SusieKIslandGirl

We had friends who rented a car. Border crossing was much easier than on the bus.

Our last 3 cruises have had t-shirts, but rarely did they represent the cruise we were on.

I want to add my thanks for your update and wonderful news of chasing cancer away. Good friend from school has been free of his lymphoma for nearly 20 years! Can't wait for trivia questions!

We're looking to do the same thing in November. The train looks doable. Venice is the last stop, from what I can tell.

Thanks for all your reports and photos. Brought back some good memories. Welcome back to the drizzle although Seattle was 61F today!

@StLouisCruisersSandi, I was so excited when I read that your Trusted Traveler had been renewed so quickly. I did our renewals last Sunday and just checked. Ours are still pending. When I first looked at the page, it showed approved but then I noticed that it was for the last renewal and not this one. At least the card is still good while pending.

In addition to the moon rising over the water, we love watching the ships heading to the port of Tacoma and the planes on the runway at SeaTac. But I will watch out for any drones 😜.

@kazuJacqui, how did you get a photo from our front window. 😂 The moon, trees and water are almost identical! My DF had nightmares for years-his Army unit arrived the day after Nordhausen was found. He had a few photos that we saw years later. I still cry thinking about both the camp and his experience.

When you call, you should probably ask about paid upsells. On one cruise I at first asked about upgrades and there weren't any available. I then realized I should ask for an upsell. I knew the vista suite was selling for less than what we had paid for the regular balcony so my "upsell" didn't cost anything additional.

Thanks for the recommendation Pete. My Tach luggage arrived this afternoon. I’ve had fun rolling it around the house. Can’t wait to try it out on our flight to Hawaii in March. Even my DH thought it was a good idea. And I got the discount using your link.

Forgot to mention, some airline and hotel reward programs give you the ability to earn points/miles if you link accounts with the ride share companies.

With Lyft and Uber, you have an app on your phone where your credit card is registered. When you want a ride, you go to the app and enter travel info. You then are given options which include size of vehicle, cost and approximate pick-up time. You can either accept the ride or close out and check a different company. You can tip, or not, on the app or in cash at the time of the ride. When you accept a ride, you get a text with driver name, car make and license plate number.

Oh no! You’re going to miss Valentine’s Day. Thanks for the blog update. Looks great and easy to read.

@Nickelpenny@kazuI have 2 friends who are both on their own. They arranged a time for a daily check-in by text. Doesn't take long and you're not interrupting anything. And does anyone have any idea why it always takes 2 tries to do the blue bubble? Never works the 1st time.

And this is the lunch on Nuka Hiva that @Vict0riannmentioned:

Finally found my photos that I wanted to share: @StLouisCruisersThis is the mailman in Coober Pedy, in the middle of Australia. You can arrange a ride with him but we didn't have enough time. (oops, still don't know how to properly size photos.)

On many but not all ships, we've found a European outlet behind the head of the bed. The night light is sacrificed but DH usually doesn't want it anyway.

After my last shopping excursion looking for distilled water and either not finding any or at a ridiculous price, I jokingly asked DH if he could build a still. Then an idea hit! Look on Amazon. Am now the owner of a bright red water distiller for less than $80. I can supply the entire family🤣.

I know it's not cold compared to Frozen Tundra cold, but when Seattle hits 19 it's cold. Spent the day in Seattle taking my 92-year-old DS to a hearing exam and then stops at Costco and JoAnn Fabrics. I had taken blankets with me so she could stay a bit warmer when I ran in to Costco. Glad we had them-waiting in the ferry line and then on the boat was chilly. But we made it-coming home the sun was blindingly bright. Just a bit of snow last night which didn't last. @RMLincolnMaureen, I'm tired just reading about all you accomplished. Good work!

That's quite the snazzy tux jacket and tie Pete. Very nice!

Congrats to Michigan. It was fun just to see the Huskies get that far, even though the ending wasn't what they wanted.

We were supposed to be in Napier the end of February but they had had horrific storms so we missed the port. Most of the area was without power. The photos showed how much we missed-guess we'll have to make another trip! Slow going for the UW Huskies at the start of the game. DS is there along with a couple of friends-my nephew and his son are also there. Lots of purple blood around here! And my "whine" of the day is I wanna be on a BHB.

@SuslorFile away for future use: s.k.hill at comcast dot net 🙂 I just wish we were closer so we could meet ahead of time for coffee. See you on the roll call. -Susie

When I have a drink package, I save the coupons to use on cruises when I don’t have a package. Well duh, what a good idea! Good thinking.

Thank you for your detailed report on the dog issue. It was well written and very fair. I hope the person who witnessed the accident by the elevator reported it clearly and it's added to the report. I guess you can say you had a very memorable cruise, just not in the way you'd hope to remember it. Take care and thanks again.