Cruzin Terri

Good Afternoon from lovely Martinique. I am posting quickly while I can. Just to let you all know that I am thinking of you and keeping you all in my prayers. Posting is difficult. There is just not enough bandwidth for everyone on this ship. Oceania has gone from one sign on per stateroom to two. There is just not enough to go around and everyone is complaining about getting knocked off. I will post when I am able. Happy Sunday to all God Bless, Terri

Your theory doesn’t hold either. We are in a PH 1 and were still refused at the reservation desk. The only reason we were given a table in Toscana was because the Head Waiter knew us from prior cruises. It had nothing to do with the type of stateroom we are in. Terri

It is interesting that this morning the Cruise Director on the Vista made mention of not reserving chairs on the deck if you are not going to use them. He reminded everyone to be respectful of other passengers. If you are going to be away from your lounge for a while then others should be able to take advantage of them. See how that works out! Terri

They only eliminated Jacques in the new ship “Vista”. Riviera and Marina still have Jacques. I agree that it is a bit mistake. The shops on the other ships are not as bad as this one. I can’t imagine where they found the clothes they have on display. Not to mention the price tags on them. Terri

Good morning from the lovely Oceania Vista. We had to turn the clocks ahead last night and lost an hour’s sleep. Not fun getting up this morning. Less fun trying to get DH out of bed. Finally it all happened and we had a nice breakfast in the Terrace Cafe. Thank you to Jacqui, Vanessa, Roy, Eva, Dixie and Ann for your contributions. Hope I got all the names right. We have a considerable amount of Shipboard credit. So last night we went to the Ship’s Boutique to look for shorts for Jim. NOTHING! The shop has the most pitiful clothes I have ever seen. I noticed this in November when we were on this ship. I thought that maybe things would have changed since then. It is worse. I could do better at Good Will. We will wait until we get to Antigua on Saturday. There is a nice store there that sells decent clothing. We will go shopping there. I plan on spending a quiet day. I brought a few books to read. It is a beautiful sunny day and plan to spend it on our verandah. Prayers for everyone. God Bless, Terri

Well, things sure have changed. Tried to get a reservation tonight by going to the reservation desk on Deck 5. First night on Vista. Only thing available was 8:30 and sharing. I said “no thank you” Interestingly, I then met the Head Waiterof Toscana, whom I knew from prior cruises, in the Terrace Cafe. He asked me if I wanted to eat in Toscana tonight. I said yes, but would like a table for two earlier than 8:30. In five minutes I had a table for two at 7pm. Now, why could that not happen at the reservation desk?

We had a lovely dinner in Toscana, the Italian restaurant. Afterwards, lost some money in the casino. Will see what happens in the future. Somehow this is not my favorite ship. I see Oceania making a lot of cost-cutting measures. Little things, but they add up. Here are some photos of our state room. A Penthouse suite. Tomorrow in the daylight I will take some of our verandah. Have a good night everyone, Terri

Good Afternoon from the beautiful Oceania Vista. We had an uneventful embarkation. Easy peasy. I am realizing little things as we go along that I have to take charge of more and more things. I unpacked for both of us. He brought two pairs of gym shorts and one pair of dress shorts. Now we have to buy at least another pair of dress shorts for him. Arrrgh! I can’t tell you how many pairs he has at home. He must have brought 10 pairs of white sox. Not sure when he is going to wear them. Maybe we can go to the shop on the ship and exchange the sox for a pair of shorts???!!! Fat chance. This is all a learning curve for me. We managed to get an extra reservation at the Italian restaurant tonight. I will take some photos late. Right now. Jim is taking a nap. Thanks again for all your wonderful Bon Voyage wishes. God Bless, Terri

Oceania always goes to Terminal J as does Regent. They call that the “Boutique Terminal” for small ships. We can only see the funnel from our room. Terri

Good Wednesday Morning from the Lounge at the Marriott Biscayne Bay. Jim is still finishing up his breakfast while I am reading the Daily. Thank you all for the well wishes for today. I am feeling better and had a good breakfast and hopefully I don’t have any ill effects from it. I had a good night’s sleep. We will go back to the room, get all our stuff together and close up our luggage, put the tags on and get on our way. We are the only ship in the port of Miami today. We did get to Total Wine yesterday so we have all we need. One nice thing about Oceania is that you can bring all the wine and liquor you want and you only pay a corkage fee if you bring it to a restaurant or bar outside your stateroom. Many times we have dinner from a specialty restaurant in our suite served by the butler so we do not have to pay a corkage fee. So we are just about ready to go. Thanks to Jacqui, et al for the Daily and all that goes with it. I will try to post some photos of the Oceania Vista and our room later and some photos of the ports during the cruise. Have a great day everyone. A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU FOR THE BON VOYAGE WISHES. God Bless, Terri

