Shaded Lady

5 minutes ago, AmyJA said:

Forty-three minutes listening to: "Thank you for holding. Someone will assist you shortly".

 

To get to someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about. Love me Social Security.

 

Will get there eventually, everything just takes a bit when someone passes. 

I feel your pain! I'd suggest scheduling an appointment with them instead- I spent over an hour on hold, talking to idiots and finally got one person who didn't know the answer but suggested a F2F appointment.... I walked in the door of the place 10 mins before my appointment, walked out the door with the issue resolved precisely 12 minutes after I arrived!

1 hour ago, MeganGC1983 said:

I can’t be the only one that doesn’t automatically think Air France when reading “AF”. Am I? 

NO!!! I keep stumbling over that acronym too!

10 minutes ago, princess76021 said:

i'm a little slow but it's only page 2!

you know i'm with you and i thank you for taking me!!

hugs from the other side of the big airport

I'm with ya! Excited to follow and only on page 2!

21 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Exactly why you have to be careful. My boss saw a co-worker post on social media that he only does enough work to keep from getting fired. I think he's going to be fine. But I've heard it out of my boss's mouth twice in the past 24 hours.

Well, in case anyone from my company is reading the Tribe (I seriously doubt it!) I LOVE MY JOB and am doing everything I can to NOT get fired! 

FRA (Social Security's Full Retirement Age) is still 2 years away!

18 minutes ago, tsahall01 said:

My husband got an EV last November.  He charges is with an extension cord from inside our house.  Didn't even know this was a thing.  LOL!  No problems so far--and it uses a regular voltage, not the 220.  It's a 2013 Nissan Leaf, so don't know if newer models need something different.

110 voltage will definitely work on an EV, but it will take a lot longer... 220 is much faster.

To those of you dealing with an excess of rain, send some my way! Florida's rainy season is just not happening and we are in a severe drought situation...

Ruskin usually receives 8-12 inches each month in the rainy season... we've had a total of .1 inches (that's POINT one) of rain in the past 60 days! My grass is dead, my potted flowers are all dying and the beautiful pond behind my house is a mud bog!

Not that I want as much rain as you guys have gotten, but somewhere in the middle would be nice!

Awww quitcher whinin' all you with cruises in the next 2 months! I just finally ticked over to double digits for my B2B- been in the triple digits for years it seems!

6 hours ago, KarmaCruisers said:

BELIEVE ME; at a certain price point you’d say yes to that kind of commute. 
I mean I’ll TRY..but like I said earlier; it’ll be a princess one so I’m not sure if cross-posting is frowned upon.

 

Also; just landed at 10:50pm PST. Still have to get to my car then drive 90 minutes home. Weeeeee

So, for those keeping track; I woke up at 7:30am EST; and was in the airport at 11am EST; haha.

I've seen multiple other cruisers post the link to their Live reviews across many of their threads, regardless of cross-posting... I think this is the exception they allow most of the time...

Rest well today, hope your appointment with your dermotologist goes well...

@TxTeach79 Paul- it will take time... I remember when my Mom & Dad passed (within months of each other) it hit me one day that I was now an orphan (at 43, but still!) which led to another good cry... eventually it was the good memories that took over, and the grief receded.

I still miss them now, 20 years later, but I still 'talk' to my mom all the time- and now that she's passed, I actually win most of the arguments!

OK I'll keep this going... I understand the washing of the clothes in a mesh bag but how do they dry them? My clothes are returned relatively wrinkle-free, but if they were all dried together in a mesh bag, i don't see how that could work! I could be wrong but I guess I'd need to see the process to understand how it works!

@KarmaCruisers Tim- had fun following along... but please, ease up on the gambling math! My head hurts trying to figure it out! I finally gave up and thought, oh well, he gets it, he's enjoying himself, live with it!

I'm also in IT but I work full time from home... I COULD NOT handle your commute! Good for you that you are able to sustain it- no matter how much they pay you it would not be enough for me!

Please do me a favor and try to post a link to your next 'live' here so I can be notified... if I hadn't gotten an update from someone on another thread, I'd have missed this one altogether!

Hope the rest of your trip home is uneventful!

7 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

Paul or anyone who is Carnival cruiser:

 

Can you exceed the 15 limit if you pay retail (at the discretion of the bartender)?  Or is it a hard cap?  For Princess it's the former.

Hard cap- 15 is the limit, they won't serve you alcohol after that.

16 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Need opinions from the peanut gallery.

 

While I may be getting ahead of myself, I do think my car will be totaled out from the wreck.

 

Around these parts, the Accord Hybrids are in short supply.  And, there are no guarantees even if they total it out, they will give me new car value for it given it was only a few months old. I'll fight with them to give me new car value, but they have the luxury of time that I don't have.

 

Anyway, bunch of "ifs" here

 

....if I can't get another Accord Hybrid...

...if I can't get something like Camry Hybrid (which would be the only other one I'd consider)

 

 

How about an electric?  I'm open to that.

 

Teslas have dropped in price, by a lot, but I hear they are poorly made.  Saw an ad for big discounts on Chevy Blazer EVs.  Had 2 Blazers and a Tahoe in the past.  All were excellent.  I know the current gens are quite different, but hoping some here would have some experiences they could share? 

