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@marshhawk great news on your work schedule!

Good morning. Finally a morning not having to have room service coffee at 6am. Ann thank you for starting off our daily reports! Prayers for all on our Care list and the people of Ukraine. Special prayers for Kathi. Our adventures continue with me as a solo yesterday. I rode a horse on the Pampas with 6 others on our tour. It was supposed to be 2 hours riding on dirt roads through the Pampas. For two of us it was riding an hour and a half and laying in a ditch under a poplar for a half hour waiting for a pickup. I bailed out first and shortly thereafter another lady bailed out. It took more riding to find some shade. Our ride took a half hour to show up but we still beat the other riders back. After I had poured bottled water all over me and then ran my head under cold water did I have the energy to look at AccuWeather, it was 105. I wish I had taken a screenshot. I drank about 5 glasses of water with a little orange juice before I felt human again. I did put a pretty good dent in the Argentinian BBQ they put in front of us and 2 glasses of Malbec. While the others swam I saw our minibus running in the shade so I sprawled out on the back seat and slept. We rode very well mannered retired polo pony mares and were given the opportunity to ride fast if we wanted. I managed to get a good trot going for a hundred feet a couple of times but it got to the point I was just hoping I didn't faint. My skin was powder white from evaporated sweat. Would I do it again yes but I would bail out if the temperature was going to be over 95 degrees. There was a group from our ship that also took polo lessons and got to play a little and then see a 4 rider match. Today we have a Tapas and Wine late lunch and a panoramic city tour. John started negotiations with Daphne from Guest Services. With my $1500 credit, the remains of my $1100 deposit and the cancellation of Volunteer Point King Penguins shorex I have $2650 credit. Seattle doesn't open till much later today so we will see if John can secure us a cabin upgrade on the Eurodam in 2024 in lieu of a credit I do not need. The food on the grill was the leftovers after 25+ people gorged on beef.

Good Sunday morning. We are in Buenos Aires for the next three days. I missed checking in yesterday because we had a long day in Montevideo and at the winery. It was a great shore excursion again. Ann thanks for starting us off with the daily and care reports. Prayers for all on our Care list and the people of Ukraine. Thanks for all the well wishes while we were kicked out of our home at sea. Their renumeration is $1500 on board credit. I had $600 remaining so I have $2100 to spend over 33 days. Fully booked on shore excursions and 3 Pinnacle Grill dinners prepaid. John is going to go to guest services today to tell them what we think of their offer. I am off to the Pampas to ride a horse in the 90 degree heat. Have a great day!

@Cruising-along those "littles" are darling. Thanks for giving them a home. The grey one reminds me of my Korat Tiny RIP.

Sandi, glad you made it down safely. Bon Voyage! We are back in our cabin but 2 trips to guest services to get it straightened out and then request them to deliver my bags back home. First sunset back home and a few photos of PDE.

Just got back.from our long day of shore excursion. I was thinking we would return to a blinking message light. Not so. John was so optimistic he carried his bag up there this morning and headed straight up to our cabin. Nope still on Dolphin deck. Last night something was protruding from the hull because our cabin was 5 times as loud as it was crossing the Drake Passage. Finally at 12:30 am I sent a message to guest services and let them have it. My main point is they gave us the worst cabin on the ship next to mid ship gangway and that it sounded like a freight train or sometimes a subway platform all night last night. I told the I paid for my balcony, my bathtub and peace and quiet. Not a message from guest services. I told them their skimpy renumeration was pitiful. Our shore excursion was great. Punta del Este is beautiful and we had a great lunch that started rocky due to crowding that could have been handled better but they fixed it with a lot of good food and wine. Thanks for the Daily Reports and for our Care list. Prayers for all needing them, the people of Ukraine and Roy, Jacqui,.Tana and Kathi. Photos maybe later have a Tamarind pop up.at 5:30 and another early long day tomorrow. Nancy

