StLouisCruisers

I'm glad you got the chance to visit with your DS even though it's not an easy trip there and back. Yes, your nephew needs to be talked to about his viewpoints on his aging mother. Welcome home! Great news that you're negative now and your wife is feeling better. I hope you have an uneventful trip home once you disembark.

Okay, I looked at the entire post for Nov. 6, 2021 and no one had any photos of Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. However there were numerous photos of bison posted, for National Bison Day!!

Good morning friends! Up a little later today (day off from exercising), and found the temp was 39F. The rest of the day it will be sunny and up to 74. It looked like a big gathering up at the end of the cul de sac yesterday afternoon for the shrimp boil. The mail truck drove up the street delivering mail, then had to turn around, skipping quite a few mailboxes due to the congestion at that end. Today we may make a grocery run, or since we're retired and not on a schedule we could laze around and do that tomorrow. We shall see! Yesterday I found out DS and Ren, along with one of his teammates Colton were asked to help fill out a year-older Jaguar team at a game in Cincinnati. The team had too many injured players so the Dads drove the boys south 250 miles to play that game, which the team actually won 5 - 1. The most exciting part of the day was the playing field is 5 minutes from DD's home so the four of them were able to stop in before the game to visit with DD for a while. Then DD got to watch the soccer game and help cheer the older Jaguar team to victory. ⚽ Thanks Rich @richwmnfor posting our Daily this morning. I hope you got a good rest last night after your cruise and travel day. Yep, I'm a mother-in-law and hopefully my kid's spouses believe I'm a good one. My own MIL is gone and so is DH's MIL. I was confused by the mole day celebration but it was actually a chemistry related celebration. Here's what Wikipedia says about it. Mole Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated among chemists, chemistry students and chemistry enthusiasts on October 23, between 6:02 a.m. and 6:02 p.m.,[1][2] making the date 6:02 10/23 in the American style of writing dates. The time and date are derived from the Avogadro number, which is approximately 6.02×1023, defining the number of particles (atoms or molecules) in one mole (mol) of substance, one of the seven base SI units. Not a fan of TV talk show hosts anymore. The quesadillas look very good. Nice quote. The port of Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt was listed here on Nov. 6, 2021 so here is the link. I have not been there before. Several cruises with that port have been cancelled for DH and I. I am scheduled to go there next fall, but I have a feeling we will not be on that cruise I'm sorry to say. I hope some photos show up here today for us all to view. Thank you Roy @rafinmdfor our lists today. I'm happy to toast the Celebration list people. Prayers for those on the Care list. Extra prayers for the Ukraine, and sufferers from Ian and Fiona, and Linda and Beverly. Thanks Graham @grapau27for Father David's sermon today. I planned on watching the sailaway yesterday but found myself headed to our nap room for a little rest and missed it! Hoping everyone has a great Sunday, and stays safe.

I'm happy to hear the travel portion of your day is over. Good luck with all the packing! Well, that's a shame. Hope you both recover quickly and at least you get to stay in your balcony cabin. Hope you're both better soon.

Wave as you get off and we will do the same as we get on board. Enjoy your Eurodam cruise!

Joy, it was my pleasure showing the photos of Hammerfest. (do I sound like I work at Chick-Fil-a??)😁 It's nice of you and your neighbors to prepare the meals for the grieving family this week.🙏 Your cruise so far sounds wonderful! And nothing to complain about I would guess, since it's Scenic. I have a good guess but I think you should wait for Dixie to confirm it. She is on a cruise with DH and I in four weeks time, Nov. 19. Volendam going on a 28 day Amazon Explorer. There are tons of things I should be doing for that but haven't yet. I'm sure Dixie is way ahead of me!😉 It's no doubt a great relief to have the kids there to assist you in helping your DH. I hope you all have a good weekend together ahead of Monday's surgery. Good luck! Oh, boy! I hope it doesn't "stick" for long. 🥶 That trip sounded a bit scary with all the crashes happening. Thank goodness you arrived home safely. It sounds like you two had a very nice get away. Pauline looks so chic in her leather coat with the red accents (lined?). And I notice something done differently on P&O -- the long, to-the-floor tablecloth covered with the top tablecloth. Never seen that before on our cruises, at least that I can recall. Welcome back home!

