StLouisCruisers

A new thread about an explosion this morning on the Nieuw Statendam. Terrible news! The original poster got it wrong. It's the Nieuw Amsterdam. Quote: "It’s actually on Nieuw Amsterdam. I’m onboard now At about 9 am the fire alarms and crew alert went off. The captain came on and indicated we had a steam leak and they were evacuating some crew cabins above the engine rooms. At about 10:15 they gave the all clear. At about 3, the Captain came on and said two crew members had been killed. Some of the crew say they were inspecting a steam line when it exploded. We are being held in half moon cay pending coast guard investigations."

+1. May his memories give you comfort and peace. Absolutely gorgeous garden, and I've wished for years to see it someday. Thank you for sharing.

I am sad to hear of Kate's cancer diagnosis and send my prayers up for her, too. 🙏 I've been thinking for weeks that I wish everyone would get "off her case" about staying in the background since her abdominal surgery. They should have just left her alone, and I hope some of the conspiracy theorists are ashamed of themselves for spreading rumors about her. She's entitled to her privacy as all of us are.

Good morning friends! This morning the temp is 55F with a high of only 60 expected and rain moving in by noon. Why does it rain every Friday here?? Thanks Jacqui @kazu and Roy @rafinmd for today's Fleet Report and Daily as well as the fleet locations maps. I would like to feel young every day, enjoy daffodils, and goof-off occasionally. 🙂 The quote is nice and I would enjoy the cake but can't say that's a meal! I'd better eat something else first. No thank you to the pineapple mojito or Cabernet Sauvignon. Interesting facts about this day in history. Thanks to our F&B ladies for their reports today - Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard. Prayers said while walking this morning for all our Care list people, DB, great nephew Alex's twin boys, Scott, Susan and Sandy, the people of Israel and Ukraine, the hostages being kept from their families, and our men and women in uniform in the region. There was quite a list of Daily friends when I said all your names during prayers. 🙏 I wish the best for all of you! Cheers to all on the Celebration list, anyone with a special event to celebrate, and all the cruisers. Seems like more are gone than are here some days! 😀 Thanks to our C&C reporter Vanessa @JazzyV for your hard work keeping up the lists. Prayers for your return to health ASAP and good luck at your neurosurgeon visit.🙏 Our destination today is Falmouth, Jamaica, an alternative to Ocho Rios and Montego Bay. I haven't been there before because the last time we had it scheduled on a cruise they switched to O.R. This was our port only once before last year on May 17, 2023. Here's the link for your convenience in retrieving your photos. Not sure what we will do today though I should do some dusting and vacuuming. DD is coming down on Sunday to spend the night and then she will drive on down to Clearwater to spend some time with her DD Morgan. It is spring break week for DD's school district. I have done nothing to prepare for a guest but will have that rectified by Sunday. I know I will do more stitching today for sure. Meanwhile, I hope everyone has a good start to their weekend. Stay safe and keep well!

Prayers for Allen that the MOHS surgeon can help. I hope tomorrow is a better day all around.

Debbie, from what he says he should use more moisturizer because she says he doesn't use a sufficient amount. (BTW, that's what I would tell him, too!) Also she recommended laundry detergent for sensitive skin, fragrance free. No brand mentioned. She said the Dove for men soap he uses now is okay. We used to use a discontinued brand which contained cocoa butter so I wonder if that has something to do with it, too. He complained of itchy scalp on the back of his head and she apparently called in a prescription for something (shampoo? lotion?) because there was a call from Walgreens a few hours later. Guess we'll find out what it is when we pick it up. This is all taken from what he told me because I wasn't in the examination room with him.

DH and I did well today at the dermatologist's office. His skin is too dry so she made recommendations for that. Thankful for nothing major this time.

It starts at 8 pm so you should see it. Hope the weather is good for you. An absolutely wonderful experience.

