Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[Jimbo]

3 hours ago, ATG said:

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.  

Do please tell temperature and how many  minutes for corn on the cob in air fryer 🌽

[George C]

54 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

Speaking of Italian restaurants, I came across the dark, dingy dive bar near the Hilton where I'm currently residing. This was a few days ago when the temperature was 101+ and I was looking for a cold beer. 

 

I figured the menu would be deep fried everything.  Saw a lot of Italian dishes on the menu & figured they had to be bland. The bartender assured me I would not be disappointed.  The owner had migrated down from NJ and brought grandma's recipes with him. So I gave it a whirl & OMG!! Sausage Rigatoni was out of this world. 

 

I swear, I'm not a food porn guy. Lol

 

 

Best Italian restaurants around here are with chefs that are Italian and lived in New York area , unfortunately there are not that many of them . I am glad I have my dad recipe for sauce , we do a pretty good job of that . My grandmother was born in 1870 in Sicily and came to New York some 20 years later. 

[taznremmy]

14 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

We were recently notified that our Quantum of the Seas Alaska Cruise itinerary is changing.  Not a total surprise as this previously happened to Quantum cruises in August.  I was hoping that their "technical issue" that is causing speed limitations would have been fixed by September, but that won't be the case.  Rather than visiting Icy Strait Point, we'll stop at Ketchikan.  I'm OK with that change as we're now booked on the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's tour in Ketchikan...the "Deadliest Catch" crab boat that has been refitted into a tour boat with stadium seats so that you can watch the crab fishing process.

 

Unfortunately, we're also dropping the cruise up Endicott Arm to Dawe's Glacier.  Bummer but again, not unexpected.  The PIA is that arrival times in other ports are also changing.  Rather than arrive in Skagway at 7:00am for our 10:00am Sled Dog and Mushers Camp excursion, we now arrive at 11:00am.  I'm waiting to hear back from the excursion on what options we have.  Everyone else on the ship is in the same boat (😉), so lots of juggling happening right now.

WOW  I'm on the 8/22 and just received the same notification.  Seems like everything is being blamed on "supply issues".

[Sea Dog]

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

 

 

Sitting by the pool at the yacht club drinking a cosmo, reading Cruise Critic, and listening to Judy Collins/Jonas Fjeld album Winter Stories on Spotify. Saw them together on PBS once. I think the music is pretty cool. Hard to believe Judy is in her 80's now. Back in my college days I listened to her a lot and also played and sang a lot of her songs. Thought she was so pretty back then. She just wasn't as bewitching as Stevie though.😊

 

Nice evening to start the weekend.

 

Now that’s a great position to be in. Love Jusy Collins. My parents were also huge fans. Cheers to you tonight!

[Sea Dog]

Enjoying another barrel pick from my friends. Wilderness Trail Rye Family Reserve is awesome.

[Coralc]

5 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Remember? We were going to go to Tortola together and then there was the pandemic.

 

No. I haven't forgotten at all Greg. I rarely forget anything. It is Bill's number one thing that he wants to do. Kenny Chesney, Soggy Dollar Bar, Blue Chair Rum. (Which he buys all the time)  We have seen Kenny Chesney now, so the Soggy Dollar is the next check mark. We will find something that gets us over there on a future cruise, eventually. Port times and port stops are always iffy. And for the last three years, they have been even worse. I'm so sorry we will miss you and Linda. 

 

~Patti 

 

I keep forgetting to mention that I have one of those silly "Where as" certificates that Linda received at retirement from the County. They wanted to give me a "Where as" plaque. I said no. Of course, yours may not have the silly verbiage that ours do. But they look the same. 

[harryfat1]

13 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

We had already planned for Juneau to be a visit to the Mendenhall Visitor's Center and hike a couple of the trails.  Better than nothing.

We plan to do the same when we will be in Juneau next Wednesday in taking the blue bus to Mendenhall Glacier. Last time we were there 11 years ago, we didn't go all the way down the Nugget Falls trail but plan to do it this time.

[Coralc]

5 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

Best restaurants IMHO are mom and pop owned and managed.

