perfect match

17 hours ago, BillOh said:

Good luck with that,  when my wife and I started cruising We were both around 300lbs. That was Voyager in 2006.  

 

When we board Wonder this spring I will be 200 and she is 140. 

 

I think I gained 13 pounds that first cruise.  You can still watch what you eat and have a great cruise. Good luck going forward, it can be done!

Bill and Gina, you two are looking great!

7 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

Another loyalty benefit. You get your first at 140, and every 70 points after.

 

 

I hit 420 this cruise.

We get our first crystal block in April on Allure. I’m excited to be getting it.  I never thought we would cruise enough to make Diamond 💎 when we first started cruising, never mind get a crystal block. 

It doesn’t surprise me that you’ve done your research on the NY subway 🚇 system. You’ll have no problem getting around the city. 
 

Thanks for the memories of Akashi Beach. We did a Segway tour to get to the beach with multiple sightseeing stops along the way.  Next i went out on a SeaBob tour from Arashi. After that, some time on the beach for a swim and some refreshments. Our day ended when the owner of the company drove us back to the pier. I believe we visited our crazy aunt in the basement 😀 before we went back on board. I loved every minute of our day, but my arms were so sore from the SeaBob that the next day that I had a hard time doing my hair to get ready for formal night! 😂

23 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

Let's try one more time before I lay down.

 

You’re a real glutton for punishment in that casino! 
 

I learned a long time ago that I never win anything and I get really bored really fast when I don’t win anything. That is enough to convince me to stay out of the casino! I figure I’m way ahead because I still have all of the money I didn’t lose. 😂 

The down side of my staying out of the casino is that I’m never going to get an offer for a free casino cruise. 😕

3 hours ago, Coralc said:

Are you going to rent a car for NYC? I don't think I would want to drive or park there. Or is it pretty much walkable or Uber/Taxi? We've never been there. 

 

Definitely don’t rent a car in NYC! When we still lived in CT and went in to the city frequently we always left our car at home and took the train into the city, then subways to get around. As you would anywhere, just keep your wits around you and you’ll be fine.

Harry, my legs are screaming at me just looking at that rocky climb you did! In my much younger days I would have thought it was fun. Now, not so much. I will not choose that tour the next time we’re in Aruba. Good thing there are different kinds of tours for different kinds of people. Put me on a beach, I’ll be happy. Beach with good snorkeling, even better! 😎🏝️🐠

Good use of Disney transportation! Guess with a cat named Merida I shouldn’t be surprised that you know your way around WDW. 

Harry, I hope that this new atmospheric river I keep hearing about leaves you alone! I think about you and your family every time the weather forecasters bring the subject up!

I’m glad you were able to get your visitor trip sorted out and that you were able to take your planned tour even though it left late. I guess I have been lucky with the few Viator tours I have booked since everything went well for us.

My surgically repaired kneed would not have liked walking down those steep rock stairs you went down. I would have been clutching that metal rail tightly and hoping that it wasn’t too hot! 

I may have to book 150 at some point - for the bread! People keep talking about how great it is and I love great bread. The rest of the food sounds pretty good, too!

Your little dog is really cute! 

Thank you very much for a great cruise report. We’re back on Allure in about 2 months, so hearing about your time on Oasis certainly helped me get excited - not that I need any help getting excited about going on a cruise. 😂

You also helped me get fully on track with my own exercise program. I had started to struggle with getting my workouts in due to a decline in my own motivation. Seeing you getting all of your workouts in helped me get back on track with my own. 

3 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

Dang, have to cash in my voucher. Machines will literally noonger accept it, amount too high 🤣. Literally never had that problem ever.

That sounds like a really nice problem to have! 
 

Glad you’re having good luck at the casino

Thank you very much for the review. I enjoyed following along with you. I thought you did a great job with your writing. 👍
 

We’ve been sailing mostly on the bigger, newer ships and have enjoyed them very much, but we keep talking about sailing one of the older, smaller ships, specifically out of Tampa. Sailing under the Sunshine Skyway bridge would be a big attraction for us.

