StLouisCruisers

That is a very concerning find on DSIL's Doppler exam! At least they found it though and I hope the blood thinner and any other treatments work fast. Definitely want to add her to my prayers. And thanks for the update, Melisa. May the next one be better news.

I wonder what fuel the Holland America ships are using in the Spitsbergen area? There has been a ban on ships using heavy fuel oil. On our summer cruise on Island Princess which was scheduled to stop at Spitsbergen, we were all notified by email the morning of embarkation in Fort Lauderdale that we would no longer be going there. What a major disappointment since many on the ship had booked that voyage to see Svalbard. Luckily we have been there once but most on the ship had not. Of course, Princess knew well before embarkation day we wouldn't be headed there, but they didn't let us know until it was too late to change our cruising plans. I hope the same doesn't happen to Holland America cruisers.

Terri, I was happy to read your adjuster got in touch with you and the contractor, finally. I can understand him being distracted with his Father's condition but someone should have contacted his clients during that time. Big mistake not taking care of people in their time of need. I hope you are feeling a load lifted off your shoulders, and can enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday and your cruise in December. Before we know it January will be here. Have a good day!

I remember our first stop at Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas, Dec. 2003. It was only our second cruise and in those days we didn't go too far from the U.S. We also didn't take long cruises at that time due to DH's work schedule. On that day, we took a little tour which drove us around getting an overall look at the island. Then we did some shopping and bought me something sparkly! Ships docked at Havensight. And the opposite direction at Crown Bay. Looks like there could be a BHB docked there to me. Our open air van driving us around the island Beautiful Magens Bay Next stop was St. Peter Greathouse which also had lovely views Time for dinner, but enjoying the view from the balcony. Happy to be wearing my new diamond slide pendant too! Little did I know how big a part of our lives cruising would become.

Good morning friends! It's 54F and will head up to 75 and sunshine today. A nice fall day. Trying to make a comprehensive list of things we have to get done in the next two weeks. My Christmas cards are written but I need to buy the Christmas stamps and ask a neighbor to mail them next month for me. Thank you Rich @richwmnfor the Daily and Fleet Report. I see the Volendam is in Taormina today. Three cheers to Dominican Independence. Giving someone a dollar reminds me I have to see how many dollars we have in the safe to take with us on our Amazon cruise. No thanks to having stout. I can't see myself liking our recipe with chickpeas and kale in it so I'll pass. Also wouldn't like the drink or cocktail. Interesting to see our port of the day, St. Thomas, has never been listed here before! We have been there on Princess 4 times and on Rotterdam once which was in 2019. The Princess cruises were before DH retired. Thank you Roy @rafinmdfor the extensive Care and Celebration lists. So many still in need of our prayers. Those were said by me before I popped out of bed to do the treadmill. To all on the Celebration list, I wish you good luck, happy times, and smooth and enjoyable cruises. Wishing Debbie @dfishan orderly truck loading and unloading this weekend. Hope you get that internet going quickly! Have a good morning everyone!

Love these photos! Yes, very beautiful! I wish you could have gone, too, but glad to hear you got out to eat at the tapas place. Hopefully your foot is healing quickly. 🤞

We've been to one or two Around the World wine tasting and it was a lot of fun. Much more informal because you could intereact with other guests and not have to listen to someone drone on and on about the qualities of a particular wine.

I never met Carol but if the reports from fellow cruisers are correct then that is sad news. My condolences to her family and friends. Unfortunately DH and I have lost 3 very special cruise friends in the last 11 months. Cherish every day.😥

Have a great cruise! Or two great cruises @zgscl !

Our 28 day Amazon River cruise on Volendam coming up in a little over two weeks required enhance protocol and we will have to test for Covid within 3 days of embarkation. Destination is one of the factors I believe in determining testing protocols.

Dixie, today is the day for Father @Himselfto stop by and see the drink of the day. It's his favorite I think. I read he is going on a cruise soon now that vaccinations are no longer necessary. I hope he has a good time and stays negative the whole cruise. Gosh, I'm sorry your DB is struggling after his surgery and problems with it. Thank goodness he has visitors from the family to look forward to! As for photos of Ishigaki I saw only one person post their personal photos from there last time and that was Carol @CJcruzer, an infrequent poster. Maybe she will see a notification of a mention here and come back today. There were also a couple photos posted from @Sir PMP.

