The Fleet Report and Daily for Monday March 18th, 2024

sailingdutchy · March 18

We had a fantastic cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean , Greece , Albania , Italy , Cyprus , Israel , Malta , Spain, Portugal and after that all the way back to Ft Lauderdale on the beautiful Prinsendam in Oct / Nov 2016 .

Our good friends Ann @VictOriann , with DH Pat and their DD had organized a wonderful tour to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea from Ashdad. It was a very long but amazing day one we will always remember , towards the end of the day floating in the Dead Sea healed us all .

An amazing day and wonderful tour we saw so much history and religion in just a few hours after that we went to the Dead Sea but I will show some pictures in a separate post . ( they will have to go through the censor board first ! 😄😄 )

Tony 😄

Quartzsite Cruiser · March 18

30 minutes ago, JazzyV said:

Good morning. Thanks for the Fleet Report/Daily and to all contributors.

I will try to act happy today. My recycling was collected this morning. I have no children, but hope that those who desire children are blessed with them. True quote. I like the meal, maybe for the drink and the wine is too expensive. I haven't been to Ashdod, and sadly may never get there. Interesting days in history.

It's cloudy, 32F, with snow flurries right now. I didn't sleep well, as I had a lot of leg pain. I got about 3-1/2 hours. My UK friends are leaving today, so BFF and I will pick them up around 12:30, when they have to check out of the hotel. We may go to a movie, then a meal, as they don't have to be at the airport until 7PM. I hope I can hold up. There's still an issue posting the Cares List from my iPad, so I have to go in and put back all the formatting. Hopefully with the next operating system update it will be fixed.

@aliaschief Your cruise sounds like quite the unpredictable adventure.

@StLouisCruisers My daylilies are coming up too. I thought of you last night when I saw Call the Midwife on my DVR and I had to watch it late last night. Thanks for the wonderful photos from Ashdod and your tour.

@smitty34877 Oh no about the hospital bed malfunction. I hope the new one arrives soon. Continued prayers for you, Tana and the family.

@RMLincoln Good news about your disposition too! I hope all is normal with your mammogram.

@Nickelpenny That was so thoughtful of the young man who watched Martina; I'm sure yesterday was hard. Hugs.

@ger_77 Sorry DH, and hence you, had a restless night.

@kazu I hope you get some answers on Wednesday.

Prayers for the Care List and Cheers for those Celebrating.

Vanessa, I'm sorry you did not sleep well last night and are having more leg pain. I hope they can do something to fix it permanently. Enjoy your visit with your British friends. I hope they have a safe and uneventful flight home.

3 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

Vanessa, I'm sorry you still have some sleeping problems caused by the leg pain. They really need to find a fix for your nerve issue. I'm glad you get a chance to see the UK friends and hope that sitting in the theater isn't too painful today. This has really affected your every day existence and I'm sure you want your old life back. I hope you can get the IPad working properly soon.

I guess I should leave those daylilies covered for a few nights due to freezing temperatures. But last year they didn't get uncovered and most didn't even show up for the one week of blooming they normally do the first week of June. Sigh. I sure didn't choose them, that's for sure.

The strangest thing happened last night at 8:00. I was sitting here with the TV on doing stitching I guess. I looked up and saw a box on my screen saying Tune to Call the Midwife? or something to that effect. Normally it doesn't do that - only when there are about 5 different programs/movies etc. programmed at the same time. It can only handle so many shows at one time. But there was only Call the Midwife and one other thing recording. If it hadn't shown that box on the screen I wouldn't even have known it was recording it. I immediately texted my twin and said Hey, Call the Midwife is on now! and she texted back in a split second saying Thanks! Ha! Ha!

One thing that put a smile on my face and made me happy on Act Happy Day is a text I got this morning from DGD Morgan. She said only 1 week after moving in and she already feels such a dramatic difference in her overall happiness and how she lives her life. She said she's so so thankful for being able to move. 🤍 Well, we're thankful that she's no longer anxious and unhappy. Priceless!

Sandi, I'm very happy the move has had such a dramatic affect on DGD's life and happiness.

