StLouisCruisers

Well, I've only gotten one page completed this morning but it was a big one. It included the day Dixie @summer slope and I had our photo taken together in Ocean Bar while we and our DHs enjoyed a refreshing beverage before our dinner time. George and Dixie eat dinner earlier than we do so we didn't share a meal, but enjoyed all our get togethers over the 4 weeks of our cruise. I'm working on picking out photos for the next page and will get back to it when I'm finished here and have had lunch. Thank you Lenda, and I also appreciate your good wishes for Ren and the Jags. As long as he isn't injured I should be glad but I also hope they win some games, too! DS says the game today is at 5 pm and will live stream it. Which really messes up our dinner prep and dining, but we will manage. Great photos of Limassol, Cyprus and Nicosia! Thank you very much, Eva! Thank you Roy. I should ask which airport they flew to. It may be that DC airports were closer. Hope you all enjoy the barbecue tomorrow. The Ukrainian couple are lucky to have met you two, for you've been such a help to them and probably their earliest friendship there. The only problem I'm having (no problem with blue bubbles) is every time I click my cursor after quoting someone, the size 18 font disappears and goes back to default. Thanks for your kind words to me, and good wishes for Ren. Much appreciated. I bet there are a LOT of ports on that cruise! Hopefully they get a sea day once in a while or everyone will be worn out! Wow, it looks so far away! By the way, nice hotel right on the beach! Wonderful news about the move, Karen! Thank you for your thoughts for Ren and his team!

Oh my, I'm honored you went to the trouble to write me a limerick! You did a great job! Thank you so, so much! Thanks to you Jacqui for your sweet words. I love the memes as usual and hope you have an easier day with Ivan's training. He is worth it! But it would nice to get some of your other work done, too, wouldn't it? Hope you and Ivan have a great day together. I hope the estate business starts moving faster for you. Great news about the new cleaning lady starting tomorrow. That will take a little of the burden off you. Have a nice day out and a delicious lunch. Thank you Ann for your comments. I appreciate them, as well as your upbeat attitude. I enjoy your memes too! At first I didn't see the kitty in the potty. Silly thing! Thank you so much Terry! I hope you and your family have a wonderful barbecue this evening. Sounds delicious! Denise, I really hope you start feeling better very quickly. Take it easy! Thanks for your good wishes for Ren! Great recipes today. They look good even without any meats on board! Thank you for your nice comments, too. I'm finding I have to keep going back to upsize the font. What a pain! I wish they had a way to customize our posts that would "stick" so we didn't have to think about it anymore. Oh well, on to my Amazon cruise photos! I finished Devil's Island, French Guiana yesterday. I want to at least get 4 pages finished per day.

Ren and his parents are in Boyds, Maryland at the Maryland SoccerPlex where the MLS Next Flex Finals are being held starting today at 9:00 am. I don't have the schedule yet for the U16 teams (meaning born in 2007 and 16 or younger) from DS. If he can find a link to a live video of the Jaguar's game he sends that to us in time to watch. Is that town far from you?

What great photos! We love it. Please continue to post of your exciting Yellowstone trip. Hope all is well with you and the family.

Rich's ship has come into Port Everglades. As I just posted on the Daily here they are gliding silently into the channel. A lovely end to a lovely cruise. Welcome home and thank you for all your posts about this exciting adventure.

Good Friday morning friends and welcome back to Rich! His Zuiderdam is coming into Port Everglades as I begin this post. By the time I finish they will probably be tied up. The weather here is 64F with a high of 70 and mostly cloudy skies. Who knows if it will rain or not. The weather predictor just guesses every day and so far has been wrong lately. Thank you Rich @richwmn for your work preparing the Daily and Fleet Report for us while you've been away. We appreciate you! Here is a screenshot of your arrival at 4:59 am. Today we have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Day, International Nurses Day and National Limerick Day. I'm feeling fatigued this morning and should take a nap later but my photo book is calling me! A big hurrah to nurses each and every day! And how about some limericks from some of you? A true quote from Lady Gaga. Dixie @dfish will have some wonderful recipes for vegan pizza today. Our drink is the Passion Fruit Passport and the wine a Pinot Noir. Thank you Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for helping us out with those. The Day in History goes way back and I'm sure is of interest to historians. Prayers for all our people on the Care list. 🙏 We're happy so many are feeling a bit better and hope that continues. Cheers to those on the Celebration list! Bon Voyage to some and to the rest of the cruisers we hope for smooth seas and happy days.🚢🥂 A big thanks to Eva @superoma for her assistance with this while Vanessa is away. The port today is Limassol, Cyprus, Greece. I have not been to Limassol before so no photos from me. We had that port on May 25, 2021 and Nov. 27, 2022. The links to those dates are below for all your photos. Good luck! Can't wait to see them! Hoping for a good soccer day for Ren and the Jaguars. Good weather there in Maryland wouldn't hurt either. Hope you all have a safe and excellent day ahead of you!

