StLouisCruisers

I guess things are getting too congested at Port Everglades. A relative will be on the Zaandam Feb. 3-17 cruise and it is listed as roundtrip Miami!

Debbie @dfish tell Sue congratulations on the new grandbaby! These kids and their Facebook! My DD DSis said once she found out her youngest was engaged on FaceBook. He and the fiancé were a bit standoffish and odd people though.🤷‍♀️

Dixie, the method I use is cruisetimetables.com where I click on Port Schedules tab, Look for your port on the list, click and then find the date your ship will be there. Voila! Two ships in San Diego on the 30th.

Haifa (Nazareth), Israel Here are a few pics from our wonderful day touring Nazareth in 2014 on Prinsendam. First is the Church of the Annunciation The wooden door depicts scenes from the life of Jesus. In the courtyard are exhibitions of mosaic paintings all from different countries and they reflect the country they were made in. Photos from the Grotto or cave of the Annunciation. The Chuch of St. Joseph which is built on what used to be the carpentry workshop of Joseph, father of Jesus. Statue of Joseph, Mary and Jesus Next, traveling past the Sea of Galilee to Yardenit, where the Jordan River flows. We would have our lunch there. DH's lunch. Needless to say I chose something else. The Jordan River where John the Baptist baptized his cousin Jesus of Nazareth. Hard to see with the glare but there are people dressed in white doing a baptism. Next up was Mount of Beatitudes where we are told Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount. From the grounds you have a lovely view of the Sea of Galilee. We briefly visited the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter where allegedly Jesus bestowed church leadership on Apostle Peter. Then to Capernaum also known as Capharnaum. This was Haifa in the morning before our tour And this was after the tour when we returned to the Prinsendam.

Good morning Graham! Thank you for the information on the America Can Company. My DF worked for American Can Company as a mechanic repairing all the machinery for many, many years. Then my DB went to work there as a lithographer (printing what's on the cans) for quite a few years as well. He believes that is the source of his pulmonary fibrosis with all the toxic chemicals he worked with. Hopefully things are much safer in the can company business these days. Hope you have a wonderful day Graham and the same for Pauline!😊

Good morning friends! It's a misty morning, 50F and we expect occasional showers and a high of 64 later. When I looked outside this morning at 5 am I saw 4 deer nibbling at the acorns under the pin oak, thanks to the street lamp right next to the tree. The more they eat the less we have to rake up and sweep up off the sidewalk and street. Now the squirrels won't be able to dig up my yard with them either. We had a bumper crop of acorns this year. Thank you Jacqui @kazu for posting the Fleet Report and Daily and thank you Roy @rafinmd for the fleet maps. I appreciate beer cans but we don't have any here, just bottles. A good belly laugh is good for the mental outlook. Change a Pet's Life Day is a nice day to recognize. I think we all know someone who radically changed her pet's life and that is Jacqui! Ivan is a lucky boy! The quote is interesting, the meal sounds good, DH likes gin and tonics, and I'll pass on the red wine. Too many days in history for me to remember and comment on. Overload! Thanks Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope, and Ann @cat shepard for helping out with the F&B reports each day. Prayers this morning for my family and friends, the people of Israel and Ukraine, the still held hostages, and the U.S. military in the region. 🙏 Also for many of us here on the Daily in need of prayer with health issues and stress and worry. Prayers for Joy's @Seasick Sailor's friend Ron and her other friends in need of them as well. 🙏 I named as many of you as I could this morning so you're covered! We've got this! Congratulations to Charlene's @cunnorl's nephew and wife on the birth of Ryan Charles. 🎉 Happy Birthday to Carolyn @Cruising-along!!🎂 Also congrats to anyone else celebrating happy events and the cruisers at sea and preparing to cruise! 🥂 Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for keeping up the lists for us. Prayers for you everyday to find better health and lots of sleep.😴 The port this morning is Haifa (Tel Aviv), Israel. This was the port on Dec. 21, 2021, July 23, 2022 and August 30, 2023. I believe most of us probably visit Nazareth from Haifa. We went there once, and our plans for a second visit there in 2024 have been scuttled due to the war there now. First time we were on Prinsendam in 2014. Here are the links for you: Hope everyone here enjoys this Wednesday and stays safe and well. Be careful while traveling!

