StLouisCruisers

Susie, on the first night there were long lines at the door to deck 5 restaurant Bordeaux, even though we had a set time to show up. They put us at a table for 2 but it was adjacent to a main walkway so constant traffic rushing by us. That wasn't comfortable for us at all. So we spotted a table very near there that was off the beaten track, table for 2, up against a wall and not another table for 2 near it. We talked to the people at the podium and asked about having that particular table and they said fine, we could have it at 8 pm next night and all following nights. But when we went there the next night at 8 the people seated there weren't finished yet. We had a stern talk with VJ at the podium and we all agreed on a different time. We would have the table at 7:20 pm from then on, and we would be the second seating at that table each night. It worked out fine! There was also a great "white coat" section manager Hamit who was so good to us! While we were in quarantine they were aware and probably would seat someone in our place at 7:20 while we weren't coming to dinner each night. But they had it waiting for me when I got out of Covid jail. Hamit would do special things for us if we asked. One night I asked for a Greek Salad and he produced a beautiful salad in 10 minutes. DH had ordered one from room service (Covid jail) that night and suggested it. Mine was even better than his was! He also prepared penne arrabiatta for the two of us one night when we lamented the fact Princess no longer has that specially prepared in the dining room once during a cruise. We couldn't have asked for better care in the MDR and loved our waiter and asst. waiter. I hope you can arrange something like we did. You just have to ask about it and be a little flexible on the time. However, we would rate the food as average this cruise. Once in a while something would stand out, but not the majority of the time. For instance, most soups were pretty tasteless, but one night we had minestrone soup and it was extremely flavorful. I made sure I let them know it was very good. DH also liked the seafood bisque. Thank you Vanessa! I am feeling pretty well back to normal, though the pain in my leg behind my knee has still been bothering me. I woke up several times last night with it, and had to get up and walk around the house for a few minutes to ease it. And my cough is worse now that I'm home again. Sure wish I knew what that's all about. Covid sure didn't help with that chronic cough I was complaining about beforehand! Thank you also for your comment about Ashley. She is a sweet, loving young lady and a true blessing.😇

Wonderful cruises! Bon Voyage!🚢

Bon Voyage @GTVCRUISER! Melisa, good news about Curt. I hope he makes an amazing recovery. YUM! Almost lunch time and that looks good!

Before I get started on my ironing duties this morning, who's interested in some cute doggie photos? Latest photo of Sadie my granddog, and Finnegan (Finn) my great granddog. DGD Ashley made the bandana Finn is sporting this patriotic holiday weekend. Finn's head is bigger than Ashley's! Joy @Seasick Sailor, have a wonderful time on your Maui trip! I would love to see the newborn fawn. So cute! Jacqui @kazu your jams sound delicious, and look good too. I'm sure much better than store bought. @dobiemomyour GF's DH must have been in excruciating pain with that diagnosis. I hope they can take quick action and help him out of this situation. Thank goodness he went to the ER/Urgent Care!

And more photos. In 2014 when we sailed Golden Princess again to Hawaii, we also went on to Samoa and Tahiti. Spreading our wings a bit. I got a prettier shot of Waikiki Beach that time. then the statue of Duke Kahanamoku. He was one of the world's greatest watermen and a master of swimming, surfing and outrigger canoe paddling. Here's a trolley stop right at Waikiki Beach for those who don't want to walk all the way from the ship. That night we had a visit from the same dance school as we did the previous trip there on Golden Princess in 2009. The little girls dance up and down the aisles at the end of their performance. Real crowd pleasers! In 2017 on the Maasdam heading to the South Pacific, we again walked around Honolulu. We saw a few different things to photograph. We saw this group of people leaving for a boat ride from the beach. surfboard storage!

