StLouisCruisers

Good morning friends! It's cloudy and 70 this morning so no pretty sunrise. Today will be 87 and partly cloudy. Graham @grapau27 please wish Father David Happy Birthday from me when you see him at his party on the 15th. He seems like a member of our Daily family. Thank you Rich @richwmn for today's Daily and Fleet Report. I like sugar cookies (and most any cookie). I would like to view the horizon from my home but there are trees everywhere around me blocking the actual horizon. And how much taller can these trees get? I used to be able to see the copper colored metal cupola on our Amenity Center from my back windows but the trees in the woods are so much taller they've obscured that view. Fashion day doesn't sound like I need to observe it today since I'll be wearing my usual comfy clothes around the house most of the day. The day in history is important to the tennis lovers. The quote is interesting. I will pass on the butternut squash, cocktail and pinot noir (more for you!). However, I will pay attention to the reports from Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard. Thank you ladies! Prayers for our Care list people, and I hope the list shortens sometime soon.🙏 So many are hurting in some way. Three cheers for the Celebration list folks! 🎉🥂🎂 Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for putting it all together for us. Port of the Day is San Antonio, Chile. This is the third time for the port here. Here are the links to April 12, 2021 and March 5, 2022 to retrieve your photos. I have been there one time but don't have many photos of it. Before I leave this section I have a question for Rich @richwmn. I notice on your CC activity where I go to get the links each day, that your activity is always limited to 111 pages, which means the furthest back dates are gradually dropping off. Today your posts go back to August 14, 2020. Do you have a limit set on the activity list? My own activity goes back 244 pages but the furthest back it goes is January 19, 2021. Very interesting. We sailed from San Antonio in January 2020 when we were on Coral Princess for our last Antarctica cruise. Because of the storm along the coast the fuel bunker ship couldn't make it to port in time to fuel us for Antarctica, so we had to spend the night in the port waiting for it to arrive. I have a few pictures to show you. We didn't take any photos in town for some reason, just as we were leaving port. I think that might have been a shopping mall in the above photo. We needed tugs to get out of there because of the high winds. As you can see there were rocks near the entrance of the harbor and they had lots of seals hanging out on them. This is what they showed us on our TV screens as warnings for the days ahead. It was a nasty storm! But we still had our Cruise Critic meet and greet. For some reason I didn't take any photos in town. It's very small and we didn't spend much time there, just to a local store for some drinks and things to take with us on the ship. If someone else has some photos of San Antonio, I would love to see them posted. Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday. Please stay safe and well!

I just went back to review the May 1, 2022 Daily posts. We had a CC glitch and the gremlins erased many of our earliest posts. There were absolutely no photos posted of our Japanese port of the day. But most important, that was a very sad day for our Jacqui @kazu, the day she lost her beloved DH Jose. Feeling like I want to give Jacqui a big hug right now. (((hug)))

Good morning friends! What a beautiful sky I saw 20 minutes before sunrise. Pink, lavender and baby blue. The temp is now 70F and we will have mostly sunny skies and a high of 90 later on. Always a chance of a thunderstorm in July too. Our only plans are to do the laundry and hang out at home. 😇 Thank you Rich @richwmn for our Daily and Fleet Report. Body painting is something I'd prefer not to have done, I do like blueberries and enjoyed motorcycles as a teen because my boyfriend had a Harley. DH also owned a couple of motorcycles over the years.🏍️ I like the "life" quotes. I wonder if the 10 minute recipe really takes 10 minutes? It's always the prep that adds to that time considerably. No thanks to the cocktail and the malbec. I always enjoy hearing about the explorers of the past. Thanks to our helpers Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope, and Ann @cat shepard for giving us their F&B reports! Prayers for our Care list folks who are in need of them 🙏 especially those with losses in their lives recently. Extra prayers for Baby Murphy and my DB, as well as friend's DB Mark.❤️ I hope all here find relief from pain, comfort and strength during your trials and tribulations. Three cheers for the Celebration list people. Hope you all enjoy your happy events and cruises!🥂🚢 Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for continuing with the lists each day and getting up early to post them. The port today is Omaezaki, Japan (Shizuoka) which was the port once before on May 1, 2022. I haven't been to many Japanese ports, just the basic ones. Here is the link to May 1, 2022 if you have photos to re-post. Hoping all here have a great start to the weekend. Stay safe and healthy!

