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

[Ourusualbeach]

5 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Beautiful room Ken.  I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts about this cruise.

 

I am terrible for posting and even staying up to date ion this thread when I am away but since there are fewer things to do on this ship I think I will be able to manage.  I will probably post in the mornings when I can post from my laptop.  I find it too hard to post from my phone and since it appears that I will be up early I will have the time.

 

Sarah is in heaven with the separate make up table and not to mention all of the spa facilities...I may not see her for a week.

Edited May 6 by Ourusualbeach

[Jimbo]

15 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

I am terrible for posting and even staying up to date ion this thread when I am away but since there are fewer things to do on this ship I think I will be able to manage.  I will probably post in the mornings when I can post from my laptop.  I find it too hard to post from my phone and since it appears that I will be up early I will have the time.

 

Sarah is in heaven with the separate make up table and not to mention all of the spa facilities...I may not see her for a week.

Looks like your ship will be docking in the deck half hour or so.

 

Looks like Celebrity Solstice will be docking first.

 

Edited May 6 by Jimbo

[Ourusualbeach]

There are 4 restaurants and a buffet on board as well as one specialty restaurant called Anthology and a Chefs table, both of which are an upcharge that we won't be doing.

 

"Anthology presents an onboard culinary experience like no other, playing host to some of the world’s best chefs such as Mauro Uliassi, Emma Bengtsson and Claude Le Tohic.

Enter a setting of rare ingredients and exceptional creations paired with wines by renowned winemakers. This showcase of global cooking talent is designed to transport guests on a mouth-watering journey of discovery and enrichment."
 

Two restaurants require reservations, Marble and Company (Steakhouse) and Sakura (Pan Asian).  Every guest is guaranteed at least one reservation at these two restaurants.

 

Fil Rouge and the Med Yacht Club are the two main restaurants that do not require reservations.

 

The Emporium Marketplace is the buffet but its not a traditional buffet.  Everything is behind glass and many items are cooked to order.  There are some great on line videos and apparently the pizza is superb.

 

I couldn't find menu's on Explora's site but there were some easy to find reviews that had pictures of the menus and I must say they looked incredible.  Very expensive with a wide variety of offerings

 

 

Also in looking over the deck plans there is a Gelateria and Creperie as well as a Malt Whiskey Bar

 

[Ourusualbeach]

Just now, Jimbo said:

Looks like your ship will be docking in the deck half hour or so.

 

Excellent!

 

 

[Ourusualbeach]

Just received a text from Vikki that the Westjet mechanics have settled so our flight home in a week is not in danger.

[Ourusualbeach]

Our itinerary.  Looks like we will be doing circles killing time on our Sea day getting to Astoria.

 

 

[Ocean Boy]

58 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Here is our cabin for the week.  Stateroom 8083 which is one of a few that can have 2 twin beds as opposed to one king (they don't separate like Royal's so you avoid that hump in the middle.  Pretty nice location, nice and close to the aft elevators.

 

https://explorajourneys.com/ca/en/ships/deckplans

 

 

 

 

Ours suite is the entry level stateroom

 

https://explorajourneys.com/ca/en/suites/Ocean-Suites/ocean-terrace-suite

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Nice looking cabin and balcony.

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, Ocean Boy said:

 Nice looking cabin and balcony.

Padded loungers, definitely not something I have experienced on a ship before.

[Sea Dog]

Last day Shenanigans at Hilton Head. We decided to just hang out at the VRBO house and cook a wonderful dinner. We have some decent cooks in this group. So we decided to do a low country boil with shrimp, corn, sausage and potatoes and then I grilled my popular filets with a special marinade that I do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The meal turned out fantastic and was way cheaper than going to restaurant. Today is a travel day so back home I go. Great trip with some life long friends that even though we have our differences we proved that a group of people who have different beliefs can get along. Thanks for all the support. I’m glad I made the trip.

