StLouisCruisers

Good morning friends! Well, we had rain starting around 8 last night and it continued steadily half the night. The temp is 64 with clouds and a chance of a shower at any time today. Windy this afternoon and a high of 73. Good luck to the Masters tournament with the inclement weather passing through. Thanks to Jacqui @kazu and Roy @rafinmd for posting the Fleet Report and Daily as well as the fleet location maps for Rich @richwmn. Let's recognize our pets, the song "Louie, Louie" and cleaning up our pantries. Nothing negative there. I enjoy the quote every time I hear it. That's quite a meal suggestion. As usual I skip the cocktail and don't know what the wine is yet. A big day in civil rights history in this country. Thank you Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for the F&B reports today. Prayers for all here on the Care list and extra prayers for Vanessa's @JazzyV's BFF with his MOHS surgery, and for Terri's @Cruzin Terri's DH Jim at his appointment today. Hoping your trip to Italy goes on as planned. Prayers for all others and your family members and friends in need of them. More prayers for DB, great nephew Alex's baby boys, friends Scott, Susan and Sandy. Special prayers for the safety of the people of Ukraine and Israel, the hostages still not home, and our troops at sea and on bases in the region. Prayers for Vanessa's @JazzyV's pain and sleep problems and that the upcoming surgery goes well. Three cheers to those cruising and celebrating special events in their lives. Happy birthday wishes to Elizabeth's @Haljo1935's DH! Also for all the great sibling photos yesterday. I also enjoyed everyone's Petra photos. Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for the wonderful lists you keep each day for us! Today's port is a new one, Norfolk, Virginia. Some of the ships do make a stop there on Colonial America coastal cruises. And I haven't heard of this yet, but some could use it while the port of Baltimore is out of service. We lived near Norfolk (Williamsburg) during the early 1990's and enjoyed visiting the city a few times. We took a Spirit of Norfolk luncheon cruise with our mothers when DD graduated from high school. No digital photos. Plus I believe the Navy offers tours of a ship on Saturdays for the public, or at least they used to. Always interesting. So no links today, and no photos from me. Today will be a good day to continue cross stitching. I'll take breaks to do other chores that need doing including computer work. Hope you all have a great day! Stay safe and keep well!

Thanks Graham. I'm sure his parents are going to be very vigilant from here on out. Austin has no problem with peanuts and loves anything with peanut butter. Airlines now have almonds as a snack in addition to the usual peanuts, and he will be avoiding almonds. Austin's dad snacks on mixed nuts at home but Austin never did. They'll probably be taking mixed nuts off their pantry shelf now.

The restaurant we ate lunch at was called Alcantarah. They had a huge buffet inside but on the porch they were preparing a delicious chicken and vegetable stir fry dish. I think we cleaned them out of desserts! On the drive back to Aqaba we stopped at this shop and were able to have a restroom break. We had very nice clean restrooms which were much appreciated by this very tired group. See anything you like? I recommend the restaurant and the rest stop here highly.

