Cruising-along

Good morning all! Lenda @Quartzsite CruiserI just saw your post from yesterday and join everyone else in saying I'm so sorry that happened. How stressful for you both, you didn't need that! Sending hugs and prayers. Terry @smitty34877Happy Birthday to your twin grandchildren! Great photo 🙂 This is also my oldest niece's birthday -- always easy to remember when her birthday is 😉 Edi @NextOneYikes! So glad they caught your heart valve problem when they did! I will pass on the meal, wine and drink today. I love trout, it's my favorite fish in fact. But just not prepared this way with chili beans. I'll stick to Trout Almondine 😉 Yesterday the Grandsons' and their school put on a wonderful Veterans' Day Assembly. Besides DH there were quite a few veterans there representing all parts of the military. DH was in the Army, including one year in Viet Nam, and retired from the Navy. It was their first Veterans' Assembly in 3 years because of Covid. Last year it was done by Zoom. I salute and thank all the veterans here! We brought the boys home with us last night, it's SO great to see them after being gone a month plus the 2 weeks of self-isolation before the cruise. Today we'll be taking them to "Jump, Rattle and Roll", a place with huge inflatables and slides. Because of Covid they haven't gone in maybe 2 years, so they're pretty excited about that.

Good morning all! Wow, lots of news -- so glad to see the ships coming to FLL (bon voyage Roy @rafinmd)! And so happy about the rescue of the refugees. I agree with the person who said that the person in the Crows Nest who spotted them should get a reward! All good days today. DH is an accountant, and thank goodness for that. He's able to keep track of our weird statements on cruises and keep on top of them. I would never be able to do it. Will pass on the vanilla cupcakes. Why have vanilla when you can have chocolate? 🤣 I agree with the quote, and would like the meal but go easy on the rice. I usually love white blends so the wine would most likely be one I like, and I would try the drink. Today the Grandsons' school will be having their Veterans Assembly. DH has participated every year since the oldest was in kindergarten (they're now 2nd and 4th grades). Every year except during Covid. So we'll be going down there for the assembly, and then bring the boys home with us overnight. They have tomorrow off from school for the holiday. It will be good to see them, it's been 6 weeks.

Wow, very sorry to hear this. We were onboard the same 2 weeks (and the prior 2 weeks, so 28 days) and dined in the Pinnacle for dinner 6 times and once for lunch. I do agree about the long waits between courses. But our food was always very good and always got a whole baked potato. Very strange about the 1/2 baked potatoes!

Yep, won't even try!

Good morning from a frosty PNW! We woke up to our first frost this morning, no surprise as it has felt colder and colder the last new nights. I think it dropped down to the high 20's last night. I have enjoyed visiting art museums all over the world, and will celebrate world freedom and Carl Sagan. Will pass on the meal and red wine, but the drink sounds good. Have not been to the port of the day. We finally unpacked our "delayed" bags and were very happy to see that the rum we packed from the Dominican Republic made it here safely. 😉 Rich @richwmnyou aren't the only one who left something on the Nieuw Statendam, I left a pair of shoes behind. 😞 @Quartzsite CruiserLenda, great news that your DH is doing better today and will be transferred to a regular room! @HAL SailerMelissa safe drive! @rafinmdRoy stay safe today 🙂 @EllencruiseWelcome!! @HAL4NOWso true about the ads! 🤣 I am SO thankful for fast-forwarding through commercials. 😉

Thank you Sandi. So far her insurance company has been stellar. After determining the damage they will cut her a check and she can get the work done -- no waiting for the insurance company to choose the contractors etc. Hopefully things will continue to go well.

Good (late) morning all! I'm late today because my next-door neighbor spent the morning here while the workers removed the tree from her roof and attic. I had a warm place, coffee and a shoulder to lean on while she waited. It's amazing how fast they work, it was all done in under 3 hours. Clean-up too. Beth is still a bit shaky, but doing ok. The repairs could go on well after the holidays. DH and I sent in our vote by mail, and thankfully missed most of the ads while we were gone on the cruise. There was a pile of political ads in the mail though! Radiology is extremely useful and important. I've never cared for Cappuccinos. The wine, drink and meal all sound good to me. @Quartzsite CruiserLenda sending prayers for your DH Steve, and hugs for you! Photo this morning of Beth's roof. This was after they'd removed the branches. The trunk of the tree (other side of the house) is quite big.

Good morning from sleepless near Seattle! I guess it will take a few days to readjust to west coast time. My body wants to wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning and I cannot get back to sleep. So there will be a nap in my future today! Cancer Awareness is near and dear to my heart. My dear sister passed away at age 68 from an aggressive form of Lymphoma. I have many teddy bears to hug, but will pass on hugging a real bear (as cute as the babies are!) The meal sounds good to try, but I'm not a real fan of cornbread. It wrecks havoc with my blood sugar anyway. The drink sounds good too, but will pass on the red wine. I don't think I've been to the port of the day. Our delayed bags finally arrived late yesterday afternoon. We haven't started unpacking yet, but they look fine on the exterior. Grocery shopping has been done, and I got outside to clean up the mess that the windstorm left in our yard. That tree through my neighbor's roof looks even more frightening up close. Another neighbor down the road also got a tree down on their house. They had just bought the house a few months ago and had a new roof put on.... 😞 Prayers for all on the care list and a big hurrah for all who are celebrating!

