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

[sgmn]

@aussielozzie18the Opera House tour looks fantastic,  you do such interesting things in Sydney and the area around the city 

[sgmn]

Well our highlight of the road trip has been the drive through the St Bernard Pass. Gary's bucket list trip every since he first saw The Italian Job.  The scenery was amazing and the pics taken mainly from the moving car don't really do it justice.  It was everything we had hoped.

After we drove onto Montreux. We got a hotel overlooking the lake where I'm sitting now.  It's very much a 'grande dame, turn of last century' type of hotel and I love it. 

There's a lovely path running along the lake which we walked down last night and found a great Italian restaurant overlooking the lake for dinner. This is definitely a place I would like to come back to. 

Today we push onto Germany , to Baden-Baden where Gary spent most of his teenage years when his dad was stationed there with the Canadian Forces. 

Below is a few pics and a short video of the drive yesterday (turn up the sound)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[aussielozzie18]

16 hours ago, derorim said:

 

Too bad about the whipper snipper incident.  I'd love to see the time lapse video, though.

It’s not very exciting as it’s only one flower…hopefully someone can convert it, if you can’t watch it.

[aussielozzie18]

@sgmn Beautiful video and photos, Sue.
 

 I assume Gary is a fan of the original movie not the re-make with Mark Walhberg & Charlize Theron.   I enjoyed the remake & haven’t seen the original

[Ocean Boy]

5 hours ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

On Allure. 150 for dinner, fantastic. Just got done with Mamma Mia, it was excellent. Spent the whole time embarrassing Andrew by lip-syncing all the songs. Love it. 
 

Our cabin has bunk beds for kids. Unfortunately, Andrew’s bunk had dirty sheets. I asked the steward to take care of it. When we returned from the show after 10:30, he had removed the dirty sheets but did not replace them, so Andrew has no bedding. Brian spent 30 min on hold after calling the number on the card, then it hung up on him. He headed to guest services in person. Hope he can use his bed soon. We have to be up early tomorrow for the ship tour.

I'm glad you enjoyed Mamma Mia. I think they do a great job with the show.

 

The bedding issue is disgusting and totally unacceptable. What was the outcome of the trip to guest services?

[maggieq]

10 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

They say once you fly FC it's tough go back....so true.   I definitely enjoy the cocktail pre-flight as well as the luggage benefit.  I hate paying for luggage as much as I hate paying for parking at airport or cruise ports.

Can you get an airlines cc to avoid luggage charges?  Before I flew for business I got United’s card that gives you at least one bag for free and group 2 boarding. 

[h20skibum]

Here is a question for our Uber experts.  Believe it or not, our recent trip to Myrtle Beach was the first time for me using the Uber app.   For the week we were there, we had 10 trips in Uber XLs.

 

Is there a way that you can determine the type of vehicle that will pick you up?   We were traveling with 3 adults, and 3 kids, and our airport trips had two large suitcases, one carry on, and five backpacks.

 

We were fortunate that the vehicles that came for our airport trips could fit all of us plus luggage, but some of the vehicles that were classed as XLs would not have fit all.

 

We actually had nine different vehicle makes during the week.  I would say the worst two vehicles we had were a Chevy Silverado and a GMC Acadia, and the best were a QX60 and a Highlander.  I am not sure how that pickup got classified to haul 6 plus a driver, but it worked for a very short trip for us although not everyone had a seatbelt. 

[Arzeena]

24 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

Here is a question for our Uber experts.  Believe it or not, our recent trip to Myrtle Beach was the first time for me using the Uber app.   For the week we were there, we had 10 trips in Uber XLs.

 

Is there a way that you can determine the type of vehicle that will pick you up?   We were traveling with 3 adults, and 3 kids, and our airport trips had two large suitcases, one carry on, and five backpacks.

 

We were fortunate that the vehicles that came for our airport trips could fit all of us plus luggage, but some of the vehicles that were classed as XLs would not have fit all.

 

We actually had nine different vehicle makes during the week.  I would say the worst two vehicles we had were a Chevy Silverado and a GMC Acadia, and the best were a QX60 and a Highlander.  I am not sure how that pickup got classified to haul 6 plus a driver, but it worked for a very short trip for us although not everyone had a seatbelt. 

I was just about to say a pickup???!!!

Hope Susan is feeling well now. Hope your daughter is doing good.

I really enjoy your pictures, travels with the kids and trip reports. Where to next?

[Arzeena]

@Ozark_Kid

How is our little Kensie doing?

Hope you are doing well. Have not seen a post from you lately. You are always in our thoughts.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I'm glad you enjoyed Mamma Mia. I think they do a great job with the show.

 

The bedding issue is disgusting and totally unacceptable. What was the outcome of the trip to guest services?

