sdteacher

5 hours ago, bundtkate said:

And that's all from me today! Thanks for coming along, y'all! Tomorrow is a sea day wherein I will be attempting to make sushi, going to my first of many wine tastings cuz my aunt found them all and it's not exactly hard to convince me I need wine, and finally Chef's Table! I think this is where we'll be for that:!

I am looking forward to hearing about your time at the Chef’s Table and where it is located. We have it booked next month on Harmony. 

11 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

To my fellow Calfirnia cruisers, hope y’all stay dry and safe on Sunday as another big storm is going to wallop the state

 

https://news.yahoo.com/prepare-now-historic-rains-californias-195233586.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=0_00

 

I am done with the rain and wind. We’ve lost a tree and a fence. We also have an extra trash bin that came flying down the hill. If nobody claims it soon, we are keeping it. 

8 minutes ago, cruisinghawg said:

Sorry folks for being away for the past 24 hours but had some terrible news that we had to deal with. One of my best friends had a stroke while on board and had to be offloaded to hospital on St Kitts. So we have been tied up with helping all that we could. So I am back now and will download more video later this morning. 

I’m so sorry to hear this. Hope they will be okay. 🙏

That’s exciting! I hope you had a great time. Can’t wait to hear about it. 

We just reserved an Uber X for the 2 of us from Hobby to Galveston for our cruise in March. The cost will be $53.20.  It is always less to reserve ahead of time. 

I am also an early riser. When I was on Explorer, I would go to Cafe Promenade for a cup. I brought my own cup because I like a lid when I am walking and it keeps it hot on my way back to my cabin. 

3 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

I Have No Words!!!!

 

 

 

A picture is worth 1,000 words! Looks like you had fun! 

23 minutes ago, sadiwest said:

So where does that leave us?

4 extraordinarily disappointed people....three of whom are emotionally spent, one of whom is sick (but in surprisingly good spirits), and one of whom ordered a pizza and garlic knots at 9:30 pm because why the heck not!?

 

 

I am so sorry about your vacation plans. I think you need a bottle of wine to go with that pizza while you plan something fun to do this week. Maybe a staycation or a road trip in a few days when everyone is feeling better.

1 hour ago, pppiglet said:

 

This is not the norm and I could see why they may take you to the wrong tour drop off as there are many tour places in PV.  All taxi drivers know where the Malecon is.  🙂

This may not be the norm but he definitely pulled something shady and purposely left us in the wrong place. We had given him the name of a very specific restaurant where we were meeting. My guess was that he was in a hurry to get back and pick up another fare. Lesson learned here. Hope my story helps others from having a similar experience. From now on I will use Uber because there is a record of the driver who picked you up. Also the price with Uber was way more reasonable. 

We walked and took the water taxi to Stone Island last week. I felt very safe and it was easy to do. The hardest part was navigating through all the taxis and tour guides. We had a great time at the beach. 

We were in Puerto Vallarta last week and took a taxi to meet our tour. Our driver dropped us off in completely the wrong place. When we questioned him on if this was the right place, he said it was a one way street and all we had to do was walked half a block and we would see it. He lied. We ended up having to get a new taxi to take us to the correct place which was another 3 miles away. We talked with others in our tour and they had used Uber. So we used Uber to get back to the ship. It was so easy to do and it was half the price of our first taxi. I would never take another taxi here again. 

Thank you all so much for letting us all follow along. It has been a fun thread to follow, and I now have a huge list of drinks to try on my next cruise! Safe travels on your way back home. 

40 minutes ago, Dan83 said:

Post live when it’s convenient, then the usual post cruise detailed review. 

I second this!  Enjoy your vacation and time with your family, and post when it's convenient.  

It sounds like this was a heartbreaking trip. First your daughter’s doll and teacher, and then the devastating news about your father. I am so sorry.  My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. 

We had MTD and just returned from our 8 day cruise on Explorer. I thought MTD was great! We used it on 5 of the nights. We made reservations for 7:15 on each of the nights but sometimes we went as early as 6:30 and never waited more than 10 min. Sometimes there was a line for reservations but there was never more than a handful of people in the line. The line for no reservations was a bit longer but it didn’t look unreasonable. The first night we went was on day 3 so I have no idea how crazy it was on the first 2 nights. In years past, the first few nights are always disorganized. I’m glad we stayed with MTD. It worked for us. 

We boarded Explorer today. We had no problems with our covid results from OnPoint testing. 

4 minutes ago, Sea Viewer said:

Thanks @sdteacher

Did you use a phone or a laptop to do the test?

 

I used my iPad. 

We did our covid test with OnPoint yesterday. It was easy and the proctor on Zoom was very friendly and easy to understand. We had an email within a few minutes with the results. The first email had results that seemed not very official but we received a PDF result email about 15 minutes later that looked way more official. I’ve attached photos of both. We board tomorrow. We also did a backup test at CVS but we still haven’t got those results yet. They aren’t offering rapid tests at CVS or Walgreens in our area anymore. 

We board Explorer on Saturday. We have 3 nights of specialty dining and the rest will be MTD. I’ll let you know how it goes. 🤞🏼

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

Biker, who is impressed with this site's ability to shape people's choices.

We cruise on Saturday and have always done MTD. After reading all the negative posts about it, I have been so close to switching. We cruised in Nov and it worked well so I am hopeful but you’re right, these boards do shape our choices. Hopeful I won’t regret my decision to stay with MTD. 😳

I sure hope it is legit. We test on Thursday for a Saturday departure. We have a PCR test booked as a back up but I’m afraid the 48 hour result turn around won’t come through in time. They aren’t offering the rapid antigen tests at CVS or Walgreens around us anymore. I can come back and let you know on Saturday.

🤞🏼😱 😎

We have an overnight flight and are arriving into Miami at 6:00 am. Our check in time for the cruise is at 11:00 am. Does anyone have any suggestions for a place to have breakfast? We will have our luggage with us. We would also appreciate any suggestions about a place to stop and pick up some wine to bring aboard. Thanks!

I had the same concerns. Both CVS and Walgreens are only offering PCR tests, which take 2 days. We leave in less than 3 weeks and I didn’t think I would ha e enough time to get the ones from RCCL. I found this place in a different thread that someone else used. You can use any at home test and just pay for the proctored visit. 
https://onpoint-testing.com/product/certified-teleservice-covid-testing/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5f2vubuX-AIV0sLCBB0qggpwEAAYAyAAEgLNWvD_BwE 

I was able to check in for our Adventure cruise out of Galveston on Nov. 12. Check in opened on 8/15 and I was able to get a 1:00 boarding time. 

2 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Tracelets are being used on the Serenade OTS (Seattle -Alaska).  Passengers wear it on their wrist like a watch.

Thank you for answering the original question. I also was wondering if I could take it off in my cabin while sleeping and showering. I hate wearing watches, bracelets and bands around my wrists but I understand the reasons for it and I’m willing to comply. So many posts these days goes sideways so fast. I appreciate those who take the time to legitimately answer questions.