The Fleet Report and Daily for Thursday August 1st, 2024

[dfish]

Hello again,

 

We have completely turned around our thinking on the solar eclipse cruise.  I looked at pricing and airfare and hotels and we found out that the VOV is only slightly more expensive than the "cheaper" Med cruise would turn out to be.  So, we are leaning in that direction right now.  The thought of another trip over the pond on an airplane does not thrill me.  

 

We're looking at booking when we are on board in a couple of weeks.  Can any of you think of any reasons not to and to go ahead and book now?  

[grapau27]

3 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

Good morning Dailyites 

 

Rabbit, rabbit, white rabbit!

 

High 90's to 100 over the next 10 days. Our plants are panting!

 

So proud of our US Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky! She was awesome!

 

Prayers lifted for our ailing friends here on the Daily. Sure wish we could resolve some of your issues.

 

Please say a prayer for my sister. She meets the surgeon and plastic surgeon this afternoon. She will get her surgery date as well.

 

No game night tonight, so DH and I will venture downtown for sushi and happy hour. 

 

Wishing you a blessed day.

 

Prayers 🙏 sent for your DS Joy.

[puppycanducruise]

23 minutes ago, dfish said:

Hello again,

 

We have completely turned around our thinking on the solar eclipse cruise.  I looked at pricing and airfare and hotels and we found out that the VOV is only slightly more expensive than the "cheaper" Med cruise would turn out to be.  So, we are leaning in that direction right now.  The thought of another trip over the pond on an airplane does not thrill me.  

 

We're looking at booking when we are on board in a couple of weeks.  Can any of you think of any reasons not to and to go ahead and book now?  

No reason, book now.  Enjoy! 🙂

[StLouisCruisers]

53 minutes ago, dfish said:

Hello again,

 

We have completely turned around our thinking on the solar eclipse cruise.  I looked at pricing and airfare and hotels and we found out that the VOV is only slightly more expensive than the "cheaper" Med cruise would turn out to be.  So, we are leaning in that direction right now.  The thought of another trip over the pond on an airplane does not thrill me.  

 

We're looking at booking when we are on board in a couple of weeks.  Can any of you think of any reasons not to and to go ahead and book now?  

 

You get extra onboard credit when booking on the ship.  But you might miss out on a desired cabin.

[Crazy For Cats]

54 minutes ago, dfish said:

Hello again,

 

We have completely turned around our thinking on the solar eclipse cruise.  I looked at pricing and airfare and hotels and we found out that the VOV is only slightly more expensive than the "cheaper" Med cruise would turn out to be.  So, we are leaning in that direction right now.  The thought of another trip over the pond on an airplane does not thrill me.  

 

We're looking at booking when we are on board in a couple of weeks.  Can any of you think of any reasons not to and to go ahead and book now?  

The current promotion includes gratuity and it ends on 8/20.  If your cruise is in early booking bonus then I think you should wait,

[dfish]

16 minutes ago, Crazy For Cats said:

The current promotion includes gratuity and it ends on 8/20.  If your cruise is in early booking bonus then I think you should wait,

It is in early booking status so we'd get those promotions as well as the additional OBC for booking onboard.

[Cruising-along]

Good morning all!

We're heading for the low 80's today, and then warmer each day.  Lots of sunshine.  Nobody can say we didn't have a nice, sunny summer this year!

 

I love Alberino wine, one of my favorites.  Canning -- I was a big canner for years.  Now I do just a little here and there.  But in the past I regularly canned green beans, peaches, pears, pie cherries, jams, blackberries for pies, applesauce and more.  I think 2015 was the last year I did a lot, here's what I did that year -- even carrots for stews that year.  The juice from the canned carrots made stews really tasty.

 

 

I would like the drink and the wine, will pass on the soup and instead we're having tacos tonight.  Have not been to Arica, thanks for the great photos!

 

Speaking of canning, today we'll be picking up apricots from DS and DDIL.  Their apricot tree had a nice harvest.  I'll be making apricot jam, as I'm the designated jam-maker for everyone. Last time I made Apricot-Riesling jam -- yum!  But they asked for regular apricot jam this time. 

 

Yesterday was so nice with the DGSs.  The movie was cute (we're all fans of the Despicable Me movies and this one was in 3D.  Afterwards we went to dinner and ice cream for the boys, and then back to their house.  DD and DSIL had a nice evening out and were home about 45 minutes after we got there.  

 

Prayers for all on the Care List and big cheers for all who are celebrating!