Ann @cat shepard good job figuring out Joh. I came here to say I found that out too but you were here first! Working on making that chocolate pie and waiting for the crust to cool. I've read online his birthday is today and some sources say Jan. 12. Let's just celebrate him all month long! That secret decoder ring really comes in handy.😆 Thanks for your Rome photos. Great to visit again through all our experiences. I hope Chuck can get some help with his leg. And that Bubbles continues healing. Enjoy your lunch out! I'm so sorry for your friend Ron. He's been through a lot and now this. Prayers for help for him and pain free days again.🙏 Enjoy your book. I borrowed it for DH from the Kindle library. Haven't asked if he's read it yet.

Hope you all have a great time!

Terri I'm sorry to hear Tana has had a rough couple of days but it's very good to hear she is feeling a bit better now. Thank God for the help you receive especially when things go wrong. I hope you have a relaxing day and night off from cooking. Congrats on the start of your new decade!

Good morning friends! Some light rain has begun and will last for a little while. Temp is 42F, high will be about 54 and mostly cloudy. Rain comes back into the forecast tonight and we will see a lot of precipitation the remainder of this week. Bah! Thanks to Jacqui @kazu and Roy @rafinmd for helping Rich out with the Fleet Report and Daily and the all important maps. Interesting days what with measuring our feet, celebrating our handwriting and appreciating pie. Actually I am going to make a chocolate pie today and didn't even know about it being National Pie Day. Quote seems silly to me, the spaghetti lover's soup sounds unique but a cocktail named apple pie is just weird! No thanks to the cabernet sauvignon wine. Good days in history. I just saw Levar Burton on Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on my PBS station last week. It's amazing what they can find out about someone's past. Things you just cannot believe sometimes. Thanks to the ladies, Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for the reporting today. Prayers were said this a.m. as I walked my 2.5 miles for my dear family and friends in need of them. Plus those at war with hostages held and the troops there to help them. Many prayers this morning for everyone here with problems needing attention, especially Richard and Maureen @RMLincoln and Terri @Cruzin Terri. I hope your procedure Richard goes amazingly and your check on the leg wound issues go smoothly Terri, as well as your travels to get there and back. Healing wishes to you both. Good luck to Roy @rafinmd today at his appointment. A salute to all celebrating happy events like Sue @DWAliaschief and Terry @smitty34877 celebrating birthdays 🎂🎉 and the many cruising or getting ready to cruise. Anticipation is the best, but getting there can be a downer. Take care all of you. Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for your help with the lists, and I hope you enjoyed a better night's sleep. The port today is Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. This was the port on Nov. 15, 2021 and Aug. 24, 2022. I have not been there (only Dubai). Here are the links for your convenience in retrieving your photos. Thank you in advance! I hope everyone here has a very special day, staying safe and keeping well.

Thank you @erewhon! So nice of you to say. No, on my recent cruises on HAL I haven't been given the little deck plan maps they used to give out. Now that you mention it, I hadn't noticed it! I hope they bring them back!

Thank you Annie. It would be great to have a kind-hearted lady like you nearby! Your Rome hotel was very nice. Looks quite comfortable. Thank you for the pictures and am enjoying the food pics, too. Thank you Ann! I feel better now. 🙂 The manatee photos are cool. That's quite an aggregation! I remember visiting friends at the Villages and they took us to see where they kayaked and saw manatees. Nowhere near that many I'm sure! That's sounds terrible, Terri. I'm sorry you have to get up and drive down there tomorrow but they must know what's best for you. Too bad they aren't located closer to Bluffton because that's a long way to go for tests, doctor visits, etc. Prayers for a good result for you and a safe drive tomorrow. Sorry you have to do all that driving in one single day. You may be too tired to update tomorrow night so don't overdo and stay up late when you get home. Get your rest!

I hope things start moving along faster for you now. At least the radiologist got the disc. Good idea to forward the home phone to the cell. We've had to do that occasionally. You can be home for a week but the moment you leave the house for an appointment is when those important calls come through. Hope the change in meds can do you some good, too. Thanks Jacqui! I feel a little like a snitch but shouldn't. They were most grateful, and neighborhoods have those Neighborhood Watches for things like this, don't they? I know I'd be happy if someone was watching out for me!

Remember I said the Amazon driver ran over a neighbor's mailbox and kindly stopped to report it to the owners? Well DH was outside a while ago checking out some pesky crows pecking on the roof ridge here at our house and the house across the street. The neighbors whose mailbox was destroyed pulled into their driveway so DH asked what did you think about your mailbox being hit. They said we were out of town until Sunday so no one was home! And he left no note! They had no idea who did it. So DH told him the story of the dog running loose, me coming into the room to see the dog and then seeing the whole accident happening. He told them we took photos of the truck and driver and they asked us to send them to their email. They are contacting Amazon and needed time and date and especially the license plate number, truck # and we even had the driver's face when he walked up to the truck from delivering across the street from us. We have no idea if he even reported it, but now they should be able to get all costs reimbursed and it won't be cheap. I'm glad we didn't just delete the photos from the camera thinking he had spoken with them already.

