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

[clochette]

I grew up in southern France and all those talk about moules frittes, mayo on french fries and Provence is really making me home sick, I have not be able to go back since May 2019.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

I see a lot of Malt Vinegar for the traditional Fish and Chips...guessing Graham likes it that way.  😉  

 

I like it on the fish, but not the chips.  

I always put Malt Vinegar on my fish and chips.👍

[bobmacliberty]

5 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

We have done two river cruises in 2014 and 2015 on Avalon.  Enjoyed them very much, they are just so horribly overpriced, considering how you can do and see more just driving around in a car.  

 

We are really tempted by European river cruises but this is my biggest concern.  I think I'd rather just travel from city to city via car/rail for a few weeks and manage my own "excursions".  That also allows us to try many different land restaurants, which for us is half the fun of European travel.

[dani negreanu]

12 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

Yes, one of my favorite meals.  A long time ago, we did a company trip and took several hundred people to Atlantis in Nassau Bahamas, and one night we went with another couple to dinner in town, and there was this tiny Belgium bar, and we had that exact meal for 4 with PEI mussels, a nice bottle of wine, it was simply delightful.  So, the next night I took a couple of really good customers there, and we repeated.  So, that was in 2008... so on one of our Oasis cruises in the mid 2010s the DW and I figured we could have lunch there, we couldn’t remember exactly where it was, so finally I started searching, and it had gone out business because we went to the address and the small bar/restaurant was gone. Very sad moment.  

 

 

I know exactly what you mean -- when we lived in Brussels, we used to go to "Chez Adrienne", which had an all you can eat buffet of sea food and desserts (think a bountiful of mussels in a variety of "shapes", calamari, shrimps, shells, etc. + profiteroles, whipped cream, raspberry, etc.).

 

The price was very reasonable and I've often wondered what was their "business plan" and how they were making money.... may be with the drinks. IDK.

 

Even when we returned home, DH had to return to Brussels to train other engineers, and, whenever I could, I joined him for a return visit to Adrienne.

 

Alas, one time when I was phoning for a reservation, turned out they closed.... Sad moment indeed.

Adrienne is no longer, Karim Fadoul, Published on 07-25-01 , The lease was not renewed. The Golden Fleece loses one of its most famous restaurants

Since the beginning of the month, the Adrienne restaurant has definitively closed its doors. Avenue de la Toison d'Or thus loses one of its most famous food shops.

Adrienne in the upper part of the city, it's a story that goes back more than 40 years: rue de l'Amazone (Saint-Gilles), avenue Louise and finally rue Capitaine Crespel (for 20 years) with, in the meantime, an establishment in the Atomium.

The institution has made the all-you-can-eat buffet its specialty. A formula born with the first establishment and which very quickly enjoyed enormous success. Every evening, nearly 200 people sat down at Adrienne Toison d'Or's. Despite the presence of monofunctional buildings in the surrounding area (the Sofitel hotel, offices, etc.), customers liked to find the pleasant and peaceful setting, enhanced by the green area on the terrace side.

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

We saw them, but alas did not try them.  Guess I need to sometimes, though two of our NE/Canadian cruises were cancelled.  😞   

 

I do like my French Fries very crisp...not soggy as they would be with all that gravy.  😮  But eh...will still give them a try once anyway.  😉 

We also passed on the Poutine. 

Agree. Double fried French Fries. 🍟

Edited April 23, 2021 by davekathy

[Sheal]

12 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

Here are the chicken sausages, we like, we found another brand while we were in Key West at Publix in March, and they were good, but not as good.

 

We find these occassionally at the super Walmart, but usually at their smaller grocery stores, called Neighborhood Market in the freezer section.

I’ll look for them next time I stop at Wally World. Thanks!

[xpcdoojk]

2 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

We are really tempted by European river cruises but this is my biggest concern.  I think I'd rather just travel from city to city via car/rail for a few weeks and manage my own "excursions".  That also allows us to try many different land restaurants, which for us is half the fun of European travel.

