TravelGirlinDallas

1 hour ago, mkcurran said:

I am definitely done with Long Beach and possibly done with Carnival. 

What happened?

11 hours ago, TxTeach79 said:

You know it’s been a long one when you rolled in at 6:45 and you’re the last one in the parking lot in the evening…

I can relate to this far too often. It's another 50+ hour week over here... 😞

52 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

My brother in law as opted out for him & my sister. He says the flight is too long.

Sounds like a cop-out to me, LOL. There must be another reason.

I can't decide what to do about the shingles vaccine. I'm 50, so I could take it now, but it doesn't last very long (5-10 years?), and there's no booster later. So do I take it now, and then find myself at risk again when I'm older and possibly in worse health? Or wait a few years so that I'm protected when I'm older? My doctor doesn't seem concerned either way when I've asked him.

I've been on two Alaskan cruises. The first was a girls' trip back when I was single, the second was with my family when Andrew was 12. Both have been my absolute favorite cruises of all. I was so happy to go back and see it all again with my family. 

3 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

Tribe, my story is becoming like a TV movie

I hate that this is happening to you. Big hugs as you navigate all of the decisions and changes.

44 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

I’ve made an executive decision… June 2026, I’ll finally do Alaska. 

Finally. Woohoo!!

2 hours ago, BohJang said:

My Celebrity Beyond cruise is 59 days away!!

72 days until Beyond for us!!

I'm surprised at how arid Aruba is. I always thought of all of the Caribbean islands being lush and tropical. 

I enjoyed the pics of Celebrity Beyond - we'll be sailing that ship to the ABCs in July. 

1 hour ago, Arzeena said:

I am getting very excited because we are going on the Beyond for a 6 night cruise, in 12 days. Ports are Coco Cay, Grand Cayman and Bimini.

Never been to Bimini before. Could have chosen more "interesting" itinerary but this is what Celebrity allowed us to move our reservations to after cancelling a couple of Beyond sailings that would have had some date conflicts.
We have been on the Edge three times and I loved it. I hope ours is not a "rattling" room that people are complaining about.

But my major excitement is about the small possibility that Captain Kate will be on board.....either as Captain or cruiser. And those mini lemon meringue tarts at Bacio.......😁🥰 umm umm umm!

Please post about your experience on Beyond - we are booked on her in July.

Just booked the spring break '25 Mexican Riviera cruise I've had my eye on for a while, so I'll finally get to go to MAZATLAN like they always announced so dramatically on "Love Boat". It's on Discovery Princess, which we sailed on for a CA coastal in 2023 and loved it. AND, we scored a "3rd & 4th sail free" deal, so Andrew's fare was $0 and the cruise ended up costing over $600 less than I originally thought. So happy about all of this.

31 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Happy Monday Tribe! 3 weeks from today, I’ll be embarking on the Allure of the Seas. I just scheduled the mail hold. I’m still looking for parking, but the Spot seems to think they are the only parking lot in all of north Texas. I’m not paying $11/day there when I can pay $10/day onsite at the actual airport. After getting some work done today, I’m going to assess the kids packing. A Target run is definitely on the agenda this week. They haven’t been on a cruise since the Carnival Dream in Oct. 2022. With the weekends filled with softball and soccer, I gotta get this show on the road. 

LOVED Allure! I think we almost crossed paths the day we departed from Galveston, as you had been on the ship earlier that morning for a tour. It's a great ship for both kids and adults.

1 hour ago, KmomChicago said:

Things took a turn, I guess what you would call THE turn, about ten days ago. 
 

It’s been interesting mentally since then but I am finally able to move into a different head space, the space of moving forward into a future that’s going to look different than previously expected. 

I'm so sorry. I know that's not what you wanted.

44 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

Looks like we're ordering from La Fonda

29 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

@TravelGirlinDallas you might know my friend. She’s worked for Southwest since 1999. 

I didn't know many flight attendants since I worked in Finance as an accountant at HDQ. 

47 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

She says there will be furloughs

That's a pretty big deal. I worked for SWA for 12 years (until 2010), and at that time they were proud that they had never had a layoff. They did voluntary severance packages instead, and I actually took that option when I had Andrew and stayed home with him for a few years.

