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

[bobmacliberty]

An update on the search for the perfect Mai Tai.  WARNING...I've seriously gone down the rabbit hole.

 

Online research of the best rum to use for a Mai Tai is confusing.  The original Mai Tai only used one rum...a 17 year old Jamaican rum that's no longer available.  As I've said most current Mai Tais that contain fruit juice use both a light rum in the mix, and a dark rum floated on top.  Online articles typically talk about the original recipe and using a single Jamaican rum like Smith & Cross or Hamilton 86 Demerara rum because of the "funk" in the taste of Jamaican rum.  I really wanted to stay with the 2 rum light/dark approach to get the darker layer on the top of the drink.

 

 

So off to my local liquor store to see what I can find.  They don't carry either Smith & Cross or Hamilton.  The best darker rum that I could get was Diplomatico from Venezuela.  Since I already had a bottle of Appleton Estate Jamaican rum that's not light but more gold, I figured I'd mix the Appleton Estate in for the taste, and float the Diplomatico on top for the appearance.  With the rum figured out, for now at least, it's on to tweaking the juices.

 

First attempt last night was to recreate the Tahiti Nui Mai Tai version, which is the recipe that's a guarded secret.  Some who have tried to recreate it say that it's the original Trader Vic recipe that just has an ounce of lime juice, plus about an ounce of pineapple and a dash of passion fruit or guava. So that's what I did.  It wasn't bad, but tasted more like a sour than a Mai Tai.  Attempt 2 used two ounces of Pineapple and a dash each of orange, passionfruit, and guava.  That tastes more like the Mai Tais from Hawaii, but not quite there yet.  

 

And I still can't get the darker layer on top.  I think it's a combination of 1) the basic "juice" itself being darker than in the picture from the Appleton Estate gold rum and the guava juice also being pretty dark, and 2) the Diplomatico float on top is more gold than dark.  It was hard to tell how dark it really was in a very dark bottle.  Not really dark enough for a floater.

 

The other change that I made was to make my own demerara simple syrup.  I just dissolved a couple of cups of demerara sugar in a cup of water over medium heat.  Once the sugar crystals are fully dissolved, I removed the pot from the heat and let it cool, before transferring to an air-tight bottle for storage.

 

My next attempt...Go to the ABC liquor store that's a little further away but has a bigger selection of liquor.  Look for a Rhum Agricole that's clear and either the Smith & Cross or the Hamilton.  If I'm not careful, I could end up with more bottles of rum than bottles of bourbon.  I can fix that though.  😉Use just pineapple and passionfruit juices in the mix to keep the mix as light colored as possible.  I may even attempt a version with Kraken.  Although the "experts" say that you shouldn't use a spiced rum, I know that I like the taste and it should give a darker float layer.  

 

If you don't like the rabbit hole analogy, how about this...

[Lionesss]

Good sunny Sunday morning. 
 

Last couple days not feeling well. 
 

Total head congestion. 
 

Tired.  Achy. No fever. 
 

Still can smell. ( cleaned out litter box)
 

Home test COVID negative. 
 

So must have gotten first cold of season. 

Resting. Drinking tons of water. 
 

Frustrated. 
 

On another note. 
 

I am only able to post thru my I phone and view sites that only members of CC can view. 
 

On the computer through AOL and Internet Explorer it will not let me log on. Keeps saying invalid user or password. 
 

So I did what any techno incompetent 60ish old would do. Have the DH FIX IT   

 

But after he did a virus check. And went and cleaned up whatever you clean up. 
 

We tried again.   NADA. 
 

So I regrettably changed old faithful. The password. 
 

NADA. 
 

It is frustrating not being able to click on my favorite  threads with the click of a mouse. 
 

Any help would be appreciated. 
 

From 

Under the sunny sky and under the weather in Ohio. 

