Momof3gurlz

6 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I highly suspect I would bore your husband to death. He would be on vacation and all I would want to talk about is flying planes... and I'm talking details... I want all the steps to get a 787 from 36,000 to the gate.😯😊

Same here.  I have a love/hate relationship with flying.  I’m fascinated by it, yet I hate to fly.  I think it’s because I don’t understand how it works & what all the noises and sensations are.  If only I could sit in the cockpit and have the pilot explain everything!

Happy Birthday @dani negreanu!  I’ll echo another poster and say thanks for starting this thread.  

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

Oh absolutely!  They are the highest rated B&B in St. Augustine, which has something close to 30 different B&Bs there.  Stayed at Bayfront Wescott, just across the street from the water.  Really fantastic service and attention to detail.  Decadent breakfast!  

Parked our vehicle once dropping off our luggage they brought up to the room, then never used it until 3 days later.  Everything is walking distance...unless you want to go to the beach, which we opted not to due to very heavy tourist time (spring break/bike week).  Surprisingly quiet at night there, since not directly on main drag.  

 

We dined at Collage...excellent!  Had lunch at Meehans...would not recommend.  There are many good restaurants in the area.  

Thank you!  We’re hoping to head down to FL for a couple of weeks mid-May as long as DH has received his vaccine. Will definitely check them out.

14 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Thanks!  Indeed it was nice to get away.  The B&B we stayed at is a favorite of ours, they have fantastic service.  👍 

Would you share the name of it?  And any restaurant recommendations you might have.  We love St Augustine. Have only been there for the day.  Ate at Harry’s Seafood which was pretty good, mostly loved the atmosphere in their outdoor dining courtyard. 

34 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Also Happy birthday to your wife @grapau27.

 

Today is my wife and I's anniversary. So we share a celebratory day Graham.  I'm taking today off we are going to Texas de Brazil to celebrate. I have to work Sunday so Monday night were having a little gathering with friends and family to celebrate as well.  My son-in-law will be smoking Tri-tip.  Between tonight and Monday Tuesday should see me in a meet coma.

Happy Anniversary! In our family, we refer to too much beef as “getting the meat sweats”. 

@Milwaukee Eight looks overwhelming!

This is the current state of affairs in our backyard. (ugh so ugly & brown right now) Landscapers expect to start laying the paver apron at the end of this month, then black iron fencing around it. If anyone has pool pictures they’d be willing to share, I’m looking for inspiration.  We have a rough sketch including walkway to the deck & patio but  it’s not the same as as actual photos.  

12 minutes ago, sara mom said:

For those of you that have made to move to Florida- how did you decide on location?  It seems like a daunting task- Gulf side vs Atlantic side?  My husband and I are about 7 years out and when we visit Disney each year, we pick a city or 2 in Florida to check out for possible places to move to.  

We’ve done this exact same thing. Although the original plan was to move to FL once we retired, or at least become snowbirds, having grandchildren changed all that.  Ours are all in the Northeast & we just don’t want to be in their lives only “sometimes”.  New plan, which was supposed to start last month (but - COVID) is to rent a place for 6-8 weeks sometime from Jan to March each year to escape the worst of winter.  So far we think we like the west coast, anywhere from Sarasota to Naples.  But renting would allow flexibility to change locations.  So maybe try renting before you buy?  

1 hour ago, Lionesss said:

 

 

 

 

Then we follow my mothers recipe to freeze.

 

 

 

 

 

Just took a screenshot of your instructions to try this year.   We have wonderful local corn here, late summer is best. Thanks for sharing.

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I swear everytime I see NE England I first read it as NEW England.😄

Same here!

It was a gorgeous, sunny 60 degrees in RI today! Finally able to get out for a walk, did 3 miles and I’m FEELING it.  Putting chicken on the grill for dinner because it just feels right with the nice weather. 

5 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 Long story short, the entire first floor on the back of our house was demo'd down to the drywall.  