Best wishes to you as you remember your Mam on her 11th memory day. I'm sure she was very proud of the fine, empathetic man you grew up to be.🙏

Good morning friends! Still having issues with CC. What is with this send verification email thing? Like @*Miss G* I see no verification email in any of our accounts. Hope this posts! It's about 54F and we were planning on taking our pre-dawn walk outdoors today but my weather app sighted rain in the area so we didn't chance it. Downstairs to the treadmill instead. It will be 74 with partly cloudy skies later. Thanks Rich @richwmnfor the Daily and Fleet Report. An odd grouping of days and like Roy I'm not a fan of the depressing nature of it. No thanks to the squash menu suggestion, nor the drink or wine. Our port today in Japan was posted here earlier on Aug. 31, 2021 and below is the link to it for everyone's convenience. I have not visited Ishigaki, Japan before. Thank you Roy @rafinmdfor our Care and Celebrations list. So many people to pray for which makes your list very helpful to keep up. Prayers for them all! Cheers to the many shown on the Celebration list with a lot of you going on cruises in the coming days. Hoping Jacqui @kazuis feeling better and can put weight on that foot before embarkation day. Praying Lou is doing fine today as well as Tana @smitty34877. Good wishes to Lenda and Steve @Quartzsite Cruiser. Hoping all have a safe day and good health.

What a nice doctor! I know Allen must have felt comforted by his super empathetic friend. Great news! Hope he will feel better each and every day. Let's hope they assign a new adjuster immediately. The current one should be ashamed of himself. I'm sorry if I've failed to comment today on anyone's posts. With being unable to get online here, and spending a couple hours speaking to our health insurance people and the billing office of our doctor, that took up a lot of our day. We are no closer to resolving their billing mistakes, so the imaging center can finally be paid for my July ultrasound.

In looking at my photos from June 9 we were able to visit the town of Lerwick. We walked around the town a bit then got instructions on how to get to Tesco to do a little shopping. I was surprised to see this hospital with the funeral director in the same building! 😳 We had quite a little walk to get to the Tesco but on a cruise you can always use the exercise. After we picked up some goodies for our waiters and bar staff favorites, we stopped to see the Lerwick Town Hall. Then passed by this monument. And then we found the very conveniently located Fort Charlotte Island Princess is in the back of this photo. DH always has his photo taken with a cannon. Back to the dock area to get on a tender. Hoping to see more photos today.

I wanted to tell a little story about Halloween at DD's house in Ohio. The weather must have been mild enough last night so before dark she took the bowl of candy bars out to the driveway and put Sadie on a leash as the kids started coming by. Sadie is the people loving dog so she was thrilled to see all the visitors there to pick up candy. But when it got dark, they went inside and Sadie sat at the door and waited for the doorbell to ring. I hear she was a good girl and wasn't barking at anyone. And see how well she learned to sit at puppy kindergarten? Good girl!

Rabbit, Rabbit, White Rabbit! And good morning friends! Today is All Saints Day as well as cooking for your pets, our illustrious authors, and family literacy days. Love the menu suggestion. Thanks to Rich @richwmn and Roy @rafinmd for their contributions today. Prayers said for all on the Care list and hurray for the Celebrations people. Prayers especially for Jacqui @kazufor her hurt foot. We want you back on said foot as soon as possible! Hurray for the dear person at HAL who got Gerry and DH on that plane in business class and got them on their way. Bon Voyage to you two. Praying for Terry @smitty34877and Lou as he goes through his angioplasty today. Joy @Seasick Sailorsorry about the runaround the VA is giving you and Allen and I sure hope the results come back A-OK. Debbie @dfishhappy thoughts coming your way as you prepare to move into the new abode with Sue. Hoping your other sister is feeling okay as well as her hubby. Hoping everyone here has a great first day of November. We have been to Lerwick twice. First time was on a Southampton to NY transatlantic on Caribbean Princess in 2015. Second time was this past summer on Island Princess. Here is a link to Rich's post on Sept. 20, 2021 when we had Lerwick as our port destination of the day. We arrived in Lerwick on Sept. 8, 2015 on Caribbean Princess and tendered over to Victoria Pier The first thing that caught our eye was a zebra-striped accommodation barge used to house workers building the Shetland Gas Plant. It's no longer there since the project was completed several years back. We had scheduled a tour of the Jarlshof Ruins and the Hoswick Visitor Center. Excuse the photos taken from the bus window of the countryside. Our driver told us Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick own property here. I have no way of verifying that information, but it would be a perfect place to get away from it all. The Hostwick Visitor Center had a lot of very old radios and other communication equipment, along with textiles and other odds and ends. Seemed an odd collection to me. Most of us thought the scenery outside more interesting so went out to take some photos before time to move on to the Jarlshof Ruins. Scenery like this and this Back in the bus for the drive to the Ruins we saw lovely beaches which were dotted with seals, surprisingly. The guide passed around photos and other information while en route. In order to reach the Ruins we had to cross a runway at Sumburgh Airport! Arriving at Jarlshof Ruins This photo shows outlines of some of their huts and other buildings. This would have been where the fire was in their rocky home. And some of the walls Leaving the site, we stopped to enjoy a few of the Shetland ponies next to the walkway. We were back in Lerwick on June 9, 2022 on Island Princess, the week before we caught Covid. I haven't really looked at my photos too much because I am having difficulty working on Shutterfly's new photo book methods. I guess I'm being stubborn. I think we stayed in Lerwick itself so I'll take a look a little later at them and see.

You do not need an antibody test. That is not for current infection. We got the Rapid NAAT test. If you look at the Holland website they have FAQ which can tell you what tests they accept.