We enjoyed a visit to Aqaba and Petra in October 2016 on the Emerald Princess. We took a private tour with a roll call group and it was excellent. Draining though with the heat so drink twice as much water as you think you should. I nearly fainted at the end and had to plop down on the ground to prevent injury as we got back to the visitor center. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat. On Oct. 10, 2016 our private tour group drove 2 hours from Aqaba past the Wadi Rum desert wilderness area and arrived at Petra, one of the new seven wonders of the world. We arrived by 9 am which is a good thing since this is a very hot, dry area and it only gets hotter as the day goes on. The entrance to the visitor center. When you first start out there is an area on your left where they keep the horses. You can either ride a horse, take a cart, or walk. We walked. The long walkway here is called Bab Al Siq. Next you'll see the Obelisk Tomb. It's named after the four Indian obelisks that decorate the top of the tomb. This tomb has two stories to it. The Siq is a spectacular gorge that leads into the ancient city. The original channel cut in the walls to bring water into Petra can be seen, and in some places the original terracotta pipes are still in place. This is one of my favorite photos of DH walking through the curvy walled tunnel. One particular rock formation looked like a fish from the side but an elephant from the front. The elephant view The colors of the rock can vary widely. Most interesting are the many niches carved into the sandstone walls. Suddenly ahead we saw, through the gap in the rock, the magnificent Treasury! It rises to almost 128 feet and is intricately decorated with Corinthian capitals, decorative bands, figures and more. It is crowned by an urn, which according to local legend conceals a pharaoh's treasure. To the left of the Treasury is this area to rest and shop. You could rent a camel for a ride here in case you were tiring from the walk. From the Treasury we proceeded on to the Street of Facades, the name given to the row of monumental tombs carved into the southern cliff face. The Theatre Our guide Zayed and some of the Royal Tombs. We walked as far as we could. All the way to the Nymphaeum, a semi-circular public fountain shaded by a 450 year old wild pistachio tree. No water here! Further down was the Colonnaded Street which would have been a shopping street in ancient Petra, but by now we were ready to turn back. We had miles to walk, uphill to return to our bus. When we walked back past the Treasury there were lots more people there. Glad we got there early! You had to watch out for carts and horses all the time or risk getting run over. On to lunch at a Petra restaurant in the next post.

Good morning friends! It's 57 here this morning. We will have a mostly cloudy day with a high of 76F and rain moving in tonight. Thanks Jacqui @kazu and Roy @rafinmd for the Fleet Report and Daily as well as the fleet location maps. Hurray for farm animals, siblings and the founding of the Salvation Army. Love the quote, hate stuffed cabbage, the drink sounds terrible and I'm not a red wine drinker. It's a very interesting day in history. Thanks to Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for the reports on food and beverage every day. Prayers were said before hopping onto the treadmill at 5. The list never seems to get shorter unfortunately. Still praying for DB, great nephew Alex's twin babies, friends Scott, Susan and Sandy, the people in Israel and Ukraine, the 133 hostages still held and thought to be alive, the military members we have in the region, and most especially for my Daily friends on the Care list. Hoping Tana is recovered from the pneumonia, and that Vanessa was able to sleep some. Also wishing for less pain and good healing for all. Cheers to those celebrating special events and enjoying cruises! Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for continuing to work so hard on the lists each day! The port today is Aqaba, Jordan (for Petra). This was the port before on July 27, 2021, Aug. 26, 2022, and May 26, 2023. We went there once and really enjoyed it. Here are the links to help with your photos. I know you'll enjoy seeing them. Hope you all have a great, productive day! Stay safe and keep well!

It was the first time he'd eaten a walnut and that is his allergy trigger. They advised him not to eat any tree nut though. I assume if he'd eaten a walnut 5 years ago he would have had the same reaction. Even though they only use a tiny ***** of the walnut material on his arm he had an instant reaction and started having chest tightening and other signs. Exactly right Annie. His paternal grandfather kept pushing him to try the fudge and he had this terrible reaction. They phoned DD back in Ohio and she said do not let him go to sleep, take him to the ER right now. Even Austin didn't complain about having to go, he wanted to go get help. It must have been frightening. I enjoyed your stories of life in France, and traveling back and forth on the Cunard ships as a child. Yes, he has to have two epi-pens with him at all times. The school nurse thought they should keep one and Austin the second one, but the allergist disagreed with that and most of the other advice the school nurse gave. The school can keep one on hand for him, but she wants Austin to keep two for himself, in case one dose doesn't help and he has a second reaction 20 minutes later. At the doctor's office they had to put an albuterol tablet under his tongue when his throat and chest began tightening with the tiny test amount reaction.

A report back on DGS Austin's allergy emergency last week. He went to the allergist today and they tested him for tree nut allergies. He had an immediate severe reaction to walnuts, but they have advised him to not take a chance on other tree nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, filberts/hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, and shea nuts). They called it a very severe reaction. He actually had every side effect possible last Thursday. He will have to be very careful from here on out. Excellent news, Graham! I'm glad all the appointments seem to be coming along quickly and without much hassle. Thank you for the excellent photos today, both the eclipse photos and the Denali photos. I hate to hear of your pain levels though after yesterday's problems getting home. I hope you get more rest tonight and less pain tomorrow.