Today is International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Day, International Nurses Day, and National Limerick Day Welcome Home Rich! Some women choose to follow men, and some women choose to follow their dreams. If you're wondering which way to go, remember that your career will never wake up and tell you that it doesn't love you anymore.--Lady GagaMeal Suggestion for today - Vegan PizzaDrink of the Day - Passion Fruit PassportWine of the Day - Mount Edward Pinot Noir Central Otago 2020Destination of the Day - Limassol, Cyprus GreeceToday in History:1191 Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre in CyprusShip Locations Eurodam Victoria, BC Canada 20:00 - 23:59 Koningsdam At Sea Destination Vancouver, BC Canada eta 5-13 Nieuw Amsterdam At Sea Destination Valdez, Alaska eta 5-13 Nieuw Statendam Le Havre, France 09:00 - 23:00 Noordam Ketchikan, Alaska 10:00 - 18:00 Oosterdam Malaga, Spain 08:00 - 18:00 Rotterdam Tallinn, Estonia 09:00 - 20:00 Volendam Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm, Alaska 09:00 - 09:30 Westerdam Ketchikan, Alaska 07:00 - 13:00 Zaandam Quebec City, Quebec 09:00 - 17:00 Zuiderdam Fort Lauderdale, Florida 07:00 - 17:00 Sandi for Rich

Well, guess what? I got 5 pages finished today on my Amazon photo book. It's slowww work. Back at it tomorrow. Ann, I'm leaning your direction with developing world countries vs. Europe. I have just about decided to forget the rest of Africa, too. I think I've seen enough of it. I was surprised today when I looked at the video of the World Cruise crew show that Pete @The-Inside-Cabin posted. The cruise director was pointing out the ports of call on the screen and the audience failed to applaud most of the African ports (except Cape Town). Apparently they weren't much fun!😳 I'm happy to hear Pat is doing well now. I hope that continues and he's home shortly. Happy to hear the news is good on TT's surgery. More good news on the approval by the insurance company for your Botox treatment. I think you made the right decision about the Amazon. I can't picture you two enjoying the ports there. Great to hear the pictures and descriptions helped you out. Your daughter's employer is definitely not the one I was referring to. That would have been too big of a coincidence and would have blown my mind! Lol I have to agree if we're adjusting font size each post we will end up with a mix of them all! Sorry to hear your first week was miserable weather, but thankfully the second week was nice. You deserved it. Get some rest!

Tina, thanks for the input on the default font. You're welcome about the early start but that just worked out better for my schedule in the mornings. Whatever works for Rich is gonna be fine with all of us. I'll be continuing posting for him through Monday. As for feedback on the Amazon ports, most of the time they weren't what I thought they would be. The Amazon itself reminds me of a larger, wider muddy Mississippi. I should know because I grew up on that river! I can't believe I'm saying this but we used to water ski in that muddy river. Seems yucky now. 😂 For us the Amazon River is one and done. I would rate it as one of my least favorite destinations. But I am glad I did it just for the experience. And the Amazon cruise is the book I'm working on right now. I've gotten one page done so far this morning so back I go. When I see a notification of a post here I can't resist coming here. Three lashes with a wet noodle for me!

Does your DD work in Austin? One of DS's companies is there. Name begins with an A. However I don't think any designing goes on there. They already have their designs. Not sure if production is there or someplace overseas like Taiwan. I should ask some questions when I see them later this month for DGS's graduation. Never really thought about it. Thanks for the good wishes for the family and tournament. And thanks for the photos today. Yes, maybe she will see the notification of your post and come give us the answer. Some folks don't care for the Daily I guess and don't read it every day, but if there's a notification she might come take a look. That's what I did this morning. I typed it in default then at the end thought about trying an experiment and changed the size as you mentioned in your post. You and I believe Graham like the default type. I mean, I find it fine to read the smaller size but wondered if people were struggling and too polite to mention it. This is default size type. This is 18 font size. I'd better get back to my photo book. Not much progress going on with me reading CC instead so back to work!

Oh, thanks Ann, I must have misread and thought you meant I was the bright one. Lord knows I'm not! lol The font is size 18, and I checked out my profile, etc. and see nowhere to change the type of font, size of font, or even color used. Maybe Gerry @ger_77 can tell us about size since her posts use larger font size.

