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

[jagsfan]

54 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Hear Hear 

Well said Mimi.

How are you feeling with your new pacemaker?.

Graham x.

It’s doing its job. My meds slow my Atrial Fibrillation heart rate down and the pacemaker keeps it from going too low. 
So my heart rate is steady at 60 to 63 beats per minute. 
The three weeks between surgeries it was between 130 and 160. 
The difference I can actually see is that I’m not wobbly and my hands don’t shake. 
So yay! Things are much better!

Thank you and everyone else for thinking about me!

[grapau27]

4 minutes ago, jagsfan said:

It’s doing its job. My meds slow my Atrial Fibrillation heart rate down and the pacemaker keeps it from going too low. 
So my heart rate is steady at 60 to 63 beats per minute. 
The three weeks between surgeries it was between 130 and 160. 
The difference I can actually see is that I’m not wobbly and my hands don’t shake. 
So yay! Things are much better!

Thank you and everyone else for thinking about me!

I'm delighted for you Mimi.

Graham.

[Sunshine3601]

4 hours ago, h20skibum said:

For us, it is almost starting to feel like March 2020 all over again.   You know, back when we were going to have a two week pause to stop the spread.  I didn’t cancel our April cruise, but Royal canceled it. 
 

Fast forward to 2021, and we sailed on what was one of the best cruises in October.  Although we had to wear masks in some venues, it wasn’t bad with those protocols.  Now we are this far out, and the first week now is included in the new masking everywhere except outdoors protocol.

 

 

 

We are starting to see a number of cancellations on the sailing, so maybe those families with unvaxed children are weighing the possible disruptions should they or their kids test positive.

 

For us, it is still full speed ahead.  We will be closely watching the packed, holiday cruises to see how they turn out.  

We sail on Jan 9th on Anthem for a b2b for 22 nights.      We are still a go!    Eric brought out the cruise luggage this weekend.    although I would have preferred he waited till after Christmas to do that but it's good to see him excited too. 

We are working from home starting today up till our cruise.     Will do anything we can to make sure we test negative.      Our home test kits arrived today with an expiration date of October 2022, their website says may have expiration date of early February so was happy to see October on our kits. 

 

 

[Sunshine3601]

3 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

On a lighter note, this is the 2nd time someone left a goody bag of treats at our front door.  This time looks like homemade fudge.  No card so we don't know who to thank. The few neighbors I've asked are clueless.  It goes in the garbage like the other treats until the mystery candy person is revealed.

That is bizarre.  Glad to hear you throw it out as I wouldn't trust it either.     Shame that is the world we live in these days. 😶

[Ozark_Kid]

2 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

To add to cruising Alaska in May, we loved it and are scheduled to go again this May. It is colder but to us from the north, it wasn’t bad at all. We didn’t need heavy coats, just a fleece layered with a waterproof outer layer. Last day on our way to Vancouver, we were in shorts because it was so beautiful outside. We did have hats and gloves for our whale watch but most days we didn’t need them. May is much cheaper to sail too. I hope we get there this May as we were cancelled this year. They just extended the final payment date to 30 days before, we won’t have to decide until April. 

Thanks for adding.  We are considering the Ovation 5/5 and the Ovation 5/13 cruises.  Our cruise friends still work so we are going to see what fits their schedule.  Our next cruise we were really  looking hard at the 1/9 Anthem cruise but it was to long for them so we picked Harmony.  Hard to talk those kids into retiring 😂. 
I have been reading other places about May and it is sounding like it might be worth taking a chance.  I would enjoy seeing the whales.  Also heard that the falls look nice when the snow starts to melt. And no mosquitoes!

[Sunshine3601]

1 hour ago, Luckynana said:

How tragic!  Have they found the cause of the fire yet?  In the 42 years we lived in our home on S.I., there had been 5 house fires on our block, on one of the house fires, it was a 2 family home which was totally destroyed, which also damaged the home next door extensively, also.  

I don't know what it is about our old block, but last month, my girlfriend texted a picture of our friends' home which had a kitchen fire, displacing them also.😢

There is a house at the end of my street that burned down around 20 years ago and they lost a small child from smoke inhalation issues.      The house was rebuilt and they sold it.     

the next family burned that house down about 2 years after moving in.    They rebuilt and sold it. 

The 3rd family has been there for about 15 years and knock on wood - all good.

[Sunshine3601]

1 hour ago, jagsfan said:

I don’t believe you are familiar with this thread. It is an opportunity to connect with fellow cruisers during the pandemic. 
It has been a wonderful outlet for our daily wins and losses,  and we have become family. No nastiness, no judgements, just chatting while we wait for the world to get past this time. 
We don’t make snarky remarks; we do congratulate each other for achievements, sympathize with each other at sad times, and, in general, look forward to communicating with each other. 
If you read previous posts, you’ll get it. 
If you don’t understand or feel like this isn’t a good fit, there are plenty more threads to join. 
We have our own little niche, thanks to @dani negreanuand we love it. 

