ottahand7

I agree two Asian restaurants are overkill.

Your problem with the TV is the same problem we had on the NS in February 2022. Our room steward fixed it once, DH fixed it the next time and we got sick of dealing with it and had a technician fix it. It seems to be an ongoing problem.

I guess if you really wanted to eat the steak in the MDR you could but it would probably take a trip to the front desk to talk to them to take the billing off your MDR. There is so much to choose from in the Pinnacle Grill I would enjoy that steak in the specialty restaurant IMO.

Good afternoon. A shout out to our Texans in our group, @Quartzsite Cruiser and @Haljo1935. we are watching the OSU Texas game and Texas looks so good. Michigan has the big game tonight. Sadly I am falling asleep after 2 early mornings in a row for the greens sale. It was pretty quiet today even through the weather was better than yesterday. Prayers for everyone on our care list and people in war zones. Prayers for the hostages still being held. Have a lovely Saturday. Nancy

@Quartzsite Cruiser thank you so much for the lovely photos from Nuka Hiva yesterday! Vanessa @JazzyV I will pray for healing for your leg. I am sad you have had to bear with this for so long. 🙏

Good afternoon. It is really rainy here but it is the 40s. I worked our greens sale today and I think that our turnout may have been affected by the weather. I worked wreaths and roping/garland and since it was so rainy all our inventory sat in a trailer so I am really glad I brought my disposable raincoat that has been hanging in there since GSA because I was in and out all morning. Of course I had to buy something, three needle felted penguins that are Christmas ornaments. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet Reports @richwmn. Prayers for everyone needing them, prayers for Roy as we makes his way home on the auto train. I am glad to read @superoma DF Dena is improving and hasn't been kicked out of the hospital that sometimes happens. @grapau27 I am sorry you had the flooding, it sounds like your public works department is a step above what we have here in the US. @Heartgrove I hope that you and your DW can put the Covid behind you pronto. Prayers for everyone in war zones through no fault of their own, Ukraine, Israel and the innocents in Gaza. Prayers for the hostages. @kochleffel great news on your successful presentation. I was happy to read that photos of Baby Murphy were posted yesterday, I will have to go back and get caught up. We were in Fortaleza on February 25th this year. We did not get off the ship as it was a very large city and we had no shore excursions booked. I will see if I can find any labeled photos of the port. Have a great Friday! Nancy

Good afternoon everyone. Well I heard from Northern Michigan University and they sent the paperwork for their scholarship candidate and her CV shows a real passion for conservation so that is wonderful news. Sadly Lake Superior State University has so far found no one for the $1500 and another $1000. Really disappointing. I said I would be doing this process next fall and I recommended whenever she has a student contact in the area of study for our awards to let them know there will be money to apply for in the fall and collect their name and phone number. @Quartzsite Cruiser so happy you can find parts for your washer and I am glad it was your old one. John fixed his own dryer once. @superoma thanks for the update on your friend Dena. I will pray for her. @RMLincoln thanks for the information about Nuka Hiva. I will talk it over with John. He may come in later when my excursion ends and we can go to the marketplace. I looked at some of the photos from the HA shorex reviews and it looked like there were some beautiful vistas during that excursion. I have found I like to do excursions so I can see more of a port that I may never get back to or that weather prevents going. Following Bill and Mary Ann's blog on their Tales of the South Pacific on the Volendam this month they had to miss a port or two due to weather not allowing tendering.

Happy independence to Barbados! Thanks for all the photos of today's port. It looked like you enjoyed lovely weather!

Good morning everyone. I will celebrate a good sugar free chocolate mousse. My Norton reminds me of computer security multiple times per day it seems. A shout out to all in Barbados. A good quote by Twain. I will pass on the lasagna, the minty cocktail but today's blend wine suds good. Thanks for starting us off each day. Prayers for safe travels for Roy to return home to Maryland. Thinking of @Sharon in AZ as she has her surgery today. Lenda, so sorry that your washer has gone kaput after it being so new. Prayers for everyone on our care list, those in war zones through no fault of their own, Ukraine, Israel and the innocents in Gaza. Prayers for the hostages all to be released. Heading out to get my nails done and head to Walmart, mainly because we are out of eggs. It is a balmy 30 degrees and sunny but messy weather predicted for tomorrow and Saturday when I have to drive 20 miles to our garden council's greens sale. It is not enough to keep customers away I hope, mainly a cold rain. Have a lovely day today! Nancy

