StLouisCruisers

Bon Voyage Eveann!🥂

Good morning friends! It's 40F and will be a mostly sunny day with a high of only 48F. Tonight will be even colder than last night. I think we will go out for groceries today. I am hearing sirens somewhere nearby and hope nothing serious is happening in the neighborhood. Thanks for posting the Daily today Roy @rafinmdfor Rich @richwmn. Interesting days to celebrate. I love pie but don't have any here today. Haven't measured my feet in decades, like most people. My handwriting used to be good but not so much anymore. My late DS Nancy had beautiful handwriting her whole life. They actually taught us how to write cursive when our generation "came up". Not anymore from what I hear. I can't understand the reasoning on that. The London Broil sounds delicious. Odd quote today. No thanks to the drink and wine. Prayers said for all on the Care list today, while we celebrate with the happy folks on the Celebration list. Joy @Seasick Sailorwhat a cute monkey! I'm glad they got a photo for you. Much as you hate the cruising to end it will be good to be home for a bit to catch up on things. Then another cruise to look forward to! Yay! Uturoa, French Polynesia is where the Zuiderdam is today on the World Cruise. It's located in the Society Islands on the largest island Raiatea. Previously Raiatea, French Polynesia was our port of the day on Feb. 19, 2022 and May 29, 2022. Since Uturoa is the capital and only significant town on the island I think we can say today is the third time for that destination and hopefully all the WC passengers enjoy a lovely day there. We went there once on Maasdam in April 2017. Here are the links to retrieve photos everyone. On April 12, 2017 the Maasdam stopped in Uturoa, Raiatea, French Polynesia. This is what it looked like from the top deck of the ship that morning. This cheery group played and sang for us as we departed the ship. We went to that little cafe right next to the ship for something to drink and to try their wifi but unfortunately it was not working very well. It looked like you get do some type of excursion by taking a boat ride from here. Across the street was this tent with a crowd gathered so we went to see what was going on. More music and dancing! Everyone was having a good time After listening for a while we went into the adjoining building where the marketplace was. As we left the building we noticed our ship master, Captain van Dreumel had arrived for a Welcome to Raiatea ceremony. He was dressed appropriately for this island tradition. Where the dancing had gone on before, now everyone was seated and paying attention to the proceedings. It looked like the Captain received a plaque. After the ceremony we walked a few blocks around town just taking it all in. It's always fun to check out a grocery store! Shopping "kiosks" near the ship Lovely fabrics were for sale here. Nearing mid day it was getting too darn hot so we decided to board the ship. No wifi was found that morning, sad to say. But even worse, we saw an ambulance near the gangway taking a sick passenger away. This is not something you would like to experience so far away from home. I do hope they weren't too ill and made it back to the ship before we sailed. Next day would be Bora Bora and a wonderful time spent with Patrick at his motu.

Susan, what a shame about Bumble! I'm glad to hear the other 4 dogs were found in the first case. Good luck with all that snow. Hope your niece and family are safe and sound!🤞 Carolyn, I'm very sorry to hear the news is not better about Patricia. Prayers for the family as they wait for her passing. She's much too young. Her Dad's update was so sad. The photos are great of Astoria. Thank you. And thanks to you and those who wish Tyler a happy birthday. I don't know how he became grown so quickly.

Can you check on progress online? I looked it up and it says non-expedited passport renewals are taking 6 to 9 weeks and Nov. 30 is 7 1/2 weeks ago. That information was last updated Oct. 21, 2022 however. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/how-apply/processing-times.html

Bruce, hope you and Sue have a restful day fighting those cold symptoms. I guess the cold virus is here for the rest of eternity! Thanks for your genorosity in sending the rain to us but I see the retention pond to the side of the golf course is full of water already so I'll pass your rain on up to Annie up north! How you doing up there Annie?

Good morning friends on this soggy Sunday morning! I heard it raining heavily off and on all night long and now we expect the same for the rest of today. ⛈️ It's only 41 degrees and at the most will rise to 50. I'm looking forward to Monday and Tuesday because I see sunshine for those two days. Thanks Roy @rafinmdfor getting up early and posting Rich's @richwmn's Daily and Fleet Report. Interesting the Westerdam seems to have gone to drydock early in Singapore. Love today's quote by Anne Frank. Blonde brownies sound good, I have no cats to ask questions of, and would certainly come in from the cold (and wet) if I were outside. I doubt I step foot out the door actually! The menu suggestion sounds great. No thanks to the drink and wine (more left for you!). I will listen to Father David's sermon in a little bit. Thanks Graham @grapau27for posting the link. Hope you and Pauline have a lovely day, and give Sarah our best wishes. Good to hear she's feeling a little better!❤️ Prayers for her and the rest of our ailing Daily family. I hope that list is shorter soon and everyone gets well. Cheers to the Celebration list folks.🥂 Enjoy your cruises friends!🚢 Our port today is Astoria, Oregon which was last posted here a year ago on January 17, 2022 (MLK Day). I haven't been to Astoria, or even the state of Oregon before. Hmmm. Anyway, I'm sure that must be a stop on a Coastal cruise. Please show us your photos, and to make it easier here's the link to January 17, 2022 for you. Happy 25th birthday Tyler! 🎂 Have a wonderful day everyone.

