Vict0riann

Thank you! I hadn't noticed this thread - lots of people sailing on the 29th, hopefully.... if the weather cooperates.

Good morning, all! Thanks for the Daily news and weather reports! Hope all those ailing, including the furry ones, get better quickly. Terry, i hope you are not too uncomfortable as you heal. Well, here I am more or less in the situation Jacqui was a week ago - will we go or won't we? It is freezing cold, -7 celsius this morning, the hummingbird feeders keep freezing, Pat was changing them every half hour or so yesterday. Later in the day, DD struggled through the snowdrifts down to Canadian Tire and bought a package of hand warmers which we are hoping will help keep the feeders from freezing today. We did get to the mall, although the roads are really bad and I got my haircut, but DD's doctor appointment was cancelled, also my stamp club meeting, and the church has been closed all week. But it's going to get worse! We are due for a little warming and more snow tonight, then more warming and freezing rain and more snow. Pat has to keep checking the slow leak on the tire, so who knows if we will get to the airport on Tuesday - then if we do, we fly through Vancouver, where everything is a mess with many canceled flights and people trying to re-book.... DD called Whole Foods to see if we could change the timing of her pick-up of our (vegan) Christmas dinner but it was too late, so we will have to try to get there on Friday, failing that they'll just have to hold onto it until Saturday. I am very stressed by all this. I imagine I will definitely leave something behind when I pack! That's my rant for the day. Now we are going to try to deliver gifts today, rather than wait until the last minute.

I'm interested in the boarding procedures, too. Did you just walk past the lineup?

Good morning, Dailyites, nice to see all the posts when I get here after breakfast. Condolences to Pauline and her friend on the loss of her friend's daughter. How terrible. We have Australian friends who lost their only son from a fall down stairs in Bangkok (years ago, but he was a good friend of our DD's, she still talks about it). Terry, that is amazing that you managed the stairs on the same day you had a hip replacement. The wonders of modern medical science. Prayers you recover quickly, and pain free. Well, everything has hit the fan here! Masses of snow (about a foot) and Victoria is never prepared for it, it will take days to clear. Yesterday, Pat announced we had a slow leak in one tire, and he spent the afternoon hunting for a place to have a look at it. He can get an appointment for December 31st (when we will be in Cabo)! In the meantime, he is pumping it by hand. I'm afraid that with the snow, I won't get to my haircut tomorrow, and then will have to just wait until I am on board. I am beginning to look quite scruffy, will they let me on? I had it all planned so perfectly! And DD has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, I don't know how that will work out. Yesterday was so cold, Pat spent the afternoon bringing in and rotating the hummingbird feeders, melting the ice and then putting them back outside. He was worn out by the end of the day, but I'm afraid it's going to be the same today. The birds are frantic for their warm "cuppa". We have a lot of glass, skylights, etc., and it was really cold inside yesterday, I had the electric fireplaces on as well as the heat pumps going full blast and a heating pad on my knees as I sat. Hopefully the snow will insulate the skylights at least, today. I feel for those Floridian iguanas!

We will have Discovery Princess with us on January 3 in Mazatlan - I know because we have neighbours who will be on board and we’re meeting them for lunch….

We had laundry notes on NS, Koningsdam and NA this year. I don’t think we ever had them in previous years. Maybe they are in lieu of pillow chocolates…

Good morning all! It is snowing here and it is sticking, so I won't be going out - Pat is going for a haircut. I will do some sewing and ironing, and maybe make some meringues for an Eton Mess. In this weather, the hummingbirds just sit on the feeders, they are out of the weather. Poor guys! We have some leftover pot roast for dinner tonight, so that's easy. Hope all is going well with @smitty34877's surgery. Graham, looks like your latest surgery is healing well! We visited Santarem in 2019 on our Amazon cruise. We took a walking tour around Santarem and then by bus out to a rubber plantation, and to see the manioc "factory" where it is used to make tapioca. I remember in boarding school we used to call tapioca "glue pudding". Most of my pictures are like the ones before, but I'll add a few. The main square and church In there fish market, you could choose your fish and then it would be cooked for you. A manioc plant The machinery used to press out the manioc and then it was toasted We tasted the local fruit, this was the sweetest, most delicious sugar banana I have ever eaten! This is how the Brazil nut fruit appears

Kathi, so sorry you are having so much pain, and I do hope you can find some help while you are in Fort Lauderdale,. But what an interesting cruise, and I know you are anticipating more! Hope your arrival in FLL goes smoothly. We had a Christmas email from a lovely lady who said she is now on the Zaandam - Pika - I'm not sure where she will be on Zaandam, she was Tamarind Manager on Eurodam last year, she might be in the dining room now. If you do see her, please give her a Christmas hug from Pat and Ann! (And another hug from us to you!)

You can usually find them all listed on the TV - we're interested to know who the Cellar Master is! 😁

My English cousin was flying out today to Lima. I hope we hear tomorrow that her flight was cancelled. Yikes!

Excellent! We got those, too , on the K - it seems that some don’t understand about stars and/or Club Orange. We used the card if that happened.

Good morning, all. Do you realize that a week from today will be Christmas Eve? I'm heading out today to buy maple syrup, as ordered by DD, who is going to make some sort of vegan dessert for Christmas with it. She has ordered a vegan dinner for two (DS and his partner) from Whole Foods, plus extra turkey gravy for us. I have a turkey breast in the freezer so will cook that. She has also ordered some vegan vegetable dishes and I will just have to add potatoes. We'll give vegan leftovers to DS to take home and we'll eat turkey on the 26th and leave for the airport early on the 27th to join Jacqui on the Koningsdam. @smitty34877, good luck with your surgery, do remember to take it easy after, don't go racing around doing things! Miss Camilla looks so sweet!