I can't believe tomorrow is the end of the World Cruise! We will miss having first hand accounts from you and the other bloggers onboard.

Thanks for the information about the 8 am debarkation time. Now if anyone has information on how long it took the bus to fill up and leave, and when the bus arrived at the airport it would help a lot of us. Thanks in advance!

Ann I can't take credit for This Day in History. That was all Rich @richwmn who added it to the Daily several weeks/month ago. He's always looking to improve the product!! Thanks for all of your input on the font size so far and it seems lots like it larger. I am on a mission to find out how to establish new defaults on my CC posting. Otherwise I have to remember to upsize it every time I post. (which I just did LOL)

Oh poor Annie and Chuck and their BFF! I hope they aren't sick as dogs out there in those seas. I would be taking my generic Bonine (meclizine). Very rarely do I even think to take it but sometimes the Captain will let people know of rough weather ahead of time so we can all be prepared. I hope Annie @marshhawk can contact us when she gets to an Alaskan port. I wish the weather was better for her. Will you and Pauline adopt me, please?😋 Lovely views!!

Good morning friends! It is 66F here with a high of 82 today, cloudy skies followed by clearing later on. Thanks to Rich @richwmn for preparing the Daily and Fleet Report for me to pass on to you. I have to make minor edits due to last minute changes in itinerary (like Nieuw Statendam this week), but the huge majority is known in advance. It's been an honor to help keep the Daily going, but I know we will all be glad to have Rich home again. Just hope he is ready to get off the ship and doesn't plan on being a stowaway to continue on! Our days of celebration today are Eat What You Want Day, National Technology Day, and Make a Book Day. I tend to eat what I want and that has worked pretty well for me. Just keep a balance and eat small portions is a good idea. Technology has been swift over the past 100 years. Imagine all the changes in this world in that time period. I feel my DS has made a difference in the technology field with the research he and his graduate students have done in computer chips. It prompted him to co-found two chip companies because of advancements they came up with. As for Make a Book Day - well if my internet (technology) continues to function maybe I can work on the book I'm making of my Amazon cruise. Which ties into our port of the day, Santarem Brazil. More on that later! The quote is a good one today. I would like to try the recipe today as a good tomato soup is comforting. Our drink is called Kentucky Bubbly. Hmmm. Should be interesting. The wine has an odd name but sounds like a New Zealand one to me. And finally the day in history is relatively recent with the introduction of Cats on Broadway. A very enjoyable musical for those who have seen it. I have not. Let me say thanks to Debbie @dfish, Dixie @summer slope and Ann @cat shepard for their reporting today from the Food and Beverage Department. Great job ladies! Then we also want to thank Eva @superoma for filling in for Vanessa @JazzyV with our Care and Celebration reports. Prayers for all on the Care list that their pains are lessening and they are healing quickly from their surgeries. 🙏 Let the celebrating begin for those with happy events and cruises to enjoy. Have a great time!🥂 Now back to Santarem, Brazil. We have had that port twice, on Aug. 22, 2021 and Dec. 19, 2022. Dixie @summer slope and I had just returned from our Amazon Adventure on Dec. 17. (And I haven't even gotten that far in the photo book yet!) I will post the links to those dates below for your convenience in posting photos. I'll add mine from the Dec. 19 date. I found the photos we took on November 28 in Santarem Brazil. Since we had no intention of heading out into the wilderness we stayed in town. The population of this city was over 300,000! We got on a Volendam tender to go to shore. But there were large local boats taking on passengers from a large barge they tied up to a different tender platform. The boats were tall and must have been difficult for people to board without the barge. I assumed these boats were there for shore excursion people. We would see how this would cause problems later disembarking the people at the pier. The bus driver waiting for us once on shore. No AC by the way. Typical view from bus on the way to the Fishermen's Square drop off point. This was where everyone was dropped off and picked up again. We walked across the street where there was supposedly a tourist information center, but it really was a shopping spot, and a place where locals hawked their tour/taxi service. On that side of the street was a wide, sunny (HOT) esplanade along the water. We took that route and saw lots of boats pulled up to shore. A street scene across the street from the esplanade. And the "ugly wiring" look. Our target was the pretty turquoise cathedral we had spotted on the way downtown. Across from the church was a place where vendors set up tents. These soccer jerseys were probably big sellers. From there we walked back to Fishermen's Square using this pedestrian shopping street. Once at the Square we took the very warm bus back to the pier. We waited in a few square feet of shade for the tender, but first one of those large boats arrived with Volendam passengers onboard. However they couldn't figure out how to get them off due to height differences in the pier and boat decks. They lowered this "gangway" from the bow but I wasn't sure how this would work with some of the unsteady walkers on the boat. I never did find out how it was done because our ship's tender arrived to ferry us back. That was our day in Santarem. Just another view from the Amazon. This afternoon DS, Ren and DDIL will be flying to Maryland for a huge soccer tournament being held in Boyds, Maryland this weekend. The Jaguars will be playing Friday, Saturday and Monday. I wish them the best of luck and hope the boys are all in good shape. I've been told that Ren and Colton were targets last weekend in the game against the Wolves and the refs ignored 2 out of 3 incidents which is distressing. Should have had some yellow flags given out! It's hard to play well when you are trying to avoid being injured by improper play. I doubt if this weekend is different but I hope the refs will be fair and watchful. That's my rant for the day! Hope you all have a safe, pleasant and happy Thursday! P.S. I read a thread where people complained they couldn't read the small print so thought I would experiment with a larger font today. What do you think? The text in my photo copy and paste is the default font size. Do you find the default size font too small to read? With my glasses on I don't have a problem, but then I'm unable to read anything without glasses. Just wanted your thoughts on the matter.

