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

[Lorey2007]

We didn't get the heavy rain last night but it has been pouring on & off all morning. The ducks are out and enjoying it.

Edited July 10 by Lorey2007

[Luckynana]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

Good afternoon.

It is 57°F and cloudy here at 14.40pm.

We had a nice Holy Communion service at church this morning then went out for a light lunch.

I hope everyone is safe and well especially Dani @dani negreanu and y'all have a lovely day.

Have a lovely day, Graham and Pauline

[DaniDanielle]

I am tired of sweating!  

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

y'all have a lovely day.

 

😁

[Sea Dog]

 

Guess I got my work cut out for me. New grading around the foundation. Have shovel will travel. If you don’t hear from me after a few days check local hospital for heart attack victim.😜

[Luckynana]

3 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Guess I got my work cut out for me. New grading around the foundation. Have shovel will travel. If you don’t hear from me after a few days check local hospital for heart attack victim.😜

Big time bummer.  Be careful in this heat.  The heat and humidity here is so oppressive!

[DeltaOne]

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

We decided to try something new last night with our grill...pizza.  Is anyone here a pizza expert who can suggest what we should do differently next time?

 

 

I'm no pizza expert, but I have recently cooked pizza twice on my new Big Green Egg grill.  Cooked two pizza's each time.  They came out really good.  

 

Back in the early covid days we bought a pizza stone and peel and made a lot of pizzas (even making our own dough).  All of these were cooked in our kitchen's oven and some came out good, some came out kinda so-so.

 

The Big Green Egg burns lump hardwood.  And there's a ceramic deflector plate between the wood fire and grill grate.  And we placed our pizza stone on the grill grate, so in effect we had two ceramic plates between the wood fire and pizza.  The net effect is evening out the heat for a bit slower cooking.  

 

In these recent cooks we bought our pizza dough at Wegman's.  It's frozen and we move it from the freezer to the fridge the night before.  Then we give it a good 4 to 5 hours to warm up and rise at room temperature on the kitchen counter.  When it's cook time we cut it in half and make two pizzas.  We also use Wegman's tomato basil sauce, it's really good.

 

I regulate the Big Green Egg to run at 500 degrees.  Cook time is about 15 minutes for one pizza.  The first time we finished the pizza's under the kitchen oven broiler just to brown/crisp the top of the pizza.  My wife thought the results were very good, I think the broiler over-cooked the pizza just a bit.  The second time we had the broiler ready but didn't use it and I think the pizza was better -- it was really good.

 

I always have trouble with getting the raw dough on the peel and then into the oven.  So we found this and it makes the process so much easier:

 

Here's the link: 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CIEJZG?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

We stretch the dough and then move it to the pizza screen.  Then put the sauce and toppings on.  Makes it easy peasy to move the pizza to the grill.  No need to pre-bake, the pizza screen will easily allow the dough to cook through and get a nice brown color.

 

Here's the finished pizza:

 

[Ocean Boy]

This has been the view for a few days now. One of my concerns with doing an NE-Canada cruise is this would end up being the view for the entire cruise. These fog banks can be very persistent.

 

[grapau27]

[reallyitsmema]

6 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

This has been the view for a few days now. One of my concerns with doing an NE-Canada cruise is this would end up being the view for the entire cruise. These fog banks can be very persistent.

 

 

We have done four NE/Canada cruises out of Boston and have not had days of fog.  We have had early morning fog delaying us tendering into Bar Harbor but that isn't an issue anymore since Bar Harbor is banning ships with more than 1,000 passengers.  We have had a couple of nights with the fog horn sounding but not days of fog.  The timing of the Boston cruises likely wouldn't work with your football schedule as there is only a ship in Boston for about six weeks starting in mid-ish September.  We have really enjoyed those cruises even though we could drive to most of the ports.  We really enjoyed warm weather last October with our day in Portland being in the 80's.

[A&L_Ont]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Guess I got my work cut out for me. New grading around the foundation. Have shovel will travel. If you don’t hear from me after a few days check local hospital for heart attack victim.😜

Just take it easy out there. Don’t want to read up on anything worse happening. 

[HBE4]

5 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I have also noticed that we are losing daylight. For me the school district, including its  sports program, start ramping up around the middle of August so that is when my free time becomes much more limited.

 

It's amazing that the summer seems endless when your a kid but goes by in the blink of an eye as an adult.  Although no longer working, I still think in terms of "summer weekends" since most of my family & friends still work. And most of my summer weekends have been booked before summer even began. I like having a few open weekends for spur-of-the-moment activities.

[HBE4]

2 hours ago, Lorey2007 said:

We didn't get the heavy rain last night but it has been pouring on & off all morning. The ducks are out and enjoying it.

 

Hope the creek keeps it's place & not overflow.

 

[A&L_Ont]

19 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

This has been the view for a few days now. One of my concerns with doing an NE-Canada cruise is this would end up being the view for the entire cruise. These fog banks can be very persistent.