[ottahand7]

@ger sorry working on my phone couldn't delete your blue bubble 

@ger_77we can dig worms but we do not have nightcrawlers here.  We use multi hook rigs for casting. We have fished with bacon and pieces of hot dogs when we were kids.  One important thing to note, if you are done fishing and no longer need the crawlers dump them into the lake and not on the ground.  Crawlers are non native and will take over and stop the growth of undergrowth.  

@StLouisCruisers I am sorry for your Flight Ease issue.  

@RMLincoln I hope all goes well with your DHs eye appointment today.  

@smitty34877 prayers for rest for you as you are working with no aide right now.  

Edited August 1 by ottahand7

[Seasick Sailor]

2 hours ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

We continue to enjoy this Voyage of the Vikings Legendary Voyage.  Yesterday,  the Classic Trio played an old favorite of mine from the Lincoln Center Playlist: starting with Aaron Copeland's Hoedown and finishing with Edith Piaf. They proudly told us Holland America payed for the rights to use these, not Lincoln Center. 

The Legendary Band played in the Ocean Bar while the Rolling Stone Band  does very well and Nathan continues at Billboard. 

We sat with seasoned Holland America Line Mariners at breakfast who have done the World Cruise on the Zuiderdam. I asked them what the World Cruise offered above this Legendary and they mentioned the pillow gifts, but not much else. We do have Captain Frank, Hotel GM Henk and Kimberly, same as this year's WC.

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations on your cruise. Sounds like you are having a great time!

 

[Seasick Sailor]

@richwmn Rich, you are on our Sept 1st cruise. Is it a Legendary Voyage or not? My paperwork just shows 53 Day Majestic Japan. 

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

Good afternoon from a hot, about 92F now, and windy central Texas.  The house is clean, and I'm waiting for the first dryer load to finish while the second load of towels are washing.  At least, the internet is working on the computer again.

 

6 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

Good morning Dailyites 

 

Rabbit, rabbit, white rabbit!

 

High 90's to 100 over the next 10 days. Our plants are panting!

 

So proud of our US Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky! She was awesome!

 

Prayers lifted for our ailing friends here on the Daily. Sure wish we could resolve some of your issues.

 

Please say a prayer for my sister. She meets the surgeon and plastic surgeon this afternoon. She will get her surgery date as well.

 

No game night tonight, so DH and I will venture downtown for sushi and happy hour. 

 

Wishing you a blessed day.

 

 

Joy, I hope all goes well for Bonnie today with both the surgeon and plastic surgeon.  I hope they will be able to both surgeries at the same time, and the date isn't that far off.

 

4 hours ago, tjcox9 said:

Arica Chile brought back memories of a most interesting day outside of Arica. We were booked on the Zaandam Dec 2015 Antarctica cruise. Rather than fly, we chose to take Celebrity Infinity from FLL to Valparaiso where it would arrive the same day the Zaandam would depart for it's itinerary. Arica was one of the ports on the Celebrity ship's repositioning cruise.

 

We tried to book the ship's tour due to the distance to the Atacama desert, one of the driest places on earth. However, there was an age limit due to the elevation and DH was just over the limit. So, we managed to join an independent tour with a few others and go out, but not the desert. It was a fascinating day for sure.

 

Arriving Arica

 

Candelabra cactus

 

 

Beautiful valley - Capaquilla Pukara

 

Geoglyphs near Arica

 

 

The village of Poconchile

 

 

 

Outside the church

 

 

 

 

Then it was on to the highest elevation we reached at Putre, another village. It was the Christmas season..........

 

 

Our lunch location

 

 

And yet, another small village - Socoroma. There are some pix here for the gardeners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for the pictures from your day in Arica.  You visited an area we did not see.

 

4 hours ago, Nickelpenny said:

Thanks for the daily and fleet report and thank you for the description of Alberino Day.  Looked up Lammas Day, so I learned something today!  Strange quote, pass on all the food and drink, and I have never been to Chile.  I remember MTV starting and thank goodness oxygen was discovered!

 

 

We continue with "cooler" temps under 100F but we will heat up again this weekend.  Afternoon storms also continue but very much location dependent.  I heard lots of thunder yesterday but only a smattering of raindrops, though it did smell nice.  

 

 

<rant> I have been trying to make my final payment with AARP gift cards on the HAL site for the last couple of days and it just doesn't work.  In anticipating this, I had made an appt with my PCC for today to get it done.  It just irritates me that this option is available on the website but it doesn't work!  Why do I have to take up my PCC's valuable time for something I could do myself!  🤬 <rant over>

 

 

Stitches came out yesterday and it wasn't as bad as I feared.  I have to keep a bandage over it for 2 days but after that I can get it wet (swim, whirlpool, beach).  I forgot to have them take a pic but I think I will try to get someone to do so on Saturday.  But today I am just going to chill.

