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

[Ozark_Kid]

2 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

I hope they get things straightened out by then end of January. We’re flying them home (🤞) from Miami after our NCL cruise. 

 

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

I'm flying SW home after my cruise too. To their credit, last January they got me on a flight the next day after JetBlue cancelled my flight home. I had to fly from Miami instead of Ft. Lauderdale though.

 

No need to worry.  What could possibly go wrong flying out of Miami on SW? 🤔 

[Ozark_Kid]

Sharon got me a great snack!  Knowing how much most of you love it I thought I would share a pic!

[brillohead]

For the rum lovers and booze-in-general aficionados, I wanted to share this place I encountered in Antigua:  https://www.academyrum.com/

They're opening in January, doing rum classes where you make your own.  

 

 

[xpcdoojk]

Sea Dog, I posted a video of me surfing boringly on my Not LIVE thread.  I mentioned that all 5 of us got sick within a day or two from returning.  I, personally, tested positive with a PCR test for Covid and Influenza A.  Pretty awesome!  I am much better with a lingering cough.  We had a very boring Xmas, coughing and snotting all over the house.  

 

Happy NY!

 

sigh…..

 

jc

[taznremmy]

9 minutes ago, brillohead said:

For the rum lovers and booze-in-general aficionados, I wanted to share this place I encountered in Antigua:  https://www.academyrum.com/

They're opening in January, doing rum classes where you make your own.  

 

 

Sounds like a great shore excursion!! 😁

[xpcdoojk]

2 hours ago, DaniDanielle said:

Soon I hope.  We were checking out the 11 day Anthem cruises but prices are way high.  Waited too long🥴

We are on the 11 night TA next May 1.  Will spend a couple of days in Jersey at the hotel near the train station, but will actually be in NY city.  booked the tour the crown tickets today from NY.  Got a 6$ discount since apparently we are old.  

[BonTexasNY]

40 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Sharon got me a great snack!  Knowing how much most of you love it I thought I would share a pic!

  Wait until @A&L_OntAndrew sees this picture.  I share his hatred for the raisins! 😝

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

Just got back from Southern California to visit family for the Holidays.  We left here on Christmas morning 3:30AM after my side of family’s Christmas dinner.  There was such thick and heavy fog driving all the way down.  I found out that In-N-Out Burger has a Company Store in So. Calif. so I was very excited about that and wanted take a looke-see in their physical store instead of shopping online.  They don’t sell any merchandise in their restaurants.  So the next day, we made a trip there.  It was fun to see all the different stuff they sell but a lot of the merchandise was sold out.  I just got a couple things.  Kid’s t-shirts and couple pairs of socks which was what I really wanted.  Adjacent to this is the restaurant.  This is the original restaurant in this location.  Of course, after shopping, you have to go get their In-N-Out Burger.

 

 

 

Wonder what degree they offer at this university.  Perhaps a B.S. (Burger Specialist) Degree.  Or if you study real hard, you may earn a M.D. (“Masters of Deliciousness”) Degree

 

 

[Sea Dog]

5 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

On a completely unrelated topic, I just signed up for an online IPhone Photography course. 

 

Good for you Deb. I think you will get a lot out of a good course. My main thing is to always take a pic horizontal and not vertical. You get more landscape and it can print like a normal picture aspect. Also if can and I know it's subscription based get Adobe's Lightroom. It does some amazing editing and adjustments that will make your photos really pop. Enjoy and good luck.

 

2 hours ago, brillohead said:

For the rum lovers and booze-in-general aficionados, I wanted to share this place I encountered in Antigua:  https://www.academyrum.com/

They're opening in January, doing rum classes where you make your own.  

 

 

 

Wow I need to do this!

 

 

2 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

Sea Dog, I posted a video of me surfing boringly on my Not LIVE thread.  I mentioned that all 5 of us got sick within a day or two from returning.  I, personally, tested positive with a PCR test for Covid and Influenza A.  Pretty awesome!  I am much better with a lingering cough.  We had a very boring Xmas, coughing and snotting all over the house.  

 

 

 

 

Wow your surfing is incredible. Thanks for posting and alerting me. You make it look so effortless. I am so envious because I would love to surf but I don't think a fall would do well for my artificial knee.

 

Sorry you came down with the crap. I hope it did not damper your holiday too much. WHen I had it the coughing drove me nuts.

