Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[Sunshine3601]

10 hours ago, George C said:

We are at embassy suites on 17th, really disappointed bar and restaurant closed at 8pm!! Will find a different hotel for our November cruise, luckily there was a nice Irish pub across the street . Will get to ship about noon.

I would hope by November they are back to "normal" and stay open later than 8 pm.    Did they have their happy hour?  Whenever we stay in that area we like to go to Kelly's seafood bar/restaurant.   short walk from embassy suites.

But none of that matters as you are boarding your ship and going to be treated like a royal in the penthouse suite!       Have a wonderful trp🤩

[Sunshine3601]

6 hours ago, sgmn said:

I've noticed holiday lets companies are using the pandemic as a reason to delay entry on turnaround day. 

Our cottage in Cornwall this summer we have to leave strictly by 9am (otherwise they could take money from the deposit) and you can't arrive until 5pm 

Not sure it's because they need extra cleaning time or they want to air the house out between guests 

Pre covid it was normally leave by 11am and arrive by 3pm

9 am departure is too early for me.    I usually wake up around 6 or 7 am but like to have a nice leisurely breakfast and not feel rushed to check out.

[Sunshine3601]

3 hours ago, sgmn said:

Inspired by Graham's lovely fish and chip photos, this is our pub meal yesterday.  Fish n Chips for DH and sea bass fillets for me . Pub is in staggering distance of our holiday cottage 

 

Wow, that is a lot of food.    Looks delicious!    

[Sunshine3601]

Our first night back home after a month down the shore.      Eva couldn't get enough of her Mommy and curled up with all night and kept tapping me throughout the night to pet her while she was licking me.    

Sparky is still playing it cool.

[davekathy]

10 hours ago, George C said:

We are at embassy suites on 17th, really disappointed bar and restaurant closed at 8pm!! Will find a different hotel for our November cruise, luckily there was a nice Irish pub across the street . Will get to ship about noon.

Did they have the mangers nightly reception (HH)? Did they have the complementary breakfast? 

Edited July 3, 2021 by davekathy

[grapau27]

4 hours ago, sgmn said:

Inspired by Graham's lovely fish and chip photos, this is our pub meal yesterday.  Fish n Chips for DH and sea bass fillets for me . Pub is in staggering distance of our holiday cottage 

 

Nice looking meals Sue.

[Arzeena]

10 hours ago, George C said:

We are at embassy suites on 17th, really disappointed bar and restaurant closed at 8pm!! Will find a different hotel for our November cruise, luckily there was a nice Irish pub across the street . Will get to ship about noon.

We generally like and stay at Embassey Suites all over, but some are getting really dated and our last ES experience in Savannah was not pleasant. So am giving them a break for a bit. The best one I have stayed at is the one in St Augustine Beach where I have run into a popular Cruise Critic reviewer (Wildra). That ES is really nice, its new and on the beach.

We are staying at the Renaissance in FLL pre cruise. Have stayed there before and it is fine.

Have a wonderful cruise and I look forward to hearing about your suite! Previously we were supposed to sail with you on the Millenium today.......we cancelled and booked the Edge and you did too, just two cruises before we go.

Edited July 3, 2021 by Arzeena

[Arzeena]

10 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

We stopped staying there maybe 10 years for a few different reasons and went to the Hyatt Place around the corner. There is no hotel bar but it is newer, has great sound proof windows (big reason for Lisa), no noisy atrium, and more economical for a one night stay. Steps away from Publix and Gilbert’s 17st Grill. 

 

Thanks, we will look into this one. "Newer" caught my eye.

[Momof3gurlz]

Just another quick comment about TV shows. Two other good ones we just watched are Mare of Easttown which is a limited series & was excellent. Also Hacks, starring Jean Smart (she’s also in Mare of Easttown) as an aging Las Vegas comedian.  
 