Hurray for Brenda @bennybear on the pathology report! We need more good news here!❤️

I meant to mention I texted my friend about her DB Mark and she sent me some photos of his birthday celebration. Poor guy looks so frail. She said he goes to see his Interventional Radiologist Monday and he may have some new techniques to try out. Hoping things work out for him. More prayers for him! 🙏

We definitely do! We dine main dining (late) and usually head to Ocean Bar for a drink before dinner. If you are eating early and going to shows or entertainment afterwards we will find a different time to meet up and chat. And we need to do that often! You can email me and discuss after you and Sue figure out your schedule. So excited! You're going a week earlier aren't you? I love this news Terry! ❤️ I love your photos Tony, and the ones from last year's Oosterdam cruise. Thank you! I hate hearing that the ECMO machine didn't work properly for little Baby Murphy. She is a trooper! More prayers for her and the family. My condolences to you on the loss of your dear friend, and for her family on this sad day.

Prayers just sent! Poor baby...she just needs a chance.🙏

Wrapping up Sept. 6, 2021 photos from Lenda. I'm procrastinating a little today, as I'm still going through all the pictures from Rome and Civitavecchia. I found a couple from 2017 as the Prinsendam set sail for her next port. The sunset over the ocean I turned around, and there was the moon rising over Civitavecchia and Fort Michelangelo. Lenda Good thing I kept scrolling down (7 pages on the Daily that day) because I wouldn't want to miss these photos Lenda posted. Here are a few more pictues from various times we were in Rome. These were taken while on different cruises on BHBs, and they show some of the other highlights of Rome. Usually, we were there in the spring or fall, The one excepton was in 2019 on the Veendam, when we were there during the height of the summer tourist season. The Spanish Steps The Pantheon, which is now a Catholic church. The iconic oculus in the roof of the Pantheon, that engineers to this day have not figured out how it was constructed when it was built from 113-125 AD. The Trevi Fountain and the crowds in 2019 Crowds around the Coloseum, and this was in the fall. The monument to Victor Emanuel II who united Italy. The Forum Lenda I noticed some great photos posted by Tony @sailingdutchy on Sept. 6, 2021 so I hope he comes by today to repost them. hint, hint...

And a few more from Sept. 6, 2021 from Lenda. Here are a few pictures of Civitavecchia on the two days we decided to stay in town and not head to Rome or Ostiea Antica. All but one were taken in 2016, and the other one in 2019. Fort Michelanglo at the port entrance. Different places we saw walking around town near the port. The theater The port and the Prinsendam in 2016 Lenda

More photos from Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser from Sept. 6, 2021 port of the day. At the time of our first visit to Rome, the Vatican Museum closed at 1 pm on Saturdays, and we were there on a Saturday. Princess arranged an afterhours tour of the museum for six buses with passengers and one bus with crew. Each group arrived a few minutes apart, so when we walked through the museum, each group had that area to themselves. Even when we were in the Sistine Chapel there may have been one other group, but it definitely was not crowded. We could see the entire Chapel easily and even sit on the benches around the walls and enjoy the peace and quiet. The story we were told about the missing part of the ceiling was that it fell when a cannon was fired near the Chapel. The ceiling had been cleaned and restored shortly before we were there. I asked our guide, Antonio, why the missing part was not restored at that time. He put his arm around my shoulders and gently told me, "Madam, only Michelangelo can restore what Michelangelo painted". We were not allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel. Instead, these are pictures from the museum gardens and some of the hall ways. As our guide told us, there are five miles of halls in the museum, and if we did not keep up, we'd "walk all five miles." There were no stragglers after that. The outside and the gardens The museum and just some of the works on display. A look at the Vatican gardens as we were going into the museum On our many visits to Rome after the first visit, we have visited may sights and seen a lot of the city. Howeve, we have not tried to see the Coloseum or the Sistine Chapel since then. Seeing them without crowds was so special, we don't want to ruin those memories with ones of crowds. Lenda

