The Fleet Report and Daily for Sunday September 17th, 2023

[richwmn]

 

Today is Citizenship Day, Constitution Day, and International Red Panda Day
 

Life is like a trumpet - if you don't put anything into it, you don't get anything out of it. - William Christopher Handy

Meal Suggestion for today - Mexican Ground Beef Tacos
Drink of the Day - Makers Mark Redhead
Wine of the Day - Henschke - Henry's Seven Barossa Gsm Blend 2021
Destination of the Day - Giardini-Naxos, Taormina, Sicily Italy

Today in History:
1683 Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is the first to report the existence of bacteria

Ship Locations
 

Eurodam

At Sea Destination Juneau, Alaska eta 09-18
 

Koningsdam

At Sea Destination Juneau, Alaska eta 09-18
 

Nieuw Amsterdam

Whittier, Alaska 0100-2000
 

Nieuw Statendam

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy 0700-1700
 

Noordam

Vancouver, Canada 0700-1600
 

Oosterdam

Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy 0700-1900
 

Rotterdam

At Sea Destination Oslo, Norway eta 09-18
 

Volendam

Glacier Bay, Alaska 0700-1600
 

Westerdam

Seattle, Washington 0700-1500
 

Zaandam

At Sea Destination Corner Brook eta 09-18
 

Zuiderdam

Quebec City, Quebec Overnight
 

 

 

[portofrome]

Thank you for the Fleet Report.

[grapau27]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=o0EsiQd1it8&si=Ibm4BUNGXw7U2atE

[grapau27]

Good morning.

It is cloudy and 16°C here.

We had a lovely church service on the 15th Sunday after Trinity.

Thank you Rich and everyone else who make the Daily special.

3 interesting days and quote.

Today's meal sounds good.

We have sailed in to today's port.

I hope everyone is safe and well and avoided Hurricane Lee.

 

 

[summer slope]

Makers Mark Redhead cocktail:

 

Ingredients
1 1/4 parts Maker's Mark® Bourbon
Soda Water
1 splash Cranberry Juice
Garnish Lime Wedges

Instructions
Fill rocks glass with ice. Add Makers Mark® Bourbon, fill with soda water and add a splash of cranberry juice. Garnish with a lime wedge.

 

[StLouisCruisers]

 

Good morning friends!  It's 66 this morning and the house even feels chilly for a change.  High today will be 81, partly cloudy this morning, sunny later this afternoon.  A slight chance of rain.  We had more rain yesterday.  Stayed home all day and worked on my photo book for the last cruise and had an all time record 15 pages completed.  But as I got to the final two days of the cruise there were no photos.  That's when I discovered some of my photos were not moved over to Shutterfly so had to go back and do that.  Some were from the beginning all the way through to the end of the cruise.  Now I have to go back through my photos to see if some of them should have been in the book!  More work to do!

 

Thanks to Rich @richwmn for the Daily and Fleet Report.  An excellent group of days to celebrate.  Citizenship Day and Constitution Day.  We should all be aware of how important our citizenship is and not take it for granted.  And the constitution is the most significant document in American history.  As for red pandas I understand they are near extinction so everything that can be done for them should be done.  A nice quote.  The Mexican ground beef tacos sounds like a popular dish.  No thanks to the drink or wine.  Interesting fact about our day in history.  Thank you Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for their F&B reports. 🥰 

 

Prayers this morning for our Care list individuals and their families, also DB and friend's DB Mark.  Hoping everyone sees some improvement soon.  Hopefully Hurricane Lee is out of everyone's hair soon! 🙏  For those on the Celebration list, enjoy your happy events and cruises.  Safe travel to all of you!  🥂  Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for keeping those lists for us!

Our port today is interesting.  We have had Taormina twice before, but never have we had Giardini-Naxos which is nearby.  Apparently some cruises are going to use Giardini-Naxos as their port on their itinerary as a means for guests to see Taormina.  I was surprised to see Giardini-Naxos will be visited by Oosterdam on Sept. 20!  So today I will post links to Taormina posts.  If anyone has been to Giardini-Naxos we would enjoy some photos.  And if you went to Taormina we would like to see them too.  Dates of Rich's posts were Sept. 14, 2021 and May 15, 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what I said when we visited Taormina.   Emerald Princess 2016. 

