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

[Luckynana]

18 hours ago, Keksie said:

Guess who stopped by yesterday for quick xrays before being transported to a refuge with the proper permits (but no X-Ray machine).  The picture is from the transporter who posted it on book of faces so it is ok for me to post.  We are not allowed to take pictures of our patients.

 

 

 

 

WOW...  How majestic!!

[Ozark_Kid]

A while back we started hardening off our garden plants. 

 

Sharon's older DB came to visit this week and helped plant the garden Saturday. 

We planted tomatoes 🍅 

 

A couple of buds have already popped out. 

 

And the traditional bed of peppers with cherry tomatoes on each corner. 

 

Here is the garlic we started last fall.  It's doing good.   Should be ready to harvest the first of June.

 

[Luckynana]

8 hours ago, h20skibum said:

I do admit that you had to be a contortionist to squeeze through some places.  
 

One small cave we went in, we found this guy trying to squeeze through this opening. 

 

He did make it through, but not without help.  We opted to go back out the way we came in. 

You and Susan amaze me!

5 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

You and us too.... We walked with our carry on from the Premier Inn, through the Holiday Inn's parking lot, to the pier. Checked the route the evening before, since someone posted about this possibility to cross through HI's parking lot.

 

BUT, for "regular" people it might not be a "viable" option.

Oh, you mean people like Jim and I?  🤔   LOL

[Luckynana]

35 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

Busy day yesterday. Took the train into the city. BTW, trains in and out of the city are also the beneficiary of the 3/4 of one cent per gallon of gas tax so figured I should get my moneys worth.😀 Plus, I hate driving & parking in the city.

 

Anyways, festivities included attending the New York Auto Show with my nephew to begin the day and ended with attending the New York Ranger game. Final game of my regular season package, an impressive 5-2 win over Montreal. Next game for me will be playoff, sometime after April 20th.

 

In between, I spent an hour waiting on line to buy a 4 pack of Solar Eclipse glasses from B&H Video. No exaggeration, the line stretched an entire city block, around the corner, down another city block to the end. As long as you got on the line before the stores 6:00 pm closing time, they would let you in. Once inside, the line zig-zagged up and down every aisle until it finally divided into two, for those that pre-ordered online and those (like me) that did not.  The pre-order pickup line was 10 times longer than mine so I lucked out there.  Of course, good old American capitalism was alive and well as some people would buy a few 10 packs, step outside & then sell the individual glasses to those waiting on line for $10 for one pair of glasses that cost $1. And people were buying them!!!  Someone told me he was heading over to Time Square where he knows he could get $20 per pair.

 

And in between all that, I found time to grab 2 beers at an Irish Pub and watch the beginning of the Catlin Clark show.  I know very little of basketball and even less of college basketball but she looked like a pretty good player. 🙂

 

 

It sounds like it was a great day all-around!

[Luckynana]

@Lionesss  How great that your DD, SIL, and Zoe will be moving closer to you!

[HBE4]

3 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

 

It sounds like it was a great day all-around!

 

And the weather was a perfect sunny & warm April in NY day!  Got 25,000 steps in.

[Luckynana]

@FromSea2ShiningSea   Wishing you and Marty an awesome Bon Voyage tomorrow, Helen. 🛳️ Thank you for sharing all of your beautiful photos and your adventures while you traveled around Japan.

[h20skibum]

22 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

You and Susan amaze me!

That is her in the mauve sweater in the squeeze thru the rocks photo and the cave video.  She is camera shy, and usually turns away from the camera when I take photos.  
 

Just glad we are healthy and fit enough to do these things.  

[lenquixote66]

1 hour ago, Ozark_Kid said:

I woke up at 5am and it looked like the eclipse had already started.   😆 

The hourly forecast shows it to be 80⁰ an hour before the eclipse gets here and then dropping to 75⁰ then back up to 80⁰.

What do you think about Calipari taking over the Men’s Basketball team at Arkansas ?
People tell me that he is burnt out .

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, brookmill18 said:

With our daughter in London for the three years, we have also been looking at P&O but it seems to be very difficult to book from the US. I think I'll keep looking at their UK site to see itineraries and get a sense of fares and then try to see about booking through their US site. @grapau27 photos over the years have been wonderful and I like the idea of doing some European ports outside of the US summer season.

