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

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

It’s Fireworks Friday again. This is for all our fireworks lovers.  Enjoy!

 

First, tonight’s sunset while we waited.

 

Here we go…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

19 hours ago, Arzeena said:

Thoughts and prayers are with you and your family Mark. Whatever is worrying and concerning you, you will overcome. Have faith.

 

 

19 hours ago, akcruz said:

 

Very well said, hugs to you and your family

 

18 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Sending you our prayers 🙏 and good wishes Mark that your family concerns will soon ease and go away.

Take care.

Graham.

 

 

18 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

+4 (((()))) warm hugs from Marrakech @h20skibum Mark and family 

 

17 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I hope whatever is happening has a good resolution.

 

16 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

I hope things work out...

 

17 hours ago, NHProud said:

The same from me . 

 

12 hours ago, Luckynana said:

Mark, I sure hope that your family has a complete turn-around, all with the best outcomes for everyone.🙏🙏 Prayers for you all.

 

On your positive note, I hope your IRS refund was a plentiful one!!!😍

 

12 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

@h20skibum Mark I’m thinking of you and your family and hoping for all things to work out and have good results.

 

9 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Sending positive thoughts and prayers to you and your family☺️🙏

 

8 hours ago, DaniDanielle said:

@h20skibum🙏

Thank you all for your prayers and wishes for us.  It was just a bad few days dealing with new medical issues.  Daughter had a new issue develop that was likely a result of the months of chemo.  Susan has some more testing for her scheduled, and I had my appointment with the cardiologist to review all my tests, so we have had a stressful few days.   
 

But the weekend is here, and everyone is taking a deep breath and moving forward.  
 

And yes, the IRS refund was nice, but it just means I let them hold too much of my money last year.  Think we will use it for some fun this summer.

 

 

[h20skibum]

And now for something lighter.  Found this was still on the ironing board.  Anyone know how to iron one?  Asking for a friend. 
 

[h20skibum]

10 hours ago, Luckynana said:

As NYC Retirees, we are in the midst of losing our Healthcare benefits that were promised to every NYC worker when we retired.  Long story short, many of our Union leaders have sold us out, and the City is trying to force us into Aetna Advantage, which is noted for doing exactly what you just said, Debbie.  Aetna Advantage is trying to tell us most of our doctors take their plan (most of our doctors don't), and the list goes on and on.  Jim and I have doctors and specialists in NYC, N.J., and Florida, where we can make appointments, go for tests, etc.  

 

That sounds very similar to what happened to my mother.  She had worked for our state DOT, and when she retired, the state was promising free healthcare for life for all their retirees.  With no copay or deductibles, and being able to see any doctors, it was a nice plan. I think the state realized, as health costs increased, that it was not sustainable.  They moved their retirees into an Aetna plan, and she was not happy with it at all.  I hope you are able to keep what was promised to you.

 

 

4 hours ago, Coralc said:

I am just figuring out this Medicare stuff, but I don't see how they can force you into an Advantage plan. I really dislike HMO's. I purchased a Medigap plan G, and a drug plan, part D. They are really cheap, compared to what my prior subsidized insurance cost. Advantage plans aren't accepted nationwide, so it doesn't make any sense that it would be in your best interest. 

I don’t they are talking about a Medicare plan, but a city healthcare plan provided to retirees. 
 

I have been on Medicare for several years now, do the same as you with the medical plan and part D drug plan.   They one thing I don’t like about the Part D plan, is the insurers are constantly dropping drugs from their plans.  I think I have had to change my part D plan four or five times now, because they would no longer cover certain drugs.  
 

And while we are talking about Medicare and supplement plans, do things in the healthcare fields really cost that much?   I was just reviewing one of my statements this year, and one of the tests I had done said they billed $9,000, but the Medicare approved amount was $1,100, and that was accepted.  Most of the other tests had similar wide differences.   Why such a wide difference, and who would have to pay $9,000?

[bobmacliberty]

3 hours ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

It’s Fireworks Friday again. This is for all our fireworks lovers.  Enjoy!

 

First, tonight’s sunset while we waited.

