bobmacliberty

Micheline has a pair of these. They work well. Loop Experience Plus: 23 dB Sound Control – Loop United States (loopearplugs.com)

I played golf this morning in very windy conditions. Pretty consistently more than 20 mph and often gusting even higher. I took this quick video of the ocean. The sea was angry that day, my friends. Untitled video (20).mp4

For OB and any other Android users who are .mov challenged. Untitled video (19).mp4

You're not trying hard enough. 😜 Again, you're not trying hard enough. 😁

Love The Patio. Great food, usually good live music, and a nice casual atmosphere. It has become very popular and hard to get in without reservations. We eat at the Salty Pelican a lot and enjoy the upstairs area for the sunset views over the marsh/Amelia River. You may have forgotten to post your photo, so here's one of ours. The sky was lit spectacularly. There was a replica of the Santa Maria at the marina that's partially blocking the view.

This is hanging in our shower. What have I been missing all of these years????

We're giving up and flying to Punta Cana on the 19th in search of warm weather. I hope you have better luck in Florida.

Thanks for the suggestion. Sounds like several interesting things to do there. We don't think about visiting the panhandle as much as we should. Pensacola is only about 5.5 hours away taking I-10, which also happens to be the name of my current favorite IPA. 😁

We just dropped friends of ours from Cincinnati at the airport. It was great having them here for a few days. Lots of fun. Time however to now spend several days without drinking, eating a lot less, and sleeping a lot more!

@akcruz I'm also interested in what you liked most about your trip. We're still relative newcomers to Florida and are always looking for someplace that we can visit for a long weekend.

Are they limiting the number of lobster tails that you can get?

I first thought this was a map of the world showing where the beer comes from. I couldn't figure out why they had Carib near Northern Canada. 🤣

Mine three...especially if I'm by myself. One of the advantages of traveling internationally while working was that could watch a lot of movies on a plane. That was my time to catch up on "guy flicks" while Micheline was at home catching up on "chick flicks".

Looking great! We want that exact style of refrigerator with adjustable temp middle drawer, but with the ice maker in the freezer section to avoid issues with it being located in the higher temp fridge section. We can't find anyone who makes that. Depending on how much dust was generated, you might also consider getting your air ducts cleaned. Made a big difference for us after our kitchen remodel in Ohio.

What do they call the move where he flips back his hair with his hands? 😜 Ah, to be young again...and have hair. We need an Andrew vs. Toby competition on an upcoming cruise!

Blanton's included with the plus package? Very impressive, especially if they can keep it in stock.

I don't remember noticing any issues at the Grand Hyatt at all, in either our room or the public spaces. I checked with Micheline, who is more sensitive to that kind of stuff, and she didn't see anything either. All seemed perfect. I don't know if there are newer or older sections at the resort but we were close to the main building with the lobby. Our room probably would have been there since the resort was built. For what it's worth, we were in a "KG PRT OCN VW" which is a "Private lanai: 1 King pillow top: Partial ocean view from lanai; 500 sq feet". It was a step up from a base room in terms of view, but not anything fancy enough that it would have received special cleaning attention. It was just above the number 29 on the resort map below, overlooking the pool area with a view of the ocean in the distance to the right. As for Lihue vs Poipu, it's probably a matter of what you plan to do/where you plan to go while there. The Royal Sonesta looks like a very nice resort and the beach looked really nice when we had lunch at Duke's, which is right there. The Hyatt pool complex is great and would be a nice advantage if that's important (i.e. if you'll have extended family with you). You probably can't go wrong with either choice purely from a resort perspective. We've only been to Kauai once and I'm far from an expert but here's what I would say about the locations. Advantages of Lihue...close to the airport (including helicopter tours) and the main commercial area of Kauai. Slightly shorter (about 15 minutes less) drive to Princeville and other attractions in the north shore area. You're also a little closer to things near the east coast like the Smith's Family Garden Luau (considered but didn't do) and Wailua Falls. Advantages of Poipu...more of a vacation/resort area when you leave the hotel property. Slightly shorter drive (about 15 minutes less) to the Napali coast boat trips and Waimea Canyon. If you'll have a rental car, the driving distance differences aren't that big of a deal. In planning for Kauai, I listed a lot of potential things to do in OneNote. In case it's helpful for your planning, I exported it to a .pdf file. Hope this helps. Kauai.pdf

The Aquadome has me the most intrigued. The Aquatheater is my favorite venue on Oasis class ships and I'm hoping that the Aquadome is a step up.

Chris Wong just posted a video of when he joined the Icon crew in Cadiz, Spain a few weeks ago. In the video, they're still doing a lot of last-minute work on the ship. You can see many of the different areas of the ship, including a few crew only areas. Makes for a good tease before seeing the finished product this week.

Thanks for the recommendation. We're always looking for new things to watch. We recently started watching something old...True Detective. We're 3/4 of the way through the first season with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson and like it a lot. We've got 2 more older seasons to watch and a 4th season just started. Should keep us busy for a bit.

I'll definitely post a quick review and some pictures here.

Secrets makes a point of saying that tipping is included in the price. I'd assume that you can tip additionally if you'd like but wouldn't be surprised if it was like George said and they don't actually allow tipping. We also typically like to be active and we've got a beach/pool right here, so beach vacations, especially where you never leave the resort, aren't normally our thing. We'll fly there on Monday and fly back on Friday so I think I'll survive 3 full days of reading and relaxing. They do have continual activities including some form of show in the evenings, which will help.

The weather here was great yesterday but in the few weeks before...not so much. Lots of gray skies and temps that were even dipping into the 30s. While that's nothing compared to what many of you have been experiencing, it's still a little depressing. We therefore decided that we need to go someplace warm. We'll be flying down to Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) in 3 weeks. We were there 20 years ago when our kids were young (to address winter cabin fever while living in Cincinnati) but have not been back since. We'll be staying at Secrets Cap Cana, an adult only all-inclusive which gets good reviews. This will be a pure relaxation trip with no "excursions" planned. Just beach, pool, food, drink, repeat. Has anyone been to Secrets Cap Cana?

I'm late to the party @twangster and just read your review end to end. Spectacular, as I've come to expect from anything that you post. A couple of questions if you don't mind... 1. I've got the Canon version of your 70-200 2.8 but I don't own any extenders. Did you find that you used both? If you were to bring just one, which would it be? Was the light penalty a problem...the 2X is 2 stops, correct? Seems like your Sony does very well at high ISOs. 2. Was your Royal C&A status (we're D+) worth anything on Silversea? I read somewhere that only X recognized C&A status but would love to her any confirmation from you. Thanks for all of the effort that you put into this live report. An Antarctic excursion may have just moved to the top of my next planned cruise list. Off to check 2025...

I'm fully with you on this Twangster. Currently looking at Oceania and/or an Anarctica sailing. We'll only sail Royal now for multi-generational family cruises. Off to read your Antarctica thread.