StLouisCruisers

Been there done that! How old is your grandson? We had a fabulous time with DS and family in 2013 and 2015 on Disney Dream. Hint: While the younger family members are at the very crowded large pool area, you and George need to relax at the adult pool area. There is an adult only area on Castaway Cay, the private Disney Island too but it's a bit of a walk. However they have shuttles over there and back. You will always remember this trip!

Thanks so much for your photos of Trieste. It looks absolutely beautiful there.

Annie @marshhawk I'm very sorry to hear the sad news about your DBIL's stroke. Prayers for his complete recovery. Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser best of luck at DH's appointment today. Hope you get some answers.

Good morning friends! It's 66 and cloudy and will reach 89 today. Thank you Rich @richwmn for the Daily and Fleet Report for Tuesday. Well, I'm off to a fine start with celebration of Be Late for Something Day. I woke up 30 minutes late when DH got up to take the trash to the curb. Therefore I missed my treadmill time slot and will have to do it after I finish here and DH gets off of it. That's all the lateness I need for the day. Cheese pizza is fine but I like a little something extra on mine. International Day of Charity is a fine way to help others. I love the quote by Gandhi. The menu suggestion today sounds like cheese pizza on steroids! No idea about the drink and no thanks to a pinot noir. Cool information on color recordings back in 1958. Jake @Crazy For Cats I hope you get some good photos of your interesting port today Baie-Comeau, Quebec. Same to Tony @HAL4NOW. Many thanks to Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for your reports! Prayers for all on the Care list and even those not shown there. We all have our trials and worries even if we don't express them. Praying for that miracle for Baby Murphy. Hoping for improvement for all ailing including Jake's DM @Crazy For Cats. Cheers to our Celebration list folks. Bon Voyage to Maureen @RMLincoln and DH as they sail today! Thanks to Chuck @catmando for posting the photos yesterday and sharing a photo of himself and Annie @marshhawk. Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for the excellent list today! The port this morning is Trieste, Italy, the replacement for Venice. We had Trieste once before on Sept. 20, 2022. I have not been there yet having only ported in Venice. We have had Venice as our port 3 times before but I will only be posting the link to Trieste. Let's give it a chance. I'm sure it's a lovely spot too! Hope you all experience a great day. Stay safe and well!

I don't know how you multi-quote on your phone - I have quite a time of it trying that on my phone. I'm clumsy I guess. So great job!

Sharon @Sharon in AZ I'm sorry you couldn't find the June 6, 2022 Daily link in my post yesterday. I'm very sure I copied it and pasted but I see this morning it isn't there at all. No one said a word and I didn't look back to double check. It couldn't have just disappeared could it? Well anyway, here it is today in case someone wants it. I looked through and see you didn't post Sitka photos that day because you were in Italy on Oosterdam. You did have photos from Italy though. Sorry for the inconvenience!

I'm very sorry to hear of Sarah's friends BIL dying of a brain tumour. Also the fact her best friend's husband died of a brain tumour recently is very sad. I'm sure she is a great friend to these women and will do whatever she can to help comfort them.

@Lady Hudson congrats on the birth of Jalen Alexander. I do hope his lungs improve quickly and goes home soon. Jake @Crazy For Cats hoping your DM will be okay. How scary about her fall and hospitalization! Annie @marshhawk I like all your photos even if taken from the ship. Great eagle shots! Good luck to Chuck on trying to quite smoking again. If he can go a week without nicotine I bet he will notice a big difference right away. Nice to hear he feels up to cooking today.👨‍🍳

Happy Birthday wishes to Sharon @Sharon in AZ's DM!! It's too late to edit my above post but it's actually DD DF's 103rd birthday. I've been working on 2024 plans and forgot it's still 2023!