Today is Eat What You Want Day, National Technology Day and Make a Book Day A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.--George R.R. Martin, A Dance with DragonsMeal Suggestion for today - Creamy Parm Tomato SoupDrink of the Day - Kentucky BubblyWine of the Day - Man O' War Waiheke Island Ironclad 2019Destination of the Day - Santarem, Brazil AmazonToday in History:1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Cats" (based on poetry by T. S. Eliot) directed by Trevor Nunn first premieres in the West End, LondonShip Locations Eurodam Ketchikan, Alaska 07:00 - 13:00 Koningsdam Ketchikan, Alaska 11:00 - 19:00 Nieuw Amsterdam Anchorage, Alaska 11:00 - 20:00 Nieuw Statendam At Sea Destination LeHavre, France eta 5-12 Noordam Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm, Alaska 08:00 - 16:00 Oosterdam At Sea Destination Malaga, Spain eta 5-12 Rotterdam Riga, Latvia 07:00 - 15:00 Volendam At Sea Destination Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm, Alaska eta 5-12 Westerdam Sitka, Alaska 08:00 - 16:00 Zaandam At Sea Destination Quebec City, Quebec eta 5-12 Zuiderdam At Sea Destination Port Everglades eta 5-12 Sandi for Rich

Another great bunch of memes today. Hope you and Sue are getting enough rest with such busy days. Thanks so much for your photos of Cordoba. Gorgeous! Nice photos of Malaga, Rich. A great stop on your World Cruise. Tina, nice photos of your Malaga visit with an emphasis on food and markets. Terry, great news Tana was able to walk with the walker today. Thank her for her service to the schools and students as the school nurse. Love your memes, Jacqui! Nice to hear you and Ivan are bonding so well. Thank you Graham! Beautiful photos of your hotel in the Malaga area. No wonder it's your favorite. The excitement is building! Wish your sister Karen a happy birthday from another Dailyite! I'm glad you're not missing much with your knees acting up, having been there before. Hoping and praying for relief for you! Thank you so much for your work with the lists while Vanessa is away, and Roy is on sick leave. We appreciate you! Thanks for your photos of your horseback riding tour in the Malaga area. I hope you get up to the cabin next week safely and before those mosquitos hatch. I've seen those monsters in person! Beautiful pictures, Graham! Sarah must really enjoy traveling with you. Debbie, yep that was a lot of work making those tortellini. But all the recipes look so good. I would try any of them. Thanks for your report today! Thanks to you too for your work as a school nurse. Very important work. Your last day is the same as DD's last day of school. She leaves on vacation (Tennessee mountains) the following day! I love seeing photos of that little ship! Thanks for your pictures of Malaga, they're wonderful. Hope your mammo results come back negative. That's when we breathe a sigh of relief. Very sad news about that harbor pilot. They literally take their life in their hands every time they board or disembark a ship. Congrats on that balcony! Your dinner looks delicious! Paul, good news Davinci and Mona Lisa have a new home with you. Hope everything works out well for all of you. Just two more weeks. View on our early morning walk today (6:25 am). I wasn't expecting the fog but it was pretty humid out. The 10th fairway is off in the distance and our home is to the left of the tee. Surely you see it! haha 😂 The day turned out hot and humid.🥵

Well, folks I've been trying to get back here all day, and the photo book isn't to blame. We decided to go out for lunch and make a Sam's Club run. Then when we got home the internet dropped again. No computer or TV. It was so frustrating because I couldn't work on the book or read here both of which I wanted to do. So I picked up my Kindle and finished a book I was reading. Then I started a new book and got to chapter 4! It was out for 2 1/2 hours, so I have to go back and read then perhaps I can comment. No pages at all completed today on the photo book. Yesterday I got four finished and the day before three pages. It's slow work. Hope to "talk" to you all later.

