HBE4

Agreed. Even if someone isn't a fan of her music or song writing or just tired of the media saturation of all things Taylor, she should still be respected as a business person / promoter / marketer. You don't become a billionaire by accident. And if she is not in charge of her business, then she must've hired some very savvy people to run her brand, which make her very savvy too. Just Google "Taylor Swift Business" to see the many articles that describe the impact she has had on the music industry. Sure she'll get some grief about writing a song about an ex-boyfriend but I've never heard any bad Diva type stories about how she is difficult to work with. Quite the opposite, she is very generous with her staff. And charity in general, which she does quietly.

I'm so glad I read this thread to the end. After page 1, I was going to post a very similar reply to this one. Except I was going to use Rolls-Royce in my example. 😉 There is a ship out there for everyone at just about every price point. Just like those gently used Ford Fusions. Back in topic for the OP, Icon is the new, shiny toy so yeah, sky high prices just like anything else new. Once Icon 2 (Star of the Seas) & 3 come out, I would expect/hope price will become more reasonable.

I can pet Leonard until my arm falls off. Not big on belly rubs but his neck, ears, nose, chin, throat, back, he can never get enough. The fact he allows me to pet his throat is amazing, that's a very trusting animal. The mysterious thing is he refuses to sit on anyone's lap and only my step daughter can hold him. And that is only for a minute at the most He was a 6-8 week old stray when she found him so maybe he had an early life trauma? Otherwise, he's extremely affectionate. He recognizes the sound of her car when she pulls into the driveway & runs to the front door to greet her. He never does that with any other car. He will follow us from room to room, sit on the arm of my chair and head butt me until I start petting him. And if I ignore the head butt long enough, he'll gently bite on my shirt sleeve & pull my arm towards him as if to say "Pet me! NOW!" It's been established he's the alpha male in this household 😛

Not just the media. American Airlines is getting in on the act. Direct flights from KC to LV aboard AA Flight 15 (Mahomes) or AA Flight 1989 (Swifts birth year). Return trip on AA Flight 87 (Kelsce) https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39416919/american-airlines-super-bowl-chiefs-travis-kelce-taylor-swift Wonder which flight # will sell out first?🙂 Maybe she can perform at the halftime show and Usher & Reba can be her backup singers? 😁 I do as well. She has grown up nicely.

@SteelCityCruiser10 Great review, very enjoyable! Thank you for taking the time to take us along.

Good bye Rum Runners. Hello Duck Runners.

Once Leonard awakes from his 17 hours of slumber, he'll wish Jade a happy belated birthday.

Not really, just some high school-type pettiness from the local Mean Girls squad 😉😇 Some people can't let go of a, um, lets say "personality conflict" for lack of a better phrase. I agree with both. Often times, it's a case of "shoot the messenger, not the message". People speculate all the times about all the things. Had you or I posted the exact same thing, nobody would raise an eye brow. I really hope he's just taking a voluntary time out & has not been issued an invitation to play monopoly. While some of this postings may not always be agreeable, I've never seen anything that breaks the rules. Unless the magic fairy dust gets sprinkled pretty quickly.

@twangster Amazing cruise & superb review as always. I'm taking my time reading & looking at all 1,000+ pictures you uploaded. It's probably taking me as long to read this review as you did to experience it. I would have totally missed this had you not posted the link from the Icon Inaugural thread on the main Royal Caribbean boards. Beautiful, gorgeous, there are not enough words to describe it. One thing I did notice, compared to a "regular" Royal cruise, is that is seemed to have minimal evening and late night entertainment. Is that due to this being a "Expedition" cruise where the focus is day time activity excursions, early morning risings, etc where everyone is exhausted at the end of the day? Or a function of being on a small ship? Or did you just focus on the unique aspects of the cruise and left out the "regular mundane" stuff? Disclaimer: I know nothing of Silver Seas brand so I'm going to do a bit of research first as I might look into one of their Norway Fjords cruises that you had mentioned earlier. After I read your Galapagos Island thread first, of course. 👍

I guess I was expecting a "cruise ship on land" type experience which isn't really fair. It was also one of the few times I did minimal research & pcked the resort based on the recommendation of a co-worker. BTW, I had the name of the resort wrong, it was "Majestic Colonial" with her sister property, the adults only "Majestic Excellence" next door that had an up-graded experience - better shows, better selection of restaurants. That's probably the one I should have picked. And based on many conversations with different people over the years, Sandals & Iberostar are the resorts your can't go wrong with.