Our favorite HAL lecturers were John Maxtone-Graham and Kainoa, two totally different people. I'm sure many here are familiar with them.🙂

Good morning friends! Well, the temp is up about 5 degrees since earlier this week's lows. 37F and it will be another sunny day with a high of about 73F. Perfect! It's a quiet day for us but I think a few people have a shrimp boil planned to be held at the end of our cul-de-sac. They have a beautiful day for it. Nice to see the Nieuw Statendam in Port Everglades. Thanks go to Rich for the Daily and Fleet Report which he was able to post every day of his cruise. Cheers to you! Nice days for celebration. I hope I can make a difference today somehow. I would be happy to help a neighbor in need of it. Fossils are so interesting and tell us about past life on earth. Nuts are delicious and I'm happy I'm not allergic. The menu suggestion sounds interesting so will enjoy seeing the description today. No thanks to the drink and wine. The quote is a good one from a man of the people. Thank you Roy @rafinmdfor the long Care and Celebration lists. Prayers said bright and early for everyone and even a few more. I hope our prayers help! Hurray for all celebrating, even if your cruise is ending, you have something to cheer. I hope everyone remains healthy on those cruises. @HAL4NOWlet us know how it's going there on your cruise. Is DW still negative? Today's destination is Hammerfest, Norway which Rich posted once before on March 8, 2021. Here is the link to that date. Hammerfest, Norway is a port we saw on what we call the Best Norway Cruise Ever in 2016. If you ever see a cruise itinerary that includes ports like Hammerfest, Bronnoysund, Trondheim and Narvik, book it. I always look for cruises that include a couple of new ports and this one was it. Little did we know we'd meet the very personable Captain D. D. on that Prinsendam cruise. He later told us the surveys that were returned after this cruise made it the highest rated cruise in recent Holland America history. We had a ball! This was the furthest north port before arrival at Honningsvag and North Cape. The weather was sunny but very windy so we required tugs to get to the dock. That made our disembarkation about an hour and a half later than planned. Little did we know that we would be leaving early as well as arriving late! More about that later. We took the shuttle bus to the downtown area and started a walk up the steps to Mt. Salen's peak. The port has a bit of distance from where we docked and then a curved road around to the other side of the harbor to the downtown area. Here is a pic from Mt. Salen that shows the distance involved, somewhat. Mt. Salen isn't terribly tall so most of us could make it up the slope to the top. There's a gentle ramp so you could stop and rest if necessary. It's worth the view of the town. After leaving there we walked along the main street towards the Hammerfest Kirke built in 1961 which featured unusual architecture inspired by fish scales. We passed some cute painted mailboxes in front of homes which I couldn't pass up without a photo. Can you tell this is a mailbox? The front of the church and then the side of the unique church. Across the road from the Hammerfest Kirke is an older church built in 1937 called the Hammerfest Church. It was the only building left standing after World War II. We wandered through the cemetery looking at some of the old headstones there. This is the Museum of the Reconstruction. When I looked up the name of the museum, the description read that like most of Northern Norway, towns were razed by the retreating German military forces at the end of the war. Looks like somewhere to visit if you have time on your next visit. We saw this Hurtigruten ship and took a picture of it when we were walking around. There was a hearse parked on the dock waiting for it to get to the dock. Sad. Interesting sign downtown. I thought Honningsvag would beg to differ. We took the shuttle back around the bay to the Prinsendam, but stopped to see what this object was nearby. It's called the Meridian Pillar. Not being able to read the words on the monument I looked it up. Lonely Planet says this about it: Historic Site in Hammerfest On the Fuglenes peninsula, just across the harbour, is the Meridianstøtta, a marble column commemorating the first survey (1816–52) by Russian scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve to determine the arc of the global meridian and thereby calculate the size and shape of the earth. Back on the ship, we were surprised when the ship left the dock several hours early to let a ship (waiting nearby) take our spot. Someone in charge had made an error and double booked this dock and that ship needed to be there at 6 pm, not 8 pm! We watched HAL crew members out at the dock trying to hurry folks along so we could leave. As soon as we moved away from the pier the other ship slipped right into our spot. We sailed out further to the edge of the harbor and anchored, and the port agent brought passengers who were left behind out to us on the pilot boat while we were at dinner! Can you imagine their panic when they saw the Prinsendam was gone? We heard some of them were enjoying themselves in the local bars although who can afford an alcoholic drink at a bar in Norway?