 

Very well said - thank you Mimi🥰

and of course Thank you Dani for starting this thread. 🥰

 

Reminds me I probably should clean my fridge again.    😃

[Sunshine3601]

1 hour ago, A&L_Ont said:

If that didn’t make you reach for the Kleenex, here is one I just found today. 
 

 

OMG that is more than one tissue video.     Beautiful

[BonTexasNY]

3 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I was going to ask if you actually eat the stuff.😄

AND I washed my hands with soap with HOT water,

2 hours ago, jagsfan said:

I don’t believe you are familiar with this thread. It is an opportunity to connect with fellow cruisers during the pandemic. 
It has been a wonderful outlet for our daily wins and losses,  and we have become family. No nastiness, no judgements, just chatting while we wait for the world to get past this time. 
We don’t make snarky remarks; we do congratulate each other for achievements, sympathize with each other at sad times, and, in general, look forward to communicating with each other. 
If you read previous posts, you’ll get it. 
If you don’t understand or feel like this isn’t a good fit, there are plenty more threads to join. 
We have our own little niche, thanks to @dani negreanuand we love it. 

 

The funny thing is I asked that poster what HIS or HER China post had to do with RC and he responded commenting on the original hat post.  My sarcasm was wasted. 🙄

21 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

That is bizarre.  Glad to hear you throw it out as I wouldn't trust it either.     Shame that is the world we live in these days. 😶

I was afraid to touch it but I had to get rid of it.

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by BonTexasNY

[bobmacliberty]

48 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

From the front of the house everything looks fine when you walk around the back the house is destroyed.     

 

What a sad story.  I feel so bad for your neighbors.  As I said earlier, it's never a good time for this to happen, but to have it happen during Christmas will be hard for them.  

[Ozark_Kid]

1 hour ago, lenquixote66 said:

I cruised to Alaska in 2008,a 14 day trip,7 days land ,7 days sea.We packed for cold weather and they had the warmest temperatures ever .Aside from that it was a great trip.The land portion was touring by bus ,train and walking.We had virtually non stop activity,day and night.

What time of the year did you go?

[bobmacliberty]

4 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

On a lighter note, this is the 2nd time someone left a goody bag of treats at our front door.  This time looks like homemade fudge.  No card so we don't know who to thank. The few neighbors I've asked are clueless.  It goes in the garbage like the other treats until the mystery candy person is revealed.

 

Our old neighborhood used to do something at Halloween called getting Boo'd.  You would secretly leave some sort of Halloween treat at someone's door.  It was fun for little kids to leave a treat, ring the doorbell, and run.  When it happened to you, you were then supposed to "boo" another house and leave a note on your house saying that you'd already been "boo'd" so the same house wouldn't get boo'd twice.  When you left a treat though, you included a note explaining it.  Plus all of the wives in the neighborhood knew when the booing was happening so no one was surprised.  I wonder if someone is doing something similar for Christmas???

[Luckynana]

46 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

 

Around 11 am today they were waiting for insurance people to advise their options on where they can stay that will allow a large dog.    Local holiday Inn made an exception last night and allowed them to stay with the dog.    .     

Thank god no one was hurt  😍

Thank God your neighbors smoke alarms were working last night.  How very sad for your neighbors;  besides all of the destruction to their beautiful home, they will be displaced for a very long time.  Their poor doggy being stuck in the van....😢   God help them.

13 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

There is a house at the end of my street that burned down around 20 years ago and they lost a small child from smoke inhalation issues.      The house was rebuilt and they sold it.     

the next family burned that house down about 2 years after moving in.    They rebuilt and sold it. 

The 3rd family has been there for about 15 years and knock on wood - all good.

How tragic for that poor family to lose a child.  There is nothing worse.  Nothing.

29 minutes ago, jagsfan said:

 So yay! Things are much better!

Thank you and everyone else for thinking about me!

Such good news, Mimi!  We love you...of course we're thinking of and praying for you!

[reallyitsmema]

22 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Thanks for adding.  We are considering the Ovation 5/5 and the Ovation 5/13 cruises.  Our cruise friends still work so we are going to see what fits their schedule.  Our next cruise we were really  looking hard at the 1/9 Anthem cruise but it was to long for them so we picked Harmony.  Hard to talk those kids into retiring 😂. 
I have been reading other places about May and it is sounding like it might be worth taking a chance.  I would enjoy seeing the whales.  Also heard that the falls look nice when the snow starts to melt. And no mosquitoes!