[ATG]

1 hour ago, Momof3gurlz said:

In other travel news, I just booked flights to Orlando in September. 
A little back story - we are a Disney family.  We took our girls almost every year starting in 1991.  The only years we missed were 1992 (I was pregnant with #3), 2009 (oldest got married & middle was in college), 2011 (the year middle & youngest were both in college).  Anyhow, oldest DD has a conference at the Four Seasons there the week before Disney’s 50th Anniversary.  She’s allowed to add on nights before or after, so she asked her sisters to come down & join her for a pre-50th few days.  Then they decided that since it’s our family thing, Mom & Dad should come along.  The only hotel we could get was Art of Animation (while they’re at the Four Seasons LOL) but it’s really just about being there with the 3 of them. Don’t worry about the SIL’s & grandkids - we’ll be back there for 8 days in November with everyone at the DVC 3 bedroom villa 🙃

We were actually at DW 50 years ago thanksgiving week.  My grandparents lived in Fort Pierce and we had driven down from Indiana.  It was only the Magic Kingdom (if I remember right).  It was my senior year in high school and I was amazed.  I remember my first sight of the Castle.  wow!

[George C]

48 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Did they have the mangers nightly reception (HH)? Did they have the complementary breakfast? 

They had a happy hour from 5 to 6:30 so we missed that , there was a long line for breakfast, food was cold , room was fine. But will cancel our November reservation, which was free with points.

 

13 minutes ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Just another quick comment about TV shows. Two other good ones we just watched are Mare of Easttown which is a limited series & was excellent. Also Hacks, starring Jean Smart (she’s also in Mare of Easttown) as an aging Las Vegas comedian.  
 

 

13 minutes ago, Momof3gurlz said:

 

I really enjoyed Mare of Easttown, great cast on hbomax. I also loved Jack Ryan on Amazon.

[Sunshine3601]

25 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

We generally like and stay at Embassey Suites all over, but some are getting really dated and our last ES experience in Savannah was not pleasant. So am giving them a break for a bit. The best one I have stayed at is the one in St Augustine Beach where I have run into a popular Cruise Critic reviewer (Wildra). That ES is really nice, its new and on the beach.

We are staying at the Renaissance in FLL pre cruise. Have stayed there before and it is fine.

Have a wonderful cruise and I look forward to hearing about your suite! Previously we were supposed to sail with you on the Millenium today.......we cancelled and booked the Edge and you did too, just two cruises before we go.

I agree the Embassy suites are getting dated and hopefully they will be able to renovate them in the near future.      The feature that worked great for me at the FLL ES was the fact it had self serve laundry.   In 2020 we did a 7 night sailing on Allure and had a day layover before we got on Serenade for a b2b.   It was nice being able to do my own laundry in between ships and we had a room on the 10th floor with a nice view of the port.    Their pool area is decent and their breakfast buffet was decent but we weren't happy with their happy hour so we went to our favorite, Kelly's seafood for dinner and drinks.    

 

I have never stayed at Renaissance or the Hyatt, will have to give them a try.      

 

We have stayed at the Hilton, which is okay.   We also stayed at Pier 66 before they shut down for major renovations.   I just looked at their website and they won't re-open till 2024 - that is definitely a major renovation.    

[Sunshine3601]

23 minutes ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Just another quick comment about TV shows. Two other good ones we just watched are Mare of Easttown which is a limited series & was excellent. Also Hacks, starring Jean Smart (she’s also in Mare of Easttown) as an aging Las Vegas comedian.  
 

I also enjoyed Mare of Easttown.   I liked Kate Winslett.    there is rumor they may do a season 2.

[Sunshine3601]

42 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

We generally like and stay at Embassey Suites all over, but some are getting really dated and our last ES experience in Savannah was not pleasant. So am giving them a break for a bit. The best one I have stayed at is the one in St Augustine Beach where I have run into a popular Cruise Critic reviewer (Wildra). That ES is really nice, its new and on the beach.

We are staying at the Renaissance in FLL pre cruise. Have stayed there before and it is fine.

Have a wonderful cruise and I look forward to hearing about your suite! Previously we were supposed to sail with you on the Millenium today.......we cancelled and booked the Edge and you did too, just two cruises before we go.

I am sure all of these hotels are glad to see cruise passengers booking their hotels again!

[island lady]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

 

 

LOL...that exact cartoon magnet is on our fridge right now in fact!  Sooo  funny!   Luckily I have not heard the "screaming" lobster when when they hit the hot tub as some tell us.  Pretty much open the lid, dump 'em in cover to steam for 20 minutes.  😉 

 

Once again Bucky collected sea water from in front of the house as our lobster guys suggest.  😄 

[island lady]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Our first night back home after a month down the shore.      Eva couldn't get enough of her Mommy and curled up with all night and kept tapping me throughout the night to pet her while she was licking me.    