The real upside is the cruises are very relaxing.  Because you don’t have to plan anything, just show up and do your thing.  I find the food to be pretty good, and it is fun drinking the local wines.  One of the problems with doing things on your own is the cultural differences.  We went to a Michelin starred restaurant at the end of the last river cruise, as we did over a week on our own after the sailing.  We were in Troyes, France after taking an expensive cab from Remich Luxembourg to Metz, France to get a rental car.  We spent the morning at Verdun (beautiful and moving) lunch at McDonalds, shopping at an outlet near Troyes.  So, we had spent a week and a day in a car together.  We had exhausted every possible conversation, and it would have been delightful to chat to someone at dinner.  So, we show up with a reservation probably because we speak little French, they put us in a lovely corner all to ourselves, with no tables really in our view, and the proceeded to serve us a wonderful decadent multi course meal and wine.  The wait staff would suddenly appear deposit a course and whisk away the previous plates, add wine and immediately disappear.  This continued for 3-1/2 hours.  

 

We had been in each other’s company continuously for 10 days, and we couldn’t even have the how was your day conversation.  

 

The next night after driving and visiting chateaus in the Loire Valley, and arriving in our hotel in Tours, my DW, said, all I want is a glass of wine and pizza.  We spent maybe 30 minutes having dinner.  It was while watching a soccer match between France and Germany later in the hotel, that the horrible bombing took place as I couldn’t understand why the players just stopped and looked at each other at one point, but since it was broadcast in French, I had the sound off.  It was them hearing the terrorists blowing themselves up trying to get into the stadium that made them stop.

 

The next morning our phones had blown up with anxious texts from friends back home that we realized the tragedy that had occurred overnight.  

 

So, yes it is far cheaper and more appealing for me to do our own thing in Europe.  But the River cruises are better than bus tours, much nicer and easy.  If you don’t like to plan, and money is not tight. I highly recommend them.  Delightful experiences.

[bobmacliberty]

19 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

The real upside is the cruises are very relaxing.  Because you don’t have to plan anything, just show up and do your thing.  I find the food to be pretty good, and it is fun drinking the local wines.  One of the problems with doing things on your own is the cultural differences.  We went to a Michelin starred restaurant at the end of the last river cruise, as we did over a week on our own after the sailing.  We were in Troyes, France after taking an expensive cab from Remich Luxembourg to Metz, France to get a rental car.  We spent the morning at Verdun (beautiful and moving) lunch at McDonalds, shopping at an outlet near Troyes.  So, we had spent a week and a day in a car together.  We had exhausted every possible conversation, and it would have been delightful to chat to someone at dinner.  So, we show up with a reservation probably because we speak little French, they put us in a lovely corner all to ourselves, with no tables really in our view, and the proceeded to serve us a wonderful decadent multi course meal and wine.  The wait staff would suddenly appear deposit a course and whisk away the previous plates, add wine and immediately disappear.  This continued for 3-1/2 hours.  

 

We had been in each other’s company continuously for 10 days, and we couldn’t even have the how was your day conversation.  

 

The next night after driving and visiting chateaus in the Loire Valley, and arriving in our hotel in Tours, my DW, said, all I want is a glass of wine and pizza.  We spent maybe 30 minutes having dinner.  It was while watching a soccer match between France and Germany later in the hotel, that the horrible bombing took place as I couldn’t understand why the players just stopped and looked at each other at one point, but since it was broadcast in French, I had the sound off.  It was them hearing the terrorists blowing themselves up trying to get into the stadium that made them stop.

 

The next morning our phones had blown up with anxious texts from friends back home that we realized the tragedy that had occurred overnight.  

 

So, yes it is far cheaper and more appealing for me to do our own thing in Europe.  But the River cruises are better than bus tours, much nicer and easy.  If you don’t like to plan, and money is not tight. I highly recommend them.  Delightful experiences.

