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

[cruiselvr04]

2 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Well our daughter and her family are back home. It really was great having so much time with the grandkids, but if I’m perfectly honest there was a good amount of stress the past few weeks and we were all feeling it towards the end.  Andy & I were tired of the mess - we like things neat and orderly and they…don’t, lol.  Jess & Sam were stressed out from all the snafus that come with a home remodel, plus just not being in their own home (and since I’m being honest, I’m sure my constant picking up after them was annoying). It’s a rainy day here, so Andy & I are spending it cleaning the house and doing laundry.  The worst part? Everything is covered in black dog hair! 

Our DD and grands are until the first week of August.  Then we get another set.  We are leaving for Alaska this weekend so they can be as messy as they like while we are gone.  I’m keeping the packing to our room or I’d really be in overload.  We love them all but not the clutter or the noise.  Did our kids fight that much?  Probably with four, I just blocked it out of my memory.  Thankfully we have a playroom to corral the toys. I know these times will end so I try to enjoy the chaos. But yes it will be nice in mid August when we get our quiet back too.

Edited July 10, 2023 by cruiselvr04

[grapau27]

9 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Sunrise this morning.  
 

 

I have missed those sunrise at sea photos. 

This was on our Norwegian Fjords cruise in June.

We experienced the midnight sun every night.

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by grapau27

[Luckynana]

3 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

This was on our Norwegian Fjords cruise in June.

We experienced the midnight sun every night.

 

Awesome!

[Luckynana]

3 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Well our daughter and her family are back home. It really was great having so much time with the grandkids,   The worst part? Everything is covered in black dog hair! 

I hear you about the black dog hair.  Luckily, Lola doesn't shed.  I'm glad you had a great time with your granddaughters, Deb!🥰

[DaniDanielle]

3 hours ago, Luckynana said:

How neat!  Best Buds!!!

They are.  Wendall hides from the two of them.  He is too old for their shenanigans!

[aussielozzie18]

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

Yesterday, the 4 counties north of NYC - Rockland, Orange, Westchester and Putnam counties -   received about 6-8 inches of rain in a 24 hour period with the vast majority of it  concentrated in a 12 hour period. 

 

The flooding was unreal. The on-the-scene CNN reporter is on the Palisades Interstate Parkway which runs from NJ, thru Rockland Co. to Orange Co.  The parkway behind the reporter is closed,  just beyond 40 people had to be rescued when their cars were trapped by fast rising floodwaters.

 

I had just driven thru that area about an hour earlier prior to that event. Timing is everything.

 

Sadly, one young lady was killed when attempting to evacuate her home & was swept away. 

 

Gosh, you were lucky not to have  been caught up in that.  Tragic that a young life lost although sadly there might be more.  Stay safe.

[BonTexasNY]

3 hours ago, Husky1987 said:

 

I learned in the years since that it is actually a line from a poem called "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert Service.  Johnny Cash included it as a spoken word track on one of his albums in the 2000s.

 

My deepest sympathy on the passing of your uncle.  May his memory be a blessing to all that loved him.

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

Yesterday, the 4 counties north of NYC - Rockland, Orange, Westchester and Putnam counties -   received about 6-8 inches of rain in a 24 hour period with the vast majority of it  concentrated in a 12 hour period.  Normal amount of rainfall for this time of year is 3-4 inches per month . So basically, we got over 2 months of rain in 1 day.  It was like a monsoon without the wind. Just straight downpour.

 

The flooding was unreal,  so bad it made CNN headlines. The video below has clips from some of the hardest hit towns such as Highland Falls (Orange), Cold Spring (Putnam) and  Stony Point (Rockland). The on-the-scene CNN reporter is on the Palisades Interstate Parkway which runs from NJ, thru Rockland Co. to Orange Co.  The parkway behind the reporter is closed,  just beyond 40 people had to be rescued when their cars were trapped by fast rising floodwaters. I had just driven thru that area about an hour earlier prior to that event. Timing is everything.

 

Sadly, one young lady was killed when attempting to evacuate her home & was swept away. 

