Vict0riann

We had a large one on NS in July. Ninety signed up, about 60 attended. I invited some of the officers, the Captain joined us, also the CD, Beverage Manager and Cellar Master. I don't think that happens very often, even before Covid, but maybe things are opening up again.

We isolated for a week after we got home, then tested ourselves and as we were negative, we are back in the world, and have been so busy - I skim the Daily and most days don't even get that, DH is nagging me to get out and about! He has had his laser eye surgery (cleanup after his cataract removals) and today we are bottling wine. Pat is at exercise, so I have a few minutes. Rich, Happy Birthday! And thank you for our Daily news which keeps us all together! @mamaofami, sorry to hear about your friend, and your DDIL. So sad about Shadow for Jacqui, she seemed to be coming along so well. I'm sure Jacqui must have noticed Shadow's difficulties and looked into her background. Hope she can find a good place for Shadow. @smitty34877, I hope Tana is feeling better. She has had such an awful time. I hadn't followed along for a bit, had she been on Paxlovid and that caused the Covid to come back? I was talking to our PCC yesterday and she said she and her DH both had Covid, she had taken the Paxlovid for the proper length of time and hoped she would not have a reoccurrence, and I didn't twig at the time that there might be a connection?

We usually book Tamarind for the first night, as soon as we get on the ship. We have found the dining room to be very disorganized that first day, (we do "anytime" dining), so we wait for them to get everything straight before we go to the MDR.

Here is the menu from Nami Sushi:

Tamarind on the Pinnacle ships actually has two restaurants, Tamarind and Nami Sushi. We really like both! Nami is a la carte, which is nice if you're not too hungry Love the panko fried asparagus! Here is the Tamarind menu from Nieuw Statendam this month (still has the beef salad, but I imagine it is not difficult for them to print a new menu if they're missing ingredients.

Hi, Jacqui, yes, as Tony says, we will be doing the 5-day Eastern Caribbean March 29, 2023, the 16-day 150th Anniversary Transatlantic on April 3, and finally the 5-day North Sea Explorer on April 19, all on the Rotterdam. I do believe we will be celebrating Martha's and Tony's birthdays on board, as well as the 150th birthday of HAL! Thanks for doing this.

Bon voyage! 😃

My DH does my ArriveCAN on his iPhone, also boarding passes, etc., even my mobile passport for the US. As far as the ArriveCAN for your mother, I would think you can do it for her and then just print out the QR code on a piece of paper for her.

Hello, all! Busy gardening day today, I'm late a nd tired. My darling daughter sent me this today. I'm going to apple pie her bed. Subject: Fwd: TWELVE COMMANDMENTS FOR SENIORS #1 - Talk to yourself. There are times you need expert advice. #2 - “In Style” are the clothes that still fit. #3 - You don't need anger management. You need people to stop pissing you off. #4 - Your people skills are just fine. It's your tolerance for idiots that needs work. #5 - The biggest lie you tell yourself is, “I don't need to write that down. I'll remember it.” #6 - “On time” is when you get there. #7 - Even duct tape can't fix stupid, but it sure does muffle the sound. #8 - It would be wonderful if we could put ourselves in the dryer for ten minutes, then come out wrinkle-free and three sizes smaller? #9 - Lately, you've noticed people your age are so much older than you. #10 - Growing old should have taken longer. #11 - Aging has slowed you down, but it hasn't shut you up. #12 - You still haven't learned to act your age and hope you never will. . . . And one more: “One for the road” means peeing before you leave the house

At the nature baths in Akureyri, we feasted on the Arctic char on geysir bread! Yummy!

Good morning, Dailyites. I'm baaaack! Got in last night at midnight (3 a.m. Boston time), and went straight to bed. It was a long day, up early, we had US Customs and Immigration to go through, then a long tour and bus ride to the Boston Airport. Of course our two flights were delayed, but at least the delays gave them time to keep the luggage organized, and it arrived with us. I spent the 6-hour flight from Montreal to Victoria wedged in a window seat with the child behind me massaging my back with her feet. My ankles are swollen today, that has never happened to me before. I will keep my feet up today as much as possible, but when I do my legs tingle... Interesting day, thank you to all who post with info and pictures!. Our DD picked us up last night, and had the fridge stocked and ready for us, so, although she is not Chinese, I will celebrate her! (She is the one in the family who loves to cook in her air fryer...) My dear departed cousin was in the Canadian CG, he dealt with the USCG a lot on this coast and in Ottawa, so I will think of him, too, today. DD told me my flower bed has become mightily overgrown during our absence, so I will try to do a bit of cleanup there, and get some debris out so the gardeners can haul it away today. Welcome, @RedneckBob, I have enjoyed your stories on Cruise Critic. And Graham, @grapau27, are you on the move again? Sorry to hear Tana is struggling again, @smitty34877, she does not deserve all this suffering.

Hope you have a great cruise, we did coming over from Copenhagen. I really recommend the Cellar Master's Dinner, if they have one, in the Canaletto. The collaboration between Miroslav (Miki), the Cellar Master and Cesare, the Italian Executive Chef, was really delicious. Much better value than the Pinnacle Gala, we found.