@kochleffelso sorry you have Covid. I hope it is a mild case. I don't want to jinx us but since our one early January we haven't had a Covid test so numbers must be low onboard. @StLouisCruisers Bon Voyage, enjoy your upcoming cruise! 🍾⛴️. No air cleaner in the cabin just those giant fans. Now they have one running in the hall about 12 cabins down from us on Dolphin deck. @Seasick Sailor I hope you can see a doctor who can help you. Captain Arno did his noon briefing and will be departing on Saturday in Montevideo. He said a captain who was on the Volendam previously will be returning. We have a 7:15 report time for our shore excursion tomorrow going to an art museum, a scenic lookout and then to a winery hotel for lunch and wine tasting. I hope it isn't three buses worth of visitors. No message on our answering machine so I will go up and shop my closet once more for clothes for dinner and tomorrow. Tomorrow is also a Tamarind pop up. Hope we return in time. Nancy

@kochleffelso sorry you have Covid. I hope it is a mild case. I don't want to jinx us but since our one early January we haven't had a Covid test so numbers must be low onboard. @StLouisCruisers Bon Voyage, enjoy your upcoming cruise! 🍾⛴️. No air cleaner in the cabin just those giant fans. Now the have one running in the hall about 12 cabins down from us. @Seasick Sailor I hope you can see a doctor who can help you. Captain Arno did his noon briefing and will be departing on Saturday in Montevideo. He said a captain who was on the Volendam previously will be returning. We have a 7:15 report time for our shore excursion tomorrow going to an art museum, a scenic lookout and then to a winery hotel for lunch and wine tasting. I hope it isn't three buses worth of visitors. No message on our answering machine so I will go up and shop my closet once more for clothes for dinner and tomorrow. Tomorrow is also a Tamarind pop up. Hope we return in time. Nancy

Good morning! Sandi thanks again for starting us off with our daily reports. Prayers for all on our Care list and the people of Ukraine. Roy so glad to hear you are slowly on the mend. Prayers for Jacqui, Kathi and Tana and continued healing for Roy. Day 5 begins on the Dolphin deck. Let's hope it is today we return to our cabin. When I went up to get more clothes yesterday it is getting drier but there still is something in the air that induced coughing. It doesn't take much to induce coughing with me though. We are planning to sit on our balcony this afternoon to get some sunshine and whale watch. Our shore excursion was fun although there were three buses at the sheep farm and the seal viewing area. First time we shared a venue with a bus from another ship. I would think they wouldn't want mixing of germs. Celebrity ship possibly Infinity in port with us. The city was beautiful and so were the environs of the estancia and the seal colony. It was a steppe area where we saw more wildlife on our bus ride to the farm than we had seen on our other land based shore excursions this trip. Patagonian Fox, many Rias, all kinds of land birds like quail and partridge and some prairie dog like ground squirrels. The farm had plenty of animals to look at too including a pet Guanaco. The seals were numerous and active. Ending with some food porn. Crispy pork belly and a chef special chicken appetizer on a potato salad and a fresh veggie relish. Both were great. Have a wonderful day! Nancy

Good morning from Puerto Madryn Argentina. A world of difference in temperature from Ushuaia and Antarctica. Highs in the high 80s. We have a close by shore excursion to a sea lion colony and a sheep farm. It is a beautiful day. We are still in our cabin on Dolphin deck. Another reason the cabin was probably unoccupied is because our cabin wall is on the other side of the mid ship gangway. Our morning started at 5 am with banging and dragging chains. I ran into two 6th floor neighbors and on one side our neighbor returned home yesterday. Our other neighbors are still out like we are. I made another trip up to our cabin to get that, sunscreen and cameras and the smell is dreadful. I have asthma we will see how that works out. Prayers for all on our Care list and the people of Ukraine. Prayers for Roy, Jacqui, Kathi and Tana. Have a wonderful day! Thanks for starting us off every day Sandi!

@rafinmd I pray you continue to make improvement and are comfortable at home. @St 4711@StLouisCruisersthanks for starting us off each day. Late start for me today. Everything is messed up living like a vagabond. I bring a suitcase up to our cabin but I always forget something. Today it was my iPod charger. Then they pulled the rug from under us moving dressy night to tonight after we thought we evaded it 2 nights ago. I am going in jeans with no jewelry. I hope we can return home tomorrow. Expected 80s tomorrow. My sunrise this morning sadly through a clouded window.