I found this on the Holland America site. Remind them about the expense of the call. No nasty surprises that way. Additionally, you can call the ship directly from the shore. We recommend that you use this for the most critical emergencies only: Connecting to a Holland America Line vessel at sea is simple by using Ship Dial Service. A credit card is required for all inbound phone calls to a ship. The rate is US$16.00 per minute and billing begins at the time specified. Please have the ship’s name, your party’s name and stateroom number before you call. Instructions: Dial 1-800-993-5483 (US). From outside the U.S. access 1-321- 837-6106. Listen to the announcement Listen to the menu and select the number that corresponds to the ship you are calling. If you receive a busy signal or message, please hang up quickly and try your call again.

I'm very sorry to hear this. Sorry I misunderstood what the exact issue was, but it sounds just awful. I do hope things begin to improve. Not very reassuring to hear she "thinks" it's not broken. But let's hope it's not! Praying for a rapid improvement!!!

Oh my gosh, that dock was disgusting looking back in 2009!! Can you imagine putting your lovely fabrics down there to sell them? I dearly hope all that oily mess wasn't washed off into the ocean, but I bet it was. Shaking my head... Glad you got your vote in and have DH's ready. We also don't have trick or treaters for the same reason you don't. No kids in this neighborhood. Wanted to also say to Joy @Seasick Sailorcongrats on your niece's engagement! Now you have a wedding to look forward to. Best wishes to the happy couple. Good to hear you made it to the plane on time. Getting home again will feel good after your day of travels. Fingers crossed for your luggage! Oh no!! Your knee issues are back! I'm so sorry to hear that yesterday was too much for you. I hope the ice helps and pain pills start working. Take care of yourself and rest as much as possible.🙏❤️

Looks delicious Annie! Thanks!

Totally agree. Congrats on your family's special relationship with MSU. Our son was actually born in the state of Michigan while DH worked in Midland at Dow Chemical. As a little boy he wore a U of M Wolverines shirt. When it came time for college we had moved to 3 other states after we left Michigan, but it was U of M he chose to attend. Besides, they had a great Electrical Engineering program and still do. I don't know what field DGS will go into but I'm sure he will do fine wherever he goes. And I still have that special, tiny shirt. A keepsake.

Oh Katherine, I hope you two can still make the cruise! Good luck with the oral surgeon and I hope your DH heals quickly. We early voted too and I will be so happy to for the political ads to stop! Oh, wait! We're in Georgia which has a "someone has to get 50% of the vote or you have a runoff" law. There is always a third party candidate (same guy every time), who will make sure we don't get our results until weeks later after a very expensive runoff election. And if they hold that runoff election in early December instead of early January, DH and I won't be able to vote again. We will be cruising in the Amazon (I hope). They always tell us they can't just hand us our absentee ballot because they must prepare and MAIL them to us. Election day is Nov. 8 and we leave home on Nov. 18. We will be at the elections office pleading our case right after the Nov. 8 election. Someone needs to repeal the 50% law!! Thanks for your photos today, Lenda. I agree with your sentiments. Interesting but sobering. Hope Steve is doing well today. Also I want to add I'm praying Gerry and her DH get the flights arranged to their satisfaction so they don't miss the cruise. It's crazy how Flight Ease has been having issues for so many these days. They always used to be so reliable. I'm glad we are driving to Florida for our upcoming cruise.

On March 25 and 26, 2018 the Prinsendam Grand Med and Africa cruise stopped in Banjul, The Gambia. We had missed our port at Praia, Ilha de Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands due to bad weather for tendering, so we went ahead to The Gambia a day early. This was the scene as we tied up a day earlier than scheduled. We discovered the skies here were sandy colored due to dust in the air from the African deserts. In addition we were very close to where the ferries docked and were able to watch them load and unload passengers. They looked seriously overloaded to us, and I would be afraid to take that ferry anywhere. The name on the ferry is Kunta Kinteh. The street vendors saw an opportunity to make some money with our extra time in port, so they set up quickly. From our perch on the Prinsendam's promenade we saw the money changer took time out for his prayers. And that ferry kept coming and going. Look at the lines of people! We waited until the following morning to head into town to the market using the ship's shuttle. The streets looked a bit scary and we were glad we had a ride to see what they had at the market. It appeared to be cleaner here which was welcomed by the crowds looking for bargains. We had a lot of quilters on the cruise and they were interested in unique fabrics. We had run into former cruise table mates George and Sandy on the second day of the cruise and they were with us here at the craft market. Funny how we didn't even know they had booked this special voyage. I'm so glad we were able to re-connect and do things together during this 54 day cruise. Here are George and Sandy. They took our photo too, there at the craft market. After a brief walk around downtown we got back on the shuttle and headed home to the Prinsendam. View from the bus. As you can see this is a dirt road. Business taking place in the city. Goodbye Banjul! Next day we would be in Dakar, Senegal. It was interesting to say the least.