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

[aussielozzie18]

DS has been trying different cocktails.  Tonight he had a guava daiquiri.  Said it was very nice.  A couple of food photos.

 

 

 

[dani negreanu]

1 hour ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Nu’uanu Pali lookout

 

Both Diamond Head and Nu'uanu Pali are amazing. Lucky to have been to both. Thanks for the amazing pictures and for the fond memories.

[brillohead]

Saw this spare tire on my drive to Michigan last week.... wondered if it might be someone from this group! 

 

[grapau27]

Good morning.

It was misty earlier but the temperature is a lot cooler at 62°F.

I had a physio appointment 2 hours ago on my knee.

It was interesting to see the x-rays of my knees and hips and an explanation of what I was shown.

Wishing everyone a super and safe day.

[sgmn]

Great pics from your DD and DS @aussielozzie18

I've been to Hawaii twice. Beautiful islands 

[sgmn]

We had another day on the River yesterday.  It was extremely hot and normally we avoid weekends during the school holidays as it just takes too long to get through the locks. But we has fun and a moored up at a Riverside pub for lunch 

Hopefully the hot weather will break today and expecting thunderstorms this afternoon. Our first rain for weeks 

 

Waiting to go through one of the locks

a stretch near Cliveden House, National Trust land either side 

[sgmn]

Thought I would post this pic my son took from The Shard in London last week as the sun set.  I think the structure shown is The BT Tower (use to be called the post office tower) built in the 60s 

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by sgmn

[aussielozzie18]

@sgmn is that your boat, Sue? Your day out on the water looks absolutely lovely.  Do hope the weather cools for you.  Lovely sunset shot.

[Sunshine3601]

8 hours ago, dbancroft said:

We have returned back from the Oasis but everybody is sick. Wife oldest Daughter and son in law all tested positive for covid. Both grandkids were sick since yesterday we did not test them. So far me and my youngest daughter have tested negative but that can change anytime. We enjoyed the cruise averall and the casino was VERY nice to me this cruise. My time dining was a joke we had 7pm reservations and they were seating people from the no reservation line before us. We ate at my time dining only 2 times both were terrible. In line at 7pm seated at 7:40 both nights desert finally served at 9:45 what a joke. The only good meal was Teppanyaki on night one. We also had problems with cold food in the windjammer. And what does Royal have against vanilla ice cream? No vanilla ice cream in windjammer at dinner always chocolate , strawberry or coffee.

So sorry to hear everyone is sick after your Oasis cruise.   I guess Eric and I will need to be extra careful since he is a transplant recipient.    Also sorry about MTD, keep hearing about nightmares with it so I have made sure to stick with traditional dining for 530 pm.   Which deck was MTD?

I hope everyone's symptoms remain mild and they have full recovery soon😀

[Sunshine3601]

7 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Well the house had not sold yet so I guess, technically, she still lives there. 27.5M is a huge price tag. She bought it for 17.5M

Wow!  Selling for 27.5M  will be interesting to see how long on the market and what it actually sells for.

[Sunshine3601]

34 minutes ago, sgmn said:

Thought I would post this pic my son took from The Shard in London last week as the sun set.  I think the structure shown is The BT Tower (use to be called the post office tower) built in the 60s 

 

 

 

Gorgeous photo

[dani negreanu]

8 hours ago, dbancroft said:

We have returned back from the Oasis but everybody is sick. Wife oldest Daughter and son in law all tested positive for covid. Both grandkids were sick since yesterday we did not test them. 

 

8 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Good to hear y’all enjoyed the cruise, but sad about the sickness. Congrats on the $$$.

 

+ 1  

[sgmn]

49 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

@sgmn is that your boat, Sue? Your day out on the water looks absolutely lovely.  Do hope the weather cools for you.  Lovely sunset shot.

It is, our lockdown purchase 😁

 We started looking in summer 2020 and found this one in spring 2021. So we're not very experienced and it's been a bit of a learning curve. It's actually a coastle cruiser and has two big engines so a bit of a waste on the Thames where the speed limit is 8kph, but don't feel we have the experience to take it out on the high Seas yet.  

But great fun and I absolutely love the river. Everyone on the River is so friendly and helpful. And we are in a lovely marina near Windsor.  A real community feel on our pontoon 

Edited August 15, 2022 by sgmn

[sgmn]

9 hours ago, dbancroft said:

We have returned back from the Oasis but everybody is sick. Wife oldest Daughter and son in law all tested positive for covid. Both grandkids were sick since yesterday we did not test them. So far me and my youngest daughter have tested negative but that can change anytime. We enjoyed the cruise averall and the casino was VERY nice to me this cruise. My time dining was a joke we had 7pm reservations and they were seating people from the no reservation line before us. We ate at my time dining only 2 times both were terrible. In line at 7pm seated at 7:40 both nights desert finally served at 9:45 what a joke. The only good meal was Teppanyaki on night one. We also had problems with cold food in the windjammer. And what does Royal have against vanilla ice cream? No vanilla ice cream in windjammer at dinner always chocolate , strawberry or coffee.

