29F this morning and the sun is just rising I see. The sky is showing pink, peach and lavender colors right now. We will be sunny and 53 later. Thanks Roy @rafinmdfor posting Rich's Daily information each morning while he enjoys his World Cruise! @RedneckBob thanks for the beer can meme, but that should be AB cans. DH worked for Anheuser-Busch 29 plus years until he retired in 2008. They are now called Anheuser-Busch In-Bev. Booooo to that! I like to compliment others and appreciate any compliments that come my way. Wouldn't a good belly laugh feel good today? I'm hoping to hear something hysterically funny.🤣 The chili mac sounds great, no to the drink and another red wine to turn down. Thanks to everyone ( @dfish, @summer slopeand @cat shepard) for your food, drink and wine discussions every day.❤️ Prayers for our entire group and anyone else that needs them who may not be on the Care list presently. 🙏 Carolyn @Cruising-alongmy condolences to you and Patricia's other family members and friends on her loss. Her passing will leave a very big hole in the family. Hoping Sarah, Tana, Kathi and Jacqui are doing better. Anyone hear from Kathi @Scrapnana? Meanwhile cheers to those on the Celebration list. Enjoy your voyages, cruisers!🚢 Norfolk Island, Australia is one port there we haven't been to. It was posted September 10, 2021 as Cascade, Norfolk Island, Australia and here is the link to that date. However when I scrolled through I didn't see any photos posted then. If anyone new here has some photos to share, please do! Not a lot to chat about right now, but if anything EXCITING happens I will be sure to share. Not expecting anything but you never know! Have a great day!

What a gift to your family that layoff was! It sounds like everyone enjoyed his addition to the cruise immensely. Great memories!

Maureen @RMLincolnthank you for that wonderful post. Welcome and we hope to see you here often.

Terry, happy birthday wishes to you! Sharon, Patricia is Carolyn's @Cruising-along's family member, not mine. But I join you in prayers for that dear young woman and her loved ones. I haven't seen Gone With the Wind in ages, so it sounds like a fun afternoon. Happy Birthday Susan!! Charlene, thanks for your photos taken on the boat ride. Very cool that your DS could go along on that cruise.