Let me take this opportunity to thank you for the hard work you do posting these bon voyage listings and the corresponding bon voyage threads for everyone. What would we do without you??🥰

Thanks for the update on your friend Steve. It's good to hear he's made some progress with that lift chair and family is nearby in case he needs assistance. Congratulations to the Detroit Lions and their fans on the win! And congrats to Nancy's @ottahand7's Ravens! Please drive safely today Maureen. Let us know when you've arrived. And good luck tomorrow with Richard's appointment. I'm good with your trip photos each day! We can all enjoy Rome through your eyes. The gelato looks amazing. The neighborhood party sounded fun. 🎉🍷 Time to get busy on that packing! I would too! Thank you for the good wishes for Tyler and the prayers for family. Seems only fitting your friends be on my list too. The bad news seems to come in bunches. I'm sorry to hear your friend in Idaho lost her DH Joe at Thanksgiving, only 2 short months ago. Prayers for her too.🙏 Thank you Terry! Gerry, what a terrible shame that Deb lost her battle with cancer. I agree, such an awful disease and not a good way to go. Those days back in 2020 were so fraught with fear, and the story of her parents' return home was riveting. Thanks for letting us know.

I know you'll enjoy this cruise and you've waited quite a while for it! Bon Voyage!

In 2012 the Star Princess was denied entry to Ushuaia because of politics, explained earlier, and the second time was in 2015 on Ruby Princess. Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser and Steve were onboard with us but I didn't know her at the time. It was a bit damp in Ushuaia that morning as all the streets on my photos are wet. The next stop there was Dec. 26, 2016 while on Seabourn Quest. Here is my favorite picture that day. DH and I walked into the visitor center, which had automatic door openers on them. The doors were open a lot since everybody wanted maps and info. One of the stray dogs in town walked in, circled the room and laid down right in front of DH. He actually laid his body on DH's foot! Here's the staff busy with visitors. No one really noticed this pup taking a nap in there. A few of that dog's friends heading towards the visitor center for a nap. There are a lot of interesting buildings in Ushuaia. Many types of architecture. Everybody who walks the streets there sees this wall mural and has to take a photo of it. I always like to go by this building and then go into the great souvenir store nearby. Just outside the back door of the souvenir shop is this terrific garden. Shortly after the Quest arrived, a Princess ship docked across from us. Here's the view from the garden before we headed back. I can't believe the difference in size between the two ships! Quest was such a cozy little ship.🥰 Our final visit to Ushuaia was on Coral Princess in January 2020 on an Antarctica cruise. That was the final cruise for us before Covid hit. It would be 28 months before we were back to cruising but unfortunately we caught Covid on that 2022 cruise.

Good morning friends! It's 25F this morning and somewhat cloudy. Today's high will be about 50 with some sun but mostly cloudy later on. I hope the winds aren't as high as they were over the weekend. Made for a wicked wind chill! Thank you Jacqui @kazu for the Fleet Report and Daily posting and to Roy @rafinmd for the fleet maps. I can appreciate better business communication, celebrations of life and community managers. Always a good quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.! I feel we should add a protein to our meal if we only have roasted broccoli and cauliflower to eat. No thanks to the drink and red wine (get out your decoder ring Ann 😅). Must have been a very strange period in English history in 1689. Thanks Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope, and Ann @cat shepard for your reports this morning. Prayers this morning for the Navy Seals finally declared dead after 10 days of searching for them and their families. Also all in Israel and Ukraine, the hostages still held, and the rest of our troops in the region. Also for my twin and DB, friends Scott and Bob and their lovely wives. Prayers were also said for the Daily members in need both on the Care list and those who are not. Good luck today Roy at your oncologist appointment. Hoping for peace and calming comfort for Bruno @atexsix and his DD David. 🙏 Cheers to our friends and family cruising and celebrating happy events today! Oldest DGS Tyler is 26 today and I wish him the best! Having three grandkids with January birthdays can keep a person busy and broke! Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for getting up early to post the lists for us! Hope you get some answers soon and a treatment to get you back to normal. The port of the day is Ushuaia, Argentina. This was the port destination on Jan. 3, 2022 and June 29, 2023. We were there three times and were supposed to be in 2012 but that was cancelled last second by the Argentinians after we visited Stanley, Falkland Islands days before. This was during the 30th anniversary year of the conflict between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). Here are the links to the former dates for you. Hope you all have a nice day! Stay warm and keep safe!

