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

[Ocean Boy]

6 hours ago, grapau27 said:

 

[Ocean Boy]

4 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

I know this might sound cheesey but I baked up a pesto pizza with pepperoni. 

Oh God, here we go with the pizza pictures.....

[HBE4]

2 hours ago, singinalot said:

now here’s the latest and greatest!!!! My friend Amy texted last night that the Academy of Country Music Awards are happening in Vegas March 7.

 

That is awesome. I'll be watching the show & now know where to look for you. Aisle seats!!  Never know when a performer may walk thru the audience, you may have a brush with greatness!

 

And thank you! 

[HBE4]

I have plenty of snow pics of me skiing.  For some reason, the mountains never look nearly as steep in the pictures as they are in real life.  As a kid though, the winter pics are few and far between.  Usually when building a snowman or after an epic snow fall & walking down the sidewalk was like walking thru a canyon the snow was so high.

[BonTexasNY]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

Next time try something thick like ice cream. Often times it will take something that is stuck down with it.

Yay!!  I get to eat ice cream for medicinal reasons! 🍨

[BonTexasNY]

@singinalotCrystal, I THINK you recommended the book Three Sisters in your wonderful Greek Travel report.  Thank you if you did.  I finished reading it in 3-1/2 days.  I just couldn't put it down.  So engrossing and readable, a true story of survival. 

 

 

[Bailey & Sophie]

6 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

 

Anyway to put a full fence?

 

Coyotes can jump over an 8 ft fence. 

[Bailey & Sophie]

10 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

@singinalotCrystal, I THINK you recommended the book Three Sisters in your wonderful Greek Travel report.  Thank you if you did.  I finished reading it in 3-1/2 days.  I just couldn't put it down.  So engrossing and readable, a true story of survival. 

 

 

 

I also read it. So so good. I think one of the sisters is still alive!

[ReneeFLL]

@HBE4 Glad to hear you are feeling better

[JamesEM]

Busy day, went grocery shopping ($$), received my booster shot, and got Passport photos for a new Passport, those 3 FFC are burning a hole in my pocket.

[sgmn]

18 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

In my hierarchy of shows that I won't watch, The Bachelor is worse than Below Deck.  I've been tempted lately to give Below Deck a look for the scenery, but The Bachelor just seems like manufactured drama with an occasional person tossed in who really believes that they will find love.  Worse than either of those 2 shows are any of the Housewives series.  

 

 

We plan to watch 1883 but were waiting for this season of Yellowstone to end.  Looks interesting.  I learned that Taylor Sheridan (who created both Yellowstone and 1883) plays Travis on Yellowstone...the guy who is the expert on training horses.  There is supposed to be a second spinoff coming with Jimmy at the 6666 ranch in Texas.

My DH hates reality shows. In the autumn every year there are three I like, Bake off, strictly come dancing and I'm a celebrity,  get me out of here

It's his worse nightmare 😄

[sgmn]

18 hours ago, zap99 said:

We are off on our first Anthem cruise.......well, in September.🤔

Us too, in September , hope we're in a good place by then 🙏 

[sgmn]

17 hours ago, jagsfan said:

I read about it on a local news app.
How many of the cars would have blankets? You wouldn’t starve overnight, but you could sure freeze to death!

A trucker gave some advice I never would have thought of. 
if you get stranded on the highway like that, ask a trucker for food and water. She said they always carry extra. 
 

It made our BBC News app here in the UK as well .  Whenever I had to drive to work in the middle of bad weather my husband would always fill my car with blankets, spade, water and snacks. At bit OTT but he lived in Manitoba until his teens so knew how bad, bad weather can be 

[dani negreanu]

8 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Never watched an episode but appeals to the young single demographic.  We have Married at First Sight here too which is equally as bad IMO but is hugely popular.

Big Brother was another reality show that was huge which I never watched. Started in the UK. Then we had our versions. Don’t know if it made it to the US?

 

 

Married at First Sight is also hugely popular here. I "resisted" seeing it the 1st season, but got curious the 2nd one, and started following.... After 4 seasons, "we" have a married couple 🤪

 

7 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Yes we have Big Brother and was very popular.  I have watched a little of each and decided not for me.  

 

"Big Brother was another reality show that was huge which I never watched" -- same here...