Good morning friends! Today it's 46, and will be 75 with partly cloudy skies predicted. Once again rain is expected for our Friday and possibly even Saturday. I guess we'll discover whether the roof repairs hold up. They'd better! This morning we are heading to our dermatologist for our annual check ups. Fingers crossed nothing needs biopsied or frozen! Thank you Jacqui @kazu and Roy @rafinmd for the Fleet Report and Daily as well as the fleet location maps. Interesting that Volendam will be at Bora Boar today! 🤣 I know some incredible kids, probably won't celebrate Big Bang, and am happy to hear there might be some companies that care still left in this world. To the quote I say, really?? So many slow cooker menu suggestions. They save people time and energy so that's important. I pass on the drink but would try the rosé. More nice days in history. Thanks Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope, and Ann @cat shepard for your food and beverage reports. Prayers said this morning for all our Care list people. Let's try to whittle that list down! I hope for improvement for you all. Prayers also for DB, great nephew Alex's twin boys, friends Scott, Susan and Sandy, the people of Israel and Ukraine, the hostages still held, and our military members in harm's way in the region. Prayers and condolences to the Pennsylvania family who lost so many members in the fire there. Such a major tragedy.🙏 Three cheers for the Celebration list people and the cruisers! 🥂 Hurray for Brenda's DS doing a great job on his master's defense yesterday! 👏 Thanks go to Vanessa @JazzyV for the list keeping today. Praying for an answer to keeping your pain away. The port today is Salerno, Italy. It sounds like somewhere I've been but didn't see it in my records. This is another new port so no links for you today. Hopefully you have some photos of what is undoubtedly another beautiful Italian port of call. I hope you all enjoy a great Thursday, and remember to stay safe and keep well! Sorry I'm not present as much as before but I have a mission to complete my cross stitch stocking in record time. Making good progress!🪡

Good morning friends! This Wednesday morning our temp is 40 at the moment but it shows it could drop as low as 37 before it's all said and done this A.M. High will be 70 though with a mix of sun and clouds. Not too shabby. Thanks Jacqui @kazu and Roy @rafinmd for posting the Fleet Report and Daily as well as the fleet location maps for Rich @richwmn today. Astrology Day and International Day of Happiness are nice to recognize, but Dogs in Yellow? Apparently it's for anxious dogs. A very smart quote from Benjamin Franklin. No thanks to the quiche, drink or wine. Interesting days in history. Thank you to Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope, and Ann @cat shepard for those reports each day! Prayers said for my DB, Great Nephew Alex's twin boys, friends Scott, Susan and Sandy. Special prayers for those at war in Israel and Ukraine, the hostages who need to come home, and the military members in danger in the region. Prayers also said for all on our Care list and it seems to grow larger every day.🙏 Best of luck today to those seeking answers like Jacqui, Pennie, Ann's DD, Elizabeth, Vanessa, Annie and Chuck. 🤞 Best wishes to Brenda's DS at his master's defense today. Congratulations to anyone with a special event to celebrate and all those on cruises or preparing for one!🚢🎂 Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for the list keeping! The destination is Ile de Mayotte, French Comoros, Comoros. From what I understand this refers to the island of Mayotte. We haven't had that particular name shown, but we have had the port of Mamoudzou before on Sept. 4, 2022 and Nov. 29, 2023. I can show those links just in case they are helpful. Another destination missed due to Covid cancellations! I hope all of you have a great day and please try to stay safe and keep well.

I know! I guess the white rabbits need lots of carrots. And this from the child who hates vegetables!😄

Good morning friends! It's 32F and it will be a sunny day with a high of 60. Spring begins at 11:06 pm tonight. DD took down the St. Patrick's Day tree and put up the Easter/Spring tree. I'll post photos at the end of this post.🐰 Thanks go to Jacqui @kazu and Roy @rafinmd for today's Daily and Fleet Report as well as the maps. I recognize the good work of certified nurses, international clients who help make our businesses a success and would love to have someone read to me. Another twisted Oscar Wilde quote. I'm sure someone will enjoy the chicken dish with polenta. Long Island Iced Teas are pretty potent aren't they? Not a fan of chardonnay unfortunately. Good info on the days in history. Thank you Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope, and Ann @cat shepard for the great reporting each day. Prayers for our Care list people and I do like to mention you all by name. Also for the people at war in Israel and Ukraine, and their hostages still held, plus for the safety of our troops in the region. And certainly for DB, great nephew Alex's twin boys, my friends Scott and Susan, and for Bob's widow Sandy. She is struggling with all the paper work for pension problems and the life insurance people. They all just want you to get frustrated and go away, don't they? So many prayers and I hope for improvement in all situations!🙏 Cheers to our folks celebrating happy events like birthdays 🎂 and anniversaries and to all who are cruising or preparing to. 🚢 Enjoy! Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for the Care and Celebration list keeping. Wonderful job every day. I hope your pain issues can be addressed again before things get too bad. The port of the day is Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was our port before on June 19, 2022. I have missed that port before due to various reasons, Covid cancellation being one of them. Here is the link for your convenience in retrieving your photos. Thanks in advance! This morning we have our roofer coming over once the frost on the roof is gone to replace the boots around the vent pipes up there. Apparently they don't last forever so best to get that done before total failure. I hope you all have a successful day. Stay safe and keep well. Here's the latest celebration tree. Sorry Debbie about the carrots!