Talking about boarding.... Jacqui, please let us know how the boarding goes. In the Spring the taxi driver had to let us off outside the gates, instead of dropping us off inside. There was a long line along the sidewalk, but I can't remember if it was to check the tests we had to do then or if it was the timing. Then we were able to use the priority line once we were inside the building. I'm wondering if it will be the same this time, and if they are going to make people stick to their assigned boarding times.

Decide for yourself about Koningsdam - we have cruised on her three times, with almost 60 days under our belts - almost as much as we had on Prinsendam. We're looking forward to joining you for the New Year's cruise. Hope the warmth helps your foot feel better and you can have a lovely, relaxing holiday.

Jacqui, @kazu, will be happy she missed all this:

Bon voyage, all! 😁

Lots to read today, thank you, all Dailyites! We were happy to hear that Jacqui made it to SD, I'm longing for some warm weather, too. Less than two weeks now for us until we leave. I went downstairs yesterday to drag up some clothes to wear, now I have to try things on! I will be terribly out of style with all my old stuff, but it will just have to do. I have ordered a fancy bow tie for Pat to wear for NYE, that and his blazer will be it for him! I'm sorry the mobile passport didn't work in TO, or was it Montreal? That's terrible that you had to go through both airports! I do prefer Montreal to Toronto. We are hoping to use the mobile passport in Vancouver but we do realize that they have just started accepting it and there may be glitches! We use it all the time in Seattle, it makes life much easier. I don't think we've been to Saint John, but on a driving trip we saw the tidal bore in the Bay of Fundy so we must have been somewhere in the area My English cousin is leaving in a few days for Peru. Just saw they have declared martial law there. I'm hoping she cancels. I'm about to email her, but I'm not sure what to say. She won't do what I tell her, anyway. Talk about herding cats! Happy news today on the Daily Covid front! And @smitty34877, I hope your surgery goes smoothly.

Good morning, and Happy Anniversary, @Sharon in AZ and @AncientWanderer! Good for Jacqui, @kazu, getting to the airport. There's a big storm heading for Ontario tomorrow so hopefully it won't speed up and she will get through ahead of it. The weather report for the Maritimes and Ontario looked scary on the news last night. The best roasted chestnuts are in Italy! They have the biggest, fattest, most beautiful ones. My mother had a recipe from China called chicken with chestnuts (not water chestnuts) which is a family favourite. I will be making it in the next few days, I think, and I'll freeze some for when we get back. Chestnuts in Rome

You really need to look up the protocols for your individual cruise. Rules seem to be changing every day. You don't even need to log in, just fill out the form. It is at the top of the page on the HAL site, or here:

Good afternoon, all! Busy day today , but I'm feeling a bit lethargic, we got our boosters yesterday and today we learned our neighbour (who sat beside me for couple of hours on Friday at Happy Hour,) tested positive yesterday and is feeling pretty miserable.. Pat had his keratoses zapped today (I gave him my appointment) and they were large enough that the doctor wants him to come back in January to check them. I went to Walmart, didn't find the jelly beans I was looking for, but I got a toy for grandpuppy Oskar for Christmas. Evidently he is obsessed with squirrels, but I couldn't find one, so he will have to make do with a chipmunk. At least it has two squeakers! We moved to Manila in 1948, as the Communists were coming in to Shanghai, I lived there with my parents until 1952, when I became very anaemic and was sent to Victoria to boarding school. My mother loved the heat, I didn't! I will attach one of my father's paintings - of Manila Harbour. You wouldn't want to have been cruising there then... I certainly hope Jacqui gets away safely! We are looking forward to seeing her after Christmas, and we hope all goes smoothly with her (and our) travels. I'm beginning to think that winter travel is something it is better to avoid!

Definitely a duelling scar!

Or, Graham, you could just claim it as your duelling scar!

Good morning, all! Here's hoping Jacqui, @kazu, is able to fly on Wednesday, we're looking forward to seeing her on Koningsdam! It would be sad to have to cancel. Graham, @grapau27, glad the surgeryt went well. I gave my appointment tomorrow to Pat, he has three nasty keratoses on his back, which he insists on scratching with a metal back scratcher and he makes them bleed, so I figured my little one on my arm could wait. They will be inspected before being zapped at least! Today we get our Covid boosters, yay, and will go out to lunch after, to celebrate. Then come home and make soup. We went to Istanbul a long time ago, 2008, on Zuiderdam. We arrived in the afternoon, went on a dinner boat ride in the afternoon (I didn't know about "food porn" in those days, so no pictures but it was an amazing meal), and the next day had a tour. After the Topkapi Palace we were taken to a carpet shop. Some people took off then, but we didn't know better, so went in with most of the group, and got locked in until they sold their quotas for the day! We did buy a runner, they were to send it home to Virginia, and I figured it would never arrive, but when we got back there it was. I'm still happy with it. I had to hunt for the mistake, there is always an error ("Only God is perfect"), but there is a slight change in colour in one area. But we were in there for hours, and didn't get into the bazaar or the cisterns. We are booked on the Oosterdam next year with an overnight in Istanbul, so hope to do better! A few pics from the boat ride. Forgot to say, we did get into the blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia, my pictures are like the others.

I missed one port - I don't think I got any refund for it. It was just Prince Rupert, so perhaps it was not a large amount anyway.

Hopefully this means there are no more staffing shortages