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

[island lady]

17 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Hi Dani.

I believe everytime you,me and our regular posters click on your thread it counts as a view.

Nonetheless there must still be a lot of people who read but never contribute.

Graham.

 

"Lurkers".  😉 

[island lady]

13 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

My goal was to get the garlic planted by the end of the month……. Just finished!   Yes, retired folks can set goals and hit them!

 

Mmmm...garlic!!  😋

[bobmacliberty]

11 hours ago, George C said:

We went to a bar today to see Buffalo Bills squish the fish (Miami dolphins ) outside of the bar some Buffalo fans had case or two of Canadian beer Old Vienna offering us a can pre and post game we graciously declined. 

 

Not a great game yesterday, but a win is a win.  The official beer of Buffalo now seems to be Blue Light.  Don't think I would have declined an OV 😁.

[bobmacliberty]

13 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

I used to love Coffee Crisp growing up.  I also remember that every trip to Canada had to include a stop to get MacIntosh's Toffee.  There was a place somewhere next to the QEW that became our standard stop when going to Toronto.  That stuff may have been responsible for my orthodontia.

[island lady]

Forgot to mention...on our way back home from Silver Springs in the Land Yacht...passing through Ocala state forest here in Florida I saw an animal coming out of the woods on state road 40.  

 

Told Bucky to slow down slowly when I spotted it (lots of traffic behind us) and then we rolled to stop part way into the middle of the road to block anyone that would try to pass us (and many do that are speeding way too fast). 

 

Half grown Black Bear heading to the road to cross, and sure enough slowly walked across the road in front of us.  Luckily we were stopping the traffic behind us, they were all clueless until they saw the Bear as it finished crossing the road.  Luckily no one coming from the opposite direction at the time.  

 

When the Bear got to the woods on the other side, he stopped and looked at us for a minute...which was odd, and then continued into the woods.  I swear he smiled to say thank you.  😉 

[sgmn]

On 10/31/2021 at 1:27 AM, Ocean Boy said:

It was the Earl's Court station for me coming in from Heathrow. I stepped out of the station and felt so at ease... and excited.

 

London is pretty easy to get to from here. There are several flights every day from Boston.

Thanks @Ocean Boyand @dani negreanufor the nice things you've said about our capital.  I love America too, we've been to San Francisco,  Los Angeles,  Oahu, Las Vegas,  San Diago, Numerous places in Florida, Boston, New York and lots of places in Canada.

Dani, I haven't had the pleasure of visiting Israel yet but I love seeing it from your photos.

We're going up to London tomorrow to see our son and family, though they are not in Central London, they live near Brixton 

Edited November 1, 2021 by sgmn

[sgmn]

21 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Mine was similiar .I was downsized after working for a company 25 years.No party but I did get a letter thanking me for my employment .

So I was planning to retire May 2021 but because of covid when my airline asked for redundancies in Nov 2020 I jumped on it, 17 years worth of redundancy pay !

But as we were deep in our second wave there was no parties or leaving do. In fact everyone bar a handful were still furloughed 

But I've met up with ex colleagues for parties and dos a few times since and it's always lovely to see everyone again 

[Ozark_Kid]

Good morning @Sea Dog.  I thought you would be on here by now.  Did you sleep in your first Monday of retirement? 

[BonTexasNY]

23 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Good morning @Sea Dog.  I thought you would be on here by now.  Did you sleep in your first Monday of retirement? 

Bittersweet, I bet.

[Sea Dog]

18 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Good morning @Sea Dog.  I thought you would be on here by now.  Did you sleep in your first Monday of retirement? 

 

I have a M-F alarm on my Echo Show that wakes me up. For now I would like to keep my same routine. Today I am still in shock. It does not seem real. It just feels like I'm on vacation. It was nice celebrating Halloween without having to think about getting up and going to work the next day.