Good morning friends! Today I awoke to 63 degrees and darkness but we shall have sunny skies and a high of 89. We decided last night to skip our morning exercise and carefully descend the slope behind us and do a little more annual cleanup of the grounds meaning pine cones and dead branches. That should equal a work out! Now as long as DH doesn't wake up with a different plan. Thank you Rich @richwmn for our Labor Day Daily and Fleet Report. It is also my DD DF's birthday. He was born 104 years ago. And good old Dr. Pol turns 81 today so happy birthday wishes to that hard working octogenarian!🐴 Days of celebration include Bring Your Manners to Work Day (actually on Sept. 1) but we should all remember if we are going to work to take our manners along with us. Remember the Golden Rule! Newspaper carriers, if there are still any around, have a tough job and I know that for a fact. Both my kids delivered newspapers in our neighborhood when they were around 12-13 years old. They started out early making money for their future plans (a car at 16!). Spice blends are a good thing for a little variety in our cooking. Interesting quote. I bet the Mediterranean chicken patties are good. Caramel apple martini sounds tasty but the purists will object. I would love to try the Sauvignon Blanc. And a very interesting fact about Los Angeles. Thank you to Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for food and beverage reports. 🍸 Prayers lifted today for our Care list group. Hoping to hear some reassuring news from Annie @marshhawk and Chuck @catmando that they are doing okay this long holiday weekend. Praying for a miracle for Baby Murphy and family.🙏 I hear the DGS's are feeling better. The youngest is taking allergy meds which seem to make him feel better. The older is well now and probably looking forward to Lisbon. Congrats to the Celebration list folks. Enjoy your cruises, friends!🚢 Thanks Vanessa @JazzyV for the list keeping and getting up just to post it. I hope you get some more sleep and feel better this week. The port this morning is Sitka (Baranof Island), Alaska. This great port was shown here on July 15, 2021 and June 6, 2022. The links are below for your convenience. We enjoyed visiting there on Sept. 6, 2019 on ms Amsterdam. It was a very special day indeed for DH and myself. Here are my photos from a lovely day spent in Sitka, 2019. On September 6, 2019, our actual 50th anniversary date, we disembarked the beautiful Amsterdam to take a bus ride into the town of Sitka, 5 or 6 miles away. The painters were busy touching up the hull with "Holland America Blue" paint. When we arrived downtown, we noticed the smoke hanging in the air from nearby wildfires, unfortunately. But it was still beautiful! We enjoyed sitting near the little harbor for a while. DH phoned his DM at her nursing facility back in St. Louis and had a nice chat. I wish she could still participate in a conversation like that now, but her abilities have declined since then. (note she has since departed this earth and may she rest in peace). We also took a selfie of ourselves to send the kids to show them where we were spending our anniversary. Luckily they give out little maps showing you where all the sights are to be seen in the town. We passed by St. Michael's Orthodox Cathedral, a National Historic Landmark. It was originally built while the land was under Russian rule, but was rebuilt in 1966 after a fire. Lots of shopping, of course. I have to admit I didn't buy one of these because I have so many T-shirts from over the years, stacked up on my closet shelves. Then there were book stores, florists, hotels and general stores. A very nice looking rest home for the elderly. And right in front of it this statue of what must be a Pioneer as the building says in its name. A totem pole, of course. Some of the details on it. We really enjoyed our walk through Sitka that day. Later in the day we sat in the Crow's Nest and watched the dock workers lifting boats out of and into the water. They could just roll them into a parking spot! We also noticed a large group of staff and crew welcoming passengers back to the ship. They were there until the last person boarded. A nice touch, and something we all miss I'm sure. Hoping you all have a great Labor Day holiday. Drive safely and stay well.

Same problem here Debbie. I can't use Chrome or Edge. I just opened HAL on an incognito page and tried two different Shore Excursion routes which went to the white page, before the third way opened up for me. (the one next to the $300 credit message). I am waitlisted for one next summer and trying to find another to use the rest of my Shorex credit. I've already booked one for Haifa in Dec. 2024 and was surprised it was already up. Edited to say I just switched bookings and the shore excursion spot by the $300 credit didn't work this time. The one on the list under the number of days until your cruise worked for me there. 🤷‍♀️