The following photos were copied and pasted from our past Civitavecchia (Rome) days by Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser I found the pictures from our September 29, 2001, visit to Rome while on the Golden Princess' first TA. Since then, all our visits to Civitavecchia and Rome have been on BHBs. We've always enjoyed Rome and our two days spent in Civitavecchia, but the first time stands out. We were there 2 1/2 weeks after 9/11, and Rome was not crowded. That day, as it was our first time in Rome, we took a tour that included the Coloseum, Vatican City and the Vatican Museum. Our first stop was the Coloseum. The first two pictures are of the area around the Coloseum. The Coloseum Some of the very little marble left since most was taken and used for other buildings and statues. Our next stop was Vatican City. My one picture of the Sistine Chapel A couple of pictures from inside St. Perer's Basilica. Our guide got us out of St. Peter's just before noon and in the best position to see the changing of the guard. Since this is getting rather long, I'll post the pictures from the Vatican Museum in another post.

Good morning friends! Where has the morning gone already? Today I'm having sunny skies and 70 but will rise to 88 with a chance of thunderstorms arriving around 4 pm. At least that's what they say this hour. In 20 minutes that will all completely change because that's the way the weather people work! Thank you Rich @richwmn for the Daily and Fleet Report. I absolutely love Chocolate Day and wish I had some in my house. Global forgiveness sounds like a grand idea. And wouldn't a lot of us daughters give anything to take a walk with our Fathers? I enjoyed the Mark Twain quote today, but would not care for the bass for dinner. No thanks to the Grape Cosmo too. I would try the chardonnay but hope it's not too oakey. And a lovely day in history for a Martina Navritalova. I do a lot of my praying in the morning on the treadmill. I think they count just as much when saying them during physical activity. Lots of prayers for our friends on the Daily were said, as well as DB and Mark. I need to ask my friend how he's doing. She and her DH flew to Florida this week to visit Mark on his birthday yesterday. I hope to hear the latest doctor has him on a new plan to fight his cancer. 🙏 I also want to say congrats to those on the Celebration list and hope more cruises are in the near future for everyone. My next one is in 22 days! OMG! Better get busy! Thanks go to Vanessa @JazzyV, Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard. You gals are the greatest! Well today is a port a lot of people can say they've traveled to. It's a great starting spot for a nice Mediterranean cruise. I think I must have been there at least a dozen times. Sometimes we go to Rome and sometimes we stay put. It's a great little city. We had Civitavecchia (Rome) as our port on Sept. 6, 2021 (my anniversary!) and January 12, 2022. I'll post the links here and post my photos from Civi. Then I'll fetch Lenda's @Quartzsite Cruiser photos. I have a unique story of one of our Civitavecchia visits. We disembarked the Prinsendam on Nov. 4, 2014 after a fantastic Black Sea and Holy Land cruise. It was our first HAL cruise! The day before we had docked in Naples (Nov. 3) and enjoyed the Amalfi Coast. When we got off the Prinsendam on Nov. 4 it was quite a windy day. We checked in the Hotel Miramare (no longer open) which overlooked the sea. The winds were extremely high that day but we went out and did a little wine shopping, etc. The view south from our tiny balcony and to the north... Hours after these photos were taken, the seas looked a lot rougher. There was a group of guests at the hotel getting on the the Celebrity Constellation the following morning, including us! We started hearing discussions going on about an email they had received saying the Celebrity ship was not going to be able to get into the Civitavecchia port, so it would stay in Naples and we would board the ship there the following day instead of Civi. What? How are we getting there? The cruise line was sending busses to Civitavecchia and Rome's airport to pick up people and get them to the ship. We had apparently been receiving emails every 30 minutes for a couple of hours, which were in my spam folder. This was shortly after we'd gotten our first IPhone and I didn't know much about it, therefore I hadn't looked in my spam emails. Celebrity was asking us to please reply back that we had gotten this message. Goodness, there were a lot of nervous guests wondering how this would all turn out, but somehow it did. Next morning, the hotel shuttle dropped guests at the dock where the ship was supposed to be. Names were checked off, luggage loaded onto busses and guests were driven 3 hours south to Naples and we boarded the ship. We had just been there on Prinsendam on Nov. 3 and here we were back boarding the Constellation on Nov. 5! The previous week's guests had to start disembarking around 3 or 4 am so busses could drive them to the Rome airport or central Rome. Then the busses were picking up people just arriving at the airport and those of us waiting for the ship in Civi. It somehow all got accomplished and the ship only left Naples about 3 hours late that day. We had to give them props for this crazy last minute change in plans and getting it done. Too bad we didn't enjoy the TA cruise back to Ft. Lauderdale very much. We were disappointed because we thought we'd love Celebrity. But I still am in awe of their ability to round up so many busses in a few hours to get this job done. And here are more from my posts. 'm sitting here enjoying looking at my photos from Civitavecchia taken in 2018. As we walked to town from the shuttle bus drop off point, we passed by this huge church. Check out these doors Luckily it was open so we went inside. Then we walked to the market which was very nice. All the locals were there doing their weekend shopping. Then we walked to the train station. We had been there before to take the train into Rome. Today we were just people watching. Buying tickets Departure board Bye bye! Then we walked across the road and started looking for a hotel we had stayed at in 2014. Turns out the hotel was closed for good in that 4 year gap. I think it was the yellow building here. Walking along on this nice route to get back to the ship. We took a photo of the Hotel San Giorgio across the street. We would be staying there overnight on our next Civitavecchia visit. It's the middle building. It was a great day to stay in town. Okay, that's enough of Civitavecchia from me for now. I'm going searching for Lenda's photos now. Hope all have a great day. And I'm sorry Carol @mamaofami to hear about your dear friend Judi. May she pass peacefully knowing all she knew loved her.