 

 

[harryfat1]

21 hours ago, Coralc said:

That is awesome @harryfat1! Thanks so much for sharing them. We probably won't get there any time soon. I will have to find that Universal Studios photo that my parents took last time I was there. It is me posing with "The Creature from the Black Lagoon". Which indicates how long ago it was. I think there is also a photo of Festus from "Gunsmoke". ☺️😃

Hi Patti,

 

Happy Holidays to you. 

 

Yeah, we are not frequent Universal Studios visitors ourselves.  Only been here 2 times in last 20 years. We are more of Disney fans but we were just there last year and since there's no new rides since then,  didn't feel compelled to go until next year when they have the 100 year Disney company anniversary. 

 

I'm running about 2 days behind "real time" as I've only uploaded pics since Monday. Too tired to upload pics late at night after a long tiring day of walking around town.

 

Will try to upload some museum pictures from the Getty Center visit on Tuesday. 

 

Harry

[brillohead]

50 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Wow I need to do this!

 

I was thinking of you, Sea Dog!  Now you need to look for a cruise that goes to Antigua!

[brillohead]

[Coralc]

26 minutes ago, harryfat1 said:

Will try to upload some museum pictures from the Getty Center visit on Tuesday. 

 

 

Happy Holidays to you and your family, Harry! I am looking forward to Getty Center photos! 

 

Was there anything about P-22 at Griffith Park? 😀 I read today in the paper that there was an impromptu memorial with two Chihuahua statues in honor of his last meal. LOL. ☺️

Edited December 29, 2022 by Coralc

[grapau27]

Good morning.

It is sunny and 44°F here in North East England.

Fortunately I haven't put any weight on over the last week's Christmas celebrations.

I hope everyone is well and looking forward now to the New year.

 

[Ocean Boy]

7 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

 

 

No need to worry.  What could possibly go wrong flying out of Miami on SW? 🤔 

If I am flying from Miami it will mean things got screwed up again as my reservation is from Ft  Lauderdale.

[h20skibum]

It is 76° in sunny Ft. Lauderdale this morning.  
 

Yesterday’s beach day saw some sand sculpting.  Grandson sculpted an octopus. 
 

 

While his dad was working on some kind of big fish. 
 

 

and I had to make a little sandman for our granddaughter 

 

 

We stopped at Lauderdale by the Sea, and some of this fudge made its way into a box and into Susan’s hands. 
 

 

 

The tree was lit up for a photo op for our two PA grandkids, while the CA grandson was busy eating ice cream. 
 

 

and finally, the traditional Christmas pj photo.   I wonder how much longer this will last. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Luckynana]

Love the pictures of the sand art, and especially of your adorable grandchildren !

[Luckynana]

3 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Good morning.

It is sunny and 44°F here in North East England.

Fortunately I haven't put any weight on over the last week's Christmas celebrations.

I hope everyone is well and looking forward now to the New year.

 

Definitely looking forward to 2023!!!!

I hope you and Pauline are well 😃

[bobmacliberty]

I've seen a couple of posts on Twitter from supposed employees of Southwest Airlines who anonymously posted info to help stranded passengers (and I think vent their own frustrations).  They claim that the problem is not so much weather related (although that was probably the trigger) but rather due to an antiquated crew management system that is used to schedule pilots and flight attendants on specific planes.  The system is based on where crew are supposed to be, rather than where they actually are.  It started losing track of who's where and eventually could no longer be used.  One pilot said that there are more than enough crew where he is (Denver IIRC), and the crew all want to fly so that they can also get home.  Even though they have planes and crews in the right place, they struggled to get things set so planes could actually take off.  

 

I'm not sure how true this is (social media after all), but the pilot said that they need to do a hard reset of the system.  It will take several days to get things unwound, and they should be back to full operational status in about a week.  Lost luggage however could take as much as a month to get returned to the rightful owner.

[akcruz]

52 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

It is 76° in sunny Ft. Lauderdale this morning.  
 

Yesterday’s beach day saw some sand sculpting.  Grandson sculpted an octopus. 
 

 

While his dad was working on some kind of big fish. 
 

 

and I had to make a little sandman for our granddaughter 

 

 

We stopped at Lauderdale by the Sea, and some of this fudge made its way into a box and into Susan’s hands. 
 