Well I appreciate helpful people like you. Don't let the posting police run you off! Also I've appreciated reading your Live Froms. Thank you.

Yep, she's moving now!

I love, love, love your photos of the team today. Good job!

Happy birthday to you and twin today @Lady Hudson! I hope there are many more. I also share my birhday with a twin sister and I don't mind at all!😁 Oh my goodness, thank you so much! I am not a professional photographer with a fancy camera, that's for sure. The photos today were taken with a point and shoot Canon Power Shot SD870 IS. Now I use an IPhone as my camera along with my point and shoot. The IPhone photos are sometimes much better than the point and shoot! In 2015 I wasn't using my IPhone 5s for many photos due to lack of storage space. Now I have an IPhone 8 (not one of the fancier new ones) but I have a lot of storage space so will not be upgrading anytime soon. 📷 That is so wonderful that your DD is able to enjoy the pool with the help of the great HAL staff. I loved hearing about it. Glad you are all enjoying this cruise. Edited to add we went to early vote and it was fine standing outside this morning. No wind, abundant sunshine and mild temps. Stopped at Walmart for a couple items. Then we got lunch at Chick-Fil-A. Time to get busy with PT exercises. I missed my morning ones so have to catch up.

Good morning friends! Still only 35F this morning but we will be at about 70 later with sunshine. Good day to stand in line to vote early. Then lunch out I hope. Today my siblings and I will celebrate the earthly birthday of our Mom who passed away a little over 10 years ago. She would have been 103.😇 Thank you Rich @richwmnfor this Daily and Fleet Report. Nice to see where ths ships are, and nice to see the Port Canaveral cam posted by Roy and link by @Crazy For Cats. I hope I don't babble, but babies sure are cute when they do it. Don't know why we need to count buttons, though I have plenty of those little packets with extra buttons that come with an item when you purchase a blouse, dress, etc. I've never really needed those extra buttons though. I like nachos so will be glad to celebrate that. True quote but once again I have no idea what the menu suggestion is. That happens a lot lately. The wine sounds interesting. The port of the day is Salvador da Bahia, Brazil which was last posted by Rich on Nov. 17, 2021. Yes, I was there once. Thanks for any pictures you might post. I'll include mine too. As for the Care and Celebration lists, thank you Roy @rafinmdfor updating and posting them today. I prayed for all on the Care list, the Ukraine people, and those suffering from the wildfires and hurricanes Ian and Fiona. I'm glad to hear rain or other precipation is coming for our Pacific NW. Prayers also for friend Beverly and family, as well as neighbor Linda and family. I hope she comes home soon. I've seen a couple of cars over at her house recently doing whatever it is that they were sent there for. Perhaps Linda is coming home soon? Who knows, but I'll let you know when that happens. Cheers for those on our Celebration lists. Hope @HAL4NOWis doing okay and the Mrs. is negative still. Get better fast! On Feb. 13, 2015 the Ruby Princess stopped in Salvadaor da Bahia, Brazil on a very hot day. (DH and I were on this South America cruise with @Quartzsite CruiserLenda and her DH). We headed out from the ship passing by and through the Mercado Modelo on our way to the Elevador Lacerda. Local spelling, not mine. The Elevador Lacerda is one way of transiting between the lower part of town and the upper part where the old city center called Pelourinho, is. At the top. The Mercado Modelo where we had just been. Our ship is off in the distance hidden slightly by the buildings. Everywhere we went there were signs of Carnival. You know it's hot that day if DH is wearing shorts. That doesn't happen often! Drums!! St. Peter of the Clergymen Church Another church - St. Francis Church and Convent Very ornate I thought this hotel was so beautiful and well kept. I was intriqued by these roofs and the pattern on them. Our trip back down to the lower section was by the Plano Inclinado de Goncalves funicular The woman in control We enjoyed our walk through Salvador, but remember to always be alert and not wear jewelry when walking around in Brazil. Many times tourists are robbed by brazen thieves roaming the streets. Now it's happening here in the U.S. which needs to be addressed soon!

Terri, what a disaster with the temporary apartment. I'm sorry it took so much work to get some answers but happy to hear you've arranged a new place. I, too, hope you won't need the newest apartment until February but best to be prepared. Good luck! Annie, sorry you are under the weather today. With the exhaustion, throat and headache perhaps you should take a test and rule out Covid. Meanwhile, get as much sleep as you can. Keep us updated on your condition. Sorry to hear about your MIL but sounds like a visit is a good idea.