Thank you for that information Larry, your brother Darryl and your other brother Darryl. Get it?😉

Nancy @ottahand7 that beef tenderloin did look good (and huge!). Also, a great reminder to all who donate blood to bring their donor cards with them because you can't donate onboard without it.

Pretty speedy for backing up I'd say.

I thought I heard some faint toots off in the distance a minute ago. Could it be a BHB?🙂

Three weeks from today we will be sailing on Sky Princess! I hope she leaves on time on that day, too.

Thanks Graham! That is very kind of you. My twin and DB and I were just chatting on WhatsApp about Grandpa's special birthday. His name was Roy! Hard to believe DGS will be 25 tomorrow. I can remember many stories of his early years since I tried to visit every month or so, even though we lived in another state. For instance as a baby (6 to 12 months) he would stop whatever he was doing when DD's soap opera music came on and just stare at the TV screen like he was in a trance. Nothing else intriqued him like that. It might have been Days of our Lives. It was hilarious!😄 Thanks Graham. I hope you and Pauline have visited Cannes or St. Paul de Vence before. It was great!

On October 15, 2013 we went back to Cannes on our Royal Princess Maiden Transatlantic cruise. That time we got a tour to St. Paul de Vence which is a charming medieval walled village located on a hilltop. Arriving at the entrance to the city A very cool sidewalk Beautiful walkways a restful cemetery Beautiful bunches of lavender I really enjoy touring these small villages Keeping it clean! I'd eat here, wouldn't you? A very interesting statue I'd recommend a visit to St. Paul de Vence sometime when you're in Cannes.

In 2012 On Dec. 7 we arrived for the first time in Cannes, France on Crown Princess. It was cold that day but not THIS cold! Someone had added the snow to these trees, for a holiday effect. We walked along the waterfront gazing at the many boats in the harbor. Obviously it looks like a prosperous small town considering the rich and famous love to come here for the film festival, and the nice summer weather on the Mediterranean. A clocktower I loved the whimsical mural on the side of this building. We walked up a hill for a view of the city. Another interesting mural. Looks a little blurry to me. We didn't ride on this train but you could if you wanted to sightsee and have walking problems. Back down at the bottom of the hill Looking in a bakery window. Quite the display. Next post will be our second time in Cannes less than one year later.

Good morning friends! It's 40F, cloudy and a high of 53 expected. Rain begins this evening around 9 pm and into tomorrow. Since it was so nice out yesterday afternoon, (and because DH saw our neighbor doing it) DH decided we should prune our crape myrtle tree. We spent a couple of hours with him on a stepladder cutting each branch down to wherever I was pointing. Then we had to cut the branches into small pieces to put in the bin for pick up. This was after we drove to a nearby town to go to a shared branch of our credit union for some cash in different denominations, then stopped at Walmart for some things. They were out of half the things on the list. So I didn't spend much time on Cruise Critic yesterday. It's hard to catch up after a busy day away from the internet. I got a big hug for helping with the tree debris yesterday. No way do I appreciate squirrels! They drive us crazy with our pin oak tree having so many acorns. Up and down constantly and digging holes in the lawn to bury them all! I have no one liners unfortunately. The quote is a good one, the menu suggestions sounds decent, no to the drink and wine. Today our port is Cannes, France which is a first timer on the Daily. That means no link to a past post by Rich, and everyone has to search for photos instead of copying and pasting them here. I'll be back later with mine. Thanks go to Rich @richwmnand Roy @rafinmdfor the Daily and Fleet Report, and to Roy for his Care and Celebration lists. Prayers were said for everyone before the treadmill workout. I hope we get some better news on all the sick folks we know! Cheers to the Celebration people!🥂 Today I'm celebrating the 125th anniversary of my dear grandpa's birth in 1898. Then 100 years and 1 day later my first grandchild was born so tomorrow is the firstborn DGS's 25th birthday. Happy birthday tomorrow to him!🎂❤️ Back with photos of Cannes, France. Have a great day!