I am not. But they did show your good friend Stephane Matteau on the big screen last night so he was at the game. He should have suited up, another lop-sided loss by the Rangers 5-2. 😖

It was one and done for me but maybe I picked the wrong resort?? Im sure the big chains are much better. And no, there you couldn't just walk off the resort. The main gate was like a mile away & nothing but jungle beyond. We did do a few catamaran excursions but everything was an hour cab away. Ended up going to Hard Rock a few nights for a real casino and shows. But it's a perfect resort for those that like lounge of the beach with a book. Nothing wrong with that but I just needed to explore on my own & couldn't really.

Looking forward to your thoughts. I only did AI once in Punta Cana, back in 2007 for 10 days. Which is 3-5 days to long according to my AI friends. Colonial Manor which was a beautiful resort in the mid-price range but I started to get cabin fever by day 6. Casino was a joke & shows were nit-n-miss. The activities staff (aka cruise directors) did their best to make the beach games fun. Drinks were weak & food was just ok.

Rangers vs last year's Stanley Cup Champs Vegas Golden Knights. Hoping for a competitive game. Last time these 2 teams met it was a lop-sided loss for Rangers.

Adding my happy feelings 💖 along with the rest of the gang. So nice to see you post & to get away from the griminess. Hopefully there will be more getaways like this in the future, for longer periods of time too. Like 12 or 18+ months, if that's possible & something you'd want. 🙂 Glad the kids got to enjoy ice & snow. After all, who doesn't? 😉

I had to look it up. His last new song was 17 years ago but his last new album was 1993! I remember reading a long time ago that he was going to stop writing new songs since he felt he reached an age where he thought is was difficult to connect with younger audiences, the kind thay buys new music, plus the grind of the studio. He did say he wanted to compose some classical songs.

Reading about the Texas Religion of High School Football reminds me of the TV Show "Friday Night Lights", probably one of the best written, best acted, all around great but underrated TV shows there ever was. There is a movie by the same name which is a true story but the TV show is mostly fictional, although some of the actors from the movie are on the TV show. The first couple of seasons were on NBC but the later seasons were a joint production between NBC & DirectTV, with DirectTV getting to air it first & then NBC at a later date. It was a cost sharing thing & I'm pretty sure I never saw the last season so now I'm off to see if one of the many streaming services I subscribe to have it.

That seems like poor planning on Royal's part. 😆

Isn't that the very definition of retirement? Assuming you are financially secure, you can do what you want, when you want, wherever you want. You can even go back to work part time if you like. It's a great feeling going to work knowing you don't have to & can quit anytime.

Happy Anniversary. I was `16 months old when you got married. 😁

2nd place is really first place loser. - George Steinbreener

Nope! None. Nada.

Now that you've mentioned it, I haven't seen him post at all this week. I'm probably in the minority with this but I kind of miss our resident back seat captain. I hope he's not in a "time out". He brings an certain perspective to things. And of course, some of the hysterical, over the top responses to his posts keep me entertained too. 🙂

It's one of those rare instances where locations south of us are getting more snow. Speaking of Atlantic City, Hard Rock Casino keeps reminding me I have 2 free nights. It's about time I take them up on their offer. Same with Foxwoods in CT. I'll probably do one in Feb & the other in March. Just deciding in which direction I want to go first. 🙂

It's going to snow for 8 hours but will only get an 1 inch when all is said & done? Can't really capture it in a picture but there is a lot of snow just swirling around. Feels like I'm living in a snow globe.