The Fleet Report and Daily for Wednesday January 4th, 2023

[ger_77]

Good morning, thanks for the Fleet Report and Daily!

 

We’re showered, dressed, breakfasted and coffee’d up, now to wait for the taxi/Uber to take us to the port.  We know we’re close to he port, because as we were walking into Ace hardware yesterday, we heard the Princess song from a departing ship.  
 

We’ve requested a “wave” from PTZ, and hope we’re caught on the camera.  Our location is on the 4th floor, 4 cabins aft of the last tender, and we'll have a Canadian flag on our balcony.  We’re wearing bright colours, DH in green and I’m in yellow.  You can’t miss us, we’ll be the crazies waving like mad as the ship passes the camera.  LOL
 

Not sure how many times I’ll be posting, but want to wish everyone a good, healthy 3 weeks ahead.  Be safe, stay well, play nice!

 

Smooth Sailing! 🙂🙂🙂

Gerry

 

 

[travelingbums]

Thank you everyone for sharing.

 

Happy Hump Day.

[TiogaCruiser]

Good morning all,

From a rainy SoCal😁, where we’re expecting a half inch!  Last week we may have gotten one inch, down from the optimistic 6” prediction. I think NorCal took the brunt off.

 

Spaghetti is sounding really good- maybe that will be our dinner. 
 

2 hours ago, Rowsby said:

Who remembers the woman several years ago....who took the cruise for the 1st time....with her ex.....and basically hated it..........it was a blog I didn't want to read but was so outrageous....a total train wreck......you just couldn't look away.....😲😂

 

 

2 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Apparently I missed that.  That’s one I would have read.  😂

 

55 minutes ago, 4966and556 said:

@Rowsby I remember that blog.  I think they took numerous cases of wine and (I think) Dr. Pepper.  I think her name was Barbie.  Pre 2015, if I recall.   

I think I remember that. Wasn’t it maybe like 2013? She was a San Diego attorney who had gotten some award and was celebrating with her first ever cruise, which didn’t fulfill her expectations. (Not enough cream for her tacos so to speak.) They got off for a while in the South Pacific (Morea? Tahiti?). I think her CC handle was a variation on “legally blonde.”

 

IIRC that was the same year that the “eastern “priest”” that wore a cloak and wouldn’t let the stewards in to clean his cabin was aboard???  That must have been a a colorful year…..

 

Have a great day everyone!

[marshhawk]

Good Wednesday Morning Dailyites!  Flood watch, and flood warnings.  2-4 inches, since it started yesterday, I bet we did get closer to 4.  The computer says it's cloudy , and 61.  Yesterday before we left for the doctors it said sleet expected.  ??  Maybe their spell check didnt like the word hail?

 

This morning is a grocery store run, put a check into the bank account, and lunch.  Not in that order.

DH's campaign for telemarketing ended last Friday.  He starts a new sales campaign for the same theatre today.  My boss has figured out that with the leads we have been getting, and that I am not the best at telemarketing, he has given me virgin calls.  Bless him.  They release people who have gone to one film or performer with the HSO to the calls and I call them.  Lots of blocked calls, lots of wrong numbers, lots of NO!  and lots of no answer.  Keeps me busy for hours.  And I don't have the stress of asking for money, but as he says, it must be done!  So all those no answers go to the rest of the crew, and I'm basically doing account updates.  Cant wait til the sales job opens up.  That's supposed to start mid January. Then back to 8 hour days, to pay off the rest of the transatlantic cruise, and the hotels, and excursions.  Yeah!

 

Introducing the fur babies, besides Fawn

 

This is Furnando

 

 

I'll just do one a day, that way I wont bore you. 

 

 

 

[marshhawk]

I don't know what the quote means, I will have to ponder all day, unless someone knows and can explain it to me.

 

It's a no on the turkey balls, sorry,  I will have shrimp curry this week.  

 

@grapau27Thank you for the food porn!  DH had fish and chips on New Years for "dunch".  It did not look as good as yours, but he liked his chips.

 

Well I need to get ready to start my day.  I hope you all have a wonderful day!

[marshhawk]

“I am I and my circumstance; and, if I do not save it, I do not save myself.”

 

The title of this article is a nod to the famous quote by the Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset. In short, he thought that the union of “I” and the circumstance was indissoluble; it was impossible to understand one without the other. Thus, the product of our decisions is conditioned by who we are at our core, but also by the particularities of time and place.