For all those penguin lovers out there!

Good morning friends! It's 43F and partly cloudy today and we will reach approximately 56. Thanks to Rich @richwmn and Roy @rafinmdfor our Daily and Fleet Report. That's a funny quote! The buttercrunch sounds tasty, love cheese and adore penguins. 🐧 If it has tofu in it I will probably skip that dish. Yes to the wine! Prayers to the Care list. There are so many in need of them including Carolyn's @Cruising-along2nd cousin Patricia, Sarah, Tana, Jacqui and Kathi. The people of Ukraine have had an awful time the last 11 months so more prayers for them. Cheers to our Celebration list people. Hope all are enjoying themselves on their cruises.🚢 Today's port is Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and it was listed here once before on Oct. 19, 2022. Puerto Vallarta is a great little city and we've enjoyed our 3 visits there. 2006 on the old Regal Princess, 2015 on Ruby Princess, and 2016 on Westerdam. My photos are after Rich's link. On March 29, 2016 we were on a Westerdam Panama Canal cruise and had a nice day ahead of us in Puerto Vallarta. Here is our welcome committee. Did you notice this lady hugging a donkey? We got off the ship and got right on a local bus to the scenic downtown area. The Malecon still appeared empty. But the performers on the 50 foot pole (they are called Voladores de Papantla) were already out and we were impressed by their performance. We walked around looking at all the statues placed there. Views up the streets of this colorful neighborhood. Here is the beautiful Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe It was too early for lunch so we took a walk over the Rio Cuale to Old Town using the hanging bridge. Nice shopping over there. Time to head to Pipi's for lunch. Here we are at Pipi's We did a very similar route with the same activites in 2015 on Ruby Princess but you don't need to see similar photos from that trip. We had quite an enjoyable day there. I highly recommend visiting Puerto Vallarta if you can.

Ray, just keep it stored somewhere because sure enough your friend, neighbor, wife or innumerable relatives will need one sooner or later. My DD borrowed a knee scooter for foot surgery/injuries from her friend and said it is in constant use because so many people need it in their community. She's lucky she was able to use it for a few weeks because her friend said everybody she knew was requesting it.🤷‍♀️

Did you notice different colors have different prices? I wouldn't need a particular color so would choose one of the cheaper priced ones. Going to show to DH and see if he'd like to pick one up.

I'll be checking this out so thanks for the link. Looks interesting! Sharon, I'll check this one out, too. I'm glad it's helping you out especially with the arthritis. Carolyn @Cruising-alongI am so very sorry to hear of the latest health crisis for your 2nd cousin. Prayers the news from the doctors isn't as bad as they first thought and strength for the family members. Good to hear your opinion, too, Susan.

@Sharon in AZand @Cruising-along, can one of you tell me what the name and manufacturer of the can opener is? I should look that up in case our manual one starts giving us problems. It's fine right now but if one of us had an accident and became one-handed for a while, or arthritis in hands became a problem, we could use something like you mentioned. Thanks! Also I wanted to mention itsy-bitsy spiders can cause smoke detectors to go off, so cleaning them with the brush attachment on vacuum cleaners is an excellent way to get rid of them or their webs as was mentioned before.🕸️🕷️

Sorry to hear your DH needs surgery on his eye but at least it will be soon and you guys can get it over with. Hope it corrects that problem for him. And good luck with the new campaign! Thanks for straightening out the differences between the two cancers. They do sound a lot alike.

I have no experience with Nieuw Amsterdam but I like to use the deck drag feature of cruisedeckplans.com. Here is a link to that page. https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/dragdeck.php?ship=Nieuw-Amsterdam&zoom=1 Just click on the cabin in question, slowly drag that deck to the deck above it and line up the stairs or elevators to make sure you are locating it properly. Looks like J1031 is right near the Billboard pianos like you said. The J1063 is under Queens Lounge and Culinary Arts Center as well as being connecting. I have no idea what they use that area for nowadays. Hopefully someone else has some ideas for you. Good luck!

In 2014, we visited Kusadasi twice on the Prinsendam. Here is what we did on one of those visits. We walked up the big hill to the statue at the top. That was unique. the statue on top of the hill nice view!

Congratulations @Mr. Bostonon your upcoming retirement! I'll drink to that!🥂 On the other hand Jacqui @kazuwhat a bummer to have to be in that cast for at least 3 more weeks. Maybe next visit he will put a splint on it which is better tolerated. Pretty color though!🙂