[Momof3gurlz]

16 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

Beautiful day here today. We got some pumpkins, I worked outside putting away my moms patio furniture and garden hose etc….  I also trimmed some branches in perpetration of snow blowing with the big tractor at her place this winter. 
 

The next week will be amazing here so I will be doing a lot of small jobs done that I didn’t get to this summer.  
 

We did BBQ for dinner. Lucy was watching everything.

 

 

 

Dinner was 12oz ribeyes, cooked medium rare. 
 

 

 

Lucy looks to be seriously on the prowl.  And that dinner looks excellent!

[Momof3gurlz]

16 hours ago, Luckynana said:

How old are your granddaughters now, Deb?

Thank you for asking about Jim.  He's doing well.  Stubborn that he is, he insisted on working on the koi pond today, as much as I asked him to please not do it!  He was feeling a little discomfort today, where the surgery had been done . (I'm sure it had nothing to do with the koi pond🤔)

How is Andy doing with his hand these days??

 

The youngest will be 2 in January and the older one will be 4 in April.  
Andy’s hand is doing great.  I believe because he’s been pretty religious about going to PT and doing the exercises at home. He poo-poo’d PT at first so I had to nag him but he’s a believer now. And I know what you mean about stubborn. He got back up on a ladder this past week. Only a few rungs and only with me as a spotter to keep it steady. 

5 hours ago, sgmn said:

Last week I put my 18month down for a nap, we got a whole half an hour before he woke up really upset and would only calm down with a long cuddle from Grandma 🥰

Gotta love those cuddles! 

[brillohead]

On 10/18/2022 at 10:36 PM, ReneeFLL said:

Aren’t the pockets to deep for some of that stuff or do you have one with pockets that are more shallow?

The pockets are clear, so you can see if things are in there, and the pockets are meant to hold a shoe, so it's easy to put your whole hand in to retrieve items.

And some things are contained within other packages. For example, I store Q-tips/cotton swabs in a plastic container meant to hold a bar of soap for traveling, so they're not just rolling around loose.  For hair elastics, I have a big ring that they are strung on, so they are all in one spot -- remove the whole ring, choose the desired elastic from the bunch, and put the bunch back.  

[brillohead]

On 10/19/2022 at 8:06 PM, StanleyandGus said:

I wanted to thank @brilloheadfor the advice about looking after a tonsillectomy patient. The surgery was last Tuesday, and it’s been, well, horrible. Thankfully, she’s getting better now. 

I hope my advice was helpful for her pain relief.... it really is a horrendous surgery experience. 

 

I've had knee surgeries, oral surgeries, abdominal surgeries, and my tonsillectomy was by far my worst.  Fastest surgery (I don't think it was ten minutes total from intubation to last stitch), but worst recovery.  

 

[brillohead]

On 10/8/2022 at 10:53 PM, Sea Dog said:

Do me a favor and go to the Schooner Bar. There should be a bartender named "Norver" Tell him Sea Dog Greg says hi and have him make you a "Baton Rouge 2.0". He will know what to do. Great guy.

Greg, I finally found Nover this week!

They move around every two weeks to a different bar, and I finally saw him this week.  I asked, "Do you know a past passenger by the name of Greg or Sea Dog?"  His face was blank as I said Greg, but when I said Sea Dog he broke out in a huge smile and said, "YES!  Sea Dog!  I made his drink..... 2.0.... 2.0.... 2.0.... Baton Rouge 2.0!!!!"  

I'm always amazed at the memory of some of these staffers!  

I'll give the "BR2.0" a try sometime this week, now that I know where to find Nover for this cruise.  He says "Hi" back to Sea Dog, too!!!

[grapau27]

6 hours ago, sgmn said:

Looks lovely Graham. We were looking for a short cruise this week as we're not needed for child care duties. But it's half term so think most will be very busy. Should of looked at the P@O one, it would of been nice to meet up with you and Pauline. 

Does it take you long to get down to Southampton?

We drove up to Birmingham on Friday and had bad traffic jams each way and atrocious weather. The two hour journey took 3.5 hours each way

Thank you Sue.

