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

[lenquixote66]

27 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

The Bandleader at our Wedding was one of the guys in the band during Don Corleone's daughters' Wedding.  Jim used to do side work (carpentry, etc).  The house and property for Don Corleone in the movie was one of the homes that Jim did work on. Also, Jack Demyan, coowner of the Hofbrau (one of our hangouts back in the late 60's) was in the movie, as many Staten Islander's were.  Many of the people in the movie ate at the Hofbrau (I guess that's how Jack Demyan wound a small part in the movie).  

Marietta, did you hang out at the Hofbrau?

In the mid 60’s I was an Extra for The Night They Raided Minsky’s.I did not make it to the screen but I had great conversations with many of the actors

and an envelope with $10.

 

 

[BonTexasNY]

5 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

 

We are going to drive to Galveston for our Oct. cruise and I want to go to Buc-ee's to see what it's all about. I've heard so much about it. What do you recommend food wise to get. I hear they have some good stuff.

 

They are especially known for their brisket AND the breakfast burrito @Momof3gurlz Deb recommended.  Just note that there are no tables.  We usually take our food and eat it in the car. 

 The one we stopped at was right on 45 on the way down to Galveston.  I THINK it was in the  Houston area.   Just follow the billboard signs.

 

[George C]

2 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

They are especially known for their brisket AND the breakfast burrito @Momof3gurlz Deb recommended.  Just note that there are no tables.  We usually take our food and eat it in the car. 

 The one we stopped at was right on 45 on the way down to Galveston.  I THINK it was in the  Houston area.   Just follow the billboard signs.

 

There is one about 30 mins north of Dallas , we pass it when going to the casino in Oklahoma, will stop in next trip. Oklahoma casino is only a hour away and it’s the largest casino in the world, it’s about a mile walk from one end to the other. 

[sgmn]

On 11/19/2021 at 2:19 PM, BonTexasNY said:

 

We sold 3 houses in our lifetime.  Two sold in less than a week, 1 in 4 months.

We sold my mother's house Summer 2020, on the first day of viewing we had 15 views and 3 firm offers

[Arzeena]

Since I am not sure how the internet will behave on the Anthem or Coco Cay, I am going to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my CC family. We have come a long way and we have all survived. I give thanks for this among other things.

 

Here's to happy and healthy times ahead!🥂 Hugs.🥰

[lenquixote66]

Just now, Arzeena said:

Since I am not sure how the internet will behave on the Anthem or Coco Cay, I am going to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my CC family. We have come a long way and we have all survived. I give thanks for this among other things.

 

Here's to happy and healthy times ahead!🥂 Hugs.🥰

Happy Thanksgiving to you and RJ

 

 

[lenquixote66]

39 minutes ago, sgmn said:

We sold my mother's house Summer 2020, on the first day of viewing we had 15 views and 3 firm offers

We bought our 4 level house in 1983 for $80,000.We put it up for sale in 2002 for $285,000 and got an offer the very first day for that amount and happily sold it.The new owner sold it in 2016 for $525,000.

[Ocean Boy]

6 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Since I am not sure how the internet will behave on the Anthem or Coco Cay, I am going to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my CC family. We have come a long way and we have all survived. I give thanks for this among other things.

 

Here's to happy and healthy times ahead!🥂 Hugs.🥰

Same to you. Have a great cruise!

[bobmacliberty]

Sorry...had to take a break to watch the Ohio State Buckeyes completely dismantle Michigan State.  Those are fun games to watch (when your team wins, not so much the other way around).  Where was I?  Oh yes, waking up on Wednesday morning slightly hungover.  We started with some good Cuban coffee and breakfast sandwiches at a little place called Key West Cuban Coffee.  A definite step up from McDonalds!

 

We had nothing planned in advance for Wednesday and just decided to see what piqued our interest when we got there.  We started in the morning by visiting the Truman Little White House.  It was preserved exactly like it looked in 1949, complete with big ash trays everywhere.  They also provided a ~30 minute tour with history of the house and various important things that were decided/created in the house.  Examples include the creation of the Air Force as a part of the new Department of Defense, and likely the creation of the CIA.  Other presidents and dignitaries also stayed there.  It's believed that JFK and then British PM Harold Macmillan made early plans for how to deal with Soviet Union missiles that ultimately led to the Cuban Missile Crisis while staying there.

 

We spent some time lounging by the pool and then did a little more shopping.  We were slowly working our way to Mallory Square for the Sunset Celebration.  Unfortunately, it was a little cool, windy, very overcast, and slightly drizzling.  A few of the street performers were there anyway but there were only a couple dozen people who "braved the elements". 

