Quantum- Semi Live, Family Perspective

[Peewee14]

HAHA

 

Just looked at the above picture of myself can't believe how tired and rough I looked!! Feeling better now and the cold has gone! and I have had to have a shave, couldn't leave the stubble any longer!!

[nextcruiseis]

You could try contacting the local office of Make A Wish and offer them the Radio City Music Hall tickets.

[TENGBT]

hi peewee,

Sorry to hear u booked the wrong date. If the tixs still available, myemail / at /tengbt"@"aol "dot" com. I stumbled across your thread as I was looking for pics of the qos staterooms. I too, family of 3 with 8yr daughter. We're going in february, same 8110 rm. Thanks for all your great tips, and I hope the noise are gone by the time we go.

Tony

[Peewee14]

For Dinner Wednesday we had decided on a place we had heard about called Ellens Stardust Diner" on broadway, its a place where the waiters and waitresses sing and perform for you during your dinner!

 

We headed in and got given a great table with the stroller safely stashed!

 

another point about the stroller, everywhere we have been there is a place for it to go, if you are visiting with one, don't look into a restaurant window and think "oh thats not suitable, no room for a stroller" they are used to them from what we have gathered and everywhere we have been we have been welcomed and we simply take Diana out and they store it somewhere for us, even shops and stores and all kinds of venues usually have great helpful staff who personally take you to an elevator to use instead of the stairs or escalators.

 

 

One of the waiters gave Diana a special ring, which she loves!! along with Inky of course! and now pink monkey!

 

 

We are so glad we went to Ellens, as I mentioned before Diana had started to be a little brat to put it mildly! and the entertainment in there took her mind off trying to cause us as much grief as possible. The performers where great, claiming on the tables, passing the microphone between them, talking to guests asking about birthdays and celebrations, it was simply brilliant! and we loved it. The singing was actually pretty good!

 

 

 

They come round with a bucket throw cash in if you want to, they tell you its a fund to help them get a proper job on broadway, pays for acting and dance classes etc, its completely voluntary to add to it.

 

When he came around to our table I asked him could they do a frozen song, he said he would try his best and ask the staff, I threw $20 in the bucket and he said they would definitely be doing one now!

 

 

 

Within about a minute they were belting out "Let it go" to Dianas delight! followed by a few more frozen songs! it was superb!!

 

 

we ate chicken burritos and the food was great and I had a beautiful cheese cake!!

 

 

We really didn't want to leave! just as we got up and paid the bill a waiter called "Slick" started to sing Purple Rain,one of Mine and Michaelas favourite songs, so we stood and all had a cuddle while we listened to it!

Edited November 14, 2014 by Peewee14

[sharonlacey]

We went last year to the Christmas show and Ellens, our girls loved it. Thanks for the update.;)

[Peewee14]

hi peewee,

Sorry to hear u booked the wrong date. If the tixs still available, myemail / at /tengbt"@"aol "dot" com. I stumbled across your thread as I was looking for pics of the qos staterooms. I too, family of 3 with 8yr daughter. We're going in february, same 8110 rm. Thanks for all your great tips, and I hope the noise are gone by the time we go.

Tony

 

HI

 

Sorry!

 

I just this second emailed the Make a Wish new york office to see if they wanted them, if they don't you get first shout!

 

I am sure you will enjoy all the space in the room! I am pretty sure the banging was down to the rough seas as the nights it was calm we didn't get it!

[Peewee14]

We finished off the night with a stroll around Times Square and Michaela and I realised we didn't have any pictures together she has loads of her and Diana and I have loads of Diana and I!

 

So we took a few selfies in Times Square

 

 

This Holiday is just the best ever, we are so lucky :D

 

I think I am going to have to bring Michaela back for a weekend shopping though while leaving the little criminal at home :D

 

Thats Wednesday finished guys! Thursday still to come which was the 911 Memorial and Museum, and of course an todays fun!

 

I need to go get the ladies ready and take them out to dinner, no idea where we are eating tonight! But I am sure its gonna be good!

[crisndeefromde]

I have been following you on the Quantum and just had to continue reading your thread!!!! Please keep writing even if blogging when you get home. It is so refreshing just to see the city thru your eyes!!! I know i would really enjoy reading more! Enjoy your evening.

[Peewee14]

Hi Everyone again!

 

We are back in the room after a great dinner!

 

unfortunately Diana's behaviour is getting worse as the holiday progresses, I suppose we have to remember she is only 4 at the end of January and we do try to make allowances but she is pushing us a bit at at the moment! We managed to have a pleasant dinner though and with our sanity still in tact me decided not to push it and get back to the room, we are going to take it pretty easy now I think, we had initially planned for only 4 days in NY and changed it to 6 to give us more time to do things at Diana's pace, and I am so glad we did.

