HBE4

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

After staying up late to finish packing, I am up long before I need to be.  

Glad to know I'm not the only one.  Been awake since 2:30 am

After following along,  I'm getting excited about cruising on Utopia.  Then I realize, nope, that's not me. I'm on little sister Adventure OTS 😜

Starting the month off right. Up before the sunrise.  Is that the moon I see? 

Sure is

Let's see if I can keep this going for the next 9 days. Something tells me I won't 🙂

Am I the only one that can not sleep the night before a flight to a cruise?  Or a flight anywhere for that matter.

Nothing like 2 1/2 hours of sleep to make a person feel refreshed.  After taking a dinner break where Little Miss HBE4 made a slightly inappropriatly name but very delicious meal called Marry Me Chicken (sorry, no photos. You'll need to Goggle it) , resumed packing. Finished at 10:30 pm, in bed by midnight & awake by 2:30 am. Gave up trying to fall asleep by 3;30 am.

Gonna be a long day.

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Did you have the talk with Leonard that you are going on a cruise?

 

Safe travels tomorrow.  I hope you have a great cruise with perfect weather. 😊

 

Leonard was not happy when he saw the suit cases come out.  Non-stop meowing & howling and normally he'd be sleeping at my step daughters side right now but instead he's been  my shadow.  After what seems like 96 hours of non-stop petting, he's calmed down. He going to be happy when he realizes his human mommy is staying home with him.

2 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

 

@FromSea2ShiningSea   Nature in all of it's glory!  These pictures are awesome, Helen!  Incredible.

+1

Agreed 100%

2 hours ago, Keksie said:

Her eyes are so beautiful!

I feel like she is looking directly into my soul!!

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

We may see @HBE4 wandering around the airport, because we get in close to his time.  We arranged our ride for a little later so we could feed the grandkids after the flight.  

I'll be the clueless looking dofus walking around aimlessly from the JetBlue terminal to the Uber/Lyft pickup. If I see a couple of super excited, happy grand kids, I'll know you are nearby. 🙂

6 minutes ago, George C said:

my still unnamed kittens

How about Kahlua and Baileys?   Appropriate for their colors. 🙂

2 hours ago, Arzeena said:

Safe journey to you and also to HBE. I believe his cruise is also on Friday.

I am looking forward to your pictures. Is it the 4 day sailing?

Thank you. Yes, I leave on Friday as well on Adventure. 

And if somewhere along the way in my travels between the airport & restaurants at Port Canaveral, I see someone wearing a "Summer of Fun 4.0" t-shirt, you can be sure I'll do my best to photo bomb! 🤣

Just kidding.

2 hours ago, Arzeena said:

@HBE4
I just just read your previous post....was reading backwards today!😆and kind of said a combined "safe journey" to you and to Mark. But you do deserve a separate bon voyage wish! So here goes......

Have a wonderful wonderful cruise and a very safe journey. Maybe post a picture or two of anything if you feel comfortable posting.

I know what all goes on before a cruise! The packing of "will I need this, will I need that and what if I need those"! Clothes are one thing but all those silly knick knacks that you only need when you do not take them🙄!!!!!!

 

Thank you again! Part of the issue is I'm a chronic overpacker so I pack extra of everything.  Just in case I spill wine all over myself. Twice. Or if I fall overboard on the first formal night, what am I going to wear on the 2nd formal night?   You know, stuff that never happens but just in case, I'll be ready.

I've already made on shopping trip to buy extra but necessary clothing items (socks and undies) & may be making a second for all the ancillary items and kick knacks that will make the trip more pleasant.

@Ozark_Kid

Sorry to hear about the passing of your doctor.

7 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

I am thankful we got the backyard fence now to keep the deer out. Last week Sharon saw this which is just a few houses from ours.  The deer are running towards the path that leads to our backyard!

 

These pics were taken yesterday down the street some.

 

 

 

I had a mega-herd of 14 deer run though my yard one morning a few years ago. Maybe half of them stopped to munch on roses, hosta, etc. Usually would only see 2 or 3 at a time.

A few years ago, a viral disease killed large amounts of white-tailed deer in NY. For years, I seldom see a deer in my yard but the population seems to be rebound. Saw 4 at once last week. A mom and 3 fawns.

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

Thursday morning flight.  Sailing on Friday.  Lots to get done tomorrow, and I will be gone half the day.  

Same with me, late morning flight on Thursday and arriving at MCO a little after 1:00 pm. Friday, I have a 10:30 check-in time at the pier.

I forgot how much needs to be done before a cruise.This will be my longest trip in 6 years, I'll be gone for almost 2 weeks.  Spent the day running around gathering last minute shopping for the basic travel stuff  and taking care of a few things on the home front before leaving - paying bills, mowing lawn, laundry, etc. Currently working on my packing list and clothing schedule - singinalot would be proud of my chart!! The gathering of clothes and packing will start later tonight & continue into the morning as I will pack and re-pack repeatedly for no other reason other than to think it can be better packed.

Oh, and I decided to take advantage of a last minute sale Royal was having to cancel/repurchase my internet package & excursion in Aruba.  Except after cancelling both, I couldn't repurchase right away. Either would got the spinning circle of lost hope and/or the "add to cart" button was greyed out. Finally after almost an hour, I was able to repurchase both.  One hour of anxiety to save $21.  Sheesh!