Sorry I'm so late tonight but I've been pretty busy working on my stitching project and thinking about insurance for cruises this year. I have a whole list of things I have been putting off and need to get at them. I haven't even kept up with all the "live from" threads on the Grand voyages I'm sorry to say. I hope your wife continues to feel better and there are no surprises at her doctor appointments. I have been thinking more of end of life details like you mentioned because it seems everywhere I turn there is bad news for others our age. Another thing on the list mentioned above! 😊 It must have been sweet! Just try to get as much sleep as possible in the mornings. We can wait! I hope you can get some answers with your phone calls. Seems like no one is in a hurry to call YOU! Twin says she is better now too, but her DH is not getting there as fast as she is. He's still on my prayer list. DS says he is staying in Texas until Monday the 29th! I thought he'd have to fly back to Ann Arbor tonight but he will work from Frisco and do meetings remotely. More time with the family which is nice. Bruno, thank you for coming around to let us know the update on DD. Many of us have had family members in hospice care and the suggestions by everyone for respite for you are good ones. You have been such a huge help to him already, but please take care of yourself as well. God bless you both. How wonderful you and DD got to see Singapore together. I'm sure those memories will be a comfort later on. Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser I hope you and Steve can get back to Singapore sometimes to see the latest fabulous additions in the Marina Bay area. Just the hotel alone is out of this world!

Thanks everyone for the nice comments on the Singapore photos. It's certainly a shining star in Asia and everyone could find interesting things to see and do there. I'm glad you're considering it on a future trip @Mr. Boston! Joy @Seasick Sailor until you get your bird seed the cardinals will have to dine in a neighbor's backyard! Cardinals are so beautiful you must enjoy seeing them at your feeders. I believe I forgot to congratulate the celebrants today so here's a toast to all enjoying major events in their lives and those wonderful cruises you're on! 🥂 And I forgot to mention the FC Dallas youth soccer team Ren is on beat Austin FC yesterday 3-2, scoring that last point late in the game so it must have been a nail biter. Strange how Austin is called Austin Football Club and Dallas is named Football Club Dallas. 🤷‍♀️

Bruce @aliaschief nice photos of you and Sue! Thanks for the update and the great memes. Have a great day!

Yay for Singapore! We have spent time on land trips there as well as cruised through or from Singapore due to DS's sabbatical there twice, a year at a time. Our first time in Singapore was in January 2007 when DGS Ren was born there. I was able to stay 3 weeks and DH stayed about 8 days and went back to the US to work. Our DS was taking his first sabbatical from his U-M position over in Singapore because that is where our DDIL's parents lived. They were able to spend a lot of quality time with the two of them during that time period. Right in the middle of their 10 or 11 months there was Ren's due date, so we made plans ahead of time to arrive a week or so later and it worked out fine. We had a great visit and were able to get some good cuddling in with him even though they lived so far from us. Second trip was a cruise with friends from Myrtle Beach on Diamond Princess from Bangkok to Anchorage. We had a really nice time with them. DDIL's Mom picked us up on our port stop in Singapore and she spent the day showing us (and our friends who hadn't been there before) some great sights, and both DDIL's Mom and Dad were able to be there for a nice lunch at the American Club. The last time we were there was in 2013 during DS's second sabbatical. We found a group of cruises that left from Singapore, and went to Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. At the end of the cruise we flew home from Auckland on Christmas Eve. At the beginning of the cruise we flew over to Singapore and spent about 8 days visiting the kids before they dropped us off at the ship. I have some nice photos from that trip. The first day in 2013 (after a good sleep) we went to the boys' school (just down the street from their apartment) which was having an International Day assembly. There were students from about 80 countries represented and all the parents would cheer when their children and the other children from that country marched out. This school was called the Canadian International School. DS and DDIL checked out several schools before they moved over to make sure they got the type of education they needed. Here is a photo after all the students marched out and sat down. We enjoyed our visit to the school that day. Some of the American kids. Ren is in that picture. We took the MRT train downtown one day to see the Orchard Road shopping area. It was quite nice. Another day we visited the Nanyang Technological University where DS was a visiting professor during his sabbatical. It was all very, very nice. They like things neat in Singapore! One night we went down to the Marina and ate dinner. Here is the Merlion near the restaurant. We saw the beautiful Marina Bay Sands hotel lit up at night. Gorgeous! Another day we went to the Singapore Botanic Garden. We spent most of our time in the orchid section and I must have 50 photos of orchids so can't share them all here. The following day DDIL, DH and I went downtown on the MRT to see the National Art Museum. The art exhibits on the grounds were really interesting. Later that day we went to the far western side of the little island nation to Raffles Marina to celebrate DS's birthday. His in-laws had a membership there. The kids really enjoyed the pool before dinner. You can see the bridge from Singapore to Malaysia from the marina there. A better photo from 2007. You can see the bridge in the background. Our last full day before the cruise DS took us up to the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. Wow, what a view! Here's the Flower Dome and Cloud Forest seen from way up high. The amazing Gardens by the Bay I zooomed in to show the new, at the time, International Cruise Ship terminal. We would be there the following day boarding Diamond Princess. Holding my camera way out The Singapore Flyer Guests in the infinity pool. Can you imagine what that view is like? Merlion is down there I have a couple of interesting (to me) photos to show you from the 2007 "baby" visit. The reason for the visit! Older brother Kai is in college now at UCLA! Ren was 8 days old. We went to breakfast at East Coast Park and saw a strange sight. Water skiing by cable instead of boats in the lake there. We went out to eat for every meal it seems like. But we also stopped at Raffles Hotel and had a Singapore Sling in the bar there. I was amused at the gravel driveway there. But it was beautiful inside. An impressive facade too. Standing near the Merlion at the marina. This was 2007 so the Marina Bay Sands Hotel wasn't built yet. We went everywhere that trip including the U.S. Embassy to get Ren's passport. First we dressed him in a white outfit and got his passport photo taken. One day while driving we saw this amazing sight far from the University of Michigan. You know I like to photograph mail carriers around the world. Here is one in Singapore outside an apartment building. Pizza Hut had similar delivery motor bikes as seen here. Pizza Hut had a "set" meal you could order. A bowl of soup and pizza. Odd don't you think? Yet we ordered it! 90F outside with 90% humidity but we had soup before pizza. To me Singapore is the most amazing place to visit in the entire region. Glad I could spend so much time there.