 

Full story and video

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/10/weather/northeast-storms-flooding-excessive-rainfall/index.html

 

 

Although I love sharing stories about Rockland County, this one is one I wish never happened.  Tragic story of the young lady who was killed. I don't ever remember it raining so hard in the 27 years I lived there.

[aussielozzie18]

2 hours ago, Lionesss said:

So todays outing I introduced Zoey to a designer store.        “Le-WalMarte”. 
 

I wanted  her to take in all the sites so I put her in the seat and pushed the buggy backwards. She was calm and babbled non stop for the 75 min we walked——-up and down up and down did I say up and down all the aisle. 
 

The only fatality was her trying to eat a loofa. 
 

Many shoppers thought it was a good idea pushing buggy backwards. 
 

And Zoey received many compliments on being such a  beautiful girl. 

 

 

 

 

 

Took me a minute - Le Wal Marte.  love it. My mum always called Target “Tarjay”.  Not surprised Zoey got lots of compliments- she’s adorable.

[HBE4]

24 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

I don't ever remember it raining so hard in the 27 years I lived there.

 

Me neither, even when the occasional hurricane blows through.  I think it caught a lot of people off guard in terms of intensity and duration.

[reallyitsmema]

@dpostman Update on Portsmouth information.  Spoke to my son, he said they had dinner at The River House which was also lots of seafood but they did a decent burger lol  They moved on to the Thirsty Moose Taphouse which has over 100 tap lines and entertainment some nights.  Lots of local brews.  603 brewery is a favorite of this household.

[dpostman]

34 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

@dpostman Update on Portsmouth information.  Spoke to my son, he said they had dinner at The River House which was also lots of seafood but they did a decent burger lol  They moved on to the Thirsty Moose Taphouse which has over 100 tap lines and entertainment some nights.  Lots of local brews.  603 brewery is a favorite of this household.

Thanks for the extra info.

The River House view seems spectacular.

The Thirsty Moose is appealing since it is only a few steps from the Music Hall, and because it has lots of beer 😉

 

In Halifax NS, they have the Toothy Moose

 

dp

[reallyitsmema]

8 minutes ago, dpostman said:

Thanks for the extra info.

The River House view seems spectacular.

The Thirsty Moose is appealing since it is only a few steps from the Music Hall, and because it has lots of beer 😉

 

In Halifax NS, they have the Toothy Moose

 

dp

 

Yes, the view is really nice from River House.  The other restaurants I had said are in that block of buildings too and have great views too.  We were watching a couple of harbor seals playing when we were there last.

 

Not sure we will be able to go to the Toothy Moose when we are in Halifax in a few months.  We have been to Halifax a bunch of times, so likely will just get off the ship and decide what we do depending on the weather.  We are going to Sydney also, which is a new port for us.  We have rented a car and are going to do some of the Cabot Trail.  We don't like the crowded bus excursions, so will just do our own thing.

[dpostman]

19 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

Yes, the view is really nice from River House.  The other restaurants I had said are in that block of buildings too and have great views too.  We were watching a couple of harbor seals playing when we were there last.

 

Not sure we will be able to go to the Toothy Moose when we are in Halifax in a few months.  We have been to Halifax a bunch of times, so likely will just get off the ship and decide what we do depending on the weather.  We are going to Sydney also, which is a new port for us.  We have rented a car and are going to do some of the Cabot Trail.  We don't like the crowded bus excursions, so will just do our own thing.

I'm not sure if you are into libraries or not, but Halifax, considering the size of the city, has a SPECTACULAR library worth visiting.  It is walk-able from the port, but as in many port cities... it is uphill all the way there 😉

 

The Toothy moose is more of a night club anyway.

 

From Sydney, the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic site is only about an hour away.  Louisbourg Fortress is only 30 minutes but in the opposite direction and not towards the Cabot Trail.

 

My wife was the first to mention wanting to visit a library when we were in Helsinki.  The Oodi Central Library has set the benchmark for libraries, and now, it is me that drags my wife to visit worthy libraries wherever we travel.  They should not even call them libraries anymore, they remain a learning environment, but not only books anymore.

dp

[George C]

My sister just got back from their first celebrity cruise, they took their 2 daughters and son with their spouses and their 3 grandchildren with them on the new apex . One of my nieces got Covid at the tail end of the two week trip. What I thought was funny is my nieces 20 year old son won two Texas Holdem tournaments, and the one the last 3 players were him , his uncle and his dad . My one nephew this was his first cruise. 

