acwmom

Such is the joy of being employed and having vacation time😁 We are sailing on Azamara on a France Intensive itinerary from Barcelona to Monte Carlo. Uniworld has a decent promotion right now, and a Provence cruise departing the day after our Azamara cruise ends. So we decided to do a B2B! We will take the train from Monte Carlo to Avignon and spend the night before boarding. We can’t wait to return to France!

Robin

On 4/26/2022 at 12:22 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

Yes, and our departure was timed for the 10 pm Eiffel Tower light show.

 

The castle is amazing.  We joined the hiking group [JP and Chris would be proud of us] and the first Scenic surprise was that our guide was none other than Richard the Lionheart himself.  O how the mighty have fallen, that a King has to hire out giving tours!  But he was a great tour guide, and we will have him again tomorrow [as Rollo the Viking in Rouen].

 

 

That was a great hike. We really enjoyed it. It’s also the stop where we were forced to leave a passenger behind because she lost track of time….we waited 45 minutes, but had to move on….a shopkeeper in Les Andelys was kind enough to drive her to the locks, where two crewman hoisted her back onboard….it made for a memorable cruise, and the bartender crafted a drink, which was given the name of her cabin number😁(because we heard it over and over during the 45 minutes)

@jpalbnythose are gorgeous! Stress relieving?

On 4/11/2022 at 9:13 AM, Coral said:

I ended up cancelling my Med cruise due to medical reasons 😞 . Disappointed as I had a great itinerary, great price and great upgrade.....

So sorry! We would have been leaving for Rome this week, had I not gotten a new job and moved to FL. We postponed to the fall, but changed to a France intensive cruise.

On 4/10/2022 at 4:13 PM, CPT Trips said:

Stay out of the rabbit hole, dive into the Whole Foods hole.

 

 

 

One of my favorites! And fortunately, available at the local ABC Store just down the street:-)  

On 4/8/2022 at 2:26 PM, CPT Trips said:

Copied from another thread . . . 

Well now I've gone down the rabbithole of Belgian beers I can have shipped to me.......I haven't pulled the trigger yet!

At the present time, Rik is the cruise director on the Empress. I follow him on Instagram. Uniworld_Rik. He posts daily, some days several times. The photos of the ship don't look like she's showing her age in the least. I wouldn't hesitate to sail on the Empress, and the itinerary is not the standard Rhine cruise.

Robin

1 hour ago, Canal archive said:

acwmom congratulations a huge step to take but a good one enjoy your future building and step by step to retirement and hopefully many many more cruises.

Thank you! I especially like that last part! We postponed our cruise in April due to all of our changes. We will be going in October instead....lots to do between now and then.

10 minutes ago, Coral said:

I built a house once. So many decisions. I learned a lot so that I think if I can ever build a house again, I will get it right the second time! 🙂 You look like you are in a great area.  Just looked at Bok Tower gardens. Beautiful!

This will be the 4th one we have built but the first one with a true custom builder. Definitely a lot of decisions, a lot more than we have been able to make in the past. It will give us something to look forward to for the next several months.

Yes, it is a beautiful area. Not the hustle and bustle of Orlando, and halfway between Orlando and Tampa. We see easy Caribbean cruises in our future.

Robin

31 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

 @acwmom Congratulations on the move and career change. Sounds like you have settled in. All the best in your new home and that the house comes along exactly according to your plans.

 

notamermaid

 

Thank you! I spent 4 hours with the builder last weekend, and hope to have final plans about the time we get an offer on our existing home (which we haven't put on the market yet for fear it will sell too quickly)

31 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

Congratulations Robin! Sounds like a great move for you. 

Thanks JP, we think it is great😀 ACWDad is still in KY with our son until his semester is done, and is envious of me being in warmer weather. Other than leaving my family in KY, we couldn't think of any downside.

Have fun in France/Slovenia!

20 minutes ago, Lois R said:

Welcome........happy you are happy. There are some things I love about the state and other things?

Sometimes I think I am living in the wrong state. 

 

Enjoy the weather🙂

I moved from KY, so......😏

I have learned that FL has a ridge, and I live on it.....near constant breeze, and I can see Bok Tower from my balcony. We will be building a house soon, but in the meantime, living a simple life in an apartment. 

4 hours ago, Coral said:

Robin - did you move? I didn't think you were living in FL.

I was wondering if anyone would notice😁  Covid has thrown us all a lot of curve balls, and for my husband, he was transitioned to a full-time work from home position. This has allowed us to move up our "working retirement" date, as I like to call it. So, I closed my solo private practice and took a job with a pediatric healthcare system here in FL. I have been here a month now, and have a lot less stress, not having to run a business.

The good news is, I will get 4+ weeks of vacation a year now.....

Robin

32 minutes ago, Coral said:

Has anyone heard from @dogs4fun ? I have sent a few emails. It doesn't appear she has posted recently. 

 

I leave on Friday for a 21 night Med cruise. I need to pack this weekend. I am flying in the day of which I hate. My flight has 3 hops, something else I am not fond of but where I live, it is not uncommon. I didn't know testing requirements when I first booked some 40 days ago. They want us to test within 1 day of the cruise so it appears I will be doing a home test at 2 am, leaving for airport at 4 am and flight at 6 am.

Enjoy!

Robin

On 3/24/2022 at 2:39 PM, jpalbny said:

 

Thank you! We leave tomorrow evening for Paris, then we have a day to rest before flying to Ljubljana.

 

Well, we have only 23 hours to rest because Europe starts DST this weekend! Close enough. Very much looking forward to seeing Slovenia, and many new stops for us in Croatia.

Enjoy! We really likes Slovenia, even though it was quite "westernized" in parts (the highway system, for example). If you make it to Lake Bled, the Bled cake is a must.