Karen, your cake truly does look decadent! Your DS did a great job making it from scratch. I hope you enjoy it. I'm sorry to hear about your DSIL passing away. She must have gone through quite a lot battling brain and breast cancer. The quilts are a lovely legacy to leave behind. Enjoy your lunch at Olive Garden!

Thank you for all your zen aft balcony wake videos. Very relaxing! Thanks for the great photo! Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser thank you for your very nice photo of Mt. Denali, too. Gerry @ger_77 I loved the wedding photo today. What great memories it must bring back.

Wonderful photos of your anniversary celebration and our good looking group of Dailyites! Thanks for posting it! Thank you Bruce for the birthday wishes. It was a fun day. Your photos of Sabang are colorful and show the true life conditions of the citizens. I'm appreciating my air conditioned grocery store more after seeing the market photos from there. Enjoy some sea days before arrival in Sri Lanka. Should be another interesting port for you.

Good morning friends! Here in north central Georgia it's 58F and raining lightly. The drizzle will end by 9 am and the remainder of the day will be cloudy and a high of about 70. We could use a little rain to water the new sod over the lawn disruption after laying the new fiber optic cables. Thank you Jacqui @kazu and Roy @rafinmd for posting the Fleet Report and Daily as well as the fleet location maps for Rich @richwmn. I read about Jenkins Ear Day and hoped Graham @grapau27 would report back here on that matter. Oh my! We also recognize Jumbo Day named after an elephant and National Cherish an Antique Day. The quote seems true to me in many ways, and I'm going to pass on the meal, drink and wine. Good for John Hancock standing up for himself and the colonies. Thanks to Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for the F&B reports. Prayers said for everyone here with extra prayers for those most in need. Also my DB, the precious babies of great nephew Alex, friends Scott, Susan and Sandy, the people of Israel and Ukraine, the hostages still held, and our military in the area. 🙏 My niece sent me an Easter photo of herself with son Alex, wife Jordan and baby Elliott Rose and it was just gorgeous. Jordan looked fabulous in her delicate condition. She is going to the doctor tomorrow and is approximately 22 weeks along. 🙏 Cheers for all celebrating special events today and for those cruising! 🎉🚢 Happy birthday Karen @luvteaching and happy anniversary Gerry and Maurice @ger_77!! Hope you all have a wonderful day! 🥂 Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for continued excellent work on the Care and Celebration lists! Many prayers for you each day! The destination today is Denali National Park, Alaska. We have several dates with Denali and Anchorage/Denali. Nov. 24, 2021, Feb. 7, 2022 and Sept. 29, 2023. I have not personally visited Denali National Park so will present no photos today but would really enjoy seeing yours. Here are the links for your convenience. Yesterday I heard from all 6 of my precious grandkids, my kids and their spouses, my niece and most of my friends. In addition the good wishes from all my friends here. Priceless! Hope you all have a great day, and please stay safe and keep well!

Thank you Sharon @Sharon in AZ and @erewhon! It was quite the day for both of us. 🙂

Thank you Jake! I love Oreos so appreciate this set up immensely.😉

Thank you so much Maxine! Wine time starts in 30 minutes or so! I appreciate all the hoopla everyone had for us.🤣

A big disappointment for twin Linda. They tried to get south to see the eclipse from the old cemetery 8 family members are buried in. They couldn't get there due to traffic jams on the highways! They turned around and went home. She said it was the only thing she wanted for her birthday and cried! Very sad for her. Here it barely got gloomy out (80%). DH was outside watering the sod over the recently dug up yard and it was plenty light out. The house looked dim inside though. I watched coverage on TV. It looked exciting in some cities. Ren texted birthday wishes and just flew into Dallas this afternoon with his soccer team and said he caught it from the plane. Something we will all remember for a while. DS said he remembered the last one in 2017 and I said I didn't. So checked it out and we were in Dubrovnik last time on Aug. 21, 2017. It was about 95% coverage here that time apparently. Roy @rafinmd, good luck getting your appointment with the valve clinic and hope everything goes well in that regard. Thank you to Terri @Cruzin Terri, Karen @luvteaching, Pennie @Nickelpenny, Eva @superoma, Carolyn @Cruising-along, Brenda @bennybear, and Debbie @tupper10 for your birthday wishes!

