The Fleet Report and Daily for Wednesday August 10th, 2022

[StLouisCruisers]

Trying to look up my cruise photo books online to see what we did each visit is a lot harder than just opening them up and picking out photos.  They are at home and I am NOT!  Anyway, we went first in 2012 on Star Princess and took a bus tour of the city.  Next in 2015 on Ruby Princess and the book says we walked around starting in the Retiro neighborhood. I believe there was a shuttle that dropped us off so that helped a lot.  Some of these docks are far from the exciting sights!  Our third time was disembarkation from the Seabourn Quest after our Antarctica and South Georgia Island cruise.  We took a tour to use up time so we wouldn't have to sit at the Buenos Aires airport, which is not a fun place to spend the day.  I'll show some photos from that visit.  We also went there in January 2020 on Coral Princess where we also disembarked after our Antarctica cruise but that day was rainy so not as much fun to tour.  

 

Here we go!  Arriving in Buenos Aires and sad to disembark the Quest.

 

 

On to the bus we went to our first stop Recoleta Cemetery.  Scenes along the way.

 

 

Along the way I noticed dog walkers everywhere.  I can't count how many this guy had.  5, 6 or maybe 7??

 

Here we are walking to see Eva Peron's tomb.  Many Argentinian Presidents, poets, soldiers and actors are buried there.

 

I see 4 kitties here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eva's gravesite.

 

Here is the Teatro Colon, the opera house.

 

El Obelisco monument

 

 

Then we went to the La Boca neighborhood.   Here is the La Bombenera stadium home of the Boca Juniors. 

 

 

stopping for some shopping this colorful neighborhood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stopping for a snack at the Cafe Tortoni, a French style cafe popular with the cultural elite (who me?)

 

 

 

Enough for today.  Hope you enjoyed Buenos Aires!

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

Good morning from central Texas.  It is supposed to be in the upper 90sF until Monday, and then, three eays of triple digits before retuning to the 90s.  Now, if we can just get some rain.  Dallas got heavy rain yesterday, and it looked like we were going to get some too.  Instead, we got the clouds and wind.  The rain turned out to be just a few a very drops, what we called just spitting.  

 

While I like tigers better, lions are also magnificent animals.  In 2008 on Prinsendam, we visited Sochi where we took an excursion to the site of the upcoming winter Olympics.  At a stop at a viewpoint, a local had his hawk, bear cub, and lion cub, all on leashes, for us to pet.  I was surprised at how course the lion cub's fur was.  Most of the time, the cub just ignored us.

 

We like smores, and will make them over the firepit in Quartzsite.  DH prefers the traditional smores, but I litke ones DD and DSIL bring with a different type of graham cracker, thinner dark chocolate and Mexican marshmallows.  I am being lazy early today.

 

I like the Tolstoy quote and I think if everyone worked on themselves, we could change the world for the better.

 

The meal looks good, but we'll pass on the drink and the wine.  

 

We've been to9 Buenos Aires twice, and I'll look for pictures.  

 

@cat shepard  Ann, I hope your flight doesn't change too many more times.  Love the meme.

@cunnorl  I hope you can get your filight changed and that your PCC was just out of pocket.

@Seasick Sailor  Joy, I'm glad the grass fire was put out quickly, and I hope the neighbor took down her glass wind chime.  It is very dry here, and we just hope some idiot does not throw a cigarette out the car window on the road behind our house.

@ger_77  Gerry, we also have a Fiskars pole trimmer in Quartzsite, and it works well on smaller limbs.  We have an electric pope chainsaw for bigger limbs.  For the very large branches, we call Carlos.  😀

@StLouisCruisers  Sandi, thanks for taking time to look up your pictures.

 

Lenda

[rafinmd]

2 hours ago, Rowsby said:

 

Wow....Roy....you are an inspiration...!!

 

One of my sons won't fly.....I would love to hear the logistics of this trip....???

Probably the best way would be to start with the thread I did at the time.  I go over the logistics a bit in the first post, and somewhere along the way post photos from the Kennicott and talk a bit about life on board.  I'm not sure about the protocols right now but do know that for a time during Covid passengers were not allowed to get off at the midway ports.  Probably the best place for any followup questions is here on the Daily/Fleet report.

