StLouisCruisers

Good morning friends! It's raining right now and 62F. After the rain stops it will probably head up to 72 with some clouds and perhaps an afternoon shower. We are hoping for some more sunny days this week. Thank you Rich @richwmnfor our Daily and Fleet Report. Happy Halloween! I love a carved pumpkin but we haven't done that in many years. Interesting about the turnip carving Graham @grapau27. I wish I was more psychic but can't really say I am. Cheers to the Girl Scout founders! I only made it through Brownies. A very nice Gandhi quote, and chicken provolone sounds good. We understand about the Wi-Fi Debbie! Good luck today at the closing of your new house, and I hope you have a nice weather day for moving in later this week. The port today, Banjul, The Gambia, is a first timer on the Daily. I will have to collect photos instead of copying and pasting so will get on that right after I post here. Thanks to Roy @rafinmdfor our Care and Celebration lists. The first one is long, but we are praying for all of you. Hoping for better days for everyone especially Tana, Terry and her DH, and Steve and Lenda. Also prayers for the Ukraine, and people affected by the hurricanes and wildfires. Prayers heading across the street for neighbor Linda that she is improving every day. She is lucky to have survived and I'm sure she knows that. I know being home without her late husband is hard.❤️🙏 As for the Celebration list, a toast to those folks!🥂 Enjoy your cruises and stay well. Have a great day everyone!

Gerry, I don't blame you for ranting. This is inexcusable! I hope you or the TA can make arrangements tonight that are satisfactory. I'm sure you will be so relieved when you arrive at the ship for embarkation and this is behind you. We will be praying for you!

Vanessa @JazzyVsaid: @StLouisCruisers You mentioned DGS perhaps attending the same college as DS; here Pitt gives tuition discounts for family members of staff (or at least they used to). Thanks for the photos. I wish that were the case. I know many colleges do the same thing Pitt does but some do not and Michigan is one of them. Luckily, DS has been contributing to a college fund he set up for the boys years ago. And there will probably be some merit scholarship money coming. They're good to go!

I'm very sorry to hear about your cousin Vicki passing. The celebration of life sounds like a good way to honor her. Sorry about your respiratory infection and hope the meds help you to recover before the Craft Fair next weekend. Lucky you not catching Covid on the cruise though! 😃 I've been hearing the best way to carve a pumpkin is to cut the bottom open instead of the top where the stem is. We always did it wrong I guess. They last longer, give you more space to carve a face, and are easier to put a candle or light in it. Who knew? https://holidappy.com/holidays/reasons-to-cut-pumpkin-from-bottom

The granddaughter should make it even easier to find the Arizona couple. If I do see Lucy from Louisville I will definitely say hi from you! Melisa, that is very generous of you to say. It must have been quite a game from what I hear. DS is an alumnus of Michigan, a professor and department Sr. associate chair so that college and team has been in our lives a long time. Now his son is considering attending UofM next fall. I wish they'd give discounts but unfortunately NOT! I'm glad they got started on the therapy right off the bat. Thinking positive thoughts for him. Will you be driving over to visit daily?

Thanks for the warning on your GEICO agent. That is a national company so you'd think they would be honorable and pay for claims when they warrant it like yours does. Maybe you should try sending letters and emails to the president of the company along with the agent and explain how the agent is refusing to answer calls, emails, etc. That might get some attention. Thank you for looking this up for Terri. This is a great idea too. It has to be illegal to take premiums and then disappear when they have a claim! That's robbery.

On Good Friday, 2016 the Westerdam arrived in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. Tours to Antigua for the Good Friday celebrations were completely sold out so we were forced to hang out at the port. I had some friends on board from Australia who went there though and they came back to report on it to me. They also gave me some beautiful photos to ooh and aah over. This is what it looked like from the ship. We made the best of our time there and walked around the nicely landscaped thatched roof "terminal" area. I guess these statues look like Mayan warriors. We wandered through a park-like area near the terminal. We saw a tree with thick thorns on it, the national tree! Inside the terminal. My friend Jenny from Australia gave me a few photos of Antigua and a volcano seen on the way there. The Easter week celebration in Guatemala is called Semana Santa, where they honor the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of Jesus Christ. They use flowers to make these beautiful designs on the street. I'm so sorry I missed all this! If you can ever get to Antigua during Easter week, make sure you don't miss it!