 

 

@StLouisCruisers I have never used FE and your story just gives me another reason not to.  I hope you get it resolved.

@Seasick Sailor Thoughts for your sister today.

@marshhawk Thoughts of you always

@smitty34877 Don't forget to take care of yourself also.  

@RedneckBobWhere are you?  I miss your jokes!!

Thoughts for all and cheers for those celebrating.  Have a great day everyone!! 

 

Pennie, I'm glad the removal of the stitches was not as bad as you expected.  

 

3 hours ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

We continue to enjoy this Voyage of the Vikings Legendary Voyage.  Yesterday,  the Classic Trio played an old favorite of mine from the Lincoln Center Playlist: starting with Aaron Copeland's Hoedown and finishing with Edith Piaf. They proudly told us Holland America payed for the rights to use these, not Lincoln Center. 

The Legendary Band played in the Ocean Bar while the Rolling Stone Band  does very well and Nathan continues at Billboard. 

We sat with seasoned Holland America Line Mariners at breakfast who have done the World Cruise on the Zuiderdam. I asked them what the World Cruise offered above this Legendary and they mentioned the pillow gifts, but not much else. We do have Captain Frank, Hotel GM Henk and Kimberly, same as this year's WC.

 

 

 

 

 

Pete, thanks for the pictures.  I doubt the socks Henk was wearing were regulation ones for the uniform.

 

3 hours ago, dfish said:

Hello again,

 

We have completely turned around our thinking on the solar eclipse cruise.  I looked at pricing and airfare and hotels and we found out that the VOV is only slightly more expensive than the "cheaper" Med cruise would turn out to be.  So, we are leaning in that direction right now.  The thought of another trip over the pond on an airplane does not thrill me.  

 

We're looking at booking when we are on board in a couple of weeks.  Can any of you think of any reasons not to and to go ahead and book now?  

 

Debbie, I'd check the offers now, and try to see how they stack up to offers while on board.

 

1 hour ago, Cruising-along said:

Good morning all!

We're heading for the low 80's today, and then warmer each day.  Lots of sunshine.  Nobody can say we didn't have a nice, sunny summer this year!

 

I love Alberino wine, one of my favorites.  Canning -- I was a big canner for years.  Now I do just a little here and there.  But in the past I regularly canned green beans, peaches, pears, pie cherries, jams, blackberries for pies, applesauce and more.  I think 2015 was the last year I did a lot, here's what I did that year -- even carrots for stews that year.  The juice from the canned carrots made stews really tasty.

 

 

I would like the drink and the wine, will pass on the soup and instead we're having tacos tonight.  Have not been to Arica, thanks for the great photos!

 

Speaking of canning, today we'll be picking up apricots from DS and DDIL.  Their apricot tree had a nice harvest.  I'll be making apricot jam, as I'm the designated jam-maker for everyone. Last time I made Apricot-Riesling jam -- yum!  But they asked for regular apricot jam this time. 

 

Yesterday was so nice with the DGSs.  The movie was cute (we're all fans of the Despicable Me movies and this one was in 3D.  Afterwards we went to dinner and ice cream for the boys, and then back to their house.  DD and DSIL had a nice evening out and were home about 45 minutes after we got there.  

 

Prayers for all on the Care List and big cheers for all who are celebrating!

 

Carolyn, I'm glad everyone had a good time last night.  I've never canned, but when we lived in Pennsylvania, I'd blanch and freeze green beans, and corn we bought by the crate.  I'd also fix yellow squash and freeze a lot of it to use throughout the winter.  

 

I found my pictures from our Day in Arica, and will scan some of them into the the computer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lenda

Edited August 1 by Quartzsite Cruiser

[1ANGELCAT]

Good hot afternoon, it’s currently 92 with a feels like of 104. I am so ready for this to be over with. 
I hope everyone is staying cool.

    

[sailingdutchy]

Good afternoon all , thank you to Rich @richwmn and all contributors to the Daily .

 

After junking my 12 year old iMac a week ago , which has served me well but was nearly failing me , " salingdutchy Tony "  is back lurking again whenever he has a chance to see what is going on in the HAL cruising world and with my cruise friends,

 

I don't know when I will be back posting and or posting my photos because I have got a lot of work to do transferring all my stuff to this brand new iMac which at first sight is very different from what I was use to .

