Cruising-along

Good morning all! Today is the only sunny day this week, so I'm going to take advantage of that and try to do some gardening. It's also a lull in the week because tomorrow our 4 bags will arrive from Luggage Forward (plus the 15 bottles of NZ wine!) So a lot of unpacking in my future. Good days, and I will celebrate Sibling Day. I have 2 older sisters, the eldest passed away in 2011 after a 10-year battle with Lymphoma. I miss her a lot. She and I had a lot in common, including a love of gardening and travel. Will pass on the meal, would try the drink out of curiosity, and pass on the red wine. Have not been to this port, but would love to go. Thank you Sandi @StLouisCruisers for the as always great photos. These are some of my favorite photos with my sisters. I'm the baby here. We were at Mt. Baker, our Dad's favorite place. When our sister was fighting cancer, every time she went into remission we did a "Sisters' Weekend". We chose a different location every time.

Right now my favorite is my most recent cruise, the 94-day Grand Australia/New Zealand. Other than Hawaii, all the ports were new for us (South Pacific, Australia, NZ and French Polynesia). A close 2nd place would be the 65-day European B2B in 2019. We have the 28-day Alaska booked for next year, and hope to do the 2026 World Cruise to hit some more ports in our bucket list. Oops! Almost forgot another one, the awesome 38-day Voyage of the Vikings. I could do that one again in a heartbeat!

Good morning all! We're slowly adjusting to being home again -- although I admit many times I have to stop to remember what season it is. So strange to spend 3 months with "summer-early fall" weather and to see pumpkins growing there when it's only early spring here and the tulips are just now blooming. We're having typical April weather here and of course couldn't see any of the eclipse yesterday. Even if we'd had clear skies it would have been only 20%. I do cherish several antiques that were passed down to me from my grandparents. Will pass on the meal, but the drink sounds good as does the (dry) Riesling. We were in Denali on a Triple Denali with best friends in 2019. Photos below. Happy Birthday Karen @luvteaching! I'm glad to hear that you're doing ok even though the day is bittersweet. Also sorry to hear about your DSIL's passing. I hate cancer! Happy Anniversary Gerry and Maurice @ger_77! We sent 5 postcards to the Grandsons while we were away. They have received 4 of the 5, I'm thinking the 5th may never arrive since I sent it on January 31 😞 The rest took about 3 weeks to arrive. Luggage Forward says our 4 bags will arrive day after tomorrow (I'm not looking forward to unpacking those!) And the wine we bought in New Zealand (Marlborough of course!) will arrive within 10 days. It has reached the US now. Denali: View from Hurricane Gulch Bridge Moose on the loose

Good morning all! Happy Birthday Sandi and twin! @StLouisCruisers Happy Birthday @Norseh2o! Happy Anniversary @Overhead Fred! Happy Anniversary @erewhon! I hope you all have a wonderful day of celebration. Yesterday we refilled the fridge and pantry, and I've already started a list of the things I didn't realize we need. At least we have food again. Also went through all the mail (thank goodness my neighbor threw out all the ads etc. etc.). Calls will be made today to restart the garbage pickup and a few other things. And best of all, we saw the kids and grandkids last night. DD made dinner for us and afterwards we all went out for ice cream in Seattle. Oh my it was SO good to get those hugs, and to see how happy the grandsons were to have us back again. 🙂 We were in Darwin on the GANZ just recently on Feb. 10. It was HOT HOT HOT and humid. We decided to take the HOHO, one of the few offered on that itinerary. And it had A/C. 🙂 Here are a few photos from that day. The Government House Fanny Bay Christchurch Anglican Cathedral I don't know if this is common there, but this cracked me up...

Good morning! We are home after a fabulous cruise -- couldn't have been better. I'm missing everyone already, and am so happy to have met Susan, Lorraine, Caron and so many others! We truly became a big family after 3 months. Our pantry and fridge are completely bare, so grocery shopping is first up today and then a visit to see the kids and grandkids. Can't wait to see them. 🙂 It will be nice to catch up on everything happening on the Daily too. I know I missed a lot and I apologize for that.

We got home last night early evening after a short flight from San Diego to SeaTac. It's kind of strange but good to be home. I miss everyone already though! First thing on the agenda is to get groceries. Our pantry and fridge have never been so bare! Then to visit the kids and grandkids!!

We are sitting on the bus for our transfer to the airport. This has been our best cruise yet (and that’s saying a lot)! Thank you Vanessa @JazzyV, Lenda @Quartzsite Cruiser, Charlene @cunnorl and Sandi @StLouisCruisers for the welcome home. We should be home by early evening. 🙂

After already doing all the good ideas that have been mentioned, including renting a car, we did the ghost tour on our last visit and enjoyed it! There’s a bit of walking so good weather would be a plus if you decide on it.

Happy Easter and greetings from the lovely Volendam! We had Easter brunch with Caron @Cruisercl and Lorraine @cruising sister this morning. Sure going to miss them!

I did it in 2019 with no problem. To be sure I would ask onboard, hopefully they haven’t changed the rules.

Greetings from the Volendam! Today we took a great tour out of Papeete to waterfalls, gorgeous gardens, an underwater cave and more. Good day! Two more ports in French Polynesia and then we will begin our trek to San Diego.

Rich I agree about the show last night. I thought his first show was much better, he probably did more singing than comedy. Unfortunately it seemed like the first half of the show last night fell flat. I’m looking forward to the local cultural show tonight. Today we had a short tour this morning and then walked to the market where I got flowers for the cabin.

Hi Nancy, I don’t know what Rich did in Moorea, but some did the glass bottom boat, some snorkeling. We took tours around the island both days and saw a Polynesian show.

We cruise both HAL and Celebrity, HAL being our preferred line because of their itineraries and we get free laundry. 😁 I was very surprised at your remarks about the service on Celebrity because it has been excellent in our experience (most recent 9 months ago on Solstice. Celebrity’s entertainment overall beats HAL without question. I find the food to be on a par.

We enjoyed last night’s show too. Overall we’ve enjoyed all of them, with only a few that we didn’t care for. I guess that’s to be expected on a 94-day cruise. Also will add to Lorraine’s opinion about the talks — very good! And Daniel our Cruise Director makes everything fun.

On the Volendam now, we have bar soap and dispensers. I do bring my own bath soap too.

I’ve turned mine off because I was getting mystery notifications all day. I figured out they were just to let me know about my set dining time. But I don’t need to be reminded about that every day beginning in the early morning 🙄 I do check for messages though.

Greetings from the Volendam! Last night’s theme night was Hollywood night and a take-off on Oscars night. But it was the crew who got awards. Great idea! Housekeeping getting an award.

We didn’t care for the show last night either. We rarely leave early from a show (maybe only twice ever) and this was one of those times.

Not Rich, but here’s a video DH took. IMG_4329.mov

We have now had to get broken glass cleaned up twice in our cabin. A friend, her chair and dishes all went flying in the Lido earlier. Thankfully she’s ok.

Ok, I didn’t hear his announcement yesterday, just this morning 15-24-foot. What a ride!

Rich are you sure you meant to say 5-foot swells? 😀 The broken glass in our cabin says otherwise. 😀😉

Rich we loved Chris Powley’s show last night, excellent! As you well know I’m very critical of any Neil Diamond impersonations, but his was the best I’ve ever heard anywhere. His other “legend” impersonations were excellent too. We also thought he was much funnier than our comedian this week. 😉

Service on the Volendam is great. I wonder if the Oosterdam had a recent turn-over of crew and staff.