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

[Ozark_Kid]

9 hours ago, brillohead said:

The way my suspected brother put it, however long it takes to drive from Alabama to my house is how long it would take for me to get a knock on my front door if we find out it's his uncle who is my father.  

It's great to hear things are going good for you and thanks for the update.  I am looking forward to hearing more. 

[A&L_Ont]

2 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Well we’re on the road headed to our first stop in Pennsylvania.  Bella Cruise, here we come!  

You do know that we board next Sunday, right.  Joking aside, if I remember you have a few stops along the journey.

Edited March 3, 2023 by A&L_Ont

[jagsfan]

I’m taking advantage of the 2 days f free WiFi onboard Wonder. 
I do not like the new menu. 
I was happy to see Steak Frites still on the lunch menu, so on our first sea day, I went to the MDR for lunch. 
Well, instad  of sliced sirloin on truffle fries and topped with Béarnaise, I was give a large sirloin steak with a cup of Béarnaise and a side of spinach. 
I said I had ordered Steak Frites. I was told that was Steak Frites. 
I said I didn’t want a large sirloin steak, and showed the server the menu on the app. She took my plate away and brought it back with some fries next to the steak. Not even truffle fries. 
At least I’ve managed to get escargot and shrim cocktail a couple of times. 
On the plus side, we were very happy with the wings and fries at Playmakers. 
Dick refuses to pay for Chops etc. says he can eat better and cheaper and quicker back home. 
Playmakers prices are ridiculous!

$3 for more fries that two people can eat…really good fries!

$10 for 12 excellent wings. 
He is now happy to be able to look forward to that on Mariner in September!

The weather has been good. The morning cabin cleaning is working well. 
our steward has 21  cabins to clean. He works 5 hours 8-1 and then 4 hours 4-8.  
I make sure to have our sign out by 9 so we get him in the morning.
We still get a paper Compass left on the dresser every night by a ghost. 
Any day at sea is a good day, good food or not. 

[jagsfan]

Here are my feet and view of the water as proof I’mhere. As further proof, my ankles are horribly swollen though I add no salt to anything!

[akcruz]

4 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Well we’re on the road headed to our first stop in Pennsylvania.  Bella Cruise, here we come!  

 

Safe travels, we leave a week from today with 2 stops on our way.  Can't believe it's almost here 😁

[Ozark_Kid]

I can not believe it.  I was going to add some garlic to my fried egg earlier today only to discover I only have 3 bulbs of garlic left!  I am not kidding.  It will be at least 12 weeks before the new garlic is ready.  They are already looking larger than they did last year at this time.   

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, jagsfan said:

Here are my feet and view of the water as proof I’mhere. As further proof, my ankles are horribly swollen though I add no salt to anything!

 

Happens to me all the time.

 

[Luckynana]

5 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Well we’re on the road headed to our first stop in Pennsylvania.  Bella Cruise, here we come!  

Safe travels, Deb and Andy.  Happy to finally meet you two!

4 hours ago, Lionesss said:

 

When he had the parts, he removed the panel and here underneath was an area 5 feet by 10 feet with no underneath insulation, and/or anything you prep the area with before the siding goes up.  

So our original builders pulled a fast one.

He did find a large home of carpenter ants.And a large hole that led into our family room, underneath the base floor.

 

Ant killer spray and whatever else.

Insulation

The prep stuff 

And more siding.

 

Oh Bella cruise...........................I need you..................take me away................

Jim just said it seems to be universal.  We went through so much money last year, between the water damage, etc. surrounding the front door, over and both sides, and then the creme de la creme, with our complete chimney having to be taken down in December...talk about water damage, etc.!!!

 

Looking forward to meeting you and Rick next week, Sue!

[Luckynana]

3 hours ago, jagsfan said:

I’m taking advantage of the 2 days f free WiFi onboard Wonder. 
I do not like the new menu. 

At least I’ve managed to get escargot and shrim cocktail a couple of times. 
 

The weather has been good. The morning cabin cleaning is working well. 
our steward has 21  cabins to clean. He works 5 hours 8-1 and then 4 hours 4-8.  
I make sure to have our sign out by 9 so we get him in the morning.
We still get a paper Compass left on the dresser every night by a ghost.