9 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

As you all know, I’m relatively proactive about most things. I’m currently being hinder from business as usual due to Miss Ho Chi Minh City and security flaws with that one place. After falling down several rabbit holes and monitoring developments in different ways to resolve this quickly, with some help, I have drafted a demands letter that will be served to the appropriate legal teams on Friday. They have until May 9th to make things right or I will file in small claims court on May 10th. In 2022 & 2023, lots of people had success with the demand letter alone. In the last 6 months, the small claims court has been quite successful with recovery and monetary compensation. Seeing as how they emailed me documentation on the “play by play” hacking & have zero customer service for resolution with myself as an ad buyer… we will see how it goes. 

Impressive!! Hope that works!

4 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Apparently there are additional apps like DUO Mobile and some Google app that will give you some code. As soon as all this happened, I did what the one site told me to do and then went to IG. All I had to do on IG is kick them off as linked accounts and then I set up DUO. So simple. The 2FA is a cluster. What if you lose your phone and can’t get SMS? So many crazy factors. It’s really garbage. I get a work task done, then try it again. Do another work task, try again. Check email & double check for email from that site’s security. Apparently I’ve disappeared over there to others. I can still “see” me. 
BTW @mkcurran I sent you an email. 

I can see your travel page but not your personal page.

49 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

In the epic hacking saga of 2024… the hacker has my phone number connected to his account, Dryka Santos. They will let me submit my ID to the phone number but my picture doesn’t match that profile picture so it gets denied. I still have access to my email but they keep giving me an error message when I try to submit my ID to the email that matches my actual picture. It says “to prevent misuse, we limit how often you can do things”. Umm you haven’t let me do it even once. How can I be limited out? I’ve read that this message can last 24 hours to 2 weeks. This is REAL frustrating. 
 

Is there any way to prevent this from happening? I thought adding 2-factor would prevent hacking, but you had that and it still happened to you.

4 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

Bill’s friend isn’t his friend after all. I still intend to take this cruise because it is our only child’s high school graduation present. It’s maybe 50/50 whether Bill’s former friend will be in any condition to travel. Probably won’t decide until it’s time to drive to O’Hare. Game Day decision. 

I'm so sorry that your husband is no longer sober. I can only imagine how that must affect you and your kiddo.

1 hour ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Woke up to being locked out of that one social media site. Apparently, at 1:47am, someone in Ho Chi Minh City broke in. And. This. Is. A. Mess. It’s asking me to login in on another device. Did that. There it asked me to login in on another device. I’ve attempted this on 3 devices. Ugh. 

They hijacked your account or the whole site?

4 hours ago, Funsince1983 said:

Reporting in from the ER. We've got our first broken bone of spring sports season. 🫠🫠🫠

 

Why, WHY, must all my children go balls to the walls 100% of the time?

SO sorry. Hope kiddo is OK. Andrew has broken his left pinky finger twice, but thankfully didn’t need surgery. Ruined his football season, though.

42 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

When I got up to bat, my order came to exactly $18.50, and I handed the guy a $20. He seemed confused as to how to retrieve the change even though a fourth grader would know it's $1.50... Eventually he called a manager over to help, and soon (but not as soon as I'd have liked) I was on my way.

Just think how much time you would have saved with a credit card...😄

11 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Thanks everyone for the BD wishes. We had a great cruise. On my birthday they had Key Lime Pie at lunch (I saw it on the Coastal Kitchen menu), but we ate in the WJ. I stopped by to see I they could keep a piece for my birthday for that night. I never ask for stuff like that from the crew, but it was KLP and my birthday that night! I was happy they kept a piece for me. I didn't know Mike had ordered a cake when we first boarded. He has never done this before on a ship since I/we don't need a whole cake and I'd also prefer to drink my desserts. 🍸🍹😊

Wow, what an amazing birthday! Fancy drinks, all your favorite desserts - and you were on a cruise! I hope to experience a cruise birthday someday. 😂 So happy for you!

1 hour ago, KmomChicago said:

@TravelGirlinDallas by chance can you tell us if Ovation of the Seas has any place that makes milkshakes? We are considering the refreshment package but only if it includes them.  RCI website says the package includes milkshakes FROM JOHNNY ROCKETS and I know this is not on Ovation.  I have checked around the internet and there is some mixed info but it's not looking good. 

 

I also posted this question over on the RCI boards in case someone can answer something so specific.  Thanks in advance. 

You know, I've never had a milkshake at sea. I know that Ovation sells fancy coffee drinks in both Cafe Two70 and La Patisserie. I think La Patisserie has Starbucks Frappucinos, although I know that's not the same as a milkshake. They have ice cream, too. We were on Ovation in Alaska and the weather was pretty cool, so we were more interested in hot chocolate at that time.