jam19872016

I have walked from D to A no problem. There is one spot the sidewalk ends and you have to cross traffic but if I recall correctly it was by a stop sign so traffic should be stopped for you to easily cross. I have never tried from G but if you made it that far, yes you were indeed close to reaching your goal but it can be rather daunting if you are unsure it is possible or not. It is indeed possible as long as you are able bodied because as you mentioned, it is quite a hike.

And with three channels, it can appeal to lots of people which is why it tends to be so popular. Something for everyone! Thank you! Happy you have joined me for another sailing! I will be a Cafe al Bacio daily for my coffee fix! I don't like their brand for frappucino (Iglu?) as well as Carnial and Royal but it gets the job done. The snacks though....yummy! I love the tasty treats and usually squeeze in at least one a day if I am not too full still from whatever I just ate.

I definitely eat poorly on a cruise 🙂 The drinking is excessive too 😂. At least this will be a short one instead of packing on the pounds for weeks and weeks at a time. So good to see you join me! I was worried you could not find your way. I checked the calendar and did not see a request for time off from CC. Alas, you are here now! I have already informed the maître d of my expectations of matching salt and pepper. So far I have not heard back. I will be following up on the matter once onboard!

Going from one extreme to the other with my work schedule. Starting my 12 hour day at the crack of dawn but the finish line is in sight. Nothing else matters 🎶

I'm -.6lbs today....slow but steady wins the race.

Happy to have you along! Yes totally worth it especially as I age I know it will both get harder to lose and will come with other negative health consequences that I hope to avoid as long as possible.

Thank you for following along 😀

Check in is done. Celebrity (and royal) have am amazingly easy and quick check in process compared to Carnival. All previous info saved, quick scan of my passport, pic of my ugly mug and I'm good to go. Parking secured. I use I always use park n go from FLL and have only had one bad experience. Many many good experiences so I continue to use them, with caution. I realized after I booked I used a third party. I did a mock booking direct just now and it was $4 cheaper. Not worth canceling and rebooking I guess but make sure you book direct to save some cash if you pay in full. If you pay at the lot the charge is a little higher to book direct.

That actually sounds like fun. Can adults play too?

Fair point. I guess I will need to check it out first hand...but not at these prices 😂

Thank you. I still have some work to do but I am making good progress towards being at a healthy weight.

I think one of the points of this system is to allow less elevators to handle more people. I could be wrong but on the ships Carnival uses it on they have installed them where there are less elevators than they would traditionally use so when they are not being used as intended it creates a bigger mess than it would if there were the proper number of elevators. I can't speak if that is the case on Icon. Perhaps they do have plenty of elevators available. It also is designed to make less stops so part of the time savings is actually just time shifted from inside an elevator to time spent waiting for an elevator. If you are waiting for more than one cycle, I would think your time has increased more than it would have in the first scenario. I do find it interesting that the other person says elevators could easily be programmed to account for the different likely traffic patterns that lead to large crowds and if these elevators are in fact programmed to account for that I can see how telling it your party size would not be necessary. Time will tell after a few revenue sailings. If they don't work, it will be a complaint that pops up frequently. I hope they do work because if properly used smart elevators would do wonders at easing elevator congestion.

As expected today I posted a gain, +1.2. Still have a couple more days to get some more off. Steps were also under goal, but I am allowed two rest days a week so the total is not bad for a rest day.

Thank you! Next week all bets are off but then I will buckle back down.

I find I have to still count calories in addition to the fasting even though when I first started fasting alone helped me achieve good results. I can't wait!

My workaround is I automatically push it twice if I am alone. If I am with someone I push it 3 or 4 times. If I see another party pushing it once, I go ahead and push it for the rest of the party. I used to explain why I was doing that, but nobody cares and you're the jerk for trying to explain the system to them so I just let them give me crazy looks and carry on 🤣. Not a perfect solution but it helps.