 

We'll definitely try a river cruise at some point.  Can't knock it until you try it, right?

[DaniDanielle]

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

I keep referring to my wife as "my wife", so I'll start using her name...Micheline.  It's pronounced Michael-een.  She was named after her father's friend Michael.  Her family and friends often just call her Mike.

 

So I was all ready yesterday morning to say that we had very little in the way of second Moderna shot side effects (we got the shot at 7:00pm Wed).  My arm soreness Thursday morning was less than after the first shot.  Micheline's soreness had spread to her shoulder and back, and by noon the next day she had fatigue and some chills.  A few hours later, I also had some mild chills and body aches, which got a little worse.  We dressed in sweats and watched TV while covered in blankets and went to bed early.  Thankfully, everything's back to normal this morning.

The chills were the worst🥶

[dani negreanu]

14 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Mussels with fries sounds good.  Do they serve both together in a sauce or separate?

 

Due to the hours differences, I see that Pat (aka @island lady) has already provided the "proofs" 😁

 

The mussels can be have steamed in different shapes.... I prefer the most simple (and not fattening) one -- celery with white wine.

[dani negreanu]

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

65°C sunny and warm morning.

We decided to have a coffee then a stroll along the beach promenade before I go to the bank then back home to sit in the garden.

 

 

Looks like a lovely and beautiful day at the beach.

 

You going to the bank, and then home to sit in the garden, reminds me of my late dad saying (when he finally retired at 72, after completing the minimum 10 years of work in Israel in order to get a meagre pension)

 

" I'm going to stroll along the beach in the morning, in order to be free in the afternoon"...

[ownedbypets]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Oh yes...love..love the food in NZ!!  Frustrating that we were supposed to be down there right now.  😞 

 

But the one thing I tried that I almost gagged on...the Vegemite.  Ughh...  Must be an acquired taste.  😜

 

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Oh yes...love..love the food in NZ!!  Frustrating that we were supposed to be down there right now.  😞 

 

But the one thing I tried that I almost gagged on...the Vegemite.  Ughh...  Must be an acquired taste.  😜

Vegemite is definitely an acquired taste. I was an exchange student and lived in Australia for a year and never acquired a taste for it.

[island lady]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

We lost a 3 week Italy trip that included a 9 night Greek Isles cruise last September.  Still waiting until Italy gets closer to "normal" to rebook.  We've instead booked Alaska and Hawaii sort of B2B (3 days between to go from Seattle to Vancouver) next year.  We'll hang out in Hawaii for a while before flying home.  We love the Westin Maui on Ka'anapali but might give Wailea a try...or maybe Kuai or the Big Island (never been to either).  This is what I was really looking forward to in retirement before Covid, flexibility to travel when we want.

 

Love Maui!  We were supposed to spend our 25th (next month) there, but had to cancel due to travel restrictions at the time.  (Probably would have been OK by now...but didn't want to take the chance at that time and cancelled it).  

 

Soooo...last year we booked Allure for replacement, leaving May 30 in five weeks...of course that got cancelled as well, so leaving early for Maine instead.  

 

Agree...love Ka'anapali!   We also love the big Island, so much to see and do, and a little less touristy.  

 

Hands down best restaurant is on Maui (IMHO) and that is Mamma's Fish House.  Was to be our anniversary dinner choice.  Sigh...   😞 

[island lady]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

We are really tempted by European river cruises but this is my biggest concern.  I think I'd rather just travel from city to city via car/rail for a few weeks and manage my own "excursions".  That also allows us to try many different land restaurants, which for us is half the fun of European travel.

 

Agree...that is fun and very adventurous as well!  

 

Though there is something about unpacking once, and letting the captain take our hotel down the water way.  😉  Kind of like ocean cruising as well. 

[island lady]

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

We also passed on the Poutine. 