Good morning friends! Really cold again today with a temp of 15F. However it will be sunny today and a lowly 41 for a high temp! It's going to warm up this week and then we will see rain. Thank you Jacqui @kazu and Roy @rafinmd for the Fleet Report and Daily plus the maps. Some frivolous days to recognize IMO. Playdates, sweatpants and cheesy socks! Sweatpants are closer to my heart though because I wear something similar around the house, yoga pants. Not quite so baggy but warm and comfy. I don't own any cheesy socks. Thank goodness we're not celebrating Squirrel Appreciation Day! (yes, it's on the list for today). I don't care how cute they are we they're a nuisance to us with our acorn-bearing pin oak. I suppose I don't know what rapini pasta is so I'd better pay attention to the F&B reports today. I'm clueless also on the Seattle Sidecar and the wine. Since it's a Sauvignon Blanc I would give it a try though. Thank you Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for your reports today. Prayers for DB, twin sister and DBIL with Covid, friends Scott and Bob and their fabulous wives. Niece Amy says she has recovered from probable Covid and doing well. Prayers too for Israel, Ukraine, the hostages held and our military under fire (142+ attacks) and those who have already been injured. And for all here on the Daily who are in need of prayers, we've got you covered! Hoping for less pain, quick healing, and improved outlooks! Stay off those icy surfaces. Thanks Vanessa @JazzyV for the lists today. I hope you got more sleep last night and less leg pain today.👍 Yesterday was interesting. DH saw a dog running loose on our street which is highly unusual. While we were trying to identify whether it was really a lost dog or a wolf (!) a large white delivery van (Prime) zoomed up our street and made a delivery at the end of the cul-de-sac. Then he drove back down just past our house and decided he'd missed the house across the street from us. So he made a turn into neighbor Linda's driveway and backed out again to turn around. I said uh-oh because he didn't appear to be looking where he was backing up, and sure enough backed into the neighbor's mailbox two doors down from us The heavy decorative metal post is tilted and slightly bent so he broke that, plus the mailbox and newspaper box went flying and the scroll work under it broken off. Good grief! He should have just stopped and parked going on the street and walked back two doors up to deliver the package. He did the right thing and rang Denise and Mike's doorbell to report his misdeed. If they call the company who installed all our mailboxes it will cost a pretty penny to replace and install a new one. If he hadn't broken the post Mike probably would have gotten the parts and installed it himself. When you're sitting home staying warm this is a lot of excitement in one 5 minute period. Never saw the dog again! The port of the day is Singapore! What an amazing spot to land! The two times we've had it before on Dec. 24, 2022 and July 25, 2023. Links are below. We've been there three times. Have a good one!

NA moving now?