ATG

We had a notification of possible fraud the night before we boarded in Port Canaveral. We had driven from SC that day. The card had been used at a Dominos in Pennsylvania. The fraud person I talked to asked if we had stopped in Pennsylvania on our way from SC to Florida. Obviously, geography wasn’t his best subject in school. Luckily, we had another card.

My funniest dishwasher story took place about 50 years ago. DH and 3 friends rented a townhouse for their senior year of college instead of living in the dorms. One day they ran out of dishwasher soap and assumed they could just use regular dish soap. The suds poured out and covered the kitchen floor. It looked like something from an I Love Lucy episode. I think that was the only time that year the kitchen floor got mopped!

Take good care of her, we sail October 13. Of course, we picked the 9 day cruise that requires testing! Just our luck.

My January sailing is the same, very odd. I wonder if they just haven’t set prices for 2023 yet.

Celebrity also has some out of Amsterdam.

We did a river cruise with time in Amsterdam before and Switzerland after. Vaxxed and boosted. No testing anywhere. Did bus tours, ate inside restaurants, talked to many people. Only wore a mask when required at boat buffet. Long flights and crowded airports. Spent almost 3 weeks over there. No Covid. It is possible. Have fun!

DH and I are split on CK. He would eat every meal there. I find a few nights where nothing looks good. Other than filet night, I am not a huge fan at dinner. I love having breakfast there and there are quite a few lunch things I really like.

The problem is that many of us travel several days in advance so that luggage can catch up if necessary. Trying to get a test in from a hotel room with possible internet issues or find a testing site can be a big hassle. There is also the stress of a false positive (although uncommon). It all adds up to additional stress - not my definition of vacation.

We’ve had some great conversations with pinnacle members. Most of the ones we’ve met were friendly and happy to share their experiences. Maybe a few were grumpy or entitled, but by no means most. We hope to be pinnacles someday, but as long as we have our dog, our cruising time is limited.

I love brussel sprouts, I have since I was a child. We grew them once and I was amazed. They have to be the coolest looking vegetable with the sprouts growing in a spiral up the stem.

I had 3 ears and did 10 minutes at 390. Rubbed them with butter and sprinkled salt and pepper before cooking. I could have gotten 1 more ear in, but that’s the limit. Three is just right for the 2 of us.

I love my ninja air fryer! I do wings for the 2 of us and it just holds them. One thing I tried this week was corn on the cob. It turned out great.

We had a JS guarantee for 5/22 and 5/29. We decided that the ship wasn’t a reasonable charge since it’s older and smaller. We ended up booking Celebrity Apex British Isles cruise. More expensive, but new ship and good itinerary. (The kids don’t need that inheritance anyway)

We canceled last Saturday and the refund of our deposit was made yesterday! Good work RC.

We were scheduled for a b2b from Athens to Barcelona next May. We decided that Enchantment is not a good switch for Brilliance. Ended up canceling.

We’re doing the Canada/New England out of Bayonne in October. Any chance Canada will eliminate the testing requirements by then?

One of the things to research for river cruising is the passenger capacity. Due to the locks on the rivers (we went through 38) almost all river boats are the same size. On most Viking boats the capacity is 180. Our Avalon was 130. The other major difference is what is included. We really don’t drink very much, so the lines that included all alcohol were wasted on us. Most included wine, beer and soft drinks at lunch and dinner. That was enough for us. Our bar bill for 11 days was under €10.

That’s one of the reasons we probably won’t do it again. They did have a very limited buffet at dinner in the lounge. But it was really limited. The small aft lounge had coffee and a couple types of cookies available all day. But nothing salty or anything like Cafe Promenade. By the end I just wanted a sandwich and chips!

I would say similar. The bathroom was nicer than a regular RC one. Plenty of storage and a nice tiled shower. The best part was that Avalon puts the bed facing the windows. The windows are actually three glass panels and two of them slide open. It gives you about 8’ or so of open air. We loved sitting on the bed watching the river bank go by. And I couldn’t believe how many swans there were! It is certainly a small group of people, so you begin to know them. We’re 68 and 70 and were on the younger side of average. The staff were very accommodating. One English gentleman we talked to had lost his uncle in the WWII battle near Remagan. He wanted to see the area as we sailed by (A Bridge Too Far). It was in the middle of the night, the staff did a wake up call. Then slowed down and used a large light so that he could see. Now that’s great service.

River cruising is very different than ocean cruising. We did Avalon on the Rhine and Moselle, 11 days. The maximum capacity was 130 and we had 79. We really enjoyed seeing all the historical sites. Most of the excursions are included. We did 3 extra ones and the cost was $368 for both of us. I thought that was very reasonable. Breakfast and lunch were buffet. Some good some okay. They made eggs to order each morning. My pet peeve was I had to make my own toast. Not a huge deal, but a little irritating. Dinner was a sit down meal with lots of courses. It took anywhere from 1.5 hours to almost 2.5. That’s too long for us. There are very limited alternatives. I guess RC has spoiled me with lots of places to eat. Our first regular cruise was in 1979. River cruising reminded us of that. Our final opinion was it was probably a “one and done”.

Lol, I didn’t even think to look!

We have been in Europe for a river cruise the last few weeks. Today I went to the grocery to fill up my empty refrigerator. I knew prices had gone up, but was quite surprised that eggs were $4.15 a dozen. And that’s the Publix store brand ones, not the fancy ones! Is South Carolina an anomaly or is this everywhere?

We just got home from a river cruise visiting the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France and Switzerland. We had about 20 euros from a previous trip. We came back with 15 euros. Everywhere took credit cards. I had planned to go to an ATM but never needed to. One thing I learned was in a restaurant if you want to leave a tip, just tell them what total amount to charge. The only card issue I had was with the Swiss train tickets. I couldn’t use the machines since our card required a signature. I had to go into the ticket office. Not a big deal.

I know that Loves very well. It’s our usual stop right before we get on I-20. They always have good prices.

We’re on Imagery II now, almost to Cologne. This is our first river cruise after lots of ocean cruises. So far we are really enjoying it. It’s amazing how compact the boat is. Everyone is friendly. The dinners have been spectacular, but slow. It has been over 2 hours each night. One thing we have noticed is that the wait staff all wear their masks on their chins. I wish they could just get rid of them. We only have to mask when getting food at the buffet.