 

7 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Love the vibrant color of the bush and Beautiful bird too🤩

 

+1 

 

2 hours ago, JamesEM said:

Busy day, went grocery shopping ($$), received my booster shot, and got Passport photos for a new Passport, those 3 FFC are burning a hole in my pocket.

 

Glad you're OK and busy planning trips. Wishing you a very Healthy and Happy New Year.

 

 

[aussielozzie18]

28 minutes ago, sgmn said:

My DH hates reality shows. In the autumn every year there are three I like, Bake off, strictly come dancing and I'm a celebrity,  get me out of here

It's his worse nightmare 😄

My daughter & I love The Great British bake off. She ordered me this apron as part of my birthday gifts a while back.  We also enjoyed The Big Flower Fight that was on Netflix in 2020.

[dani negreanu]

28 minutes ago, sgmn said:

Us too, in September , hope we're in a good place by then 🙏 

 

Speaking of "hopes"....

 

I've booked in November return flights from Barcelona after our cruise in June. We had no choice but to remain another day in Barcelona, since we couldn't make the early flight out, and the 2nd one was at 11pm. We decided long time ago that we'll not do night flights anymore...

 

So yesterday I get an email from El Al "seat assignment notification"... about new seats on our June 25th flight. I go "what's going on? our flight back is on the 24th..."  Went to "manage my booking" and I was very badly surprised to see that they've cancelled the 24th flight and moved us a day later... and... you guessed it... to the 11pm flight 😠.

Another night at the hotel, another day for trip assurance (at our "age" very expensive), and I absolutely hate being "homeless" after checking out [even if they allow us to leave our luggage]. What are we supposed to do until 8pm, when it's time to go to the airport?

 

El Al isn't answering their phones. You can only communicate with them via Whatsapp... They will reply in 2 business days...

 

For now, we decided to postpone until Sunday morning, the 26th, adding 2 nights at the hotel. No way we'll take the 11pm flight. Very very angry and frustrated right now. Grrrrrr.

[aussielozzie18]

11 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Speaking of "hopes"....

 

I've booked in November return flights from Barcelona after our cruise in June. We had no choice but to remain another day in Barcelona, since we couldn't make the early flight out, and the 2nd one was at 11pm. We decided long time ago that we'll not do night flights anymore...

 

So yesterday I get an email from El Al "seat assignment notification"... about new seats on our June 25th flight. I go "what's going on? our flight back is on the 24th..."  Went to "manage my booking" and I was very badly surprised to see that they've cancelled the 24th flight and moved us a day later... and... you guessed it... to the 11pm flight 😠.

Another night at the hotel, another day for trip assurance (at our "age" very expensive), and I absolutely hate being "homeless" after checking out [even if they allow us to leave our luggage]. What are we supposed to do until 8pm, when it's time to go to the airport?

 

El Al isn't answering their phones. You can only communicate with them via Whatsapp... They will reply in 2 business days...

 

For now, we decided to postpone until Sunday morning, the 26th, adding 2 nights at the hotel. No way we'll take the 11pm flight. Very very angry and frustrated right now. Grrrrrr.

That is so frustrating Dani.  Not only the late departure (ugh) but not being able to contact them.  It’s almost like they are saying just take what we give and don’t bother us.

Hope you are able to change it.

[h20skibum]

Good morning from 23°15.80’N  71°50.42W.  My bad, I forgot to check when sunrise was this morning.  It was at 6:24, so these are about 15 minutes late. 

 

 

It is windy on the upper deck, and deck chairs are still lashed down. 
 

 

[Arzeena]

10 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I read that one of ncl ships doing a 14 or 15 day sailing including panama canal has turned around after 3 days and is heading back to Miami as key crew members have covid.

I'm thinking that could be bridge crew maybe captain.  Your guess is as good as mine.

Did I hear right?   The US had over 1 million new cases in one day.  That's crazy.

Not guessing here. Anything is possible.  Covid was the reason NCL gave for the other three ships to be cancelled. I read the letter posted on the boards. Royal also cancelled sailings out of HK . Crazy, you bet it is!!!!

[Arzeena]

10 hours ago, Coralc said:

Covid....

NCL board has the cancellation letters posted. It was the big C.

[bobmacliberty]

12 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Never watched an episode but appeals to the young single demographic.  We have Married at First Sight here too which is equally as bad IMO but is hugely popular.