 

I checked my Cruising Profile and it said we had been to Taormina on the Prinsendam Holy Land cruise we took in Oct. 2014.  But when I looked at my Shutterfly book of that cruise it turns out we were unable to go there and they substituted Messina instead.  Knowing I'd seen Taormina on a tour once I was able to determine we'd been there in October 2016 on Emerald Princess.  The port was Messina and the tour was to Mt. Etna and Taormina.  Most of us would love it but DH said he didn't enjoy it.  I think it was just too crowded that day.  

 

 

October 5, 2016 on our tour of Taormina.  It's a charming town and very scenic but can be a problem to negotiate when crowds are large.  It would be nice here off season, whenever that is!

 

 

 

The Duomo and the funky fountain in front of it.  

 

A small walkway.  I love those lanterns hanging from the building.

 

A shopper's delight...

 

A dining/drinking delight...

 

 

 

The view from an overlook

 

A closer look at that ship in case you'd like to identify it...might be a Windstar

 

 

The Church of St. Joseph (or the Chiesa San Giuseppe)

 

In front of the church

 

Lots of people!

 

Hope you all have a wonderful day and finish to your weekend.  Stay safe and well.

[Crazy For Cats]

Good Morning Everyone, thanks for the daily fleet report.  It’s a beautiful day here and a bit cooler.  It’s soon time to bring in the plants.  Mona let me sleep until 5 this morning.  Today’s meal suggestion sounds good but I think we will have chicken and rice.  There’s nothing on the agenda today although I may make a trip to Walmart for some cat food.  I hope everyone has a good day today.

[grapau27]

10 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

 

Good morning friends!  It's 66 this morning and the house even feels chilly for a change.  High today will be 81, partly cloudy this morning, sunny later this afternoon.  A slight chance of rain.  We had more rain yesterday.  Stayed home all day and worked on my photo book for the last cruise and had an all time record 15 pages completed.  But as I got to the final two days of the cruise there were no photos.  That's when I discovered some of my photos were not moved over to Shutterfly so had to go back and do that.  Some were from the beginning all the way through to the end of the cruise.  Now I have to go back through my photos to see if some of them should have been in the book!  More work to do!

 

Thanks to Rich @richwmn for the Daily and Fleet Report.  An excellent group of days to celebrate.  Citizenship Day and Constitution Day.  We should all be aware of how important our citizenship is and not take it for granted.  And the constitution is the most significant document in American history.  As for red pandas I understand they are near extinction so everything that can be done for them should be done.  A nice quote.  The Mexican ground beef tacos sounds like a popular dish.  No thanks to the drink or wine.  Interesting fact about our day in history.  Thank you Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for their F&B reports. 🥰 

 

Prayers this morning for our Care list individuals and their families, also DB and friend's DB Mark.  Hoping everyone sees some improvement soon.  Hopefully Hurricane Lee is out of everyone's hair soon! 🙏  For those on the Celebration list, enjoy your happy events and cruises.  Safe travel to all of you!  🥂  Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for keeping those lists for us!

Our port today is interesting.  We have had Taormina twice before, but never have we had Giardini-Naxos which is nearby.  Apparently some cruises are going to use Giardini-Naxos as their port on their itinerary as a means for guests to see Taormina.  I was surprised to see Giardini-Naxos will be visited by Oosterdam on Sept. 20!  So today I will post links to Taormina posts.  If anyone has been to Giardini-Naxos we would enjoy some photos.  And if you went to Taormina we would like to see them too.  Dates of Rich's posts were Sept. 14, 2021 and May 15, 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what I said when we visited Taormina.   Emerald Princess 2016. 

 

I checked my Cruising Profile and it said we had been to Taormina on the Prinsendam Holy Land cruise we took in Oct. 2014.  But when I looked at my Shutterfly book of that cruise it turns out we were unable to go there and they substituted Messina instead.  Knowing I'd seen Taormina on a tour once I was able to determine we'd been there in October 2016 on Emerald Princess.  The port was Messina and the tour was to Mt. Etna and Taormina.  Most of us would love it but DH said he didn't enjoy it.  I think it was just too crowded that day.  

