bagelme

I find booking regular cruises to be very helpful, because you always have something to look good for. ;)

I'm putting this theory into practice this week, just booked 14 days on the serenade of the seas for May 2015. Norwegian fjords and baltics, 2 7 day cruises B2B. :)

 

 

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So true!!:D:D

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It's so interesting hearing everyone's weight travels...everyone is quite different, of course. I'd like to say I was like Mic, to be pretty stable most of my life, but alas, my story is much different. I've struggled with weight gain all my adult life...at one point weighing almost 300 lbs. Twenty five years ago I did the Optifast Diet (that Oprah did) and lost almost 100 lbs. If you could live on a liquid diet the rest of your life that would be fine, I guess. :rolleyes: Long story short, I didn't handle maintenance well, and gained all of it back over time. Ten years ago, I discovered Atkins's low carb diet. I lost almost 60 lbs with that, but kinda fell off the wagon, so to speak. Therefore, since then, I've been seesawing back and forth constantly, but within 10 lb of my low carb success. I can do low carb very easily...I can have my cream in my coffee, my cheeses and dressings, that I love. I'm not a big sweets or bread person, so I can stear clear of them if I really want to. The problem with being strict with this diet is it's hard to stear clear of anything with sugar and flour additives. If you can stick to fresh vegetables, meat and some fruits...you're great!

Summer is so much easier for us to reach our goals! More fresh food available. More activity to keep us busy! I'm rededicating myself to keeping on task going forward. Also, to be truely on point...keeping a food journal helps a lot! We can all do it! ;)

So with that said...sorry for the rant!...by the end of the weekend, I'll know if I have another cruise booked. I'm waiting to hear from my friend as to whether she is good for a date in Oct to go to Bermuda. Anyone ever been there? It would be my first time!

Have a great weekend everyone! Lovely weather here in the Midwest...at last! Possibly a walk in order?

What are the operating hours if you know?

Some days it opened at noon...Some days it opened at four. Closed at midnight every night.

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Do you have pictures of the new design that you can post? Do they now have TV's in the venue? How is the wine?

 

Mary Lou

From the day Gastropub opened...5/8

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congrats to rosie on early retirement and congrats to you mic for your three goals.

 

I'm down half a pound this morning, 2 pounds to go to reach my pre cruise weight. sooo close lol

I was wondering, which cruise do you base your "pre-cruise" weight on? For me, even though I've taken two cruises since then, I still base it on pre-Hawaii. Lot of ups and downs since then, but still haven't got back to pre-Solstice, when we started this thread! Still need to go down 8 lbs to accomplish that! :eek:

Moving Very Periodically?:p

Magnificently Versatile Person!

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Thanks everyone for your support, encouragement, and high fives! I really did amaze myself with the weight loss, but if you only knew how active I was on that cruise, we shouldn't be surprised. For me, it was like training for a triathalon! :D I am never that active in normal life, and I'm so thankful that me knees held out for me. I did comsume a fair amount of pain pills to survive, and think those curb my appetite a bit...otherwise, I would have been eating a lot more on the ship!

So now...I'm really frightened that the weight is going to creep back on, without that level of metabolism. Monday is my usual weigh in day, but I had it so much on my mind, that I had to take a peek at the scale today. To my amazement, I've lost another 2 lbs. I do seem to have better luck in the summer than around the big winter holidays, so.....fingers crossed! ;)

I am a bit younger than her so may retire in a few years. I need to keep the money coming in so we can still cruise as much as we do now.:D

My husband and I are in the same situation....I'm four yrs older than he is. So I bailed on my FT job last year, and he is just now talking about retirement. I think he'll do it in two or three yrs. I must be driving him crazy with my cruise planning, because before, I was lucky to get a week off at a time, and now I want to do all these 10-15 day cruises. Luckily, he is self-employed, so I can twist his arm a little bit (although being self-employed does mean unpaid time off!!). Half of my cruises are without him anyway...I usually can find someone to indulge with me...:eek:

Great news for Rosie! So happy for her! Great time in your life, for sure! Wish her lots of luck on her goals, as well!

Pat, where did the slush bar go? Glad you had great weather and thrilled you've lost all your cruise weight. I'm still struggling with the last few pounds of mine from last month sigh.