Good morning friends! I'm an hour late this morning too but not due to the time change like Graham @grapau27. We sleep in a little on Sunday and with it so dark it's easy to do. The weather is about 56F with some fog and rain coming in here and there today. Thanks to Rich @richwmnfor bringing us the Daily this morning. I hadn't thought about Mischief Day in years. I don't mind a little doorbell ringing but the vandalism such as Graham described above is totally out of hand. Arson and brick throwing? That's not mischief! Candy corn is okay in small doses but it's a lot of sugar! I need to make a checklist, that's for sure! Joy @Seasick Sailorthanks for the reminder about Christmas card writing. We don't get back from our Amazon cruise until Dec. 17 so I can't wait until then. No thanks to the tilapia and risotto as well as the drink and wine. Today's port of Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala is surprisingly a first timer. That means some work ahead of me to find photos to post. We were there on a Panama Canal cruise on Westerdam in 2016. Also want to thank Roy for the Care and Celebration lists. Prayers to all on the list and those in Ukraine. Also I hope the people who were affected by Ian and Fiona are making progress in rebuilding and repairing. That brings to mind Terri @Cruzin Terriwho just reported on a lack of attention by her insurance company. That is just disgusting that they are "ghosting" you and the contractor. It has to be illegal in some way, or at least I would hope so. DH says we will probably be moving to a different insurance company by the end of December when our policies with our current insurance company run out. They have run up the costs and he should be able to find a lower premium. Once you sign up then the following couple of years they raise the premiums as fast as they can. No wonder people don't trust them. I told him of your problems Terri and he said too bad CC probably won't let you name them to warn others. Anyway I always warn him we need to be fully covered, especially on the home insurance, so if some disaster happens we won't be short changed. Cheers to all here who are on the Celebration list, cruising, and enjoying other travel and fun events. Thanks Graham @grapau27for Father David's sermon which I will listen to later. Roy you need to put yourself on the cruise list because yours is coming up fast too. Hope for good news this week from Terry @smitty34877 and Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser. Extra prayers for your families. Time to go look at photos. Have a nice day all of you.

Thanks for letting us know Annie. I'll be looking around for Lucy from Louisville who has a travel mate from Arizona. 🙂

Welcome home! What a wonderful stay you must have had.😎

Ditto to both of you!❤️

We are feeling the same way about using our $300 pp excursion credits. I really don't want to be in close contact to people, crowded together on buses, etc. On the other hand hikes in the jungles of the Amazon don't sound like a lot of fun to me. I'd rather have that money applied toward crew appreciation.

GO BLUE! 😁

Good morning friends! Today will be cloudy in preparation for the rain coming Sunday and Monday. We may or may not go out today to run errands. We're open to changing plans when we just want to be a hermit. Get it? Hermit Day? Anyway cheers to all the cats out there especially the Daily cats! It's good to shine a light on the condition of psoriasis. Not an easy skin problem to live with. I'll be interested to read about the menu suggestion today. Our port of the day is Colon, Panama which was also the port on Dec. 26, 2021. I have not stopped at Colon on any of our cruises to the area. I checked on Rich's post that day and see Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser was there before so I will wait a bit to see if she can post her own photos, or if she needs me to do that for her. Welcome back home, Lenda! I hope Steve is all settled in and had a good night's sleep last night. Three times a day PT will make him sleep well at night I would think. Let me know about your photos. Thanks to Roy @rafinmdfor the Care and Celebration lists. It must keep you busy with everyone's activities and problems. Rich @richwmncongratulations on making 5 stars! Jacqui @kazuI hope you are safely arrived in Spain along with your DS and DBIL. Terry @smitty34877prayers for your DH before his angiogram coming up in a few days. I hope Tana is feeling okay and you have help to stay with her while you and your DH are occupied with his own health issues. @cruzn singleprayers for your stepson as he battles his cancers. Cheers to all on the Celebration list. Enjoy your special events! And have a great weekend everyone!