We tried booking out of Tampa once, but apparently it wasn’t meant to be. First, the ship was taken over by a full ship charter so we were bumped. Even without that though we still wouldn’t have cruised because of the pandemic 😷 shutdown. I’ve been a little afraid to try again! 😱😂

Hope you have a great cruise with your family on the second leg of your B2B. 🛳️

On 2/17/2024 at 6:15 PM, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

I definitely see myself coming back here! I was contemplating trying either the salmon or tilapia just to see if my taste buds have forgotten my choking experience when I was in 1st grade…but I have had 2 friends who developed sudden fish allergies, and I am not sure that a ship is the place to try fish just in case my reaction was really my body protecting me

I’m one of those people with seafood allergies that have gotten way worse since I got older. There is no way I would risk trying fish on a cruise ship! Any reaction at all would totally ruin a cruise for me. I don’t even test my luck at home any more. At this point for me “Fish are friends, not food! “ ! 
 

12 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Ha! I just hoofed it from aft to forward and got to the theater just as the port shopping sales pitch was letting out. Slipped in and got in line and got the bracelet anyway!

 Good timing! You got the best of both worlds!  😀😂

Thank you for all of the great pictures, Bird! 

8 hours ago, DandDM said:

I sure can pick my days in Miami!

 

 

 

Sorry that our Florida weather hasn’t been very nice to you. We usually have pretty nice weather this time of year. This year, not so much. The good news is that tomorrow and the next few days should be way better than today has been. 

Good luck in the casino! 

8 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

Trying to not eat too too much right out of the gate but I wish I'd ordered the full order. So good. Very creamy taste, piping hot and just a perfectly prepared risotto. A++

 

Filet 

 

I didn’t see filet listed when I first scanned through your menu post. I was ready to cancel our Giovanni’s lunch reservation for boarding day on our upcoming Allure cruise if it seemed like the filet wasn’t going to be offered. 😱  I am very happy to see that you were able to get your filet which looks pretty good to me! 

5 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

Before I go on with the trip report, I forgot to mention we had Internet access for 2 days while in Curaaco and Aruba as we have Verizon cell phones and VZ credit cards, and as a benefit of the credit card, we receive 2 days of International phone plans for free.  And my younger son’s phone plans have hot spot data included, the rest of us just hop on his hot spot to access the internet for the 2 days while in port

Interesting. Our phones are on Verizon but we do not have their credit card. We may have to look into getting one. Combined with our 1 day each for Diamond status and the two days from the Verizon credit card would give us pretty good coverage. 
 

If I understand you correctly though, the Verizon plan only works while you’re actually in port. That’s the time I’m least likely to be going online since I’m normally too busy then enjoying the port to be staring at a device screen. I’ll have to give it some thought. We really don’t need another credit card.

DH have been thinking about what to suggest for you in New York. It’s been 20 years since we spent much time there, and a lot of the places we were thinking of aren’t there any more. Think restaurants, specific shows, things like that.

Since you seem to enjoy architecture and photographing distinctive buildings, I would recommend a cruise on Circle Line. You would get a great look at the city skyline from different points of view and some great pictures. I don’t think I saw that on your list.

https://buy-tickets.circleline.com/nycl-cro-page-with-video?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search - CL - G%2FP - Prospect - Brand - Outside NYC - 2021&&matchtype=e&keyword=circle line sightseeing cruises&cid=12889427267&agid=127189190368&device=t&placement=&creative=517966897850=&utm_term=circle line sightseeing cruises&utm_campaign=Search - CL - G%2FP - Prospect - Brand - Outside NYC - 2021&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&hsa_acc=8370086876&hsa_cam=12889427267&hsa_grp=127189190368&hsa_ad=517966897850&hsa_src=g&hsa_tgt=kwd-2007780495&hsa_kw=circle line sightseeing cruises&hsa_mt=e&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiArLyuBhA7EiwA-qo80Jdmx88YkrQE7b3y16nFlL0AEPS2tjZunyz6ljlWqJDAThiNulHmBhoCixkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

5 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

No, Not likely. I don’t have a forum to post the info on.  Not like I can start a new thread “Cheapo Dad’s land saga to NYC” here at the RCI boards.