Sparky is still playing it cool.

 

So cute!  Katie used to do that when we would get home from a trip.  Every 20 minutes tapping my face with her paw or nose to be sure I was really there!  No getting any sleep that first night.  😉 

[A&L_Ont]

The other downfall of the Embassy Suites in FLL is the elevator when you depart.  It’s always full. It is where we originated the “go up to go down” philosophy.  Granted that can happen at other hotels. 

[brookmill18]

I've been reading this thread almost since the beginning and can't thank everyone enough for such a great place to come and say a (silent!) hello every day! I rarely post on CC but this thread has been such a joy--I especially enjoy hearing about the "regular" lives of people living in so many different places! I have a list of places to visit, shows to watch, and books to read based on this thread alone!

 

And I've come out of lurkdom to ask--where is the Bella thread??? I've searched and googled all over but it's been bugging me that I could not figure it out, so I thought I'd just risk it and ask! I know sometimes other sites can't be mentioned, so no worries if it can't be shared, but thought I'd ask.  Happy 4th of July and hope this thread can continue well out of lockdown times!

[davekathy]

Never mind.

Edited July 3, 2021 by davekathy

[dani negreanu]

4 minutes ago, brookmill18 said:

And I've come out of lurkdom to ask--where is the Bella thread???

 

Enjoy and regards

 

[mo&fran]

5 minutes ago, brookmill18 said:

I've been reading this thread almost since the beginning and can't thank everyone enough for such a great place to come and say a (silent!) hello every day! I rarely post on CC but this thread has been such a joy--I especially enjoy hearing about the "regular" lives of people living in so many different places! I have a list of places to visit, shows to watch, and books to read based on this thread alone!

 

And I've come out of lurkdom to ask--where is the Bella thread??? I've searched and googled all over but it's been bugging me that I could not figure it out, so I thought I'd just risk it and ask! I know sometimes other sites can't be mentioned, so no worries if it can't be shared, but thought I'd ask.  Happy 4th of July and hope this thread can continue well out of lockdown times!

Floataway Lounge

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2744178-friends-of-bell-

 

[dani negreanu]

19 minutes ago, brookmill18 said:

I've been reading this thread almost since the beginning and can't thank everyone enough for such a great place to come and say a (silent!) hello every day! I rarely post on CC but this thread has been such a joy--I especially enjoy hearing about the "regular" lives of people living in so many different places! I have a list of places to visit, shows to watch, and books to read based on this thread alone!

 

Happy 4th of July and hope this thread can continue well out of lockdown times!

 

Thank you so much.

 

Your post made my day.

 

It is worth the time spent finding the right word in English to express my feelings, and giving me "fair winds" to continue the thread "as is", in spite of lockdowns being quite obsolete by now.

 

Much appreciated 🙏 🌷

[jagsfan]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Nice to know.  Love Publix!  Up here in Maine it's Shaw's and Hannaford...with Hannaford being closest to the type of store Publix is.  Big chain.  No Pepperidge split top here...it's "do it your self with small sub rolls" for me.  No big deal to shave the sides.  😉 

I used to buy our red hot dogs and Country Kitchen rolls at Shaw’s on Route 24 (Cook’s Corner) near  Brunswick. 
Wonderful years and glorious summer vacations for our kids. 

[Ozark_Kid]

Grapau27 & sgmn

When eating the fish and chips, do you drizzle malt vinegar over them?  My Grandfather grew up in England.  He was the one who got me to love fish and chips.  I am wondering if the malt vinegar was the way they ate it in England or something he just preferred.  He lived to be 100 years old.  So was it the fish or the malt vinegar that made him so healthy?

Edited July 3, 2021 by Ozark_Kid

[BonTexasNY]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

Last night setting up for Lobster night, the power went out for 1.5 hours.  Luckily did not have the big boys in the "Hot Tub" yet...so it became an extended happy hour while we waited for restore.  😉 

 

Power back on...two big boys going into the pot, table set...let's eat!!  Mmmm....  😋

 

 

As with your other lobster meals, I am salivating here!!!  I can't thank you enough for sharing your Maine vacay with us.