For this reason, when the philosopher said, “I am myself and my circumstance; if I do not save it, I do not save myself ” he referred to the strength of that union between who we are and what surrounds us. We are influenced by our own surroundings, in which we find limitations and freedoms and in which we are allowed to decide between different options for moving forward.

Circum-stance: ‘what’s around’

Just the word circumstance reflects the broader context in which we exist: the family, society, culture, a certain body with its physical and psychological characteristics, personality and character, etc. Our sense of “I” helps us make sense of how we fit into all this.

[durangoscots]

3 hours ago, Rowsby said:

I just missed seeing the World Cruiser's depart last night....but so looking forward to all the wonderful blogs this year....so many different interests and perspectives....a really great group....!!!

 

Who remembers the woman several years ago....who took the cruise for the 1st time....with her ex.....and basically hated it..........it was a blog I didn't want to read but was so outrageous....a total train wreck......you just couldn't look away.....😲😂

 

And....I think "our" Rich @richwmn ....getting...not at a last minute....but a past-minute upgrade to a veranda was simply amazing.....!!!!!!

 

I remember .... I was on that cruise for the first half. No comment.

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

Good morning from a mostly sunny, very little wind if any, and 45F central Texas.  The wind is supposed to pick up later this morning, and the high is predicted to reach 65F.  We've had just enough winds from the south the last few days to "fill up" the port with leaves again.  Looking at the trees across the street, getting the leaves out of the port will be an on going project, not to mention the leaves already in the neighbors yard waiting to move across the street.

 

It's been awhile since we had spaghetti, so that may be on the menu tonight.  I enjoy playing trivia on BHBs, and really enjoy it when they ask the right questions -- the ones for which I have the answers.  😉 Braille opened the world up to the blind.

 

Todays quote is one that I had to think about.  I suppose I am me with my circumstances added, but I'm not sure I completely agree with it.  @marshhawk  Annie, thanks for the explanation of the quote.

 

We'll pass on the meal and the drink.  The wine might be interesting, but it is pricey.

 

We were in Durban, South Africa, on March 19, 2000 on P&O Oriana's world cruise.  I'll post some pictures in a few minutes.

 

@ger_77  🎈 🛳️ BON VOYAGE!  HAVE A GREAT CRUISE! 🥂 🍾

@Seasick Sailor  Joy, enjoy the next two segments of your cruise.  Where  does the last cruise go?

@StLouisCruisers  Sandi, I hope the tornado watch stays just a watch.

@dfish  Debbie, I agree that unpacking boxes after a move is difficult.  When we moved into this house in 1999, I remember standing in the kitchen surrounded by boxes almost bewildered trying to figure out where to put things.  To this day, I'm still rearranging some cabinets.

@cat shepard  Ann, that is good news that the vet had good meds that will have Bindi back to herself soon.

@aliaschief  Bruce, safe travels to you and Sue today.  Congratulations on the upgrade to business from Atlanta to Miami.  I've enjoyed your memes.

@Cruzin Terri  Terri, that is great news the insurance company will pay to have the boxes unpacked.  I hope there are no emergencies today so Service Masters will be at the house today.

@marshhawk  Annie, glad your boss gave you a less stressful part of the campaign, and I hope the sales jobs open up soon.

 

From the discussion about the world cruise blog from the past, it sounds like I missed an interesting blog.  I didn't start reading the WC blogs until a few years after that one.

 

Lenda

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by Quartzsite Cruiser

[rafinmd]

Thank you Rich for assembling all the Hump Day fleet report and daily information.  I am only fair at trivia, am intrigued at how well people can adapt to braille, and will have spaghetti tonight.  I visited Durban on Crystal Serenity in 2014 and was due to return on QM2 in 2020.  I'll pass on the quote and the meal.  My alternative is Sauteed Pork Chop and Key Lime Pie, my first dinner on MS Prinsendam Grand South America voyage January 5, 2019.