Please say Hi to Tudor for me! He joined the NS a week ago as the new PG Manager. He's a gem!

We embarked in Quebec City and it went very well, at least in our case. Right after we arrived around 11-11:30, they called for all 4 and 5-star Mariners to board. But friends who arrived shortly after us didn't have as good an experience -- sorry I don't remember their circumstances.

I don't think this has anything to do with a supply issue because in all the years we've sailed HAL they never have had more than 2, maybe 3 sugar-free syrups for the coffee in the Explorations Cafe. Probably not many people ask for it.

Thank you so much Vanessa. We're doing our best to stay healthy, we want to see our Grandsons later this week! I feel terrible for our neighbor, she has always told me about her fear of windstorms, and now to have this happen. She said it will take several weeks to repair the damage. Thankfully she wasn't in bed when it happened, as it came through right above her bedroom. Thank you Sandi. The luggage is now due to arrive this afternoon, hopefully it does come today. Thank you for the prayers -- we're definitely loading up on vitamin C and Zinc! Thank you Lenda!

Good morning all! We got home late last night after a wonderful 28 days on the Nieuw Statendam. It's good to be home though, now to adjust to the time zone change and time change all in the same day. 😉 Our luggage didn't all come home with us, only one smaller bag. The other two larger bags got onto a later flight (so much for priority tags). They will deliver them to us some time this morning. We were exhausted last night and weren't about to wait another 3 hours for that flight and then the hour-long drive home. Praying we don't get sick because for 8+ hours on two different flights we sat behind or in front of a couple who coughed all through the flights (no masks of course). The strangest thing was they had masks hanging from their wrists and never used them. Between that and the taxi driver in Fort Lauderdale who sneezed all through the ride (no mask) it will be a miracle if we stay healthy. I had a shock this morning once it got light out and looked out the window to see a large tree had fallen on our next-door neighbor's house!! I knew there had been a bad wind storm and power outages all through the area, but had no idea about this. She's a widow and has always had a fear of wind storms, and now this. I've been texting with her this morning -- she's physically ok, but of course very shaken up. Lots and lots of damage to her house. She and I are both furious because just a few months ago the HOA had the tree service out, they took down a few trees and assured us the rest were all OK. Not! They need to take them all down before someone is badly hurt.

I agree! Our flight wasn't until 2pm. We took a taxi to Las Olas Blvd., got breakfast, and window shopped (nothing was open yet). Then got a taxi to the airport at noon.

It could depend....yesterday we thought we had at least until 8:00, because that was the time they started calling Luggage Direct the week before. So when they started calling our group at 7:15 we were disappointed to say the least! We weren't ready. Backing up a bit, when DH asked at the front desk if it was mandatory to get off when called, they said yes. But in actuality they did start calling those with luggage tags before we could get ourselves down there to disembark. We still were off before 8, but could have probably stayed longer (waiting in a lounge, we don't like to hold up the work of our cabin stewards on turn-around day).

Very few flavors. I always chose Vanilla, I think they had one or two other flavors. This is as of yesterday. Edited to add the only other flavor was Irish Cream during our 28 days onboard.

We disembarked the NS yesterday after spending 28 days onboard. We had the Wifi package and used it a lot, all for emails, texts w/photos and social media. There were very few times I had any problems using it. When doing Facetime with the grandkids, we did that in port and used our T-mobile coverage.

Yes, they call for all Luggage Direct passengers right after the self-disembark passengers. This morning on the NS it was 7:15 am. Last week it was 8:00. I agree with you, hate having to be ready that early. On the other hand, it’s been very nice not having all that luggage with us this morning in Fort Lauderdale. Our flight isn’t until 2pm.

Oh no. 😞

Onboard the NS for the last month and our stewards have left chocolates every day. Granted we requested nothing else and only once/day service. Question about the coffeemaker pods. I know you and we had problems on the Eurodam last year with only espresso pods but do you have more recent info on that? We’ll have a Neptune in May on the Koningsdam, I’ll bring my own pods if they still supply only espresso.

Good morning from the lovely Nieuw Statendam! We are at sea between the Dominican Republic and Key West. Only 2 days left in our cruise, sad to see it come to an end, it has been wonderful! I’ve been so remiss in keeping up here and know I’ve missed too much. I promise to do better once we get home. Cheers to all who have been celebrating and prayers for all in need.

DH has always watched our statement closely. We’ve caught mistakes for years. Onboard the NS now for a month and between the HIA and free 5-Star dinners we have 6 free dinners. So far hasn’t been too bad, one Pinnacle dinner charged at 50% off and one drink charge in the Tamarind. One more Pinnacle free dinner coming up.

And we’re off!

Captain O’Driscoll just announced he expects to depart by 3:30.

Slight correction, our Nieuw Statendam When and Where etc. say we have a 3:00 sail away.