Mamma Mia was fantastic!! The singers were all so talented. I thought of you during the show.

 

As far as the bedding, a different steward came within 30 minutes and made the bunk with fresh linens. I think our main complaint related to that was that no one answered the steward line on the phone, it hung up after 30 minutes on hold, so Brian had to go all the way down to GS in person (twice).

[Sea Dog]

8 hours ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

On Allure. 150 for dinner, fantastic. Just got done with Mamma Mia, it was excellent. Spent the whole time embarrassing Andrew by lip-syncing all the songs. Love it. 
 

Our cabin has bunk beds for kids. Unfortunately, Andrew’s bunk had dirty sheets. I asked the steward to take care of it. When we returned from the show after 10:30, he had removed the dirty sheets but did not replace them, so Andrew has no bedding. Brian spent 30 min on hold after calling the number on the card, then it hung up on him. He headed to guest services in person. Hope he can use his bed soon. We have to be up early tomorrow for the ship tour.

 

7 hours ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

Yikes, now Brian just took a shower and the drain is so clogged/slow that the water on the shower floor overflowed up over the edge and flooded the rest of the bathroom. 😱

 

2 minutes ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

Mamma Mia was fantastic!! The singers were all so talented. I thought of you during the show.

 

As far as the bedding, a different steward came within 30 minutes and made the bunk with fresh linens. I think our main complaint related to that was that no one answered the steward line on the phone, it hung up after 30 minutes on hold, so Brian had to go all the way down to GS in person (twice).

Yikes!

 

Im glad you finally got everything resolved.

 

30 minutes on hold is totally unacceptable.

 

Still have not seen Mana Mia. I really hope to see it one day.

 

Have a great day!

[Jimbo]

23 minutes ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

Mamma Mia was fantastic!! The singers were all so talented. I thought of you during the show.

 

As far as the bedding, a different steward came within 30 minutes and made the bunk with fresh linens. I think our main complaint related to that was that no one answered the steward line on the phone, it hung up after 30 minutes on hold, so Brian had to go all the way down to GS in person (twice).

What category cabin on you in that has a bunk bed?

[h20skibum]

52 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

I was just about to say a pickup???!!!

Hope Susan is feeling well now. Hope your daughter is doing good.

I really enjoy your pictures, travels with the kids and trip reports. Where to next?

Actually, the pickup worked ok, because we had stopped at the grocery store and picked up cases of water, and toys, and grocery items, so they all fit in the bed.

 

When we fly in, we don’t take sand toys with us.  We buy them, then on the last day, we look for a family with kids on the beach that doesn’t have any, and we give them to them.  Kind of pay things forward.

 

Don’t remember if I mentioned about getting our toy swords home.  Fortunately, two of them were small enough to fit in our suitcase.  The third one was way too long.   You can’t carry them on the plane, so our solution was to wrap it in the roll up beach mat we bought, and check it as luggage.  Even at that, SW was giving us grief.  Oh, it will fall out of there.  We can’t guarantee it will make it.  Only way it would come out, is if they cut the bands on both ends, unrolled it, and untapped it from the inside.  Anyhow, it did make it home ok.

 

Susan is still laid up in bed, but all the rest of us are ok.

 

Next big trip is in 15 days, when we are headed to Universal for a week with our 

California grandson.  Daughter is taking her family to a Guardian’s game today, and I plan to take grandson to an animal park if it doesn’t rain.

 

 

[TravelGirlinDallas]

40 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

What category cabin on you in that has a bunk bed?

Ultra spacious ocean view balcony. There are 7 of them on the ship, I believe.

[akcruz]

5 minutes ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

Ultra spacious ocean view balcony. There are 7 of them on the ship, I believe.

 

I am shocked at the issues you have had, sad to hear it.  Waiting on hold 30 minutes is unacceptable.  I would have hung up after 10 minutes and been to GS right away.  Had it happen at a hotel once when the front desk line was busy for 10+ minutes, they were chatting with a friend when I went down there, I was not happy.

 

Now that you have things cleared up hope the rest of the sailing is trouble free.

[c-leg5]

9 hours ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

On Allure. 150 for dinner, fantastic. Just got done with Mamma Mia, it was excellent. Spent the whole time embarrassing Andrew by lip-syncing all the songs. Love it. 
 

Our cabin has bunk beds for kids. Unfortunately, Andrew’s bunk had dirty sheets. I asked the steward to take care of it. When we returned from the show after 10:30, he had removed the dirty sheets but did not replace them, so Andrew has no bedding. Brian spent 30 min on hold after calling the number on the card, then it hung up on him. He headed to guest services in person. Hope he can use his bed soon. We have to be up early tomorrow for the ship tour.