Good catch Vanessa!

We are back from our dermatologist appointments and don't go back until next year. 🎉 She froze one spot on my temple and 3 spots on DH's face. I mentioned I thought my nose had a slightly darker spot on the tip and she prescribed imiquimod cream to apply 3 times a week and said that should take care of it. Glad there's no biopsy to await results of. We made appointments for spring before we leave on our Zuiderdam adventures next summer. Mary Kay @cruzn single thanks for your concern about me today. I'm so glad to hear things are healing up quickly now for you. That was a process wasn't it? I understand the numbness problem, too, because you may not know it but in Feb. 2022 I had Mohs surgery on my forehead near the hairline. For a good year I had numbness that gradually faded away. I'd say I'm 90% back to normal. It just feels slightly different on the left side than it does on the right. Can't really explain it any better than that. I hope you get your feeling back quicker than I did! As far as the genealogy stuff goes, keep it! You never know when "Finding Your Roots" will need something from that tub to show to your future relative. 🤣 I'm always amazed at the records they come across! Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser of course, I'd be happy to repost your photos in the morning. Good luck with Steve's appointment and the Dallas traffic! Karen @luvteaching it was an honor to read about your dear husband, Phil's life. I agree that mentioning his doctors, nurses and professional caregivers was very kind of you. Obituaries are another source of information for future generations to learn who their ancestors were. Thank you Bruce @aliaschief and Tony @sailingdutchy for the great photos of Valencia. How wonderful to have relatives there to visit. I enjoyed all the photos immensely! Gorgeous photos of flowers Carolyn @Cruising-along. In addition I want to thank Jacqui @kazu for all her garden photos each week during the growing season. Talk about green thumbs!! Welcome to the Daily @canals!

Thank you Nancy! Bruce, I hope your journey on Seabourn Quest is a great one! We have sailed on her twice before and enjoy that ship immensely. Next to Prinsendam, our favorite ship. And a great itinerary too. We did a similar one on Rotterdam in 2018, Montreal to Tampa. Quite enjoyable. Thank you Terry! DB is doing as well as can be expected in such a hot and humid location. Great news to hear Lou is home again, and getting some rest. I like the way you describe the family all pitching in to get things done. Your teenager sounds amazing!