Jane @Beckett welcome to the Daily. We enjoy new readers joining us. Lorraine @cruising sister glad to have you back here with us. What a sad update for Baby Murphy. I'm praying for a miracle for her! Graham @grapau27 such a great picture of you two! Frame it so you can enjoy it everyday. Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser the second DGS who is sick had a birthday yesterday and ironically was sick last Sept. 2 as well. Not fair! If he's still sick this morning he will get a trip to a clinic for some strep, covid, and flu tests. Then maybe antibiotics. Probably just a virus he picked up in school. He's the baby DGC and is 15 years old already! We decided it was a lovely morning for a little exercise picking up pine cones from under the pine trees between our back yard slope and the golf course. Good gravy, we must have picked up 400 to 500 of them. That means fewer trees trying to spring up next year. Our landscaper cuts it all with his string trimmers but this will help considerably with that job. There's other work we'd like to do out there to keep it cleaner but not sure I can get DH down there with me again tomorrow. We'll see. After DH's coffee break I'll see if he wants to hit the grocery store this morning. And I should do a little ironing. Some of our cruise clothes that I laundered could use pressing. Not my favorite chore!🙄

Sorry I didn't mention happy sailing wishes to Karen @luvteaching. Hope you have an amazing cruise!🚢🍹

Good morning friends! It is a cool 62 this morning, with a high of 86 and sunny skies expected. Thank you Rich @richwmn for our Daily and Fleet Report today. Interesting days today. I haven't been to a cinema in years, never played on a bowling league (DH did), and appreciate the beauty and work put into skyscrapers. A funny Milton Berle quote to ponder. The vegan soba noodle salad sounds unique. I'll pass on the drink and wine. Fascinating item about San Marino being founded oh so long ago. And a very important day in history when the Treaty of Paris was signed to end the Revolutionary War. Thanks to Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for your reports this morning. Prayers today for the Care list. We pray for improvement of everyone on our list. Yesterday I heard my friend's DB Mark is touch and go, up one day and down the next. I also heard this weekend that two of my DGS's have been ill (2 different states). Neither has Covid though the one headed to college in a few weeks had just had a Covid booster. Hoping they are both feeling well soon. DS will be taking the new college student to Portugal with him in about 5 days on a week long business trip, just for fun before he begins classes later this month. Hope everyone is well for that trip and enjoy their time abroad.🙏 Cheers to those on the Celebration list and those cruising. Good luck today to Maureen @RMLincoln and DH as they travel to NY for their cruise and to Jake @Crazy For Cats and DH join their cruise after quite a difficult travel day. 🚢🥂 Thanks Vanessa @JazzyV for updating our lists each day. Our destination today is Celukan Bawang in Bali, Indonesia. This is a brand new port for the Daily and Fleet Report. This is a completely different port and opposite side of the island of Bali than Benoa. I have only been to Benoa. We would love to see some great new photos today of Celukan Bawang!! Hoping all have a phenomenal Sunday on this long Labor Day weekend.🗽

Looks like a good day to me! Hope you have a fabulous trip. Great photos Tony! Glad you had a good walking day.

As I mentioned above we finally took our Amazon River cruise on Volendam late last year. We had to tender in to port and could see the big city of Belem off in the distance. But this is what Icoaraci looked like - much smaller. Getting off the tender at the small dock area this was the view of all the local activity. Stepping off the dock and onto the street running parallel to the shoreline, we saw things like this. A group of police officers to the right of us. And more off to the left of us. After a short discussion about taking the 45 minute bus ride to Belem, or touring Icoaraci, we decided to turn around and head back to the tender. While waiting for the tender we saw the local people going about their business of moving their shopping onto a boat for a ride home. So that is my short visit to Icoaraci. I'm not sad I didn't see more of it. I hope those who toughed out a hot ride to Belem enjoyed their stay there and will post a few photos of the BIG city. The view of Icoaraci as the ship left that afternoon. There was a drone buzzing around us while we sailed away and I wondered who was viewing us up close.