 

Here we go…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spectacular, especially the sunset.  I love palm trees silhouetted against a colorful sunset.  

[Momof3gurlz]

Good morning all. It’s been a busy week here and I’ve tried to read along at night but just haven’t found the time to comment at all.  
I have been down a rabbit hole with my photo book project.  So many of the old photographs didn’t have date info printed on the back and we didn’t do a good job of documenting them.  It took forever to figure some out and I had to do it by comparison to other photos, as in determining who’s hair was short/long/had bangs in what years.  Once that was figured out, I was challenged with getting them all uploaded to Shutterfly, and remember I’m not the most tech savvy.  The old photos, I simply took screenshots so they were on my phone along with a lot of more recent pics.  We also have an external device for all our family photos since the beginning of digital pictures so those were on the laptop. I ended up downloading the Shutterfly app which really helped me streamline the process.  So the book is done, today I just need to add background colors to each page and a small amount of text in a few areas. 
Hopefully I can start keeping up again!

 

[h20skibum]

3 hours ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

First, tonight’s sunset while we waited.

I agree, wonderful sunset.  Nothing like those Hawaii sunsets.

 

Have a great cruise to all those sailing.

 

Do you plan to go to Spam Jam today?

[Jimbo]

11 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

It has been pouring here for hours.  The weekend looks like a complete washout.  I was hoping to do some seeding of front lawn and put down our turf builder too.

We sent all that rain up your way. Rained about 3 inches here the last 2 days.

 

Time to mow again here for about the 6th time this year. Grass is really nice and GREEN !

 

Have 3 new blades on the Mower, make s a huge difference how nice it looks after mowing.

[derorim]

1 hour ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Good morning all. It’s been a busy week here and I’ve tried to read along at night but just haven’t found the time to comment at all.  
I have been down a rabbit hole with my photo book project.  So many of the old photographs didn’t have date info printed on the back and we didn’t do a good job of documenting them.  It took forever to figure some out and I had to do it by comparison to other photos, as in determining who’s hair was short/long/had bangs in what years.  Once that was figured out, I was challenged with getting them all uploaded to Shutterfly, and remember I’m not the most tech savvy.  The old photos, I simply took screenshots so they were on my phone along with a lot of more recent pics.  We also have an external device for all our family photos since the beginning of digital pictures so those were on the laptop. I ended up downloading the Shutterfly app which really helped me streamline the process.  So the book is done, today I just need to add background colors to each page and a small amount of text in a few areas. 
Hopefully I can start keeping up again!

 

That is a very ambitious project.  I'm sure your daughter will be delighted.

[reallyitsmema]

I just saw that starting later today, The Traitors, that streamed on Peacock earlier this year is having a marathon on Bravo TV.  This is the season that had Kate Chaistain from Below Deck, Cirie from Survivor, Rachel from Big Brother, Arie Luyendyk and Ryan Lochte to just name a few.  I just set my DVR to record.  Just figured I would share for all you other reality TV junkies.

[Sunshine3601]

13 hours ago, QueSeraSera said:

Wow, you all a wonderful group!

Caring for one another with grace and love.  Learning names.  Great thread.

Late to the party (as always it seems) and grateful for your positive comments, I've found I just can't keep up.  I'm a bit jealous, but think my presence just dilutes the beauty that you all have.

My best regards to all, I'll sign off, and leave a song that I just apply to myself but hope you enjoy as well.  I can still observe 😌

 

Beautiful song😃   thank you for sharing.   Please feel free to chime in and join our amazing thread.   

If you wish to share your first name, that would be nice.

[Luckynana]

12 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

It has been pouring here for hours.  The weekend looks like a complete washout.  I was hoping to do some seeding of front lawn and put down our turf builder too.

The rain was pounding here during the night.  Holy cow!  You're right, Debbie, it's going to be a washout this entire weekend, and weatherman this morning said to expect sprinkles next week, very heavy rain tomorrow again.  I feel badly for my daughter, she's gone to Cape May this weekend. 

[bobmacliberty]

We had an enjoyable day on Thursday with our daughter at Universal Studios.