 

 

We moved to this house 3 1/2 yrs ago, downsized from the big family home 3500 sq ft to 2300. Our intention was to find a fixer upper we could do over ourselves. Learned my Dad had stage 4 lung cancer & figured we wouldn’t have time to focus on a full gut & remodel so we bought this house that was a flip - fully remodeled & all major items done. Since then we’ve redone the hall bath, upgraded all the appliances, built a finished laundry room off half bath in the lower level, new front walkway and steps/entry to front door, added frameless glass doors & new vanity in master bath.  Still want to replace the kitchen island - it’s an L shape & not really functional.  Good thing we didn’t buy a fixer upper LOL!  DH loves to say 

he’s afraid to stand still too long or he might be replaced 😆.

18 hours ago, Coralc said:

MMM. Yes. Same thing here. Only child, joint tenancy with my mom. Took over both houses......and looking at significant capital gains taxes, and trying to avoid them as much as possible. 

My youngest is an accountant, currently studying for CPA.  She thinks we’ll only have to pay capital gains on the difference between fair mkt value of the house when it was signed to me in 2002, and the selling price, minus any improvements made during that time. Hope she’s right!

That’s great news @singinalot!  Very similar goings on back here in the Northeast.  My Dad passed away Feb 2020.  I put his house on the market (technically my house as he had put it in my name back in 2002) in November 2020. Second person who looked at it made an offer 10k over asking.  We signed papers on it Dec 30th.  Now just sweating the capital gains taxes 😬.  
Hope the rest of the process goes as easy for you!

@dani negreanu

You may be on to something.  My oldest daughter & SIL have 3 boys.  My middle daughter & SIL have 2 girls, so far.  Being an only child myself, it boggles my mind a bit! 
 

New kid in the block here.  Just introduced myself over on the Bella thread as well. I’ve been following along here for many months & decided to finally join the party.  DH & I live in the Ocean State, RI.  Have 3 grown daughters and 5 grandchildren.  I also follow the vaccine threads here as some of the others, purely for entertainment value. They’re often like the proverbial train wreck that you can’t look away from.  I much prefer the vibe here & Bella’s!  
Our lockdown has consisted of grocery pickups with quick in store visits only when necessary, walks when weather permits,  trips to the beach last summer, takeout meals only, and a ton of home improvement projects.  We are both retired & DH is a big DIY-er.  We were able to get an in ground pool installed at the end of last summer so we now spend a lot of time planning the completion (pavers, fencing, lighting, landscaping). I received my 1st Pfizer shot last week (63), DH is waiting to be contacted (57).  
Our last cruise was June 2019, Anthem 9 night Bermuda & Eastern Caribbean out of Bayonne NJ to celebrate DH retirement.  It was one of our best! Photo from our favorite spot-Boleros.

So regarding this passenger vessel services act and the requirement to visit a distant, non US port (or one of the ABC islands) before you can disembark without penalty, what happens in the case of an emergency or illness and you have to fly home from a port stop? For example, you’re on a Bahama or Caribbean cruise (no ABC island stop) and there was a serious issue at home requiring you to leave.

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Trying to price out a cruise on RCI website. When I get to the total price page I only see the cost for non-refundable deposit with no option to edit for refundable deposit rate. Anyone know how to do this?

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Disembarkation on the 25th was quite frankly a cluster. And despite NCL’s claims that it’s the port authority, I have my doubts. We elected self walk off. Once we were docked (terminal 2) the CD started announcing that the ship could not be cleared until all non US citizens were accounted for by reporting to some location on the ship (I don’t recall the exact location - maybe one of the dining rooms?). This announcement was made repeatedly about every 15 minutes. *Note* the announcement was made in English - maybe they should consider making it in a few other languages?? At one point, the announcement started with the CD saying “we’ve just been informed by the port authorities that the ship cannot be cleared until all non US citizens are accounted for”, as if this was “new” information. In the meantime, they were also announcing that others should not be heading to elevators, stairs, etc until their “times” were called which of course everyone ignored. The CD then began making an announcement that any non US citizens that had not reported as requested would be held from disembarking until the very end after all other passengers. But wait - didn’t he say earlier that the ship couldn’t be cleared until these non US citizens were accounted for?? Eventually they began calling specific passengers (I assume the remaining non US citizens) and shortly after they began letting self walk off passengers disembark. We did however stand in s line that went pretty much the entire length of the ship, through the Bliss loung and about a quarter of the way back down the other side to the exit door. Once we were in the terminal it was as very quick. Maybe 10 minutes max. I’d estimate we were off the ship around 9:45 am. But like I said, it was the NCL part that seemed highly unorganized. The port/customs part was a breeze.