Excellent! I'm glad everyone here could give you some hints on what to look for, and that the HAL representative was of help to you. Sounds like you got the best deal.

I hear you about all these vicious commercials! Where is Graham's suit? He must have edited it out. I would like to see them both dressed up.

I'm really sorry to hear about your DH's infection and broken bone. Meanwhile you're kept busy running back and forth to keep him company. I hope he can get to rehab soon to build that stamina back up. Take care! What a pretty picture! When the sun is low like that everything seems to gleam. Good luck with your Ortho appointment and shots tomorrow. Sounds like a busy day. Are you planning on voting early or on Nov. 8? It's a big election there. We will be voting tomorrow I would guess. Maybe have lunch out. The news says Monday, which was opening day for early voting, set a mid-term election record by a long shot. Apparently all the crude remarks made by the mainstream media against our updated voting regulations were incorrect, as most everyone here believed. In Georgia it's easy to vote, but harder to cheat. I'm looking forward to casting my vote. And if we need a run-off (less than 50% of the vote for the leading candidate), we should be here for that election too. I believe it would be early January. We try to avoid traveling during elections.

Not to mention the fact that sometimes you can find a lower price for one of the cruise segments and have it refared to match before final payment. Can't do that if it is one longer booking instead of two shorter ones. Transatlantics come to mind as being a segment that sometimes gets lowered.

Usually. Always do mock bookings both ways, as a B2B or one long cruise. Don't forget to take into account extra OBC from holding shares of stock. Once in a while they will fool you and the two bookings will come out ahead of a "collectors" cruise. At least that's been my experience.

Equally lovely pics of Kefalonia! There must be as many cats in Greece as people, honestly.😉

Beautiful photos of Nafplion! Thank you!

@Vict0riannAnn, my sympathy to you and Pat after the loss of his cousin. @HAL4NOWI'm really sorry to hear that Covid found you here near the end of your cruise. Hope that DW stays negative. If you are still positive when you disembark, will you be able to go home to WA that day? I know things used to be a lot different a few months ago, but I haven't kept up with the latest restrictions. @Quartzsite CruiserLenda, so happy to hear there was no damage shown on the x-ray. But quite an ordeal getting there and back, wasn't it? It's good news that your DD and DSIL were able to come to help out for a while. Hope things are going smoothly there now. Take care!

Good morning friends! Well, another 32F morning but again it will be sunny but only 63 for a high. Like @MISTER 67once we get past these few days of cold night temps we should head back to warmer temperatures. Grateful for the abundant sunshine here lately. Thank you Rich @richwmnfor the Daily, and I hope you are all enjoying your cruise. Today's quote is interesting to say the least. I'm probably not going to partake in the brandied fruit. Cheers to the chefs (including DH), and I hope all the UK waiters know how much they are appreciated. I have no idea what the menu suggestion, kaldereta, is. I'll have some of Roy's menu suggestion though. I've never liked the taste of chardonnay, so I'll stick with my favorites. The destination of the day, Hualien, Taiwain was posted here on Dec. 17, 2021 so here is a link to Rich's post that day. I haven't been to Hualien before. When we did visit Taiwan we were met by DS's DSIL who was living there at the time. She obtained a driver and picked us up at Keelung and took us out for the day sightseeing. DS's in-laws are very nice people!❤️ Thank you Roy @rafinmdfor the extensive Care and Celebration lists. Prayers said before even hitting the treadmill today for all on the list. Extra for Beverly and her DH, family and friends. The people of Ukraine can use our prayers as they are still being attacked, yet fighting hard for their country. I hope for some improvement on the Care list. Meanwhile we do have a great list of Celebrations. Hurray for all of you. I hope everyone enjoys their Thursday!

Welcome to the Daily and to the HAL board. Hope your cruise next year is everything you dreamed of. Nice that your parents are starting out on their river cruise from Amsterdam, a beautiful city. We actually had some frost on the roofs this morning. It's a little early for winter and I'd hoped to keep the furnace off until November but I'm a big wimp!

Joy, I'm sorry to hear about your neighbor passing Monday night. Seems like we've all had a lot of loss lately on this board. Hope your last evening with Sis is loads of fun.