Momof3gurlz

36 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Our first cruise was with my parents on Hal Veendam to Bermuda.  Being able to dock right in Hamilton and stay there for 3.5 days had us hooked.  The following year we treated my parents to the same sailing.  

Docking at royal navy dockyard is nice but nothing like docking at hamilton and st george.

My first cruise was to Bermuda in 1987 on the old Home Lines, the Atlantic, out of Manhattan. Docked right on Front St in Hamilton for 3 days. Loved it. 

BTW, I sometimes feel like this thread goes off the rails from its original intent. But I guess it’s whatever is “routine” in everyone’s day.  Or even what’s unique on any given day. 
@dani negreanustarted something really special here. 

While the B’s game is on, I’m sitting here reading up on CC about Celebrity Equinox. We’re about to pull the trigger on a 9 night cruise end of March 2022. New line for us and 3 new ports (Grand Cayman, Aruba & Curaçao).  I feel like a cheater posting this on an RC board 😂.

I thought we were done with this for the season.  Nope, Memorial Day weekend and it’s wine, hockey, fuzzy slippers & the fireplace.  

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

We went up to Gretna Green in Scotland today.

It was 77°F and sunny.

We visited the outlet mall then went to the Gretna village where a couple were getting married at the Old Blacksmiths shop.

We then went to a garden centre and had lunch there.

There was 4 gorgeous rabbits for sale at the garden centre.

 

 

 

 

Pauline looks lovely, as always. 

36 minutes ago, Lionesss said:

When me and the DH were married 30 years ago this upcoming August, we paid for our own wedding.

We had 375 guests, band, all the toots and bangles.

Paid for wedding and 14 days in Hawaii before we walked down the aisle.

Always saved for whatever life does.

Put the money gifted to us at reeption in bank for when we would build our house, and stored all new gifts till we moved in. (I did not live at home for two years prior to our marriage, and used my old stuff for first two years). 

 

When we were only able to have one child a daughter, we started saving for her day over 25 years ago.

We did good.

Never touched the fund and contributed to it monthly for did I say 25 years.

 

Now that COVID restrictions have been lifting up and many vendors business was down, I guess we fell into a lucky period for us.  Almost all have decreased their standard fees by at least 20%.  That helped us.

 

So her ceremony and reception are at the same venue.

Strings for the service and vocalist.

9 piece band and DJ for band breaks.

Cocktail hour with appetizers.

Sit down dinner for around 175-200 guests

Photo booth.

Alcohol.

Honey moon suite for two nights for bride and groom (even though the groom is staying at his parents house after rehearsal dinner Friday)  and 2 nights comped in hotel room for me and spouse.

All my friends are baking their specialty cookies for the cookie table.

Chocolates at a surprise tribute table.  (shhhhh it is a secret)

 

And of course all the extra added expenses, like photographers, videographers , 

 

Even with the discount weddings are not cheap, but, it will be very memorable for her.

 

Next weekend is the shower weekend, one here in town, and one near the grooms family house.

 

We have elderly family members that cannot travel so meeting all needs.

 

So if anyone bored and wants to party, let me know..........by May  28th.

 

🙄

 

 

Ummm, X 3 over here!  Two down and one to go. Oldest got married while middle was still in college - that was a tough year LOL. 
 

2 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

2 or 3 years ago we had a similar experience with Bonefish grille and never went back.    I have heard the same from others.    Sorry you had a bad experience.    Hopefully you get to fulfill your seafood craving this weekend.    

There was one here in RI a few years ago. Never tried it and it didn’t last long. Maybe because we have so many legit local seafood restaurants - yet Olive Garden stays open, with all the good Italian restaurants we have 🤷🏻‍♀️

18 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

I have progressive bifocals that I wear all the time but have recently added a second pair of glasses that are progressives to wear when on the computer.  They have my mid range lens on the top and my reading on the bottom.  I love the larger field of sight for the computer.  The everyday progressives have distance and reading, with a very small field for my midrange vision.  Pricey, but worth it.

I wear contacts - or contact, I should say. A few years back my eye Dr switched me from lenses in both eyes to only in one eye.  Something about the eyes compensate - one eye is for distance vision and the other is for close up.  Doesn’t make sense to me but it works. Previously I was using readers for any reading. Now only need them for very fine print.

5 minutes ago, derorim said:

 

Love his toes, they look like gloves instead of mittens.
 

Yes, how is his name not “Mittens”?!

9 minutes ago, cruise wizard said:

 

Next March for my birthday #79 - we have booked the Vision of the Seas for a B2B starting on 2/25  - a 10 & 11 night Southern Caribbean itinerary. The Vision is a tad old but hell...........I'm OLD too!!!!! We booked it for the variety of ports  and leaving from FLL which is about an hour and a half drive from home.

Sounds like a great way to celebrate!

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

With the way the CDC is covering its incompetence tracks, I very much expect there won't be a day limit on cruises next year if not sooner.

That would be great, I have a big birth celebrate in March.  Narrowed it to 8 nt Allure or 10 nt Celebrity.

7 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

I'm the last one to give advice with my limited cruise knowledge but can you stretch things and go for a 7 night b2b?  No packing and unpacking a 2nd time.

That is probably the best option, unless cruises longer than 7 nights are a go.

