cruising sister

Good morning all,

Happy Birthday Susan!!! I miss our morning breakfast. It was great getting to know you on the GANZ cruise. 
 

I am recovering from a busy weekend with the grands. We made dinner for my DS complete with a menu created by DGS. It is double the work when you up have help from a 4yo and 6yo. They really enjoyed it. I wish I had taken a picture of their handy work.  I am going to break down and get my walls repainted. They use flat paint on the new builds and you can’t wash the walls without damaging the paint. With the two little ones and the dog it is impossible to make it look good. Now that I have canceled my Antarctica cruise I can afford to do it. 
 

I have booked my flight to Tucson in August. I will go the day before so the spa will pick us up Saturday morning so we can have the whole day. My niece wants to maximize every minute. She is a fun travel mate and really is good to me. I will need to find a place near the airport for a good meal.  I arrive in the afternoon and she arrives later that night. 
 

Prayers for those in need. And have a great day. 
 

Good afternoon,

I have been reading but have not posted lately. I don’t know where the time goes each day.  Jacqui, I know how you feel. After DH died I realized just how much he did around the house. I struggled to find what I wanted but decided on a single home in a maintenance provided community. I wasn’t ready for shared walls. I am happy I moved but it was a project. We had a huge basement so it did not seem like we had a lot until I went through it. Don’t even get me started on the garage. He was very organized but being a car guy he had a lot of tools etc.  You don’t need to rush and you can hire people to help around the house and yard until you find what you want. 
 

Everyone have a great day. 
 

44 minutes ago, Traveling Dot said:

As much as it is sad that this happened just before sailing they did get money back except for $220 which paid for their cabin upgrade.  I'm sure the cabin upgrade would have been a lot more money without the CO.  So maybe they made out on the deal and they did also get some onboard credit.

When I did CO on the Rotterdam I only did it for the cabin upgrade and had fixed dining in the main dining room.  Only had breakfast in the CO room. I would have been more upset if they took away the cabin upgrade.

It seemed their only other complaint was that they had to make dining reservations.  That wasn't that much of a problem because we all get dining in the main dining room with no extra charge.  To tell you the truth eating in the CO room isn't all that fabulous.  Depending on which ship you are on it is like eating in a fish bowl with people looking in while passing on their way to the main dining room.  JMHO 🤔

I never felt it was a fishbowl and I sat at the window a lot. I found most people never looked my way. I feel more exposed in the MDR. Glad others feel your way and more chance I can get club orange. 

I was in one a year ago. They had a teak bath mat you can put in the shower and I had a yoga mat. The balcony is a bit smaller. I was aft and it was convenient to the thermal spa and crows nest. I don’t remember much else different. 

Good morning,

Happy birthday to Jacqui and Gary!  I hope your day goes well. I like the today’s quote. It definitely fits what’s happening in the world today. 
 

Two people I met on the GANZ cruise are coming to dinner. David and Wayne have been friends for over 40 years and were lots of fun on the cruise. Wayne lives part time in Fort Lauderdale. He and Bea (another GANZ cruiser) are trying to talk me into the Pole to Pole I would have to cancel my Antartica and VOV cruise to afford it.  It is such a long cruise (133 days) I am afraid I would miss my munchkins to much. There are some positives, I would get the Amazon River on the P2P and could do a side trip to the Galápagos Islands ( for a hefty price) if I want to. I would see most of what I would one VOV and get more of Norway which I loved.  I would get close to Antartica but not step on it. A deposit needs to be by June 3rd to get the perks. Yikes!

More rain in the forecast for today. We have had a very wet spring. We should have a healthy crop of mosquitos this summer. 
 

Prayers and well wishes. Have a great day. 
 

I was in a vista suite on the 2024GANZ and the tub was very dangerous to get in and out of to take a shower with  the very rocky seas we had. For safety reasons a walk in shower is better. The OV cabins already had the walk in showers so there is not a lot of cabins to be changed.  Safety first you can take baths at home. 

Happy Sunday,

We had storms again last night. The winds were so strong they knocked over my glider on my patio. I slept through most of it. I am having a cookout today as DS and family will go to DDIL family tomorrow. The forecast for today is good so we should have a great time. 
 

Prayers and well wishes for all. Have a great day. 

Happy Saturday,

I have been so busy the last few days I have just caught up on the Daily. I have a precious picture of baby Murphy. It is hard to believe she will be one in a few weeks. 
 

I have DGD this morning she had her first solo sleepover last night. We had donuts, bought new baby dolls and she had her nails done. It has been a busy morning. 
 

I am encouraging her it is time to nap. We will see how that goes.  Prayers and well wishes. Have a great Holiday weekend. 
 

Good morning,

I have a busy day ahead. I am picking up DGS at noon on his last day of kindergarten. We are baking our mini murphs from Papa Murphy’s and off to miniature golf. I had a surprise this morning when I ran into a couple I met on the Volendam who were here visiting grandchildren and picking up Papa Murphys too. It really is a small world. 
 

Here is a picture of the grands. Luke is all ears and teeth so excited to finish kindergarten. 

Good morning,

I had a busy weekend now that Emmie wants sleep overs too. They spent the night both nights but were gone during the day some to give me a break. Emmie was trying to bargain for a third night. It is funny they want to sleep here since they go to bed so early. They are usually asleep before 7:30 which is not what they do at home. I guess they get cozy and catch up on needed rest. 
 

I canceled my place holder on the World 2026 and put a deposit on the Grand Australia 2026. It was considerably cheaper and I did not want to visit several of the areas on the world. I enjoyed the last Grand Australia so much and there are some new places we will visit. I will wait to make a decision on the Legendary Mediterranean cruise October of 2025 it was a low deposit so it is not tying up a lot of money. 
 