Roy, I am glad they have at least a vague answer to your issue. I am glad you get released this afternoon and hopefully are well enough to drive a ways towards your auto train. Jacqui thanks for keeping us updated on Roy. Vanessa, @JazzyV you sure need a break. I hope you will be able to get your radiator repaired soon. @smitty34877 I am glad that Tana has stabilized. It is interesting your dogs are watching over her, they know. I got the kitchen mopped after the Thanksgiving mess and I am happy it looks much better. John got me a Shark Robot that mops and vacuums which we tried the mopping feature today. It would do a good job on regular mopping but not Thanksgiving spills. After being locked out of a shore excursion I really wanted on GSA I am continuing to look for things on the 2025 South Pacific cruise. I hit a snag on a scenic drive on Nuku Hiva and was going to book but it needed weights for myself and John. They didn't state a weight limit but when I put in John's weight it showed red meaning it didn't allow him. I messed with it and the max weight is 200. I may book it for me because it is the only excursion for that stop. It is a caravan of private cars to tour the island. It is amazing these things have to be booked so far out but cruising is becoming really popular again. They had a story about cruising on NBC this morning about full cruise ships. How is it on the cruises our group have been on lately?

If you are asking has anyone ordered the upcharge steak in the MDR and yes I have done that one time when I had some credit to burn through.. It was very good. It is nice to have those upcharge items if the menu in the MDR doesn't appeal.

Sandi @StLouisCruisers thanks for the clarification. We are not going to Rarotonga. We are on a 35 day trip to Hawaii and Tahiti. I am glad that they offered a pearl farm in Raiatea as the same situation would probably be present. Too many cruisers for a small island, we are on the Konigsdam. Thanks again. Nancy

Good morning from sunny SW MI with temps in the low 20s. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet reports @richwmn. I liked square dancing when I was a child but when they forced us to do it in gym in 10th grade with dancing with girls I hated it. Lemon cream pie is another pie that one rarely sees offered. I will celebrate chocolates day by cracking open a box of Godiva chocolates I picked up at Costco yesterday. A great quote by Schweitzer and would be a good quote for Rosalyn Carter's service yesterday. The Korean short ribs sound great and would be great with today's Italian wine, I will pass on the peachy cocktail. @summer slope @cat shepard and @dfish thanks for researching these for us each day. Prayers for Roy, I hope you can get an answer soon and be able to be released. @JazzyV I pray that you are going to get some relief from your leg pain, thanks for keeping our cares and celebrations updated for us. Prayers for everyone on our care list, the people in war zones through no fault of their own, Ukraine, Israel and the innocents in Gaza. Prayers for the release of the hostages. I will be trying to work on loading photos on a photo frame for John today but it is hard with him moving about the house most of time. @aliaschief as it was last year we will be departing FLL the same day the world cruise leaves the US. This year the Eurodam, last year the Volendam. Always exciting to see a world voyage taking off in person. I finally heard from one of my scholarship colleges yesterday after I sent a reminder they have 5 candidates that they are narrowing down to two. Hopefully Northern Michigan University will reply today. Have a nice Wednesday! Nancy

Thanks for all the lovely photos of Naples today! I would love to visit sometime. I love French Toast and I use cinnamon and vanilla too. I use 1/2 & 1/2 instead of milk because it keeps a lot longer than milk and the smallest size milk I can find is 1/2 gallon. I hate having to dump milk down the drain. I don't do any letter writing anymore. I sent Christmas letters last year but this year I will hand write messages in my cards. I pare down every year so it makes it easier to write a message. Thanks @kazu for the update on Roy. Prayers sent to you Roy that they can figure out what is going on and fix it and send you on your way home to MD soon. The roads were bad heading to Costco but we took the highway back and it was dry. I wanted to express appreciation for the Cruise Critic Daily and the things I learn from it on a regular basis. A shout out to @StLouisCruisers when you shared photos of the port Raiatea and mentioned you couldn't get to the pearl farm as HA had booked all the available spots. This is way in the future in February 2025 but I kept looking for when HA would post the shore excursions for our cruise. They were posted when I looked yesterday so the first thing I did was book the Pearl Farm tour. I have been reading of people finding shore excursions sold out because of HIA but we are set. These anecdotes and photos help us learn so much and get us dreaming of visiting new ports. Thanks for all you do each day @richwmn to start our days off so well. Nancy

Good morning everyone! I have to be brief as we are heading to John's eye appointment at Costco at 11 but we will leave a lot earlier as all the schools are closed. We probably got 8" of snow because it packs down due to the weight. I don't think they predicted this much. Thanks for the daily and fleet reports @richwmn. We are back on diets so no chicken and rice for us or the sweet cocktail but would give the wine a shot. Thanks for the cares and celebrations lists @JazzyV. Prayers for Roy's healing, thanks for keeping up updated @kazu and Roy. Prayers for everyone on our list needing them, the people in war zones, Ukraine, Israel and the innocents in Gaza. I will check in after we get back from our trip to Costco. Have a nice day! Nancy

@aliaschief that is great news about your diagnosis and you are healing, better yet no intervention required. A big relief for you and your DW. @rafinmd thanks for keeping us updated yourself and through @kazu. @StLouisCruisers your daughter is so creative.