It might be hard to find in your area but DH & I just bought a PHEV- it's a hybrid electric- in case folks don't know it means it will drive a certain distance on pure electric and when the charge is expelled it will automatically convert to a hybrid (gas/electric combo).

This was a compromise between DH & me- he was jonesing for an all electric but I didn't want a pure electric until the infrastructure in the US is more robust (We drive to Texas 1-2 times a year and the idea of making sure we can find a station to charge, charge quickly enough and that will accept our charging unit scares the bejesus out of me! So for now, it's the PHEV- most of our driving since we got it 3 weeks ago has been pure electric, but we did drive to Tampa (40 mi each way) last week and the transition from EV to hybrid was seamless.

FYI @graphicguy we bought a Ford Escape, but we looked at several PHEVs- the Kia Sorrento, Toyota RAV4 Prime (rarer than hens' teeth to find) and the Volvo CX-90... all SUV's because- 2 large dogs!- we went with the Escape mostly because of the price for what was offered- we got the highest end Escape, fully loaded with all the toys we like for $45K!

Oh and to add, we do qualify for the $3750 tax rebate (it's not the $7500 you would get if you buy (not lease) a pure electric but it's a nice perk for next April!

Well, if nothing else, we certainly are a creative bunch, with all these posts! I'm sure Sid will appreciate our musings when he reviews them...

I can't help but wonder about random people checking out this thread, thinking it's one of Sid's normal reviews! If they aren't Tribe or regular Sid-readers, this should confuse the HECK out of them!!!  LOL!

10 minutes ago, dmet0225 said:

It's my Friday, so a 4-day weekend.  (I work 4-day weeks)

It's my Friday too- with all the chaos going on at work they gave us a 'Mental Health Day' tomorrow to make this a 4 day weekend... and my boss just told me to take this afternoon off as well! Yahoo!!

I'm here! I was bummed because a few of the reviews I was following are wrapping up soon, but just in time for TxTeach's review to move into full 'shenanigans' mode!

1 minute ago, sid_9169 said:

Nothing going on here  at The Tribe since 7:00 last night. Everyone must be busy with holiday preparations or something. I successfully made it through the second night in a row without a drink, so that's my best streak since last month. I'm trying to decide whether or not I'm even going to do a review for the Horizon cruise. I guess we'll see tomorrow or the next day. First, I've gotta make it through these last two days here at the 'ol salt mine... 

As much as we all love some Sid Live, I suggest you make it an at the moment decision- in other words, maybe start a "semi-live" thread and post when/if you feel like it! That way we can follow it and see if you do make any posts!

I've done reviews, and Lives are the hardest! I tried to keep up with it for my Valiant Lady TA, but nah...

3 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Good morning Cruise Critic Family! Please excuse us as we will not be posting anything new today as we are observing a rather somber anniversary. IYKYK. We'll be back tomorrow to continue with our adventure. We hope to wrap up this review this weekend. Have a great day! 😎

I DO remember and my heart and prayers are with you all today!

@TxTeach79 glad to hear your dad is on the mend! He'll continue in my prayers!

Awesome pics! Obviously gets her looks from her mom! Her dad? Not so much!  Well at least he's a good sport!

15 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

@Shaded Lady I’m betting the 26th is a two week buffer in case there’s a payment problem. 90 days out from Sept. 7 is June 9. That’s usually when payments are due for longer cruises with them. I usually do a buffer week because it never fails, payment will be authorized at 10pm on due date and it will be over their daily limit and they didn’t call the bank or insert issue here. Note: i usually do that for people that “need” it. 

Thanks Megan- that makes sense now... I just wish this boy wonder would engage now and again and explain these things... lesson learned!

OK Tribe- especially @MeganGC1983... I need some help. The first leg of our B2B is September 7. My not so bright cruise guy told me last month when I asked that final payment would be June 9. This week his company sent me an email telling me final payment was May 26...Does anyone know how much in advance we have to make final payment? I've reached out to the Boy Wonder, but surprise, surprise, he hasn't answered!

I have the money but I wasn't planning on pulling it out and paying it before the first week of June. If I need to pay it in May, I have to start the process right away, and lose some interest... but the thought of my cruise being canceled for missing final payment makes me break out in the sweats!

Help? This is absolutely why I usually book my cruises myself- next time, if it ain't Megan, it will be me!

1 hour ago, KmomChicago said:

I started my live for next week. I’m on my phone not my computer and don’t know how to create a link??? 
 

When I still thought this cruise would proceed as booked, 4 passengers traveling together, I was planning not to do a live as it can be distracting to one’s companions. I learned that by doing 4 lives in a row in less than a year’s time August 2021 - June 2022.

 

But now my life has changed in oh so many ways. My independence seems to vanish . . . Wait sorry, the re-release of Let it Be has me in full Beatles mode. 
 

Life has changed and I find myself unexpectedly more independent. Therefore the focus prompted by doing a live will now almost certainly be therapeutic. 

 

 

Here's the link to @KmomChicago's review... 

Following!

10 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Busy weekend! Brink danced last night at the local arts event. Today is Colton’s 9th birthday. Soccer and party today. I’m just tryna watch OU softball. 

Love the hat, Colton!