Sorry to hear about catching covid on your cruise, miserable to come back with a potential nasty bug

Glad you enjoyed the cruise overall though, even though the meals were a bit hit and miss 

[Sunshine3601]

24 minutes ago, sgmn said:

It is, our lockdown purchase 😁

 We started looking in summer 2020 and found this one in spring 2021. So we're not very experienced and it's been a bit of a learning curve. It's actually a coastle cruiser and has two big engines so a bit of a waste on the Thames where the speed limit is 8kph, but don't feel we have the experience to take it out on the high Seas yet.  

But great fun and I absolutely love the river. Everyone on the River is so friendly and helpful. And we are in a lovely marina near Windsor.  A real community feel on our pontoon 

Sounds wonderful and a perfect day!  I am sure your grandkids will love boat rides😀

[aussielozzie18]

49 minutes ago, sgmn said:

It is, our lockdown purchase 😁

 We started looking in summer 2020 and found this one in spring 2021. So we're not very experienced and it's been a bit of a learning curve. It's actually a coastle cruiser and has two big engines so a bit of a waste on the Thames where the speed limit is 8kph, but don't feel we have the experience to take it out on the high Seas yet.  

But great fun and I absolutely love the river. Everyone on the River is so friendly and helpful. And we are in a lovely marina near Windsor.  A real community feel on our pontoon 

It’s a lovely looking cruiser and the Thames sounds like the perfect place for novices like yourselves with the welcoming community and low speeds.

In Australia, it’s caravans and campervans that went through a sales boom during lockdown and there is still a long waiting list to purchase them.

[Lionesss]

I guess this thread does not let the dust settle.

 

Got home from our Allure sailing last evening and I am only on page 2715.

 

Once I go grocery shopping and start the wash, I have a lot of catching up to do.

 

I can only hope all are safe and well.

 

Here's to the thread!!!!!!!!

 

Take care

 

[Jimbo]

11 hours ago, dbancroft said:

We have returned back from the Oasis but everybody is sick. Wife oldest Daughter and son in law all tested positive for covid. Both grandkids were sick since yesterday we did not test them. So far me and my youngest daughter have tested negative but that can change anytime. We enjoyed the cruise averall and the casino was VERY nice to me this cruise. My time dining was a joke we had 7pm reservations and they were seating people from the no reservation line before us. We ate at my time dining only 2 times both were terrible. In line at 7pm seated at 7:40 both nights desert finally served at 9:45 what a joke. The only good meal was Teppanyaki on night one. We also had problems with cold food in the windjammer. And what does Royal have against vanilla ice cream? No vanilla ice cream in windjammer at dinner always chocolate , strawberry or coffee.

Sorry most of you got Covid, hope you are all feeling better soon. guess pretty much no protocol's of any kind now. Did the ship seems crowded? any idea how many onboard for your sailing? Did you drive to the port or fly? Sounds like none of you were quarantined, meaning you caught  covid on the ship toward the end of the cruise if you now are all turning up positive. Were they lots of people coughing and sneezing on the ship?

 

Still sounds like Oasis is still short handed, seem the Dining problems just continue to happen. Knew the Dining Rooms were a problem, now Windjammer Food seems like another issue arising currently.

6 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Same calving story as you folks.  You stare at it forever until your eyes are blurry and then walk away to get a drink and you hear a small thunder roar and turn around to see water ripples from far away...

 

Too much ice at Hubbard Glacier to get very close.  I was surprised we got as closed as we did as you can literally see lots of ice next to us. The captain must not be worried. Glacier Bay had no ice field but no calving either but makes for better photo op.

 

I couldn't see the goat live in person but I kept looking for it as the ranger was saying over the PA system - "over at the 3 o'clock position , at the green flat area, you will see a mountain goat".  Then every one scrambles to look for one and maybe 8 people will see it and say "Oh, yeah, right there". 

 

Then there's the 90%+ of rest of us blindly aiming our cameras and cell phones at the big old mountain asking, WHERE? WHERE?  Ah, forget it, just take a dang picture of the whole mountain and find it when I get home with a computer (don't cruise with my laptop).

 

Hubbard Glacier area:

 

 

 

Lots of ice near the ship

 

 

 

Glacier Bay (less ice in water):

 

 

 

Think I may have asked this before but now sure you ever answered and if you did I missed it. Did the Captain say how many miles you were from Hubbard, seems unusual to have that much ice this late in the season. Did Captain say anything about that?

Edited August 15, 2022 by Jimbo

[bobmacliberty]

12 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Day 4 - Originally we were scheduled to go to Skagway but due to rock slides at the RRF dock, Princess moved many of her ships to other ports.  We were diverted to Icy Strait Point (ISP) instead of Skagway.  We had booked a bus tour to take us up to the Yukon area but that went down the drain. 

 

To me, ISP is Alaska version of Falmouth.  Artificially created port just for cruisers. The port is know for 2 items - zipline and whale watching. Maybe 3 if you care to ride the $49/pp gondola at top of mountain.