Glad Toby came thru her cataract surgery with flying colors.

 

I actually disagree. I am a super picky eater and I like chain restaurants. We

 went to a family restaurant and he brought us each a bowl of Chayote squash. I declined, and he was all offended. I like consistent and not exotic food. Unfortunately, I am not a good person to take to dinners out, unless I know there is something I like, like, steak or crab.  

[harryfat1]

13 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

Skagway had a second rockslide on Wednesday, so it will be interesting if they stop using the Railroad dock completely.  They had stopped using the forward berth a couple of weeks ago after a new survey.  The August 3rd rockslide was mostly contained by the catch fence but some rock hit a guard shack.  The prior rockslide was to the right of the catch fence and allowed more rock to hit the pier.  I shiver to think we were in line for the train in May in the exact area these slides are coming down on.

Yeah, this topic has been followed closely on the Princess boards as they have 3 ships directly impacted by the rock slide in not being to dock there with our ship being impacted in not being able to dock there at all.

 

Another Princess ship had to tender into Skagway on Thursday. 

[harryfat1]

11 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Last May on Ovation the ship internet was not that good but our AT&T 5g worked great at port and usually for about an hour after leaving port when out on the balcony or deck.  That should give you opportunity to post pics here.  I'm sure all here would love for you to share some.

Enjoy the cruise.  Alaska is such a beautiful place to visit.

Yeah, will try to upload when possible.

 

We will be on the Majestic Princess and she's unique even within the Princess family as she was built specifically for Chinese market with Chinese writing everywhere and even has free Chinese noodle house instead of pizza to suit the Asian taste. 

 

Since I'm Chinese and eats both western and eastern food, I'm interested to see what the ship has to offer.

 

Speaking of food, here are couple pictures from the Korean restaurant we visited tonight as it's next door to the hotel in Anchorage.

 

 

 

 

Here are few pics of Alaska scenery  from above

 

 

 

 

 

[harryfat1]

4 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Great to see you cruising again Harry. 

Hi, Ken,

 

Nice talking to you again.

 

Yeah, its been too long since we last cruised. We went to Disney world in 2018 and Japan in 2019 and then covid hit. So we are trying to get back on the regular cruise schedule. Maybe Odyssey of the Seas next year?

[harryfat1]

22 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Safe travels, Harry & Co., glad you're all negative.

 

From now on, wishing you only POSITIVE experiences and memories 🌷

Thanks, Dani, it's good to chat with you once again in these forums. 

 

I'm like the distant relative that only shows up once a year. Appreciate all the warm greetings from everyone. Feels like "Norm" in Cheers and as the song says, good to have people know your name.

 

The group of cruisers in this thread is special. Outside in the other forums, things are much less friendly.  I always enjoyed my visits here...

 

 

 

[brillohead]

17 hours ago, Luckynana said:

How great this is for the animals to interact!  Thank you for sharing!

I'm glad you liked it too!  So many animals are really living their best possible lives!

[brillohead]

6 hours ago, HBE4 said:

Speaking of Italian restaurants, I came across the dark, dingy dive bar near the Hilton where I'm currently residing. This was a few days ago when the temperature was 101+ and I was looking for a cold beer. 

 

I figured the menu would be deep fried everything.  Saw a lot of Italian dishes on the menu & figured they had to be bland. The bartender assured me I would not be disappointed.  The owner had migrated down from NJ and brought grandma's recipes with him. So I gave it a whirl & OMG!! Sausage Rigatoni was out of this world. 

 

I swear, I'm not a food porn guy. Lol

 

 

And are we mere mortals to be blessed with the name/location of this establishment???

[grapau27]

10 hours ago, MJSailors said:

Thank you for the info Graham. I was thinking that we would take a Princess Cruise out of Southampton as we are Platinum on Princess. To add a trip to the Lake District may be tricky unless we flew into Manchester,rented a car, toured the ELD then got a flight from Manchester to Southampton. Lots to think about,for sure.

I will keep Pauline’s dear mother in  mind when I chat up hubby about taking such a cruise.

