HBE4

He already is. 12 Days of Catmas Advent calendar. Little fella is starting to pack on some holiday weight.

Adorable, as always.

Good luck. Even without the weather it would have been a long night & day. Hopefully the storm will shift & the snow fall will be far less. And tomorrows consultation will be quick with a warm, yummy breakfast afterwards, after a safe drive on clear roads.

Leonard will also nap under the tree, especially at night. I seemed to have misplaced the tree skirt for this tree (I have 2 set-up) so maybe he was expressing his displeasure that the tree was "not finished" by knocking an ornament off the tree He was for the first couple days. Kept trying to take the garland off the tree & eat it. He hasn't done it in awhile and I'd like to think the stern "NO!" I gave him is the reason. But more likely it was the upset stomach & barfing it up that caused him to lose interest.

Same here. One more round of rain & wind coming thru. Lights flickering but still on.

No doubt, that's a good point. Good security is priceless. @Sea Dog has a tough decision to make & really there is no "wrong" decision here as all viewpoints are valid.

Whaaat? I'm just a sitting here. I wasn't playing with the Christmas tree while you were busy ignoring me.

Crazy rain & wind here last night & early morning. Finally calmed down the past hour. Fortunately never lost power & just a few small branches down & a very soggy yard. Calm skies should be coming your way in a few hours. Along with colder air. Temps already dropping from a 61 F high this morning to low 30s by tomorrow morning

After spending an extremely nostalgic weekend with old college friends - the same group of friends that I reconnected with & spent a long weekend at a lake side cabin in the Adirondacks this past summer - I'm of the mind set that new memories and experiences are far more important than "more things". I also help one of my old college buddies clean out his childhood home after his aging parents moved & downsized. Lots of "things" ended up on the curbside with a "Free" sign on them or in the dumpster. I'd go with the cruise. And maybe not "just another Caribbean cruise" but something with a unique itinerary. Or upgrade to highest class suite on the ship. Or a European cruise with a European side trip added in. Or Australia. Yes, the lights are awesome but after a week, how much time are you going to spend outside looking at them? Other than a handful of holidays, how much use are they going to get Jan - Sept? Just my humble opinion.

Well, it's good to know for Royal fans that may consider cruising Princess out of Galveston for the first time.

Is it first come, first serve or can a full WC reserve a date/time? Which I imagine would be really difficult to enforce.

Happy birthday & enjoy trip #68 and many more.

Since Aruba & cruising often vie for my #1 favorite vacation destination, I've spent many vacations on the island and can attest that all of the above are excellent, solid choices. A few of my own: Dinner on the beach, little less romantic than Bucti https://barefootaruba.com/ Dinner in Bed. Food is excellent, on par with Madam Janette. Note: I've never had dinner in bed there & the few people that said that while it's unique, it's not as comfortable as it sounds. https://screamingeaglearuba.com/ EDIT: Dinner in bed might not be an option anymore. Nothing about it is mentioned on the website & any pics I google are from pre-pandemic times. If you want to get a little Krazy & not act your age with a bunch of other that are not acting their age. Depending on timing, you may get a champagne toast @ the California lighthouse at sunset. https://www.kukookunuku.com/ Plenty of catamaran excursions but I find Red Sail Sports is consistently good. http://www.aruba-redsail.com/ Can't wait to see what you end up doing, even if it's just here enjoying the scorpion shot or eggnog martini. 🙂 https://lucyssurf.com/location/aruba/

Let me guess, the former is a woman and the latter is a man? Alas, a story as old as time itself. 😁 And I don't even watch the show.

When visiting Hilton Head last year, I flew into Savannah & took Uber back & forth to the airport. Both drivers hate that section of I-95 where it crosses over into SC so much that one of them wasn't even going to take my ride request at first but it was a slow day. Ended up taking some interesting back roads thru the Low Country to avoid I-95 as much as possible. Anyways, they did tell me there are plans to widen the highway but it's still in the planning stages and will take years to complete.

Ahoy, That thar be mighty jolly an' creative! *** used my English to Pirate translator for that one, I'm not that witty.

@h20skibum Your Elf on a Shelf is so much more nice than the one my friend has. He has two and they are evil. The Evil Elves! Side note: Not sure I can eat french fries at their house ever again. 😄

Well, maybe not that specifically or a Genie for 2 people or 2 cabins or whatever the other big "controversy" (exaggerating 🙂) was. But more along the lines of a plain ol every day mass-market cruise ship doing an around the world in 9 months cruise will get some press.

If memory serves correctly, the WC was announced shortly after cruising resumed to near normal? I wonder if one of the goals was to generate a lot of buzz to get the general public excited about cruising again. In that respect, it can be regarded as a success whether it makes money or not.

Thanks! I found it using Google. My mistake was using the search feature within Matt's site which makes the CC search feature look like a technical marvel.

Got it! 👍

Thanks. I took a look for it but couldn't find it. I know links are not allowed but maybe you can share any keywords that I can use to search. As for the conversation on the other thread, I'm not sure why I let myself be drawn in. Bad decisions and "Idle hands being the devils workshop", etc. LOL. It was tough to keep my sarcastic nature in check. I guess some people just let their natural curoisty get the better of them. It was definitely are circular conversation that just went on too long. 🙃

Interestingly, Royal's UWC didn't make the list so not sure how inclusive this list is. But there are options out there. https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/best-world-cruises-of-2023-2024-and-2025 Most seem significantly shorter than Royals UWC but maybe that's the key to selling out? Just a thought, not a judgement 🙂

Timmy the Turkey sounds really manipulative & knows how to con or hoodwink people. 😄

Since neither of us know anyone personally who sold all their belonging to go in a cruse, it's all a hypothetical discussion. Unless someone who is actually doing that joins in the conversation. So, hypothetical speaking, I sell my mortgage free house for $550,000 here in NY - which is a very current, realistic price & spend $200,000 (fair price?) on the UWC that leave me with $350,000 for my return. Hopefully a trusted financial planner can grow that an extra 10% or so. Absolutely I'll need to downsize and/or relocate somewhere cheaper like FL or SC or TN. The usual suspects. But it's doable & maybe part of the master plan. I don't think I could do it. I'm more along the lines of @Ocean Boy or @Jimbo and even you. I'd need a concrete roadmap for my return. But some people are better flying by the seat of their pants than I. More power to them.