StLouisCruisers

Wonderful itineraries! Have the time of your lives!

Good for you Terry! Love the PJ's and wonder where the puppy's pajamas are?? Elf!!

Good afternoon, Today is our last day in Ohio and we leave in the morning early for home. For Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser the dates for tomorrow's port of the day's prior postings are October 2, 2021 and May 24, 2022. The fastest way to find the links are to look at the top of the HAL page right above the first sticky note. It should say page 1 of 5065. Click on the dropdown arrow and put the page number you want to start looking for your dates. In this case today October 2, 2021 should be on page 394 or thereabouts. The number changes as more topics are started each day. You can find May 24, 2022 on or about page 296. Hope this helps cut some time in your searching. If you'd like to post my photos tomorrow the best place would be on the May 24, 2022 and it is post #16. The first date I had more than one post and the second date is a combination of them all. Thank you for your help since we won't get home until mid to late afternoon after the FUN of suburban and downtown Atlanta traffic! A real good mood killer. We went out to lunch today with our DD and DGDs, plus the fiance of our eldest DGD Ashley. We enjoyed chatting and some good Chick-fil-A chicken as well. Here's a photo taken outside of us with the girls after lunch. I told the girls they should stand up straight, tall and proud even while taking photos with us shrimps. I guess they don't want us to feel bad! LOL From yesterday here's a photo of DGD Morgan with Milo. Morgan was the one robbed at gunpoint Saturday morning in Tampa, poor baby. And not to leave out Sadie here are Sadie and Milo crowding onto DSIL's lap yesterday. Sadie's napping so I can't take another photo of her right now.

Good luck today Roy. I'm sorry to hear of the recent flare up and hope the radiation takes care of it promptly.

I'm happy some of you enjoy seeing photos of places you've not seen before or have plans to in the future. Graham @grapau27 you and Pauline might enjoy a Panama Canal cruise if you haven't been on one because of the hot weather, and opportunities to see some of the Caribbean islands you may not have seen before.

Next they drove us to go shopping at Las Bovedas, known as the "Dungeons". It contains rows of handicraft stalls. I have to admit I'm not much of a shopping enthusiasist. Next we walked through the walled city to see the colonial homes, churches and squares. I love seeing the unique architecture of the old cities. So pretty! I could do this type of tour all day. This is one reason we try to do our own walking tours when the ship docks close to the Old Towns. Not true in this case. Interior of a small church. I love this woman's outfit After this cruise the show Amazing Race included a stop in Cartagena and the task for the teams included finding some of these colorful bags with clues in them. How exciting to realize I'd recently been there too. There's so many pictures! I think I must stop now before you have overload! I hope you enjoyed my pics of Cartagena!

We visited today's port of Cartagena in 2016 on Westerdam, which was only our second HAL cruise. We took a tour that day so got to visit quite a few spots around the town. Here's the ship at dock as we left for our tour. There is an aviary outside the gates next to the parking lot. Interesting! Our first stop was at the Convento de la Popa, a 400 year old monastery built on the foundations of a razed Indian temple. It sits on a 500 foot hill. Our guide This is a rather chilling statue of a speared Padre Alonso Garcia de Paredes, a priest who was murdered along with five Spanish soldiers for trying to spread the good word. The view out the window. Moving on to our next stop we were given views of the poor neighborhoods many people lived in. But a little paint goes a long way We parked alongside the next stop where the vendors tried to catch our eye. A view of the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, a fortification built by the Spanish to protect the city from pirate attacks. The tour did not go inside which was fine. Flat Stanley was along with us this trip so I can't forget about his photos. This was for our grandson who had to report at the end of the school year about everything Flat Stanley did that year. The rest of the tour of the city is coming up next.