 

 

October 5, 2016 on our tour of Taormina.  It's a charming town and very scenic but can be a problem to negotiate when crowds are large.  It would be nice here off season, whenever that is!

 

 

 

The Duomo and the funky fountain in front of it.  

 

A small walkway.  I love those lanterns hanging from the building.

 

A shopper's delight...

 

A dining/drinking delight...

 

 

 

The view from an overlook

 

A closer look at that ship in case you'd like to identify it...might be a Windstar

 

 

The Church of St. Joseph (or the Chiesa San Giuseppe)

 

In front of the church

 

Lots of people!

 

Hope you all have a wonderful day and finish to your weekend.  Stay safe and well.

Great photos Sandi.

[JazzyV]

Today’s Care List:

Cruising sister’s great niece Baby Murphy post-surgery, on vent, unstable

Smitty34877’s DH Lou now at home, on hospice care 

CrabbyPatti’s DF passed on 9/14

Mamaofami’s DH Sam back in the hospital with an increase in his brain bleed

Cruzin Terri with pain from PMR

All Dailyites going through worries and stress, whether mentioned or not

 

Wildfires in Maui/Lahaina

Earthquake in Morocco and flooding in Libya, both with many deaths

Canadian/US wildfires; those in the path of Hurricane Lee 

Citizens of Ukraine

 

From the Rotation:

Kazu’s dear friend’s DH with leukemia

Rafinmd (Roy) recovering from Covid, doing better

StLouisCruiser’s DB with pulmonary fibrosis

 

Celebrations and Shoutouts:

Bon Voyage SusieKIslandGirl!

Live4Cruises’ DH Nicholas doing well and getting the ok to cruise!

DeeniEncinitas safe on Maui

 

The Daily Gardening Club posting wonderful flower pictures

All the contributors to the Fleet Report/Daily

 

Upcoming Cruises or At Sea:

4 days for Oceansaway17 (Celebrity Summit Sept 21 to Oct 2, Boston, Maine & Canada)

6 days for Vmax1700 (Rotterdam Sept 23 to Oct 7, Jewels of the Baltic)

 

RMLincoln (Norwegian Joy to Sept 20, B2B), Cruising-along (Celebrity Solstice to Sept 22, Alaska), Heartgrove (MSC Preziosa to Sept 24, British Isles), Lady Hudson (Jewel of the Seas to Sept 28, Canada and Greenland), Haljo1935 (Carnival Venezia to Sept 29, B2B, NY/Canada/NE), SusieKIslandGirl (Noordam to Oct 1, Great Alaskan Explorer)   and Mr. Boston (Oosterdam to Oct 8, Med Tapestry, Greece & Adriatic Antiquities)

 

[cat shepard]

@richwmn please check your wine du jour programming. It seems to be stuck on September 15th.

 

Thank you for today’s R & D, Rich! A lovely morning. Venus & Jupiter still bright in the early morning sky. 
 

Vanessa, thank you for sharing our happenings. Gym, Aldi, Bindi walks, a bit of cleanup from last night’s festivities & pool time. That should keep me busy. 
 

 

 

 

 

Prayers for all who need our support. @smitty34877 Terry, keeping you, Lou & your entire support team in my prayers. 
 

Cheers to all who are celebrating. @rafinmd Roy - go on that cruise!
 

Have a wonderful day everyone!

 

***********

DeLoach California Heritage Reserve Chardonnay 2018

I used the 2018 vintage info since it was the last one for which I could find a critic’s review. Readily available and all prices hover around $10.00.

Winemaker Notes

Nicely integrated notes of orange blossom and creamy honeydew melon. Tropical flavors of pineapple, papaya and mango. This wine is delightfully balanced with bright acidity and a long finish that makes it the perfect complement to a wide variety of cuisines.