Thanks all of you for your sweet comments about Sadie. I'm wondering if her manners will have improved by Christmas which is the earliest we will see her again. When my DD says Sadie just loves people, I think that is code for Yes, she still jumps on you when you walk in the door!😂 My best wishes for your DH when he has his procedure Tuesday. Keeping your family in my prayers!🙏 Wonderful news about your promotion to 5 star! You deserve it for sure. She arrived home yesterday around noon. I would imagine she still needs therapy and that will take time. This morning when we arrived back home at 7 am from our walk we saw a car pull into Linda's driveway (pitch dark out) and was there until about lunch time, so I'm thinking it's a home health nurse. We shall see if that person shows up regularly to help care for her. Great news! Hope it doesn't hurt much.

Bon Voyage!!🚢

Bon Voyage!!🚢

Bon Voyage!!🚢

Post from Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiseron Oct. 13, 2021. I'll post some pictures from Coquimbo when we were there in 2015 on the Ruby Princess. We did a tour that had an over view of Coquimbo, and took us to La Serena where we visited a Pisco vineyard and distillery, and then to Vicuna. Coquimbo La Serena and the Pisco vineyard Vicuna An interesting tree sculpture The ship "graveyard" from our balcony Lenda

Good morning friends! It's about 51F this morning and we took a long walk in the dark together. Should be cloudy for most of the day with a high of 72. We are expecting rain possibly on Sunday and Monday. Thanks Rich @richwmnfor this Daily and Fleet Report. A salute to the Statue of Liberty on this dedication day anniversary. I like plush animals -- who doesn't? And our very favorite day to celebrate is chocolate! I wouldn't like the sushi as my menu of the day. That's quite a quote! Coquimbo (La Serena), Chile is a nice port to visit. We had it last time over a year ago, Oct. 13, 2021. I will put the link below and also add my photos from back then. And I will go get Lenda's photos for her too (until she's home again and able to do it for herself). Thank you Roy for the Care and Celebration lists. I'm sorry to hear you have an infection near your mouth but glad you got to see the doctor already. Prayers for Lenda and Steve, and @smitty34877Terry, her DH and Tana. Prayers also for the remainder on the list, those suffering in Ukraine and after our hurricanes this fall. Cheers to everyone celebrating. Good to hear the letter came through @summer slopeDixie though I can see now might be the opportunity to get the yellow fever vaccination while you have the appointments made. Good luck to Debbie on her closing day. Best of luck with everything! I have a new photo of Sadie. She was spayed a short while back but her sutures are out and she was able to get groomed. Finally! Her fur grows so fast! On to our port information. We stopped in Coquimbo, Chile on two of our South America cruises. Once in 2012 on Star Princess and again in 2015 on Ruby Princess. Coquimbo, Chile on March 5, 2015, Star Princess circumnavigation of South America. Arrival at the pier and a group of dancers to entertain us. From the ship you could walk through a small marketplace set up for the tourists. Just offshore this seemingly abandoned boat, except for the birds aboard. Besides birds there was plenty of other wildlife hanging around looking for a handout. Local fishermen checking their nets. The result of those nets This mom was happy to show off her chubby-cheeked baby. Awww! On our walk back we noticed the sidewalk area was decorated with these designs. This cross on the hillside is called the Third Millennium cross. Our 2012 trip to Coquimbo on Star Princess included a shuttle bus to drive us to the La Serena area. When we were dropped off it was rather quiet but things moved along as the morning went on. Our friend who was also on this cruise looked hard for a place to make a phone call to her mother who was not in the greatest health. She eventually found a place where you could rent a computer or place phone calls using her calling card. At that time a lot of us didn't have cell phones with international calling plans. You can see how deserted the streets and parks were. An interesting modern-art type fountain with figures. We decided the gardeners here didn't want their flowers eaten by hungry marauders and placed sticker bush branches over them. What do you think about that idea, garden club members? I've checked and this date was a Sunday, so perhaps everyone was already at church. Or sleeping in. As we walked to the market near the Plaza de Armas we noticed most of the pedestrians looked like tourists. After our excursion to the shopping mecca, we arrived back at the ship. An interesting spot to explore while visiting South America. Next post will be Lenda's photos.