 

 

 

I'm glad we did it because we got to spend a whole day with her, but I don't think it was worth the money otherwise. The website shows that a single day, single park ticket "starts" at $109pp.  By the time I entered the date that we'd be going, the actual price became $149pp.  I didn't see $109 anywhere on the calendar.  Remind anyone of Royal pricing? Since we wouldn't arrive until 11:00, I decided to splurge on Express Passes to minimize line waiting time.  Those "start" at $90pp but became $160 after entering the specific date.  Yup...express passes were more than the tickets themselves.  Net, it was more than $300 per person total.  That's just stupid.  My hope was that an Express Pass would be like the old Disney Fast Passes were you'd join the queue with about 5 minutes of waiting left.  Nope.  

 

We started with the Despicable Me Minion Mayhem ride since it's the first ride that you come to.  The regular line was estimated at 55 minutes, which is shorter than more crowded days when it's well over an hour.  The Express line took about 25 minutes.  We worked our way through a couple of pre-show rooms and finally moved into the main theater and sat in our seats.  It's a 3D simulator ride so they have a safety bar that lowers, but they couldn't get the bar lowered.  They stalled for a few minutes with some trivia questions while trying to fix it, but then gave up and told everyone to leave the ride.  Bad start.  At least we were able to enjoy the ride later in the day.

 

About an hour later, we had a similar experience with the Fast & Furious ride.  A 30 minute wait in line with us being the next group to get loaded onto the ride "party bus".  An empty bus (ride vehicle) showed up, sat there for a couple of minutes, the doors closed, and the empty bus left.  This happened for 3 or 4 buses while they essentially emptied the entire ride.  An announcement came on about a temporary delay but the supervisor couldn't tell us how long it would take.  After about 10 minutes, we gave up and left.  I'm glad we didn't wait longer.  Every time we checked the app later in the day, the ride was still listed as delayed, and we never got to ride it.  I think it was down for the rest of the day.  

 

We enjoyed many of the other rides.  The Jimmy Fallon Race through New York was surprisingly fun.  Revenge of the Mummy was a great indoor, dark roller coaster...our second favorite ride of the day.  The Transformers and Simpsons rides were more of the same...3D/4D simuluator rides...but unless you're a big fan of either show/movie, the story line isn't as much fun.  The Bourne Stuntacular was a live action stunt show seemlessly blended into a huge, high definition screen.  Pretty cool.

 

The best section of the park, in our opinion and it seems most other's opinions, was the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley.  The environment that they created is pretty spectacular. 

 

 

 

There are several places where you can wave a magic wand (that you of course have to buy) and make various things happen.  All of the stores from the books/movies were there like Olivander's and Borgin and Burkes.  The butterbeer was very tasty (if you like butterscotch, which I do).  The highlight though was the Escape from Gringotts ride.  It was a blend of motion simulation and a real roller coaster.  Lots of fun.  I took a few videos of the Gringotts bank lobby as we entered but we were moving through that area quickly and didn't want to bother the people behind us.  Impressive animatronics.

 

 

There's a second HP area in the other Universal theme park called Islands of Adventure.  The 2 areas are connected with what's supposed to be a great ride called the Hogwarts Express.  You need to purchase a Park to Park ticket letting you visit both parks in the same day to enjoy the ride, so we didn't get to experience it.

 

We finished the evening with a good meal at Bigfire in the Universal Citywalk area.  We had Bourbon Cheese Fondue as an appetizer and I had an 8oz. filet mignon with charred truffle mushrooms for my entree.  I put some leftover fondue on a couple of bites of the filet with a mushroom and it was VERY tasty.  Micheline and Andie both had Salmon, which they said was excellent.

 

As I said in the beginning of this already too long post, I'm glad we went because we got to spend a day with our daughter.  But I don't see us going back to Universal anytime soon.  Maybe when we have grandkids and they're old enough to enjoy it.  That's at least 10 years away and the price for a family at that point could be more than a cruise!