Jacqui, I am concerned there is still so much pain. If you don’t hear back today you need to call them. If the infection was cleared up the pain should be gone. Did they do an MRI?
 

Prayers for those on our list and others in need. Have a great day. 

Good more,

I have caught up on the last few days of the Daily. I am sorry so many are having complications to surgeries etc.  I hope they clear up soon. 
 

I am doing a bit of redecorating. When I moved in a year and a half ago I used the things I had in my old house and others did it for me as DS had just died. I lived with it long enough to know it does not go well in this new house. I got a new shower curtain, towel and rugs for the two guest bathrooms and looking for a new spread for my bed. I returned two I brought home earlier this week. This may be harder than I think. I will wait on master bath until I paint the bathroom. 
 

It is now afternoon I got distracted and need to finish and post. I hope everyone is doing better. I will read the daily when I get back from the vet with Molly. 
 

Take care and have a wonderful weekend.

1991 Admiral Cruise Line Azure Seas.  

Good morning,

I am glad it is a new week. Last week was brutal with the funeral and Mother’s Day. I have not read the Daily for a few days. I will have to go back and look at the pictures of the mothers.   
 

The rain continues which makes it hard to walk Molly. She thinks she is made of sugar and will melt!  
 

I hope everyone has a good start to their week. Prayers for those on our care list and others in need. Have a great day. 

Good morning,

We had another brief storm this morning. We must be out of the drought. I am making dinner for my friend today. I remember all the food I got when DH and DS died and I did not feel like eating. I will make it freezer ready so they can put it away if they want to save it for another time. I felt bad when I could not eat or freeze what people brought to me. 
 

Hi @Cruisercl!  I miss you and the GA dailyites. I too am only 5 points away from 4*. Funny how you and I were one of 73 on the GA that were not 4 or 5 *. 
 

I just got notification of my 50 year high school reunion in September. I better start getting into shape!  
 

Prayers for those in need and have a great day. 

Good morning,

It was a wild night of storms here in Kansas. Prayers for all who suffered with the tornadoes. I have been reading the daily but have been busy and have not posted. My dear friend had one grandson in the hospital with complications from his Crohn’s disease with blood clots in his brain and another grandson killed in a car crash yesterday. It is beyond devastating. 
 

Prayers for all in need. 

Good morning,

We had a very noisy night with all the thunder. The worst of the storm went to the south of us. We did get much needed rain. My DIL is very nervous when it storms and did not let the kids spend the night. There was much complaining and crying when they had to leave. My prayers go out to those affected by the storm. More bad weather predicted for today. 
 

Have a great Sunday. 

Good morning,

I have been following along each day but haven’t posted in a while. I had no trouble with CC on my iPad but got  a blank white screen on my phone. 
 

We keep getting weather warnings and nothing materializes, thank goodness. Today has more severe weather predicted we will see what happens. 
 

Vanessa, I am so happy your pain is better after surgery. I don’t know how you tolerated the pain for so long. 

Prayers for our care list and for those in need. Have a great Saturday. 

3 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

We;ve been in the casino, Helen 😉 

 

I think I have corrupted Debbie & she has turned into a Casino girl 😂 

 

She’s doing well so far.  still playing on the casino’s money 👍 

 

I can’t say the same right now LOL.

I found the casino boring on the Volendam.  The games were not fun with little play. It was probably a good thing since I was on it for 94 days. I am glad you are having fun on the cruise. I did like the Volendam. I was worried about it being a small ship for such a long trip. It was the perfect size. 

Jacqui, have a great cruise. I really enjoyed my 3 months on the Volendam. It is nice you have a friend to share memories with. 

Good morning,

It looks like another beautiful day with less wind.  yesterday’s gusts nearly swept me off my feet. I need to get motivated to unpack the Luggage Forward bags. I shoved them in the office on Friday and I keep forgetting about them. 

Jacqui I am sorry to hear about your foot. I missed what the problem is but the pain of possibly missing another cruise must be awful. 
 

I am off to meet a friend for breakfast. Hopefully I will get down to unpacking when I get home. 
 

Prayers for all!

Good morning!

My re- entry into the real world has been exhausting. I have about half of my luggage unpacked. My luggage forward arrived Friday and I shoved them in the office to deal with next week. The grands were so excited to see me it made me cry. I did get my taxes done and I owe a lot to both state and federal due to my DS estate disbursement. Molly has adjusted to being back with me. It is amazing how fast dogs get back to their routine. I had a great time on the cruise. I enjoyed my CC friends and I am so glad I had someone I knew I could meet before the cruise started. Thanks to Sandy’s Antartica pics I booked an expedition on Silver Seas for the end of December. 

A quick update on Murphy. She has had one hospitalization since her discharge for extra fluid in her lungs. It was a short stay and she is now on a diuretic. She continues to get stronger but has a long road ahead of her. 

I will catch up on the daily slowly. Prayers or all in need. Have a great day. 

Good afternoon, just add to Rich’s comments.  The lectures have been great. The Cruise Director talks have been excellent. The tech guy is hilarious and very helpful. I have never felt like it was a sales pitch.  I wish I had started them earlier. I can’t comment on the shows as I have only attended a few. I am sad we are on the way home.  It seems real now that we are on the same day.

Happy St Patrick’s Day!  Early for you all. A pic of baby Murphy to brighten your day. Thanks for all the prayers. 

I did my first solo cruise in May on the Nieuw Statendam and loved club orange. People were happy to share if I wanted to and I was pampered by the staff. I prefer the smaller dining room when I chose to eat alone and didn’t feel really up by the MDR. 

Here is a picture of Murphy going home!