Good morning friends! It's 70 and will be sunny this morning. However it will cloud up this afternoon, rise to 90 degrees and 30% chance of rain. We did have a little rain yesterday but it didn't become severe. Thank you Rich @richwmn for the Daily and Fleet Report. An interesting group of days. Kissing day should go over well with the crowd as well as fried chicken day. I'm pretty sure most of us don't have a use for umbrella covers though. The creamy shrimp pasta sounds unique and I'm sure Debbie @dfish found a recipe for it somewhere. I wonder if anyone here will attempt to make a Devil in the Morning? The chardonnay is at least a white wine after quite a few reds. Thank you Debbie, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for the reports today! I've said my prayers while walking earlier and there are many in need of them. Hoping for improvement for those who are ailing. DB and friend's DB Mark are at the top of my list. Special prayer for Baby Murphy who is going through her surgery today. 🙏 Hoping Dixie @summer slope and George are coping with their loss yesterday. Hugs to you both! Congratulations to the Celebration list people today. Enjoy your happy events and cruises, everyone. I know of 3 people who are celebrating a birthday on July 6 so happy birthday to them! One is DH's now 95 year old uncle. 🎂 Cheers to him!🥂 Thanks for Vanessa @JazzyV for the lists. Hoping we hear from Annie @marshhawk today. The port this morning is Valencia, Spain. We had that port on May 10, 2021 and Jan. 18, 2022. I'll post the links and I hope you can use them to copy your photos and bring them over here. Valencia is a lovely port and I'm sure quite a few of you have been there at least once. Our visit was on the Prinsendam in 2018. We were in Valencia, Spain on our 2018 Prinsendam Grand Voyage (Africa and Mediterranean). It was a cloudy Sunday morning and we got into town by shuttle bus quite early. No crowds but very little open either. By the time we had walked all around the old town part it was beginning to wake up a little. The entrance we were dropped off at. One of the few things open was this market. The door to this "museum" was standing open, free admission so we stepped inside to see what it was all about. Basically, this was all we saw. A foyer... And this beautiful room. Check out that ceiling! Now that's ornate... To continue on... Arriving at the Valencia Cathedral we stepped inside for a look. Those ceilings! We walked around the old town some more and found a different gate out. Then had to find the shuttle bus stop which we finally did. An interesting stroll around Valencia. We have our dermatologist appointments this morning so will be heading out in a couple hours. Hoping we have nothing serious show up and we don't need to go back for a year. 🤞 Have a safe and productive day everyone!

Dixie, I'm very sorry to hear about Bailey walking over the rainbow bridge. You've done all you can and are still doing your best for her today. I also hope Lou comes home today. Good luck!

Good morning friends! Today is partly cloudy and 72, but as usual we have a 40% chance of thunderstorms and a high of 85. We could see hail and gusty winds with the storms. I certainly hope not! Thank you Rich @richwmn for posting our Daily and Fleet Report this morning. Oh those Wilde quotes! And this was a very good day for Isaac Newton back in 1687. I hope the work-a-holics can stop for a while and enjoy an apple turnover. Maybe put on a bikini and spend some time at the beach. I will do none of those things today!👙 Some folks will enjoy a vegan chili but I prefer mine with meat in it. A mai tai sounds interesting but I have no idea what the wine is.🍷 Prayers said while walking the treadmill already. So many to pray for! Hoping our prayers help and everyone begins to improve. 🙏 Special thoughts for those who've recently lost a loved one. Hoping all the pets are feeling better this morning. Hurray for those on the Celebration list. Have a great day no matter what you do, and enjoy the cruises!🚢🥂 Our port of the day is Vigo, Spain which sounds quite nice. I haven't been before. We had that port on Feb. 14, 2022 ❤️ and Nov. 25, 2022. Here are the links for everyone who wants to obtain their already posted photos. Have a wonderful day!

Bon Voyage!!