 

 

 

 

 

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Good morning all. It’s been a busy week here and I’ve tried to read along at night but just haven’t found the time to comment at all.  
I have been down a rabbit hole with my photo book project.  So many of the old photographs didn’t have date info printed on the back and we didn’t do a good job of documenting them.  It took forever to figure some out and I had to do it by comparison to other photos, as in determining who’s hair was short/long/had bangs in what years.  Once that was figured out, I was challenged with getting them all uploaded to Shutterfly, and remember I’m not the most tech savvy.  The old photos, I simply took screenshots so they were on my phone along with a lot of more recent pics.  We also have an external device for all our family photos since the beginning of digital pictures so those were on the laptop. I ended up downloading the Shutterfly app which really helped me streamline the process.  So the book is done, today I just need to add background colors to each page and a small amount of text in a few areas. 
Hopefully I can start keeping up again!

 

 

I tried creating a photo book from a one week vacation a few years back.  Almost certainly many fewer photos than your project.  I drove myself crazy with all of the layout, background, text, and graphic options.  The perfectionist in me wanted it to look perfect, like the professionally made sample books on the web site.  I ultimately experienced overload and gave up.  Maybe (maybe), your experience will make me try again.  Having a book on a coffee table will make us look at pictures that otherwise will be buried on a hard drive (or in a shoe box).

 

I'm sure all of your hard work will be worth it when you get the finished product!

[QueSeraSera]

52 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

If you wish to share your first name, that would be nice.

Its Warren, wife's name is Karen.  Thank you all for the kind comments.

[BonTexasNY]

4 hours ago, h20skibum said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you all for your prayers and wishes for us.  It was just a bad few days dealing with new medical issues.  Daughter had a new issue develop that was likely a result of the months of chemo.  Susan has some more testing for her scheduled, and I had my appointment with the cardiologist to review all my tests, so we have had a stressful few days.   
 

But the weekend is here, and everyone is taking a deep breath and moving forward.  
 

And yes, the IRS refund was nice, but it just means I let them hold too much of my money last year.  Think we will use it for some fun this summer.

 

 

Wishes, prayers and hope for better days to come!

3 hours ago, h20skibum said:

 

That sounds very similar to what happened to my mother.  She had worked for our state DOT, and when she retired, the state was promising free healthcare for life for all their retirees.  With no copay or deductibles, and being able to see any doctors, it was a nice plan. I think the state realized, as health costs increased, that it was not sustainable.  They moved their retirees into an Aetna plan, and she was not happy with it at all.  I hope you are able to keep what was promised to you.

 

 

I don’t they are talking about a Medicare plan, but a city healthcare plan provided to retirees. 
 

I have been on Medicare for several years now, do the same as you with the medical plan and part D drug plan.   They one thing I don’t like about the Part D plan, is the insurers are constantly dropping drugs from their plans.  I think I have had to change my part D plan four or five times now, because they would no longer cover certain drugs.  
 

And while we are talking about Medicare and supplement plans, do things in the healthcare fields really cost that much?   I was just reviewing one of my statements this year, and one of the tests I had done said they billed $9,000, but the Medicare approved amount was $1,100, and that was accepted.  Most of the other tests had similar wide differences.   Why such a wide difference, and who would have to pay $9,000?

Most of the costs from providers detailed in my Medicare Statements are always much higher than what was approved.  I'm glad they accept what Medicare paid and cannot bill me for the difference.

 

On a totally different note, I just finished watching James Corden's last late late show on you tube.  He'll be leaving CA to go back to the UK.  He said he wants to be able to call his dad and ask him if he's free for lunch.  It's all about family, he said. I so loved that.

[h20skibum]

34 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

I tried creating a photo book from a one week vacation a few years back.  Almost certainly many fewer photos than your project.  I drove myself crazy with all of the layout, background, text, and graphic options.  The perfectionist in me wanted it to look perfect, like the professionally made sample books on the web site.  I ultimately experienced overload and gave up.  Maybe (maybe), your experience will make me try again.  Having a book on a coffee table will make us look at pictures that otherwise will be buried on a hard drive (or in a shoe box).