Vanessa, I'm sorry you still have some sleeping problems caused by the leg pain. They really need to find a fix for your nerve issue. I'm glad you get a chance to see the UK friends and hope that sitting in the theater isn't too painful today. This has really affected your every day existence and I'm sure you want your old life back. I hope you can get the IPad working properly soon. I guess I should leave those daylilies covered for a few nights due to freezing temperatures. But last year they didn't get uncovered and most didn't even show up for the one week of blooming they normally do the first week of June. Sigh. I sure didn't choose them, that's for sure. The strangest thing happened last night at 8:00. I was sitting here with the TV on doing stitching I guess. I looked up and saw a box on my screen saying Tune to Call the Midwife? or something to that effect. Normally it doesn't do that - only when there are about 5 different programs/movies etc. programmed at the same time. It can only handle so many shows at one time. But there was only Call the Midwife and one other thing recording. If it hadn't shown that box on the screen I wouldn't even have known it was recording it. I immediately texted my twin and said Hey, Call the Midwife is on now! and she texted back in a split second saying Thanks! Ha! Ha! One thing that put a smile on my face and made me happy on Act Happy Day is a text I got this morning from DGD Morgan. She said only 1 week after moving in and she already feels such a dramatic difference in her overall happiness and how she lives her life. She said she's so so thankful for being able to move. 🤍 Well, we're thankful that she's no longer anxious and unhappy. Priceless!

Can't really do that this trip. It will be fine.🙂

Jacqui, we plan on taking the laptop anyway so it's no problem at all. I'll begin on April 18th and do through the 5th. If you need help earlier than the 18th, or a day to get back to normal after the cruise, I can do the 6th too. You shouldn't worry about posting during your trip at all. Roy @rafinmd you can continue the fleet location maps if you don't mind. You do it better with the ship names and all. Thank you! If I should run into any Wi-Fi problems it would be nice to have an email address for Roy or a cell number to text. Roy, could you email me with some contact info at my screen name @ yahoo.com ? I have Vanessa's email but hate to burden her with an extra chore. Chances are all will work 100% perfect! We want all our Dailyites to enjoy their cruises without worry.

Pennie @Nickelpenny that was very sweet of your cat sitter to give you the paw print to remember Martina by. I'm not surprised at all the tears - I would too. Actually we all would! Jacqui @kazu could you give me the dates you need me to substitute for your Daily posting again? Sometime in mid April to May 5th or 6th is all I can remember. We will drive to Tampa/Clearwater for Morgan's graduation weekend on May 2nd but don't need to leave at an unnaturally early hour so I can easily do that and pack up the laptop to leave. Our Airbnb has Wi-Fi so I will be able to post while there and don't have to drive home early on the 6th so could post before we go if needed. Her graduation ceremony is the 5th. Just need to know your away dates again. When we get home from that weekend we have three days to finish packing and preparing for our cruises. And that includes a hair appointment and getting a rental car for the drive down to Fort Lauderdale on May 10. I'd better get a lot done ahead of time. 😜

I went to Ashdod in 2014 on our Holy Land cruise on the Prinsendam. It was our first voyage on Holland America and it was Black Sea and Holy Land B2B. We were originally booked on the Ocean Princess to go to the Black Sea and the Holy Land but due to political unrest that year Princess cancelled Egypt ports and most of the Black Sea ports and just substituted Greek Isles ports instead. So we cancelled them and took a chance on the Prinsendam, and loved it! In Ashdod on October 26, 2014 we immediately left the port for our drive to Jerusalem. I only have a few photos around the ship of the tugs, etc. However the countryside of Israel is very nice. Arriving at an overlook of the city of Jerusalem we stopped to listen to our guide and take in the view. According to my notes we next stopped at the Church of All Nations, also known as the Basilica of the Agony. It's a Roman Catholic church located on the Mount of Olives next to the Garden of Gethsemane. The church has beautiful murals on its facade. The olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane are many hundreds of years old. Seen off to the side and on the hillside slightly above the Basilica of the Agony, is the Church of St. Mary Magdalene. This is one of Jerusalem's most picturesque sights due to its seven gilded onion domes, each topped by a tall Russian Orthodox cross. Interior of the Basilica including the high altar overlooking a large slab of rock, which is said to be the very rock on which Jesus prayed in agony on the night of his betrayal. I borrowed this photo of the rock because mine was blurry. We got on the bus to move on to view the Catholic Cemetery, but I got this photo of the Basilica and the Church of St. Mary Magdalene from the road next to the cemetery. Gives you a good perspective. Taken through the bus window though. The Catholic Cemetery And here is the Tower of David, Jerusalem's citadel, located near the Jaffa Gate on the western side of the old city wall. Continuing on in Jerusalem, we got off the bus and walked through the Jaffa Gate, walking past stalls and shops. Entrance to a convent. Very well worn stone pathways. There was a huge gift shop we were allowed to look around in for some time but I stayed outside most of the time taking photos of fountains and small stalls. From there we walked to the Holy Sepulchre Church which is believed to be the site where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried. Inside the Church we saw the Crucifixion Altar and the Tomb of Jesus We continued on with the tour for several more hours and I have a lot more photos but wanted to cut to the end where we went to the Wailing Wall (also known as the Western Wall). The area was divided with women on one half and men on the other. From there we walked back through a different gate to our bus and the drive back to our new home away from home, the Prinsendam. There really is too much to see and learn about on these tours so it is somewhere we should try to visit again. It was the same way in Haifa when we went to Nazareth and the Jordan River. I recommend a Holy Land cruise to everyone. Note: the above comment was made by me in 2021 and it seems it will be a long time before we can go back. My cruise there late in 2024 has cancelled Israeli ports, so we must wait, it seems.

