wdw1972

Good morning everyone. It was a cool 62 degrees when DH & I walked this morning (7am) but going up to low 80's. Our Wednesday cold front is calling for a high of 70 and low of 49! Three important days today, and although metastatic breast cancer is never a good diagnosis, people can live quite several years with it now. Maybe some day we'll have a cure. I'll pass on the meal, might try the drink, would definitely try the wine and have not been to this port. DH spent a baseball season in Barranquilla, Colombia as hitting coach and I visited him there. Barranquilla is not far from Cartagena, and I was impressed with how lovely the local people were. It wasn't at all dangerous like the stereotype, and hopefully Santa Marta is also a nice place. My son's family didn't lose power during Milton but since then they've had alarming popping noises at night, and sprays of sparks shooting off a transformer pole. They have been disconnecting their a/c at night, fearing there might be a surge that would leaving them having to replace the unit. This morning the power went out completely - the estimate for repair is sometime Tuesday. Hopefully they fix whatever the problem was, and it's fortunate nobody had a fire! It'll be a somewhat lazy day here - I do need to pack for our Food & Wine trip to Disney (starts next Sunday but I'll be working all week & leave town Friday). A pork roast is in the crockpot for DH's dinner. @Heartgrove Jack - I'll be doing the Rotterdam crossing in 2026 and hope we make it to Zeebrugge. What's the weather been like in terms of temperature? We booked a family cabana in the Retreat but not sure how much use we'll get out of it during the early part of the cruise! @aliaschief Bruce - looking forward to your 88 day Azamara cruise! Going around South America & Antarctica is part of my bucket list. Everyone have a wonderful day. Sue/WDW1972

Happy Saturday! We had another nice cool morning (60), although now it's around 80. The humidity seems to have gone on vacation, which is a good thing. All three good days, but pass on the meal, drink & wine (red). I've never been to Seward/Anchorage but will get to Whittier/Anchorage for the first time next May. I'm not sure we'll see much of the town since we're doing a HAL excursion to see glaciers on the way to the airport. Today DH didn't feel like walking, and I got busy with other stuff & didn't go out to walk. I ran a bunch of errands, and will be heading out for lunch with a friend (without DH this time - he can watch football). I had been planning to attend a brunch for breast cancer survivors but canceled yesterday - it just didn't make sense to do brunch 10-12 and then go to lunch at 2. It's nice the organizing group does this and I appreciate being invited, but maybe next year. Sandi @StLouisCruisers sorry your biopsy results weren't in yesterday I failed to make notes while reading today, so Happy Birthday, Bon Voyage, get well, hope things get better, and please take it easy. You all can figure which one applies to you, lol - the last one is obviously Roy. But then again, we all need days when we just take it easy! Sue/WDW1972

Happy Friday from bright sunny Florida. I think we were down to the upper 50's this morning, which was wonderful! The high should only be in the lower 80's and with low humidity it will be ideal. I'll have to get out of the office and pick up litter this afternoon - it's an excuse to get out & enjoy the nice weather during the work day! Those are 3 good days. It's a shame the obesity epidemic has affected pets as well. Gerry @ger_77 I love your response to your brother. That any gay person feels hesitant to come out in this day & age just boggles my mind! Once again I'll pass on the meal, drink & wine, although if nothing else was available I'd drink the wine. Chardonnay's just not high on my list. I've only visited the port virtually through other people, and hope to see it in person one day. I do remember that's where the world voyage ended in 2020. Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadian Dailyites! Sue/WDW1972

Happy Thursday everyone! I'm glad Milton is gone and feel fortunate the way everything worked out. Down home (Ft Myers) we had several tornadoes, including one that was close but did not hit our immediate area. As for the storm, we lost power around 7:30pm and the storm surge peaked at around 5.2 feet. I was comfortable with it being up to 6 feet, and my neighbor confirmed this morning that we had no flooding. She also mentioned the power was restored at 3am! I don't know about the outside, but it's doubtful there's any significant damage. Up here in Gainesville, we had a little wind and some rain - not as much as further south in Ocala. I worked through the night, coming in at 8am yesterday and will end today early and go home around 1pm, making it a 29-hour work "day". I'll pass on the meal, drink & wine. All 3 days are important, and how ironic to have such a horrible hurricane day the day after Milton passed. I can't imagine having so many deaths in a hurricane - how devastating that was! Sue/WDW1972

