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

[George C]

14 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

@MJSailors

 

So very sorry.

 

SDIS is every parent's nightmare and I'm sad you've gone through this 😢

 

 

 

+ 1 Helen & Marty @FromSea2ShiningSea

 

 

- 1 Same here.... Nasty cold again. @broadwaybaby123

 

 

+ 1 Jennifer, @jmh2006

 

We have almost the same itinerary on Voyager next September, I'll appreciate any tips you can give me re: Kotor and Split.

 

We totally loved Kotor it’s a delightful walled city , we just walked around , very cat friendly, lots of them just roaming around, fantastic view entering the area , ferry leaves you a very short walk from entrance. 

[Ozark_Kid]

5 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

We have new neighbors that moved here from Philadelphia.   Her and their Daughter are excited to try gardening but have been busy with some home renovations.

 

She never had much of a yard and is learning how to manage their pond, waterfall, koi and all the other yardwork. 

 

I'm sure we will end with some extra plants so I was thinking I would put our extra plants in grow bags for her.

 

Thank you😊...I will buy some 7 gal bags

I bet they will love it.  Great to have good neighbors!

We fill the bags with a mix of 3 parts garden soil 1 part Pro-Mix.  

[grapau27]

15 hours ago, jmh2006 said:

Thank you for the birthday wishes!  I wish I could say it was the best day ever, but I actually spent all morning at the hospital with my DH, Dave, who had a second kidney stone episode yesterday.  So most of yesterday was in the ER, he spent the night at the hospital and this morning had another stent put in.  The first round came last December.  This stone is bigger and since we are scheduled to depart for Italy and our cruise on Explorer a week from today he is having lithotripsy performed on Monday the 20th.  Not exactly the best birthday but that is okay as long as we make our trip.  Anyway he is comfortable now and we did go to a Sushi restaurant in Detroit tonight for dinner so it wasn't all bad! 😁

Prayers 🙏 for your DH Dave on Monday.

Happy belated birthday to yourself.

[lenquixote66]

One of my son in laws had a freak accident on Sunday night .He was washing clothes in the washing machine ,dropped something on the floor,bent down to pick it up.A 20 pound box of detergent fell off the top of the machine ,hit his left hand and he now has a fractured pinky.

 

[lenquixote66]

9 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Thank you Lenny.

I am lucky to have Pauline in my life too.

I am also lucky to have friends like yourself and all of our friends including @dani negreanu on Dani's thread.

Just think if Dani never started this thread .I am thankful every day that she did.I have become good friends via e-mail with two people who post on this thread and have met two others on cruises and have since been on several cruises with them.

[grapau27]

3 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Just think if Dani never started this thread .I am thankful every day that she did.I have become good friends via e-mail with two people who post on this thread and have met two others on cruises and have since been on several cruises with them.

I agree.

The only days I have not posted since Dani @dani negreanu started this thread is when we were at sea and I didn't have a connection.

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

15 hours ago, jmh2006 said:

Thank you for the birthday wishes!  I wish I could say it was the best day ever, but I actually spent all morning at the hospital with my DH, Dave, who had a second kidney stone episode yesterday.  So most of yesterday was in the ER, he spent the night at the hospital and this morning had another stent put in.  The first round came last December.  This stone is bigger and since we are scheduled to depart for Italy and our cruise on Explorer a week from today he is having lithotripsy performed on Monday the 20th.  Not exactly the best birthday but that is okay as long as we make our trip.  Anyway he is comfortable now and we did go to a Sushi restaurant in Detroit tonight for dinner so it wasn't all bad! 😁

Jennifer, I hope Dave is doing better now.  I’m glad that this happened before the cruise and not during.  Give him our best and have a wonderful and fun cruise next week!

 

10 hours ago, sgmn said:

Your Japanese adventure looks fantastic and i live that you got to see and do so much. . Hubby desperately wants to visit Japan but I am daunted by all the planning and all the unknowns. Its such a different culture.  I'm usually the planner in the family but I just don't know where to start.  Maybe a guided tour would be the way to go ?

It does seem overwhelming to plan this on your own when everything about the country and culture is so new and different.  Perhaps doing a Japan cruise then.  You can sign up for shore excursions for each port.

 

4 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

When I was in Tokyo for a week that’s what I noticed too. Spotless everywhere. The other thing I was impressed with were the subways. The areas and subway cars were so clean. Even more so with all the people when a subway car came into a stop and the doors opened everyone was  orderly in exiting and entering. Everyone was so respectful of each other. Americans could learn a thing or two by visiting this wonderful country with its people and culture.

I 100% absolutely agree with you, Greg! It is very evident that the Japanese people have a lot of integrity, dignity and respect. Japan very much values its culture and its way of life and it wants to preserve these things.