Good morning friends! It's 53 and cloudy (and very dark) in Ohio. We will have a chance of rain this afternoon and a high of about 57. ☔ Thank you Jacqui @kazu for posting the Fleet Report and Daily this morning for Rich @richwmn. Good wishes to all who celebrate Kwanzaa this week. Also for those who celebrate Boxing Day I hope you enjoy it even if you end up returning gifts this day after Christmas. And last but not least National Homeowners Day, something most of us can appreciate even if it means we cope with the appliance gremlin or trees falling on the property! I'm not feeling the quote today but I'm sure the Cracker Barrel Chicken and Dumplings is tasty. Can't stomach the name of the Fuzzy Melon Ball cocktail and probably wouldn't order the wine especially if red. 🍷 Thanks to the F&B ladies Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope, and Ann @cat shepard for helping out with the reports today. You all play a big part in the Daily and we appreciate you! Prayers for our Daily family especially Melisa @HAL Sailer and DH, Maureen @RMLincolnand DH ,Vanessa @JazzyV and Terri @Cruzin Terri. All of you with pain or health or family issues are prayed for "daily". Also for DB, the people of Israel and Ukraine, hostages still held, and our military in harm's way over there. 🙏 Hoping all our travelers are staying safe! Weather is looking good for our road trip tomorrow. Hurray for the cruisers and for those celebrating big days like birthdays and anniversaries.🎂 Enjoy them and we hope you have many more in the future! 🎉 Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for the list keeping, and I hope you enjoyed your time yesterday celebrating with BFF. Praying for no pain and lots of sleep as the days go by. 🙏 I'm grateful for the video call yesterday with DS and family in Michigan. They were all in pajamas, DDIL was cooking their Christmas meal, and the boys were relaxing. The eldest one was fighting some illness which included a sore throat so it's good he was home and not mixing amongst us all. They're all going to Cozumel on the 31st for their annual warm weather holiday to celebrate DDIL's birthday (Jan. 2 ) so I hope he's fit to travel then. They need this core family time to prepare for the months ahead apart. The port this morning is Cartagena, Columbia (not Spain!), a usual stop on Panama Canal cruises. This was the port on November 28, 2021 and November 10, 2022. We've been there on a 2016 Westerdam full transit of the Canal so will post photos later. Here are the links: We had a great time yesterday with the three older "kids" joining us and gave big hugs to all. We enjoyed the less stressful dinner without the turkey and fixings melee, as well as gift opening, and games DD had planned for us. The most popular game entailed tossing ping pong balls into red dixie cups taped to a sturdy poster board. The cups were numbered and DD handed out prizes for the number of the cup you managed to land a ping pong ball in. Prizes were gift cards to places like Starbucks and Target, chocolate bars, and scratch off lottery tickets. Sadie and Milo 🐶 wanted to play so bad but had to be kept away from the ping pong balls and playing field. A great time was had by all! Hope you all have a wonderful day! Stay safe and well!

Good morning friends! In Ohio is is 46 and cloudy. High will be 58 with rain expected at 2 pm. Thank you Jacqui @kazu for posting the Fleet Report and Daily for Rich @richwmn this Chrismas Day! I am glad to see it's pumpkin pie day but DD has Marie Callender Razzleberry pie planned. The kids love it! I don't read Rowling's books but I see plenty of quotes from them. The favorite meal request sounds like fun. We are having lasagna because it is easier than turkey. DGD asked for her favorite comfort food, Hash Brown casserole, so we're having that too. No thanks to the drink and wine. I'll have white zinfandel! Great days in history with Centrigade being introduced and John Phillip Sousa writing Stars and Stripes Forever. Thanks Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for your Christmas day reports. Let's see what Debbie says for her favorite dish for Christmas is. Happy Birthday Gerry @ger_77 and get well soon Terri @Cruzin Terri! Prayers for peace around the world! Let's get those hostages home. Prayers for friends and family in need of them, and to all of us here with health problems and pain. 🙏 Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!🎉🎄 Cheers 🥂 to the cruisers and all celebrating something. So very grateful my DGD Morgan is safe and home to celebrate Christmas with us all. DS and family are celebrating their holiday at home in Michigan so they can spend as much time together as possible. We miss them terribly but will probably FaceTime later. Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for getting up early and posting your wonderful lists. You are a gem! Have a nice time with BFF today! The port today is Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis. This was our port before on Nov. 2, 2021 and Oct. 9, 2022. We went once with DD in 2006. She is now a cruise lover too! We got off the ship there and spent the day shopping for a trinket for her Christmas gift, a tanzanite ring. A little sparkle always helps! If I went again I'd look for a tour or just stay on the ship. It looked to be a beautiful island with mountains. The ship was Crown Princess. We had a blast on that cruise with our daughter. Lovely memories.💕 Hope you will share some photos too. Have a great Christmas Day!!

Thank you Graham! Same to you! DGD is spending the day with her Dad and his parents. We will see her tomorrow afternoon and evening with the whole bunch of young ones. I plan on giving her lots of hugs. Already gave youngest DGS a huge hug. He's getting so tall now.

That's awesome Dixie! Have a great (unexpected) Christmas!