Good morning everyone - seems like today will be a long day. Waiting for a storm is very tiresome, as my fellow Floridians know too well! Odd to see pumpkin seeds as a meal, but who am I to judge? I'll eat carrot cake for a meal 🙂 DH ate his fill of pumpkin seeds in his baseball days. The cocktail is something I'd try - same for the wine. The port is another winner, but new to me (except virtually). Son & his family are hunkered down in Bonita Springs - hurricane shutters up, generator ready. They're on the very outer edge of the evacuation zone and we doubt they'll have to worry about flooding way out there. That's where DH & I would have gone if we had been down there for the storm. I'll be checking in with my next door neighbor, who will likely be riding it out as well. Just hoping for the best, since there's nothing any of us can do - but we are not happy to see movement further south! Up here at work in Gainesville no real worries - in fact I hear the hotels are full of evacuees from Tampa and further south along the west coast. Good luck to people returning home afterward! Stay safe everyone! Sue/WDW1972

That's true, and while I don't normally want food during the "closed" hours, if I did I probably wouldn't want to have to sit in my stateroom for an hour or so to call room service, wait for delivery, and then eat. It would be nice to be able to grab something more quickly, on my way to wherever I was headed. Sue/WDW1972

I had no idea CC was down this morning, but on work days it's generally late morning before I can check it. Never seen a podiatrist and I remember being gifted my first microwave in the very early 1980's. The current one is a big one - has to be close to 30 years old (or older). It was old when I moved it up here from Ft Myers 14 years ago, and though the inside light died and it takes a bit longer to heat stuff, it still works. I want it to last until I retire in a few years - I'll throw it away or leave it behind and buy a new (big) one when we get home. One less thing to move! I'll pass on the drink & wine, might enjoy a muffin someone else made, and lately feel like I've been to the port (thanks to the bloggers on the Legendary/Majestic Japan cruse) but in reality I have not. Thanks to everyone for the gorgeous photos. @grapau27 Good news being skin cancer free! @StLouisCruisers Florida actually does a pretty good job in determining where it's safe and where it's not safe, erring strongly on the side of caution. If Morgan's friends are outside of the evacuation zones they should be ok. Any shelters must be certified to withstand hurricane conditions, so while those would not be as comfortable as staying with friends, they'd also be safe, even within the more dangerous areas. The authorities have been encouraging people to go stay with friends/family outside of the evacuation zone vs going to shelters - partly because they'll be more comfortable, but also to leave room in the shelters for those with no alternative. My guess is the aquarium is not certified - and therefore they can't allow anyone to "evacuate" to there. The window of opportunity to go anywhere is quickly closing - down home in Lee County (Ft Myers) they don't want anyone on the road after 10pm tonight. I would think the same is true (or similar) up in the Tampa area. On a more pleasant subject - your work on the stocking is GORGEOUS! Wow! Christopher will surely treasure it. @St Pete Cruiser will be thinking of you tomorrow night & into Thursday - hope you & your family fare ok in the storm As for us, up here in Gainesville we expect tropical storm winds and some rain. In other words - nothing significant. Hopefully we won't even lose power. We have teams of our nurses and maintenance guys staying overnight tomorrow, ready to respond if anything happens (maintenance) or nurses can't get in to work in the morning. A couple of us will open and man the command center overnight, to provide the management presence and direction whatever might happen. Down home (Ft Myers) my home is in zone A, which has had a mandatory evacuation since Monday afternoon. Storm surge is the big threat, and we're very close to the shore. Just keeping fingers crossed at this point, hoping to continue my streak of never using the flood insurance I've been paying for since 1986! Sue/WDW1972

Sandi @StLouisCruisers glad the biopsy is in the past, and hoping for good results. @St Pete Cruiser Good luck in Milton! My home in Ft Myers is in Zone A, and this morning they called for mandatory evacuation for everyone in Zones A & B by 3pm today (Monday). For us, the further north the better, for you the further south the better. Too bad we couldn't send it down between Florida and Cuba! Great news about Roy @rafinmd - going home is a big improvement! DH is sore from his periodontal surgery, but came through ok. He'll eat soft food for a couple days, and I left the bottle of ibuprofen on his little side table next to the bed. Sue/WDW1972

Good morning from another drizzly dreary day in Florida. Milton is the top thing on my mind, with much anxiety over what it will mean back home in Ft Myers, and little worries about the impact up here in Gainesville. All we can do is wait at this point. All three days are good, and it's rare that covering something in chocolate wouldn't be a real winner! Pretzels are a good choice but I also prefer graham crackers, and of course double dipped chocolate peanuts! The meal, drink and wine are a pass for me. The port is beautiful. Today DH is at the dentist having some extensive procedure done - painful on the wallet but hopefully not too bad otherwise thanks to novocaine (sp?). We'll see how it affects his ability to eat later. I'm at work, and depending on the storm if we open the command center I'll be spending the night there Wednesday into Thursday. For now we're mainly watching & waiting - repeating the actions of a couple weeks ago 😞 Sue/WDW1972