Agree. Double fried French Fries. 🍟

 

When I was a food service rep...I sold a lot of what they called "coated French Fries".  They kept their crisp much longer than regular or house made fries.  🙂 

[island lady]

59 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

The real upside is the cruises are very relaxing.  Because you don’t have to plan anything, just show up and do your thing.  I find the food to be pretty good, and it is fun drinking the local wines.  One of the problems with doing things on your own is the cultural differences.  We went to a Michelin starred restaurant at the end of the last river cruise, as we did over a week on our own after the sailing.  We were in Troyes, France after taking an expensive cab from Remich Luxembourg to Metz, France to get a rental car.  We spent the morning at Verdun (beautiful and moving) lunch at McDonalds, shopping at an outlet near Troyes.  So, we had spent a week and a day in a car together.  We had exhausted every possible conversation, and it would have been delightful to chat to someone at dinner.  So, we show up with a reservation probably because we speak little French, they put us in a lovely corner all to ourselves, with no tables really in our view, and the proceeded to serve us a wonderful decadent multi course meal and wine.  The wait staff would suddenly appear deposit a course and whisk away the previous plates, add wine and immediately disappear.  This continued for 3-1/2 hours.  

 

We had been in each other’s company continuously for 10 days, and we couldn’t even have the how was your day conversation.  

 

The next night after driving and visiting chateaus in the Loire Valley, and arriving in our hotel in Tours, my DW, said, all I want is a glass of wine and pizza.  We spent maybe 30 minutes having dinner.  It was while watching a soccer match between France and Germany later in the hotel, that the horrible bombing took place as I couldn’t understand why the players just stopped and looked at each other at one point, but since it was broadcast in French, I had the sound off.  It was them hearing the terrorists blowing themselves up trying to get into the stadium that made them stop.

 

The next morning our phones had blown up with anxious texts from friends back home that we realized the tragedy that had occurred overnight.  

 

So, yes it is far cheaper and more appealing for me to do our own thing in Europe.  But the River cruises are better than bus tours, much nicer and easy.  If you don’t like to plan, and money is not tight. I highly recommend them.  Delightful experiences.

 

Yup...exactly this ^ for us as well.  Enjoy the cruising for visiting foreign countries.  

 

Our road trips are local U.S.   Have CA coming up next week, Maine for the summer, Florida Panhandle for the fall (in the land yacht) and eastern WA in November.  

 

They are replacement for cruising...for now. 

[island lady]

43 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

We'll definitely try a river cruise at some point.  Can't knock it until you try it, right?

 

Yup, and we love it!!   😍

[dani negreanu]

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

I've been there a few times...probably the most famous.  Lots of other options on that same street, with plenty of competition between the hosts outside the restaurants trying to convince you to choose them. 

 

We've tried several, and kept coming back to Leon....

 

Quote

Since you lived there for a while, my favorite restaurant in Brussels is the Belga Queen.  It's a fancy old bank converted into a restaurant, complete with the basement vault area that is a bar.  I think you said it's been many years since you lived there and I don't know if it was open when you were there.

 

No, it was not -- we were there from October 6th, 1980 to October 5th, 1985 (DH's special work permit was renewed annually, and couldn't overstay even one day...).

 

Micheline -- nice name. French? Sean Connery's wife is also a "Micheline" 😁

 

River cruises -- I like the comfort of unpacking once, but, since both of us don't drink, it will be too much to pay....

 

Selling the house -- it's a PITA, but at least you don't depend on "selling money" to buy another house, less stress there. We had the same "luxury" when trying to sell our old apartment, it took us 18 months, and people kept trying to lower the price saying: "but you'll need the money for the new one, so let's settle for quick and less" 😁

 

Kauai -- amazing. We loved loved our cruise out of Honolulu (not the ship), Hawaii was amazing, we managed to be in one week in Maui (overnight), BI, Kona and Kauai (overnight). Pity it's such a looooong way from us.