 

Have a great day everybody 

Tony 😄🤨

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

In April 2001, we were on Ryndam from Valparaiso to Ft. Lauderdale when we stopped in Arica.  Our tour took us to Lake Chungara in the Lucca National Park.  We stopped on the way up to help acclimate to the elevation since we were coming from sea level.  Lake Chungara is the highest lake in Chile at 14,820 feet or 4,517 meters.  HAL was very careful on the tour, and took as many precautions as possible to deal with any problems at that high altitude.  Each bus in the convoy had two or more oxygen tanks on board with someone from Medical or someone who knew how to administer the oxygen.  There was also an ambulance with us in case someone had a severe case of altitude sickness.  IIRC, no one needed the ambulance, but there were some who needed oxygen.  The guides and people from the ship were always telling us to slow down when we were off the bus.  I'm glad we were still in our mid-50s that day.

 

Please keep in mind that these pictures are 23 years old, and were scanned into the computer.  I worked on them to make them the best they could be.

 

Some of the country outside of Arica as we headed up into the Andes.  Irrigation can really transform a desert.

 

 

 

My notes say that this an ancient fortification and a national monument.

 

A small store that is selling Inca Cola which is actually a drink from Peru that has lemon verbena as the main ingredient.  We did not get to try it.

 

We were getting closer to the Andes.

 

Looking down on the town of Putre, Chile.

 

The view from the bus as we climbed.

 

Finally, Lake Chungara

 

 

A high mountain field with llamas grazing.

 

On the way back to Arica, we made a brief stop in Putre, and I got a few pictures of the cemetery.

 

 

Lenda

 

[Haljo1935]

🐇 🐇 🐰 

What a day - haven't made it through today's full postings yet, but wanted to jump in while I have a break and before l head out ro PT, which I rescheduled from this AM.

 

Boss scheduled a 1:1 when he saw I had moved my PT appt from this morning to EOD. He scheduled it for 30 min, we were on about 15. Takeaways: keep a log of my daily doings to justify my FT status. Dr appts cannot be classified as lunch for timekeeping purposes, and sitting in front of the computer ready to take a call is not working.🤔

I am salary, workday is 7am-5pm (unless something comes up before or after, which it usually does since I work across 5 time zones) 5 days/wk = 50hr standard workweek. 

Being salary (as I have been for 15+ years w/this company) I don't watch a clock, don't record time, and don't ignore a call or email "after hours" because I'm "off the clock." I guess that changes today.🤷‍♀️

 

Heading to lunch/PT in 20 min then done for the day. Phew...is it the weekend yet?

[richwmn]

2 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

@richwmn Rich, you are on our Sept 1st cruise. Is it a Legendary Voyage or not? My paperwork just shows 53 Day Majestic Japan. 

There is a thread that addresses just that question:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3020845-are-we-really-a-legendary-cruise/#comment-67717418

By the definition HAL provides for a legendary voyage, it should be. Some of the posts I have seen tend to indicate that it is, but I guess we won't know for sure until we board.

 

[RMLincoln]

Mostly good from eye doctor visit… stable is good. The pesky left eye pressure was not nearly as low as it has been at home, so that was disappointing but we’re moving ahead without meds!  Return in November and he’ll have some guidance from the Johns-Hopkins surgeon about next steps, maybe the needle option, which we really don’t want to think about yet (using a needle to scrape out some scar tissue from the surgical flap to make it more open). 
 

Thanks for the Arica pix. We stopped there on our round the horn repositioning. Ultra dry place!  
 

Hoping to see news of improvements soon!  Blessings to all! Especially thinking of Annie and Chuck, Terry and Tana, Bonnie, Vanessa, Ann and Pat, Sandi’s family, Roy. 
Maureen 

[summer slope]

@aliaschief, stay safe this weekend, it looks like the storm is coming your way. 

[doobieb]

Good Afternoon to all!

I think I will have to either get up earlier or move to Asia to get in a White Rabbit first.😁

@StLouisCruisers  I followed your agonizing  drive home from Boston. What an undertaking. I am in awe. The next day we got a “sorry folks” email from Delta. They need to get their act together! 

We always do our own flight arrangements after one experience with bad connections and seat selection that could have been so much better.Good luck with getting a full reimbursement. 

Prayers for all on the Daily, and thanks for the smiles every day.

Debbie

[ger_77]

Good afternoon, I’m here with a special request of all my Daily friends.  I just received the following email from our dear @marshhawk:

 

“I'm at the hospital.  It looks like Chuck had a stroke.  We were on our way from the bank and something happened. He rolled his eyes up in his head and when we got to the restaurant, he couldn’t open the door.  Got him into the restaurant and he was sweating profusely.  The staff got some cool towels to put on him, but he wouldn’t answer any questions I asked him. He has been saying all morning that he didn’t want to go to the emergency, but he’s there now.”

