Denise T

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet report. Nice sunny day today. Still hot though. Working from home on grading and teaching. But the big news is: I booked an Alaskan cruise for May 2025 on the Eurodam. Super excited. It is round trip Seattle. Never been to Seattle so we will be going in a few days early. Anyway, thinking of all on the care list. I do want to thank all of you for thinking of me. I am feeling more confident that I can get may blood sugar stabilized as I did it before when I was first diagnosed back in 2016. Celebrating with all who are celebrating. Have a safe and healthy day.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet reports. In honor of National Kitten Day, I feel a sudden urge to run out and adopt more kittens for the household. However, when I mentioned this to my adult cats, I received the dirtiest of looks. So, maybe not. Scotland is on my bucket list as my family is of Scottish descent (as well as British and Armenian). We had a LOT of rain over the past several days. Today I will be grading assignments from a total of four classes. That is a total of 54 students. I love the teaching aspect but the number of assignments that must be graded is exhausting. I will make sure that I take frequent breaks throughout the day. Thinking of all on the care list. I woke up this morning with a fasting blood sugar of 156. This is the lowest it has been in months. I have altered my diet and am drinking much more water. I will be at the doctors on Wednesday to see if medications are necessary. Diabetic medication, especially the newer medications, are so expensive. Celebrating with all who are celebrating. Have a safe and healthy day.

Happy Sunday everyone. Expecting thunderstorms today. going to work in the garden before the storms come. I am going to bake some oatmeal cookies today. They will be good for my diabetes and will satisfy my sweet tooth. Thinking of all on the care list and celebrating with all who are celebrating. Have a safe and healthy day.

Happy Saturday everyone. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet reports. Hazy, hot, and humid here. It makes it difficult to want to enjoy being outside. I will be puttering around in the garden today. Going back to basics with managing my diabetes to try and get my A1C down. My big issue is finding interesting things to eat and not get too bored with the diet. What was amazing was that when I was on my cruise, I did not gain any weight and actually lost some. It doesn't help that my work schedule is all over the place. I just have to make some changes. I will be thinking of all on the care list. I will be celebrating with all who are celebrating. I love this community. It is hard to find a community of people who share their lives with none of the ridiculousness of other social media. Everyone, have a safe and healthy day. Stay cool. I hear it got up to 85 in Alaska and they have flash flood warnings.

Happy Friday everyone. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet reports. I am always celebrating any day that involves chocolate. It has been a long morning on this hot and humid day. Been running errands all morning including the chiropractor for my adjustment and the dentist for my permanent crown. As expected, my bloodwork is not where it should be. My A1C is up as is my cholesterol. I have my doctor's appointment next week so hopefully we can get a new plan in place. It is disappointing but I will need to get back to the basics in managing my diabetes. Thinking of all on the care list. Celebrating with all who are celebrating. Have a safe and healthy day.

Good morning, everyone. Going to be hot and sticky day today. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet reports. Up very early this morning to get my lab work done for my doctor's appointment next week. Feeling a little discouraged because I can no longer stabilize my blood sugars. I have been a diabetic since 2016 and was stable for many years. Since I had COVID last year, my blood sugars have been high and no matter what I do, I cannot get them lower with diet, exercise, and medications. Diabetes medication is so expensive it gets very frustrating. I will keep plugging away though. Anyway, the past meal sounds delicious. Thinking of all today who need prayers. Celebrating with those who are celebrating. Have a safe and healthy day.

Good morning everyone. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet report. Vegan chili and a mai tai sound delicious. Working from the office today. It will be a hot one, almost 90 today. Thinking of everyone today and celebrating with those who are celebrating. Hava a safe and healthy day.

Hello everyone and Happy July 4th for all who celebrate. @cruising sisterso very sorry for your loss. Today is relax and barbeque and eat. Thinking of all on the care list and celebrating with all who are celebrating. Have a safe and healthy day.