Lenda

sailingdutchy · March 18

Ashdad tour Part 2 .

It was quite a warm day and we had already done a lot of walking so after a drive towards the Dead Sea we stopped for a snack and drink before we took a “ dive “ into the sea .

Here you can see the sea in the distance

The date palm farms

It is not easy walking into the sea because of all the very uneven seafloor you can't see under the water but once in it was wonderful what an experience .!

I have to admit , I am not a swimmer , but I was so happy to float on my back for minutes without doing anything . DW got some very , very salty water in her eyes ( yes she was warned …....) so she went quick to the showers .

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I am sorry to do this to you but I can't show you my speedo and Ann's bikini pictures that I have on file they did not make it through the Censor !

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Our Israeli guide , Ital , who had done an awesome job all day did not talk at all about the settlements we saw in Palestinian territory ...........

Tony 😄

OK Ann @VictOriann you can look now you are safe !

lazey1 · March 18

First a very big thank you to all who answered my questions regarding special dietary restrictions. I think that for lunch in the Lido I will stick mainly to salads with oil and vinegar dressing and ice cream. Very little sodium there. Breakfast I can pretty well handle by myself and knowing there is a special menu iwth help for planning dinner is a relief. If I have to much sodium I retain fluid and it gets hard to breathe and that is something I certainly don't want anytime.

I have not been to Ashod but did a land Holy Lands 10 day tour with my DH and my parents back in the mid 80's. The photos are bringing back fond memories. Thank you to all who posted.

Prayers for all who need them (especially for Tana's new hospital type bed) and hurrays for all who don't.

Jane

GTVCRUISER · March 18

🙂 Happy Monday 🙂

YourWorldWithBill · March 18

Thanks so much to all who post here, and a special thank you to Jacqui @kazuand Roy @rafinmd for your extra work and willingness to help all.

This is a note to tell all of you what you probably already know: the people on the HAL message boards are the most consistently friendly, polite, respectful, and happy posters at sea (or who are at least thinking about the sea). On certain other boards there seems to be a constant battle between those who complain and those who think everything on their line of choice is perfect.

On the HAL boards, even criticisms are reasonable and thoughtful, and usually posted with either the hope of some change, or with some relief just to have others who will listen.

Although I post on several other HAL boards, I don't often post here; but we have pretty much resolved to stick with HAL for our future cruising. Next: Jewels of the Baltic in May on the Nieuw Statendam. Hope to see some of you at some time!

Bill

Seasick Sailor · March 18

Still Good morning Dailyites here. 59 currently at 11, warming to 63.

I'm a happy person, don't need to act it.

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I recycle everything. I did not know Lenda can't recycle near her in Texas. We all have recycle bins here in Williamson county. We were not able to recycle glass when we lived in Coeur d'alene, but I paid a fee to a private company that recycled it.

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I really, truly would have loved to see Israel, but life got in the way.

Have a awesome day!

kochleffel · March 18

18 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

On certain other boards there seems to be a constant battle between those who complain and those who think everything on their line of choice is perfect.

Because of that, I rarely read posts on the board of aNother Cruise Line where I have platinum status and two open bookings.

dfish · March 18

Welcome @YourWorldWithBill! We hope to hear more from you!

bennybear · March 18

Good morning and thanks all! My late DF and DGF birthdays today.

I really appreciate the photos of the holy land, I am beginning to think after several cancelled cruises there. We may never visit. I particularly appreciated seeing Masada, @Quartzsite Cruiser as I had read the novel the Dove keepers.

@smitty34877 hope the new bed comes quickly!
@RMLincoln those tests are SO important and life saving! Hope all goes well.
@StLouisCruisers so glad your DGD feels so much better.
@YourWorldWithBillwelcome aboard!

We got to visit our little grand dog, who’s recovering nicely.

wishing all a good day, DH has to have a follow up surgery today for a skin cancer, praying this goes better than last time.

Edited March 18 by bennybear

Denise T · March 18

Update on Chase. His foot is healing nicely however, the vet wants the bandage to stay on until Thursday. She said the foot looks good. Thursday the bandage will come off and he can start using the foot. Poor Chase will have to wear the cone of shame for a few more days.