Good morning from Day 2 waiting to return home to our cabin. We stopped in coming back from breakfast and the entire hall was ice cold. We went into the cabin and we found out why, the balcony door was propped open probably to facilitate cleaning the air in there. I stopped to grab my orange blouse for Orange party tonight but I couldn't find it. Will require a more diligent search or it got lost in the laundry. It has clear sequins on it just the thing that could have a mishap in the laundry. I have my orange shawl that I bought at Walgreens for $5 to wear on Orange night. Thanks for doing both the Daily and the Care and Celebration lists for us @StLouisCruisers! Thank you for the magical pictures of Bruges! Prayers for Roy, Kathi and Jacqui and for those on our lists. Prayers for the people of Ukraine. Our night was pitching seas but I slept well even with all the noise below us. It is now partly sunny and fairly calm seas. Another sea day, gym, more reading and Kindle "Scrabble" and dinner in the MDR. The kitchens have done a marvelous job mixing up the menus. Yesterday was a seafood extravaganza in the Lido at lunch. So many choices that all looked beautiful. Probably why there was zero wait at the salad bar. Food in the MDR has not been too repetitive. I am afraid we will be totally spoiled for our next trip which in 2024 which is winter escape going round and round the Caribbean. One place that could break the mold on long cruises is the PG. It never changes and for us folks that use it as an escape from dressy night it does get repetitive. Perhaps add in a few up sized entrees from their lunch menu. Have a great day! Nancy

@luvteachingyou mentioned bad bacteria and when elderly people get bacterial infections it can cause lingering confusion and weakness. I pray he continues to rally in cognition. @marshhawk I think I have figured out why these cabins on Dolphin deck are open. We are in extremely high seas and there is quite a racket below us so I am thinking the stabilizer. The cabin is in great shape other than a wobbly desk chair. I was able to take a nap through the noise. @durangoscots I am sure you were really frightened by the attack on your dogs. I hope that neighbor has them on a leash from now on. There are so many scary stories of dog attacks on humans and pets. The captain warned us on noon briefing the seas will continue to get worse through the afternoon. Seas too rough to go to the gym. I just got a call from guest services to make sure my laundry was delivered and we got an extension cord so we could change more than one device at a time. She apologized and said if our carpet doesn't dry properly we will get new carpet. For our inconvenience we have a complimentary dinner in the PG with a bottle of wine and $100 each spa certificates. Have a great afternoon. Someone was at Guest Services when I was there from 7060 wondering when they can return to their cabin as it has passed the estimated three days. We are in 6062. 🙄 Nancy

@dobiemomand @GTV @GTVCRUISERBon Voyage! ⛴️🍾

Captain Arno's talk was good with a brief overview of navigation and the weather. He showed the area of low pressure between here and the Falklands. He said 10 meter swells would be part of that system. He said big swells are in order for us this afternoon then quieter weather. Many good questions. Regarding our broken pipe on deck 6 he said repairs can be problematic because a 24 year old ship it is hard to get parts and the company that custom made parts for HA went bankrupt during Covid. Thankfully they have nice ocean view cabins for all of us displaced. It just isn't going to be an afternoon. Our room steward told us three days probably. We will have to go and pack up all our bathroom supplies, medicine and three days worth of clothes. All my cameras and laptop are still up there too. Thankfully I booked us dinner at the Pinnacle for tonight to avoid dressy night so we don't haul all the extra shoes and clothes down. I probably wouldn't have done a good job earlier standing in sloshing water. While waiting for the Captain's talk there were neighbors from three other cabins talking about the level of flood in each cabin and it seems ours is the only one that is so cold requires using the deck blanket to stay warm inside so maybe it can be fixed. One of the entertainers in a inside cabin was ground zero for the pipe burst and had all his clothes soaked. He was in the Lido in robe and slippers because that is all he had to wear. I don't know which would be better during 3 days of sea time which we are facing or days in port when we could break the monotony. Doesn't matter it is what it is.

Good Sunday morning from the Drake Passage. It is Drake shaky this morning. We are relocated as of now for how long we do not know. Our neighbor kindly called us at 4:30 telling John the hall flooded and pick up anything we had on the floor. We stepped out of bed into at least 1/2 " of water. We pulled two still dry suitcases out from under the bed and I got a wet one from my side and put it in the tub. We tried to go back to sleep but with the slosh slosh it was kind of difficult. We are sitting in the Lido killing time. We have a cabin on deck one to go to while they tear out the beds and try to dry us out. It appears to be at least 12 cabins. Today is "ask the captain " at 10 talk about poor timing. We will be attending. I wonder who got evicted from these cabins for all us refugees from deck 6? Prayers for all on our Care list and the people of Ukraine. Prayers for Tana, Roy, Jacqui, Kathi and Sarah. Thanks for doing this each day for us Sandi! This morning in our cabin and from the Argentinian Cellar Master Dinner last night. The dessert was beautiful but way too sweet.