 

Asking for your prayers for Chuck @catmando, his medical team, and especially for Annie @marshhawk as she walks the tightrope of Chuck’s health. 
 

Thank you, 

Gerry

 

BTW, I asked Annie if she wanted me to pass this along to all of you, her friends, and she said yes, please. 

[smitty34877]

Thank you Gerry for letting us know about Chuck and Annie.

 

Prayers for them and the medical team in charge.

 

[kochleffel]

Rabbit, rabbit, grey rabbit.

 

Tipping: I shared an airport shuttle with six or seven other people yesterday, and only the two of us who were retired tipped the driver. We were all on the way to redeye flights; I was in San Diego until 10:30 p.m., Detroit at 5:45 a.m., Rochester at 9:00 a.m., home just before noon.

 

The conference was great, especially the food--all kosher and all prepared by the UCSD food service, not a kosher caterer. I was presenting one session, in the last slot of the entire conference, and to my great surprise, people attended it.

 

 

[Seasick Sailor]

43 minutes ago, richwmn said:

There is a thread that addresses just that question:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3020845-are-we-really-a-legendary-cruise/#comment-67717418

By the definition HAL provides for a legendary voyage, it should be. Some of the posts I have seen tend to indicate that it is, but I guess we won't know for sure until we board.

 

 

Funny... Finally got a call back from my HAL PCC. Yes, we are on a Legendary Voyage. 

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

 

 

 

8 minutes ago, ger_77 said:

Good afternoon, I’m here with a special request of all my Daily friends.  I just received the following email from our dear @marshhawk:

 

“I'm at the hospital.  It looks like Chuck had a stroke.  We were on our way from the bank and something happened. He rolled his eyes up in his head and when we got to the restaurant, he couldn’t open the door.  Got him into the restaurant and he was sweating profusely.  The staff got some cool towels to put on him, but he wouldn’t answer any questions I asked him. He has been saying all morning that he didn’t want to go to the emergency, but he’s there now.”

 

Asking for your prayers for Chuck @catmando, his medical team, and especially for Annie @marshhawk as she walks the tightrope of Chuck’s health. 
 

Thank you, 

Gerry

 

BTW, I asked Annie if she wanted me to pass this along to all of you, her friends, and she said yes, please. 

 

Gerry, thanks for letting us know what is happening with Annie and Chuck.  My heart goes out to them.  With all they have been through, they don't need this.  Sending positive thoughts to them and Chuck's care team.

 

Lenda

[StLouisCruisers]

10 minutes ago, doobieb said:

Good Afternoon to all!

I think I will have to either get up earlier or move to Asia to get in a White Rabbit first.😁

@StLouisCruisers  I followed your agonizing  drive home from Boston. What an undertaking. I am in awe. The next day we got a “sorry folks” email from Delta. They need to get their act together! 

We always do our own flight arrangements after one experience with bad connections and seat selection that could have been so much better.Good luck with getting a full reimbursement. 

Prayers for all on the Daily, and thanks for the smiles every day.

Debbie

 

Debbie, thanks for your interest in our adventures.  When you apply for reimbursement and they say it might take 30 days to answer you, it gets frustrating.  I still wish Flight Ease people would get in touch.  If they would let Delta know what the credit should be maybe Delta would do something.  But why wouldn't the credit be the cost of our tickets???

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, ger_77 said:

Good afternoon, I’m here with a special request of all my Daily friends.  I just received the following email from our dear @marshhawk:

 

“I'm at the hospital.  It looks like Chuck had a stroke.  We were on our way from the bank and something happened. He rolled his eyes up in his head and when we got to the restaurant, he couldn’t open the door.  Got him into the restaurant and he was sweating profusely.  The staff got some cool towels to put on him, but he wouldn’t answer any questions I asked him. He has been saying all morning that he didn’t want to go to the emergency, but he’s there now.”

 

Asking for your prayers for Chuck @catmando, his medical team, and especially for Annie @marshhawk as she walks the tightrope of Chuck’s health. 
 

Thank you, 

Gerry

 

BTW, I asked Annie if she wanted me to pass this along to all of you, her friends, and she said yes, please. 

 

Gerry, thank you for passing this information along.  I feel so badly for Annie and Chuck.  I really hope things aren't as serious as they look, but should be prepared for them to be so.  Huge prayers for both of them.🙏