 

Today’s care list:

Demar Hamlin Buffalo Bills
Rest In Peace Pope Benedict internment 5 Jan
RIP Barbara Walters 12/30
HAL Sailer DBIL in final days
Ominous scan for Marshhawk
Safe return for cunnorl
Cruisin Terri still waiting on furniture movers
Seasick Sailor’s friends with covid and Allen with bad cold
From the rotation:
Cruising-along niece awaiting a kidney
Status of St. Louis Sal (7/1) and JAM37 (7/7)

 

Celebrations and Shoutouts:

 

Eurodam and

Rotterdam in Everglades

Retirement date set for Kochleffel
Rotterdam assisting a refugee
3 days for DeeniEncinetas (Koningsdam 1/7 to 1/31)
1 day for Aliaschief (Onward 1/5 to 1/17)
Bon  ger_77 (Rotterdam 1/4 to 1/25)
Welcome home garlictown
crystalspin, Copper10-8,Vict0riann, Kazu, Av8rix, crystalspin, Vict0riann, sailingdutchty (1/31)  (Koningsdam  to 1/7), Damcruiser (Nieuw Statendam  to 1/14), Seasick Sailor (Rotterdam  to 1/25),  indaler and ottahand7(Volendam  to 3/18), and Cat in My Lap, Gail&Marty,richwmn and HorizonChaser1957 (Zuiderdam  to 5/12) at sea

Roy

[kochleffel]

I would like spaghetti but won't be having any. Turkey meatballs are OK, shredded coconut is not, but coconut milk as an ingredient in curry is OK. An organization that I am obligated to support is having a trivia night this weekend, but I'm not going -- I'm very good at general trivia, not at all on music or film trivia. I'd probably like the St. Emilion. A while ago I worked with someone who was blind and took meeting notes in Braille. Her hiring coincided with a shift from typewriters and paper to computers, and she had hers fitted with a voice synthesizer. 

 

Attending a funeral at 11:30. Graveside only, but the forecast is for rain not to resume until later. It's the burial of a man who was on the board of my organization until he moved to Florida two years ago, at the age of 94. I knew that he was failing because he stopped emailing me (mostly bad) jokes.

 

[travelnap]

1 hour ago, ger_77 said:

Good morning, thanks for the Fleet Report and Daily!

 

We’re showered, dressed, breakfasted and coffee’d up, now to wait for the taxi/Uber to take us to the port.  We know we’re close to he port, because as we were walking into Ace hardware yesterday, we heard the Princess song from a departing ship.  
 

We’ve requested a “wave” from PTZ, and hope we’re caught on the camera.  Our location is on the 4th floor, 4 cabins aft of the last tender, and we'll have a Canadian flag on our balcony.  We’re wearing bright colours, DH in green and I’m in yellow.  You can’t miss us, we’ll be the crazies waving like mad as the ship passes the camera.  LOL
 

Not sure how many times I’ll be posting, but want to wish everyone a good, healthy 3 weeks ahead.  Be safe, stay well, play nice!

 

Smooth Sailing! 🙂🙂🙂

Gerry

 

 

We will watch for you Gerry.  Since you requested a wave, we should hopefully get a good zoom on you two.  Bon Voyage and have a great cruise!!

[luvteaching]

Good morning!

 

We're having a cloudy and mostly dry day today. 

DH is home and doing quite well overall. I've added "wound care" to my resume. My sole training was a printed list of the steps to take and a bag of supplies. Monday afternoon Home Health started up with the nurse coming to do intake and she did a dressing change and answered questions. Yesterday was a PT evaluation. DH will have PT once every 2 weeks until his heel heals and then weekly when he can put weight on it and walk again. Today it's OT eval and a nurse's visit to do the dressing change. I think nursing will go to once weekly. Friday is a speech eval. 

 

Our Christmas gift to each other is new appliances and our dishwasher is set to be installed on Thursday! I'm so ready for this. Range and refrigerator are a few weeks out which is fine. I'll also do a new range hood and sink and DS will install those for us. 

 

We watched the sailaway yesterday and plan to be there today. I can't go anywhere as DH can't get in a car so I may even get the house de-Christmased and things put away. 

Karen

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

As I mentioned, we were in Durban on March 19,2000, as part of the P&O world cruise on Oriana.  That cruise, I still had a film camera, but DH had a fancy digital camera.  All the pictures are ones DH took.

 

Our visit to Durban was a half day visit.  With all the warnings about exploring Durban, we opted for a tour to a private game preserve not far from Durban.  Seeing the animals in the wild was great, even though we did not see lions or elephants.  

 

The first three pictures were taken from Oriana as we approached the pier.  In the second picture, you can see some of the people lined up to watch the ship's arrival.  There were also a lot of people lined up when we sailed at dusk.

 

 

 

These are pictures from our safari vehicle, which was a Land Rover Defender with stadium bench seats so everyone had a good view.  We saw a lot of zebras and wildebeests.  The zebras had light brown stripes between the black strips.

 

 

 

These are black rhinos.