 

[Jimbo]

1 minute ago, Sea Dog said:

Last day Shenanigans at Hilton Head. We decided to just hang out at the VRBO house and cook a wonderful dinner. We have some decent cooks in this group. So we decided to do a low country boil with shrimp, corn, sausage and potatoes and then I grilled my popular filets with a special marinade that I do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The meal turned out fantastic and was way cheaper than going to restaurant. Today is a travel day so back home I go. Great trip with some life long friends that even though we have our differences we proved that a group of people who have different beliefs can get along. Thanks for all the support. I’m glad I made the trip.

 

Didn't anyone in the group offer to grab the camera from you so you could get into some of the pictures with your gang?

[Sea Dog]

Just now, Jimbo said:

Didn't anyone in the group offer to grab the camera from you so you could get into some of the pictures with your gang?

Didn’t even think about it. Probably should have. 

[Jimbo]

Here is a few pictures of Southport we took while walking around town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Locals hang out here lots of benches and swings.

 

Oliver's  right on the shore line, very expensive but very good food

 

Squirrel just laying back taking it easy

 

 

 

 

Water Tower shot from Main Street

 

Picture taken down Main Street early Sunday morning during our walk.

 

 

 

 

 

Took this picture through a storefront store that wasn't open yet.

 

Stop for an early cup of coffee here.

 

 

Ice cream anyone?

 

 

 

 

They have concerts on this stage

 

Very good steak here.

 

 

 

Wine bar right up the street from our condo, we can easily walk to it and stumble back home.

 

 

 

Large Water Tower in Town

 

 

Large Magnolia Tree

 

Flower from it, all ready in bloom

 

 

One of the local hose in the area

 

This is the condo we are staying at

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pool at the Condo

Edited May 6 by Jimbo

[Arzeena]

17 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Explorer was our first RCI cruise. Got us hooked on RCI.

Ours too.

[A&L_Ont]

15 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

@A&L_Ont

 

Happy Birthday to Owen 💐

 

14 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

It is Owen's birthday? One more thing I missed around here.

 

14 hours ago, DaniDanielle said:

Happy Birthday to Owen🎉

 

13 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

@A&L_Ont. Happy Birthday to Owen🎉🎆

 

12 hours ago, akcruz said:

@Luckynana Happy Birthday to your girls

 

@A&L_Ont Happy Birthday to Owen

 

🎉🎁🎂

 

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

@A&L_Ont.

Happy birthday Owen.

 

1 hour ago, Momof3gurlz said:

It was a very busy week for us here. I hosted a baby ‘sprinkle’ for middle DD Jessica on Saturday. I’d never heard the term but it’s a small, intimate baby shower given when someone is having a second or subsequent baby.  Cristina and her family from PA came up for the weekend and we all went out to dinner after the sprinkle. Sunday morning we had everyone here for Cinco de Mayo brunch. 
So with all that, I’ve been reading along just haven’t had time to comment much. 
@Luckynana Happy Belated Birthday to your twin daughters. 
@A&L_Ont Happy Belated Birthday to Owen. 
@Sea Dog glad to see it looks like your trip is working out great.  

 

Thank-you everyone for the Owen Birthday wishes.  He had a great day yesterday. 

[jmh2006]

@A&L_Ont  Happy birthday to Owen!!!

 

@Sea Dog  Your final meal looked so wonderful.  I am so glad you had an awesome trip!

 

@Ourusualbeach  Have a wonderful cruise Ken!  Your stateroom looks awesome.  We had cushioned loungers in the Retreat on Beyond and I am forever spoiled!

[CruiszBug]

4 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

It's not working for me either.  All I see is the very long link.  I'm not a Google Photos user, so everything that I'll say below is just a somewhat educated guess.  For a photo stored in another location (not just Google Photos) to be displayed on a web page, you need what's called an embed code.  This is different from a regular link to the photo.  A little searching tells me that Google Photos does not (but maybe used to?) give you an option to copy an embed code. 

 

If you haven't already done so, try clicking on the "Other Media" drop down box (to the right of where you click to select photos to upload) when creating a new Cruise Critic post.  Select the "Insert Image From URL" option.  This should paste an embed code into your CC post from the link.  This may or may not work.  I used to have problems with this method when I stored all of my photos on Shutterfly or Amazon Photos.