Good morning friends! Today it's 47F bright and early, and we will have partly cloudy to sunny skies at various times today with a high of only 60. Tonight the temps will plunge to the freezing range. Hopefully new growth won't be damaged and stall our spring flowering. Sometime soon I need to get outside and find the daylily growth and uncover it from the piles of pine straw thrown out there Friday by the crews. Nasty looking stuff and I'm not a fan of this southern custom. Thank you Jacqui @kazu and Roy @rafinmd for the Daily and Fleet Report as well as the fleet location maps. And thanks to Rich @richwmn for collecting and storing all the info for easy retrieval. Well, I'd say all the days today are good ones. We all like being and acting happy. Recycling around the world is a plus for the environment. And the Goddess of Fertility brings to mind my great nephew and his wife who are super parents and awaiting a set of identical twin boys. May their beloved first set rest in peace. The quote today is fun but true. Yum! Pot roast and fork tender makes it even better. I would probably pass on the drink and wine. All excellent days in history for this date. Thank you Food and Beverage ladies Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for the reports today! Prayers were said very early today for my DB, great nephew Alex's twin boys, friends Scott and Susan, the people under hardship in Israel and Ukraine, the hostages still alive and held, the men and women of our military on bases and ships in the region, and our dear friends here on the Daily Care list.🙏 I hope for improvement for you all each day. Three cheers to everyone with celebrations at hand and cruises to enjoy!🎉🚢🎂 Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for the list keeping! Praying you have a very good week! The destination today is Ashdod, Jerusalem, Israel. We enjoyed photos and discussions on Ashdod on April 29, 2021, October 25, 2022, and November 21, 2023. I've only had the pleasure of seeing this port and the environs once in 2014 on Prinsendam. My next trip there this Nov.-Dec. was cancelled after the tragedy in Israel last October. 😢 Who knows if I will make it there again? Anyway here are the links for you and photos will come after. I'm making very good progress on the Christmas stocking, and plan to take it with me on my May-July cruise to work on. I hope I haven't neglected you all due to working on it. And last night I found that Call the Midwife was back on my PBS station so just HAD to watch that. Keeping busy here! Hope you all have a great Monday, and please try to stay safe and keep well!

Bon Voyage! Sounds like fun!

Busily working on my cross stitching and some laundry but want to repost the St. Patrick's Day celebration tree. Thanks for the link to Father David's sermon today Graham @grapau27. ☘️

What a fun idea! I'm Smiling Sparkly Pants and DH is Dreamy McNaughty!!☘️ Thank you Gerry @ger_77!

Nancy, thanks for pointing out the story of the NM State Trooper. What a terrible thing to happen. They need to throw the book at that murderer. Prayers for the trooper's family. 🙏😢 Debbie, add me to the list of carrot lovers. Your recipes today look good and I rarely eat corned beef. DH likes it though. Annie, so sorry to hear about the keyboard bath, and the taxes too. I hope your boss is generous with his gift! I so agree about the news people. Hope you enjoy your St. Paddy's Day!

Good idea Jake! I hope you get to see English Harbour in person. Really a beautiful sight.

I was typing it up as you asked. Hope it helps!

For those who want to look for particular posts on certain dates, go to the general Holland America Line thread first page where you would find today's Daily for instance. At the top where the page numbers are, look to the right where it says Sort By. There are page numbers from 1 to 5102 at the moment. This number rises each day as new posts are created. Click on the down arrow and put a number in the box. For 2020 you have to go back a good bit so start around 500. Then when you see the dates there you can go up or down until you find the date you want, like when Dixie just asked for Sept. 1, 2020. In a short time you should be able to find Rich's Daily with that date. Click on that post and begin your journey back in time to all we discussed that day. You'll find so much you had forgotten! The post for Sept. 1, 2020 was on page 519.