WW90 Wilfred Wong of Wine.com

The 2018 De Loach Heritage Reserve Chardonnay may seem to drink too easy, yet this wine has what it take to be a complete winner. TASTING NOTES: This wine deftly combines ripe peach and savory spices. Enjoy it with Thai Basil Chicken with a few hot chiles.

[Mr. Boston]

Good morning everyone from Florence!  Sorry I haven’t been a more astute poster but it is what it is. We diverted from Cannes yesterday due to the weather and visited Ajaccio Corsica instead. Birthplace of Napoleon. The Oosterdam is in fine shape, we’re in a Neptune Suite so the complimentary laundry is a huge plus. Prayers for everyone on our prayer list. Cheers for now. PS Kazu, Casa Camper is a find as is Bar Lobo!

 

 

[puppycanducruise]

Good morning.  Thanks for the Report.

A cloudy morning here with chance of rain and thunderstorms later today.  My niece is getting married today, I hope it doesn't rain on her.

A wonderful collection of days.

I like the quote.

The meal sounds good, so do the drink and wine.

I've never been to today's port.

Prayers for everyone.

Have a good day.

[1ANGELCAT]

Good cool 50 degrees morning. Showers are expected later today. 
Church service this morning is outside on the front lawn followed by a picnic. 
The cats are enjoying the cool weather and are really frisky this morning. Tux is back to normal, but still on meds till Thursday. 
Today would have been my dear friend Mabel’s 97th birthday. I lost her in February 2020. I took a small pot of mums to the cemetery. She loved cruising and we did several together.❤️🙏

Blessings and prayers to all on our lists.

[smitty34877]

Good morning. It is 56 degrees outside now and will get up to 72 or so later.I was out early with the dogs and encountered a coyote from a distance.We live next to a large park where I hear them howling a night. I scurried home.

We have been to the port and enjoyed it tremendously. Thanks for the pictures Sandi @StLouisCruisers. I will celebrate the days and the day in History.

DH is mostly sleeping and on strong pain medication. My DS and family were here for two days and we all cried this time when they left.Usually it is only me crying. DS will try to come back on Wednesday to help.Today we are on our own with care.

Thanks again to all for your continued support. I am very grateful.

 

[rafinmd]

Thank you Rich, Vanessa, Debbie, Ann, and Dixie.  Hoping to hear some positive news from @kazu.  Discovery of bacteria was a great step forward.  Not sure about Red Pandas but I'll celebrate the Constitution and Citizenship.  I have not been to Giardini-Naxos. 

 

I think I'll pass on the meal.

 

Slept well but still not a lot of energy this morning.

 

Roy

[RedneckBob]

59 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Good morning.

It is cloudy and 16°C here.

We had a lovely church service on the 15th Sunday after Trinity.

Thank you Rich and everyone else who make the Daily special.

3 interesting days and quote.

Today's meal sounds good.

We have sailed in to today's port.

I hope everyone is safe and well and avoided Hurricane Lee.

 

 

But where is the date, time and temp. No McCafe?

[RedneckBob]

Thanks for the Fleet Update and General Info from all contributors.

 

Taromina, Silicy. Beautiful place! I do have a cruise story about our trip there. Eight of us organized a private tour of this area off the Maasdam in 2013. It was six hours and excellent. First, Mt. Etna has erupted a couple days prior to our arrival and some of the bridges had been compromised. So the tour buses could not go there but we could. Second, approximately four hours into the tour, our tour driver and guide told us we had extra time and would we like to go see this historic church 10 km away. We asked why was it historic. He replied, “It is where Micheal Corleone of the movie the Godfather got married. 😀. We passed.

Edited September 17, 2023 by RedneckBob

[kazu]

Thanks for our Sunday Daily, Rich 

And thanks to Vanessa, Ann, Dixie & Debbie.

 

Nice collection of days especially Citizenship and Constitution. 👍 I really like the Handy quote.  And YUM - a white wine 👏 👏   Taormina is on my agenda for next year.  Looking forward to our time there.

 

Is it really only Sunday?  I feel like it’s been one LONG weekend.  Ivan and I are both very tired this morning.  Lee is slowly moving out so I will have to work on clean up once the winds have died down a bit.  It will be windy all day.  I am very grateful that my trees held.  DD DH & I always crowned, trimmed and had them all bolted so I think it helped.  Many others weren’t as fortunate.