I returned home late last night from a poorly timed 5 day trip to a cabin in the Adirondacks without cell & internet service.  Same trip I did last year at this time with college friends & while I had a blast perfect weather and lots of laughter, I really could use 1 or 2 of those days back.

56 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

@HBE4

I recommend to Not use beef stew as your password.   It's just not stroganoff. 

Much like eggs, your jokes crack me up, They are delectable.

10 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Wow, if that indeed turns out to be accurate those ships are a LOT smaller than I expected.  I'm very interested to see the layout and which venues they intend to include.  They will need to be very selective. 

My wild butt guess which is based on nothing would be that if the ships are intended for port-intensive itineraries, they would ditch the seaplex, flow riders, water slides, etc and focus on adding specialty restaurants, loungers etc.  

46 minutes ago, George C said:

 Like with kittens is very interesting when I woke up I noticed the place mats , napkin holder , napkins etc on dining room table was all on the floor .

30 minutes ago, Keksie said:

Kittens are very busy and everything is a toy.

Leonard, who I *think* is 5 years old, likes to unroll the toilet paper some nights. I guess so I don't have to do it when I wake up the next morning? He's very helpful that way

8 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Some of those messaging apps used to get thru on the ship’s free WiFi, but that was pre Starlink and I think those holes have been plugged.  Perhaps @Biker19 is up on whether that is the case.

 

We usually just supplement our free D+ days with extra days we purchase onboard.  My wife doesn’t want to be out of touch with our kids at all while we are away. 
 

This close to sailing, it is doubtful the price will go down.

The app being used is called "GroupMe". I don't know anything about it but since I'm basically a Johnny-Come-Lately to this trip, I'll just follow along.

As a last time Emerald, I would get 15% off whatever the imaginary on-board price is. So you're right, this will probably be the lowest price I see.

I actually already pulled the trigger on it. $167 for 8 days of internet. I've spent way more on food & drinks at a 3 hour NY Ranger game. That's pretty much how I rationalize all my purchases. 😄

My Set Sail Pass for my cruise in 9 days does not indicate I have the DX package.  But I see it reserved in the cruise planner,  I have email confirmation already printed out and more importantly, it's already been charge to my credit card.

This is thru the Royal App on my Android phone.

23 minutes ago, sgmn said:

We've never purchased it,  though it seems to be more and  more necessary. If we are in Europe our phone plane allows for most countries when ashore. 

The best pre cruise price for this current cruise was £14 per device, per day.  

Gary did succumb and buy a 24 hour pass on a sea day but at on board prices 

13 minutes ago, Keksie said:

We usually get the key which includes wifi.  We don't stream but the last 2 cruises the  internet seemed fast enough.  My husband and I used the wifi calling and it worked well.

Thank You both.  Normally I'm a "disconnect from the world" type person but the friends that invited me are actually part of a much larger - almost Bella2.0 size - group and they are using a certain group text messaging app that requires wifi.  So that's the main reason, to stay in the loop & coordinate gatherings. The streaming movies would just be a side benefit.

The 3rd benefit would be keeping in touch with family at home & in case of emergency.  One of the most heart-warming things that was said to me recently was my step-daughter sorrowfully saying "I can't believe I have to go 9 whole days without seeing or talking to you".💖

@lenquixote66

Sorry that you have much sorrow and stress on your birthday. Try to enjoy it as much as you can & I hope your daughter makes a speedy recovery.

I've never purchased the Wi-Fi package but may do so for my upcoming trip for various reasons.

1) Is $20.99 a good price? It's "on-sale" (haha) @ 25% off.

2) Will I be able to access NetFlix and my DVR recordings (Comcast Xfinity) from my laptop? I know while in the USA I can but I seem to remember people having difficulties when out of the country.  Not sure if that is still a "thing".

Normally I don't watch TV or movies while on vacation. Even the cabin TV is hardly on except to watch the cruise director's show. But this trip may be different so I'm trying to be prepared.

9 days!!! How did that happen??

Not great planning on my part to spend the next 5 days in a mountain cabin with NO cell or internet service.  Looks like I'm going to have a very busy 4 days in between doing last minute stuff.

EDIT: 3 days running around & 1 travel day.

3 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Very nice! As far as sunrises when on cruises, if I were not out of bed and up on deck before the sun came up I would be so angry with myself.

In all seriousness, while I am a night owl & sleep in-ish kinda guy, it's been years since I've stayed up late enough to see the sunrise.  And I really don't sleep in as much as I used to as I figure I've spent big bucks on vacation, I'm not going to sleep it away.

There may be a night or two where life in the fast lane catches up to me & I'll crash early.  The following day is when I usually might catch a glimpse of the sunrise, all bleary-eye in my PJ's from my balcony.🫣

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

The California Lighthouse!

As you are a fan of lighthouses and sunrise pictures, why not combine the two? Note: one of the few times I woke up to watch a sunrise. Usually if I see a sunrise, it's when I'm heading to bed. 😁

2 hours ago, George C said:

Our kitties 

Totally adorable.

Have you picked out names yet? I think Simon and Garfunkel would be appropriate for a music lover like you.

3 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

The last time I saw Pirates they were selling 🌽 corn.  They sold it for a buccaneer.   I told the corn how good it looks and the corn replied,  Ah shucks!

Some of your dad jokes (or are they pop-corn jokes?)  are a bit on the corny side but I still think you are an a-maize-ing person! And I'm not trying to butter you up
😉