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Thanks to everyone for your positive thoughts. Jazzy so sorry to hear about your knee, I find it incredible that doctors now make you wait to be seen when complications happen. I hope your knee resolves. Happy Birthdays to all celebrating. I loved the pictures of grand kids and grand nieces/nephews. They are all adorable. I am doing much better than I was when I last posted. I think this will be a long haul but I am up and walking - not outside today, like the others here in Florida the winds are dangerous and I didn't want to walk outside in my precarious state. I have home health and home PT for now and next week I see the surgeon at the end of the week and presumably will be cleared to drive and do PT at a center. I can't post that often as it is hard to type ( I can't sit down for long) but reading the daily keeps me sane and I travel to the various ports of the day thanks to all who post here. Debbie - I loved the chicken with feta recipes but cooking for me won't be for a long time. I saved them to my recipe box. Thanks all for your prayers and for keeping me on the care list.

Just a very quick note since I am not really functional at all. Happy Bday and Happy Anniversary and good sailing to those going on cruises. The back surgery was successful though the post op and being 100% functional I think will be a long haul. I am very grateful that I was able to move the surgery date up to well before my son's wedding in June which gives me time to recuperate. I am also glad we canceled our European port intensive cruise for this summer and re booked for next summer, since I don't think I would have been up to it. I am up and walking but I can't sit down yet for any length of time so it is bed, up and walking, some PT exercises and back to the bed. I had thought I would be back to work (remotely) this Monday, but that will not be happening. I have to be able to sit down before I can work. Oh well I was told to take all the time I need and I guess I will have to do that. Reading the daily keeps me sane, even though right now it is hard for me to post. Thank you for putting me on the care list.

I haven't posted in awhile. Sorry that so many aren't feeling well. Gerry wow on helping the Ukrainian family - you and your community are wonderful. I am so impressed by all the people who keep this daily going. Sandy, Debbie, Vanessa, along with the drink and wine ohf the day. I also thank all the people who post pictures of the various cruise ports, it is such a great way of seeing the world. My back surgery is tomorrow - off to the hospital by 6 AM. Today was a mixed blessing day: On the negative front: I found out at 3:30 PM today that my pre op clearance had still not been faxed to the hospital by my PCP. When I called the office, I got the typical medical office phone system, a person off site answering the phone routing me to numerous extensions all of which went to voice mail with a message telling me that I would receive a call back by the end of business tomorrow and no way to actually reach a human being!! I finally got in the car and drove the 30 minutes to the office, hoping it was still open, which thankfully it was and got it taken care of. This absurd medical system in our country leaves a lot to be desired. On the wonderful front, at the same time I was doing all my pre op stuff, my DIL was in labor and we were waiting to hear about the new arrival. Our 4th baby grandchild arrived at 6:12 PM EDT, today. A beautiful baby girl. Unfortunately we won't get to meet her until June since with my back surgery I don't want to get on a plane and they live in NH. Thank heavens for Facetime and zoom. I probably won't be reading the Daily tomorrow so I am wishing everyone a wonderful day in advance. I

What I do is put the cruise on hold and then call - this way I don't lose the room that I want the agent can then answer all my questions. I always need to call since we usually book the advantage fare which is not available on their website. The hold is good for multiple days.

@cashmeremypuppydogWe had always wanted to do an expedition cruise to Antarctica but found the prices to be way too high for our budget. I went on a web site (sorry can't link it here on CC) that tracks cruise prices and put in a few to track. We ended up getting one well w/in our budget if we booked it immediately, which we did. Our cruise included the airfare to Ushuaia on a chartered plane. We had the worst room on the ship but it didn't really matter since we only used it to sleep. Just a suggestion since it sounds like you would rather do the expedition vs a drive by.

Elliot.org gives the executive contacts for Holland America, and your travel insurance companies. I would send an email to all of these contacts and also ask this advocacy organization for assistance since it seems that the travel insurance companies are not honoring the policies your grandfather purchased if he has repatriation coverage. The travel insurance companies should be assisting in making the arrangements. Also as others said contact the consulate as well - they don't pay for repatriation but assist in these matters.

This was me in Feb - I had to cancel one week before our cruise for a severe back issue. If you booked with a TA notify them ASAP; if with HAL notify them. I would do it by phone and email. You can ask for a FCC but it is not set forth as an option in the terms of the insurance you purchased so not sure if they will grant this to you. Because your insurance is cancel for any reason I don't think you will need a doctor's note. I had private insurance so I did. You get the port fees and any excursions you paid for and extras - like internet, dining reservations, crew appreciation etc. back from HAL right away since you are canceling prior to the start of the cruise. The remainder is the cruise fare and any flights you booked with HAL. On the HAL website it tells you how to file a claim. Sorry to hear this - it is quite a bummer but having been there, there was no way I could have gone on our cruise. BTW the epidural worked wonders for me allowing me to function until my surgery.