They took out the little sundries shop that was between the regular pools and the Solarium. It's not bad spot really, but it didn't seem to get utiilized it's first sailing. They need to talk it up on the daily, like they did the Gastrobar.

Made to Order Waffles in the Buffet and Lava Crab in Qsine

OMG...what is Lava Crab? I've not been to Qsine yet!

Thanks, Pat

I agree that many of the chicken dishes were a disappointment.

The fish dishes were definately the stars of the MDR. No problem for me...I love seafood!

Welcome home Pat, glad you had a great trip. Is the med absolutely wonderful? Where did they put the gastro bar on the Equinox? Did it replace something?

Thanks, Deanna!

The Med is simply incredible! It is just so amazing to see all these places that you have always read about, right before your eyes. And we were blessed with wonderful weather everywhere...mid 70's every day. It was pretty crowded everywhere we went, I just kept thinking about how it would be in the peak season...with high temps and much bigger crowds! So glad we went in May. I got a great tan right off the bat while in Spain. My favorite port is Barcelona! We went in a couple of days early and had a blast. I've heard, and I concur, that Barcelona is the easiest port to embark/disembark from as well.

The Gastrobar replaced Cellarmasters. I didn't go there while on Solstice, so I don't remember how it looked, but people are saying that the new decor is very similar? I felt it was a nice, cozy venue and the food was really delish.

So...I was wrong about my weight gain, mixed up my info...I actually gained 7 lbs on the trip, but....."drumroll, please"....I've lost every bit of it already since I've been home! Great news, of course, but now is the challenge, as my activity level has now dramaticly decreased. I do go back to work PT tomorrow, so at least I won't be completely inactive. And of course, I won't be having Creme Brule every night any more! :eek:

And yes, Mic...we did "try" the small fish...not our thing. Quickly determined it was better suited as cat food...:p

New fav pasta: Carbonara (served with an egg on top) in MDR

Escargo

Creme Brule

Corned Beef Hash at breakfast buffet

French Onion soup

Aspen coffee in Cafe al Bacio

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I think it is on the opposite side of the ship, just outside the solarium, as you expected, in the space that sold sundries but was never open.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

Yes, that's where I meant...maybe I had too many drinks there! :eek:

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Here's another option...my daughter and I went to a Baroque Opera last week. It was held in a wonderful old theatre and the performers were in 18th costume. This is located near Rialto.

Pat

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So where is Slush located? I must have missed something.........:D

Opposite side of Aqua Cafe

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A couple of pics of Gastrobar and one of my daughter and I participating in the Grand Opening of Slush on 5/8/14.

Pat

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So glad you had such a good time, have seen some of the photos on FB as well. Excellent that you were able to indulge and still not gain much at all. You will enjoy the panama canal,we did. Do you know if you are doing the new locks or the existing ones. I wouldn't mind doing it again but through the new locks.:D

Thanks, Mic...yes, we did have a fabulous trip. Mother/daughter adventure that we will remember fondly with lots of laughable stories for the rest of our lives (like how we didn't really know what "small fried fish" was on the menu in Croatia and ended up feeding it to the stray cats!:eek:).

I guess I need to do my research, as I don't know if the locks will the old or new for us. I'm sure my husband will want to know more about this, too, as I booked this without his knowledge onboard. Of course, Kim had to narc on Mom as soon as we got home...:D. I wasn't worried as this has been on our bucket list for some time.

Thanks!

 

So Pat, you got to see the changes on the Equinox? What did you think? Bill, Marilynn and I are on it at the end of October. I'm looking forward to trying the new gastro bar. I really wish I could do the 2 week med cruise before the TA but it's too pricey for me on my own. A lot of people are doing the B2B.

 

Weight watchers is going well so far. Had my second attempt at jogging today and it was a little harder cause I was still a bit sore from Wednesday. Only managed 5 x 2 minutes within the walk. Didn't help that the dogs were not being very good!

 

 

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Hi Julie! So good to see you here!