It took 6 and a half hours to drive the 315 miles from Southampton to Sunderland.

Our cruise was delayed for 7 hours because cleaning wires became entangled in the propeller.

We watched the divers going down from our aft balcony.

We left after midnight and arrived In Amsterdam at 22.30pm.

The ship left from Ocean terminal but returned to Mayflower terminal because Iona was at Ocean terminal on Saturday when we returned.

Fortunately I parked in West Quay multi storey car park for 6 days costing £30 and we got a taxi back to our car.

[mets07]

Attended a Keith Urban concert last night at UBS Arena in New York. For those not familiar with UBS Arena, it is a new indoor arena built next to Belmont Park (racetrack). The arena is the home to the New York Islanders hockey team.

 

It was a crisp-weather night and a fun concert.  Ingrid Andress and Tyler Hubbard (he is half of the duo "Florida Georgia Line") also performed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ocean Boy]

3 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

An update on the search for the perfect Mai Tai.  WARNING...I've seriously gone down the rabbit hole.

 

Online research of the best rum to use for a Mai Tai is confusing.  The original Mai Tai only used one rum...a 17 year old Jamaican rum that's no longer available.  As I've said most current Mai Tais that contain fruit juice use both a light rum in the mix, and a dark rum floated on top.  Online articles typically talk about the original recipe and using a single Jamaican rum like Smith & Cross or Hamilton 86 Demerara rum because of the "funk" in the taste of Jamaican rum.  I really wanted to stay with the 2 rum light/dark approach to get the darker layer on the top of the drink.

 

 

So off to my local liquor store to see what I can find.  They don't carry either Smith & Cross or Hamilton.  The best darker rum that I could get was Diplomatico from Venezuela.  Since I already had a bottle of Appleton Estate Jamaican rum that's not light but more gold, I figured I'd mix the Appleton Estate in for the taste, and float the Diplomatico on top for the appearance.  With the rum figured out, for now at least, it's on to tweaking the juices.

 

First attempt last night was to recreate the Tahiti Nui Mai Tai version, which is the recipe that's a guarded secret.  Some who have tried to recreate it say that it's the original Trader Vic recipe that just has an ounce of lime juice, plus about an ounce of pineapple and a dash of passion fruit or guava. So that's what I did.  It wasn't bad, but tasted more like a sour than a Mai Tai.  Attempt 2 used two ounces of Pineapple and a dash each of orange, passionfruit, and guava.  That tastes more like the Mai Tais from Hawaii, but not quite there yet.  

 

And I still can't get the darker layer on top.  I think it's a combination of 1) the basic "juice" itself being darker than in the picture from the Appleton Estate gold rum and the guava juice also being pretty dark, and 2) the Diplomatico float on top is more gold than dark.  It was hard to tell how dark it really was in a very dark bottle.  Not really dark enough for a floater.

 

The other change that I made was to make my own demerara simple syrup.  I just dissolved a couple of cups of demerara sugar in a cup of water over medium heat.  Once the sugar crystals are fully dissolved, I removed the pot from the heat and let it cool, before transferring to an air-tight bottle for storage.

 

My next attempt...Go to the ABC liquor store that's a little further away but has a bigger selection of liquor.  Look for a Rhum Agricole that's clear and either the Smith & Cross or the Hamilton.  If I'm not careful, I could end up with more bottles of rum than bottles of bourbon.  I can fix that though.  😉Use just pineapple and passionfruit juices in the mix to keep the mix as light colored as possible.  I may even attempt a version with Kraken.  Although the "experts" say that you shouldn't use a spiced rum, I know that I like the taste and it should give a darker float layer.  

 

If you don't like the rabbit hole analogy, how about this...

Interesting read. Beautiful picture. Looks like it would taste awesome. I am going to text my neighbor for you right now.

[Ocean Boy]

@bobmacliberty I just got a response...