Robin

19 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

We are spending 3 nights in Ljubljana before heading on to Croatia. We're actually doing this as a guided tour (for just the 2 of us) through A&K, instead of going on our own. While we probably could do this part of the world independently, we had a big deposit tied up w/ A&K from a canceled trip to China in June 2020. That was supposed to be a private tour for our 25th anniversary. So we had planned a fairly nice trip.

 

Since the money was already spent, we decided to use it to do a really nice guided tour through Slovenia and Croatia instead. Since who knows when we will ever get to China?

 

In Ljubljana we are staying at the Grand Hotel Union, which seems nicely located. By Google maps, it appears that this hotel is not too far from Barbo Palace. We are really looking forward to visiting this part of the world!

 

 

 

There is a castle on the hill to hike up to😁 It was frigid the day we were there, but we loved the city. We found a small restaurant with local craft beer and warmed up. It's a very quaint and cute city. 

Enjoy!

Robin

17 hours ago, Coral said:

I completely agree - it is more about getting away. I hope our ship is that empty. 🙂

 

I was sort of scared due to COVID but I have been going to work every day and being around people so it can't be that much different, right?

I'm a pediatrician, so I was much better off on the ship! 

42 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

@Host Jazzbeau noted.

 

Rereading my post I noticed on Neuwied: I had seriously and honestly forgotten to put into the post - connected to the Viking Hild photo - that I saw that the embankment is ready. All that is needed now is the landing stage that is going a bit out into the navigation channel. So this I may put soon into the thread on Rhine river ports.

 

That must have slipped my mind, I am sure you mentioned this. Where did you go?

 

notamermaid

 

We did a Caribbean cruise, stopping in Cozumel, Roatan and Nassau. It was more about getting away than where we went. The ship (Celebrity Edge) was a destination itself. So different from other ships. And, only 1/3 full! 

On 12/4/2021 at 9:42 AM, Coral said:

I can't believe I did this. I just booked a Princess cruise RT out of LA over Christmas. I had $1500 in FCC and it expires next year so that covered the cost of the cruise. So I basically just had to book air. There was no single supplement on this trip. It goes to San Francisco, San Diego, Cabo.

 

The ship seems empty. I leave in about 2 weeks. I mentally so need a break.

 

One of my favorite cruises with my Mom when she was alive was a 10 night cruise to Mexico in 2002 over Christmas (we were limited where she could sail as she had a Seeing Eye dog). We got it for dirt cheap since people were not traveling after 9-11. It was also a last minute cruise that we booked for cheap.

Enjoy! Our Celebrity cruise was so relaxing last month, and it was good to travel again.

I hope (and think) you will get your needed break.

Robin

This is definitely on my list of cruises. I just need to decide which company to cruise with. And the Jordan extension is a must-do as well. Very much enjoying following along!

Robin

10 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

I remember this being mentioned in the photo quiz game a few months ago. I am taking the liberty of asking @acwmom for you about this - I hope I am not disturbing them too much. They did that walk if I remember correctly.

 

notamermaid

 

Yes, we did! I stumped quite a few people with that picture. We were on Uniworld. We took the cable car to the top, then walked through the forest and descended in Assmannshausen. We were taken back to the ship by bus.

I'm not sure what Avalon offers on the Rhine. We had decent offerings with them on the Danube.

Uniworld's other option that day was a winery visit. @jpalbnydid that excursion and can comment.

Date of Cruise:  October 30, 2021                                                                                                                                                

Ship:  Edge                                                                                                                                                    

Cabin #:  7313                                                                                                                                                             

Deck #:   seven                                                                                                                                              

Cabin Category:  Sunset Veranda                                                                                                                                                            

Cabin Location:  Aft                                                                                                                                               

Bed Position:  near balcony                                                                                                                                                  

Balcony Type:  traditional                                                                                                                                                  

Balcony/Window Size:  oversized                                                                                                                                                 

Balcony/Window View/Obstruction:  none                                                                                                                       

Balcony Overhang?:  about 1/3 covered                                                                                                                                                     

Magic Carpet Issues?:  no                                                                                                                                                 

Noise Issues?:  A little noise from Eden at night, mainly when the house band was playing, but they were done by 11pm, so not an issue                                                                                                                                                 

Wind Issues?:  not really                                                                                                                                                  

Connecting Cabin?   No   

Advantages/Problems/Comments: Advantage: it was an aft cabin, with a true balcony, which was oversized; we had a lounger in addition to the two standard chairs and table; while this balcony was narrower than most, it wasn't an issue. The room itself was also 2-3 feet longer than the IV. Disadvantage: there was rare soot, and rare minor noise from Eden. It was a long walk to the elevators, but that wasn't an issue for us.                                                                                                                           

Would You Book It Again?: Absolutely

Photos or Photo Links:

18 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I wonder if it's a paper trail problem.  You can give permission, but they have to have a chain that shows that and their software isn't set up to preserve it?  HIPAA is a PITA.  Doesn't do what it promised but makes life harder than before.

Many healthcare systems have documents that patients can sign. It’s as simple as scanning the document into the chart and documenting that consent has been given. 

3 minutes ago, Lois R said:

Hi Robin, this facility would not email me.

I would gladly have given them permission.

Yeah, that's policy and laziness, quite honestly, hiding behind HIPAA fear. (or trying to blame HIPAA)

5 hours ago, Lois R said:

Hi Doc🙂 I had my test at an Urgent Care Facility and they could not email me my results for those same HIPPA reasons.  They normally do it via text but they will also give you the hard copy. I waited about 30 minutes and got the copy while I was there. But they did say because of HIPPA regulations they could not email the results.

This is not entirely true. If you give permission to have something emailed, it is not a HIPAA violation.