 

We had about 65 TOT'ers. I wore my Nightmare before Christmas baseball jersey and watched for the umpteenth time "Young Frankenstein" with some beers. Good evening. Now Halloween is packed up.

 

Now time for organizing clothes for cruise. Trying to decide to start review thread on Tuesday or Wednesday. What do you think dropping it that early? I have some things to fill before we leave on Friday. What's best? I'm still kinda new to this.

[Sea Dog]

1 minute ago, BonTexasNY said:

Bittersweet, I bet.

Yes very bittersweet. A mixture of happiness and sadness. I am still in shock. It doesn't seem real yet.

[Sunshine3601]

32 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

 

I have a M-F alarm on my Echo Show that wakes me up. For now I would like to keep my same routine. Today I am still in shock. It does not seem real. It just feels like I'm on vacation. It was nice celebrating Halloween without having to think about getting up and going to work the next day.

 

We had about 65 TOT'ers. I wore my Nightmare before Christmas baseball jersey and watched for the umpteenth time "Young Frankenstein" with some beers. Good evening. Now Halloween is packed up.

 

Now time for organizing clothes for cruise. Trying to decide to start review thread on Tuesday or Wednesday. What do you think dropping it that early? I have some things to fill before we leave on Friday. What's best? I'm still kinda new to this.

I think wednesday would be good day to start live review thread.  I will definitely be following🥰

[Sunshine3601]

We had about 30 trick or treated.  They were all dressed up with some great hair and make up as parents had more time to get them ready on a sunday then a school day.

My favorite was a girl as beetlejuice, she had amazing hair and make up and  terrific outfit.

The cutest was a 4 yr dressed as wonder woman who wanted to sit down on my front step and tell me all about her new baby sister, Eva.  This was after she met my cat Eva at front door.   No idea who the family was but she was adorable.

[Ozark_Kid]

31 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Trying to decide to start review thread on Tuesday or Wednesday. What do you think dropping it that early? I have some things to fill before we leave on Friday. What's best? I'm still kinda new to this.

I thought about doing a review before the cruise but didn’t decide to actually do it until the morning of the cruise. I know you have already prepared for the review so starting Tuesday or Wednesday should work.  I don’t remember seeing an Explorer review since the start up.  Those planning to cruise Explorer soon will benefit from the cruise.  The itinerary is going to have stops that many have not been to for awhile or ever.  So starting early for them will help them to notice you are going and be able to get prepared to ask what they want to know.  I am sure they will also want to know how the flight there goes.  I believe most here are going to be following along to enjoy all the pics and hear about the fun you are having.  Btw,  where are you staying before the cruise.    

[Ozark_Kid]

12 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

We had about 30 trick or treated.  They were all dressed up with some great hair and make up as parents had more time to get them ready on a sunday then a school day.

My favorite was a girl as beetlejuice, she had amazing hair and make up and  terrific outfit.

The cutest was a 4 yr dressed as wonder woman who wanted to sit down on my front step and tell me all about her new baby sister, Eva.  This was after she met my cat Eva at front door.   No idea who the family was but she was adorable.

When one group came by I came back to the living room and told Sharon that it was the Adam’s family.  She ask, the whole group dressed up like The Adam’s Family?  I laughed, no, it was our neighbor’s family. Adam and his kids.  

[clochette]

the retirement talk is so interesting i am starting to think about retiring but not quite there yet.  One of the thing holding me back is I work at a university and my younger daughter is a PhD student there, I feel that when she is done in hopefully 2-3 years then will be my time to leave (I feel that she needs to moral support it is a tough journey).  My husband works for the same university but is now fully remote so might not retire at the same time, he might keep on working and we could still travel.

[Sea Dog]

33 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I think wednesday would be good day to start live review thread.  I will definitely be following🥰

 

Wednesday is the winner. That should be enough time to do some pre cruise stuff and then get onto the main event.