Thanks for your wonderful review and photos of Salvador de Bahia. We were there on the GSA on the Volendam and every problem with the theft you mentioned we had on our ship. Of all the ports in Brazil it was the only one where we heard about widespread crime. Cell phones grabbed and necklaces torn off. We were in the weird sculpture garden near the terminal and two women tried to shake us down because they thought they were in photos we were taking. I hope that you are able to go down the Amazon. If you make it to Parintins make sure to go to the Boi Bumba show. Between that and the kiddos in Boca da Valaria they were the highlights of a fantastic trip up the Amazon.

Good morning everyone. The snow has stopped but inches of lake effect snow are due tomorrow. Thankfully the two days I have to work at our garden council's greens sale it will be warmer (40) and fairly dry. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet Reports @richwmn. No pie in the face here, no Bavarian Cream pie. Thanks for clarifying adopt a turtle for us @grapau27, so I think virtual adoptions are fine. A very true quote by Bronte. I love butternut squash soup but I made turkey and chili soups yesterday and a meatloaf for tonight. Pass on the melon drink and I think I will pass on today's wine too. Thanks for keeping our lists for us @JazzyV. I have to note we depart for FLL on December 27 for our long Eurodam cruise. @kazu thanks for giving us a complete update on Roy. His hour by hour report shows why hospitalization is so frustrating for patients. @quilty964 I hope you recover from Covid quickly and @Heartgrove healing thoughts for your DW who now has it. Prayers for everyone needing them. @RMLincoln I hope that you get get settled in quickly in your new home and get caught up on some rest. Prayers for all in war zones for no fault of their own, Ukraine, Israel, the remaining hostages and the innocents in Gaza. I am going to wrap a gift for John and a few nominal gifts for my family while he is at his annual doctor's appointment. Since we had snow on the deck there were numerous possum tracks that were visible. Maybe they have been here all along but no tripping the bright motion light. Another late night but well worth it as the Ravens won last night. Now they have a long rest as they have a very late bye. Have a lovely day today! Nancy

Don't ever be afraid to go to the ER with a severe headache. Brain tumor, stroke and meningitis are the things that could be mixed by waiting. So happy to know it was a migraine.

We were on Volendam in January. Due to no beverage package on a long voyage and no happy hours at outset it was the only way to enjoy the bars. Our Ocean bar bartenders were happy to pour our package wine. No problem all the way through March.

Prayers for you Roy. 🙏 I have been thinking of you since you mentioned it this morning. Glad you went to the ER and grateful you were back in "civilization".

@Jake Martin were you on the Volendam Grand South America. I think I remember you from our Deck 6 hall party and for the rest of the voyage.

Bon Voyage @Haljo1935! 🍾

Good morning everyone. Thanks for the Daily Reports. We are still working our way through pie here so no cake. The law is very important. I will celebrate small wineries today, we are not beer drinkers. A wonderful quote by Helen Keller. Let's celebrate the first Thanksgiving while we still wade through our Thanksgiving leftovers. Ours are going today. Captain Cook really saw a lot of the world before his life ended there on his third visit to the islands. I will pass on the chicken dish, we are having ground chuck burgers, pass on the cocktail and wine looks pretty good. Thanks for researching these for us each day. Prayers for all on our care list and especially Roy, I hope you gets a good diagnosis when you visit the Urgent Care. Thanks for the update on Baby Murphy @cruising sister. Thanks for keeping these extensive lists for each day @JazzyV. Prayers for all in war zones, especially Ukraine, the innocents in Gaza and the hostages waiting to come home. We were thrilled the competitive Michigan game with a Michigan win in the end. It was a day full of good football and I think I watched three of them. They kind of run in together with a lot of channel flipping. I am going to finish the turkey soup I started Friday and also make chili to go in the freezer. Have a lovely Sunday! Go Ravens! Nancy

We were on the January GSA. Our weather was cool and cloudy for the most part once we got south of Peru. Our sun returned when we had our first stop in Puerto Madryn in Argentina. We missed the Falklands but that is mostly a given. We had extremely high winds leaving Antarctica. I am waiting for HA to offer it again in January to visit some places we didn't get to and maybe see the sun. I am not saying our weather was horrible it just was cloudy for Chile, Ushuia and the Antarctic.