Crazy For Cats · March 18

I'm attending the Future Cruise presentation. Starting on the 20th this sale starts.

Quartzsite Cruiser · March 18

2 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Thanks so much to all who post here, and a special thank you to Jacqui @kazuand Roy @rafinmd for your extra work and willingness to help all.

This is a note to tell all of you what you probably already know: the people on the HAL message boards are the most consistently friendly, polite, respectful, and happy posters at sea (or who are at least thinking about the sea). On certain other boards there seems to be a constant battle between those who complain and those who think everything on their line of choice is perfect.

On the HAL boards, even criticisms are reasonable and thoughtful, and usually posted with either the hope of some change, or with some relief just to have others who will listen.

Although I post on several other HAL boards, I don't often post here; but we have pretty much resolved to stick with HAL for our future cruising. Next: Jewels of the Baltic in May on the Nieuw Statendam. Hope to see some of you at some time!

Bill

Bill, it's always nice to welcome a fellow Texan to the Daily.

2 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

Still Good morning Dailyites here. 59 currently at 11, warming to 63.

I'm a happy person, don't need to act it.

I recycle everything. I did not know Lenda can't recycle near her in Texas. We all have recycle bins here in Williamson county. We were not able to recycle glass when we lived in Coeur d'alene, but I paid a fee to a private company that recycled it.

I really, truly would have loved to see Israel, but life got in the way.

Have a awesome day!

Joy, we had recycle bins when we lived in The Woodlands. In our little community, we contract with a private garbage service, which does not offer recycling. For a few months many years ago, one neighbor would collect the recycling and take it to be recycled at the landfill. He was told after a few trips that individuals could not bring anything to the landfill for safety reasons. A couple of churches in town collect aluminum cans as fund raisers, but we rarely have any cans to recycle since I stopped drinking beer.

1 hour ago, bennybear said:

Good morning and thanks all! My late DF and DGF birthdays today.

I really appreciate the photos of the holy land, I am beginning to think after several cancelled cruises there. We may never visit. I particularly appreciated seeing Masada, @Quartzsite Cruiser  as I had read the novel the Dove keepers.

@smitty34877 hope the new bed comes quickly!
@RMLincoln those tests are SO important and life saving! Hope all goes well.
@StLouisCruisers so glad your DGD feels so much better.
@YourWorldWithBillwelcome aboard!

We got to visit our little grand dog, who’s recovering nicely.

wishing all a good day, DH has to have a follow up surgery today for a skin cancer, praying this goes better than last time.

Brenda, I'm glad you enjoyed the Masada pictures. I hope your DH's follow up surgery goes well.

Lenda

smitty34877 · March 18

Well, it was a bit of a procedure today but our wonderful next door neighbor helped a lot. The medical equipment company came to switch the beds and sent one man to do it. DSIL and our neighbor John helped disassemble the broken bed and put the new one together. He even transferred Tana back to bed.

The production company had removed all their lighting and equipment from the two homes where they had been filming last week so we didn’t have any issues today. “Law and Order” is filming in one of the city parks most of the week if we want to watch.
@bennybear, prayers for your DH and I hope everything goes well today.

puppycanducruise · March 18

@YourWorldWithBill Welcome!

Quartzsite Cruiser · March 18

13 minutes ago, smitty34877 said:

Well, it was a bit of a procedure today but our wonderful next door neighbor helped a lot. The medical equipment company came to switch the beds and sent one man to do it. DSIL and our neighbor John helped disassemble the broken bed and put the new one together. He even transferred Tana back to bed.

The production company had removed all their lighting and equipment from the two homes where they had been filming last week so we didn’t have any issues today. “Law and Order” is filming in one of the city parks most of the week if we want to watch.
@bennybear, prayers for your DH and I hope everything goes well today.

Terry, I'm glad the new bed is installed, and hopefully Tana can be made as comfortable as possible. I find it hard to believe they sent one man to do all that work. Thank goodness your wonderful DSIL and equally wonderful neighbor were there to help.