 

 

 

 

[HAL Sailer]

3 hours ago, cat shepard said:

Miss seeing you @kazu Jacqui, hope all is well and you are just busy with Little/Shadow, flowers and fridges.

+1

[Rowsby]

29 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

Probably the best way would be to start with the thread I did at the time.  I go over the logistics a bit in the first post, and somewhere along the way post photos from the Kennicott and talk a bit about life on board.  I'm not sure about the protocols right now but do know that for a time during Covid passengers were not allowed to get off at the midway ports.  Probably the best place for any followup questions is here on the Daily/Fleet report.

 

 

 

 

 

Beyond amazing....!!!

 

And....finishing this trek with the Crystal cruise thru the Northwest Passage....wow....

 

Thanks...I will definitely be sharing this with my family.....!!

 

 

[kochleffel]

I sometimes buy Shiraz but haven't had that one. Wirra Wirra? The same grape is grown in the U.S. as Syrah and there is a good one from Walla Walla. "Check out which Washington wine just landed at No. 2 on Wine Spectator’s prestigious Top 100 list for  2017 —  Syrah Walla Walla Valley Powerline Estate 2014 ($45)."

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/a-washington-syrah-was-named-second-best-wine-in-the-world/

 

[Cruising-along]

Good morning all!

I guess I planned to be lazy on the perfect day!  This is my "calm between the storms" day and I plan to be as lazy as possible.  Other than delivering the jam I made yesterday to DS, no plans today.

 

I love S'mores and lions.  I grew up in an outdoorsy family, we camped a lot and ate a lot of S'mores. It's the only way I like marshmallows.   Now of course I don't have them anymore, but did have a couple when we took the grandsons to the ocean last month.  Having thinner chocolates makes for more melting, but it doesn't seem as easy to find.  Lenda @Quartzsite CruiserI have never heard of Mexican Marshmallows, what is the difference?  

 

The quote is true, I'll pass on the red wine and drink.  I've done some dinners in foil packets when camping, the recipes all look good. I might make stew in the crock pot today though, it's a cooler day and perfect for it.

 

Very, very sad about the crewmember 😞  

 

Charlene @cunnorlit does sound to me that your PCC could be gone from HAL.  Especially with the change in the voice mail.

 

 

[marshhawk]

Just a note about our day, the humidity is 91 %, no rain.  I have to put on snorkel gear just to walk the neighbors dog.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, StLouisCruisers said:

Trying to look up my cruise photo books online to see what we did each visit is a lot harder than just opening them up and picking out photos.  They are at home and I am NOT!  Anyway, we went first in 2012 on Star Princess and took a bus tour of the city.  Next in 2015 on Ruby Princess and the book says we walked around starting in the Retiro neighborhood. I believe there was a shuttle that dropped us off so that helped a lot.  Some of these docks are far from the exciting sights!  Our third time was disembarkation from the Seabourn Quest after our Antarctica and South Georgia Island cruise.  We took a tour to use up time so we wouldn't have to sit at the Buenos Aires airport, which is not a fun place to spend the day.  I'll show some photos from that visit.  We also went there in January 2020 on Coral Princess where we also disembarked after our Antarctica cruise but that day was rainy so not as much fun to tour.  

 

Here we go!  Arriving in Buenos Aires and sad to disembark the Quest.

 

 

On to the bus we went to our first stop Recoleta Cemetery.  Scenes along the way.

 

 

Along the way I noticed dog walkers everywhere.  I can't count how many this guy had.  5, 6 or maybe 7??

 

Here we are walking to see Eva Peron's tomb.  Many Argentinian Presidents, poets, soldiers and actors are buried there.

 

I see 4 kitties here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eva's gravesite.

 

Here is the Teatro Colon, the opera house.

 

El Obelisco monument

 

 

Then we went to the La Boca neighborhood.   Here is the La Bombenera stadium home of the Boca Juniors. 

