SusieKIslandGirl

2 hours ago, highscar said:

As a novice wine maker, DH first batch was in a new plastic garbage bucket with a garbage bag tied as a lid, cooking away. On the cedar chest in the bedroom to keep it away from the pets.  In the night the yeast did its thing and blew the bag of it and left us with purple stalagmites on the ceiling. Forgive the spelling. 

You reminded me of our experience with making beer. DH was in the Air Force and we were in Fort Walton Beach, Florida for a year. Beer was made and put in a tall Rubbermaid trash container. We stored in the back of the closet. Middle of the night-Kaboom! What a mess😮.

40 minutes ago, gigianne said:

Have a wonderful cruise everyone, so sorry we weren't able to join you for such a great itinerary.

Thanks everyone but sad that Georgina and Jacqui won’t be with us.

What a beautiful day to view the glaciers. Thanks for the photos!

4 hours ago, cruising sister said:

Good evening from Barcelona,

I had a full day of walking ending with a tour in the Gothic region with 4 members of  our roll call. It was nice to meet them and  I hope to see them on the ship. I had my requisite hot chocolate and churros today so I am set.  I board tomorrow and I am excited to see the ship.

 

Prayers and well wishes for all.

See you in a little over a week when we board in Amsterdam. You can be our ship's guide. 😊 Looking forward to meeting. (How's your toe dealing with all the walking?)

@cunnorl When looking at air fryers, I would like to suggest you check out the style that has French doors, like the refrigerators, instead of a door that opens down from the top. (If you don't go with the basket style). When I pull the wire shelf out to turn the food, crumbs fall on the hot glass door and is then hard to clean. 

Add me to the cancelled cruise club 😢 but at least it's not because of a medical issue. Just received the quote on a new roof, gutters and a paint job-$25,300. It was our Sept. Alaska cruise so will be easily replaced in a year or so.  Happy May everyone-and my sister turns 92 tomorrow.

We have a non-stop to Seattle. We are also staying at the Hilton at the airport but just on the 31st. Have a more central hotel after we get off the ship on the 28th.

Just curious as to whether anyone on board used a life jacket as their orange item?😁

@IamtheseaOn the airport site I tried to check our date but it isn't listed yet-June 1. I did pick a couple of different Thursdays and it said we were welcome at 6 am. Our flight is on Delta at 10 am.

@StLouisCruisers Thanks-she's 21 so should heal quickly. She's not cruising so will be doing a lot of walking and not much resting!

I heard on the radio that last week there was a reward offered for a Roomba that had escaped out the front door of the house. It was so funny listening to the report.

@cruising sisterI had a call from DGD yesterday (she lives with us) that a horse stepped on her toe and it was broken. She leaves in a week for a 10-day hiking tour in Scotland. She went to the clinic today and had the blood drained from under the nail and it's well-taped for the moment. Luckily, she still had some of the stronger ibuprofen from last month's muscle tear to help with this pain. Her luck isn't so great at the moment. I truly felt for you after watching her limp around.

Can’t wait to read about the next adventure. Thanks and smooth sailing!

@grapau27 I had a survey after my hip replacement and they asked for suggestions. I added that while all the leg exercises before surgery were great, they needed to add arm strengthening exercises. It was amazing how much you needed to use your arms since you weren't supposed to bend or put weight on the leg.

@cat shepard We have had nothing but trouble with our Samsung refrigerator, especially the ice maker. The entire refrigerator was replaced while under warranty but the new one still freezes up and quits working.

Thanks @Overhead Fred for the continuing reports on the journey. Just wish the sauce for the bread pudding had some rum in it!

Really late today after spending 1/2 the day in Seattle having an MRI of my knee.  Time went fast listening to Neil Diamond! The report was in my chart before I got home. Now to wait for the explanation of what it says.
I’m with cruising sister-sad that Jacqui won’t be with us in less than a month on the Flam railway. We all appreciate the work she did organizing tours and our spreadsheet.

4 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

 

 

I paid through our checking account. 2 payments at the same moment of $4730 each on April 8th.

 

Finally got a message from IRS. Our check for overage should be delivered by mail in the next 6 weeks. Ugh!!!

 

 

I mailed my 2021 refund check plus 3 other checks to my bank but it never arrived. I finally reached a live person at the IRS who checked and found the check hadn’t been cashed so said another check would be sent in 8 weeks. It showed up in about 2 weeks😊. (It was supposed to have been direct deposited but wasn’t.)

Finally back from a week visiting grandsons in Colorado-I’m ready to do nothing for awhile except catching up here. They’re busy boys! Middle of nowhere temps were 75 most of the week. It was wonderful, now back to the gray and drizzle. Have a great week everyone.

10 hours ago, Hlitner said:

A few updates about our cruise.  I have never been a big fan of how HAL makes its "fou-fou" drinks by using "Sunsational" mixes that come out of 32 oz cartons.  So, for example, a strawberry daquiri made without strawberries leaves something to be desired as does a banana based drink that has no banana.  On some other mass market lines they will actually use real fruit (either fresh or frozen) which makes a big difference in the final product.  

Hank

I so agree. I was introduced to the “Dirty Banana” on a Princess cruise last fall. Ordered it on the Noordam last month and didn’t even finish it! I felt guilty raving about it to my trivia team and then having it turn out so bad.

We’re on the Nieuw Statendam from Athens in November, 2024. We were going to do the 28-day to Ft. Lauderdale but decided to end the cruise in Rome (14 days).

I don't think so, but why wasn't it just paid for by our OBC?

59 minutes ago, JennysUncle said:

  Do your cards have any marking that the waiter should be noting ?  That could be why it's erratic - a training issue.

On the Noordam in February, our cards had HIA in small print in the upper right-hand corner. We were charged for our drinks on just the 1st day and had them reversed. The rest of the cruise we had no problems, although a 6 cent charge appeared on our statement even though we still had a large nonrefundable balance. We did spend almost all of that before the end of the cruise but when I checked our credit card statement at home, there was a 6 cent charge from Holland America. 🤔

For our May cruise to Norway, we were able to get a Vista suite instead of our balcony at no extra charge. We were also able to keep all our perks and OBC.  This was about 3 weeks ago. I did ask for an upsell rather than an upgrade. Gook luck!

Hopefully I will remember to let you know in October. We’re on the 14-day R/T Vancouver that hits the more varied ports Sept. 17-Oct. 1.

@Cruising-along, you brought back my memory of the 1st time in Honolulu. It was also DH's R&R, in February, 1974 with our 18-month old son. At that point, Viet Nam had been closing down and most places we went kept saying there is no more R&R, but yes, we were there, the Air Force let him go so it had to be official. We've been lucky to return several times since to most of the islands.

1 hour ago, OlsSalt said:

They used to sell beverages from a small table in the departure deck foyer, on the way out of the ship before you gone in the gangway exit line.

Do I also remember bar personnel wandering around the waiting excursions groups  the show room lounge, also selling cans of soda and water before departing the ship?

Last month on Noordam, we had water in glass bottles at the gangway (we were in New Zealand) and there was also a table down by the World Stage while waiting for your excursion.