Hello, Dailyites, I had no idea what was going on over Father David’s little sermons! Happy to hear it has been settled. On the ship I can’t always see what has been posted(mainly photos, videos, etc., ) but I blame the ship’s internet. Welcome, Pauline, @Paw13 , we do all feel we know you, as our fashion guru! Happy Birthday to Shadow, @kazu, the first of many healthy and happy ones with you, I hope. And @smitty34877, I’m so sorry you are all feeling so ill. Hope you get over it quickly. our last port today has been Halifax, the warmest we have been so far on this cruise. Tomorrow is a sea day, and the the end comes in Boston. Did a lot of walking today, I’ll be sore tomorrow…

Good morning, afternoon, day (?), Dailyites. All at sea here. But lots going on on the Daily. Jacqui, @kazu, I couldn’t see your videos yesterday on my iPhone, but will look at them when I get home. Happy to hear Shadow had her tail high! I did answer your question about the Cellar Master dinner, but forgot to use the @ to add your contact…. But it is there on yesterday’s Daily - added today…. Almost back in 🇨🇦- DD will meet us in St. John’s tomorrow. Then another sea day, Halifax, one last sea day and finally disembarkation in Boston and back home. It will be over much too quickly.

As we do eat meat, I didn’t ask, if I see Cesare around, I’ll ask him. The one thing about Cellar Master Dinners (and the Master Chef’s Dinners of the past) is that they are all different, so it would be hard to say what another chef and CM would decide on. That’s what we like about them , the old De Librije, Le Cirque and now the Pinnacle Gala dinners are set and the same every time, so really worth only doing once, unless you really liked it.

We had the new tiles on our bed this morning when we came back from breakfast in Club Orange. I haven’t heard anything about a Mariner reception. We did have drinks the day we boarded in Billboard on Board.

Jacqui, the Cellar Master dinner was $79 + gratuity. It really was excellent. Classified as “Mediterranean “, it was organized between Cellar Master Miroslav (Miki), and our Italian Executive Chef, Cesare (who makes his home in Victoria, and was on our Eurodam cruise last October), also the ship’s executive chef, Ashley, and Csaba attended, and chatted with the 40 or so attendees. As we ate, icebergs slowly drifted past us, so it was quite an experience. Miki gave lots of information about the wines, and Cesare popped in between courses to talk about the food.

I’ll see if I can post today! Pat is taking a nap, we are sailing through fog, and it is very quiet and peaceful. I have been reading the Daily when I can, and thinking of you all. So sorry for all the latest falls! And strangely enough, yesterday I had word that my California cousin (with ALS)’s DH (with Alzheimer’s) had a bad fall and hit and cut his head, requiring stitches, and, while at the hospital, tested positive for Covid. Hopefully, the X-ray won’t show any serious damage. Shadow is so lucky to have joined Jacqui, she will have a wonderful rest of her life. She’s a beautiful dog. our cruise is going smoothly. We had a gorgeous day in Prins Christian Sund. I’ll try to post a few pix, and we finished that day off with a very interesting Cellar Master Dinner, in Canaletto, which seemed a bit unusual, but I guess they are keeping the Pinnacle for the Pinnace Gala dinner.

Finally I seem to have enough wifi to post, and the time to do it! We are at the Lincoln Center Stage, listening to Latin music. We had a lovely two days with my cousin in Reykjavik, she took us all over, and we had one afternoon with her Icelandic kitten, Sindri (“he who sparkles”). Unfortunately, the first day there, Pat was stung near his eye by a bumblebee! He is allergic to stings, he hadn’t been stung for more than 20 years, so got away without anaphylactic shock, but eventually today, as his face was getting more and more swollen, I got him to go to the doctor, who gave him a lecture on what might have happened, plus an antibiotic and a strong antihistamine (he had been taking Benadryl). Hopefully that will fix him up, but no alcohol while he’s taking drugs! So that is our second disaster, after losing his bag, I’m afraid to think what may be coming for the third! I prayed for you all at Mass this afternoon. but I don’t seem to be able to add a photo of Sindri.

I have a personal junk drawer in my dresser, and a “family” junk drawer in the kitchen. There is a kind-of junk drawer in the old desk In the living room. But then maybe it’s a junk desk….

Hello from Iceland, en route to Reykjavik. I haven’t been able to post as the internet is very poor. Just hope this goes through. We are sitting in the Lincoln Center Stage, deck 3, looking down on the group, listening to Brahms. Next we go to the Tamarind for rijstaffel, and after that to the World Stage for a great duo, “Pianotainment”. It’s a tough life! Everything is great, we’ve met lots of staff we know from previous cruises, and the service is excellent. Wish you were all here!

That’s Nieuw Amsterdam…..

Haha! She said she did a lot of shopping. At least she was able to commiserate with the people at the M&G who didn’t have their luggage either.

Good morning, everyone! It is mid afternoon here in Norway! Pat has gone to the gym to try to work off the last two days’ meals, I should have gone, too, but perhaps next time… I love guacamole, but like to make it myself, then it can be properly lumpy, only avocado, with a little salt and fresh lime juice, and just before serving, some tomato, carefully cubed, for colour. There’s never any left over for storing, but if I get a lot of avocados I can prepare it without the tomato, and it freezes beautifully in plastic bags. Half an avocado is the equivalent of a whole banana for potassium, so good for leg cramps. We’ve been to kodiak, but I’m having a hard time getting my photos from the cloud. At lunch time, we were walking through the Lido, and someone said ”Madame Ann”? I couldn’t remember her, but she said she remembered us from the Zaandam in South America in 2017. Tony, @sailingdutchy, do you remember Dian? My heavens, what great memories they have. We got hugs today from our old friend Apinya too. They both work in Tamarind. From “dressy” night, last night.

On the subject of turmeric, a neighbour suggested I try it for my hip. I took it for a few weeks, and started having difficulty swallowing, really weird. I discussed it all with my doctor, had a barium swallow, eventually was told turmeric can aggravate reflux, stop it! I can now swallow smaller pills, I haven’t tried any “horse pills” , still a bit nervous about that! Aren’t these interactions strange?