Edited May 15 by FromSea2ShiningSea

[reallyitsmema]

Today is Puerto Plata which is in place of Labadee. Four ships here today, two at Amber Cove and two at Taino Bay. Hot and humid but a decent breeze. We didn’t book an excursion, we just visited the port area. There are multiple free pools and a lazy river. We didn’t use any of them but they looked nice. Lazy river takes about 20 minutes. There are a limited number of tubes and you just wait for the first available one. The line was fairly long. No walking or swimming in the lazy river, all must be in a tube. 
 

Lots of stores and restaurants. Prices weren’t too bad. You dock at a working pier and it can be very noisy. We were woken up just after 6am by barking dogs on the pier and loading of a ship docked there. 
 

There are free tuttut shuttles on the pier. They run on tips. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

Jennifer, I hope Dave is doing better now.  I’m glad that this happened before the cruise and not during.  Give him our best and have a wonderful and fun cruise next week!

 

It does seem overwhelming to plan this on your own when everything about the country and culture is so new and different.  Perhaps doing a Japan cruise then.  You can sign up for shore excursions for each port.

 

I 100% absolutely agree with you, Greg! It is very evident that the Japanese people have a lot of integrity, dignity and respect. Japan very much values its culture and its way of life and it wants to preserve these things.

 

We all could use them and their culture as a role model. 

[reallyitsmema]

All aboard was at 2:30pm but haven’t dropped lines yet. Not sure if we are waiting for missing people or what. There was an alpha call on the pool deck not quite an hour ago, so could be waiting on status of the woman that fell. Rollcall has a few posts about her. Hoping she is okay and it was just the heat. 
 

We left San Juan an hour late yesterday but that was four people late getting back. 
 

Found out the donor for the sick patient was someone from the rollcall. He posted the letter of thanks he got from the hotel director. The patient left by ambulance in Sint Marteen. We had someone taken off this morning to a waiting ambulance too. 

[helen haywood]

@dani negreanu Sorry to hear you have a bad cold again!  I saw some comments on Bell’s thread about there being issues on this thread…but I guess it’s resolved now…whew!!

 

So far I’d done OK with just OTC extra-strength acetaminophen for my leg injury…but that was before the surgery.  About to take the hydrocodone-acetaminophen for the first time as the OTC isn’t cutting it!

[Jimbo]

16 hours ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

 

 

 

Next up- Norway

What's your itinerary look like for Norway and what is your mode of Transportation?  Plane, Train, Automobile or Cruise Ship?

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

50 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

What's your itinerary look like for Norway and what is your mode of Transportation?  Plane, Train, Automobile or Cruise Ship?

It is an Arctic Circle Cruise from Amsterdam going to I think, 8 Norway ports.

[Luckynana]

 

@jmh2006  So sorry to hear about Dave's kidney stone.  Thank goodness it happened when it did (unfortunate  that it was on your Birthday, Jen🎈) and that it happened well before your cruise and trip to Italy next week!!   I hope Dave is feeling much better today.  Love to you both!❤️

[jmh2006]

Thank you all for your lovely comments.  Dave went to work today so hopefully he is feeling okay and we can get this stone crushed on Monday!

 

@dani negreanu  I will try to do a semi-live report on your thread if that is okay?

Edited May 15 by jmh2006

[helen haywood]

Diana felt she, too, should check out the wheelchair…

 

 

[Luckynana]

 

 

Thank goodness that whatever was going on with our thread a few hours ago seems to have been resolved.    😁

[Momof3gurlz]

5 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

@MJSailors

 

So very sorry.

 

SDIS is every parent's nightmare and I'm sad you've gone through this 😢

 

 

 

+ 1 Helen & Marty @FromSea2ShiningSea

 

 

- 1 Same here.... Nasty cold again. @broadwaybaby123

 

 

+ 1 Jennifer, @jmh2006

 

We have almost the same itinerary on Voyager next September, I'll appreciate any tips you can give me re: Kotor and Split.

 

Glad to see you posting Dani.  I (we) worry when we don’t hear from you but understand you may not be in the right frame of mind with all that’s happening.  Just know you are so often in my thoughts.  
I hope your nasty cold is over soon. 

[cruiselvr04]

20 hours ago, jmh2006 said:

Thank you for the birthday wishes!  I wish I could say it was the best day ever, but I actually spent all morning at the hospital with my DH, Dave, who had a second kidney stone episode yesterday.  So most of yesterday was in the ER, he spent the night at the hospital and this morning had another stent put in.  The first round came last December.  This stone is bigger and since we are scheduled to depart for Italy and our cruise on Explorer a week from today he is having lithotripsy performed on Monday the 20th.  Not exactly the best birthday but that is okay as long as we make our trip.  Anyway he is comfortable now and we did go to a Sushi restaurant in Detroit tonight for dinner so it wasn't all bad! 😁

Hoping you still get to go on your cruise.  DH once got discharged from the hospital at 4 p.m. and 12 hours later we were on the way to the airport for a cruise.  Bummer when health issues come up.

