USN59-79

A nice, sunny day here in the Pacific NW. Should go to 75 today. Have my monthly eye injection for AMD later this afternoon. Did something today that I have never done in roughly 1300 days of cruising. Bought insurance for our next cruise. Was surprised at how inexpensive it is; roughly 7% of the cruise cost. Bought it through the cruise line (Seabourn) and had until final payment to purchase it. We have been around Australia, but I don't remember stopping at Albany. The next cruise has some stops at some unusual ports there; Moreton Island, Airlie Beach, Townsville, and Cooktown, plus Cairns and Darwin. One of the advantages of sailing on smaller cruise ships. Ray

My understanding of the offset in social security for state employees is that while working for the state you don't have the same social security deduction from your pay checks as employees who work elsewhere. After retiring from the Navy I worked for the Defense Department long enough to retire from there. I had to choose whether to accept Civil Service retirement or USN retirement, so I gave up my 20-year Navy retirement. Still kept all the other benefits such as Tricare, though. Ray

We remember most of these things except skeet shooting off the fan tail. Our first HAL cruise was in 1996, an Alaska cruise on the old Noordam. After our 42 day cruise on the Westerdam earlier this year, we decided to try something different. Our next one is on Seabourn, 33 days Sydney to Taipei this February. Ray

Actually, the DAM Dollars are actually called "Grand Dollars". I still have 211 of them, 6-20s and 91 singles. A nice touch is that they show the HAL symbol with the modern ship bow and the sailing ship. I believe it is called Halve Moon. I also still have my Passport to Fitness jacket. Ray

A little gloomy this morning as they expect some rain to come in from the Coast this morning, then good weather the rest of the week. I have owned a lot of cars in my time; my first was a '36 Buick coupe that I drove in high school. However I never named one of them. Was surprised to hear that a 12 year old station wagon was ready for the junk yard. We have an SUV that is 21 years old, Sara's Lexus is 23 years old and like new, and the Prius is 6 years old and the daily driver. Luckily in our part of the country cars seldom rust out. I am not a fan of many of Elon's statements, but I am a fan of his products. He changed our perception of electric vehicles and who would have thought that we could send a rocket to space and reuse it again and again. Certainly not NASA. Ray

I noticed the following on our disembarkation info form from the Amsterdam in 2002: Although Holland America sails under the "Tipping Not Required" policy, if you do wish to recognize staff members, we suggest you do it the last night of the cruise as most of the crew will not be at their regular stations on the morning of disembark. Ray

A couple of last minute things from yesterday's Daily. Thanks, Bruce @aliaschief for the heads up on ordering the new covid tests. Got an email confirming my order this morning. Tony @sailingdutchy mentioned TSA confiscating two jars of peanut butter in his carry on luggage. Not sure if they still do it, but they confiscated my tooth paste once. The limit on weight for "liquids" is 3.4 ounces. The tooth paste I get from Costco weighs 5.8 ounces. Something to think about on your next flight. Ray

Looks like our rainy season has started here in the Pacific NW. Back to wearing trousers and long sleeved shirts. A few years ago we stopped our subscription to the local newspaper. Seems that when people notified their carrier that they were going to be gone for awhile he would notify his friend the house thief which house would be empty. Ray

Easy answer. This is not a military forum. Ray

Thanks for all the input. It included an extensive acronym listing posted in 2010 by @Wesley Furman and printed it out to have on my desk. Fortunately I just bought a new printer that uses ink tanks. Ray

Thanks, Carolyn. That makes sense. Not what I would call my dear wife though. Ray

Nice to know that I am not the only one who struggles with this. I can usually figure it out from the context. However, today a person mentioned losing their SO and I don't have a clue of what she meant. Thought it could have been a typo, but later someone offered their condolences, so someone knew what it meant. Ray

As an alternative to HAL excursions, you might want to check your Roll Call for the cruise. Often people will book a 6-person van for an excursion that is less expensive and more comfortable than the HAL excursions and look for persons to join them. Ray

At one time there was a listing of the shortcut for dear people in your life, such as DW for Dear Wife. But I am unsure of some of them particularly when the first letter could describe something else, like is DS Dear Sister or Dear Son. Can anyone point me to the listing? Thanks Ray