Good morning friends! I'm trying to work my way back into real life here at home, so after I woke up and checked DD's flight status, I went downstairs to our workout area in the lower level sunroom. Just half my usual time on the treadmill. After DH does his workout on the Total Gym machine he will do the treadmill too. Here's a photo from there just after I got off the treadmill. Thanks, Rich for the Fleet report and Daily. I feel like I Forgot Day is made for me! Not a witness to any UFOs but that's okay. I feel recreation is for everyone and that includes the disabled. The meal sounds okay, not sure about that quote, though. Yes, like everybody else I've been to Honolulu (4 times). I'll post some photos from the last time we had Honolulu as our port destination, June 1, 2021. Prayers for everyone on Roy's Care list and cheers to everyone celebrating. I plan on watching DD and Missy's ship leave Port Everglades this afternoon. I hope the weather cooperates for their sailaway. They are on Caribbean Princess. While I was growing up I never imagined I would get to see so many places in this big wide world. Didn't everybody dream of going to Hawaii someday? Of course when we sailed to Hawaii the first time in 2007 on Diamond Princess we wanted to see Pearl Harbor so took a tour there. After the Arizona Memorial we went to the U.S.S. Missouri where Japan surrendered at the end of WWII. Appropriate for us to visit - that's our home state! The site where the papers were signed. Back to the ship docked next to Aloha Tower. We were entertained by local dance groups that evening. In 2009 we visited Honolulu again on the Golden Princess. This trip we traveled with friends we'd met the previous year on a cruise. We were parked next to Aloha Tower again. The four of us headed out to meet a friend of theirs in Chinatown. The first thing we saw was a skyscraper and some window washers. Scary! That doesn't look safe! We headed into the fish market. Heading towards the beaches we passed the statue of Queen Liliuokalani. and the Iolani Palace. followed by the beautiful statue of King Kamehameha. A quick stop to look at the grounds of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Not too shabby! And a brief look at Waikiki Beach

@Quartzsite CruiserLenda, those are great pictures of Sarande. I especially like the area at the marina. Nice you got to go there several times on the Prisendam, which I certainly have a soft spot for. Thanks for posting today! @lindalerLinda, I'm so glad all the traveling back and forth is complete and you can now enjoy your new home in Mobile. Welcome back! We missed you. @HeartgroveJack, the news about your DB is sad but not unexpected I guess. I hope his remaining days are happy and pain free. @ger_77enjoy this special visit with the family. The DGS's sound adorable!

Much like Dalian we walked through the famous fish market and the shopping areas where street food is popular. There we saw that shoe stores are quite popular in South Korea. Our ship was delayed getting into Busan due to heavy fog but they really needed supplies from there so made a real effort to get into the harbor when it began to lift.

Norwegian Sun

Rabbit, Rabbit, White Rabbit! Good morning friends! I was up early with my knee pain and time zone changes. We had a nice rain last night and possibly more later this afternoon. I have an appointment at the hair salon this morning and am looking forward to a shorter cut as my hair has gotten way too long the past month or two. Happy Canada Day to all our Canadian friends! Zip codes are supposed to move our mail faster but I wonder about that sometimes. Love to see a zoo! And financial freedom sure sounds like a good thing, doesn't it? I haven't been to Sarande, Albania in the past. I've been working on updating the Daily cruise port of the day spreadsheet but have a long way to go. No hurry! I finished all the unpacking, storing of luggage, and washed every bit of clothing I dumped in the laundry room. I have some ironing to do this weekend though. DD and her teacher friend Missy plan on going on a Caribbean cruise tomorrow from FLL. I just hope their 5 am flight isn't cancelled tomorrow. I certainly wouldn't have recommended they fly in the day of a cruise, especially in this day and age, but that's what they did. Too late for my opinion to count. So let's pray they make it there tomorrow! In addition to that, special prayers for our Daily friends and families, the people of Ukraine and all who support them. Cheers for all who are celebrating, and heading to their cruises. Thanks to Rich and Roy for posting our Daily and Care and Celebration lists. Enjoy this holiday weekend!