The new venues on Equinox are a great addition, I think. My daughter and I helped with the official ribbon cutting of the new Slush. Got several free drinks for participating in their Grand Opening on 5/8. We really enjoyed the new drinks, although we rarely saw anyone there and only one employee was manning it. My daughter gave him a lot of practice making the Mint Cookie, but she mainly got the non-alcoholic version as only that was covered by our Classic Bev Pkg. The alcoholic ones were $10...and yes, all drinks have gone up on the ship. I can't speak to the Premium Pkg, but the Classic now covers non-alcoholic up to $7 and alcoholic up to $9.

We really enjoyed the Gastrobar. It is nice open area and very nice, comfortable decor. Comfortable, casual area for small grps to get together. The food options (pub fare) range from $3 to $8. We tried three things to share....Truffled Grilled Cheese sandwich, Truffle fries, and the Roasted Tomato, Basil, and Goat Cheese Flatbread. It was a lot of food for $14, and very, very delicious. Unfortunately, we are not beer drinkers, so we kind of missed out on the whole point of the Bar. If you ask them to, they will pair the perfect beer(s) with your food choices. People were just raving about how good this was. I did try to order a cider to try, but the server told me it wasn't covered on my Bev pkg, altho the price was only $7. I was very confused, but didn't pursue it. I was able to order a Margarita, so maybe any drinks posted on their menu or not eligible for the drink pkg, or at Classic level?? (or maybe the server didn't have his facts straight yet??) I didn't see a lot of people in this venue, but they were at least promoting it with some special doings during the second half of the cruise, and I think more people started checking it out and liking it.

Pat :)

We just heard that all beverage packages had been removed from the perk program and are not being offered on ship! Refunds would be made and everyone will once again be charged for everything that they drink, during their cruise besides water, milk, tea, and the basic swell they call coffee!:D

?????

I just had it last week on Equinox. Also...it is being offered now as part of the 123 when you book a future cruise onboard. I picked it as my perk for the 4/16 Panama Canal sailing.

Pat

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Hello Everyone!

I'm back from the Med and it was incredible!! The Equinox was wonderful!

I will post more a bit later, as I'm trying to catch up on a kazillion things first day back, but I am fairly happy with my first weigh in post cruise. Despite all the gelatos and pasta :eek:, I gained only 4 lbs. I don't know if any water weight will fall off over the next couple of days, as I didn't have a lot of swelling this time. I did an unbelievable amount of walking everyday...tackled more stairs than I care to discuss (ugh), but was able cover more territory than I thought I would due to using a cane in all the ports.

I booked a future cruise while onboard....Panama Canal 4/2016.

Thank God my husband made me coffee this morning, as I was having a Al Bacio Cafe espresso withdrawel! :D

Glad to see that everyone's had a good couple of weeks!

Pat :)

Ok guys...I'm off to the airport!

Wish me a good balance of walking exercise and eating all the great foods we encounter!

Pat :)

Barbecued salmon at Taku Lodge in Juneau. Best. Salmon. Evahh!! All the side dishes were fabulous too (best sourdough bread, best biscuits, best cookies).

YES! Thank you for reminding me of that meal...it was incredible!

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Half a pound is better than nothing, right? I went for 2 walks the past two days so proud of that but now we are supposed to have rain starting this afternoon lasting right through the weekend so there goes my walks.

 

I started a very strict (and controversial) diet yesterday and am down 2 pounds this morning woot woot. Had sautéed shrimp for dinner last night with a lemon garlic sauce. Shrimp are so low in calories and so darn tasty. Made a huge Caesar salad to go with it and some sliced tomatoes. It was delish. I'm at 133 and hope to get to 125 in the next few weeks. (that was my pre cruise weight) Once I hit 125 I'll work to get the last 10 off. My goal is 115. Seems easier to break it into two chunks than to try to do it all at once for some reason.

 

Hope everyone is having a happy Tuesday.

 

Oh, where are you packing for??

Med Cruise! Leaving on Monday! Two days in Barcelona, before boarding refurbished Equinox! Sooooo excited!

What is controversial about your new diet? Sounds like a good list of foods from your dinner choices. Something I would be eating on my low carb (when I'm faithfully doing it...:rolleyes:).

I think I should as it may become a chronic issue.:D

That doesn't sound like something to be messed with! Get that checked out and SOON!

All the best!