 

Many people opted to just walk around the port shops looking at $130 jackets and kept on walking.  Yeah, no typo.  There's a ONE in front of the next 2 numbers.

 

 

As this is a RCI based thread, I should at least mention something RCI related.  Radiance of the Seas is docked next to us but she left way early before 3 PM.  Then HAL took her spot at 6 PM.  Not sure if it's even worthwhile to get to port at 6 PM but guess cruise companies feel the need to have an extra port day to get more revenue.

 

 

$49 gondola takes you way up the mountain

 

 

Free gondola takes you for a 4 minute ride instead of walking through the woods to do more shopping and food places.

 

 

There is a nice paved walkway to the town of Hoonah but there's nothing to see there but the scenery on the way was pretty.  

 

The highlight of the day was seeing whales from the walkway as they swam by.

 

 

 

 

 

Whales

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to post Harry.  We were scheduled to visit ISP but it got changed to Ketchikan when our itinerary changed.  Your comments reinforce that this is a GOOD change.  We were going to do a salmon dinner excursion at ISP because we couldn't find anything else that seemed interesting, other than the zipline.

[bobmacliberty]

11 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

The air was really clear today. Could see both Orient Point and Montauk Point, the tips of Long island, from the light house near where my dear friend T used to live.

 

Have you ever been to Fishers Island OB?  They always have one of the top rated golf courses in the country...#10 in 2019.  Seems like a pretty exclusive club though.  I thought maybe T might have taken you there at some point.

 

There are several islands in that area that I'd never heard of, but that either have interesting history or would be fun to visit.  Plum Island and Great Gull Island are in the former category, while Block Island looks like fun.

 

Speaking of T, I had to do some Google snooping and found her house.  I can see why it's priced like it is.  What a great location.  She must have had the Google street view of her house all blurred out.  To be fair, several other houses in that area are also blurred out.

[bobmacliberty]

Add Penikese Island to the list of interesting islands in that area.  Anyone else use Google Maps to quickly find someplace, only to come back up for air about an hour later and in a completely different "virtual" part of the world than where you started?

[Keksie]

26 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Thanks for taking the time to post Harry.  We were scheduled to visit ISP but it got changed to Ketchikan when our itinerary changed.  Your comments reinforce that this is a GOOD change.  We were going to do a salmon dinner excursion at ISP because we couldn't find anything else that seemed interesting, other than the zipline.

I think we are in the minority liking ISP both times we went.  We like to walk through the cannery, the nature walk and both times we took whale watching excursions.  The first time we were on a boat of 6 plus the captain and had a whale breach in front of the boat.  The second time we saw a pod bubble feeding and watched them for a long time.  We were the only ones on the boat with the captain.  He drove us by his house on the way back to the ship so we could see the eagle's nest in his front yard with the baby eagle in it.  We like Ketchikan too.  Had fun both times we were there also.

[Sea Dog]

3 hours ago, sgmn said:

It is, our lockdown purchase 😁

 We started looking in summer 2020 and found this one in spring 2021. So we're not very experienced and it's been a bit of a learning curve. It's actually a coastle cruiser and has two big engines so a bit of a waste on the Thames where the speed limit is 8kph, but don't feel we have the experience to take it out on the high Seas yet.  

But great fun and I absolutely love the river. Everyone on the River is so friendly and helpful. And we are in a lovely marina near Windsor.  A real community feel on our pontoon 

 

I love your boat! What a great purchase.

 

 

2 hours ago, Lionesss said:

I guess this thread does not let the dust settle.

 

Got home from our Allure sailing last evening and I am only on page 2715.

 

Once I go grocery shopping and start the wash, I have a lot of catching up to do.

 

I can only hope all are safe and well.

 

Here's to the thread!!!!!!!!

 

Take care

 

 

 

Welcome back!

 

[reallyitsmema]

4 minutes ago, Keksie said:

I think we are in the minority liking ISP both times we went.  We like to walk through the cannery, the nature walk and both times we took whale watching excursions.  The first time we were on a boat of 6 plus the captain and had a whale breach in front of the boat.  The second time we saw a pod bubble feeding and watched them for a long time.  We were the only ones on the boat with the captain.  He drove us by his house on the way back to the ship so we could see the eagle's nest in his front yard with the baby eagle in it.  We like Ketchikan too.  Had fun both times we were there also.

 

We also like ISP and have taken whale watches with Glacier Wind too.  We had Captain Shawn the first time we were there with his smaller boat and had Captain Casey this last time with their brand new "bigger" boat that seats 13.  Great family and wonderful excursion.  We took the transporter gondola over to the new NCL pier since it was a free ride through the forest.  They are building a ropes course that they will be offering next year.  The gondola to the top of the mountain was also free the day we were there but we didn't do it, too high and steep for me.  I was surprised by all the changes in the four years since we had been there in 2018.  We will just have to go back again to see what it looks like when it is completed. 🙂 

[sgmn]

2 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

 

In Australia, it’s caravans and campervans that went through a sales boom during lockdown and there is still a long waiting list to purchase them.

Here too, I must admit a campervan would be nice to roam around Europe but it would have to have a loo !!😁