Looking for some advice.  I started looking at cruises for Feb/March 2022. My preference would be be a 9, 10 or 11 nighter out of FL, but not sure those longer cruises will be happening? So thinking about a B2B with a 7 night + 3 or 4 night.  How do you make the timing of this work since 7 nts are Sat/Sat or Sun/Sun, 3 nts are Fri/Sat/Sun, 4 nts are Mon/Fri.  I assume just add hotel nights where needed but wanted to see if there are any other tricks.  What better place to ask than CC?!

4 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Pinocchio, the eggplant version 😁

 

 

So many possible comments. I’ll just remain quiet LOL 🤐

7 hours ago, island lady said:

 

You were so happy...you flipped for joy!  😉  

 

Love Coconut Jacks!  They have the best coconut fried shrimp!!  

They were fantastic! 

7 hours ago, Arzeena said:

Most resorts in the BVI sends out a boat to pick you up from Tortola. So you fly to Tortola. Don't know about direct flights to Tortola, so would have to fly to STT first and take a connector. Yes, too much flying, but worth every penny for paradise.

I went to Jost on a day trip from a Celebrity cruise two years ago and never wanted to get back on the cat that ferreid us there. First time in my life I really wanted to miss the ship and become a castaway, but DH would just not have it!🙄😉😄So here I am!🥴

We visited JVD on a catamaran excursion from an NCL cruise in 2017. It’s the most beautiful beach we’ve ever seen.  And the Painkillers at Soggy Dollar aren’t bad either 😉.  (That’s where I’m sitting in my avatar photo)

9 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Looks like a fun trip.  What did you think of Hammock Beach?  I went there on a guys golf trip a few years ago and thought it could be a good couples vacation place. Those are 2 very different types of trips though.  There wasn't much around the resort at the time and you needed to go back across the Intercoastal waterway to get to restaurants (if you didn't want to eat at the resort).

This was our 2nd time there. We prefer the main building suites to the Lodge rooms. It is great for a couples trip. Beautiful multi-level pool area.  We only ate onsite.  Restaurants were good, not great but this was our last stop and we were just too lazy to go out searching for something else.  

10 hours ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

 

Fixed it for you.  Lovely photo!

 

 

 

Thank you!!

It looks like RCI announced loosening of restrictions?  I may have to book something for the Jan/Feb timeframe. Us northerners need our winter getaway.

29 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

If you go in and edit it, you could delete the one photo you could try to upload it again and save the post.  Hopefully it will save the correct way. Others have said that they have had issues with this as of late here on CC.  Or just say you had a bit of drink and thought it would be fun to post an upside down photo. 

Thanks, I tried but no luck. I’ll go with the drink excuse since that’s most likely anyway 😂

Don’t know why that one picture is upside down & don’t know how to fix it 🤷🏻‍♀️

We are back from our 2 weeks in FL.  Posting this brief trip report here since these were our “routine” last 15 days.

it felt wonderful to be on a vacation. I think I mentioned mask wearing was a mixed bag. Felt strange at first but we quickly adjusted. Even places with signs saying masks required were not enforcing.  
Someone here suggested Lorelei’s in Islamorada for dinner.  It was great & beautiful sunset. (Pic 1)

Spent 2 nights in Bonita Springs & decided when we do start spending a couple of months in FL in the winter, this is where we’d like to be.  Went to Coconut Jack’s for dinner; they offered us a “waterfront” table 😱. We held out for one a little further back (zoom in on pic 2)

Also a beautiful sunset from Bonita Beach (pic 3)
We had a few hiccups but were able to adjust on the fly. Our hotel in Sarasota (4 nights booked) turned out to be very run down; surprising for Hyatt Regency, we’ve always had great luck with them.  Only stayed 1 night. Tried to get a Disney Resort for the remaining nights using our DVC points but no luck. Was able to snag the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in LBV for the nights we needed & it was great. We did not go to parks, just dinner @ Disney Springs.  
Our last stop, Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, I had booked an ocean front room.  They could not get A/C to work in the room so we were moved to a large 1 bedroom suite in main building. Still a beautiful view, just a little further back from the beach.  (Pics 4 & 5)

We also realized what we love about cruising. You settle into your cabin and then everything is pretty much at your fingertips.  Want a snack, pizza, ice cream, drink, coffee, heat music, see a show, etc - you just walk to it.  No changing hotels/rooms, driving to restaurants, looking up directions on your gps or phone.  Plus you are transported from one place to another - while you sleep!

Grateful we were able to make this trip but happy to be home.

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

I love Cracker Barrel for breakfast and am a regular customer when I'm in the midwest. I'm glad were starting to see a few out west now.

They’re our regular “road trip” restaurant traveling back & forth to FL.  There’s one at almost every highway stop in North & South Carolina.  It’s certainly not fancy, bury you know what you’re getting.  For us it’s usually breakfast for dinner. 

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Phew. Our house is now under contract. We ended up with 16 offers and narrowed down to 4. All 4 wanted the house badly and kept upping their offer. Full appraisal gap coverage by the buyer and inspection is for info only (we don’t have to fix anything found by the inspection). Worked out very well for us. Closing on June 25. 

Fantastic news, congratulations!

13 hours ago, DaniDanielle said:

Not to put a damper on things, but just found out one of my grand dogs has a tumor on his spine.  Prognosis not good.  He is such a sweet dog

So sorry to hear this ☹️