cruiselvr04

Express scripts has been the worst. They are very difficult to work with.

Take it easy!

I spent the last 2 days taking down Christmas. I have a box of Christmas discards too. We have a hallmark ornament for every year we’ve been married, 44 plus more. Unfortunately I dropped 1999 yesterday. Boohoo. The top broke off. I ordered off Amazon a clear plastic ball to put it in so I can save what’s left. DH got the outside Christmas put away and is draining, cleaning and refilling the hot tub today. Almost 60 here but will freeze by tomorrow night so it’s a good time to do it. The kids and grands used it a lot over Christmas so it was time. All the snow sounds pretty but I’ll take the warmth here while it lasts.

We tried a boardwalk in 2023. DH says not again. We used our boardwalk balcony maybe twice briefly. It was noisy and zero privacy. When we want to introvert, we want the quieter ocean view.

We use tiny plastic pill bags. It’s a pain before we take a long trip to fill them all ( 2 for each of us per day) but then we can take them in a pocket to a meal easier. Coming up on a 60 day trip here and will be trying to figure out if this will still work. TBD. For a 9 month cruise you’d have to just take all the various bottles and refill like you’re doing.

Thanks for all the advice. We will do the ferry to Rottnest. The trip out to the desert seems a little too ambitious even though we are there overnight. We will see Fremantle including the prison the next day depending upon what time the back to backers are allowed off the ship. DH would love to see the stars from the ship. Unfortunately there are always too many lights even at sea from the ship to see much. One cruise we had a cruise director who was interested in astronomy. He did talks twice on the front of the ship and the captain turned off the lights for us. It was wonderful.

We are coming over at the end of the month. Your thread gives me the itch already. I’ll bring some sprays and wipes but everything bites me! I had one cruise in the Caribbean pretty much ruined when some sand fleas bit me so bad I needed steroids. The itching was so intense I didn’t sleep at night. Ugh!

Those windows looked just as bad in January and March of 2023. I agree it’s a great lounge if you could just see out!

We haven’t gone out of PC for years so things have changed some. It’s always FLL or Miami. We might need to get back there for Wonder.

I missed where you’re sailing from and what hotel? Super close! In San Diego we walked to the port from the hotel and loved being able to do that. We’re doing that in Sydney coming up and again in Amsterdam.

Aruba - been there at least half a dozen times and didn’t know about the trolley. Will have to watch for it. Odyssey is one of our favorite ships. DH prefers it over it any other. Last time we had a jr suite and the bathrooms and storage were the best! 270 is a wonderful venue as is the sea plex with Playmakers. It’s nice we all have choices. We wouldn’t hesitate to book the Quantum class again.

On Allure in the music hall one night we were listening to the high seas Orchestra. It was wonderful but so loud. I turned my decibel reader on in my phone and it was in the 80’s which is dangerous! We decided to leave. I guess I need to get some of those loop ear plugs.

This is our plan for the day with lunch at the Duke of Marlborough.

We also almost applied for the wrong one but on going through it, it said airport only and we didn’t pick that one. I have printed out the emails that say we were granted and paid. I didn’t know it would be connected to our passports so am happy that I won’t have to pull them out but will have them if needed. Assuming this is for both Australia and NZ. We do on line tickets for a lot of things but I do like the hard copies. Just call me old fashioned but if you can’t get WiFi…I’ve seen this happen a few times.

Love these! Thanks for sharing.

We have one of those plans where they come out for a service charge and fix the appliance for free. It’s been great a couple of times for the air conditioner units. I asked the guy when he fixed my temp control on my oven which appliances he has less calls on. He says Whirlpool is best. LG, Samsung and Kitchen aide he works a lot on. Of course I have builder grade LG. Just kind of waiting for the dishwasher to go out as it’s been 11 years. My washer and dryer are probably about 20 years old. DH wanted to get me fancy new ones but I said no. We will wait until they die and then I’m still getting basic stuff. I have a 40 year old freezer in garage that just keeps going. My fridge is fancier but that’s the only thing I think is worth it. I have never used my convection oven setting but do use the warming drawer. It’s always something. I have a friend with a new Bosch that she’s had nothing but trouble with. You can also get a lemon.

I remember doing a pasta class! It was fun and we ate afterwards.

Ugh. This is the worst part of travel. At least it was on the way home. We’re checking 4 bags total this month to fly to Sydney. We use air tags but I still worry every time I check a bag. For me it’s the worst part of flying. I can’t relax and start vacation until I know my bags are back with me.

We did an early night with another couple but are home now. DH is already asleep on the couch. I’ll wake him for the ball drop in NYC and then head to bed. I’d have loved to have been on the WC tonight and viewed the fireworks from the ship. No way we will ever go to NYC for New Years for all the previous listed reasons. Happy New Year everyone!

I think it is somewhat dependent ship to ship. Allure early this year was bad on 2 cruises. Radiance in Alaska was bad. A new chef came on and by October on Radiance the food had greatly improved. A chef can only do so much with the quality he’s given but a good chef can probably still make improvements.

It’s wise to really research for a world cruise and do some comparisons. Some WC have a lot of sea days. Some are of course necessary but you don’t want too many. I read about someone who had done both a Princess and a Viking WC. He said by the time they had paid for all the extras on Princess, Viking was almost the same cost for a much better experience. We still hope to do one someday….

We are cruising on a B2B staying over night in Fremantle, just outside of Perth. On turn around day we plan on seeing Fremantle since it’s close to port and we have no idea what time we’ll be able to get off the ship. The day prior we get into Fremantle at 0630. This gives us an entire day to explore Perth or farther. Our cruise line has offered no excursions except to Swan Valley. We really can’t decide what to do. The DH is interested in doing an independent desert tour at night to see the stars. This doesn’t leave until 3 p.m. or so from Perth, returning about 11:30 p.m. It’s a 2 hr drive each way. I’m a little concerned about getting back to the ship that late at night on the train as it’d be after midnight. It’s a 30 min train trip though the ship of course remains in port. If it’s cloudy we see nothing. We don’t want to spend the night in a hotel in Perth as it’s an extra expense. Our other options are to go to Rottnest from Fremantle which seems easy or meeting with a independent tour group in Perth near the train station about 9:30 a.m. to do an all day food and wine tour which includes a river cruise back to Perth. Both of these are doable in our time frame too. Any comments from people who have done any of these things or live in the area would be helpful.

I’ve drooled over those purses before. I’m just not a purse carrier on board the ship. But I do love them.

The best way to help the crew is always be kind and courteous and tip extra if you are so inclined.

We took 2 whale watching excursions last July and didn’t see anything better then that!