FromSea2ShiningSea

Rise & shine! We were greeted with this this morning. It’s going to be a good day!

We took a redeye last night (Thursday night) and got to Fort Lauderdale this morning. Staying at a hotel near the FLL airport. Just spent the day trying to catch up on sleep so I can be up every minute on the ship this week. We will take a Lyft to Miami tomorrow morning to start this Icon Inaugural. Our room at Hotel Dello. We talked to a lady at the lobby who just got off of the 3 day Icon cruise. She said she didn’t think she would like Icon but it turned out she LOVED it. Everything was fantastic from the ship, food, entertainment, the space for kids/adults, etc. I cannot wait. Walked around the area and found a Publix. A lighthouse for @Ocean Boy Bakery at Publix

I feel like I just won the Golden Ticket, like Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. We just got our GTY room assignment for the Icon Maiden Voyage that is in just 3 days! We were not sure if we were even going to get a room and were ready to receive whatever assignment they’d give us on boarding day but it came through. We reserved Interior Gty but they upgraded us to an OV Deck 10 Front smack Center. So, that is a plus there. I am so excited to just be going on the ship. What kind of cabin we get is not important to DH and me. We won’t be spending much time in there anyway as we will be spending most of every minute of the day checking everything out on the ship. After all, it is only a 7-day cruise. Can’t waste a minute. I don’t want to duplicate postings so I will share my pictures, thoughts and comments on the Live Icon thread. See you there!

This warms my heart, too. How joyous it was for your family to be reunited. I hope you get to plan another “break” in the near future.

We celebrated GS’s 5th birthday today. This cake was made by his other grandma. GS couldn’t decide which part of the car he wanted to eat. .

Forecast for today: Chili today. Hot Tamale.

@aussielozzie18 Check out the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka. It is on the far side of the Sitka National Historical Park. You can walk to it from the town center and marina. You have to take a free shuttle from the ship to the town center. From there, you can walk along the shoreline and it leads you to the historical park. Walk through the park, cross Sawmill Creek Road and up the hill to the Raptor Center. The Raptor Center is where they rehabilitate raptors including eagles, educate the public and research. @DaniDanielle Happy Birthday to you, Marietta! 🎂🎈💐 I love your granddaughter’s Snoopy sweatshirt.

Team USA beat Sweden 6-2 to win the World Junior Hockey Championship. They proudly belted out the National Anthem. So great to see these young players showing their patriotism.

Thank you, Val! Have fun on your cruise on Vision! Thank you, Mark! Now you can relax and enjoy your cruise on Allure. You deserve it. Congratulations on reaching D+ after this one. Thank you, Arzeena! Have a great cruise on Wonder! Cheers! Thank you, Andrew! I enjoyed your Cancun trip review & photos. Thank you, Maryann! They will be #3 & 4. Have a wonderful time on your upcoming Panama Canal cruise & the ABC islands. Thank you, Deb! Enjoy Disney World and then your Allure and Adventure cruises! Thank you, April! It was quite a surprise. Thank you, Greg! I hope you are hanging in there with your pain until your surgery. I’m thinking of you and Linda with her recovery from her surgery. You two will be good as new by middle of this year. I just know it. Thank you, Debbi! How nice of your boss to invite you to join them on their boat. Have a great time!

Finally getting around to it to let y’all know. DS1 is expecting their first 3/15/2024 DS2 is expecting their first also, 4/8/2024. They surprised us with this little onesie in the mail when we got back from our British Isles, Greenland/Iceland cruise in August. DS1 is expecting a boy DS2 is expecting a girl

This morning here as I just looked out the window at the Y.

Good job, Renee! The bag looks familiar. Did we see that on Jewel? I think there was one that you were interested in but then it was gone because someone had bought it. Yes, that is John’s list. No matter how I try, I cannot make any headways. I am a total lightweight. We’ll see how we do on Icon.

“Christmas cards have all been sent. The Christmas rush is through. But I still have one wish to make. A Special one for you…Merry Christmas…” Everyone! My huge family celebrated Christmas last night. DS1 & DS2 with their spouses came home, nephew with his wife & 2 daughters came in from New York. All in all, 32 of us. There was so much food. I only have a few pictures to share. We had a 22lb. prime rib that SIL smoked, ham, homemade tamales and lots of other side dishes and desserts. We had Junior’s cheesecake from New York and the famous Collin Street Bakery fruitcake from Texas. I wish I could share some of the fruitcake with @dani negreanu Dani. I know she loves this fruitcake. As for Christmas movies, my favorites are A Charlie Brown Christmas and White Christmas. Both movies get to me every time 🥲.