Today I had a surprise call from neighbor Brenda who is off on her cross country road trip in the motorcoach. They've been gone this time about 4 weeks and are in South Dakota. She sent me a photo taken yesterday from Mount Rushmore which I think is a beautiful shot of that impressive monument. I would love to see it in person. Here she is with husband Paul and adopted daughter Jaana (pronounced Yaw-na). They are on their way to the Calgary Stampede which she says begins Monday. They are then heading to Vancouver to embark their Holland America ship on July 19 (Volendam I think). However Jaana applied for her new passport, expedited, in April and is still waiting for it! She has her Chinese birth certificate, her U.S. certificate and her RealID driver's license, but they are concerned whether that will suffice to cross the border, take a cruise and get back into the U.S. so are going to stop and chat with the Customs and Border Patrol agents at the border before they cross. I told her to keep me updated on the next chapter in their trip. Meanwhile, I have been watching the adorable 3 deer that have been visiting lately in the vicinity. They eat grass a while then lie down and stick around for hours! The two males have antlers that are growing at a rapid rate since I first noticed them. male #2 Mom? In twelve years here we've never had deer lounge around like these three do! Golfers whiz by in their golf carts and don't even notice them observing their golf game.

Thank you Graham. Yes, he's sorely missed. I should send that to my twin to remind her he (and Mom) are still with us. Thank you Nancy. I hope you have a wonderful day this July 4th. Lorraine, my condolences to you and the entire family on the loss of your dear Aunt last night. Prayers to all.🙏 Terry, great news to hear this morning! Prayers and good thoughts headed your way as you anticipate Lou coming home soon, if not today. A photo of us celebrating July 4th on Prinsendam during our Best. Norway. Cruise. Ever! 2016

Good morning friends and Happy Independence Day! 🎆 Our weather today is pretty typical. 70F with a beautiful sunrise. High will be around 88 with showers and thunderstorms again tonight. Yesterday we dumped 1.5 inches out of the rain gauge and we haven't yet seen last night's rainfall amount. Good luck seeing a fireworks display with all this evening rain around here!🎇 Thank you Rich @richwmn for our July 4th Daily and Fleet Report. I see we have a U.S. port today, Los Angeles. We haven't had that port of the day before so no links today. I had to go searching for the times we've sailed into Los Angeles, or rather the port for Los Angeles, San Pedro. All cruises were on Princess. There were 6 cruises total with 9 embarkation or disembarkations. And of course we've visited Los Angeles many times with family there still. Today is the anniversary of my dear Father's passing, July 4, 2011. My twin doesn't like to celebrate the holiday anymore due to her sadness at Dad's death. He and Mom lived in her home in their last years so it really hits her hard.😢🙏 Today we shall celebrate National Barbecue Day, National Country Music Day, and Sidewalk Egg Frying Day. No thanks to the egg frying, but I love a barbecue and country music. Today's menu suggestion should have been potato salad, or corn on the cob, or barbecued hamburgers! However, I'm sure Debbie @dfish will be able to tempt us with the Asian Chopped Salad. The drink doesn't ring a bell (El Bombin) and I will pass on the cabernet sauvignon, though I'm sure it's great. Thanks to Debbie, Dixie @summer slope, and Ann @cat shepard for their reports. Prayers today for my DB, my friend's DB Mark, those here who have lost their loved one recently such as Karen @luvteaching. Praying also for everyone who is recovering from their surgeries and illnesses, falls and sad events in their lives. Hoping all ailing feel better soon and that includes Ivan and Bailey. Keeping good thoughts for Baby Murphy and her family. Three cheers and a huge salute to everyone celebrating happy events today. Keep on cruising! Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for your list keeping. 🤗 And finally the Day in History is a very important day in our country's past. Happy Birthday America!

That's good news! I hope the change helps her.🐈

What a terrible thing to happen! I'm sorry for the person involved and their family. That happened on our street once many years ago, and it was a young man living with his parents who were wonderful neighbors. I saw the young man at their mailbox when I went to mine and it happened that afternoon. I felt terrible thinking I may have been the last person to see him alive, but of course nothing I could do not knowing what the future held. 🙏

Dixie, I'm so sorry to hear about Bailey and hope the time hasn't come yet. Hugs to you and George.