Keeping busy today with lots of texts, emails, and calls so I keep getting interrupted here! I wanted to make absolutely sure my spreadsheet listing was correct with Kathy @Norseh2o's birthday being today too and found her post on April 9, 2022 when she mentioned it. She said it was the day after her DM's birthday, who has unfortunately passed away recently. I asked DD if D.A.R.E. was still active in their school and she said yes. I'm happy to hear that. Anything we can do to keep kids safe and try to turn them away from harmful behaviors. I'd like to thank all of you who have sent your warm wishes since my last post. Elizabeth @Haljo1935 yes, Linda almost had a different birthday from me. I have a hunch the doctor or nurses discussed the time and just gave her April 8 as the date so we would share a birthday. Nowadays I think they'd go by the actual time but times were different then. Thanks also to Terry @smitty34877, Denise @Denise T, Dixie @summer slope, Nancy @ottahand7, Graham @grapau27, Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser, Annie @marshhawk, @seagarsmoker, Mauren @RMLincoln, Gerry @ger_77, Karen @quilty964, Joy @Seasick Sailor, @RedneckBob, and Jacqui @kazu. So nice to enjoy all my friends here wishing Linda and I happy birthday today. I can't wait to hear about her picnic and total eclipse watching when we chat later.

Thanks so much everyone for the birthday wishes. That includes Vanessa @JazzyV, Roy @rafinmd, Melanie @puppycanducruise, Ann @cat shepard, Charlene @cunnorl, Debbie @dfish, @MISTER 67, and Elizabeth @Haljo1935. Here's a photo of twin and I which I posted last year. I am on the left and Twin (Linda) is on the right. We are fraternal twins. Twin Linda and I are 6 minutes apart. 11:53 pm for me and 11:59 pm for her. From what I remember hearing, our parents had no idea there were twins arriving until birth. I'm sure Dad was sitting in a waiting room and a nurse or doctor came out and announced the news. Shock! Big sister Nancy was thrilled with her Easter gift. At the time we all 5 were crammed into a 1 bedroom flat until they could find something bigger. 😳

If you don't like heat and humidity, be glad that you haven't been to Darwin! 🥵 I was there twice, in Nov. of 2013 on Diamond Princess and in October of 2017 on Sun Princess. And even though I hate heat and humidity I'm not sorry I was there because I love seeing Australia. When you arrive in Darwin, you walk off the ship and head through a park-like area towards an ELEVATOR so that you can head into the downtown area. Yes, an elevator. It's a very unique place. Walking through the park Approaching the glass elevator area Leaving the elevator looking back towards the park and water. Christmas decorations seen along our walkways, since this picture was taken in late November. Heading towards the shopping areas of town we passed by statues and town hall ruins. We also walked near the Parliament building Wanna go for a boat ride? When we reached the downtown area, we noticed the overhead sun protection and misting stations to keep people comfortable while they shopped. Something I haven't seen too often in my travels. I don't suppose they'd mind if you slipped off your shoes and cooled your feet in this spot. You could even learn a little history if you took the time to read this bronze plaque. By this time we were ready to retrace our steps and enter the cool air conditioned interior of our cruise ship. Even with their tropical climate, I am willing to visit the capital of the Northern Territory anytime!!