Our best man - hubby’s friend since Kindergarten- has just embarked on a trip to Africa that includes a safari in Kenya,a wedding in Rwanda and a stay in South Africa. We will see how that trip goes for him. He may be able to influence hubby to take the travel plunge.

We have planned a return trip to Florida in the late Fall. We’ll see how that goes !

MJ🙋🏻

Our favourites in the Lake District.

Bowness on Lake Windermere.

Ambleside.

Grasmere.

Keswick.

Kirkstone Pass has fantastic views from Windermere up to Lake Ullswater where one of our favourite hotels Inn on the Lake at Glenridding is located.

Prince William and Kate visited here.

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Hi, Ken,

 

Nice talking to you again.

 

Yeah, its been too long since we last cruised. We went to Disney world in 2018 and Japan in 2019 and then covid hit. So we are trying to get back on the regular cruise schedule. Maybe Odyssey of the Seas next year?

I was on a 2 day sailing on Odyssey last November and loved it.  Can't wait until we are on the 8 night southern for Christmas 2023

[ATG]

7 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Do please tell temperature and how many  minutes for corn on the cob in air fryer 🌽

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.

[bobmacliberty]

17 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Just watched a great timelapse video on YT of a cargo ship at sea for 30 days. It's ten minutes long but has some amazing footage of thunderstorms, torrential rain and busy traffic. The night time video is also amazing looking at the stars.

 

Check it out !

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing this Greg.  Very cool video.  The music that he chose does a great job of reinforcing his point about the vastness of the universe.

[bobmacliberty]

14 hours ago, helen haywood said:

To go back a few days, when we were talking about the SS Norway, I forgot that on that trip we had a long wait in the Miami airport for our flight home.  My husband, who lived in Miami before we were married, took me to Joe’s Stone Crab for my first time.  OMG!!!  HOW delicious!!  (This was back a long time ago…)

 

Love Joe's Stone Crab, although you have to make sure that stone crab is in season before going.  Made that "mistake" once.  Last time that we were there, they served Moscow Mules in copper mugs with their logo that you could keep.  I have a couple of them proudly displayed on my bar.  The lettering on the mug is starting to fade a little bit, which means it's time to go back.

[bobmacliberty]

12 hours ago, HBE4 said:

Heat wave broke and currently a very unreasonable cool 79 degrees. Beautiful night to be sitting in the St Arnold's beet garden.  Saint Arnold is one of Houstons original craft brewies.  I've sample 6 different brews (IPA and Ales with a Cider thrown in for fun) and give all of then high marks.

 

Music: mostly Seattle grunge but I guess that's what beer geeks like.

 

It took me a minute to figure out that beet garden was a typo.  😁

 

I'm a beer geek, but I'd pass on the Seattle grunge.  I'd also pass on the cider.  It's hugely popular now but I've just never been able to get into it.

[BonTexasNY]

8 hours ago, Coralc said:

I actually disagree. I am a super picky eater and I like chain restaurants. We

 went to a family restaurant and he brought us each a bowl of Chayote squash. I declined, and he was all offended. I like consistent and not exotic food. Unfortunately, I am not a good person to take to dinners out, unless I know there is something I like, like, steak or crab.  

You're allowed.  Honest!

[lenquixote66]

TSOTD is from my alma mater Brooklyn College

[Jimbo]

3 hours ago, ATG said:

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.

Thanks ! Tried it this morning for breakfast on the fresh picked corn I just picked. It was pretty good, would have never thought to cook  ears of corn in an air fryer. 🙂

[lenquixote66]

14 hours ago, George C said:

Love Judy Collins music , our favorite singer who we see every Wednesday plays many of her songs along with Carole King and Joni Mitchell, also love The song about her Suite Judy Blue Eyes, she did lots of great covers of Dylan songs . 

In the 60’s I went to many concerts to see Judy Collins,Joni Mitchell and Buffy Ste-Marie.I have every album that they released.

[lenquixote66]

14 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

Best restaurants IMHO are mom and pop owned and managed.

Glad Toby came thru her cataract surgery with flying colors.

 

Thanks Bonnie