One thing that I enjoy about this thread on CC is that I learn something new every day, and not necessarily involved with cruising. I had never heard the term "Teal Talk" until today. And it motivated me to look up and learn about ASL. I had assumed that ASL was a different way to express the English language for deaf people. Not true. ASL has little to due with the English language. In fact, there are hundreds of sign languages. Those who use British Sign Language cannot communicate with those who use American Sign Language as they are different languages. I have also learned something about Cruise Critic. Not sure, but it looks like a much higher percentage of those who cruise on the mainstream cruise lines like HAL and Princess use CC than those who cruise on the smaller luxury cruise lines like Seabourn. We are booked on a 33 day portion of a Seabourn world cruise starting in January, 2024. On it's roll call there are 25 entries as of yesterday. On the Zuiderdam WC starting in January, 2024 there are 2293 entries. I know there are more passengers on Zuiderdam than Sojourn, but 92 times as many. Not sure of the reason. Ray

We noticed when we were last on the Westerdam that the Captain's noon announcement was broadcast in our room, but when he turned the mike over to the Cruise Director (or whatever they are called today) that we had to open the door to hear it. Personally, I would like the option to hear both of them in our room, especially on sea days. Ray

Last day of Summer here and the temperature will go up to 75. Once Fall starts tomorrow it will drop at least ten degrees every day for the next week. I think that @cat shepard did the right thing in leasing her Volvo. Two reasons: First, there is a complicated law in place to get the $7500 tax rebate on an EV. Plug-in hybrids qualify if they get a certain number of EV miles. But they have to come from the U.S. A quirk in the law gives the rebate to the leasing company if they are made elsewhere. So the leasing company can pass that on to the customer. Another reason is that by the time the lease is up, EVs will be better, more plentiful and cheaper. Thus the resale value on one bought today will probably not be good. We have been to Saikiminato, but no longer have the pictures. It is an interesting town to walk through as there are statues of manga characters throughout to pose with. I have been doing my homework trying to learn about the ports on our next cruise. One good thing about a small ship is that they stop at really out of the way ports. Ray

An update: Just checked my favorite online TA for prices for that cruise. They are offering Mariner prices as follows: Inside $799; Outside $899; Balcony $1249 and Suite $1799. These prices include taxes and port charges. I would consider it, but at that time we will be just ending a 33 day Sydney to Taipei cruise on Seaborn. Ray

Coincidentally, I just today received a mailing from HAL titled "PRIVATE SALE" with the same April 6 cruise listed. Interior is from $2099, Veranda $2799 and Suites from$6899. Taxes and port charges are an extra $300. I always thought those so called private sales were fake, and this confirms it. Ray

I think Bruce is right also. One concern I have is that I usually have time to go over the Daily in the evening when I spend an hour or so on the computer around 9:00 PM. However, that is midnight on the East Coast so it seems too late to add a comment to that Daily. Then, of course we are discussing different things the next day. That is the main reason why although I always read the Daily, I seldom comment. Ray

Actually, it worked out well. I changed my rating to electronics technician, eventually was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer, and qualified for Officer of the Deck for underway steaming on a Navy Repair Ship. I spent many hours driving our ship up and down the coast of Vietnam as we had to go to sea every night to avoid swimmers with bombs. Those were interesting high seas. Not sure I want a pirate name that starts with "Miss". Ray

I had forgotten how beautiful Maui is until I saw @Quartzsite Cruiser Lenda's pictures today. My mother was born in Lahaina in 1910 after her family immigrated from Siberia. At the time the main industry was sugar cane. @Heartgrove Jack's comments on the boat problems reminded me of my first year in the Navy. I was in the deck force and qualified as coxswain on a 50 foot motor launch. It took four sailors to man the launch; a coxswain who was in charge and steered the boat, an engineman who ran the engine and transmission, and a bow tender and stern tender who handled the lines to tie up the boat. The coxswain told the engineman the speed and whether to go forward or astern by ringing a bell. One day at quarters they asked "Who can type?". I raised my hand and finished my first enlistment in the Personnel Office. Ray

The TV show 60 Minutes had an excellent documentary memorial to the New York Fire Department's heroism at 9/11. They lost more than 300 fire fighters that day. On that day we were just getting up and we received a call from relatives in Taiwan telling us to turn on the TV. Ray

On one of our "Grand Cruises" we received Steiff sailor teddy bears as a pillow gift.

A few words about Seattle: I used to be proud of the city. I was born there, my father was born there and my grandmother was born there in 1867 when it was a town. For years we had season tickets to the Fifth Avenue Theater with great entertainment. Two years ago we decided not to resubscribe as I no longer feel safe walking up from the ferry to Fifth Avenue. I think the causes are mostly political, but we don't discuss politics here, so I won't go into that. I am not sure I understand the situation around Baby Murphy. I understand that the mother is saying do not resuscitate if the baby stops breathing and the primary care doctor is saying "don't give up so easily" Is that correct? Ray