What a busy 2 days for us! Yesterday we disembarked the Island Princess (along with Kay @kb4683), and took the transfer to Heathrow. It sounds like we'd rather have gone to Gatwick due to what Kay mentioned about having a smooth travel day. We arrived at Heathrow Terminal 3 about 10:15 and were standing in a line with hundreds of others trying to drop our bags. First we had to check in DH at the kiosk because I was only able to check in myself on my Delta app. No idea what the issue was. The line moved so slowly they had to ask several times if people were on specific flights so they could take them out of the drop bag line and get to security in time to make those flights. Finally we arrived at the front of the drop off queue. Then instead of sending us up the nearby escalator to security he directed us to go outside and walk to the furthest end of the terminal and go through security there. The lines upstairs were so long for security they were sending people to other spots in the terminal so they could extend the line further down the corridors! We waited in security's line for another hour. Oh my gosh, it was an incredibly difficult experience. They really make you jump through hoops. And when we finally got to the scanning area, I saw the employees going through everyone's ziploc bag of small toiletries and "massaging" the tubes of this and that. Everything took 10 times longer than it should have. After I walked through the scanner, they sent me to the full body scan machine, then they wanded my body because my right armpit was apparently very suspicious. Seriously! Then they swiped both my shoes. I thought I'd never pass inspection! DH had it worse, they wanted to inspect his laptop and he was behind a clueless woman who had every problem you can imagine finishing up. Couldn't even close the piece of luggage. I'm telling you, it was the worst time I've ever had in an airport and that includes Charles De Gaulle. 😬 Then the flight was going to be delayed 30 minutes. We were notified of that by email when we awoke. Well as long as it isn't cancelled, I thought, we can handle this. When we got to the gate area, which was a closed room, DH was chosen at random for another inspection. He had to remove his hiking boots, open the luggage and backpack, the whole nine yards! He only wears the boots when he doesn't want to add too much weight to the luggage. Lots of work taking on and off. Finally we were all boarded, late of course. We ended up taking off about an hour late. After the nine hour flight, we taxied to the gate at Atlanta's airport but stopped short of it. We were told there was a storm north of the city and due to work rules, the ground crew weren't allowed outside until the danger was over. So we sat in our seats for another 20-30 minutes. Trying to get off the plane took about 15 minutes. Then we went through Immigration (thank goodness for Global Entry), waited a good while for luggage, and passed on through the doors to the International terminal. Our dear neighbors had been waiting for us in the parking garage instead of driving around waiting for us to get outside. We ended up at home about 9:30 also, like Kay and Jim did. We normally don't ask people to pick us up or drive us to the airport but did this time. Next cruise I plan to drive to Fort Lauderdale and back instead of worrying about airline troubles. Of course we were both very tired because of the jet lag. We went to bed around 11 pm which our bodies thought was 4 am. I noticed my lower legs and feet were swollen which is unusual for me! I took some Tylenol PM to help me sleep, elevated my feet on a pillow and was out till about 6:30 this morning. I've been having some pain behind my knee the past couple of months so think I'd better get an appointment with my doctor to see if I have any vein issues I'm not aware of. We went to the grocery very early, then had to begin unpacking, go through mail, and load and loads of laundry. It's good to be home though. At least we didn't have to sit for hours for cancelled flights like Jacqui did. So glad to read today you made it home okay and with luggage. I'm so relieved my luggage made it home with us too. I've heard stories of bags not making it onto flights recently at Heathrow. Happy birthday wishes to Terry @smitty34877's DH and also to Brenda @bennybear's DH. Many happy returns! @1ANGELCAT I'm sorry to hear your Jaguar just passed away. Even knowing it was coming it had to be a difficult day. Joy @Seasick Sailorthank goodness your friend Ron was able to have his gall bladder surgery done so quickly. He must have been in a lot of pain. I hope to get back on schedule with the Daily in the morning. I see today was Port Lincoln. That is a repeat port, last seen here Sept. 5, 2021. We have not been there before. I don't think we saw any pictures today of it though which is unfortunate. I'm sure it's an interesting place. And how funny Andalsnes, Norway was listed yesterday. We were just there Saturday. That's the day DH got out of Covid jail, so we took a short walk around town. We both tired so quickly we couldn't go too far. But I have to say it seems like a town you might want to get a tour to somewhere near. I did have that beautiful view of the mountain right off the ships's starboard side though. And it's also the place where the gondolas took people up to the top of one of the mountains for a pretty view. Have a good night everyone.

Wow I’m sorry to hear about Jacqui’s flight problems. That is ridiculous! We are almost ready to meet at our disembarkation spot so we can take the transfer to Heathrow. Our 2:05 pm flight has been delayed 30 minutes according to an email from Delta. Let’s see how many delays we can rack up today! I don’t want my neighbor having to pick us up in the middle of the night either. Praying that the airlines begin to shape up soon with all these staffing issues. On another note our cruise friends from Arizona made it to Southampton yesterday 5 hours late due to hydraulic problems. Thus they missed their National Express bus reservation. They did make it eventually! They are boarding the Island Princess today as we get off. Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Hi Joy! Hope you two are staying cool while you get ready for Hawaii. I hear from my twin that Buddy is supposed to be getting his feeding tube directly into his stomach today, which I hope will get him stronger as he endures more cancer treatments. He needed a unit of blood the other day because his hemoglobin and red blood cells were low. It's good to hear everyone is taking such good care of him. Your prayers for him are appreciated! Just chatted on WhatsApp with DD who is going on a week long Caribbean cruise on Princess with one of her girlfriends from teaching. They cruise this coming Saturday from FLL. She asked me about testing and I told her to get busy and make an appointment etc. Gave her all the info she needed. Still doing my Mom duties at this age! Safe travels to you and Allen when you leave for Maui.