Good morning from beautiful Miami. It is 63 F and very sunny. Thank you to Jacqui and Roy for the Daily and Fleet Report and the Maps. Thank you to Vanessa for keeping up with our comings and goings as well as our ills and celebrations. I hope you get to feel better soon. Thank you to those filling in while the F&B regulars are cruising. @kochleffel and @superoma. Thank you to @cat shepard for the wine report. @StLouisCruisers Sandi, I hope your shoulder pain improves. @smitty34877 Terry, I hope Tana is doing better today. @kochleffel Paul, I hope your MOHS surgery is successful. @RMLincoln Maureen, Glad DH got a good report from the Eye doctor. I like croissants. I would not be able to draw a dinosaur. We are in the process of escaping on a cruise. I like the quote. We will skip the F& B for today. We have not been to the destination. DH is doing okay today. However, I am having some GI problems. I need to get this under control before tomorrow. Our plan for today is to go to Total Wine to get our supply for our cruise, however my need for proximity to a bathroom may thwart that plan. I was up for practically the whole night and feel weak. For breakfast I had only toast and tea and it went right through me. Need to get this resolved quickly. I am exhausted. Hope everyone is having a good day. God Bless, Terri PS. Here is a photo of the Miami Port. The MSC Miraviglia and the Norwegian Pearl are in Port today. They are also getting ready for a boat show and that is all the walkways and tents that you see.

@dfish Debbie, @Quartzsite Cruiser Lenda, @Sharon in AZ Sharon, @summer slope Dixie May you all have a wonderful cruise. Enjoy every minute.

@0106

@HAL Sailer

i am going to try to read all of today’s posts before I go to bed tonight. Terri

Well, we made it to Miami uneventfully. The flight was good. We were aware that the train that runs along Concourse D in the American Airlines terminal is not in service. So I made sure that we ordered wheelchair service for both of us. That was the smartest move I made all day. We had two great guys helping us. They helped us with luggage, got us to the UBER driver and we were all set. The UBER driver was great. Juan spoke little English but I spoke to him in Spanish and we were all set. At the hotel we were upgraded to a Vice Presidential Suite. Beautiful Room with a great view of the Miami Port. DH is doing better now that we are set for the next two days. Prayers for all that need them, cheers for those celebrating and cruising. Hope all had a great day. God Bless, Terri

Thank you Debbie, I wish you a great cruise as well. Enjoy! Terri

Good morning. We are sitting in the Club Lounge at the Jacksonville Airport. As far as I can see our flight is on time. This morning was not the greatest but we got through it. A bit of confusion on what we were doing and where we were going, but now all is good. I am learning that calmness on my part makes things easier for DH. I am trying real hard. Will head to the gate in a little while. Somewhere in the whole scheme of things I lost my comb and need to buy one. Sure that I will find it after I buy one. Will post after we get settled in the hotel. Hoping for an uneventful flight. God Bless, Terri

We are back from dinner, which was quite good. Thank you to Jacqui, Roy, Vanessa, @superoma, Dixie and Ann for keeping us going. As for the days. I respect the immigration lawyers for their efforts. I remember the day the Challenger exploded, the the sadness that engulfed all of us. I love daisies. I will pass on the meal and drinks. I have not been to Punta Arenas in Costa Rica, but have been to Puerto Limon. @grapau27 Graham, thank you for the lovely photos of your cruise. Those are the ports we were unable to see because we were quarantined on the ship due to covid. If all goes well, we will be seeing some of them in October. Yesterday was a hard day. Lots of confusion and at one point I thought we were going to have to cancel the cruise. I managed to get both of us ready and I was exhausted. Today everything is fine, like nothing happened. Go figure! We are happy to be on our way. Plan to take it easy. I need a rest. Got some pointers from my TA on how to handle difficult situations. I think we will be okay. Keeping my fingers crossed. @aliaschief Bruce, your cruise looks awesome. I am sure you are having the time of your life. It looks like Azamara knows how to keep their guests happy. We are flying out of Jacksonville at 12:11 tomorrow on American Airlines. We arrive in Miami at 1:38 pm. We are staying at the Marriott Biscayne Bay. Have a room overlooking the cruise port. Will head to the airport tomorrow and have breakfast in the lounge prior to boarding. Have a good night everyone. Thank you for the good wishes. God Bless, Terri

Good afternoon everyone. Just to let you all know that we made it to Jacksonville and are checked into the Hotel. Sorry i didn’t post yesterday. DH was having his troubles and I was trying to pack for two of us and doing many other things. It all got sorted out in the end. We are going to the Outback for dinner now. Will post more later with times, etc. Terri