 

If the above doesn't work, there are a couple of other workarounds discussed on this web site:

How To Embed Single Photos From Google Photos on Your Website and Notion Page | HackerNoon

I found several references to using the Labnol site mentioned in the above link to convert a copied photo link to an embed code.  I can't confirm that this is a safe site to use but would guess that it is based on the number of other sites that refer to it.  The second manual method definitely works but requires a little bit of HTML code editing...manually adding <a> and <img> into the code.  It's not hard once you learn but is definitely a lot more work than you want for more than 1 or 2 photos.

 

The simplest option is probably what others have said...either take a screen shot or save the photo to your computer/phone and then upload it here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, I did a more complicated upload and others reported seeing it... but my final attempt was done directly from my phone where the photos are stored, so you should see those? (Hopefully)

[cruisingpeople]

@Luckynana Happy Birthday to your daughters.

 

@A&L_Ont Happy Birthday to Owen.

[Luckynana]

19 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Happy birthday to your daughters.  
 

So much going on the last couple days, it has been hard keeping up here.  

Thank you, Mark!🥰 

 With so much going on for you, I do hope it has been all good!😉

[Luckynana]

@A&L_Ont

                            Happy Birthday to Owen!  🎈🎈 One day in the not so distant future, he'll

                               actually be able to partake in Cinco de Mayo festitivies!

[Ozark_Kid]

4 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

 

What's that hanging in the closet 🤔 Is that what people used to call dress shirts? 

😆 

 

Your room looks great.   Have a great time!

 

[Ozark_Kid]

3 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Last day Shenanigans at Hilton Head. We decided to just hang out at the VRBO house and cook a wonderful dinner. We have some decent cooks in this group. So we decided to do a low country boil with shrimp, corn, sausage and potatoes and then I grilled my popular filets with a special marinade that I do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The meal turned out fantastic and was way cheaper than going to restaurant. Today is a travel day so back home I go. Great trip with some life long friends that even though we have our differences we proved that a group of people who have different beliefs can get along. Thanks for all the support. I’m glad I made the trip.

 

I love Low Country Broil.  We considered making it when Sharon's mom was here earlier but didn't. 

Glad to hear you enjoyed the trip.   And thanks for sharing picks of the area.  Great memories of a nice place!

[Luckynana]

16 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

Wishing the most wonderful birthday to Melanie and Judy.  May all their birthday wishes come true.

 

Thank you so much, Bonnie!😘

Are you anywhere near the flooding in your home State?

15 hours ago, akcruz said:

@Luckynana Happy Birthday to your girls

 

🎉🎁🎂

Thank you, April!🥰

5 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

It was a very busy week for us here. I hosted a baby ‘sprinkle’ for middle DD Jessica on Saturday. I’d never heard the term but it’s a small, intimate baby shower given when someone is having a second or subsequent baby.  Cristina and her family from PA came up for the weekend and we all went out to dinner after the sprinkle. Sunday morning we had everyone here for Cinco de Mayo brunch. 
So with all that, I’ve been reading along just haven’t had time to comment much. 
@Luckynana Happy Belated Birthday to your twin daughters. 
 

 

Thank you for your birthday wishes to my daughters.😘

How is Jessica feeling?  I've been to several "sprinkle" parties.  It sure comes in handy for the mom with her new baby's arrival.  Pretty soon, Deb!!  Exciting!!

Love to you and Andy

[Luckynana]

 

@Ourusualbeach  Beautiful room, Ken!  Enjoy your cruise.  Bon Voyage!🛳️

[Luckynana]

15 hours ago, CruiszBug said:

I was getting close! Posting from my phone is also challenging, lol! Thank you for bearing with me!

Great photos.  Have a wonderful time!!!!

7 hours ago, rrraydon said:

 

 

Have a fantastic time! I'm leaving on MSC's smallest ship today (the cheap seats). 😁

Bon Voyage, rraydon!

[Luckynana]

 

@firefly333  Bon Voyage Jane!  Have the best time!!🛳️