Hi all, we arrived with no problems at all today. Weather is great compared to last year. Sadie and Milo are excited to have us here. DD has made a lot of changes around the house so has been showing me all the different decor, etc. Hope all are enjoying their family time so far. Late birthday wishes to Sarah, Graham @grapau27. 🎂 Time for some Darwin photos! If you don't like heat and humidity, be glad that you haven't been to Darwin! 🥵 I was there twice, in Nov. of 2013 on Diamond Princess and in October of 2017 on Sun Princess. And even though I hate heat and humidity I'm not sorry I was there because I love seeing Australia. When you arrive in Darwin, you walk off the ship and head through a park-like area towards an ELEVATOR so that you can head into the downtown area. Yes, an elevator. It's a very unique place. Walking through the park Approaching the glass elevator area Leaving the elevator looking back towards the park and water. Christmas decorations seen along our walkways, since this picture was taken in late November. Heading towards the shopping areas of town we passed by statues and town hall ruins. We also walked near the Parliament building Wanna go for a boat ride? When we reached the downtown area, we noticed the overhead sun protection and misting stations to keep people comfortable while they shopped. Something I haven't seen too often in my travels. I don't suppose they'd mind if you slipped off your shoes and cooled your feet in this spot. You could even learn a little history if you took the time to read this bronze plaque. By this time we were ready to retrace our steps and enter the cool air conditioned interior of our cruise ship. Even with their tropical climate, I am willing to visit the capital of the Northern Territory anytime!!

Carolyn, I hate that gold filament thread too! It breaks, it comes apart, it shrinks! Of course every stocking has to have gold filament thread, right?? My first projects over 30 years ago had that filament thread all over it! I was living in Williamsburg so bought the kits that were the colonial buildings of Williamsburg. Huge projects, but beautiful. They're just rolled up in a drawer. Should have been framed!

Thank you so much. I would love to hug her right this minute! The police called DGD and notified her they had arrested a suspect today who stole a car and then went around stealing cell phones from many others and probably that included her. I suppose finding the stolen car was key in finding out he was the one stealing phones. They hadn't searched the car totally yet but her phone case with dolphins on it should be easy to identify. She already replaced the phone this afternoon and is packing for her Christmas trip home. She will be at the airport awfully early for a 6 a.m. flight. Just wanted to share the good news!

Thank you all for your words of concern about DGD. This guy turned off the Find my Phone location services immediately. Probably shut down the lock feature so he could open it whenever he wanted to. Joy @Seasick Sailor I'll give her an extra squeeze from you for sure. Carolyn @Cruising-along your cross stitch project is just beautiful. It's hard to believe how many stitches are in these projects. Ann @cat shepard good idea about the escorts. I'm betting she and many of her friends will be coming and going in groups from now on. Vanessa @JazzyVI'm shocked to hear you were mugged once. I can't imagine! Thank goodness you were okay. In addition, thank you to all for the photos today of Santa Barbara. It looks great!

I just got some bad news this morning from DD. She called to report that my DGD who lives in and goes to college in Tampa was robbed at gunpoint this morning going from the parking garage into the apartment where she lives. I assume that means the stairwell. She was on a cruise this past week down in Mexico/Central America on Enchantment of the Seas I believe and she and her friends were coming home from the cruise port. She dropped them off at their floor, then parked on her level. When she got to the stairwell, a guy dressed in black with a ski mask on (it's 72F there) pointed a gun at her and demanded her phone. He made her open it because it had face recognition to unlock it, then ran off. She is a wreck emotionally. And we are so, so grateful he didn't do something else to harm her. The police were called right away and she plans to stay in her friends' apartment tonight. She has a 6 a.m. flight to Cincinnati in the morning so someone will drive her to the airport. She is going to get the biggest hugs when we see her Monday! She has a lease at the apartment and lives with other girls but they may be home already for the holiday. She plans on moving out when she graduates next spring/summer and move closer to the Aquarium south of Tampa. I hope it's a safer environment! She FaceTimed her Mom and was visibly upset (on someone else's phone). She has already taken care of notifying AT&T and change all her passwords to her email, Venmo, etc. I hope they find this guy and he's prosecuted fully. The streets aren't safe anymore, but you can bet that young lady will be on the alert in the future.

Lorraine, thank you. Yes, it's a LOT of work. Right now I'd rather be doing cross stitches instead of back stitches. I will offer to make the soon-to-be SIL's stocking for DD because she really doesn't have spare time for it. She already said it will take her 4 years! So far I've made 10 stockings for kids and grandkids, plus I have 3 made with no names yet to finish later when great grandkids arrive, then the one of the sled I'm doing right now. I need to get a better magnifying glass to see the tiny details on the instruction sheet! A very happy birthday to you too! Enjoy it!