Good morning friends! This morning it's 50F so not too bad. Today it will be 77 for a high with a sunny morning and a partly cloudy afternoon. I think I'll sit on my porch during the eclipse and watch the darkness appear. I don't have a pair of special glasses so won't be looking at the sun. I'll record the news reporting of the eclipse and watch it afterward to see as much of it as I can. I do think my twin and her DH are going to go to a good spot 2 hours south of her home in Missouri to take part in it. They will be in the 100% totality area, we are around 80% totality here.🌞 Thank you Jacqui @kazu and Roy @rafinmd for posting the Fleet Report and Daily as well as the fleet location maps for us. Isn't it cool that HAL has 3 ships in the area of Mexico where the solar eclipse will be? 🚢 Koningsdam, Volendam and Zaandam! Anyway today we can celebrate D.A.R.E. Day, artists who draw birds, and Roma. From Wikipedia this is what the D.A.R.E. program is all about. "Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E., is an education program that tries to prevent use of controlled drugs, membership in gangs, and violent behavior." So you can see how important that is to our schools. I think the quote is a good one, will skip the meal today for something else, pass on the Cotton Candy drink and the wine. Hurray for Hank Aaron's batting abilities. Thanks to our F&B Dept. ladies Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for your reports! Prayers said for everyone here on the Daily in need of them. Special mentions made for many of you. Also for my DB, great nephew Alex's twin boys, friends Scott, Susan and Sandy, the people in Israel and Ukraine still fighting for their countries, hostages held 6 months later, and our military members in the region. 🙏 Congrats to all celebrating happy special events and to our cruisers! 🎂🚢 I wish my twin Linda a very happy birthday. 🎉 She is 6 minutes younger than me. Also happy birthday to Kathy @Norseh2o! Happy anniversary to @erewhon. 🥂 And happy anniversary to Fred @Overhead Fred and Mitzi! 🥂Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV for your excellent list keeping and the mention of me and my twin. Prayers for you daily!! The port today is Darwin, Australia, an interesting and hot spot Down Under. We had that port before on July 3, 2021, Oct. 24, 2022 and Dec. 24, 2023. I've enjoyed Darwin twice before and have some photos to share again. Here are the links for you. Have a great day! I think we'll go out for lunch today. I prefer to be home for dinner. And of course time spent outside during the eclipse! Stay safe and keep well everyone!

Really? I had no idea, but that makes more sense. Thanks for the correction.

Jane, I'm sorry to hear about how you felt this morning upon awakening. You should definitely mention this at your medical appointment if not sooner. Hopefully this is a one time occurrence. Karen, the official due date is Aug. 15, but they will be born 3 weeks early on July 25. The couple is 20.5 weeks right now. Last set of twins came early, around 22 weeks and died shortly after birth. Both sets of twins have been identical boys, naturally conceived which to me is a miracle. Their sister is Elliott Rose. Your, and everyone's prayers, are very much appreciated!

Awesome to see 6 Dailyites on one balcony! They spent a good deal of time on them, too. Even though I've never met any of them in person I can name each one of them. After all, we've spent several years together on the Daily. Bon Voyage to you all!

I was here for Rotterdam, Caribbean Princess, and Ascent so looks like I missed all the waiting too. Turned it on just as Rotterdam was moving forward.

Great photos Bruce! Someone in the red car really likes the American flag, eh? Hoping you continue to send photos and cruise reports. Can't blame you for enjoying this fantastic cruise so much. There would be something wrong with a person who wasn't having a good time.😉 Thank you so much for these fascinating photos! I'm glad you enjoyed your wonderful cruise Carolyn. But not surprising you missed seeing the kids and grandkids. They will enjoy hearing first hand about the many places you saw. No need to apologize for not keeping up while on your cruise. There were so many other things to do. Hope you see Fred and Mitzi soon. Yes, I bet the tourist were wishing they could sail away with you! We'll be looking for you! I made a note of your upcoming birthday and the anniversary of you and your DD DH on the same date so was thinking that was why you're in a funk. I hope you can come here and let us know how you're feeling anytime. Tuesday is the birthday of my late friend Bob who passed in February and I was thinking I would talk to his widow Sandy to let her know we haven't forgotten him. Their anniversary would have been 4/26, too so another sad day for her. By the way, your DM walking all around IKEA with her walker is amazing! Let's hope you follow in those footsteps at 97.5.

Just shows I'm paying attention, but no, sorry, I'm not available right now for spell check services. 😉 I need to start making lists for my cruise next month. Lots going on between now and then. I agree the sugar free ice cream isn't as good but sometimes we can't be choosy. Still, you did great.