 

As I type she is currently having a mini meltdown and crying in the bathroom because I won't put her in the suitcase and zip it up with her inside it.

 

She is a real routine child, and I think she is missing her fixed routine and also the company of other kids,

Edited November 15, 2014 by Peewee14

[CVU]

Enjoyed your comments on Quantum and NYC. Thanks!!!

 

Sounds like Diana has been a gem all along and little ones do like routine. It is normal for the odd melt down......good you didn't zip her up in the suit case!!:D

[SeaHunt]

Well if she gets too bad I guess you could always turn her in for the reward money LOL

 

 

BOLO (be on the lookout) - goes by "Diana", wanted for keychain rustlin', sticks bottom lip out when caught, is as cute as can be, is lucky to have such great parents, and Dad writes a great trip report.

 

I'm just playing with you, but I really have enjoyed your thoughts (and photos) on this cruise!

[Kathie13]

Oh, this thread just gets better & better!! And SEAHUNT the reward sign is almost as precious as the WANTED!!!

 

 

Kathie

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Peewee14]

Back to Thursday Morning then!

 

Michaela has been sharing the Bed with Diana and had a lousy nights sleep, I on the other hand had the other double to myself and had a great nights sleep!

 

We had booked the 911 memorial and Museum and I was looking forward to it, we both were. We were booked in at 11am so thought we had plenty of time. Diana was up at around 7.30 am and I got up with her leaving Michaela to have some more sleep.

 

We ordered room service breakfast which was great and pigged out to the sound of Michaela snoring.

 

I went online to check on my tickets, and I downloaded the audio guide app to both our phones.

 

Michaela got up after missing breakfast and we rushed around to get ready, I had used Carmelimo for the port transfer to the hotel and had their app on my phone and after playing around with it the night before decided to give it a try, it is really good you use a pin on a map to select pick up and drop off point and it gives you a choice of car, a price and tells you how far away the car is.

 

we found the car outside the hotel and by this point i had started speaking American and asked could I put the "stroller" in the "trunk" lol! (we call a stroller a buggy and the trunk the boot in the uk)

 

I know i keep going on about it, but our stroller really is good, 2 button presses and i can fold it in 3 seconds, no exaggeration! I can pull it upright in 2!

 

What I hadn't realised though is that its about a 20 minute ride at least to the WTC, especially with the traffic it took more like 30 minutes.

 

We soon spotted 1 WTC

 

 

By this point it was now 11 am, so we were, as usual, Late! on top of that the foreign cab driver couldn't speak very good english! and dropped us on the wrong side of the tower, we had to walk around and through a building called brookfield or something to get there, was the strangest pedestrian diversion I have ever seen and the museum is nowhere near as well sign posted as I expected, its obvious where it is when on the south side, but hitting it from the north was confusing!

 

I would say give yourself plenty time to get here if you plan on visiting, there is still a lot of construction around there and road closures.

 

as we were late we didn't spend anytime outside and planned on looking around there when we had finished, we headed for the entrance and explained we were late but it was no issue and we got straight in.

 

We didn't rush, we headed upstairs for a drink and bathroom break, and as Michaela had missed breakfast she grabbed a muffin and I tried a salted caramel bar, finally I had found the first food in NYC that I didn't like!

 

We checked our coats in and headed down to the concourse with our audio guides ready.

 

The place is beautifully done.

 

We had tried to explain to Diana beforehand a little bit about it, stressing to her that is was a place of remembrance and that we had to be calm and quiet, Diana and I are usually running around being silly in most places we visit to the point of getting thrown out sometimes, but I tried to stress to her that it was different here. I think she got the general idea, but the atmosphere of the place is very calming anyway.

 

This part of my trip report has been the one I have least been looking forward to writing, because its hard to put into words.

 

How can you say describe properly something you have really enjoyed doing , but in itself is such a sad and upsetting thing to see, but at the same time fascinating and brilliantly done. Its so difficult to exclaim how great an "attraction" something like this is.

 

So i am going to keep it brief.

 

you can sometimes become detached from events so far away. I think its has been said before many times that its an event in a lifetime where everyone knows what they were doing and where they where when the news broke, and it was no different for us in the UK, but being so far away you had that detachment from it. Seeing it first hand, hearing the stories, seeing the personal items on display its heart wrenching. You probably remember earlier in my review me talking about being a "seen it, done it, lets go" type person, but not here, we spent about 3 hours, at some points I decided we had seen enough and it was time to go , but then something else caught your eye and the story unfolded and led you on to something else. Diana was impeccably behaved, I was so proud of her.