Good Monday morning everyone. Thanks for the Daily and Fleet report. Last night I spent most of the evening in the basement due to heavy storms and several tornado warnings. Up here in Pennsylvania, over the years it seems we are getting an increasing number of tornadoes. They seem to be quite frequent now. Today is a semi day off for me. Planning on doing a few chores and then relax. We will see how the day plays out. Shrimp cakes sound delicious, and I would try the martini. I will try and compliment my mirror; however, we do not get along. I would build a scarecrow, but my main concern is that we have a huge population of vultures that we have yet to figure out how to get rid of. They are everywhere! Thinking of all on the care list. Celebrating with all who are celebrating. Waiting for the 2025 Alaska itineraries to come out so I can book another cruise. Have a safe and healthy day.

Happy Sunday. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet report. Catching up n some chores today and then having a relaxing afternoon. Treated myself to a new TV yesterday. My old one was over 10 years old and way too small. I can now watch movies without squinting! I would like to try the risotto and the drink for the day. Thinking of all on the care list. Celebrating with all who are celebrating. Have a safe and healthy day.

My very first port stop on my very first cruise was PEI. This was October 2022. This little village made me yearn for living in a small coastal town.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet reports. It has been a hectic week. Having neighbor issues that have resulted in us buying a security system and hiring a surveyor to reset our property markers. Very frustrating indeed. Air quality here is a little better but I have been affected with burning eyes and coughing. Preparing for a long holiday weekend which is what can use right now. Thinking of all on the care list and celebrating those who are celebrating something. Have a safe and healthy day. I believe the Alaska itineraries for 2025 will be out the end of next week so I am patiently waiting to book my next cruise.

Hello everyone. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet report. It's cloudy here with a possibility of rain. I am working from home today. Hoping to have a very light week. I am also eagerly for the HAL 2025 Alaska itineraries to come out so I can book another cruise. Thinking of you all and celebrating with those who are celebrating. Have a safe and healthy day.

Good morning everyone. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet Report. It is a beautiful sunny day so far. Yesterday we had torrential rains which we need. Did some housework yesterday. Working on redecorating. Brought a new television because this one is too small, and I squinted half the time. I love the meal of the day. Anytime I can get salmon I will go for it. Today I will cut the grass and spend a little time outdoors. Thinking of you all. 'Have a safe and healthy day.

Still downloading pictures. having some trouble as some of my pictures want to load upside down on Cruise Critic. I am going to share my thoughts here. I really enjoyed sailing on Holland America. I like the ship size of Nieuw Amsterdam, and it compares nicely to the Norwegian Pearl which I sailed last year to Canada/New England. 1. What I liked about the ship: the promenade deck that wrapped around the entire ship. I love taking walks and seeing the ocean. My cabin was a verandah, and it was quite comfortable. Not as much storage as the Pearl but I need to learn to pack less. I was on deck 7 aft near elevators but it was quiet. Once I got used to where everything was located, I knew which bank of elevators to use. I thought the venues were nice, maybe a little small but always found seats. Embarkation in Whittier is a breeze. We took the train transfer in. One thing that HAL needs to work on, and this was confirmed by the workers at the Egan Convention Center where we went to get the train, is that they did not provide good information as to where and when to get the train transfer. Apparently, this has been an ongoing issue. Once on the train we had a wonderful time. Disembarkation was fine in Vancouver. There were signs and people pointing the way. The longest wait was for cabs but even then, that ran smoothly. There were three ships disembarking so I expected this. 2. Food: I found the food enjoyable. I love it when someone cooks and cleans up after me. I love fish and can't cook it well myself, so I ate a lot of fish. I found that HAL has more fish dishes on its menu than NCL did, so I was very happy. We had anytime dining but we made reservations and always got seats with very little waiting. I recommend this. Do this on the embarkation day. We couldn't get reservations at specialty restaurants because they had only late dining left. It was hard to coordinate two sets of families prior to boarding on dining. The Lido buffet had a lot of similar choice to the dining room. The food was good. The problem I think is the layout. It was always crowded and as I stated in previous posts, people seem to forget their manners in a buffet. I felt crowded trying to get drinks with people reaching over me and standing practically on my heals. We figured out timing and were able to get in before the mad rush or before the buffet closed. I found New York pizza to be very good. 3. Bars: We spent time in the Ocean bar, Pinnacle bar, Lido Bar, and Seaview Bar. The Ocean Bar was our favorite. Service was slow sometimes, but we didn't mind. They were inconsistent with signing for the drinks. Some places we signed for the drinks and others we didn't. 4. Crew: I loved the crew! Our room stewards were wonderful. Ari knew the names of me, my sister, my brother, and my sister-in-law. He always greeted us and chatted with us even when busy. Everywhere we went, we were greeted with a hello or a good morning. If you treat the crew with respect, you get that in return. They work very hard and spend so much time away from their families to provide service for you. Treat them well. 5. Entertainment: I found lots to do. Some have complained that there is a lack of entertainment. There are no big production shows, but I found the Step One Dance Company shows to be wonderful. The Billboard Onboard group was fantastic. I love sitting and listening to music. I loved the trivia. I won lots at Bingo. I found the casino great to be in as there is no smoking. Sometimes, you just want to relax on the ship and read a book or watch the scenery. There were lots of other activities that we couldn't get to. I never got to try afternoon tea and I plan to do it on my next HAL cruise. 6. Ports: I loved sailing through Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. The scenery is spectacular. We did not do any shore excursions but walked around in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. Skagway I would recommend a shore excursion because it doesn't take long to walk the port and do shopping. Juneau, we took the tram up the mountain. Our plan for next time is to do some hiking up there. We went shopping. Ketchikan, we also walked around. Next time we are going to do a whale watching trip. We did see many whales. Overall, I had a fantastic time and will sail HAL again especially an Alaska itinerary. There is still so much to see. I read the reviews both positive and negative. I am not hard to please on my vacations. I have been working more than 40-hour work weeks over the years and when I can take vacations where others take care of me, I am okay with that. I am not a fancy person, and I don't expect perfect service all of the time. Cruise lines are run by human beings, and they don't always get it run. On this cruise, they got it right and provided me with a wonderful cruise to a part of the country I never thought I would see. Perfection does not exist so if that is what you are looking for, you will be looking for the rest of your life. Your vacation is what you make of it. If you are always looking for something wrong, you will always find it. I look for the good and I treat the crew with respect. I unfortunately did witness some passengers being disrespectful to the crew and other passengers. There is absolutely no need for that. I can now say, I am a 1-star mariner. Not that it matters. I was treated so well it doesn't matter what star you are.