We just booked a cruise out of Bayonne, on Symphony for this September 1st.  Lisa and I have both said if there is a hurricane we might head north to Canada, so this is the weather that we could expect.  We are just going to roll with it as the ports of Orlando, Perfect Day and Nassau are not exactly the destination for this cruise. 

[HBE4]

4 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

We decided to try something new last night with our grill...pizza.  Our grill can get pretty hot...up to almost 700F with all burners firing...so we thought it would make a good pizza oven.  We have a good pizza stone and a peel, so we were all set.  Since this was our first attempt, we (close your ears OB) purchased a pizza dough ball and some sauce in a jar.  We'll make our own dough and sauce in future attempts.  

 

Information that we had read on the Internet was conflicting, including some saying that you should bake the base for a couple of minutes on each side, remove and add toppings, then put bake on the grill for finishing.  We decided to add all toppings directly to the stretched dough while sitting on the peel, and then put the whole thing on the pre-heated stone, at about 500F.  We rotated it a few times and removed it at 10 minutes thinking that it looked done.  After cutting into it, the dough wasn't quite cooked, so we put it back on for another 5 minutes.  The taste was good, but the dough was tough/overcooked.  Not sure if we left it on the grill too long, or if homemade dough would have been better.  I'd say it was about on par with Sorrento's in the early evening (as opposed to late evening Sorrento's which tastes better 😁).  Good enough to satisfy our hunger but not particularly great.

 

Is anyone here a pizza expert who can suggest what we should do differently next time?  We're thinking about buying one of these Napoleon Pizza Stainless Steel Oven Topper For Gas Grills - 71200 | BBQGrills.com

 

Pepperoni and mushroom ready to cook.

 

After a couple of minutes on the stone

 

Finished product

 

 

 

Pizza looks great. Except for the mushrooms. 🙂

 

I have no advice to offer, only to say that several of my friends cook pizza on the grill. Some better than others. It seems there is a lot of trial and error involved and even when each have "perfected" their technique, end results still seem to vary widely time to time, from "pretty good" to "not going to complain since they are cooking for me". If you know what I mean.

 

 

Edited July 10 by HBE4

[Ocean Boy]

8 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

We just booked a cruise out of Bayonne, on Symphony for this September 1st.  Lisa and I have both said if there is a hurricane we might head north to Canada, so this is the weather that we could expect.  We are just going to roll with it as the ports of Orlando, Perfect Day and Nassau are not exactly the destination for this cruise. 

Yes, those 7 day cruises out of Bayonne have the ultimate itinerary.🙄

[A&L_Ont]

6 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Yes, those 7 day cruises out of Bayonne have the ultimate itinerary.🙄

For sure.  For us the ship is the destination. We booked flights and hotels on points, so that helped on the cost.  We also have $2,000 of FCC from our March sailing to apply.  The price of the cruise was actually better than out of Florida, but that doesn’t say much by today’s pricing.😳
 

For the ports we are thinking Fish Lips in Orlando if we get off the ship and fish fry for Nassau.  Yorkvillain from here on CC is on the ship so this sailing, so we will be joining him at the adult beach club at CCo Cay. If we head north due to the weather we will roll with.

[mo&fran]

Trainman  called these 'lobster days', people thinking they don't think they need sun screen , and that is what they look like at the end of the day.

[h20skibum]

I am happy to report, that even at my advanced age, I am keeping up.  I mean, it isn’t even 1:00 and I have almost 16,000 steps already.  
 

This morning was an early walk on the beach, with my daughter, which has been every day this week.  Then it was off to a round of golf, because who comes here and doesn’t visit a mini golf course?

 

Then back to a hotel before heading up the boardwalk.  Wher is everyone?

 

 

Still not many people out. 
 

 

Time for a photo moment at the Lsndshark.  
 

 

The kids wanted to ride the sky wheel again.  I had scanned a code at the airport that said $5 off, so I ordered the tickets and saved $30. 
 

 

I rained a little while we were up there, but the views were still nice. 
 

 

I continue to set a bad example with my food choice for lunch.  A FiveO’clock somewhere and some chocolate molten lava cake. 
 

 

Off to the beach now. 

 

 

[George C]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Guess I got my work cut out for me. New grading around the foundation. Have shovel will travel. If you don’t hear from me after a few days check local hospital for heart attack victim.😜

I definitely would not attempt anything like that , we have extremely cheap handy men and lawn people around here . Have never even mowed my yard.

[HBE4]

Speaking of mowing the lawn, even in this heat & humidity, my grass is still growing & needs to be mowed at least once a week. And since it's been a week, it's time for me to stop stalling & get out there.  That'll teach me to never apply fertilizer in late spring.

 

Best time of the day to do it too! 😃. The air is so thick, it's like walking into a brick all every time I step outside

[brookmill18]

I've finally caught up after being off CC for about a month--I don't post much but love reading--it is amazing how connected you can feel to people after just virtual visits for so many years! We're in the stage of having "kids" that are really adults but back and forth home for graduate work or summers home. They now also bring significant others and friends so I feel like I'm back to having a 13 and 16 year old and need to stock the fridge accordingly! DH said he thinks it would be cheaper if we moved to an all inclusive and just gave the kids the house!