 

I'm not sure what type of antelope these are.  I suspect they are pronghorn antelope.

 

A couple of ostriches.

 

The only hippo we saw, and he/she was hiding in the water.

 

There were quite a few giraffes.

 

 

Back at the main building, we were served afternoon tea with some of the best scones complete with clotted cream and strawberry jam.  Sorry there is no food porn, but this is the area where we had tea.

 

Some of the surrounding countryside.

 

One last look at Durban as we sailed toward Cape Town.

 

Not a sunrise, but the moon rise over the port.

 

I wish we'd had more time and could have gone to a preserve with lions and elephants too.  Maybe someday.

 

Lenda

 

[*Miss G*]

1 hour ago, Cruzin Terri said:

 

A bit of good news is that the insurance company will pay for Service Masters to help us unpack the boxes.  That is a big deal for us.  I think if they just left them at the house we would be looking at them all taped up for the rest of our lives.   I don’t think we have the wherewithal to do that job ourselves.

Prayers for all that need them and cheers to all that are celebrating and cruising.

Special shoutout to those beginning the World Cruise.

God Bless,

Terri

 

When we moved into our current house, I had to call the person in charge of our move (Federal Government) and ask if it was okay to have them leave without unpacking boxes.  They kept breaking things which had survived the journey and the driver — who was in charge of the unpackers — was a very angry and scary man.  I am dreading having to move again so I feel your pain.

[durangoscots]

Good morning to all. It is sunny!!! blue sky!!!! ice is melting. We have about 15 inches of snow on the ground from this series of storms and we are supposed to have a couple of clear days before another small storm arrives some time on Friday. At least it will give me time to get errands done and maybe a quick trip to the grocery store. The dogs were thrilled this morning when they went out... it was cold but the driveway was dry.

 

Yesterday morning was spent meeting with new Executive Director at the shelter and then getting out of her way. Fingers crossed. I only have 4 months more and I am counting down the time. Came home and started work on getting a few items for sale on Ebay. They are sort of specialized and probably would not bring much money if I sold them here but if they do not sell in a few weeks, off to the thrift store they go.

 

Watched the Grand Voyages begin. Will be following along. As I commented earlier, I was on the cruise with the blogger who hated it. She had lots of money and later in the cruise left the ship for long overland trips before rejoining  several ports away. She brought on incredible amounts of luggage. I think she got her idea of cruising from 1930's movies and I am sure she has never gone to sea again.

 

Susan

Edited January 4, 2023 by durangoscots
typos

[Cruising-along]

Good morning all!

We're having a cloudy day, mid 40's again.  But winds are expected today, with gusts up to 50 mph.  I hope the trees stay in place, the tree service hasn't gotten out here yet.

 

I think a lot of us will be having spaghetti tonight.  I'm not good at trivia, other than a few topics.  I wish my Grandfather had learned Braille.  He went blind from Diabetes and pretty much gave up on life.  It could have made his life so much more interesting.  He was the typical "can't teach old dogs new tricks" kind of person.

 

I'll pass on the meal (not fond of coconut or curry), drink and red wine.  Have never been to the port, thank you Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiserfor the amazing photos.

 

I'll be the odd woman out, I much prefer to do my own unpacking no matter how long it takes.  We've moved many, many times (military primarily) and they always packed us up, then at the new residence put the boxes in the correct room, and we would do the unpacking.  I'm sure I would rearrange everything if they put things away anyway.  It takes me awhile to make those decisions, and any on-the-spot decisions would be changed later. 😉  

 

I wish I could see the World Cruise blog from years back!  The name of the poster sounds really familiar too.  If that is the name, the person still posts on CC.  What happened to the function here that allowed you to look up a person's name and posts?  I don't see it anymore.  It was a list of CC members -- maybe it got too big?

 

Annie @marshhawkFurnando is a handsome boy and I look forward to more kitty photos.

Bon Voyage Gerry @ger_77!

I'm still in shock over Rich's @richwmnupgrade for the World Cruise!  Woo hoo!!

[Seasick Sailor]

FINALLY!! All the "dam" people off the ship so we could do turn around. Urgh!!!!

 

OK.. That's over, now looking for Gerri!

[Sharon in AZ]

Good morning!  Interesting collection of days today. I like spaghetti, especially with meatballs.  I enjoy playing trivia with friends on a BHB. Braille is a very important form of communication and I always think of Helen Keller.  I’ll pass on the meal suggestion. We are having Caesar salad with salmon. I am trying something different and marinated the salmon in Caesar dressing. 
 