3 shots puneapple juice.

3 shots orange juice.

1 shot grenadine.

1 shot triple sec.

2 shots light rum

Meyers dark rum floater.

 

I can't remember if I usually mix in the floater when I have it or not.

[brillohead]

@FromSea2ShiningSea, I'm so sorry to hear of your COVID situation!  But hopefully the rest and relaxation will allow Merv the Nerve to calm down enough so that you can REALLY enjoy your TA next week!
 

[brillohead]

Phew, it is hard to keep up with this thread with Explorer's crappy internet!  I have to take my laptop out to a public area because I don't have a signal in my room... just finally got caught up on my last TAD on Explorer. 

Switching to Symphony next weekend and then Oasis the week after that, so hopefully I'll have decent internet access from my room going forward.
 

Nothing newsworthy to report from Explorer.  Carry on.

[Luckynana]

16 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Congratulations to your eldest granddaughter.  Quite an achievement.  Lovely to read of Jack & Ava’s homecoming  dances. Hope they both have a wonderful time.  I felt so sad for the kids who missed out on this during the Pandemic 

 

14 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

Maryann, what a wonderful achievement for your grranddaughter..  I'm sure Jack and Ava will look smashing in their Homecoming duds.  These are the times that they will always remember. May you and Jim continue to celebrate wonderful occasions with your family.

Robyn, it's a treat seeing you post in here.   I'm glad you've recovered from covid and only had head cold symptoms.  Have a fantastic B2B cruise on Explorer.  Any chance of a Live report?  I know it's time consuming, but you do it so good!  

 

 

9 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Congratulations to your eldest granddaughter on her awesome achievement.

It must make you all so proud of her.

Graham.

 

8 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

@Luckynana, Maryann, + 1 💐

 

4 hours ago, h20skibum said:

+2 Maryann.  I always love to see the grandkids succeed in what they do.  

Thank you, everyone!  We are so very proud of Erin's achievement!!!

Ava and Jack had a great time at their Homecoming dances.  I found out afterwards, that our granddaughter Meghan, our other Senior, also enjoyed her Homecoming dance last evening in West Hartford.😊

[brillohead]

On 10/20/2022 at 6:17 PM, MJSailors said:

I have a question about booking cabins on RCCL and,since this is a friendly thread with many veteran cruisers, I thought I could ask the question here.

I am curious to read that some couples book two cabins ,usually a balcony and an inside cabin.

I do understand about snoring issues, the luxury of two bathrooms and more overall space when having two cabins. My DH and I have taken cruise vacations since 1987. Two separate cabins was never a consideration for us.

But, I am thinking that there might be a financial benefit or points benefit in doing such.Are those the reasons to book two cabins?

On other cruise lines, if a person books a cabin for one person,they are required to pay a single supplement. I think that supplement could be as much as 100% of the cruise fare. Does RCCL require such a supplement ?

Just something that caught my attention. Looking forward to reading any responses from the good folks here.

MJ🙋🏻

The Single Supplement makes this a not-so-great financial decision, but in many cases the people doing it have free cruise offers from the casino, so they're only paying for fees/taxes and not the actual fare.  

You earn Crown and Anchor Society points even on free casino cruises, so you get two points per night per person going solo in a free room versus one point per night if you have two people in the room.

[brillohead]

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

Today, 10/23 is the day that the ship docks in Ashdod, Israel where we would have done the Jerusalem and Bethlehem Tour (that includes Mount of Olives; Garden of Gethsemane; Mount Zion; Room of the Last Supper; Jaffa Gate; Church of the Holy Sepulchre; Via Dolorosa; Western Wall; Arab Souk; and Christian and Jewish Quarters).

 

So sorry that we missed visiting your country, @dani negreanu.  Even though it would have been hard to meet in person, I would have felt like we were close enough where I could reach out and touch you.  At least, I would’ve waved to you from afar.  Next time!