 

I'm sure all of your hard work will be worth it when you get the finished product!

I did that once with our Panama Canal trip.  It sits on our coffee table with several other photo books.  You are more apt to pick them up and leaf through them.  
 

My ultimate goal is to use one of the Mixbook site for the family history book I have been working on.  I am hoping it works as I plan.  I have done all the layout in word documents with text, photos and graphics. I save the pages as pdfs, and then convert entire pages as photos.  Then I will insert each created photo as a page.  I hope the quality will be good doing that.  I am well over 100 pages now. 

[Ocean Boy]

I don't think I'd care to be out on the North Atlantic today. It is a bit riled up with quite a wind blowing. No biking today.

 

 

[Ocean Boy]

 

 

 

[molly361]

@bobmacliberty I noticed that about the theme park tickets as well.  I am thinking of going to Epcot and maybe staying one or 2 nights at at the Dolphin or Swan and tickets started at $109 but ended up for the dates I looked at being $139.  And I believe that's the Florida resident rate.  Not sure if I'll end up going or not.  AND like you said if I do go and spend 2 nights, park tickets food and drink for 2 days I could do a 4 day cruise 

Edited April 29, 2023 by molly361

[George C]

28 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

Wishes, prayers and hope for better days to come!

Most of the costs from providers detailed in my Medicare Statements are always much higher than what was approved.  I'm glad they accept what Medicare paid and cannot bill me for the difference.

 

On a totally different note, I just finished watching James Corden's last late late show on you tube.  He'll be leaving CA to go back to the UK.  He said he wants to be able to call his dad and ask him if he's free for lunch.  It's all about family, he said. I so loved that.

We enjoyed James Corden’s last show also, his parents have been in his audience many times over the years . We need to start researching Medicare supplementals , I have been covered by her insurance for almost a decade and she will retire in approximately 2 years, will have to have a budget then also. 

[Luckynana]

11 hours ago, brillohead said:

This always steams my shorts.... if you have benefits at retirement that are promised, the employer should not be able to make any changes to that.  Most folks give a significant portion of their life over to their employer -- you DESERVE those benefits that you worked for!

EXACTLY!!!

[Luckynana]

@Ocean Boy  Beautiful pictures!!!!!  

                                       It sure is nasty out though, for sure, here in Jersey!

[lenquixote66]

17 hours ago, Luckynana said:

Congratulations to your granddaughter!  Does she have a preference if she decides to go during her Junior year?

My grandson Chris, who is finishing his Sophomore year at Villanova,  will be heading to Rome for 4 weeks, and then 4 weeks in Paris for Summer College classes;  he'll be leaving next month.  What a lucky kid..I'm jealous!

Thanks,Maryann.When my younger daughter (her aunt) was in college she spent her Junior year of college in the UK and loved the experience.

My granddaughters father goes to the UK on business several times a year and that would mean that he could possibly see her if she opts to go to a school there.

On May 14 she is going to Israel for 10 days with students from her college.She became very good friends with a student at her college who lives in Israel and came to the US to play basketball for the college.

 

 

[Momof3gurlz]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

I tried creating a photo book from a one week vacation a few years back.  Almost certainly many fewer photos than your project.  I drove myself crazy with all of the layout, background, text, and graphic options.  The perfectionist in me wanted it to look perfect, like the professionally made sample books on the web site.  I ultimately experienced overload and gave up.  Maybe (maybe), your experience will make me try again.  Having a book on a coffee table will make us look at pictures that otherwise will be buried on a hard drive (or in a shoe box).

 

I'm sure all of your hard work will be worth it when you get the finished product!

Once I had the photos selected and uploaded to Shutterfly, actually creating the book was easy and enjoyable.  Their site makes it very easy to resize and align pictures and has editing options for the photos. You can also choose from thousands of page background colors, enhancements such as banners, etc. and add text wherever you want.  There’s an option for free-form creating or preset page layouts when you build the book.  Give it a try!

Also enjoyed your pictures of Universal.  I agree the ride experiences can be frustrating there and at the Disney parks.  Our trips there are always more about family time than parks & rides.