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by dani negreanu

[StanleyandGus]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Uggh... I am with you there.  Moving gets to be more and more tedious the older we get...and unfortunately we seem to pack rat our stuff more as we age!  😮  

 

We did force ourselves into what we called the "five year plan" before we retired and moved into this smaller home.  Told ourselves to stop buying "precious stuff" and start to liquidate what we had.  When it got much closer, we had many trips to the Goodwill and one really huge garage sale,  of which we pretty much gave everything away to grateful buyers.  😉 

 

Good luck with the process, and in the end...it will all be worth it.  🤗

Even though the house we are in now (which we bought last year) is bigger than the last one, I am thinking about that too. Every time we moved, it was a military move, and the Canadian Forces make it as easy as it can be. Packers and the move itself are provided, but if we ever move again, it will be by ourselves.

 

Everything we buy will have to have a use, or be welcomed by the kids! 
As opposed to my great grandmother’s silver, which all of them are looking at with horror, and kindly offering to a sibling!

[island lady]

4 minutes ago, StanleyandGus said:

Even though the house we are in now (which we bought last year) is bigger than the last one, I am thinking about that too. Every time we moved, it was a military move, and the Canadian Forces make it as easy as it can be. Packers and the move itself are provided, but if we ever move again, it will be by ourselves.

 

Everything we buy will have to have a use, or be welcomed by the kids! 
As opposed to my great grandmother’s silver, which all of them are looking at with horror, and kindly offering to a sibling!

 

Oh I know that scenario.  😮  Before Bucky's parents passed, his Mommy was always trying to give us her "precious treasures".   It was stuff we would never use, and didn't need to collect dust, when we were trying to downsize ourselves.  

 

I am the more practical one.  It took some "training" to get Bucky on board with that.  If we don't use...we lose it.  😉 

[h20skibum]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

Hands down best restaurant is on Maui (IMHO) and that is Mamma's Fish House.  Was to be our anniversary dinner choice.  Sigh...   😞 

If you are in Maui, you have to get the Hula Pie from Kimo's.  You can also get it from Dukes on Oahu.

 

It is Oh, so good!!!

 

[Tree_skier]

Whew! I finally got caught up on this thread.  I has taken almost the entire morning.  That'll teach me to let 2 weeks go by between Cruise Critic sessions.  Life got in the way... I did manage to book a few more cruises though.  Navigator out of LA 🙂 might become an expensive vice.  

[Tree_skier]

Biggest non-work excitement was meeting a couple of fellow CCer's and regular contributor to this thread for breakfast while in San Jose for work. Then last Friday night was dinner at  Foca de Chao in Irvine... Restaurant was packed I don't think they were adhering to the 50% capacity.  It felt more like 150% capacity... God bless Orange County 🙂 

[bobmacliberty]

Picture of a typical moules frites meal in Brussels.  You usually have a choice of a few broths in which the muscles cook.  I'm with Dani.  Simple white wine is best.  Yummy.

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

Oh I know that scenario.  😮  Before Bucky's parents passed, his Mommy was always trying to give us her "precious treasures".   It was stuff we would never use, and didn't need to collect dust, when we were trying to downsize ourselves.  

 

I am the more practical one.  It took some "training" to get Bucky on board with that.  If we don't use...we lose it.  😉 

 

Micheline is struggling with 2 things, as to whether to move them or not.  First is the Wedgewood china set that we received when we got married.  We used to dust it off for holiday dinners but haven't even done that in a few years.  Looks nice in our dining room china cabinet in Ohio that matches our Mahogany dining room set.  Don't plan to move the dining room furniture and won't have a place to put the china.  Maybe we'll pass those "precious treasures" to our kids. 😁

 

Second is her extensive collection of stamping stuff.  This was her hobby back in the late 90s/early 00s.  She hosted stamping parties (think Tupperware party) and hand made all of her greeting cards.  Really nice cards with a personal touch.  She hasn't used any of it in almost 20 years and is trying to decide if she will REALLY pick up that hobby again or just give it up completely.  I think there's still a secondary market for that stuff.