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24 hour access to free specialty coffee. Continental breakfast. Cocktail hour from 5pm to 8:30pm every evening with free soda, selected beers, house wine/champagne, basic mixed drinks (no blender drinks), and hot/cold snacks. Services of the concierge who can help with things like excursions, dining reservations, etc.

Thanks, we just turned diamond with our last cruise and are thinking of going with our son and his family on the Liberty. We had this cabin booked on Freedom once but had to cancel because of a family thing. We can't drink but my husband does like his coffee in the morning. Maybe I will skip getting the soda card and have my soda fix during cocktail hour.

What are the perks ?

So is the concierge lounge different than the diamond lounge? What are the perks in each lounge?

He just finished first grade and he will be skipping second grade going into third grade.

Lady Hudson, that is great news about your grandchild, but as was said, the parents need to be careful with his ins/out of other childen at this age.

 

I have some grandchildren that are sort of gifted too. They put them in a higher grade class for the areas they are gifted in, but still leave them in the regular grade class, along with children of their age.

It is my grandson as Debbie said. Being a teacher myself I did mention all the problems that can come with skipping. It was the school that suggested and tested him. He will be going to a new school next year because they just built a new one in their subdivision. He also has a fall birthday. So my son and his ex-wife decided that if they were going to change him now was the time. Last week he read the first Harry Potter book in 3 days. He just loves to read and he understands what he reads. In math, he spent most of first grade on a computer completing a math program because his math skills were so high above the rest of the class.

Hi all retirees! Congrats on completing the rat race!

I have a quick (and a little nosy) question for you all. So many of you seem to have retired "early" (meaning before being old enough to qualify for Medicare). I'm contemplating retiring within a year (at 62 1/2, give or take), and my only concern is what to do about health insurance for the ensuing 3 years and still be able to afford to cruise. Surely you can't all have your health insurance being covered by your previous employers, in this day and age of relatively benefit-stingy employers?

 

There is no precedence here at my work, so I really have no one to ask. (we're a very young company - average age in the 30's), and only 2 other people (both over 65) have ever retired from here. I don't even know anyone outside of work who has retired early and had to pick up their own insurance.

Help!?

:confused:

Health insurance is one of the reasons that I am still working. My husband and I are both 63 but my husband has been disabled for 10 years. My husband got shingles for the third time on his face and then it went to his brain (viral encephalitis). He has a seizure problem because of it. A year after the encephalitis, he had Prostate cancer. Without insurance, we would have been in the poor house. Please make sure you get your shingles vaccine and men get your PSA checked.

Accessible cabins should be for people with mobility issues which not all disabled people have. My husband has been disabled for 10 years but it is not a mobility issue but is a seizure disorder that is not completely controlled. We never ask for this kind cabin because a regular cabin works. The only thing I ask is to have the small table removed from the room if they have one just so he does not fall on it. When we first started cruising the we made of glass.

I agree. I have had students who skipped a grade or two. The social/emotional gaps become larger among peers. This is where the problems can arise. Some kids handle this very well -- others not so much. I would just caution his parents to keep in close contact with his teachers to make sure he continues to do well. But congratulations. It is quite unusual for schools to allow this since there are other ways to meet individual student needs. Your grandson must be quite exceptional. :)

My grandson lives in a different state so I don't see him on a regular basis. When he was here at Thanksgiving, I gave him several books. He read one of Diary of a Wimpy Kid books in a few hours. I asked him several questions about the story and he knew the answers. But they were also dealing with ADHD too. So at the meeting to talk about ADHD the school also mentioned the idea of taking the tests and moving up a grade. He is doing well on his meds. After talking with the counselor, his teacher, principal, and me the decided to move him. My son and his mother are divorced and both remarried.

We should be finished with my classroom tomorrow. My grandson lives in Texas and they were the one who suggested it.

Hey Debbie, my oldest grandson is going to skip second grade. During first grade he was put on a computer many times throughout the school year because he was so far ahead of the other students in math and language arts.

They tested him in science and social studies too. He got a 98% on science ( he takes after his grandma). A new school in their subdivision will be opening in the fall so this is the best time to move him. I told my son that he still has to watch for other pitfalls like when his friends turn 16 and are driving and he can't.

Your sister-in-law did the right thing. In some states, parents could be arrested for not properly supervising their children at that time of the night. A cruise ship is a small town and bad things can happen.

I know that is a lot of work (been there, done that) but it is fun fixing up a new classroom. I think third would be a good grade level. I taught second so in third they will be independent. Let me know how it goes!!