 

 

stopping for some shopping this colorful neighborhood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stopping for a snack at the Cafe Tortoni, a French style cafe popular with the cultural elite (who me?)

 

 

 

Enough for today.  Hope you enjoyed Buenos Aires!

Thank you for your great photos Sandi.

This is the first time I have seen photos of Buena Aires.

Graham 

 

[Rowsby]

8 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

I love S'mores and lions.  I grew up in an outdoorsy family, we camped a lot and ate a lot of S'mores. It's the only way I like marshmallows.   

 

 

 

We were also an outdoorsy and camping family.....and the very best part of s'mores is sitting around the campfire and toasting the marshmallows............I particularly like mine "crispy".....!!!  🙂

Edited August 10, 2022 by Rowsby

[Cruising-along]

4 minutes ago, marshhawk said:

humidity is 91 %,

This is the biggest reason DH (Savannah, GA native) and I don't live in the South.  He left when he was 20 and only goes back to visit family (and then never in the summer LOL).

[Cruising-along]

2 minutes ago, Rowsby said:

 

We were also an outdoorsy and camping family.....and the very best part of s'mores is sitting around the campfire and toasting the marshmallows............I particularly like mine "crispy".....!!!  🙂

Definitely!  I think it's the childhood memories about S'mores that I love even more than the S'mores!

[VMax1700]

Hello to all.

It is hot here today 85°F/29°C

We drove down to Cobh for lunch and there was the Amsterdam.  Well, they can paint it different colours and name it the Bolette, but you know what I mean 😉

 

 

[RedneckBob]

20 minutes ago, marshhawk said:

Just a note about our day, the humidity is 91 %, no rain.  I have to put on snorkel gear just to walk the neighbors dog.

Come down to Florida. It is so humid, “How humid is it RedneckBob”?,  so humid even my fingernails are sweating 😯

[Cat in my lap]

We are having a sea day before Halifax- internet has been spotty, so no posts.  Has been a nice trip!

[RedneckBob]

Thanks goodness it is National Lazy Day. I need it after yesterday. Had huge thunderstorm, lightning hit the house and knocked out everything. Have lined up cable, phone, security, electrical and lawn sprinkler guy today and tomorrow. My sprinkler panel and underground pipe exploded and the plug in transformer blew out onto garage floor with the plugs still left in the socket. On a lighter note, hopefully will post tomorrow another cruise story titled “An Appetizer  to Remember”.

[Horizon chaser 1957]

Good morning, all! It’s been a very busy week with company - hence I’ve been lurking but never quite enough time to post. A Lazy Day is very welcome, and with everyone gone now, the timing is perfect. We made s’mores at several propane fire ring campfires, and they were a big hit as always! Exactly two months today we sail away on the Grand Africa, hopefully on our way to see lions.
We went to Buenos Aries in January 2020 on the shortened GWV. DH and I took the shuttle into town, and toured on the HOHO bus. Here are a few random pictures, starting with sail in and ending with sailing away with BA dwindling into the sunset.

Sail in. Unlike Rio, BA puts you in a container port. The plus is a shuttle to one of the main plazas downtown.

An entire avenue, called Florida, is pedestrians only and a wonderful way to explore on foot.

Fresh orange juice from a street vendor - it was wonderful!

Then onto the HOHO with earphones provided and commentary available in several languages. We had seats on the upper deck, with the better view.

The Cultural Center.

The old church, which still has a cannonball lodged in the wall from a long ago battle with the English.

A small plaza with a monument to Mariners. Every plaza has a statue, and every statue has a plaza.

The graffiti tends to be artwork, and usually depicts political uprisings.

In the older section of town, a resident enjoys a smoke on his balcony.

Another plaza, another statue.

Downtown, with a sudden cultural shift to giant gleaming glass monoliths.

And someone has to keep all that glass spotless!

Back to the plaza where we meet the ships shuttle. A shady oasis in the bustle and heat.

We sail away, as Buenos Aries slips away behind us into the sunset.