 

We left after a few minutes and decided on an early dinner.  We ate at an Italian place across from our hotel called the New York Pasta Garden.  It's own/run for 25 years by a family from NY.  It was pretty clear that the waitresses were also from NY, had been there for a long time, and were part of the restaurant family.  The food was very good and the portions were huge.  We ordered a Caprese Salad to share as an appetizer, and each ordered a Caesar Salad.  They also brought out a bowl of excellent garlic rolls and an order of their artichoke fritters appetizer on the house.  The table was completely full before we even had our entrees.  I went with the veal marasala and Micheline went with the shrimp scampi.  Both were delicious and served with a lot of homemade pasta.  Unfortunately we had no room left for any Tiramisu.  I didn't get pictures of the entrees but did get a shot of the Caprese Salad and of the "damage" on the table before the entrees were served.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

@singinalot

 

Crystal, how is your mom doing?

+1

[grapau27]

25 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Since I am not sure how the internet will behave on the Anthem or Coco Cay, I am going to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my CC family. We have come a long way and we have all survived. I give thanks for this among other things.

 

Here's to happy and healthy times ahead!🥂 Hugs.🥰

Wishing you a wonderful cruise and happy Thanksgiving Arzeena.

Graham.

[BonTexasNY]

1 hour ago, George C said:

There is one about 30 mins north of Dallas , we pass it when going to the casino in Oklahoma, will stop in next trip. Oklahoma casino is only a hour away and it’s the largest casino in the world, it’s about a mile walk from one end to the other. 

When we lived in Allen, we would see the signs for Bucees on 75.  Like I previously posted, it loses its attraction to just stop there, turn around and go back home.

We only went to Choctaw casino, also about an hour away.  Windstar is the big one.

I always thought the large casinos were in Vegas.  1 mile, wow!  Go know.

[BonTexasNY]

40 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Since I am not sure how the internet will behave on the Anthem or Coco Cay, I am going to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my CC family. We have come a long way and we have all survived. I give thanks for this among other things.

 

Here's to happy and healthy times ahead!🥂 Hugs.🥰

Lovely post!  Thank you and same to you.  Have a wonderful cruise with smooth sails.

[dani negreanu]

15 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Wishing you a wonderful cruise and happy Thanksgiving Arzeena.

Graham.

 

@Arzeena

 

+ 1 🌷

[bobmacliberty]

Again, we were in no rush waking up on Thursday morning.  We needed to be at Miami International Airport at 3:15 for our Global Entry interviews.  The plan was to leave the hotel between 9 and 9:30, drive a couple of hours to Robbie's in Islamorada (another popular tourist place) for lunch and to feed the Tarpon, then drive another couple of hours to MIA.  The 3:15 Global Entry interview was the only hard time commitment and I left enough extra time in the plan in case we hit traffic.  After the interview, we drove another couple of hours to Port St. Lucie where we would stop for the night.

 

Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire time we were driving on Thursday.  We got to Robbie's at about 11:00 and since it was raining, we decided to skip it and eat someplace closer to Miami.  We switched to plan B which was Gilbert's Resort by the bridge from the mainland to Key Largo.  They had a huge outdoor tiki area with docks and a musician.  It was still raining and there weren't many people there but it looks like a very fun place on a nice day.  Fish tacos were good.

 

At that point, we were only am hour from MIA and had 2.5 hours before our interview.  We went to the Dadeland Mall near the airport to kill some time.  It has some nice stores but terrible parking.  We had just enough time for me to visit the big Tommy Bahama store and for Micheline to visit Zara before getting back in the car and going the airport.  As I said earlier, the Global Entry interview was easy.  We were in and out of there quickly and back on the road to Port St. Lucie.  It was still raining and now we were on the Miami area highways in the rain, at the start of rush hour.  No fun.  Traffic remained a slow moving parking lot (thank god for the pay express lanes) until about the West Palm Beach area.  I was done with driving at that point and just wanted to be home.  Dinner was at a Texas Roadhouse across from our Hampton Inn and we were up the next morning to drive the rest of the way to Amelia Island.

 

Summary

We definitely had a good time.  Key West reminds me a lot of Nashville, or New Orleans, or Vegas (without the casinos), but with nicer weather and watersports.  We would consider going back (want to visit Dry Tortuga) but would probably go there next time with a group of friends.  As I said, the drive got to be VERY long, which didn't help my sore back.  Total driving time each way was 9+ hours.  That's more than I want to take on for a 3-4 day trip.  There are no direct flights from JAX to Key West but we can find fairly cheap flights thru either ATL or MIA.  And as I also said, the high speed ferry from Fort Myers to Key West looks interesting and would only require a 5.5 hour drive from our house.