 

The place itself in my opinion could not have been done better, the mood it creates and the way things are presented all excellent.

 

although sad, and I must admit I was close to tears in some places, its a must see place, and I think when Diana is old enough to understand it properly we will bring her back to see it.

 

 

There are quite a few areas where pictures are not allowed and understandably so, I had no intention of taking many pictures anyway, and if I had I would not have posted a lot of them here, but I think it is worth posting a few.

 

 

 

The steel boys section where one of the planes hit

 

 

The foundations of South Tower, the box sections left in place.

 

 

The last pillar to be removed

 

 

The slurry wall

 

 

I thought I knew a lot about 911, but I learned so much more.

 

Sorry my review isn't great on this, but its difficult to review a place such as this, go see it for yourself is my best advice, and also the audioguide app is great, its narrated by DeNiro and he does a great Job.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Peewee14

[Peewee14]

Well if she gets too bad I guess you could always turn her in for the reward money LOL

 

 

BOLO (be on the lookout) - goes by "Diana", wanted for keychain rustlin', sticks bottom lip out when caught, is as cute as can be, is lucky to have such great parents, and Dad writes a great trip report.

 

I'm just playing with you, but I really have enjoyed your thoughts (and photos) on this cruise!

 

 

ROFLMAO!!!

 

That is brilliant!! just showed Michaela and we literally are rolling around laughing!

 

Thank you !!

[TPCRUISER2]

Can't say enough about this review! Thank you! Thank you!

Have enjoyed every bit. Coming to America, and seeing our Girl

And sharing the 911 museum is so close to a lot of our hearts.

 

And seeing you be a typical parent. Ha! Loved the suitcase comment.

 

As long as you give us information, will be reading!

[Peewee14]

We came outside into the fresh air, and we actually had a little family cuddle! Then had a stroll around the are for a while

 

 

 

We said good bye to the WTC and headed off

 

I had been looking at a map of the area and saw that china town was not too far away so decided to go for a walk towards it, it was a little chilly and fresh now so I decided to buy a hat!

 

We didn't end up finding china town, lol , we just walked around for a bit.

 

Now this is just my opinion, so please don't shoot me, but for whatever reason I preferred "the feel" of it more around Times Square and the area around central park, walking the streets down here just didn't feel the same, I know that might sound weird and maybe it was the mood of reflection we were in at the time, and the fact we were exhausted and our legs and feet ached! I can't describe it but I just wanted to be back in Mid town, Michaela had also decided that we were all very hungry as we had now missed lunch and she was desperate to eat at Hard Rock Cafe! Would have preferred somewhere more authentic, but she really wanted to go, so we hailed a yellow cab and dived in.

 

We really enjoyed the drive back along side the river, it was very scenic and we saw some great sights including helicopters landed right next to us!

 

The traffic got really bad near Times Square and the cab driver said we would be better off getting out as we were almost there, so out we hopped out and headed off towards Hard Rock, Michaela was struggling to push the stroller and something was obviously not right, we then realised it was a wheel missing!!! Lucky for us the cab was still stuck in traffic and we flagged him down and managed to find the wheel in the trunk, PHEW!!!

 

We continued our walk back in the area we had now become familiar with and the "feeling" was back, it did feel different to us from lower Manhattan, not sure why.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Peewee14

[Coralc]

Hi Guys!!

 

Doh!! After a few phone calls etc, the point is I was unable to change them or get a refund, so I bought 3 more for todays show, and we have just got back

 

it is incredible! and one of the best shows we have seen!

 

If anyone in the NY area can make the show next Friday I would like to offer you the 3 tickets I now have spare! they are just over $300 and it would be a shame for them to be wasted. I don't want a penny for them, I just want someone to use them.

 

All I need is a name and email address as they were booked electronically through Ticketmaster, and I can transfer them free of charge. Let me know asap if you anyone wants them! You will love it!!

 

Ticketmaster has an option to sell them back. They take a small percentage, but you might get (most or more) of your money back. Log into your account and look for 'sell tickets'.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed the show. :)

[Peewee14]

Getting Late now guys, Diana is in better spirits we managed to reach a compromise and she has been allowed to sit in the suitcase and watch her iPad as long as she doesn't zip it up,

 

Just want to finish off quickly on Thursday Evening and then call it a night, then we only have todays adventures to report on.

 

We made it to Hard Rock, and although I was a little against going to such a "chain" type restaurant, I think Michaela made the right choice, they were great with us, and great with Diana and the whole place was just brill!! you couldn't help be in a good mood in there!

 

We ordered food, usual stuff wings, tenders , and we went for the texan i got pulled pork and Michaela chicken. Diana is now completely off Spaghetti Bolognese this week and is firmly into chicken and broccoli, strange kid she would sooner eat broccoli than french fries!