 

Deb

Well, I just spent a week cleaning my new room ( there is a bit more to do in that area) and sorting through and moving things I want to keep from my old room. It will be another week of the same before I finish. I am picky about things being clean. Trying to remove duct tape glue from all kinds of places in my new room. Kevin put in shelves in my closet and will be painting some book shelves in my new room. Oh, well the joys of teaching.

We did a cruise out of progreso. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive in and out. But we had about five hours at site and it was worth every minute. We went in The end of April and it was hot.

Well, I am not retiring but I am making a change to what I have been doing for the last 18 years. Hey, Debbie I am going to teach third grade next year(and for the next couple of years). It means moving two rooms down from where I am now but I have been in that room before. The good thing is that my husband has been after me to start cleaning out my own stuff in preparation for retirement and I have been putting it off. I have been in this room for 15 years so I have been throwing things out like crazy. Several different teachers have been in my new room so I will have to get in and really scrub down the whole room. Of course since it is a private school, my husband and I will be moving everything except my desk and filing cabinets. My new partner has been at this school for 12 years and she is 68 so I will be the young one at this grade level.

We went on the Quantum on March 29th and I was looking at my seapass card yesterday and noticed the date was April 5th. The seapass cards always had the sailing date on the card. Did they change the cards or was it a mistake?

Everyone must be on cruises since the post has been slow. Hope everyone is enjoying themselves.

Could have been, but I saw several lying on the floor all over the ship so anyone could pick them up and use them!!

I found one and thought the same thing so I gave to a person at IFly. He said that it happens all the time and that the people who it belonged to had reported it and he threw it in the trash.

On the March 29 the sailing we even brought our luggage. Our cabin was not ready due to cleaning because of norovirus on the previous cruise.

We were also on the same cruise and loved your beautiful photos. Yes, whilst we has a great cruise, we found the first day very hard. The muster drill took place just after we got on board and it was very, very crowded chaotic and lengthy due to delay after delay as we waited in the crowded space, where it was impossible to see the screen.

 

I know norovirus procedures have to be followed but I feel they really got it wrong with the muster drill, especially after such a long wait to board.

 

Then my suitcase did not arrive and after dinner in very unsuitably warm clothes I joined a long queue in guest services to try to locate it. It had been confiscated due to a small nail scissors in there. My fault I know but it had rounded ends and has always come with me before. It could also have helped if I had been notified.

 

There were so many beautiful things about the ship I do not want to sound negative. I appreciate the lovely week we had but have never had a first day like this.

The other thing that made the week better was the fact that we met great people on FB and cruise critic. We met a family from Australia who was doing a six week tour of the US. They came to DC where we live and I took them around one day(my husband was resting from the seizures). We also met a lady and her son who were from the UK.

WOW! They must have made some big changes before my sailing on May 2. We arrived at the terminal by 12:30/1pm, walked right on the ship and the rooms were ready with our wristbands and passes ready for us. There WERE some other challenges onboard, as they seemed to be replacing the staff for its new position in Asia. You could see training happening and there was some confusion--especially with restaurant staff. Other than that, it all seemed to go smoothly.

The first day confusion was because they were cleaning the ship from top to bottom because the cruise before us had norovirus. We thought ok the ship will be clean but like I said they started boarding at 1:00 and most people did not get into their cabins until evening. My husband has a seizure disorder so the first day was hard on him. Then they continued to clean the ship with a cleaning product that caused two severe seizures onboard and 5 when we got home. This cruise also had Autism at Sea so there were many kids with Autism and not being able to unwind in their cabins made it hard on the kids and their parents.

We loved the ship, the food and the activities but the first day and all the trainees made this not one of our favorite cruises. With this cruise we turned diamond on RCCL.

We are both 63 and started cruising at 55 after my husband got better after two illnesses. We have done Royal Caribbean and Carnival. I also noticed that you are from Baltimore. You can take cruises from Baltimore on both of these cruise lines. Both are small ships with good food and comfortable ships. Non holiday weeks, these ships are filled with retired people so you should find people your age. We prefer Royal Caribbean because we like their ships and their activities. We also like cruising because there is a doctor onboard.

Congrats to you and the proud parents, welcome to the world Oliver.

 

We don't have any gkids yet, maybe someday.......

My oldest son was married for 6 years and we thought that we would never have grandchildren. Then our younger son had one, then the older son had one and then our younger son had another so in a 1 1/2 years we had 3. Then a few years later, our daughter got married and had 2 more. After 6 years of no babies our middle son had Oliver.

His name is Oliver.

We were on the March 29 sailing and they had a brief power outage maybe a minute.

Grandchild no. 6 was born yesterday. A boy who weight 8 lbs. 1 oz. and was 20 inches. We will not forget his birthday-----5/15/15.