If the travel insurance is private insurance not HAL's it is doubtful they will have to use it. If they don't use it, they can call the company and ask for a refund of the premium price or if that won't work have the policy transferred to a new trip.

Yes I had to do this for my cruise I had booked for this July. I got all my money back but I had a refundable deposit. I know others who didn't have a refundable. deposit but asked to transfer it to another cruise and it was allowed but I am not sure if HAL would do that now. I hope everyone is doing better today with their surgeries. I am sorry to hear that so many are having medical issues. Thank you all for keeping up this daily. Though I don't post much it is a pleasure to read.

I suggest good quality hiking pants that quick dry for both you and your wife. Jeans are the worst thing to wear if they get wet. There are many different brands, of pants, and the ones I have I wear at night on casual nights- they are black or brown and with a nice top - look fine. My husband does the same with his. One of mine converts to shorts and another to crop pants (for your wife). It makes it much easier to pack to have these all in one type clothes. Also a trick for cold weather areas is to pack some silk long underwear. I take a small back pack on my excursions, with my water bottle etc. and start the day if it is cold with my silks underneath and if it gets warm I just head to the bathroom and remove, stuff in my backpack and I don't have anything bulky to deal with if the weather gets warm during the day. The silks also help with the wind. Another thing is to bring a winter hat - again they take up little room but make a huge difference.

Try contacting corporate - elliott advocacy lists the email contacts.

We brought fleece hats with a visor and a must is long underwear, silks are best. Also you must have sun glasses and some people wore good ski googles since the sun reflecting on the ice is very bright. My husband bought the gloves you wear to take pictures that you can pull down a part of them to hold the camera. For our excursions - We wore silk as a base for our gloves and them mittens/gloves as the warm layer. I wore my long underwear and my old ski bibs for pants, then long underwear, a turtle neck, a fleece and neck warmer (not a scarf it gets in the way), the jacket I was given and my visor hat with sun glasses with a strap so if they fell it was just to my chest. For socks get a pair of silk socks and then fleece or wool - you want things that dry quickly. It is not the cold that is the issue it is the wind. Our ship provided us with hiking sticks but if Viking doesn't I would recommend you bring a pair - they are a great help on the hikes you do when you land. On the ship the dress was casual - essentially no one dressed up at all and just pants and a sweater were fine. We all brought our jackets, hats, gloves etc to meals since the captain would tell us to run outside to see - you name it so we had to be prepared. It was the most fabulous cruise we have ever taken and that is despite the fact that I spent some 'quality time' in our room crossing the Drake, especially on the way back. So glad you decided to do this cruise - it will be the trip of a lifetime and I hope you have spectacular weather - we had such good weather we went the furthest south of any ship that season and none of the crew had ever crossed the Antarctic circle until we did.

Trick I learned camping and hiking pretend it is that time of the month and wear a pad -helps when you use a potty bush. 🙂

You will love it - we did the expedition with Silverseas and still have our jackets. We did not need to buy boots as they were also provided. Almost all of the expedition cruises provide jackets that are red in color and you must wear them when you do the zodiac landings. I assumed this is so the crew knows where everyone is who goes ashore.

Having just recently sold a car I didn't need, I suggest you contact ALGO, (algonation.com) Carvana, give your vin, etc. The rates you get to buy your car are well more than what the dealerships give you and they pick the car up from you with no hassle at all. We used ALGO and received almost 7,000.00 more than the dealer offered. Happy Birthday to Pauline. And Happy belated birthday to others who just celebrated. I hope everyone stays safe in the newest storm to hit and keeps their power. @RMLincolnSorry to hear about Covid - I hope it is a quick case with no lasting effects and that you schedule your husbands surgery soon. Debbie: Glad the doctors finally agreed to do the surgery you have been wanting. We did Antarctica on a small expedition ship so no ideas on which way to go though I can say that the Drake can either be a lake (what we had on the way to Antarctica) or a nightmare (what we had coming back). I would make sure you take some motion sickness medications that work for you and take them before you hit the Drake passage.

I have food allergies as well and since you get the menu the night before if there is nothing on it that you like or can eat the chef will prepare you a special meal.

Call the agency listed here on CC and they will help you get the best insurance at a reasonable price.