 

@A&L_Ont We have done a few of those ones from Cape Liberty (and DS is now old enough to use our favorite TA on his own!) and we found a fun thing to do on Nassau. If you're a James Bond fan, the Ocean Club hotel is where they shot many scenes from Daniel Craig's Casino Royale. We took a taxi to the hotel, had lunch and some drinks, walked around, and then walked along the beach back towards Atlantis until we'd sort of had enough and then took a cab back to the port. I wouldn't take young kids but it is a really nice day and something a bit different.

 

DD is doing college in London and only got home about 4 weeks ago--she is having to adjust to the fact that her high school friends are moaning about the end of summer and going back soon while she's basically just started with warm weather!

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, DeltaOne said:

 

I'm no pizza expert, but I have recently cooked pizza twice on my new Big Green Egg grill.  Cooked two pizza's each time.  They came out really good.  

 

Back in the early covid days we bought a pizza stone and peel and made a lot of pizzas (even making our own dough).  All of these were cooked in our kitchen's oven and some came out good, some came out kinda so-so.

 

The Big Green Egg burns lump hardwood.  And there's a ceramic deflector plate between the wood fire and grill grate.  And we placed our pizza stone on the grill grate, so in effect we had two ceramic plates between the wood fire and pizza.  The net effect is evening out the heat for a bit slower cooking.  

 

In these recent cooks we bought our pizza dough at Wegman's.  It's frozen and we move it from the freezer to the fridge the night before.  Then we give it a good 4 to 5 hours to warm up and rise at room temperature on the kitchen counter.  When it's cook time we cut it in half and make two pizzas.  We also use Wegman's tomato basil sauce, it's really good.

 

I regulate the Big Green Egg to run at 500 degrees.  Cook time is about 15 minutes for one pizza.  The first time we finished the pizza's under the kitchen oven broiler just to brown/crisp the top of the pizza.  My wife thought the results were very good, I think the broiler over-cooked the pizza just a bit.  The second time we had the broiler ready but didn't use it and I think the pizza was better -- it was really good.

 

I always have trouble with getting the raw dough on the peel and then into the oven.  So we found this and it makes the process so much easier:

 

Here's the link: 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CIEJZG?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

We stretch the dough and then move it to the pizza screen.  Then put the sauce and toppings on.  Makes it easy peasy to move the pizza to the grill.  No need to pre-bake, the pizza screen will easily allow the dough to cook through and get a nice brown color.

 

Here's the finished pizza:

 

 

Thanks for this!  I used liberal amounts of corn meal on both the peel and the stone, which made transferring the pizza a bit easier.  Even so, getting the stretched dough on the peel can be a challenge.  Do you set the screen with the pizza on it, on top of the stone in the grill or directly on the grill grates?

 

29 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Pizza looks great. Except for the mushrooms. 🙂

 

I have no advice to offer, only to say that several of my friends cook pizza on the grill. Some better than others. It seems there is a lot of trial and error involved and even when each have "perfected" their technique, end results still seem to vary widely time to time, from "pretty good" to "not going to complain since they are cooking for me". If you know what I mean.

 

 

 

I'm afraid that you're right and we will need to do a lot of experimentation. 😜 

 

[Arzeena]

23 minutes ago, brookmill18 said:

I've finally caught up after being off CC for about a month--I don't post much but love reading--it is amazing how connected you can feel to people after just virtual visits for so many years! We're in the stage of having "kids" that are really adults but back and forth home for graduate work or summers home. They now also bring significant others and friends so I feel like I'm back to having a 13 and 16 year old and need to stock the fridge accordingly! DH said he thinks it would be cheaper if we moved to an all inclusive and just gave the kids the house!

 

@A&L_Ont We have done a few of those ones from Cape Liberty (and DS is now old enough to use our favorite TA on his own!) and we found a fun thing to do on Nassau. If you're a James Bond fan, the Ocean Club hotel is where they shot many scenes from Daniel Craig's Casino Royale. We took a taxi to the hotel, had lunch and some drinks, walked around, and then walked along the beach back towards Atlantis until we'd sort of had enough and then took a cab back to the port. I wouldn't take young kids but it is a really nice day and something a bit different.

 

DD is doing college in London and only got home about 4 weeks ago--she is having to adjust to the fact that her high school friends are moaning about the end of summer and going back soon while she's basically just started with warm weather!

Can you please give me some more detail: How much was the taxi, how long to get there? Is this a different Ocean Club than the one that is not at the beach near the Versailles Gardens? I am interested in going, but the search brings up an Ocean Club that is in the middle of nowhere and not near to the Atlantis.

Thanks.

Editing: I found it! On Cabbage Beach? Hence your Atlantis reference. I get it. Thank you very much for the suggestion. Did you have to call ahead for lunch?

Edited July 10 by Arzeena

[MJSailors]

@Sea Dog I offer you two words-

Hire someone

MJ🙋🏻‍♀️