 

 

19 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

I thought about doing a review before the cruise but didn’t decide to actually do it until the morning of the cruise. I know you have already prepared for the review so starting Tuesday or Wednesday should work.  I don’t remember seeing an Explorer review since the start up.  Those planning to cruise Explorer soon will benefit from the cruise.  The itinerary is going to have stops that many have not been to for awhile or ever.  So starting early for them will help them to notice you are going and be able to get prepared to ask what they want to know.  I am sure they will also want to know how the flight there goes.  I believe most here are going to be following along to enjoy all the pics and hear about the fun you are having.  Btw,  where are you staying before the cruise.    

 

Exactly what I was thinking. Since we are the first out of San Juan I figured there would be a lot of interest and questions. I think it would be easier to get a lot of questions out there so once on board I get the answers. 

 

Pre cruise hotel in the CasaBlanca Hotel in Old San Juan. Interested to stay there as it has gotten very good reviews.

 

[lenquixote66]

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

So I was planning to retire May 2021 but because of covid when my airline asked for redundancies in Nov 2020 I jumped on it, 17 years worth of redundancy pay !

But as we were deep in our second wave there was no parties or leaving do. In fact everyone bar a handful were still furloughed 

But I've met up with ex colleagues for parties and dos a few times since and it's always lovely to see everyone again 

I am in telephone and e-mail contact with several former co workers.

[bobmacliberty]

18 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Wednesday is the winner. That should be enough time to do some pre cruise stuff and then get onto the main event.

 

Whatever works best for you.  We'll be along for the ride either way.  I'm definitely interested in the current state of OSJ related to Covid.

[lenquixote66]

54 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

We had about 30 trick or treated.  They were all dressed up with some great hair and make up as parents had more time to get them ready on a sunday then a school day.

My favorite was a girl as beetlejuice, she had amazing hair and make up and  terrific outfit.

The cutest was a 4 yr dressed as wonder woman who wanted to sit down on my front step and tell me all about her new baby sister, Eva.  This was after she met my cat Eva at front door.   No idea who the family was but she was adorable.

Our doorbell only rang once and by the time we got to the door she or he was gone.

We have enough candy to feed everyone who comes to this thread even the lurkers.

[lenquixote66]

31 minutes ago, clochette said:

the retirement talk is so interesting i am starting to think about retiring but not quite there yet.  One of the thing holding me back is I work at a university and my younger daughter is a PhD student there, I feel that when she is done in hopefully 2-3 years then will be my time to leave (I feel that she needs to moral support it is a tough journey).  My husband works for the same university but is now fully remote so might not retire at the same time, he might keep on working and we could still travel.

I had a cousin who was a Professor at Hofstra.He did not retire till his daughter graduated the college.

[Ozark_Kid]

14 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Our doorbell only rang once and by the time we got to the door she or he was gone.

We have enough candy to feed everyone who comes to this thread even the lurkers.

Sharon’s mom is needing to quarantine right now.  She put candy and a sign on the front porch and watched the kids through the Ring doorbell.  She said it was fun.  When they reached for the candy she would go Boo through the Ring speaker.  She said they would jump then start laughing.

[Ocean Boy]

47 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Wednesday is the winner. That should be enough time to do some pre cruise stuff and then get onto the main event.

 

Drop us a note here once you have started the thread so we know to look for it.

[dani negreanu]

57 minutes ago, clochette said:

One of the thing holding me back is I work at a university and my younger daughter is a PhD student there, I feel that when she is done in hopefully 2-3 years then will be my time to leave (I feel that she needs to moral support it is a tough journey). 

 

Dani "the curious" -- while I was a student at Tel-Aviv University, I worked as a secretary in one of the offices, left for lectures at different hours, and then "replenished" them in the afternoons.

 

As long as a I worked there, the University paid for my tuition.... Many students whose parents worked at the University took advantage of this benefit.

 

Is it the same for your PhD daughter?

 

[Maitaivegas]

MaiTai

no explanation needed