Good morning friends! Today it is 38 but we will have a high temp of 65 and sunny so not bad at all. When we leave for Ohio tomorrow it will be 44 and cloudy all day along our route. Thanks Jacqui @kazu for posting the Fleet Report and Daily for Rich. I laughed when I read it's Christmas Movie Marathon Day because I've been watching Christmas movies almost every day for over a month. Sometimes 2 or 3. I record them to have on in the background while doing my daily "stuff". Some of them aren't bad! Cheers to Festivus and pfeffernusse (a difficult word to spell). I like the quote, and pass on the beef curry, rye old fashioned and wine. What a day for Van Gogh. He was just a little bit unique! Happy birthday to Paul @kochleffel! Thanks go to Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope, and Ann @cat shepard for your reports each day.❤️ Prayers for my dear CC Daily friends on the Care list and any others in need of them. My condolences Jacqui @kazu on the passing of your DBIL's DM. Prayers offered also for the people of Israel and Ukraine, the hostages held and for the family of the one who perished this week, and the military members in danger's way. 🙏 Hoping for a good day for DB. Meanwhile, safe travels to all getting together with family, happy cruising and congrats to all celebrating special events. 🎂🎉 Thanks Vanessa @JazzyV for posting the lists for us each day. Great job! I've been working a little bit on the Christmas stocking I was working on these past couple of years. If you don't pick it up and do something it won't get done but it's so time consuming. Didn't I post some photos of finished stockings here before? I'll give you a taste of what they look like with this one I made for my DD. The little sparkly places on the window pane are clear sequins I had to sew on. That was different! Anyway, back to the Daily. The port today is Santa Barbara, California. That was the port before on Sept. 24, 2021 and March 15, 2022. I haven't been to Santa Barbara before. Here are the links for your convenience. I plan on doing laundry today including changing sheets, before we leave. Plus packing and trying not to forget anything. I'll have my Christmas movies running! Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser tomorrow's port dates are July 3, 2021 and October 24, 2022. My photos are not showing up for that port, so I will post them myself later in the day when we arrive. Thanks for helping out though! Hoping you all have a wonderful day! Stay safe and well!

Have a wonderful cruise Pennie @Nickelpenny!

Have a great time!

Graham @grapau27, I'm sorry to hear about Pauline's best friend having to take her DH to the ER for a brain scan today. Prayers for him that all will be well and with no further problems. Not the best way to begin the Christmas weekend. 🙏

Ketchikan, Alaska! In 2002 DH and I took our first cruise at the behest of our DDIL who was interested in trying it. So with her and DS we flew to Anchorage and boarded the Star Princess in Seward, Alaska. Our better photos of Ketchikan would be taken on future cruises but here is a photo of DH and I kayaking in Ketchikan. 7/18/2002 On Sapphire Princess on September 6, 2009 DH and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. This was B2B cruises in Alaska and this was the first week. After a nice walk around town checking out the salmon running at Creek Street, we took in this view of the long line of passengers returning to the ship before sailing. There were two gangways open, too! Our sunniest visit to Ketchikan was on our 14 day Amsterdam cruise on August 28, 2019. We went down to Creek Street to see if the salmon were running. And here’s the rapids the salmon try to move up. Leaving port that afternoon we saw the spot we remembered kayaking at in 2002 And the flag comes down for the day

Good morning friends! We are slightly warmer today at 35F and it will be 59 and cloudy later on. The only rain in the forecast is for Monday, Christmas. Thank you Jacqui @kazu for posting the Daily for Rich @richwmn. And thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for the Care and Celebration lists! Most of us aren't thinking of mathematics today unless we are adding up our holiday bills. Hurray for cookie exchanges, a good way to gather a lot of different kinds of cookies for our guests. Good that Zimbabwe has reached unity in that country. I like the quote from Joe Rogan. I think I will pass on the meal, drink and wine today and eat a little simpler. Congratulations to the US Golf Association for their anniversary on Dec. 22. 🏌️‍♂️⛳ Thanks to Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for the F&B reports. On to the prayers. I have time while on my treadmill to think about those who need our help and send prayers up for everyone. Those include my DB and friends in need, our Daily family who have ill health, pain and suffering of all kinds, and the people at war along with hostages still held. Praying for the safety of our service men and women who are constantly under attack. 🙏🙏 And every once in a while I pray for this country because there is nothing but bad news out there and we need help, too!! 🌎 Congrats to those on the Celebration list! 🥂 Bon Voyage to all beginning their cruises, and welcome home to those ending theirs. 🚢 I hope all of us traveling to see friends and family (including DH and I Sunday) will arrive safe and sound with no scary moments along the way.🚗 ✈️ Amazingly enough, today's port of Ketchikan (Revillagigedo Island), Alaska has never been our port of the day!! No links today. Like most of us here we have visited there several times (twice on one cruise), and enjoyed our time spent there. We've even seen sunshine in that notoriously rainy spot. I'll post my photos next. Have a wonderful day everyone and try to stay safe and well.

Have a wonderful time! Nice to see the world on a BHB! Pretend that says VOLENDAM!

Truly a beautiful table setting! But of course I wouldn't expect anything less from Pauline! Just look at that tablecloth! I hope you three have a lovely Christmas dinner and Sarah has a fabulous Christmas Eve birthday! For Sarah