Thanks Jake. Should have realized that was a possibility. Lol! By the way, I just checked and the HAL transfer to the airport is $29pp.

Delta just changed my flight out of Boston from 11 am to 10 am and I knew that wouldn't work. So I went on their website and changed us to 12 noon. Jake @Crazy For Cats what car service did you use to get to the airport? We don't have uber service where I live so I don't even have the app. I need help with either the car service or someplace near the terminal where we can find taxis. Our last port before arriving for Boston disembarkation so I hope that helps with clearing us back into the US. We are also getting off on a Wednesday so probably lots of traffic.

But it's sunny and not raining! Hope everyone brought their layers! At least it should get to about 53 later. I see rain possible the next three days. I think Roy is right about his prediction on docking port side to the pier.

weather looks pretty good there today, doesn't it? Lucky day for cruisers.

Oh no, that sounds so uncomfortable! I hope things improve soon for you. If I didn't wear my glasses I couldn't read here. Prayers for you! Also prayers for Vanessa @JazzyV's knees and Ann @Vict0riann's headache as well. Excellent news to hear! So happy for you.

Good morning friends! The weather today is 64F and we will experience a high of 84 with mixed clouds and sun. I really must have been tired because I didn't wake up early today as I usually do. I heard my back up, an alarm on my phone in the kitchen so as not to wake up DH. I dashed to turn it off and get busy. And here we are. Thank you Rich @richwmn for the Daily and Fleet Report this morning. Our days to commemorate today are National Clean Up Your Room Day, National Small Business Day, and National School Nurse Day. I like all of them! Some of us will clean up today and others will reject that. I promise to clean something! A great idea to support our small businesses. And to the school nurses, a salute! The quote is brief today. What do you have to renunciate? Perhaps someone knows the answer to that. Our meal suggestion today is Spinach Tortellini. I would eat that, but DH prefers 5 cheese tortellini and since he's now our chef, what he likes we usually eat. I'm sure Debbie @dfish has some recipes that will show us how difficult it is to make tortellini. 😆 I honor anyone who goes to that much work! The drink is called Autumn Tini and it sounds pretty but how does it taste? 🍹 Thanks Dixie @summer slope for giving us directions on making it. And the Chardonnay is I'm sure a lovely one but I don't like chardonnay too often. I hope it isn't as expensive as yesterday's French champagne! 🥂 Thank you Ann @cat shepard for the description today. Our day in history sounds exciting and memorable. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like that much time spent underwater! Thanks Rich for letting us know about that bit of history though. Prayers will be said shortly for all on our Care list. Though it is long we are seeing some improvements in some of you. I hope the prayers are helping! 🙏 And to those on the Celebration list, congrats to you! Enjoy your cruises/vacations, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations or whatever you can find to bring you happiness. 🥂 The port today is Malaga, Spain. What a lovely place to visit! We have had that port twice now already on July 19, 2021 and Oct. 13, 2022. My photos will be copied and pasted and yours can be too if you go to one of these links and find them. Good luck! Here are the links and my photos! 've been to fabulous Malaga three times and have a "few" photos of that scenic locality. Our visits to Malaga took place in 2017 on Westerdam and in 2018 and 2019 on our beloved Prinsendam. The first time I took a tour of the fortress with views of the city and the bullring. You can see the bullring and the Westerdam in this photo from 2017. The next two visits were self-led walking tours and there is plenty to see, believe me! One of the most vivid hued buildings is the Episcopal Palace. This spot is called the Plaza del Obispo. If you look to your right when standing in that same spot you see this, the Malaga Cathedral's side entrance. Inside the Malaga Cathedral. They mark everything quite well due to the amount of tourists they get here. Since the 2017 visit was in August it was pretty hot, so we were relieved to see they covered the pedestrian street with sheer cloth-like overhangs. A truly enjoyable city to visit. This morning we plan on walking together outdoors so will want to wait a little while, maybe an hour from now, so the sun will be closer to rising. Weather is good and it's fun for a change instead of consecutive treadmill workouts, hers and his. Hope we see some deer or other interesting wildlife out there. Meanwhile, wishing you a wonderful day this Wednesday! Be safe and have fun! But don't forget to clean your room!