Good morning friends! Today it is 66F and will be mostly cloudy with a high of 82. Temps will rise back into the 90's next week. Thank you Rich @richwmn for our Daily and Fleet Report today. Great group of days today. VJ Day was a huge event in the final ending of WWII. World Beard Day is built for you Rich. A great time to begin tailgating at our fall football games. And anytime is a great time to celebrate bacon. By the way I found a great source for days to celebrate recently - Thereisadayforthat.com in case you're interested. 📅 Skewers and kebabs seem popular lately and today is another one. I'm not sure I'd like the cocktail or wine. Thanks go to Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for any information on the food and beverages. The London fire was a devastating event. I can imagine the celebrations when VJ Day arrived! Prayers were said as I walked the treadmill this morning. First was DB with his pulmonary fibrosis and my friend's DB stricken with bile duct cancer. Then our Care list friends including Baby Murphy, Terry @smitty34877's DH Lou and friend Tana, Chuck @catmando with his recent diagnosis and former health problems not to mention Annie @marshhawk's health problems and Nicholas @Live4cruises's DH accident. Prayers for those lost in the Maui fire and their loved ones. Huge thanks to Denise @DeeniEncinitas for all she does to help out her fellow island residents. 🙏 Congrats to all celebrating including Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser and Steve celebrating their wedding anniversary. 🎉 Also happy birthday to Maureen @RMLincoln! 🎂 Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for your great lists each day. The destination of the day is Icoaraci (for Belem), Brazil. We finally cruised to Icoaraci last December. It was listed here as our port on July 1, 2021 and Sept. 5, 2022. Here are the links for your photo retrieval. I'll grab some photos of our very brief stop in Icoaraci on Dec. 7 and post them in a follow up post. We never got to the grocery yesterday but I guess there's no rush. Spoke with DS and found out there is a 4 day weekend at Ren's school in Texas so Ren and DDIL flew home to Michigan for the weekend. He misses his old friends and will keep busy with the high school football game last night, the U. of Michigan football game today and a friend's soccer game. Dinners out with friends and just family time. I remember when we moved our daughter away from her friends to begin her senior year of high school in a new state. She needed quick weekend visits back to see her friends, too, for her own mental health.😪 Hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend! Drive safely and stay well.

This address worked well today for Jake @Crazy For Cats today. He reported on the Daily he had a confirmation in 10 minutes. cclshareholderhal@hollandamerica.com

Rabbit, rabbit, white rabbit! 🐇 Good morning friends! It's about 70 here and mostly cloudy. We will reach a high of only 81 but there is a chance of rain today. Thank you Rich @richwmn for posting our Daily and Fleet Report for us. Cheers for ginger cats, and cherry popovers but I'm not a fan of tofu. The quote is humorous. The menu suggestion of roast fish with curry butter is a double no for me. I probably wouldn't want the cocktail or the Chardonnay. However I can be positive about the days in history. Hurray for the first lady switchboard operator and for Alberta and Saskatchewan. Thank you Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope, and Ann @cat shepard for your reports on Food and Beverage!🍹🍷 Prayers for the Care list folks and my DB and friend's DB Mark. I hope we can shorten the list soon! 🙏 Hoping Baby Murphy is hanging in there. A big shout out to those celebrating and especially all the cruisers. Heard from DGD in Tampa all was well at the Aquarium, and she was back home in the apartment by 2 pm with only some minor street flooding downtown. Happy Birthday Terri @Cruzin Terri. I hope the floor guy showed up and the floors are repaired. Try to forget all the troubles and enjoy your birthday. Thanks Vanessa @JazzyV for the great Care and Celebration list.🚢🎉 The port today is Nagasaki, Japan. That was the port on April 8, 2021 and January 22, 2022. In addition it is technically listed again on Sasebo (Nagasaki), Japan which was listed here on Nov. 13, 2021 and May 23, 2022. Sasebo is in the Nagasaki Prefecture. There were no photos shown on the Sasebo dates so I won't post a link to those two dates. I have not been to Nagasaki before and have no photos today. Here are the links to Nagasaki. We were going to get groceries today but if it's raining I'd rather stay home and dry. Hoping all are safe and well today, so make it a great Friday before Labor Day!

Thank you Dixie! I was hoping you would show us some inside photos from the Opera House. DH says our total amount of rain yesterday was only about half an inch. I knew it was light but still it's surprising how little we got.