Awesome photo! Wasn't Camilla a newborn just a short time ago? Look at how big she's grown...👩‍🍳

Bon Voyage on your special land and sea trip. Hoping you have a fabulous time!

Bon Voyage everyone! Sounds like a great time will be had by all.🥳

@Vict0riannpardon me for mentioning @bennybearinstead of yourself with the photos today. They were so good and Yes, we would love more photos! On the other hand @bennybearthe photo in your post was quite striking.

Roy, nice to hear you have voting taken care of. Also glad to hear about your insurance plan agreement. We are trying to straighten out what seems to be a data base issue with the insurance we have chosen for 2023 and the darn local hospital. They have the wrong hospital listed for our county. Someone is looking into it though. It was hard to get through to anyone who understood what the problem was. If I had to choose a hospital though it would be one about 18 miles away which is highly rated while the closest one is at best, average. And lastly, I hope the railroad doesn't have a strike! There's always something! Do you need a pre-cruise Covid test for your cruise? I really hope your brother's surgery this time takes care of the problem, and that he is free from infection. Hard enough to have to have one surgery much less two! My Dad had a hip replacement, and had a second emergency operation on Thanksgiving one year. The ball came out of the socket and he crumpled to the floor. It was very scary to have that complication. Can you imagine? I'm glad your river cruise is at least "nice", but understand it must be very different from a BHB cruise. Enjoy West Point! I hope things work out well for your stepson. They take much too long to get results back sometimes.🤞 Vanessa, good thoughts to you as you have the shots today. I hope you feel okay in the coming days, besides the sore arm we all seem to complain about. Thank you for bringing today's significance up on the synagogue shootings there. Senseless. I didn't know about a 10 day minimum on PODS but perhaps that's a new rule. The move dates and moving van working out so perfectly is a sign from above. This is great news for you and Sis. We want pictures once you settle in and arrange your furnishings. Oh my gosh, that is sad to hear! I do hope they can clear him in time to leave tomorrow. I know how you've looked forward to this time with your family. I hope the cardiologist can take care of the AFib problem today. Prayers for you all. DH was in the ER one night a few years back with stomach pain, and we were still able fly to Barcelona the following afternoon, with two antibiotic prescriptions in hand. He had less energy for about a week, but still made it and enjoyed our cruise.🙏 I can't blame you for deciding to change doctors after this. I hope you find a compatible one. Good news about moving the appointments up. I remember all the cautions we had to look over and sign before we got ours. They succeed in making everyone very nervous! But I believe we had very little side effects afterwards, probably just a sore arm. Keeping fingers crossed as well as in my prayers that you both do well too.🤞🙏 In neighborhood news, a medical transport vehicle pulled up to Linda's house about an hour ago and she was wheeled into her home on a gurney. She was sitting up and her daughter met her outside the house. There is a posterboard taped to her garage door that one of her friends made that says "Welcome Home Linda". I bet she is very relieved to make this journey back to her new life after spending over 2 months in the hospital. It was so nice to see her home! It looks like a mobility company is there now probably delivering items to help her get through her healing process. Roy, I believe you can safely remove her from the Care list.👏 Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiserinteresting about the medications causing the fever. Thank God he is finished with that. Good luck with the transport and getting him moved.🙏 @bennybearthanks for the photos today! Great to finally get a look. And yes, more photos is a treat for us. Go right ahead! @HAL4NOWI remember this story from once before. We had problems with our driver not showing too. Next time I will know better how to handle these crooks.