 

 

 

New pink Monkey to keep Inky company!

 

 

The other great thing is these cups for kids, every eatery has them! What a great idea, I can't tell you how many times Diana has flooded the table spilling drinks before, we haven't had one juice tidal wave across the table so far in New York!

 

 

 

 

The food was very spicy which I liked, I think the favour of the marinade was a bit much for Michaela, oh I almost forgot I ordered a 3rd main course of ribs to try, which were not that great. The whole experience and the rest of the food was excellent.

 

 

 

I have not reported on all the meals we have had, but what I can say is the food is tremendous, wether its a street stall, small store, deli or main chain its just all good.

 

Now in the uk we always associate American food simply as huge portions, but thats about it, what I have now realised is its not only huge portions but its really good food! and the service you get over here is just outstanding for the most part, from the doormen at the Empire State building to the the waiters in the restaurants, they actually make time to have a proper conversation with you! I am sure that all important tip has a lot to do with it, but so what! I am happy to tip well for excellent service, thats why the system works so well! Everyone gets what they want out of the deal.

 

The only place where the service is bad is this hotel! They really are poor and every little request you would think your asking them to stick hot pins in their own eyeballs. Speaking of which I dropped some laundry off this morning paying for their expensive 4 hour service (i have ran out of undercrackers, well clean ones anyway) i just called them to ask them where it is, and they said they have forgot to send it! ARGHH!!! she said it would be back tomorrow afternoon, I told her that aint good enough and I want it first thing in the morning or I am walking down there butt naked to find out why!

 

 

Ok, i didn't really say that.... but I was going to!

 

to be honest I ended up apologising because when she called me back, Diana had answered the phone in the bedroom and was having a full on conversation with her about lady birds and apples when i walked in to find out who she was talking to.

 

Conclusion so far: When you have been excited about a trip for so long, and had a huge build up to it and a pretty good cruise just before hand, the real danger is will it live up to all you have hoped for.

 

Well, it does! Still Loving it!

 

at this stage on a holiday I am usually doing a bit of work on the computer and generally getting to the "ready for home now" bit and looking forward to getting home. I don't want it to end though. I want to jump in car or on a train on Sunday and go explore the rest of the US.

 

But we have a business to run at home, so that will have to be our next dream holiday! Few cruises out of the US, best of both worlds I think. The planning will start soon.

 

Ok guys , signing off for the night. Will be back tomorrow to report on the great day we had today and the show we saw, we are off to the top of the rock tomorrow (we should have gone today but once again we were running late and changed it) as i said before we are slowing down a little now so won't have as much to report, but I will be back!

 

Good Night from Times Square :D

Edited November 15, 2014 by Peewee14

[crvng4mr]

Different parts of the city have or give off different vibes. There are at least 20 in Manhattan alone! So glad you are having an amazing time.

[Peewee14]

Different parts of the city have or give off different vibes. There are at least 20 in Manhattan alone! So glad you are having an amazing time.

 

Thank you! I am glad thats the case and its not just me being odd then!

[psupa]

this is the BEST THREAD to which I've ever subscribed. Thank you' date=' [b']Peewee14[/b].

 

agree with whoever suggested that you keep posting, even after you are home. :D

 

I think so too

[VaTech8912]

Agree 100%, bet thread EVER!!!! I started reading your tread for the Quantum experience and I was hooked. I have never had a desire to see NYC, yet you now have me considering it. All your posts have been awesome. Thank you for sharing with us all.

[Aboat1]

Thank you so much for taking us along on 'Your Holiday". I have never had any desire to go to NYC. Even sailed out of N.Y last year. We stayed in our Hotel the whole time. NOW, I am sad that we wasted our time there. We could have done so much!

 

I don't know what your business is at home. I certainly hope it allows time for you to continue a "Blog" . You have developed a big following here. We would love to learn about your home, now that you have taught us so much about ours!

[jerseyjjs]

Thank you very much for the detailed report. The main question I have is, is there any areas at all on this vessel where you feel like you're actually on a ship? (aside from the motion). I would've been disappointed also with the windows of 270 being covered too.

[luvsgiraffes]

Agree 100%, bet thread EVER!!!! I started reading your tread for the Quantum experience and I was hooked. I have never had a desire to see NYC, yet you now have me considering it. All your posts have been awesome. Thank you for sharing with us all.

 

I agree also!! Fantastic job of writing your blog! I log on first thing every morning, hoping for more of your adventure! We are going to NYC with two other couples in a few weeks and I can't wait to see it again, only this time looking through your perspective! Thank You so much and keep it coming. Wishing you and your two beautiful ladies a safe journey home and please come back again soon!! :D