[Momof3gurlz]

3 hours ago, grapau27 said:

This was on our Norwegian Fjords cruise in June.

We experienced the midnight sun every night.

 

Beautiful Graham.

[Momof3gurlz]

1 hour ago, dpostman said:

Thanks for the extra info.

The River House view seems spectacular.

The Thirsty Moose is appealing since it is only a few steps from the Music Hall, and because it has lots of beer 😉

 

In Halifax NS, they have the Toothy Moose

 

dp

I kid you not, here in RI we have a place called The Thirsty Beaver.

[h20skibum]

A couple things I learned today. 
 

1. I can no longer keep up in a race with these kids. 
 

2.  I can no longer put away as much food as they do.  
 

I do have a food picture from today’s lunch. 
 

 

Oh wait, that was a painkiller.  This is the food.  A shrimp boil.  It was pretty good

 

 

Meanwhile, my one grandson ate two crab leg dinners, and his sister had one.  And this was just for lunch. 
 

What is a trip to MB without some mini golf.  As expected, my golfing grandson had the low score. 
 

 

All in all, they are having a flipping good time. 
 

 

 

[dpostman]

4 minutes ago, Momof3gurlz said:

I kid you not, here in RI we have a place called The Thirsty Beaver.

🤣 That sounds "R" rated 

 

dp

[DaniDanielle]

My best friend used to live in Myrtle Beach.  She took us all over, so many restaurants and mini golf courses!   One time it snowed and we had the place all to ourselves as the natives didn’t know how to handle snow.  My son, daughter-in-law and grandson will be there in two weeks.

Enjoy

[BonTexasNY]

15 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

A couple things I learned today. 
 

1. I can no longer keep up in a race with these kids. 
 

2.  I can no longer put away as much food as they do.  
 

I do have a food picture from today’s lunch. 
 

 

Oh wait, that was a painkiller.  This is the food.  A shrimp boil.  It was pretty good

 

 

Meanwhile, my one grandson ate two crab leg dinners, and his sister had one.  And this was just for lunch. 
 

What is a trip to MB without some mini golf.  As expected, my golfing grandson had the low score. 
 

 

All in all, they are having a flipping good time. 
 

 

 

You always give your grandkids the best time!  Your granddaughter is quite the gymnast. 

How is Susan feeling?

[h20skibum]

3 minutes ago, BonTexasNY said:

You always give your grandkids the best time!  Your granddaughter is quite the gymnast. 

How is Susan feeling?

She is doing better, but is on meds for the next couple weeks yet.  Much more planned for the next few days, before we head home. 

[akcruz]

20 minutes ago, DaniDanielle said:

My best friend used to live in Myrtle Beach.  She took us all over, so many restaurants and mini golf courses!   One time it snowed and we had the place all to ourselves as the natives didn’t know how to handle snow.  My son, daughter-in-law and grandson will be there in two weeks.

Enjoy

 

We are north of Myrtle Beach.  We joked when we moved here we could go out to eat for the rest of our lives and not hit the same place twice.  Just went to a place last week for the first time that has been there over 30 years.  Take those places and all the new ones that open each year and it is endless.  Of course we have our favorites but always good to try out a new place.  Haven't hit the many mini golf places, keep saying we are going to, will definitely do at least one when the grandkids are here later this month.

[DaniDanielle]

I tell people there is a restaurant on every corner!

[brookmill18]

@HBE4 I couldn’t believe the footage as I was watching last night. That amount of rain is insane. My first teaching job was right next to Stony Point and at the time I took the Palisades every day to/from work. It’s so scary how quickly weather issues can turn. Stay safe

[Sunshine3601]

34 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

She is doing better, but is on meds for the next couple weeks yet.  Much more planned for the next few days, before we head home. 

Any plans of some sand art?   Would love to see some.  Your group always goes above and beyond🥰