 

I guess I can drop in a few pictures on @dani negreanu mega thread as I saw @bobmaclibertyhad posted some pictures of his trip to NYC with pictures of the US Intrepid last month when he uploaded some mooring line pictures.

 

Here’s my draft itinerary version 1.  There will be many changes as I firm up my plans next few months but here is what we hope to see in NYC as it's heavy on the "tourist things to do":

 

Day 1 – Arrive in NYC

Day 2 -  “Free” Walking tour of the Financial District in the morning

              9/11 Memorial Museum/One World Observatory

              Oculus

              Staten Island Ferry

Day 3  - High Line/The Vessel at Hudson Yard

              USS Intrepid or some sort of museum if weather is too hot

Day 4 – Statue of Liberty

             Time Square

              Rise NY

Day 5 – “Free” Brooklyn Bridge Walking Tour in the morning

              DUMBO (this should be part of the walking tour)

              Brooklyn Bridge Park

              Subway back to Manhatten

              Either K-Town or a Broadway Musical

Day 6 – “Free” Walking Tour of Central Park in the morning

              Guggenheim Museum 

Day 7 – NY Public Library

             Grand Central Station

             Rockefeller Center

             Top of the Rock Observatory

Day 8 – Homeward Bound

 

This schedule assumes we will get the multi-event NYC Explorer pass to save a few dollars on the various admission fees as well as a 7-day NY Subway.

 

Still need to shove in a few other items like Chinatown in there somewhere.  Part of it will be dependent on the weather.  If it’s miserably hot, we will opt for more indoor activities.

 

Will have more time to plan things out once I am done with this trip report by next month.

It has been almost 20 years since we moved from CT to FL, but DH is a NY C boy. I’m going to show him your list and see if he has any suggestions. He was always my personal tour guide to the city so he’ll probably have some good ideas. My one suggestion is to have a slice of NY pizza. 🍕 I miss that so much! I don’t know the best spots in Manhattan but DH should have some suggestions. 
 

I know a lot has changed since we were last in NY. For example, we used to buy our subway 🚇 tokens in advance for our next trip into NYC when we were going on the train 🚆 from CT into the city. That way we could get right off the train and go directly to the subway. They haven’t used tokens in years! 😂
 

Loved your Curaçao pictures, alll of them!

On 2/13/2024 at 1:25 AM, Denversail said:

Haha… I mentioned IFLY to Good Sport earlier. He showed some interest but said he hadn’t heard about it. So I turned to Dupable looking for an explanation. She said those activities don’t interest her. Apparently when something doesn’t spark her interest she just avoids sharing the information.This got an eyebrow raise from Good Sport.

 

 

I’d look for a free spot and book it for Good Sport if he’s at all interested. When Dupable sees how much fun Good Sport has she’ll regret her lack of interest. Either that, or book her too. On our Odyssey cruise we had a couple of hours before our flight time to cancel if we really didn’t want to go. I would never force anyone who didn’t think they could handle it physically or mentally. 
 

I’m guessing I’m around their age and everyone in my group was in the same age range as I am. We all loved it and wanted to go back for more.  I have since booked and enjoyed additional flights in a land based iFly location. I am a bit of a thrill seeker though…….. 😀

I’ll bet you had great views of Curaçao from thr North Star! I’m sure there will be pictures. 😃

That looks like it was an interesting walking trip. I’ll have to keep in in mind for the next time we head to Curaçao.

21 hours ago, Coralc said:

One of those unexpected and delightful things that sometimes happen on vacation. ☺️

Great timing! You had the best seats in the house for the show! 

9 hours ago, DandDM said:

Vegas will be a different run with a ton of other racers and 1800 feet of altitude, but I’m pretty confident I’ll get through it now without issues. BTW, race is two weeks from yesterday

I hope you’ll come back here and let us know how the race goes. I know I’d like to see how the training we have been following you do paid off for you in the race. I’m proud of you for keeping that run going yesterday in spite of adversity. Well done! 👍 

Interesting to see the differences between the two ships. Thank you.