 

On a more serious note, DD has been calling home a lot. China conducted four days of live fire drills in the waters around Taiwan. This included firing missles over Taipei to land in the waters beyond. This meant, of course, that shipping and air traffic was suspended for safety reasons. It was very scary there. In the twelve years she’s lived there, this is the first time I’ve seen her upset. Normally the Taiwanese just shrug off the saber  rattling as everyday rhetoric. This time it’s different. If she needs to come home while we’re away, the house is waiting for her. She doesn’t want to leave, and but if the Chinese invade staying is not an option. Neither will going back. It’s a stressful time for everyone there.

 

Anyway, Happy Wednesday, everyone, whether on or off a BHB!

 

Edited August 10, 2022 by Horizon chaser 1957

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

Good morning again.

 

51 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

Good morning all!

I guess I planned to be lazy on the perfect day!  This is my "calm between the storms" day and I plan to be as lazy as possible.  Other than delivering the jam I made yesterday to DS, no plans today.

 

I love S'mores and lions.  I grew up in an outdoorsy family, we camped a lot and ate a lot of S'mores. It's the only way I like marshmallows.   Now of course I don't have them anymore, but did have a couple when we took the grandsons to the ocean last month.  Having thinner chocolates makes for more melting, but it doesn't seem as easy to find.  Lenda @Quartzsite CruiserI have never heard of Mexican Marshmallows, what is the difference?  

 

The quote is true, I'll pass on the red wine and drink.  I've done some dinners in foil packets when camping, the recipes all look good. I might make stew in the crock pot today though, it's a cooler day and perfect for it.

 

Very, very sad about the crewmember 😞  

 

Charlene @cunnorlit does sound to me that your PCC could be gone from HAL.  Especially with the change in the voice mail.

 

 

 

Carolyn, the Mexican Marshmallows are very light and fluffy, and are made with Mexican vanilla.  The testure is very different from the marshmallows you can buy at the grocery store. Your can buy the smores kit which has the marshmallows, Biscoff cookies, and Belgium dark chocolate. It's available around the Christmas holidays, and you can buy the marshmallows separately.   DD and DSIL get it at Amy's Ice Creams in Austin.   This is a link to Amy's Ice Creams, which also makes very good ice cream.  https://amysicecreams.com/  Hope I didn't jinx anything with the link.

 

When our great PCC left after the birth of her second child, her voicemail had a message that she was no longer with HAL and to please ask for a new PCC.

 

47 minutes ago, marshhawk said:

Just a note about our day, the humidity is 91 %, no rain.  I have to put on snorkel gear just to walk the neighbors dog.

 

The humidity is why we moved from The Woodlands, 30 miles north of Houston, to central Texas.

 

49 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Hello to all.

It is hot here today 85°F/29°C

We drove down to Cobh for lunch and there was the Amsterdam.  Well, they can paint it different colours and name it the Bolette, but you know what I mean 😉

 

 

 

Thanks for the pictures of the Amsterdam.  "A rose by any other name..." comes to mind when I see the Amsterdam and the Rotterdam.

 

5 minutes ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

Good morning, all! It’s been a very busy week with company - hence I’ve been lurking but never quite enough time to post. A Lazy Day is very welcome, and with everyone gone now, the timing is perfect. We made s’mores at several propane fire ring campfires, and they were a big hit as always! Exactly two months today we sail away on the Grand Africa, hopefully on our way to see lions.
We went to Buenos Aries in January 2020 on the shortened GWV. DH and I took the shuttle into town, and toured on the HOHO bus. Here are a few random pictures, starting with sail in and ending with sailing away with BA dwindling into the sunset.

Sail in. Unlike Rio, BA puts you in a container port. The plus is a shuttle to one of the main plazas downtown.

An entire avenue, called Florida, is pedestrians only and a wonderful way to explore on foot.

Then onto the HOHO with earphones provided and commentary available in several languages. We had seats on the upper deck, with the better view.

The Cultural Center.

The old church, which still has a cannonball lodged in the wall from a long ago battle with the English.

A small plaza with a monument to Mariners. Every plaza has a statue, and every statue has a plaza.

The graffiti tends to be artwork, and usually depicts political uprisings.