Any day at sea is a good day, good food or not. 

Good to hear that the weather has been good for you and that the morning cleaning is working well.  The room stewards sure work so hard keeping our rooms in good shape....and, good to hear that you're getting the paper Compass daily in your room.

 

I did miss the old menu on our past cruise...I always ordered escargot nightly in the past...sigh...

[Sea Viewer]

4 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

Does NY's WCBS reach your area? If so, you must be talking about Lonnie Quinn. He tries to look like he spent the last 18-24 hours in the office, never leaving his desk,  pouring over a mountain of data trying to get the exact forecast.  It's been a running joke for years. Some will even say the higher the sleeves are rolled up, the more snow we are getting. 😄

 

I remember Lonnie Quinn from when he was in Miami. Hurricanes/snow both seem to elicit the same response!

[bobmacliberty]

6 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Well we’re on the road headed to our first stop in Pennsylvania.  Bella Cruise, here we come!  

 

Did you decide to stop for the car show on Sunday?

[Sunshine3601]

14 hours ago, brillohead said:

DNA update:

I contacted my suspected half-brother on Wednesday afternoon.  He was floored.  I found out that one of his uncles was in this area at the time of my conception, so there's a possibility we're cousins instead of half-siblings.  (His other uncle isn't a possibility for my birthfather, because I got a DNA match of "cousin" with that uncle's daughter -- if it was him, we'd have matched as half-siblings instead.)  I ordered him a DNA kit, it should arrive on Monday, so hopefully within 3-4 weeks we'll know for sure.  

I actually kinda hope he's my cousin instead of brother, because his uncle is still alive and would happily accept me as his daughter, whereas my suspected brother's father passed away in 2016. The way my suspected brother put it, however long it takes to drive from Alabama to my house is how long it would take for me to get a knock on my front door if we find out it's his uncle who is my father.  

Either way, I have an aunt who lives about ten miles away from me, and a bunch of cousins and second cousins.  My paternal grandfather was one of at least 8 kids, and he had at least 10 kids with three wives.  My paternal grandmother was one of 12 kids, and she had at least 5 kids with two husbands.  So I have roughly eleventy bazillion cousins, second cousins, third cousins, etc. 

With such huge families on both my grandfather's and my grandmother's sides, it makes a lot more sense why out of the 70K matches off my DNA, 48K are from my paternal DNA and only 19K are from my maternal DNA!

And no matter which of the brothers is my father, it appears that I'm going to be welcomed into the family by pretty much everyone.  I've already been told that I'm coming to the family reunion in June!  LOL  My suspected brother has told me that he wants to get to know me, whether I'm his sister or his cousin.  ❤️

 

All in all, this is about the best outcome I could have hoped for. So many adoptees (or even just people who find out from DNA that they have a different blood family.... lots of people are discovering through DNA tests that their father wasn't really their father) get the cold shoulder when they try to make contact with their relatives.  Even in my own case, my aunts (my birthmother's sisters) have been more welcoming and accepting of me than the woman who carried me.  

So it will be about a month until we know for sure which is my father, but everyone says that they can tell by my pictures that I'm definitely one of the family.  After five decades of not belonging and not being wanted (my adoptive family put the "fun" in "dysfunctional"), it sure does put a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart to "belong" somewhere.  

 

<<< We now return you to your previously scheduled programming, already in progress. Further updates as events warrant. >>> 

The searching sounds exhausting but also very intriguing.    Exciting to hear that you may soon have the answers you have been seeking.

And remember you do belong somewhere....right where you are and with us "your cruise family"🥰 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Sunshine3601

[Jimbo]

5 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Safe travels wished for you. Hope to see you around the hotel on Saturday. We should arrive sometime after 2:30pm.

Are you driving to Florida or Flying, I know last time you drove to Galveston. If driving remember to drink water.

Edited March 4, 2023 by Jimbo

[Sea Dog]

34 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Are you driving to Florida or Flying, I know last time you drove to Galveston. If driving remember to drink water.