The problem with these elevators on Carnival is that too many parties of 4 push the button for one. The elevators think one person got on instead of four, and assigns more people than can fit onto the same elevator. It is a well documented problem. So I am surprised that people are saying that is not required on these elevators. Even if it is going by some kind of weight sensor it cannot predict the weight before a group gets on and may assign too many groups to an elevator before it realizes it's at capacity. Unless I am missing something, there is absolutely no way this system can work without you telling the elevator how many people are in your party intending to get on. Maybe if it is smart enough to assume 2.3 people every time the button is pushed, or knows a show just let out and all elevators should be dispatched to the theater. Somehow I doubt it is THAT advanced though.

Enjoy! Eight days is so much better than six, but I will take what I can get 🙂 I suspect you will get lots of silent disco, X does a really great job of hosting multiple silent disco events throughout the cruise. I will probably hit them all up, it's always so much fun.

Even with going solo, I find myself running into both scheduling and budget issues after cruising so extensively 😂 I'll try to keep her in good shape for you, but I can't make any promises 🙂 Thanks for coming along! That's exactly what I love too!! Food and drinks and some music and I am good to go. And I've always found X to have a ton of silent disco which is great since Royal seems to do it once maybe twice, and Carnival only once a week if at all and it is always so much fun and draws a huge crowd. I can't wait to silent disco the night away!!

Thanks for following along! I am not sure when she will be cruising with me again. She is not as excited about cruising as me and needs some rest time between trips. She was invited on Magic but was not ready. I thought she would be ready again by now and I am doing a really nice cruise in March I thought she would be interested in but she is working on losing weight so she can qualify for weight loss surgery and also has been given one last chance to get her sugar down before her doctor puts her on insulin. With these health challenges she is putting off cruising for now. Maybe in May for her birthday but that is probably still too soon since if she qualifies for the surgery, she will probably be fresh out of it around then. I hope we can get her onboard and in another review soon!

Kitty!! I have been super busy and all my free CC time has been spent trying to keep up with the two mega reviews (I'm still not done with either 🙂) but I'm looking forward to bingeing your Freedom review. That was such a great crew to sail with even if the ship could have used more TLC in its dry dock. Thanks for following along!! Thanks for taking the journey over! I love all the familiar faces! It is great living so close to the ports. Tampa and Jacksonville are pretty close as well although I have never sailed from either. First time out of Tampa is scheduled for March.

Thank you! Isn't solo travel great!! Can't wait for Sunday to get here. Enjoy your cruise 🙂

So for anyone who did not read my last review, I've been on a weight loss journey that started in August 2021 when I hit 300 LBS. I've always been big, but that was a pretty startling number to see staring back at me from the scale. I'm also not getting any younger and am becoming more aware of the looming health problems if I don't take control of the situation. Especially as I see how my mother struggles with back pain and knee problems that impact her ability to travel comfortably for any length of time. The first several months I yo yo'ed between 285 and back over 300 again. Then my friend recommended the myfitnesspal app in May 2022 and that has been a game changer for me. It's essentially a calorie counting app and it made me conscious of the calories I'm consuming. It also opened my eyes to some foods that are not worth the calories. I was shocked at how many calories are in a caser salad. If I'm going to use up that many calories, it won't be on a salad! I don't bother with the three bites of lobster at formal night anymore either. I've had to adjust my strategy as my metabolism adjusted to less calories and heard about intermittent fasting which was a great addition to my diet plan. When I'm fasting, I can eat for eight hours, and then I fast for 16. Since you are asleep for 8 of those, its easier than it sounds especially after a day or two. In total, I was down to 198.8 when I started my 56 day journey in September. Over 100 LBS lost from my starting weight. Since that trip and my last cruise that lasted 26 days I gained back 37.8 lbs. I have been working hard while not cruising to take it back off but it has been slower than I would like between the holidays and just a general struggle keeping the calorie count down. My daily allowance is 2085 but I've found anything over 1200 and I am in danger of putting pounds on. In total I've lost 21.4 since getting off the ship just before Christmas and I can get back into my skinny clothes although they are tight, and will only get tighter as I misbehave for six days. I suspect I will go up when I weight today since I gave into the munchies yesterday but as of yesterday I am back down to my lowest weight since September 30 🙂

Thanks for following along! Glad to have you along for the trip 🙂

Wow, I am not sure how CC chooses the thumbnail but I see instead of grabbing the first picture in the review, it went with my upside down pineapple shirt 😱