 

Still, there are so many other places that we want to visit.  Key West probably won't get back on our list until we've checked off many other places first.  There are many drivable places near us like St. Augustine, Savannah, Charleston, and Orlando, plus many flyable places like Cabo, Aruba, and the BVIs.  Good thing we have a lot of time on our hands.  😁

[Momof3gurlz]

14 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

Again, we were in no rush waking up on Thursday morning.  We needed to be at Miami International Airport at 3:15 for our Global Entry interviews.  The plan was to leave the hotel between 9 and 9:30, drive a couple of hours to Robbie's in Islamorada (another popular tourist place) for lunch and to feed the Tarpon, then drive another couple of hours to MIA.  The 3:15 Global Entry interview was the only hard time commitment and I left enough extra time in the plan in case we hit traffic.  After the interview, we drove another couple of hours to Port St. Lucie where we would stop for the night.

 

Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire time we were driving on Thursday.  We got to Robbie's at about 11:00 and since it was raining, we decided to skip it and eat someplace closer to Miami.  We switched to plan B which was Gilbert's Resort by the bridge from the mainland to Key Largo.  They had a huge outdoor tiki area with docks and a musician.  It was still raining and there weren't many people there but it looks like a very fun place on a nice day.  Fish tacos were good.

 

At that point, we were only am hour from MIA and had 2.5 hours before our interview.  We went to the Dadeland Mall near the airport to kill some time.  It has some nice stores but terrible parking.  We had just enough time for me to visit the big Tommy Bahama store and for Micheline to visit Zara before getting back in the car and going the airport.  As I said earlier, the Global Entry interview was easy.  We were in and out of there quickly and back on the road to Port St. Lucie.  It was still raining and now we were on the Miami area highways in the rain, at the start of rush hour.  No fun.  Traffic remained a slow moving parking lot (thank god for the pay express lanes) until about the West Palm Beach area.  I was done with driving at that point and just wanted to be home.  Dinner was at a Texas Roadhouse across from our Hampton Inn and we were up the next morning to drive the rest of the way to Amelia Island.

 

Summary

We definitely had a good time.  Key West reminds me a lot of Nashville, or New Orleans, or Vegas (without the casinos), but with nicer weather and watersports.  We would consider going back (want to visit Dry Tortuga) but would probably go there next time with a group of friends.  As I said, the drive got to be VERY long, which didn't help my sore back.  Total driving time each way was 9+ hours.  That's more than I want to take on for a 3-4 day trip.  There are no direct flights from JAX to Key West but we can find fairly cheap flights thru either ATL or MIA.  And as I also said, the high speed ferry from Fort Myers to Key West looks interesting and would only require a 5.5 hour drive from our house.

 

Still, there are so many other places that we want to visit.  Key West probably won't get back on our list until we've checked off many other places first.  There are many drivable places near us like St. Augustine, Savannah, Charleston, and Orlando, plus many flyable places like Cabo, Aruba, and the BVIs.  Good thing we have a lot of time on our hands.  😁

Great KW trip report Bob.  We were in FL for about 3 weeks this past May including 3 nights in Islamorada.  One day was dedicated to making the drive to KW which for some reason we found underwhelming.  The day in KW was nice (we had been before as a cruise stop) but I just expected more scenic views on the drive.  We also found the traffic and drivers in & around the Miami area to be some if the craziest we’ve encountered, and we drive A LOT.  The ferry from Ft Myers sounds like a good alternative.  Sarasota/Siesta Key/Naples areas are also high in our list whenever we visit FL. 

[dani negreanu]

22 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

We had just enough time for me to visit the big Tommy Bahama store and for Micheline to visit Zara before getting back in the car and going the airport. 

 

Another aficionado of Zara here, though lately I have difficulty finding anything I'd like to buy....😢

[mo&fran]

41 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

Again, we were in no rush waking up on Thursday morning.  We needed to be at Miami International Airport at 3:15 for our Global Entry interviews.  The plan was to leave the hotel between 9 and 9:30, drive a couple of hours to Robbie's in Islamorada (another popular tourist place) for lunch and to feed the Tarpon, then drive another couple of hours to MIA.  The 3:15 Global Entry interview was the only hard time commitment and I left enough extra time in the plan in case we hit traffic.  After the interview, we drove another couple of hours to Port St. Lucie where we would stop for the night.