 

On a happy note we just got upgraded on Monday’s cruise.  Our TA couldn’t get us anything more then a OV when we booked and now we’ll have a balcony. I much prefer them when we can get them. 

[dani negreanu]

27 minutes ago, jmh2006 said:

@dani negreanu  I will try to do a semi-live report on your thread if that is okay?

 

@jmh2006

 

Of course, Jennifer, it will be more than welcomed 😘

 

2 hours ago, helen haywood said:

@dani negreanu Sorry to hear you have a bad cold again!

 

@helen haywood  Thanks, Marian (was your grandfather Romanian? It is a popular male name there).

 

It sure is a PITA, and quite has me worrying to be sick again so quickly... I assume I've got it on the flight back from Bucharest....

 

So, I've spent 2.15 days in Bucharest, "down the memory line".

 

For many years I've wanted to go back, to fulfill my promise to my mom, to lay a flower on her parents' grave, since she was too old to travel.

 

As frequent fliers with our national company, we get promos on our birthdays, reduced rates (but also very limited dates and cities). Amsterdam is never included...

 

This time, the "stars aligned" and I bought 2 tickets. DH is not the "nostalgic" type, and DS1 was keen to see his mom's roots.

 

It so happened that my other Romanian cousin [living in Germany] was busy emptying his late parents' apartment in order to put it on the market and I had a "ready made" guide to both cemeteries I've planed to visit in Day 2, and then, on Day 1 -- see my childhood home (demolished) and the one from where I've emigrated to Israel.

 

Visiting my childhood homes, I've been surprised how much the distances were wayyyy shorter... From both houses I've also went to my kindergarten and elementary school, and then to high school. It took much less time that I've remembered.

 

At my second home, the door was locked. We waited for someone to pass, no luck, and my cousin just knocked on the window of one of the neighbors.... To my amazement, a guy looked out, opened the window with a smile.... and my cousin said: "this lady here lived on the 1st floor 58 years ago, and she wants to take a look inside...". The guy readily came to the door and let us in....

 

Here I'm waiting at the entrance. So sad to see all the buildings were in a decrepit state  ---

 

 

Day 2, I went to the Sephardic and Ashkenazic cemeteries. My paternal aunt is buried in the Sephardic one, and it was in a dire state of neglect. We had to "battle" trees and branches, and only my son was able to stand in front of the grave, lay a rose and take a pic.

 

 

The state of the other cemetery is a bit better, and my cousin is paying someone to tend to the graves of his parents, our grandparents (actually, only our grannie is buried there, since our grand perished in a camp and, probably, was buried in a mass grave) and our childless uncle.

 

When my grannie died, the 5 brothers and sisters decided also on a bench in their parents' memory.

 

With DS1 on the bench --

 

 

My grands' grave --

 

 

And lastly, but not least, my paternal grannie (grandad fought in WWI, his dying place is not known). Now, that my cousin (left) knows the place, he'll add this one to the "package deal" of tending the graves he has with the cemetery's administration....

 

 

 

I'm relieved that I had the opportunity to fulfill my mom's wish, and it also was a "first" traveling with my eldest son and seeing his interest in his "roots".

[A&L_Ont]

9 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Poor Dave, glad he’s comfortable now.  I’m happy you were able to go out for a sushi celebration!

I second these thoughts.

[Ocean Boy]

4 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

Today is Puerto Plata which is in place of Labadee. Four ships here today, two at Amber Cove and two at Taino Bay. Hot and humid but a decent breeze. We didn’t book an excursion, we just visited the port area. There are multiple free pools and a lazy river. We didn’t use any of them but they looked nice. Lazy river takes about 20 minutes. There are a limited number of tubes and you just wait for the first available one. The line was fairly long. No walking or swimming in the lazy river, all must be in a tube. 
 

Lots of stores and restaurants. Prices weren’t too bad. You dock at a working pier and it can be very noisy. We were woken up just after 6am by barking dogs on the pier and loading of a ship docked there. 
 

There are free tuttut shuttles on the pier. They run on tips. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to my first visit there this coming winter.

[A&L_Ont]

1 hour ago, helen haywood said:

Diana felt she, too, should check out the wheelchair…

 

 

Next thing you know the cats will expect you to push them about the house.

 

Followed by carrying them from A to B, in a Litter like the ones below.

 

 

 

 

[DaniDanielle]

Dani, how wonderful your trip was🥰Hope you are feeling better.

[MJSailors]

Dani- 

Thank you for your kind words. 
I hope that your cold improves quickly and that you feel better soon.

Glad for you and your son that you could make the journey together to fulfill your Mother’s wishes.

It seems that when we return to our childhood homes, the houses seem smaller and the drive to the house seems shorter.

My DH and I were invited to see my parents’ home a few years ago. Looking around, I wondered how my mother fit our furniture in some of the rooms as they looked smaller than I remembered.

Shalom

MJ👩🏻