Lenda

Edited March 18 by Quartzsite Cruiser

kazu · March 18

2 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

I guess I should leave those daylilies covered for a few nights due to freezing temperatures. But last year they didn't get uncovered and most didn't even show up for the one week of blooming they normally do the first week of June. Sigh. I sure didn't choose them, that's for sure.

How cold is getting Sandi and for how long? (Just an hour or to or all day and all night). Daylilies are pretty hardy and if it’s just a short stint they will probably be ok. If it’s ongoing then I would definitely leave them covered or cover for the cold temp and uncover during the day. It might help their blooms 🤞

2 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

One thing that put a smile on my face and made me happy on Act Happy Day is a text I got this morning from DGD Morgan. She said only 1 week after moving in and she already feels such a dramatic difference in her overall happiness and how she lives her life. She said she's so so thankful for being able to move. 🤍 Well, we're thankful that she's no longer anxious and unhappy. Priceless!

That is wonderful news 👍. I am so glad to hear that she is already feeling so much better in her new place!

2 hours ago, lazey1 said:

If I have to much sodium I retain fluid and it gets hard to breathe and that is something I certainly don't want anytime.

Jane, Jose was convinced that the water on the ship still had some salt in it due to my ankles. So while I think the water on the ship is fine, I drank bottled water on numerous occasions and my problem was gone.

If he was right (and my ankles said he was) then you might want to mostly drink bottled water to be on the safe side salt wise. Just a thought.

1 hour ago, bennybear said:

Good morning and thanks all! My late DF and DGF birthdays today.

Ahh Brenda - a very happy heavenly birthday to your late DF & DGF. ♥️. I hope good memories help you through the day.

1 hour ago, bennybear said:

wishing all a good day, DH has to have a follow up surgery today for a skin cancer, praying this goes better than last time.

Best wishes for your DH’s surgery today. I pray it goes much better than last time and he can recover easily 🤲

Haljo1935 · March 18

Late to the party today - busy busy work.

Important days and Important days in history. Big yes to the meal, not sure about the drink, would try the wine, not been to the port.

No idea what the temp is, but it's chilly w/sprinkles.

FSA card was declined Fri at PT do I had to use my personal card. Talked to them today and learned they had sent out a new one that was canceled when I never activated it. So a new one is on the way and I'm not scheduling any appointments until it arrives.

Prayers 🙏 and positive thoughts for all.

Seasick Sailor · March 18

@YourWorldWithBill Welcome to the daily. We are just now celebrating 4 years together.

My husband and I moved to Texas going on 4 years ago. We love it.

Haljo1935 · March 18

6 hours ago, Crazy For Cats said:

...Today's meal suggestion sounds good but our plans are Pinnacle Grill tonight so that means bacon and steak for me.

YES - candied bacon from PG!!

Enjoy!!

Seasick Sailor · March 18

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

YES - candied bacon from PG!!

Enjoy!!

We've tried the bacon more than several times and didn't care for it. We asked for "really crispy" and it came looking like your picture. Please don't roast me!

ger_77 · March 18

5 hours ago, sailingdutchy said:

THAT'S the rock!!! That's the one where neither DS nor I could remember exactly where we were, but I told him it was holy, to touch it, and pray. Thanks @sailingdutchy!

@smitty34877I'm so glad Tana's new bed arrived - how fortunate your DSIL was able to assist in dismantling the old one, as well as transferring Tana into the new bed.

@bennybear Happy Angel Birthday to your DF and DGF.

Stay well everyone!

kazu · March 18

2 hours ago, smitty34877 said:

Well, it was a bit of a procedure today but our wonderful next door neighbor helped a lot. The medical equipment company came to switch the beds and sent one man to do it. DSIL and our neighbor John helped disassemble the broken bed and put the new one together. He even transferred Tana back to bed.

I am bamboozled by the company sending one person. It IS a medical company, right? 😡. thank heavens you had your DSIL and your neighbour John to help. 👍

I hope Tana can now be comfortable and everyone can have a good night’s sleep tonight 🤞

32 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

We've tried the bacon more than several times and didn't care for it. We asked for "really crispy" and it came looking like your picture. Please don't roast me!