 

We are on Quantum 5/16 which is also roundtrip Seattle.  We did Radiance southbound last time, with a cruisetour too but my DH doesn't have that much time this time as he is in a new job.  We were gone 15 days before between the cruise, cruisetour and the days we did on our own.  I am just afraid the cruise line will decide to leave Quantum in Singapore again as they did this year.  We have booked excursions anyway in Icy Strait Point and Skagway.  We have also rented a car in Juneau so we can take ourselves to Mendenhall Glacier again and a few other places.  We saw lots of whales when we went in May 2018, we even had them bubble net feeding at the aft of the ship when we were docked in Icy Strait Point.  We had an aft facing balcony and were almost late for our whale watch excursion as we were busy watching from our balcony lol

[Luckynana]

24 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

 Thank you Dani for starting this thread. 🥰

 

Reminds me I probably should clean my fridge again.    😃

LOL!  Love it!

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

This was our thought exactly, based on our previous experience.  We were originally targeting to get it on Friday (walk-ins) with no plans for Sat/Sun.  Since we couldn't get the shot as a walk-in, we had to delay until Saturday and I'm still feeling mild aftereffects now (nothing that's keeping me from normal life).  I'd definitely leave room for a couple of open days after and hope that you don't need that much time.

 

Booster was fine. Will get flu shot soon

[BonTexasNY]

@Sunshine3601This Christmas will be hard for your neighbors but hopefully they will be thankful knowing how blessed they are to survive something like that and be able to celebrate together with the entire family.

[Ozark_Kid]

58 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

that's what I always thought too but I have had cakes dry out so whenever I bake I use the regular oven option.     Maybe I just haven't tweeked the temp and time to avoid drying out I don't know but I'm old school when it comes to baking (for now😃)

We just got a convection oven last year. From what I read items such as cakes and quick breads don’t do as well in convection ovens. We have had good luck with cookies.  It is great for pizza.  When using recipes that are not written for convection, the temperature and/or time cooking needs adjusted.  We are enjoying it. 

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

that's what I always thought too but I have had cakes dry out so whenever I bake I use the regular oven option.     Maybe I just haven't tweeked the temp and time to avoid drying out I don't know but I'm old school when it comes to baking (for now😃)

 

Some algorithm needed to either adjust time or temp. But if you get it right 👍

[Sunshine3601]

19 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

What a sad story.  I feel so bad for your neighbors.  As I said earlier, it's never a good time for this to happen, but to have it happen during Christmas will be hard for them.  

I know they are such a nice family I pretty much said the same thing to them this morning.     Since they have to deal with local authorities, insurance company, scheduling contactors, ordering supplies, etc etc I am going to predict several months before they will be able to live there again.    Very sad and I am not sure what I can do to help them but they have my phone number if they need me to help in anyway.    I told them even if they need me to simply let someone in the house and they are at work to let me know since we are working home for the next couple of weeks.   

[Sunshine3601]

5 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

We just got a convection oven last year. From what I read items such as cakes and quick breads don’t do as well in convection ovens. We have had good luck with cookies.  It is great for pizza.  When using recipes that are not written for convection, the temperature and/or time cooking needs adjusted.  We are enjoying it. 

Yes, convection does work great for pizza's, meatloaf and many other foods.   I have done fruit pies and they all turned out okay but don't mess with my Christmas Cookies!   LOL!    I will just use what I know works. 😄

[Sunshine3601]

10 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Booster was fine. Will get flu shot soon

Overall we were both okay with our boosters.   I was ok with flu shot but Eric felt like crap for at least a day.   He also did Shingrix sometime in November and he was ok with that too. 

[George C]

15 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

We are on Quantum 5/16 which is also roundtrip Seattle.  We did Radiance southbound last time, with a cruisetour too but my DH doesn't have that much time this time as he is in a new job.  We were gone 15 days before between the cruise, cruisetour and the days we did on our own.  I am just afraid the cruise line will decide to leave Quantum in Singapore again as they did this year.  We have booked excursions anyway in Icy Strait Point and Skagway.  We have also rented a car in Juneau so we can take ourselves to Mendenhall Glacier again and a few other places.  We saw lots of whales when we went in May 2018, we even had them bubble net feeding at the aft of the ship when we were docked in Icy Strait Point.  We had an aft facing balcony and were almost late for our whale watch excursion as we were busy watching from our balcony lol

Love aft balconies, I was just looking at a new celebrity, love the edge class with there suite perks, this cruise would start weekend after thanksgiving again and Caribbean again. I was disappointed in rccl suite perks will not book them again until I hear that they restored those perks. 

[sgmn]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

That is bizarre.  Glad to hear you throw it out as I wouldn't trust it either.     Shame that is the world we live in these days. 😶

I also found some Christmas cookies on our front door yesterday, but our lovely neighbour texted to say she had left them.  She usually does give us a homemade Christmas treat with their Christmas card so I though they were from her. 

I made some fudge in little Christmas box's to give out to my family who I hand delivered cards to, I wouldn't leave treats on a doorstep 

Edited December 20, 2021 by sgmn

[Arzeena]

3 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Time to break out the Christmas Puppy🤔

🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