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We were on the 3/18-3/25 sailing and had a smooth embarkation. We were late completing our online check-in an ended up with a 1:30-2:00 check-in window. I was tempted to show up earlier, just to get on the ship & start “vacationing” earlier, but having read about the long lines we decided to stick to our assigned times. We arrived at the terminal about 1:15 pm, went right up the escalator and had about 10 people in front of us for security screening. Then on to the Latitudes check in line with about the same amount of people ahead of us. Waited maybe 5 minutes, checked in and went directly on the ship. Quick & painless. I would suggest arriving later if you want to avoid lines. We also kept our suitcases with us as we were concerned they’d get to our cabin very late with the later check-in. Worked fine for us as we only had one each and rooms were ready shortly after we boarded.

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Thanks! I’m looking forward d to that white night instead of the foot of white outside right now! (blizzard conditions in RI)

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We’re headed out this Sunday, 3/18, on the Dawn 7 night out of Tampa. Do they have the “White Hot” night/party on this cruise? Thanks in advance.

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Thank you! I found a couple of videos of that penthouse suite 10506 and now have a better understanding of that smaller opening; definitely appears to be part of the suite. Appreciate your quick reply.

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On Monday we booked NCL Dawn out of Tampa departing 3/18. Chose Balcony Sailaway category and received our cabin assignment today...# 10508. Most forward regular balcony cabin. From another thread here, which included photos, I understand the difference between a regular balcony and a PrivaSea balcony and am fine with the PrivaSea. However.......in looking at actual photos of the ship, it appears that just forward of the last PrivaSea balcony cabin there’s another “opening” of some sort. I’m really hoping this is not our cabin that has a fully enclosed balcony (no glass front). If it is, I need to start figuring out how to possibly upgrade. Yes, I understand what the sailaway category is and that we could likely end up with a PrivaSea balcony, but my understanding is they had glass fronts. I Googled the cabin number and came across a very recent YouTube video showing supposedly 10508 and it shows a typical PrivaSea balcony. I’m just not sure how reliable that would be as to it being that actual cabin. Would appreciate any information or feed back anyone can provide. Thanks!

There are more people who can handle a microphone. The CD, the HD, some officer could have kept people informed. Scary things are a lot less scary when someone is explaining what the situation is and what to expect. Some people probably would have liked to be assured that the ship was not going to sink, but they needed to be very careful walking around.

This exactly. I was on this cruise and posted much earlier in the thread, referring to the Captain as a "quack". After reading through most of the posts, in particular those of Chengkp75who explained that we were likely a bit behind the storm, I would now take back that quack reference. If only the Captain had taken a few minutes to explain a few things, or at the very least authorized someone else to do this, I believe it would have gone a long way to reassure people. This was our 5th cruise out of the Northeast during the winter and we did go through a very bad storm in the Gen a couple of years ago with probably similar wind/wave conditions however that storm lasted one night & that Captain made clear & detailed announcements about what was going on and what we might expect over the next several hours. BIG difference between that and a storm that lasted 2+ days and we received only vague, canned statements. We were fully aware of the possibility of storms or bad weather this time of year, just never expected it to last that long or that communication would be so lacking. I'm not asking for or looking for anything from NCL - if would however be nice if they learned something from this and maybe modified their communications protocols during a storm. And thank you to Chengkp75 for providing such great information.