Having a hard time relating to any of the "days", lol - and I'll pass on the meal, drink and wine. Ports are always good, and I've not been to Trieste. A friend here's mom had polio as a young woman. In fact, she caught it on her honeymoon if I remember correctly. Her new groom stuck by her and she has lived her life in a wheelchair since. She's in her 80's now - getting closer to 90. It's a drizzly gloomy day here, which matches my mood with the hurricane Milton situation. It's still too early to know specifics, but this one will be devastating to more Floridians than Helene. Crossing my fingers the Ft Myers area (where my home sits close to the coast) is spared. I finally had turn the coverage off - too depressing. DH will be enjoying football most of the day. I plan to cook him a t-bone steak he bought and since he bought a set of champagne flutes at the store yesterday he's requested that's what we drink with dinner. What the heck! Happy engagement anniversary @grapau27! Good luck tomorrow Sandi @StLouisCruisers Most biopsies come back negative, but it's stressful while waiting for the results. Sue/WDW1972

Same here. I always have multiple HAL cruises booked, so if I had to unfortunately cancel one I'd apply the gift cards to the next one. The 8% savings is worth the minor/moderate headache of dealing with the gift cards. Sue/WDW1972

You're very welcome! I was surprised when I found it an option here, and hoped SC would do the same. Glad it worked out, and yeah probably you'll end up with both licenses before long, lol! Let DH carry the old one and you keep the new one, just in case a number is different to make the other one invalid. Sue/WDW1972

Chic spies are better than scruffy ones, we should always do something nice, and like several others my funky days are long ago (if I ever truly was funky). I'll pass on anything with broccoli! The drink sounds like a possibility, depending on how much the whiskey taste dominates. I'm not a whiskey fan. I've had the wine - it's your basic cheap wine seen at free hotel happy hours in the past. Wouldn't buy it, but will drink it if it's free 😉 Never been to Bimini, but I generally avoid the Bahamas. From what I've heard it has pretty beaches - I don't tend to be on ships that stop there. I ended up not getting assigned to a Disaster Recovery Center this weekend, so my time is certainly coming some day this week. I wish I could say we were doing good for people, but it seems to be more for "show", which is disappointing (and a waste of time). This morning DH & I walked, finding one of the staff decided to drive a 6-seater golf cart through a ditch filled with water. The golf cart is now stuck in the mud there. I'm pretty certain NOBODY from that home will have any idea who did it or how it happened. Guess the golf cart drove itself over there 😉 After errands we had an early lunch at Cheesecake Factory - good food, but so filling! I had a skinny cosmopolitan, which was good. The rest of the day will be laundry & relaxing at home. I need to start figuring out Christmas gifts for the work people, so may spend some time on Amazon. 48 days until the next cruise, but we have a couple shorter trips before then. Jacqui @kazu good luck getting the rest of the cruise stuff finished. So sorry you need to miss this one 😞 Denise @Denise T congrats on it finally being time for your cruise! Terri @Cruzin Terri congrats on the $500 winning ticket! On the missing driver license, can you just order it online and have it delivered to your home? I did that here in FL when I wanted to change my address, and it was so much easier than going into the DMV. Sue/WDW1972

Good morning everyone - happy Friday! I'm back to work for the day, and it's a strange workweek with the middle 3 days being out of town. Several of us are expected to be spending at least 8 hours per week working on hurricane Helene recovery (volunteering to do whatever is needed) until further notice, so for me that will start next week. I remember Dick Tracy but preferred comic books like Archie & Veronica, Richie Rich, etc. The meal sounds good, and possibly the wine although I am not a chardonnay fan. I've heard of Rusty Nail but now seeing the ingredients I'll pass. Never been to the port but look forward to photos later today. Cinnamon roll day - now that's something to celebrate! Sandi @StLouisCruisers your daughter's fall tree is fabulous, and she's got the perfect spot there in the foyer to show it off! Very clever. Hope everyone has a nice day today. Happy birthday to @JazzyV - how nice to be spending it on a cruise! Sue/WDW1972