Sorry to hear about more people passing and funerals today. Cruising Along - it sounds like things went well with your doctor. I hope your kidney issues resolve. Sandy you are doing quite the task, as is Debbie, Vanessa and the others who post the drink and wines. It is quite a task and done nowhere else on this site by any group of people. Thank you all for doing this every single day and thank you Rich for doing this in advance for this group. I loved the pictures of the Cat in the Hat and all of the new puppies that have been posted recently. Vanessa for now you can take me off of the care list. As I thought the surgeon said I needed surgery since I have a broken bone in my lower back and it will not get better on its own. As of now it is scheduled for early May but I am hoping they can move it up to April since I have my son's wedding in mid June which will entail traveling by plane though thankfully not a long flight. The surgeon swore I would be fine to do this since it gives me 6 weeks of recuperation time. We had booked a wonderful long cruise this summer to Iceland, Scotland and Norway on the Rotterdam, for this summer, but given the very long flights and the intensity of the ports, we thought it would be best to cancel. We have had this reservation for over a year so I am quite bummed out with having to cancel though I know it is for the best. So now I have to cancel all the private shore excursions, hotel etc. Oh well. We booked a Princess cruise for July 2024 doing Iceland and Norway. For those of you who have taken princess can you let me know if this is a mistake. The ship is the Sky Princess and it goes out of Southampton which allows us to take a non stop flight from FL and is port intensive. I actually liked the fact that it was only 14 days since we thought we would spend some time in London seeing the sights either before of after the cruise. I hope everyone has a good evening.

I don't know which ship to pick but if you want to go with the Rotterdam you can save some big $$ by booking an ocean view and then get the retreat for the entire cruise which gives you your own cabana and butler service for breakfast and lunch and a quiet shared hot tub. Just another idea for you.

Sandi so sorry to hear about your DB. I hope he is able to get the medications at a reasonable cost to him. Terri - so sad to hear about Tana - she is incredible how she goes on day to day and how you and your entire family help her. Marshhawk - sorry to hear you all got sick from your dinner. Hope you are feeling better now. Lenda so glad your husband is doing well after his back surgery. You have both been through a lot this last year. Kazu- PT is fabulous and so glad your range of motion is getting better. I hope it continues and you don't need anymore surgery. Sad to hear about everyone's medical issues. The meal looks great and the pictures of the port were fabulous.

I was told for cruises after 7/31 to apply in April after the shareholders meeting though I was not given a specific date.

Have a great day everyone and prayers to those in need of them. Early this morning I woke up with my step son to watch the launch but it was canceled at 2 minutes to lift off. We have another one later today so I have my alarm set. Though we live pretty far south if we look north we can see the rockets after take off and see the separation as well. It is an amazing sight to see. I know the people who live by the space coast get a much better view and one day I'd love to see one up close. I love to read and sitting on a promenade deck with a book in my lap is how I love to cruise. I used to be able to read by the pool or on the aft deck but now with the playing of non stop loud music on almost every ship those relaxing days are over. I really don't understand it since with the advent of our phones with our own music lists and headphones every one can listen to what they like vs the muzak that is now played everywhere. This is one of my pet peeves. It is one of the reasons we stopped sailing on Celebrity because w/o paying for a suite you cannot get away from the piped in loud music. Off of my soapbox now. I see the back surgeon this Thursday. I am wondering if we will be able to do our port intensive cruise to Norway and Iceland this July with a very long flight to Amsterdam. Just in case I booked a later trip to Alaska out of Seattle with the 25.00 sale. It is only a 7 day cruise and the flight is much shorter for us. I will be very disappointed if we can't go to Europe but I have to be realistic. Loved all the pictures of Norway today. Graham your pictures of South Beach are terrific. Ironically just this morning on our local NPR station there was an entire segment about the Art Deco hotels in Miami. Here is the link to the segment. Also for those of you coming to FLL/Miami area there are some wonderful sponsored Art Deco walking tours by the preservation society. https://www.wlrn.org/arts-culture/2023-02-27/a-battle-over-the-soul-of-miami-beach-will-developers-destroy-or-save-art-deco

@arzzWe also have the GE side by side and are happy with it. I love this thread everyone here is so nice. Seeing all the different ports and pictures have changed what future cruises I have booked - now if I can only manage to actually go on them it would be wonderful. Our travel insurance approved our cancellation of the Panama Canal cruise and according to them the 'check is in the mail'. I have already spent the $$ booking a new Panama Canal cruise for next year - we decided to do a full transit vs the 1/2 way one. It will allow me to see to my friends in San Diego where I used to live.

I must weigh in on the refrigerator discussion, when we built our new retirement home everyone told us to get the french door refrigerator with the freezer on the bottom. I opted for the side to side and I am very glad I did. We have an inexpensive top freezer refrigerator in the garage. If you have any sort of hip, knee, back issues my recommendation is to not get a bottom freezer. Marshhawk - what a sad day yesterday but you know that your beloved pet is now in a better place. All of us need to recognize that we need to take the time to care for ourselves so we can care for others. Sending healing thoughts to all.

Thinking of everyone today, those that are having a hard time and those enjoying travel or just being home and safe.