I don’t care for it either. No roast from me - but bacon is different in Canada and there is no need to overcook it. I just don’t find bacon on the ship that great. I’ve taken one taste of the bacon appetizer and I will pass 😉.

Even the back bacon is better here than on the ship.

thankfully, I don’t cruise for bacon 😂

irishjim · March 18

4 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Thanks so much to all who post here, and a special thank you to Jacqui @kazuand Roy @rafinmd for your extra work and willingness to help all.

This is a note to tell all of you what you probably already know: the people on the HAL message boards are the most consistently friendly, polite, respectful, and happy posters at sea (or who are at least thinking about the sea). On certain other boards there seems to be a constant battle between those who complain and those who think everything on their line of choice is perfect.

On the HAL boards, even criticisms are reasonable and thoughtful, and usually posted with either the hope of some change, or with some relief just to have others who will listen.

Although I post on several other HAL boards, I don't often post here; but we have pretty much resolved to stick with HAL for our future cruising. Next: Jewels of the Baltic in May on the Nieuw Statendam. Hope to see some of you at some time!

Bill

I agree with you. Irish Jim.

grapau27 · March 18

10 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

I went to Ashdod in 2014 on our Holy Land cruise on the Prinsendam.  It was our first voyage on Holland America and it was Black Sea and Holy Land B2B.  We were originally booked on the Ocean Princess to go to the Black Sea and the Holy Land but due to political unrest that year Princess cancelled Egypt ports and most of the Black Sea ports and just substituted Greek Isles ports instead.  So we cancelled them and took a chance on the Prinsendam, and loved it!

In Ashdod on October 26, 2014 we immediately left the port for our drive to Jerusalem.  I only have a few photos around the ship of the tugs, etc.  However the countryside of Israel is very nice.

Arriving at an overlook of the city of Jerusalem we stopped to listen to our guide and take in the view.

According to my notes we next stopped at the Church of All Nations, also known as the Basilica of the Agony.  It's a Roman Catholic church located on the Mount of Olives next to the Garden of Gethsemane.

The church has beautiful murals on its facade.

The olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane are many hundreds of years old.

Seen off to the side and on the hillside slightly above the Basilica of the Agony, is the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.  This is one of Jerusalem's most picturesque sights due to its seven gilded onion domes, each topped by a tall Russian Orthodox cross.

Interior of the Basilica including the high altar overlooking a large slab of rock, which is said to be the very rock on which Jesus prayed in agony on the night of his betrayal.

I borrowed this photo of the rock because mine was blurry.

We got on the bus to move on to view the Catholic Cemetery, but I got this photo of the Basilica and the Church of St. Mary Magdalene from the road next to the cemetery.  Gives you a good perspective.  Taken through the bus window though.

The Catholic Cemetery

And here is the Tower of David, Jerusalem's citadel, located near the Jaffa Gate on the western side of the old city wall.

Continuing on in Jerusalem, we got off the bus and walked through the Jaffa Gate, walking past stalls and shops.

Entrance to a convent.

Very well worn stone pathways.

There was a huge gift shop we were allowed to look around in for some time but I stayed outside most of the time taking photos of fountains and small stalls. From there we walked to the Holy Sepulchre Church which is believed to be the site where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried.

Inside the Church we saw the Crucifixion Altar

and the Tomb of Jesus

We continued on with the tour for several more hours and I have a lot more photos but wanted to cut to the end where we went to the Wailing Wall (also known as the Western Wall).

The area was divided with women on one half and men on the other.

From there we walked back through a different gate to our bus and the drive back to our new home away from home, the Prinsendam. There really is too much to see and learn about on these tours so it is somewhere we should try to visit again. It was the same way in Haifa when we went to Nazareth and the Jordan River. I recommend a Holy Land cruise to everyone.

Note: the above comment was made by me in 2021 and it seems it will be a long time before we can go back. My cruise there late in 2024 has cancelled Israeli ports, so we must wait, it seems.