Big Brother was another reality show that was huge which I never watched. Started in the UK. Then we had our versions. Don’t know if it made it to the US?

 

 

As others have said, Big Brother is very popular here.  I've watched individual episodes a couple of times but I don't really understand the rules of the strategy.  It's hard to start watching in the middle of a season.  Seems like it's similar to Survivor but in a very different locale (without the island hardships) and with a much younger group of contestants.

 

3 hours ago, sgmn said:

My DH hates reality shows. In the autumn every year there are three I like, Bake off, strictly come dancing and I'm a celebrity,  get me out of here

It's his worse nightmare 😄

 

Micheline and DD23 watch Dancing with the Stars (US version of Strictly Come Dancing) and I'll sometimes watch an episode.  While there are always a few pseudo-celebrities with no dancing ability at all, some are very talented.  And the professional dancers are very good.  Micheline also enjoys many different cooking competition shows, including Bake Off.  My only complaint about those shows is the artificial time pressure that they add.  I understand why they do it, but I'd rather see them given twice as much time so that they can really show off their cooking/baking talents.

 

3 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

So yesterday I get an email from El Al "seat assignment notification"... about new seats on our June 25th flight.

 

El Al isn't answering their phones. You can only communicate with them via Whatsapp... They will reply in 2 business days...

 

This must be incredibly frustrating.  I usually spend time evaluating different flights to get the timing that I want.  I don't want someone changing that on me.  And to not be able to call someone about it????  Poor customer service.

[sgmn]

3 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Speaking of "hopes"....

 

I've booked in November return flights from Barcelona after our cruise in June. We had no choice but to remain another day in Barcelona, since we couldn't make the early flight out, and the 2nd one was at 11pm. We decided long time ago that we'll not do night flights anymore...

 

So yesterday I get an email from El Al "seat assignment notification"... about new seats on our June 25th flight. I go "what's going on? our flight back is on the 24th..."  Went to "manage my booking" and I was very badly surprised to see that they've cancelled the 24th flight and moved us a day later... and... you guessed it... to the 11pm flight 😠.

Another night at the hotel, another day for trip assurance (at our "age" very expensive), and I absolutely hate being "homeless" after checking out [even if they allow us to leave our luggage]. What are we supposed to do until 8pm, when it's time to go to the airport?

 

El Al isn't answering their phones. You can only communicate with them via Whatsapp... They will reply in 2 business days...

 

For now, we decided to postpone until Sunday morning, the 26th, adding 2 nights at the hotel. No way we'll take the 11pm flight. Very very angry and frustrated right now. Grrrrrr.

Wow, I bet you are Dani, really frustrating. 

I find call centres have got really bad since covid, two years later they are still using it as an excuse .

We had an email from BA that our flight from BCN is brought forward but just by an hour so all good  though still plenty of time for changes I guess.

They are debating right now about relaxing rules to get into UK, no test needed prior to travel but nothing announced yet. Apparently because its widespread in the community now there's no point in testing prior to arrival though you still may have to do a test within 2 days of arrival .  Not sure what we will do if testing to fly is not relaxed as we won't have time unless they do it on the ship. But it's to far ahead to worry about

Rules are changing all the time

Edited January 5, 2022 by sgmn

[Ocean Boy]

15 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

This must be incredibly frustrating.  I usually spend time evaluating different flights to get the timing that I want.  I don't want someone changing that on me.  And to not be able to call someone about it????  Poor customer service.

Same with me. It takes time to put the flights together that work for me... including where I want to sit. I don't appreciate them being messed with.

[Jimbo]

11 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I read that one of ncl ships doing a 14 or 15 day sailing including panama canal has turned around after 3 days and is heading back to Miami as key crew members have covid.

I'm thinking that could be bridge crew maybe captain.  Your guess is as good as mine.

Did I hear right?   The US had over 1 million new cases in one day.  That's crazy.

Anthem denied docking in St. Kitts this morning.

[Sunshine3601]

5 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Anthem denied docking in St. Kitts this morning.

I just read that st kitts denied and going to antigua.   If we do go I have no idea where we could end up.   There are plenty of islands but a lot of ships re-routing.  A lot will depend on how healthy our ship is and if we remain under 1% of whatever the count will be.

I suspect we will have less 2000 passengers onboard.  Still closely monitoring.  Eric still says we are going!