 

 

The tree was lit up for a photo op for our two PA grandkids, while the CA grandson was busy eating ice cream. 
 

 

and finally, the traditional Christmas pj photo.   I wonder how much longer this will last. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great pictures, very impressive sand sculptures with adorable grandkids.  Glad to see all are enjoying the family trip.

[akcruz]

10 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

I've seen a couple of posts on Twitter from supposed employees of Southwest Airlines who anonymously posted info to help stranded passengers (and I think vent their own frustrations).  They claim that the problem is not so much weather related (although that was probably the trigger) but rather due to an antiquated crew management system that is used to schedule pilots and flight attendants on specific planes.  The system is based on where crew are supposed to be, rather than where they actually are.  It started losing track of who's where and eventually could no longer be used.  One pilot said that there are more than enough crew where he is (Denver IIRC), and the crew all want to fly so that they can also get home.  Even though they have planes and crews in the right place, they struggled to get things set so planes could actually take off.  

 

I'm not sure how true this is (social media after all), but the pilot said that they need to do a hard reset of the system.  It will take several days to get things unwound, and they should be back to full operational status in about a week.  Lost luggage however could take as much as a month to get returned to the rightful owner.

 

While I can't say what happened at Southwest I can very much see how antiquated systems could cause this.  I worked in IT for most of my career,  early on we had leadership that valued what we did.  A new CEO came in with a financial background and started cutting our budgets drastically.  Spent many hours justifying why we needed every penny and what the implications of not doing projects would be.  They eventually got it, kind of, then we got bought.  One of the things the new company liked was our IT network.  It is hard for a non IT company to understand the value and appreciate what the underlying systems can do.

[BonTexasNY]

56 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

Love the pictures of the sand art, and especially of your adorable grandchildren !

Maryann, you beat me to it.  That's exactly what I was just about to post!

[TravelGirlinDallas]

11 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

Sea Dog, I posted a video of me surfing boringly on my Not LIVE thread.  I mentioned that all 5 of us got sick within a day or two from returning.  I, personally, tested positive with a PCR test for Covid and Influenza A.  Pretty awesome!  I am much better with a lingering cough.  We had a very boring Xmas, coughing and snotting all over the house.  

 

Happy NY!

 

sigh…..

 

jc

Gosh, I'm so sorry you were all sick - flu plus Covid at the same time must have been gnarly!!! Glad you got to enjoy your cruise before the crud kicked in, but sorry that it ruined Christmas. 😞 Hope you feel better soon.

[Sea Dog]

25 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

I've seen a couple of posts on Twitter from supposed employees of Southwest Airlines who anonymously posted info to help stranded passengers (and I think vent their own frustrations).  They claim that the problem is not so much weather related (although that was probably the trigger) but rather due to an antiquated crew management system that is used to schedule pilots and flight attendants on specific planes.  The system is based on where crew are supposed to be, rather than where they actually are.  It started losing track of who's where and eventually could no longer be used.  One pilot said that there are more than enough crew where he is (Denver IIRC), and the crew all want to fly so that they can also get home.  Even though they have planes and crews in the right place, they struggled to get things set so planes could actually take off.  

 

I'm not sure how true this is (social media after all), but the pilot said that they need to do a hard reset of the system.  It will take several days to get things unwound, and they should be back to full operational status in about a week.  Lost luggage however could take as much as a month to get returned to the rightful owner.

I read that pilot account that you are referring to on that other social site and totally agree. I also have a good friend that works at SW and she says the same thing.

 

the outdated computer software that they have had since the 90’s and also that SW is the the only airline that goes to point to point and not a hub system which all the other airlines do is also the main problem.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

I worked in accounting at SWA for 12.5 years (1997-2010). During that time, one of those years, it was voted Forbes' #1 Best Place to Work in America, and it was absolutely true. Those were the days of Herb and Colleen, back when they prided themselves on being the maverick who could think of unique solutions to every problem. The only reason I left that job was because I had Andrew and stayed at home with him until he was about to start kindergarten. I have so many fond memories of my time there and of the company as a whole.

 

I am SO upset and confused about how terrible they are doing now. What has happened? How did they go from being one of the best to being the worst of all airlines? I know a big part of it is the antiquated system, but how could they not see this coming? Especially after it happened last fall? They used to be so proactive and innovative, and this is just literally unbelievable to me. It's so awful.