Good morning, Never got here yesterday. Sorry about that. Thank you to Jacqui, Roy, Vanessa, Debbie, Ann and Dixie for your dedication to this board. Prayers for all who need them. Cheers tot those who are cruising and getting ready to cruise (Myself included) Yesterday was interesting. For the fifth time the floor in our bedroom was repaired. I am pretty sure it is the last time. The Contractor sent his own people rather than the sub-contractor. They showed up at 8 am and worked a good part of the day. It looks like they got it right. Today is packing day. All the things on the bed need to go in the luggage. Couldn’t do much yesterday because the closet wasn’t accessible. Hope everyone has a great day. God Bless, Terri

While my DH did not pass away, he became suddenly ill in Rome a few days before our cruise and required emergency surgery. We missed our cruise, needless to say. We had HAL’s platinum insurance which paid 90% of the bill (cancel for any reason) and I never heard from them again. Since this was before the cruise, we were on our own. It made me realize that buying insurance from the cruise line is not the best decision. The people the helped me the most were the staff in the hotel where we stayed and the American Embassy. Thankfully DH recovered and we were able to travel home after 10 days.

Good morning. It is 59F here in Bluffton. I finally had a good night’s sleep. I figured out a way not to have any adhesive on my legs during the night. I applied vaseline, covered with gauze,and then put on a pair of sox to hold the gauze in place. No adhesive. No itching and I slept like a baby for 10 hours. I had to be very tired. Thank you to Jacqui @kazu for the Daily and Fleet Report, and Roy @rafinmd for the maps. Thank you to Vanessa @JazzyV for the Cares and Celebration Lists. That list is getting longer and longer. I pray that soon you find a solution to your health problem. Thank you to Debbie @dfish for the recipe. Sounds good and I will file it away for future use. Congrats to Sue on the birth of the grandchild. How sad that she was not notified. Thank you to Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for the Drink and Wine Reports. I may actually have a gin and tonic. It has been a long time. The wine is a bit above my budget. Interesting quote. i don’t like beer, so beer cans do not interest me. I have not been to the port. @crusing along Happy Birthday. Sorry for not getting back yesterday. So a belated happy birthday to Terry @smitty34877 and to @DWAliaschief Sue. Hope you both had special days. @RMLincoln Maureen, glad all went well with your DH’s surgery. @cunnorl Charlene, welcome to Ryan Charles. Thank you to all for all the supportive comments yesterday. i am very relieved that I did not have a bad infection on my legs. I was very tired last night. We did go to our favorite local restaurant and I had a half rack of baby back ribs. Got lots to do today, having lost a lot of time yesterday. So I am going to make some oatmeal now and get breakfast ready. Hope everyone has a nice day. God Bless, Terri

Good Afternoon all. I just got home and have not read any posts. I will read them later. Right now I am tired and hungry. I drove to Jacksonville by myself because Jim didn’t feel well this morning. That was a long drive to do all by myself. I had a hard time trying to stay awake coming home. The weather left a lot to be desired also. But the best part is that the wounds are healing well. The whole problem with the itchiness and redness was an allergic reaction to the adhesive on the BandAids i was using. The nurse gave me the ones that are used at the Mayo, which are very gentle and will not cause the same reaction,. They also want me to do vinegar compressions to promote healing three times a day. Finally I was told that I should buy some large Nexus Waterproof Bandages to use so that I can go in the pool and the sea. i was also told to have a good time on the cruise. I am thankful for all your prayers and good wishes. The worse part of the day was the driving, Jim and I are going out for dinner so that I don’t have to cook. Too tired! Thanks again. Terri

I am going to try to answer everyone’s comments at one time. Thank you for all your positive comments. 1, We go to the Mayo because most of the providers here in the Hilton Head area have are now involved in Concierge Medicine. They expect anywhere from $3000 to $5000 upfront to care for you. The ones that do not participate in Concierge Medicine are not worth their salt. Ergo, i go to the Mayo Clinic. DH. Has a PCP who does not participate, but I do not care for him for myself. I am quite happy with the care I get at the Mayo. It requires a trip, but I feel it is well worth it for the quality of care I get there. 2. We will not stay overnight tomorrow. We are going on a cruise on Jan. 31. We are leaving on Jan. 29, I expect this to be resolved by that time. I have too many things to do here and an overnight stay will take too much time. If we get there by 11 am, we will get home by 3 pm. We will go out to dinner and then have all day Wednesday to get ourselves together for the cruise. 3. I have 3 appointments on Thursday, Friday and Saturday before our departure. I really don’t need to take the time of staying overnight. I never got the finances done today. Spent most of the day trying to get the legs to feel better. Thank you all for your concern. Please say a prayer that they can take care of this tomorrow and we can still go on our cruise, I need a rest,. I wish I can name you all, but I can’t. It is too muc like work and I have to be up by 6 am to take a shower. We have to be out of her by 7:30 am to get there on time. i need a one hour cushion, just in case. Will update tomorrow when I can. Thank you all again. Terri