In the older section of town, a resident enjoys a smoke on his balcony.

Another plaza, another statue.

Downtown, with a sudden cultural shift to giant gleaming glass monoliths.

And someone has to keep all that glass spotless!

Back to the plaza where we meet the ships shuttle. A shady oasis in the bustle and heat.

We sail away, as Buenos Aries slips away behind us into the sunset.

 

DD has been calling home a lot. China conducted four days of live fire drills in the waters around Taiwan. This included firing missles over Taipei to land in the waters beyond. This meant, of course, that shipping and air traffic was suspended for safety reasons. It was very scary there. In the twelve years she’s lived there, this is the first time I’ve seen her upset. Normally the Taiwanese just shrug off the saver rattling as everyday rhetoric. This time it’s different. If she needs to come home while we’re away, the house is waiting for her. She doesn’t want to leave, and but if the Chinese invade staying is not an option. Neither will going back. It’s a stressful time for everyone there.

 

Anyway, Happy Wednesday, everyone, whether on or off a BHB!

 

 

Our thoughts are with your DD and the people of Taiwan and for their safety..  I hope the Chinese come to their senses and get over their snit.

 

Lenda

[AV8rix]

3 hours ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

@ottahand7, only the railroad dock is closed in Skagway. It’s not the entire port.

And I really wish it were the entire port.  I've got B2Bs on Zuiderdam starting next week and our itinerary includes Skagway.

 

However, another line (I forget now which one) who berths at the Railroad dock, has cancelled Skagway for the rest of the season and has replaced that port with ISP!!  I know that lots of folks like Skagway but I really prefer ISP/Hoonah.  Better hiking than Skagway, that's all.  And that's JMO.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info. 

[57redbird]

1 hour ago, RedneckBob said:

Thanks goodness it is National Lazy Day. I need it after yesterday. Had huge thunderstorm, lightning hit the house and knocked out everything. Have lined up cable, phone, security, electrical and lawn sprinkler guy today and tomorrow. My sprinkler panel and underground pipe exploded and the plug in transformer blew out onto garage floor with the plugs still left in the socket. On a lighter note, hopefully will post tomorrow another cruise story titled “An Appetizer  to Remember”.

WOW!!!  Today has to be better.

[HAL4NOW]

1 hour ago, RedneckBob said:

Come down to Florida. It is so humid, “How humid is it RedneckBob”?,  so humid even my fingernails are sweating 😯

When my older sister moved to Florida she told us about the humidity. She said that after taking a shower, you dry off, dry off again, dry off again, and then give up and get dressed.

[RedneckBob]

23 minutes ago, HAL4NOW said:

When my older sister moved to Florida she told us about the humidity. She said that after taking a shower, you dry off, dry off again, dry off again, and then give up and get dressed.

 I do the same but do not get dressed 😳

[Cruise Suzy]

From another Website

 

There are tons of tasty twists on s'mores out there, too. Try adding sliced strawberries, bananas, or raspberries, or go all out with a smear of Nutella for National S'mores Day. Or if you're really adventuresome, try a "Shutter-upper" -- toasted marshmallow and a caramel between two soda crackers.

 

[dfish]

5 hours ago, cunnorl said:

Good Morning from a cloudy but warm day at the beach

        Not a fan of S`mores, never understood the attraction. I like the idea of lazy day but not today.

       I tried calling my PCC yesterday about the flight change. I got this very strange message, it said she was out of the office and to call someone else. Dont leave a voicemail because the line is not monitored ! Do you think she is gone? Spoke to her a few weeks ago. Her voicemail always said when she would be back in the office.  Guess I will try calling Flight Ease today. The flight will probably be changed a dozen times but this one is a recipe for failure. Our original flight is still showing.

     Hope everyone has a good day.

 

Stay safe and enjoy today

    Charlene

     

I called Flight Ease direct and got a better response.  I was upset that AA had dumped me from First Class into Economy and my PCC said there wasn't anything else.  Flight Ease changed it for me at no charge since it was due to the airline making changes.  Give them a try.  Oh, the best part was there was no wait.