 

 

 

 

 

The crews were out working on them whenever it was safe enough to do so.

 

 

 

There is a lot of flooding of course.  Our ground was already water laden.  There are still 1,000’s without power but the power companies have been working around the clock whenever it was safe enough to do so.

 

 

I’ll investigate what damage that the big branch did that came down to the house later. And see if there are any shingles on the ground.  Thank you all for your caring and concern.

 

@Mr. Bostonso glad you enjoyed the spots in Barcelona 👍 

 

@SusieKIslandGirl Bon Voyage!  I hope you have a fabulous time.

 

 

Prayers for those on the Care list, those suffering losses, health issues, worries & those that need them.  Cheers to those celebrating and cruising.

 

 

Have a good Sunday everyone.

[richwmn]

44 minutes ago, cat shepard said:

@richwmn please check your wine du jour programming. It seems to be stuck on September 15th.

should be fixed, thanks for letting me know.

[puppycanducruise]

@SusieKIslandGirl Bon Voyage!

[jodi58]

@kazu  Happy you and Ivan are safe🙂.  Hope the damage is minimal.

 

Jo

[dfish]

Good morning, everyone!

 

@kazu It sounds like you have come through the worst of the storm with little damage to your property.  Others may not be so lucky.  But, we're happy our Jacqui is safe.  

 

It will be a mostly cloudy day with temps in the low 70's, high 60's here.  We are driving down to Troy, Michigan for my niece's wedding shower.  The good news is that I am not traveling alone.  DS Sue and DS Mary Jo with be with me.  So, if I get tired, I have relief drivers.  

 

This recipe calls for a prepared taco seasoning that you get from the store.  The biggest part of the meal is seasoning the meat.  https://www.aheadofthyme.com/mexican-ground-beef-tacos/

 

 

This one has you make your own seasoning blend.  https://houseofyumm.com/best-ever-taco-meat/

 

 

This one has a little different preparation of the meat.  That is really the only variation of this dish.  The toppings you decide on and are based on personal preference.  I guess you could make your own taco shells.  https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/ground-beef-tacos/

 

 

I'm off to get ready to travel!    Wishing you all a wonderful day.

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

@SusieKIslandGirl  Have a wonderful time on your cruise.

 

 

 

Lenda

 

[puppycanducruise]

@kazu So happy to hear you and Ivan are safe.  Hope the rain and wind end soon.

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

Good morning from a cooler central Texas.  It is 69F and feels like 69F, but our high today will be 88 to 90F with sun.  Right now the humidity is 98% with the dew point at 68F and a 3 mph wind.  I need to do some yard work today and tomorrow in order to have more weeds ready for the trash pick up tomorrow.  After all our hot weather, it seems strange that I'll have to wait a bit to start so it's not too chilly early on.  What a difference a week makes. 

 

Hats off to the Texas Longhorns on their 31-10 victory over the Wyoming Cowboys last night.

 

Citizenship and Constitution Day seem to go together and are worth celebrating.  We need to do everything possible to save the red pandas.

 

I like the W. D. Handy quote, and it is very true.

 

The tacos sound good, but we'll pass on the drink and the wine.  We'll probably have hamburgers and fries for supper today.

 

We have had the pleasure of visiting Taormina twice, and the second time we tendered to Naxos.

 

The discovery of bacteria was an important advance in medicine.

 

@Mr. Boston  Thank you for your pictures from Corsica and Florence.

@puppycanducruise  I hope your niece has beautiful weather for her wedding.

@smitty34877  Terry, I'm glad you saw the coyote before he saw you and the dogs.  I'm glad you had a good visit with your DS and family and that your DS will try to come back and help.  I hope your DH remains comfortable and that the pain meds help with that.

@kazu  Jacqui, I'm glad you and Ivan came through the storm safely even if you are tired.  I hope the big branch that fell did not damage your house. 

@dfish  Debbie, I hope you and your DSs enjoy the wedding shower.  Safe travels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lenda