HBE4

True. I live about an hour outside NYC so prices are bit cheaper. Maybe more inline with what Royal charges. I like to think of it as an investment in the local economy and supporting the local businessman. They have families to feed as well.

I spent $40 for a bottle of beer and a vodka/Cran at a play last Sept. I forgot about Broadway shows but I consider that an anomaly as I'm not there to eat or drink. Often times, the small bars are so crowded, you barely have time to get a drink before the play begins or at intermission. And many of the older theaters are so cramped, you have no place to put your drink. At $20 a shot, I can see a double tequila going for $45. Insane. Probably didn't even fill up the shot glass either. True. Which is why I usually limit my self to one or sometime zero when at a play.

Exactly! Which is why I can never relate to those that complain about the high price of drinks on a cruise. For me, its' cheaper to drink on a cruise than at home. 😄 Could be exaggeration or the other poster & I travel in different social circles. I'm your basic Irish pub and Sports bar type of person. They may be going to high-end restaurants and/or exclusive clubs. It's been a few years since I've been to either.

Spent this past Sunday (Father's Day) bouncing between 4 different bar/restaurant in lower Manhattan. Draft beer was anywhere from $9-$12 and specialty cocktails were usually $12-$18. Highest price I saw was $22 for a Black Ink Martini made with squid ink. Beers at NY Ranger games are about $18. 24 oz Canned beer at NY Yankee games are about $16

I'm loving this June weather. Windows wide open, plenty of fresh, cool and dry air. Every day I don't have to use the air conditioner is a bonus. Lawn mowing is down to every 10-12 days. Although the on-and-off rain for the next 6 days might change that. Humidity is on it's way though. My hopes of not using the AC until July might not be realized.

At first, I just assumed the price was because of it's "celebrity" status and typical NYC over-priced everything. But part of the high price is the month-long preparation process to properly cure the pastrami. After watching this video, my mouth is watering. There is enough meat on the $26 sandwich for 2, maybe even 3 meals, which makes it an incredible value. This is one place it might be worth standing on line.

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble with your other knee so soon after the first one was replaced. Fingers crossed the stem cell treatment is the way to go.

I guess I'm the odd man out. I've had my Samsung refrigerator for over 10 years now & it's running strong.Bottom freezer, french doors. Does everything it's supposed to do. Keeps cold things cold and frozen things frozen. Cool LED lighting on the inside and my favorite feature - a gentle chime if the doors are open to long. But probably all refrigerators do that today. Okay, so one thing didn't work. The ice maker & water dispenser never worked from day one. I was told that it was because of weak water pressure in the kitchen. Funny, the Kitchen sink and dishwasher don't have that problem and more importantly, the ice maker in the prior refrigerator never had a problem either. The water dispenser is in the inside of the refrigerator, not on the door, so I don't know if that makes a difference. I supposed I could have sent it back but since we had plenty of plastic ice trays and use a Brita filter water pitcher, it never was important to me. Now, a few years ago when I needed to replace my washer & dryer, I was checking out Samsung since I was happy with the refrigerator. The reviews were horrible. Broke down often, expensive to repair. About that time, 2 of my Samsung TV's died after less than 4 years. So I went with Maytag. The salesman at the appliance store told me it's best to stick with "traditional" appliance makers and not TV/Smart Phone/Electronics manufactures trying to get into the appliance business.

I hate it when I read back one of my posts, notice a few grammar errors, go back to edit and correct them all and when I hit the SAVE button, it tells me its too late! I mean, if its too late, then take away the EDIT button. Don't make me do all that work of correcting my post and hope people didn't notice before telling me it's too late. 😅

I almost missed this post. In fact, I did miss it until I saw the quoted replies. Beautiful, wonderful story. It's a blessing to live in such a community. In a world where bad news thrives, its great to be reminded of all the caring, loving people out there.

I've known her since she was 4 and married her mother when she was 12. She's now 40 so yeah, she'll introduce me as her step father but then tell people she considers me to be her "real" dad vs her biological dad. Warms my heart every time I hear it. Her relationship with biological dad is a bit complicated. Let's just say he has a lot of demons, was distant (emotionally as well as geographically) and wasn't the most reliable person. She also says that when it came to picking a 2nd husband, her mom choice well! 😅 While I consider it a complement, I wonder that the menu selection was like? 🤣🤣 okay, enough patting myself on the back.