Was this the number from the stewards phone? I an surprised it doesn’t get re-routed after hours.I an not sure i would have waited on hold for 30 minutes.

 

wasn't there a general number for housekeeping, or guest services direct you could have called? I haven’t had many maintenance issues fortunately but I am sure I have just phoned a central number in the past. Is that no longer available?

 

[BonTexasNY]

8 hours ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

So Brian went back down to GS again and they sent someone right away. He fixed something inside a panel on the outside wall and now magically everything is working. It’s 12:40 am and I’m beat!

Goodness, I hope that's the last of your cabin issues.  As others have said, totally unacceptable.

 

On another note, @Sea Dog Greg how is Linda doing?  I hope her hand pain is under control.  Hopefully, the next 3 months will fly by without issue.

 

@h20skibum Mark, I hope Susan feels better fast.  I just love reading and seeing pictures of your family adventures.

[Sea Dog]

17 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

Goodness, I hope that's the last of your cabin issues.  As others have said, totally unacceptable.

 

On another note, @Sea Dog Greg how is Linda doing?  I hope her hand pain is under control.  Hopefully, the next 3 months will fly by without issue.

 

 

 

She's actually doing really well. She said she would like to get off the Hydrocodone and just take Tylenol for pain which is good. She will go back to the surgeon on Friday to get cast off and get fitted for a brace that she will wear for the next 3 months. I'm real happy with her progress. She remarked that her pain is probably better than my knee pain. Don't know if that's true but I'm glad she is getting hers all resolved. I see my Knee surgeons nurse on Thursday to see about scheduling knee replacement. Still not hopeful that we could do it in the next couple of weeks so I will probably do it after we get back from Adventure cruise in October.

[lenquixote66]

TSOTD is from the New York Mets.  It is one of many Mets tee shirts that I shall be wearing over the next few weeks.

[Ozark_Kid]

3 hours ago, Arzeena said:

@Ozark_Kid

How is our little Kensie doing?

Hope you are doing well. Have not seen a post from you lately. You are always in our thoughts.

Thanks

Kenzie is in Destin.  I loved this pic of her curly hair!  Caden was really missing us so he was able to FaceTime us last night,

 

[lenquixote66]

I saw a very good movie yesterday on Prime called Rockaway.It is a true coming of age movie that I highly recommend.

[Ozark_Kid]

I am back playing with Photoshop.  It has been several years.  A lot to relearn especially on a MacBook instead of Windows.  I found a B&W of my grandparents.  I believe the pic was taken in the 70's.  I was surprised how good Photoshop is at colorizing a B&W.

 

 

[BonTexasNY]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

 

She's actually doing really well. She said she would like to get off the Hydrocodone and just take Tylenol for pain which is good. She will go back to the surgeon on Friday to get cast off and get fitted for a brace that she will wear for the next 3 months. I'm real happy with her progress. She remarked that her pain is probably better than my knee pain. Don't know if that's true but I'm glad she is getting hers all resolved. I see my Knee surgeons nurse on Thursday to see about scheduling knee replacement. Still not hopeful that we could do it in the next couple of weeks so I will probably do it after we get back from Adventure cruise in October.

Good news about Linda's progress indeed!

I hope your surgeon's schedule allows knee replacement soon.  At least Adventure's size makes it more walkable than the big girl ships.  I found that out after Bella Oasis cruise following our February Adventure cruise. 

[Sea Dog]

3 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

Good news about Linda's progress indeed!

I hope your surgeon's schedule allows knee replacement soon.  At least Adventure's size makes it more walkable than the big girl ships.  I found that out after Bella Oasis cruise following our February Adventure cruise. 

 

If by a miracle I could get a surgery date in the next week or so it would give me about 11 weeks post op and rehab. While not perfect I think it would be doable as you can't fly or drive till after 6 weeks. I really doubt I can get it scheduled any sooner. The problem I have having it after our cruise is that it gets into holiday season and limits my Christmas decorating. I might very well have to scale back this year. Either way I will make it work. I really have no choice. Long walks will be difficult and Adventure does help with that.

[dani negreanu]

25 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

Good news about Linda's progress indeed!

 

Greg, + 1  @Sea Dog

 

@DaniDanielle Marietta, excellent news that Charlie is home. Pamper and feed him 😘

 

@TravelGirlinDallas  Bethany, hope the initial hiccups are a thing of the past, and you'll get to fully enjoy your cruise 🌺

 

@h20skibum Mark, hopefully Susan is feeling better.

 

@mo&fran fingers crossed 🤞

 

@StanleyandGus long time no see, hope all is well

 

@A&L_Ont Andrew, wish you, Lisa & Owen a very enjoyable cruise 😎