 

Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire time we were driving on Thursday.  We got to Robbie's at about 11:00 and since it was raining, we decided to skip it and eat someplace closer to Miami.  We switched to plan B which was Gilbert's Resort by the bridge from the mainland to Key Largo.  They had a huge outdoor tiki area with docks and a musician.  It was still raining and there weren't many people there but it looks like a very fun place on a nice day.  Fish tacos were good.

 

At that point, we were only am hour from MIA and had 2.5 hours before our interview.  We went to the Dadeland Mall near the airport to kill some time.  It has some nice stores but terrible parking.  We had just enough time for me to visit the big Tommy Bahama store and for Micheline to visit Zara before getting back in the car and going the airport.  As I said earlier, the Global Entry interview was easy.  We were in and out of there quickly and back on the road to Port St. Lucie.  It was still raining and now we were on the Miami area highways in the rain, at the start of rush hour.  No fun.  Traffic remained a slow moving parking lot (thank god for the pay express lanes) until about the West Palm Beach area.  I was done with driving at that point and just wanted to be home.  Dinner was at a Texas Roadhouse across from our Hampton Inn and we were up the next morning to drive the rest of the way to Amelia Island.

 

Summary

We definitely had a good time.  Key West reminds me a lot of Nashville, or New Orleans, or Vegas (without the casinos), but with nicer weather and watersports.  We would consider going back (want to visit Dry Tortuga) but would probably go there next time with a group of friends.  As I said, the drive got to be VERY long, which didn't help my sore back.  Total driving time each way was 9+ hours.  That's more than I want to take on for a 3-4 day trip.  There are no direct flights from JAX to Key West but we can find fairly cheap flights thru either ATL or MIA.  And as I also said, the high speed ferry from Fort Myers to Key West looks interesting and would only require a 5.5 hour drive from our house.

 

Still, there are so many other places that we want to visit.  Key West probably won't get back on our list until we've checked off many other places first.  There are many drivable places near us like St. Augustine, Savannah, Charleston, and Orlando, plus many flyable places like Cabo, Aruba, and the BVIs.  Good thing we have a lot of time on our hands.  😁

I wondered if you got caught in that rain. It started more to the south of us, but we have it now. And it is predicted to continue through Monday.   Not a lot, just lots of short showers. 

 We will be flying to San Antonia on Monday to spend Thanksgiving with the grandkids.

[George C]

57 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

When we lived in Allen, we would see the signs for Bucees on 75.  Like I previously posted, it loses its attraction to just stop there, turn around and go back home.

We only went to Choctaw casino, also about an hour away.  Windstar is the big one.

I always thought the large casinos were in Vegas.  1 mile, wow!  Go know.

We only go to winstar when there is a good music act then we spend the night they have a nice steak restaurant, also loads of fast food and a Toby Keith bar and restaurant, haven’t been there since pandemic, bad thing is the non smoking area is a mile from the hotel. 

[Sunshine3601]

1 hour ago, Arzeena said:

Since I am not sure how the internet will behave on the Anthem or Coco Cay, I am going to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my CC family. We have come a long way and we have all survived. I give thanks for this among other things.

 

Here's to happy and healthy times ahead!🥂 Hugs.🥰

Thank you🥰   Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.  

Have  wonderful sailing.

Please make sure Anthem is in good shape for our January sailing🤩

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, Arzeena said:

Since I am not sure how the internet will behave on the Anthem or Coco Cay, I am going to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving to all my CC family. We have come a long way and we have all survived. I give thanks for this among other things.

 

Here's to happy and healthy times ahead!🥂 Hugs.🥰

Have an absolutely wonderful cruise

[Arzeena]

2 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

@Arzeena

 

+ 1 🌷

Dani,

From one fan to another:

Captain Kate said she will be "shifting" to France in mid Jan to take care of her Baby Beyond. That is what I understood from her TikTok post. And she shows part of Bug's winter wardrobe.

[Arzeena]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Thank you🥰   Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.  

Have  wonderful sailing.

Please make sure Anthem is in good shape for our January sailing🤩

Will spray lots of Lysol and wipe down and keep her in shining shape.😁
 

[Arzeena]

2 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Another aficionado of Zara here, though lately I have difficulty finding anything I'd like to buy....😢

I have not found anything I like at Zara.

Yet.

[lenquixote66]

2 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Will spray lots of Lysol and wipe down and keep her in shining shape.😁
 

A friend of mine and his wife will be on the Anthem December 12.I will tell him that you are cleansing the ship.😀