In December 2022 we were on an Amazon cruise on Volendam. The ship arrived on Dec. 2 during the daytime but we waited until the following morning to head over by tender to walk around. Due to low water levels we couldn't dock the ship. Once we arrived we were bused to a terminal/visitor center well outside the port area. We had a map which showed the location of some local sights and immediately headed towards the Amazon Theater also known as the Manuas Opera House. We immediately saw the Metropolitan Cathedral of our Lady of the Conception. Photo outside and inside As we neared the Opera House we saw this yellow building which is the Amazon Palace of Justice. It was all decorated for the upcoming holidays and had beautiful Christmas displays set up outside. Finally we arrived at the pink Opera House! We did not want to tour inside so weren't able to take pictures. Near the Opera House we saw this impressive building which is is San Sebastian church. We did go inside it and saw a beautiful double dome inside. We headed back to the ship and sailed away that evening. The view of the Manaus skyline. And the Rio Negro Bridge, over the Rio Negro River near the confluence of the Amazon River. It's the only major bridge over any part of the Amazon or Amazon tributaries.

Good morning friends! Here we are at the end of August already. The weather here this morning is 67F and it will be partly cloudy and 85 for a high later on. I am going out this morning for my regular hair appointment and am grateful the hurricane is past us. Thank you Rich @richwmn for our Thursday Daily and Fleet Report. I see it's Eat Outside Day but I doubt that will be happening. I don't mind a trail mix but only eat it as a snack when traveling or away from home. I have read many memoirs but I wouldn't go so far as to say I love them. Eww on the quote! I'll be interested in seeing what a summer corn salad is. The Peachtree Martini sounds like an Atlanta thing. Everything in Atlanta is named Peachtree! I have no idea what type of wine we have featured today. And what an important day in history with Edison's moving picture machine! Thanks go to Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope, and Ann @cat shepard for their reports. Prayers for our Care list members and those affected by wildfire and hurricane. I'm so sorry to hear of Sharon @Sharon in AZ's dear Aunt's passing. Many prayers for her Uncle, DM and all the friends of family of Aunt Betty. Good luck to Chuck @catmando during his treatment today.🙏 Congratulations to the celebrating folks today and those cruising and preparing to cruise! 🥂 Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for keeping the all important lists! The port of the day is Manaus, Brazil in the Amazon region. This was our port destination on March 27, 2021 and Nov. 11, 2022. At that point in time we hadn't visited there but not for lack of trying. It was booked 3 or 4 times over the years but life happens! So on Dec. 3, 2022 we did visit and I have photos this time to share. Here are the links for you to retrieve your own photos. Remain safe and well everyone! Hoping you all have a wonderful day.

Thanks Graham @grapau27 for your support and nice comments. Terri @Cruzin Terri I think that was wise. Now you don't have that worry along with everything else. The outer bands of rain are nearly here at my house. Then we expect lots of rain the rest of the afternoon. Thankfully we don't have to go out today, and my regularly scheduled hair appointment is tomorrow when it should be sunny again.

We briefly visited the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter where allegedly Jesus bestowed church leadership on Apostle Peter. Then to Capernaum also known as Capharnaum. This was Haifa in the morning before our tour And this was after the tour when we returned to the Prinsendam.

Here are a few pics from our wonderful day touring Nazareth in 2014. First is the Church of the Annunciation The wooden door depicts scenes from the life of Jesus. In the courtyard are exhibitions of mosaic paintings all from different countries and they reflect the country they were made in. Photos from the Grotto or cave of the Annunciation. The Chuch of St. Joseph which is built on what used to be the carpentry workshop of Joseph, father of Jesus. Statue of Joseph, Mary and Jesus Next, traveling past the Sea of Galilee to Yardenit, where the Jordan River flows. We would have our lunch there. DH's lunch. Needless to say I chose something else. The Jordan River where John the Baptist baptized his cousin Jesus of Nazareth. Hard to see with the glare but there are people dressed in white doing a baptism. Next up was Mount of Beatitudes where we are told Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount. From the grounds you have a lovely view of the Sea of Galilee. Continuing on in a separate post.