Roy thanks for the update. Glad to hear you slept better. It is 3 pm and as predicted by the captain it is getting rough. I left the gym at 1 because I was beginning to feel it then. Perfect night for an Argentine wine dinner in the Pinnacle tonight. Have a great afternoon. Nancy

We just came back from the Shackleton lecture and it was great. I had read the book Endurance right before this cruise so to be in the area these explorers survived was moving. Bad news began our talk. Captain Arno came on the speakers and the weather has worsened in the Drake Passage. We will not be going to the Falklands on the 6th but will head directly to Argentina. He warned of high waves beginning around 3 and then another low pressure system again tomorrow. I will miss seeing the King Penguins but it will be my excuse to repeat this cruise in the future. Here are some views of Deception Island and it's environs. @smitty34877glad to hear Tana is feeling better. @StLouisCruisersthank for the pic of Deception Island in better weather.

Good Saturday morning. Sandi thank you for starting us off with the Daily and the Cares and Celebration reports. Prayers for Roy, Jacqui, Kathi, Tana and Sarah and for the people of Ukraine. We had a late itinerary change last night when the captain came over the loudspeaker and announced our visit to Elephant Island was scrapped due to predicted 24' swells in the Drake Passage. We are now on our way to Deception Island and are due there shortly. I hope soon because there is a lecture on Shackleton at 10. I was really happy to hear of the change to this unusually shaped island. It is a caldera of an active volcano and then to a chin strap penguin colony. We will just pass the entrance of Deception Island. A few photos from yesterday's visit to Admiralty Bay. It has a large Brazilian base and a Peruvian base nicknamed Macchu Picchu. Waterfalls are only present for about one month each summer here.

My@HAL Sailer I am sorry to hear that your DSIL passed away. No matter if it is expected it is never easy. @rafinmdthank for asking your pastor to send us your update. Continued prayers for your complete recovery. @grapau27I am sorry to hear that Sarah isn't doing well. @smitty34877I hope Tana recovers her appetite really soon. We are making good time to our next scenic cruising site Admiralty Bay and will get there at 3:15. I hope the sunshine holds. Today when we had the listing in both directions the Lido pool did two big dumps. I hope no one was sitting near it. A 200 foot tall tabular iceberg from this morning. Someone did the math on our Facebook page and estimated it was .62 miles deep underwater.

Hard turn to put 90 mph winds to port side to exit Hope Bay.

We are leaving Hope Bay and back into the open sea. More waves less wind. Our guide said we were experiencing something people rarely do with 90 mph winds without corresponding waves. He said in 30 years never has he seen winds like this so near shore. Another commendation to Captain Arno. We did a turn to put the wind on the port side so three times the captain warned everyone to sit down prior to the maneuver. Photos maybe when internet gets better.

Good Friday morning from Hope Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula. I doubt there will be any scenic cruising in here today. 90 mph winds and such that on port side we walk in the cabin door and all we see is water. No sky the ship is listing so much. The sun is trying to break through. Captain just said stay inside. Getting to see the real Antarctic. Tabular icebergs. We missed our last bay yesterday due to ice and high winds. Thanks for starting us off each day Sandi and prayers for all on our Care list and the people of Ukraine. Prayers for Roy, Jacqui, Kathi and Tana. Have a great day. We have a small break with internet service. Photos from Errera Channel yesterday. Second photo on left looks like the Rock of Gibraltar.

Good morning from the Neumyaer Channel. We had a break in the weather so we got a brief glimpse of some of the fabulous peaks surrounding us. Several Humpbacks and hundred of Gentoo Penguins alongside but no Crab eater seals yet. Roy I am glad you are home from the hospital. Wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery. Prayers for all on our Care list and for Jacqui, Kathi and I hope Tana gets over her GI bug. Prayers for the people of Ukraine.

In Pisco the two major excursions were Ballestas Islands and a flight to the Nazca lines. Others were land excursions to Pisco grape growers and distillers. We were there January 16th this year. My good wildlife photos are on my laptop. The Candelabra, two pics of the booby nesting grounds on the Ballestas. Nancy