Hi everyone! We had no internet working on the ship yesterday except for early morning so I couldn't catch up here until now. Sorry to have missed out on all the discussions. I want to welcome the new posters @ktbraunand @Nickelpenny to the Daily. Bon voyage wishes to @Nickelpenny. I hope you have a wonderful cruise. Nice to see Jacqui @kazuhaving an enjoyable getaway. I hope that Carol @mamaofamihad a superb birthday celebration and that Sam joins her at home soon. Prayers for Tana! We were in the tiny village of Skjolden yesterday which meant for a short jaunt to town (population 200). Along the way to the end of the fjord we saw one of the best waterfalls I've seen in a long time, called Feigenfossen. Starting to think about the end of the cruise and packing now. It will be good to be home this time.🤔

No I feel like this dry skin issue came about BC (before Covid). But I’m sure it didn’t help any. Hopefully things will smooth out once home.

Nearly ready for dinner. We’ve been enjoying looking at all the other ships, ferries, sailboats, and darling villages along the way. We are below the Arctic Circle now so no Midnight Sun but last night I took a nice photo of the sun before sunset, at 11:15 pm before I went to bed. I think sunset would have been 20 minutes later. Between Trondheim and Andalsnes.

@Vict0riannI hope you and DH can come to an agreement on getting some attention quickly to his leg issue, not just for your cruise plans, but so he can be more comfortable in the meantime. Prayers for you both!🙏

I noticed a town on the starboard side as we transited a fjord a while ago. Checking the screen on the TV showing location I saw it was Molde. Hey, isn't Nieuw Statendam there today? Looking at Rich's Fleet report I saw it left Molde at 4 pm. Well, ahead of us on our bridgecam at least 3 miles, is the Nieuw Statendam! They are traveling 20 knots and we are only going 17 knots. Nice to see a BHB, if even from afar! I checked the distance on CruiseMapper.

Melisa, that sounds like a tough situation. I'm sure everyone will do whatever they can to help Curt, his brother the guardian and Curt's Mother. Prayers for all as they move forward.🙏

I hope I recognize you with a mask and all! I saw Kay and Jim today a few times. I've been wondering if you ladies noticed your skin taking a beating on this cruise? Mine is rough and bumpy from low humidity, I guess, somewhere. Not sure if it's the ship's air or Norway but I rather think the ship. I had bumpy textured skin in Antarctica where it's so dry, but this is even worse! I am using up lots of skin lotions but still feel like elephant skin.

Terry that was one sweet photo of Camilla and grandpa you posted! You must be excited to finally get a chance to see her in person soon. Give her a squeeze and a hug from me.👶

I believe you when you say don’t do too much. Seems like we want to lie down and rest pretty often. We went for a short walk today. Yesterday I walked way too far but had to get get back to the ship so pushed on. Hope to be feeling stronger every day.

So happy DH is out of the slammer! We only have a few days left to enjoy our cruise so better get busy. Thanks to all of you for keeping me going while we waited and waited for that negative report. ❤️

Even though it’s Saturday already it’s hours until Saturday’s Daily is posted. So I have to report and celebrate that DH is finally NEGATIVE! He’s been cooped up since Wednesday morning last week. He’s on his way here as soon as he gets all his things together. His Princess Medallion has had a dead battery for days now so I’ll have to let him in. That’s our key card. Such a beautiful day here in Andalsnes, Norway so I hope he feels up to walking around this little town. Three cheers for Dennis! View when I woke up this morning

Well testing was earlier than usual this morning. DH tells me he is still positive on Day 9! The nurse says if he’s still positive on Day 10 they will still release him (so why not let him out today?). The Doctor says if he is positive Day 10 he will be released on Day 11 , this Sunday. So who do you believe? We’re both majorly disappointed. It’s such a nice day here in Trondheim! I wanted to walk with him around town today. This is the place with the bike lift up a hill to the Fortress. I have a feeling cruising is not going to be a future priority for him. 😢. Not with Covid in the picture.