Planning on 2025 for another HAL cruise to Alaska. I would like to do one of the Seattle round trips.

Sea Day/Hubbard Glacier. We went to the Captain's welcome.

Hello everyone. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet reports. @rafinmdHappy early birthday! I have been spending the past several months having my teeth worked on. It seems to be a long and daunting process. Cloudy and cooler today. I will be in the office seeing clients today. I love chocolate eclairs and onion rings. I do appreciate the rain forests. Thinking of you all today. Have a safe and healthy day.

The podcast is entitled Understanding Your Teen from the Inside Out. I am a certified parent coach. I am also a licensed professional counselor specializing in teens.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet report. Happy summer! It's a little cloudy today which keeps the heat away. I am not a huge fan of summer. I just don't like the heat and the bugs. I think I would enjoy the vegan stuffed green peppers and who doesn't like a good Christmas punch. Working from home today editing two episodes of my podcast and working on the book I am writing. I also have two virtual clients this evening. Thinking of your all. Have a safe and healthy day.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet reports. The fried rice is a go for me. I will also try the watermelon mai tai. While in Alaska, I got to see several bald eagles. Today is cloudy and a little cooler here. I will be going into the office to do some work and see some clients. Planning my next cruise for 2025. It will be to Alaska again. So much yet to see and do! Thinking of you all. Have a safe and healthy day.

There's the Eurodam.

I have the port cam now on my TV as I am working from home. Brings back memories of being in Alaska.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet reports. It will be a warm one day, almost up to 90. We have an air quality alert which is normal for this area around this time. I work from home a lot, so my cats are always at work with me. Mind you they don't help out or anything, just lay there and sleep and come yell at me when they are hungry. Oh well. Working from home today grading assignments. I will be editing my podcasts today as well. Hope to get outside for a bit of sun. Thinking of you all today. Have a safe and healthy day.

Hello everyone and Happy Father's Day! Thank you for the Daily and Fleet report. Today is nice and sunny. Planning on doing some work on the deck and getting it all nice and pretty. I am also preparing for two new classes I will be teaching this week. Thinking about everyone. Have a safe and healthy day.