While I did check in from time to time, it was hard to keep up with a very busy Dani thread this weekend as it was a busy family weekend for me as well. Saturday was the baptism for my niece’s daughter (grand-niece? Niece once removed?) followed by a catered after party at a local volunteer firehouse, followed by an after-after party at my brother’s house. It was great catching up with family that traveled up from Atlanta, GA and down from Canada. A very long day of over-indulging on food and drink but isn’t that the purpose of such events? 😁 After clearing the cobwebs out of my head Sunday morning, it was off to NYC where Little Miss HBE4 treated me for Father’s Day (part one). Last minute decision so we decided to just wing it. Grabbed a couple of road sodas (beer for me, spiked seltzers for her) for the train ride in. Since it’s was a perfect June day weather-wise – plenty of sun, comfortable temps and no humidity – we headed over to The High Line Park. The High Line was an old, abandoned, elevated freight train line thru the lower west side Manhattan back when it was an industrial area. It has been converted into a park, complete with gardens, flowers, trees, art exhibits, food and drink vendors, plenty of benches & scenic overlooks with stairs down to street level every few blocks. For those that are really interested, you can learn more about the High Line here. https://www.thehighline.org/park-features/ https://www.thehighline.org/photos/at-a-glance/best-of/ Had a late lunch/early dinner (Linner? Dunch?) at Death Ave Bar & Restaurant (https://www.deathave.com/). The name refers to the nickname of 10th Ave when freight trains ran down the middle of the street with no barriers between the trains and cars & pedestrians. Something like 450 people were killed in a span of 50+ year before the train was elevated. This was despite the WestSide Cowboys riding ahead of the train to warn people. You can read why it’s called Death Avenue here. https://www.thehighline.org/blog/2021/10/28/the-history-of-death-avenue-2/ Then walked the 1.5 miles of the High Line from Hudson Yards to Greenwich Village. From there, we just kind of bounced around a few different places. Went to a jazz club but the band was a last minute no-show so they piped on 80’s pop music. Curious choice and while I love 80’s music, it wasn’t what we were looking for so we moved onto a Karaoke bar. LOL. Last stop was a place called “Off the Wagon”, a local neighborhood type of place where we struck up conversations with a few others we met and stayed out waaayyyy tooo long before Lyft back to Grand Central Station and napping on the train ride back home. A great way to end a great weekend. The one thing is that I did not take very many pictures, hence the web links. Since my step daughter very uncharacteristically stayed off her phone all day, I likewise kept my phone in my pocket to “stay in the moment” as they say. Wouldn’t want it any other way. So here are all 4 pictures I took. LOL The High Line with some cool looking buildings. One of the many pieces of Art along the walk. Love the cobblestone streets that are still around in lower Manhattan Back when we were having a pizza discussion on this thread, someone had mention John of Bleeker Street having the best pizza in the city. I was still stuffed from Linner and besides, I don't wait on any line that goes out the door, much less one that goes down the block and around the corner and disappears over the horizon. No matter how good the food is. Maybe some other time. EDIT: Forgot to mention that Fathers Day Part 2 comes this August as my step daughter also got me tickets for "The Book of Mormon".

My first cruise was on Liberty back when she was brand new in 2008. At that time, biggest ship in the fleet as Oasis was still a year or so away. When Liberty started doing short cruises, I thought what a waste of a perfectly good ship. Obviously, Royal knows better but I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that today's Liberty is like yesteryear Monarch/Majesty. 😁

Good to know. Since I usually fly to Florida for a cruise, 7 night's is my absolute minimum. But I am intrigued by the idea of a 3/4 B2B type cruise, as long as it's not outrageously priced compared to a regular 7 night. Or even a 3/4/3 B2B2B.

Thank you for all the replies. I should have clarified that when I referred to " first timers / budget-minded / party people type cruisers", I meant it as 3 different types of cruisers, not one. And party-people was a poor choice of words on my part as it does conjure up images of drunk frat boys (and frat-boy wannabes) passed out in pool-side lounge chairs by lunch time. I guess I meant people of all ages & income levels fully embracing all of the venues well into the evening. Kinda what I was trying to get at, just not very eloquently. 🙂

Never let it be said that you are not a person of few words. 😄😉

I thought the same thing but I guess it makes sense. There are now more Oasis-class ships than any other class so it was only a matter of time. I am mildly surprised that they didn't send one of the older Oasis ships but then again, it makes sense. I can't speak from experience as I've never done a 3/4 night but the impression I've gotten is that they are a lot of first timers / budget-minded / party people type cruisers. And what better way to convert first timers to repeat customers than giving them the biggest & best ship, which also happens to have plenty of places for the party people to hang out. And if I'm wrong about the demographics of the 3/4's, I'm sure some of the more experienced cruises can correct me 🙂

"Because the ships are intended to bring the essence of Italy – the vibe Costa Cruises is known for – to the North American market, it is unlikely they will be completely renovated, or given Carnival Cruise Line’s signature “whale tail” funnel." The concept is called "COSTA by Carnival" and is referred to as a hybrid brand that is bookable only thru Carnival platform. The ships have "beautiful Italian-design elements, dining and retail that will deliver Carnival fun leveraging the spirit of Italy from our sister line Costa Cruises." https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Costa-by-Carnival-concept

That is certainly eye catching.

Or combine the two and make a Kraken Float!

They are going to be exhausted cheering, high fiving, jumping up and down every few minutes every time a goal is scored. Must've got boring after awhile. 9-3, sheesh. 😉😇

I've never seen The Strip without bump-to-bumper traffic. It must've been very early in the morning. Glad to hear the pool area is nice. There was concern that when the City Center was built, it'd block out the sun light. Do they still have the wave pool and lazy river? From the website, it appears they do not. Might have been removed when the place was renovated & name changed from Monte Carlo to Park MGM.

Maybe 2 months? 😉 Enjoy, it'll be like a family vacation. Except at your house.

I remember the old Barbary Coast. It has a 1890's Victorian theme to it. I lost a lot of money every time I gambled there so it soon became known as Barbary Stupid Coast. But I guess I was the stupid one since I kept going back. 😄 From the pictures I see on the Cromwells website, looks like they did gutted the place. Very modern, sleek, stylish....and pricey. I did like the Barbary Coast hot dog cart for a quick bite to eat on the run and as you pointed out, you could be in and out in 30 seconds. Not too many casino's like they on the Strip these days. In fact, the only one I can think of is Casino Royale. Some of the mega resorts, it takes 5 minutes just to get to the elevator, another 5 minutes zig-zagging thru the casino and once to the front door, a few more minutes just to get to the street since they are set so far back.

That happened to me once. For 2 weeks straight, a bird would attack one of our windows. I was told it was due to seeing their own reflection. I kept the shade down for a week or so and they actually stopped after a two or so days. Could have been a coincidence, not sure. It was in the spring time when they birds are feeling frisky so maybe he was looking for a mate?