P&O main base is Southampton England.

They also sail from Valetta Malta and Tenerife and in the winter also from Barbados.

Prices are reasonable, Gratuities included in cruise price and none added to drinks or speciality restaurants.

Early or late saver prices are cheapest.

Select fares you can choose your cabin number and often get other benefits like OBC.

The 2 oldest ships Aurora and Arcadia are Adults only and sail longer cruises.

The other ships do 3,4,5,7,10,12 and 14 nights cruises.

Graham.

 

Edited April 8 by grapau27

[grapau27]

31 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

@FromSea2ShiningSea   Wishing you and Marty an awesome Bon Voyage tomorrow, Helen. 🛳️ Thank you for sharing all of your beautiful photos and your adventures while you traveled around Japan.

+1 @FromSea2ShiningSea

[grapau27]

3 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

No, there is no promenade. BUT, come to think of it, I really don't like the whole layout of the ship. It seems to me that even the pricier cabins on deck 9 and above do not look down to the water, they look down on the promenade....

 

Deck 9 is in the middle

 

 

 

I rest my case....

 

 

 

Our cabin was deck 11 picture 1.

In November 2023 and January 2024 we were on deck 14 aft balcony picture 2 and 3.

 

Edited April 8 by grapau27

[cruiselvr04]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Have a great cruise and please let us know what you think of Millennium. 

We have booked her for 2026 so we’d like to know what you think of her too!  Since Royal doesn’t circle Japan we had to use Celebrity. 

[Ozark_Kid]

1 hour ago, lenquixote66 said:

What do you think about Calipari taking over the Men’s Basketball team at Arkansas ?
People tell me that he is burnt out .

It surprised me. He has done well so far.  If I was burnt out, I wouldn't take another job.

I was happy to see Musselman leave.  He was too much of a whiner for me.  

 

[Lionesss]

Preparing from Oxford for eclipse. 
 

 

 

 

If I was traveling home today here are two sections of roads I would be on. 
 

The governor said police presence would be increased. 
 

 

 

Skies clear

Dogs in bedroom

ZZOEY napping 

 

Waking up the little one closer to total eclipse. 
 

Be safe. 

Edited April 8 by Lionesss

[NHProud]

Eclipse started about half hour ago . The peak will occur at 11:11 AM . No one out looking so blazée . We have friends on Holland America off the coast of Mazatlan continuing on to Hawaii and Vancouver. 
 

 

[Ozark_Kid]

There is about 20% coverage here now.  My chair tilts back perfect for this.

[George C]

Partial eclipse 

[HBE4]

Eclipse is set to start now. So far, nothing. A few high level clouds moving in but can still see the sun through them

 

It's going to peak @ 3:25 ,ET . About am 1 hour, 10 minutes from now. Should get 90% totality 

[George C]

We are 20 minutes from total eclipse, unfortunately clouds are currently blocking my view.

[reallyitsmema]

Just went out and checked here.  Barely starting to cover here, just a tiny nick of the edge covered.  Glasses work great though!

[Ozark_Kid]

About 45% coverage now and it is getting cooler 😎 

[HBE4]

15 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

Just went out and checked here.  Barely starting to cover here, just a tiny nick of the edge covered.  Glasses work great though!

 

They really do! At first, I thought I got scammed as they looked like cheap 3-D movie glasses. Then when I put then on inside the house,  I couldn't see a thing. I thought maybe the lens was covered & needed to be peeled off. 

 

But when I looked at the sun, wow. I'm guessing maybe 25% coverage.  

 

[reallyitsmema]

2 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

They really do! At first, I thought I got scammed as they looked like cheap 3-D movie glasses. Then when I put then on inside the house,  I couldn't see a thing. I thought maybe the lens was covered & needed to be peeled off. 

 

But when I looked at the sun, wow. I'm guessing maybe 25% coverage.  

 

 

We aren't even 1/8th covered yet.  We have clouds but sun isn't blocked by them yet.

[George C]

Pictures from iPad doesn’t justify how cool eclipse was