 

The ship overnights in Jerusalem.  Tomorrow, 10/24, would’ve been visit to the Dead Sea and Masada.  

 

10/25 is stop in Haifa with a tour to the Biblical Galilee (visit to the Church of theAnnunciation in Nazareth; Mount of Beatitudes; the ruins of Capernaum; Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee).

 

[brillohead]

Can't remember if I posted these next two before.... sorry if they're repeats.

[brillohead]

[brillohead]

Helen, your pictures of Italy are amazing!!!

My goal some day is to do a TA to Europe in the spring, spend the summer doing Europe, and then do a TA back again in the fall.  

[Luckynana]

2 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

The youngest will be 2 in January and the older one will be 4 in April.  
Andy’s hand is doing great.  I believe because he’s been pretty religious about going to PT and doing the exercises at home. He poo-poo’d PT at first so I had to nag him but he’s a believer now. And I know what you mean about stubborn. He got back up on a ladder this past week. Only a few rungs and only with me as a spotter to keep it steady. 

Gotta love those cuddles! 

I miss the baby cuddles, but the teenage hugs surely are just as precious!!!  We are Blessed!🥰

[Luckynana]

1 hour ago, mets07 said:

Attended a Keith Urban concert last night at UBS Arena in New York. For those not familiar with UBS Arena, it is a new indoor arena built next to Belmont Park (racetrack). The arena is the home to the New York Islanders hockey team.

 

It was a crisp-weather night and a fun concert.  Ingrid Andress and Tyler Hubbard (he is half of the duo "Florida Georgia Line") also performed.

 

 

I would've loved to have been there!  I'm glad you had such a wonderful evening and a great Concert!!

[Luckynana]

6 minutes ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

Today, 10/23 is the day that the ship docks in Ashdod, Israel where we would have done the Jerusalem and Bethlehem Tour (that includes Mount of Olives; Garden of Gethsemane; Mount Zion; Room of the Last Supper; Jaffa Gate; Church of the Holy Sepulchre; Via Dolorosa; Western Wall; Arab Souk; and Christian and Jewish Quarters).

 

So sorry that we missed visiting your country, @dani negreanu.  Even though it would have been hard to meet in person, I would have felt like we were close enough where I could reach out and touch you.  At least, I would’ve waved to you from afar.  Next time!

 

The ship overnights in Jerusalem.  Tomorrow, 10/24, would’ve been visit to the Dead Sea and Masada.  

 

10/25 is stop in Haifa with a tour to the Biblical Galilee (visit to the Church of theAnnunciation in Nazareth; Mount of Beatitudes; the ruins of Capernaum; Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee).

 

What an awesome Itinerary!  I'm so sorry you had to forego this cruise, Helen.☹️  Will you perhaps try to book this trip again?

How are you and Marty doing?  Have either of you tested again, or do you feel it's too soon to do so?

[lenquixote66]

21 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

My DH is still at his wedding weight.  The GP says it’s rare in his age group.  I put it down to him being a non-drinker (plus he regularly exercises).  Since the pandemic he has cut down on meal portions at dinner as well.  Heart disease runs in his family so he is really taking care of himself now.

Re your question, beer belly is definitely a thing here for men over 50.

 

I am 54 pounds less than my wedding weight.

[lenquixote66]

19 hours ago, Luckynana said:

Today, our oldest granddaughter was inducted into the International Nursing Honor Society.  We are so very proud of her awesome achievement!  She will be graduating College this coming Spring.  This amazing young woman was the baby who made Jim and I a Nana and Pop almost 21 years ago!💕

 

Also, this evening, two of our grandchildren are attending their Homecoming Dances.  Jack, a  Sophomore this year, and Ava, a Senior, at her HS in Tom's River.

 

Man, they're all growing up too quickly!  We will be celebrating 4 Graduations this Spring.  

1 College

2 High School

1 Eighth Grade.

 

Congratulations on the achievements of your grandchildren,MaryAnn.