FromSea2ShiningSea

Speaking of Icon, I finally finished editing all my pictures from the Icon Inaugural cruise. This was from the last night onboard. Ken @Ourusualbeach’s Toby entered into the BEST OF THE BEST FlowRider competition. It was very exciting. We were there to watch and cheer him on. He busted some fancy moves including the 720 and the Show Pony. Here’s a few shots of Toby in action. The Show Pony Here he is, the proud champion of the first BEST OF THE BEST on Icon OTS FlowRider competition.

Happy Anniversary to you and Andy! 💐 🥂. 36 years, that’s amazing!

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much to you all for the congratulatory wishes for our new grandbaby. We really appreciate all your kind words and warm thoughts. ❤️ ☺️ I believe mother and baby get discharged tomorrow. We shall see how their dog Mochi will react to this new little human in their home. It is very blustery with rain here today. I am a rainbow chaser and always in awe with them. But this rainbow today is just about everywhere. Big, bold and so vivid. I have to be cautious while I’m driving and spot it and I”d have to find a safe spot to stop to capture a photo. Here is a couple for you. This school campus is closed today and for the week. Too bad the kids missed this.

Stork Update: DIL1 delivered baby at 6:56AM. 2/18/2024 5lb6oz. It was a quick & speedy delivery. He was very eager to enter the world. Thank God, he and his mommy are doing well. Doctors are keeping an eye on mommy to make sure everything is stable. We will go see them in a week or so. Now we wait for DS2’s turn who is due in April.

DIL1 got admitted into the hospital last night. Her H2O broke. She’s only 36 weeks along. They texted us and DH has been giving them advice. It was like he was on-call in the middle of the night all over again except he doesn’t have to go in now. Update now is: She is in labor. Stay tune.

@Sea Dog, wishing the best for you for tomorrow’s surgery. DH had a bilateral hernia surgery in September 2020. It was done laparoscopically. He was to limit any exercises for 6 weeks. He went back to work a week after the surgery. So recovery is pretty fast. He says if you have any questions, you can email him. He’d be happy to talk to you.

The Dueling Pianos Bar was fun and crowded with people standing outside as well. It is very much like the Schooner Bar so I’m sure there were many “regulars” in there. The singers take requests. Everyone was having a really good time. Have a great cruise!

They do have other ingredients like bacon or chicken for the BBQ Chicken pizza or pineapple & bacon for the Caribbean pizza or ingredients for the Primavera pizza. They just don’t have all these ingredients on hand. Everyday, they have the usual cheese, pepperoni and a specialty pizza for the day and they are given the supplies they need for the day. I would like to think (or hope) this is their standard. It all looked pretty normal to me. I hope they continue making good pizza. 🍕 This was the American Combo from the first night. It had bacon & pepperoni 🍕

Oh, sorry, that’s too bad. On our 2022 Odyssey TA, it was really good. Can you take a picture of what they have now? How are you liking the food in the Windjammer? I asked them if they could add meat to the vegetarian so to make it a combo for me and they said no. They didn’t have the meat ingredients in their supply for the day except for pepperoni. I wanted everything on it so no combo for me on that day.

Happy National Pizza Day! This was from Sorrento’s on Icon. It was absolute deliciousness but it would have been even more delicious if it had MEAT on it.

Here’s a few shots of the pods in the Aquadome. Stairs is the only access to elevated pods. The sun was coming in casting all kinds of shadows Ground level seats Inside the elevated pod. You don’t know if there is someone in the pod until you walk up the stairs. Someone asked about the little sitting area on Deck 5 between the Running Track. Nice quiet place to soak in the sun.

Patti, I thought about you being up in the hills, if you were okay. I’m so glad to hear from you that you didn’t sustain any damage. Thank goodness, just a big mess all around. Yup, when it rains, it pours. I wonder about our friend, @Tree_skier and @taznremmy who are down in So. Cal. I hope Dave, Sharron and Pat are okay. Greg, how are you doing with your knee and the pain? How much longer before surgery? Meanwhile, I hope you can find some relief somehow. I have something for you. This was right at a store at the port in St. Thomas. Their selection of Sea Dog T-shirts. You probably have all of them already. We were standing near the anchor on the ship, on the right side of the yellow line which we thought was legal but got whistled and yelled at for being beyond this gate. There was a second yellow line at this gate. @BonTexasNY Merv the Nerve has been happy lately, minding its own business and not bothering me too much. How are you and Jack doing?

Thanks, Arzeena. We are fine. I guess we missed a lot of the bad weather while we were gone last week. It was pouring rain when we landed Saturday night and then it rained all day and night Sunday with wild gusty winds The Atmospheric River has moved on now to Southern California where it is expected to be flooding, mudslides, power outages and record-setting rainfall totals. You know the song that goes… Seems it never rains in southern California Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before It never rains in California But girl, don't they warn ya? It pours, man, it pours Remind me what ship are you sailing on? Looks like you are having fun!

@dani negreanu There was a bit of light rain a few minutes ago, along with the sun and I knew a rainbow was nearby. I looked out and sure enough I saw a full rainbow. I ran and captured a portion of it for you. Rainbow is a symbol of hope and that is what I’m sending you.

Very nice close up picture of the balloon. No way! I’m afraid of heights and being in dangling objects.

@Ocean Boy Was the balloon in operations while you were there? It was taking people up last week.

After the amazing iconic Icon cruise last week, it is back to reality. It was wild and crazy wind and rain yesterday. I almost felt like living through the Wizard of Oz tornado scene. The storm finally let up today with just a few showers lingering. There were thousands of customers without power but we were fortunate that it didn’t go out on us. This morning, the rain gave way to this. But this large beautiful tree at our neighborhood tennis court fell over yesterday afternoon during the storm. It came crashing down and took out part of the tennis court fence.

Same. @ReneeFLL Have you pass along my “greetings” to OB yet? 😊

I wouldn’t say that it’d spoiled me for any other ships. While Icon is beautiful and different in many ways from the other RC classes and ships, it really is a destination in itself. Every other ship on Royal is special and beautiful in their own way. It’s like your children. You love them all. 🥰

Sun is setting. We’re still at the FLL Airport waiting for our departure at 7:25pm.

Goodbye, Icon of the Seas. It’s been a fun week. It was so nice to see our friends @Ozark_Kid, @Ourusualbeach and @ReneeFLL again. It was sort of our little Hawaii/Bella cruise reunion. And also to meet new friends @cruisinghawg. Thanks for the wonderful memories. It ended too soon. We went in with an open mind and took in all that it had to offer and we enjoyed every minute of it- from the ship, crew, food, service, activities, entertainment- was all exceptional. Like the song says “I don’t want to close my eyes, I don’t want to fall to sleep….and I don’t want to miss a thing”. That was how I felt this week on Icon so I’m a little sleep deprived. I’ll sleep when I get home. There are still some photos that I want to share with you all but it won’t be live if you don’t mind. We are at the airport now. Our flight is not until 7:25 PM so we didn’t rush to get off the ship but it was so smooth and easy when we did disembarked. Our last sunset on the ship yesterday Our last sunrise on the ship this morning

What should I do now? Check out Surfsude for lunch Admiral Awesome

Celebrate this Inaugural Voyage with Ship Model Signing by Captain Henrik this morning to make your souvenir extra special. The line must have been 10 miles long “Nice to see you again”, the captain said to me. That was special.

Found it! $2K, maybe someday on eBay 😆

Good good morning! Turned clock back one hour last night. Sure needed that extra hour sleep.