It will be exciting to watch this afternoon’s sail away, hopefully we can all spot Gerry and her DH. 
 

Have a great day everyone!

[richwmn]

1 hour ago, Cruising-along said:

I wish I could see the World Cruise blog from years back!  The name of the poster sounds really familiar too.  If that is the name, the person still posts on CC.  What happened to the function here that allowed you to look up a person's name and posts?

A way I use to look up member names is to type the @ sign in a new post and start typing what I think the name is. Then click on the name and you will be able to see their information. I then exit the post without hitting 'submit reply'.

[*Miss G*]

1 hour ago, Cruising-along said:

What happened to the function here that allowed you to look up a person's name and posts?  I don't see it anymore.  It was a list of CC members -- maybe it got too big?

 

That missing function drives me nuts.  It was so much easier to do a search by username, along with the key word(s).  I wish they’d bring it back because, basically, the search feature is pretty much useless to me now.

[USN59-79]

Surprising the things we remember from CC.  I distinctly remember reading about the WC with the Eastern Orthodox "Priest" creating such a disturbance onboard.  Apparently when he would venture from his stateroom he would attempt to solicit donations from fellow passengers, but for long periods he wouldn't allow the stewards to enter and clean his cabin.  Speaking of Durban and WCs we stopped there on the 2014 WC and embarked Father Desmond Tutu and his entourage and disembarked them in Cape Town.  I still have his autographed biography that was given to us onboard at the time.  We really enjoyed meeting him.

I am pretty much over my broken leg.  Need to see the orthopedist on Friday.  Today I plan to go under the kitchen sink and clean the drain of a year's accumulation of grease.

Ray

[Cruzin Terri]

Well, I have disappointing news to report.  Then again, it may be a blessing in disguise.

Service Masters had an emergency, but promises to be at my house tomorrow.

Meanwhile we are having torrential rains.  If they would be moving furniture, everything would be wet and would not be a happy camper.  

So we stopped at the Home Depot and bought the new lighting fixture for the kitchen and then I finished cleaning the guest bathroom.

Then the rains came.  We decided to get ourselves out of there.  

So we’re back at our apartment and that is where we’ll stay for the rest of the day or at least until it stops raining.

Terri

 

[Cruising-along]

49 minutes ago, richwmn said:

A way I use to look up member names is to type the @ sign in a new post and start typing what I think the name is. Then click on the name and you will be able to see their information. I then exit the post without hitting 'submit reply'.

That worked!  By process of elimination I found the right one.  legallyblonde.  Lives in San Diego.  There's a link to her world cruise blog, now I'll see if it's still available.

[XBGuy]

A shout-out to @marshhawk for the interesting discussion on the quotation.  Thank you.

 

My 11th grade U.S. History teacher, Mr. Burns, often cited Jose Ortega y Gasset during lectures.

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, Quartzsite Cruiser said:

As I mentioned, we were in Durban on March 19,2000, as part of the P&O world cruise on Oriana.  That cruise, I still had a film camera, but DH had a fancy digital camera.  All the pictures are ones DH took.

 

Our visit to Durban was a half day visit.  With all the warnings about exploring Durban, we opted for a tour to a private game preserve not far from Durban.  Seeing the animals in the wild was great, even though we did not see lions or elephants.  

 

The first three pictures were taken from Oriana as we approached the pier.  In the second picture, you can see some of the people lined up to watch the ship's arrival.  There were also a lot of people lined up when we sailed at dusk.

 

 

 

These are pictures from our safari vehicle, which was a Land Rover Defender with stadium bench seats so everyone had a good view.  We saw a lot of zebras and wildebeests.  The zebras had light brown stripes between the black strips.

 

 

 

These are black rhinos.

 

I'm not sure what type of antelope these are.  I suspect they are pronghorn antelope.

 

A couple of ostriches.

 

The only hippo we saw, and he/she was hiding in the water.

 

There were quite a few giraffes.

 

 

Back at the main building, we were served afternoon tea with some of the best scones complete with clotted cream and strawberry jam.  Sorry there is no food porn, but this is the area where we had tea.

 

Some of the surrounding countryside.

 

One last look at Durban as we sailed toward Cape Town.

 

Not a sunrise, but the moon rise over the port.

 

I wish we'd had more time and could have gone to a preserve with lions and elephants too.  Maybe someday.

 

Lenda

 

Brilliant photo's Lenda.