We are flying. 6:30am flight out of KC with a layover in Atlanta. Some day we may drive and do it over 3 days. Straight through would be 21 hours. And yes I have learned my lesson take my meds and drink plenty of water.

[BonTexasNY]

27 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

We are flying. 6:30am flight out of KC with a layover in Atlanta. Some day we may drive and do it over 3 days. Straight through would be 21 hours. And yes I have learned my lesson take my meds and drink plenty of water.

On long road trips, we always stop every 2-3 hours whether we have to "go" or not.  We keep a small cooler filled with ice so that we have plenty of ice cold drinks.  Makes a

difference!  Our drive to Miami without stops is approx, 19 hours.  We'll do it in 2 1/2 days.

[A&L_Ont]

We are experiencing Thunder Snow.  What’s Thunder Snow you ask?  Lightening and Thunder, during the blizzard. Kinda creepy, kinda cool. 

We are in the centre of the dark blue blob. 

 

[helen haywood]

Diana says Lucy should find a safe place to hole up during that storm!

 

 

[HBE4]

16 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

On long road trips, we always stop every 2-3 hours whether we have to "go" or not. 

 

Me too. I usually have to "go" but even when I don't,  I can't sit for more than 3 hours in a car. Even with the fancy heated & cooled leather seats with 17,000 seat adjustments & adjustable lumbar support, I still need to get out and stretch my legs.  I've owned dozens of cars in my life time,  from bare-bone low-end to top-of-the-line high end & it's always been the same.

 

[akcruz]

37 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

On long road trips, we always stop every 2-3 hours whether we have to "go" or not.  We keep a small cooler filled with ice so that we have plenty of ice cold drinks.  Makes a

difference!  Our drive to Miami without stops is approx, 19 hours.  We'll do it in 2 1/2 days.

 

Agree we try to have everything we need for food and drinks but still end up stopping every 2 to 3 hours whether it's a potty or gas stop.  Have done this for many trips both north and south. Got a new car a bit back and was surprised on one of our trips when it beeped at us that it had been 3 hours without stopping, asked if we were tired and needed a break.  

 

We are leaving Friday for the Bella cruise, stopping around Melbourne Friday night.  Have rooms in both Ft Lauderdale and Miami, out by the airport, on Saturday, waiting a few more days to see what we keep and what we cancel.  Daylight savings is also playing into it, neither of us are great morning people so don't want to be too far from the port on Sunday and still get there on the early side.

Edited March 4, 2023 by akcruz

[h20skibum]

37 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

On long road trips, we always stop every 2-3 hours whether we have to "go" or not.  We keep a small cooler filled with ice so that we have plenty of ice cold drinks.  Makes a

difference!  Our drive to Miami without stops is approx, 19 hours.  We'll do it in 2 1/2 days.

when we are driving, we stop about every 2 hours.  We break ours up into 3 days.  
 

Everyone have safe travels to the Bella cruise.  I am looking forward to lots of reading about that cruise.

[SteelCityCruiser10]

who has a spare piece of luggage i can fit into for the bella cruise??  willing to hang out in the luggage till 1 and sleep in random lobbies mooching free D+ and Pinnie drinks 🍺 

😳

[Lionesss]

Has anyone heard from tree_skier (sp)?

 

I have not seen a post from him recently and I know he has a cruise starting very very soon.

 

 

 

Hope all is well.

 

Take care and safe travels.

[SteelCityCruiser10]

No ..   busy with work?  Think he was over the post cruise covid battle.

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

22 minutes ago, Lionesss said:

Has anyone heard from tree_skier (sp)?

 

I have not seen a post from him recently and I know he has a cruise starting very very soon.

 

Hope all is well.

 

Take care and safe travels.

 

@Tree_skieris supposed to be the 3/5 Oasis cruise right before ours.  I hope he's okay.

 

[Jimbo]

54 minutes ago, Lionesss said:

Has anyone heard from tree_skier (sp)?

 

I have not seen a post from him recently and I know he has a cruise starting very very soon.

 

 

 

Hope all is well.

 

Take care and safe travels.

Last time he posted was February 21st and last time he reacted to a post was this past Monday Night.