Greg, thank you for your help in identifying the season of that show. You’re right. The food looked amazing. It was really interesting to see a little bit Croatia. We will be going there in 2025 on Voyager. I do like Hallmark Christmas movies. At Thanksgiving at my MIL’s, you should’ve seen, everyone was glued to the TV watching a Hallmark Christmas movie that was on, even all the guys. We were all guessing what was going to happen next and who was going to do what because there is a formula that the movies follow. I must admit though, those movies always make me cry. We don’t get cable TV at home (too expensive) so we don’t get these cable channels. It’s just as well because I would be watching so much that I wouldn’t get anything done. I hope Linda will get her surgery soon so to alleviate her pain and then your turn for hernia surgery after that. Meanwhile, hang in there and wishing you and Linda a very Merry Christmas. Hugs. I almost forgot…This is for you

We stayed an extra night in Houston before flying home the next day after our cruise this past Sunday. The hotel did not have Hallmark Channel but we found Below Deck Mediterranean on Bravo. Since there’s so much talk on here about Below Deck and me who have never watched it, I was real curious what it’s all about. So, we turned to it. I don’t know what season we were watching. It wasn’t prime time so it must’ve been old episodes from previous seasons. The yacht was named Sirocco. There was Sam, the captain; Hannah, the head steward; Wes; Malia; Bobby; Andy (I think that’s the name), the chef; Lauren, the 3rd steward; Buggy (or Bugsy- I don’t remember); and a few others that I can’t recall the names. I can see how with each episode, you get more and more hooked. I ended up watching all afternoon until it was time for dinner. Does anybody know what season this was from?

@Tree_skier Dave, I am so glad that you are on Harmony for a 2nd week because you and Sharron sure needed it after the stressful week that you had. Looks like you can finally relax and enjoy your cruise now. It is good that your DD will be taken care of now that she’s home and her medical issues will be resolved. What a pleasure it was to meet your family. Everyone was so nice and friendly. I only wish we had more time to spend with you all. I’m glad we saw them outside the terminal as they were waiting for their ride after debarkation. We got to say our goodbyes. I just love them. You are truly blessed, Dave and Sharron.

Greetings from Harmony! Adult Comedy in The Attic Balloon drop at midnight And of course a sunrise The gym this morning. It was actually pretty crowded. Menorah to celebrate Hanukkah We observed the Menorah lighting for the 5th day of Hanukkah by Rabbi Gary Gans Then we attended the Hanukkah Service in the Windjammer. We learned a little bit of the Jewish history and culture. The Windjammer prepared some food for the service- potato latkes and donuts. So we shared this after the service. Rabbi Gary said the latkes are not like his grandma’s. He said the greasier and crispier the better. The first thing I looked out for was whether they were like the ones that Dani @dani negreanu made. These did not look like hers. Tonight’s 90’s Party in the Royal Promenade

I forgot to mention that we are staying at the Hilton Garden Inn near Hobby Airport. Thank you, @George C for reminding me. The hotel shuttle gave us a ride to the restaurant (any restaurant that is within 1-2 miles and will pick us up after we’re done. We decided on this place and it turned out to be a very enjoyable meal. Maybe we were just hungry. @Tree_skier, Dave, I hope you all made it here okay and gone onto Galveston by now. We’ll see you tomorrow! @BonTexasNYBonnie, Merv is behaving not badly for now. Thank goodness. I was looking forward to watching some Hallmark Christmas movies on the hotel TV but they don’t have Hallmark channel. They have them on the Lifetime channel though.

We got in to Houston. I thought this was cute. Snoopy wearing a ducky shirt. It’s been so cold at home, at the airport and on the plane that it was so nice when I stepped off the plane and felt the warm air of Houston. It was in the 80’s. Checked into the hotel. It was all nicely decorated. I nodded off in our room and almost missed this. Another Christmas tree in the lobby Off to dinner now.

Boarded and ready to take off. The flight attendant on the mike making announcements is funny…”for real”.

I’d like to interrupt the Panama Canal cruise photos for this. We’ll be boarding shortly. So I will continue with PC photos later.

2nd part of our Puntarenas tour Look closely on the left side for the crocodile with its mouth opened ready for a bite. The Great Blue Heron

On Day 8 we’ve reached our first port, Puntarenas, Costa Rica This was their first lighthouse but without the house

A few photos here from October’s Radiance Panama Canal cruise. The sunset as we were leaving San Diego. Found in the Windjammer for @Ocean Boy. The little plaques on the wall: “New England Lighthouse” created by Victor Stuart Graham was born next to the sea in Newhaven, Sussex. He was inspired by the power, changing colors and “moods” of the sea. He also grew up around lightouse structures and admire their individual architecture. His love of both elements is evident in his work.

Maryann, you are so kind. Thank you for checking up on M & me. We are doing fine. I just took a break from CC for a while to focus on some projects at home. Once in a while, I would skim through real quick the many pages on Dani’s thread and that’s about all I could do. There are still so many pictures from our Panama Canal cruise that I wanted to post. I hope to be able to post some before going on our next cruise in a week on Harmony out of Galveston. Mark, this just brought tears to my eyes. Those are the two best words to hear: “No Cancer”. I’m so happy for you, daughter and family. Now you can all go celebrate and enjoy your cruise and the Christmas Holidays. What a blessing!