We have an interesting assortment of days today - I drank smoothies occasionally in the distant past, leaves look mostly the same in FL all year long, and mean girls are best when put in their place or ignored until they leave. Don't see a use for them, and they certainly don't deserve a day! Pass on the meal and the strange cocktail, but pour me a glass of wine and I'll enjoy the beautiful port photos (port is new to me). @marshhawk at the risk of coming across preachy, I encourage you (and everyone) to get those mammograms when due. I've had breast cancer 3 times (2002, 2010 & 2018) and every time it was detected via routine mammogram and was never big enough to be felt in a breast exam. As a result, I never had to deal with chemo - just a myriad of other stuff. Mammograms do work, and can save you unnecessary suffering down the road - possibly saving your life, too. Moving on, we're back home. The dental appointments this morning went fine and the results of my surgical biopsies came in while at the dental place - all benign, no issues. We're headed out to a Japanese steakhouse (hibachi style) when they open for dinner - we'll be stuffed! Finally, thought I'd share a photo of my grandson Ari, who flew up to PA (from FL) with his parents to attend his great-grandmother's funeral. Ari's 8 years old - evidently that's old enough to be a pilot these days!

After only 64 cruises? 😉 Her credibility fell even further after that comment! Guess this "cheap line" isn't a good fit for her. Sue/WDW1972

Deck 8 forward is quiet - particularly under the spa treatment rooms. Definitely avoid aft - like you said, pool chair dragging happens a lot! Sue/WDW1972

The more expensive one has an extra port - my guess is that's the reason. Sue/WDW1972

We're on day 2 of our 3-day stay in Ft Myers (the only full day). It's sunny & HOT, with rain expected later. Typical Florida! The local news is full of Helene impact stories, which is sad. Some people lost everything for the second time, first being Ian 2 years ago. Those are 3 good days, although we need non-violence EVERY day, and I've never named a car other than referring to them as "my car" and "your car". I'll pass on the meal, drink and wine but would be happy to visit the port. The quote is so true - good one! Once a connection can be made, friendship can flow easily between former strangers. Took care of a medical procedure this morning, checked on our home, then went to breakfast. The anesthesia dried out my mouth something terrible, so eating breakfast was a challenge. I had to chew and chew and chew, then add water to wash it down. I don't remember that from past surgeries! Now we're relaxing at the hotel until we decide to venture out around dinner time - if not, we have leftover pizza from last night. It's been a good trip - everything has gone well thus far. Just 2 more dental appointments in the morning before heading home to Gainesville. Sue/WDW1972

Happy October - sure hope it's better than September, with no storms! We made it to Ft Myers - DH drove, which is challenging for me. I prefer to be in control, especially when it's my car, but I had to do some phone stuff along the way. Dental appointment (crown prep) is over, and soon we leave for dinner w/son & his family. Tomorrow we have to be at the hospital at 5:30am (glad we booked this hotel 4 miles away vs staying with son 45 minutes away), as I'm my doc's first case of the day (outpatient surgery). Then it's 2 more dental appointments Thursday before driving back to Gainesville. Thanks for all the port photos - Spain looks lovely! DH's daughter did a semester over there while in college and absolutely loved everything about it. I'm not sure which part of Spain it was, though. Sue/WDW1972

I believe I'm on your cruise - part of it, anyway. I can't do 21 days so it's just 11 for me! Sue/WDW1972

Agree! They're just not the same when you buy them at Publix and eat them at home or at work 😉 Another warm sunny day here in Florida - with typical summer thunderstorms expected this afternoon. I've never listened to a podcast but the other 2 days are important. As stated earlier, some people can be very hard to love! Thank goodness for anesthesia - I start work on a crown tomorrow, and have a minor outpatient surgery the next day, neither of which would happen without the appropriate anesthesia! The meal is definitely a NO for me, as is the wine (due to being red). Spiderman is another drink I'd never heard of, but I'd try it. The port is a definite YES - not yet, but once I've retired. My plan has been to do the Grand SA/Antarctica trip as my retirement gift to myself, so hopefully it will be returning. With the Pole to Pole coming up I understand not doing it that year, but I remain optimistic for the years beyond that. Hope everyone good rest of the day! Cheers to the cruisers, positive thoughts to the ones dealing unpleasant issues. Sue/WDW1972

That’s correct - it was shortly after your cruise. Sue/WDW1972

Thanks Sandi. Having spent much of my adult life somewhere susceptible to hurricanes I know how loud generators can be! The youngster is my grandson Ari (in Florida) - he's 8 years old now so that avatar was getting old 😉 Sue/WDW1972

Deck 10 will be much quieter, with a bigger stateroom and bigger window than down on deck 1 on Eurodam. Deck 1 would be cheaper, but I'd go with Deck 10. I would not stay Deck 1 midship - too much risk of noise from above. Sue/WDW1972