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

[island lady]

15 hours ago, h20skibum said:

My son is in the north bay, and they are at 150 to 170.  He says he could smell the smoke when he picked up our grandson from school today.  
 

A friend lives up in El Dorado, and it is really bad up there.  More evacuations, and they can’t go outdoors it is so bad.  

 

El Dorado is one of my favorite wine areas...wonderful Zins.  Wonder how many wineries have lost their vines.  😞   

 

My cousin lives just south of there.  She has not been evacuated, but her friend up the mountain from her has, and could see the flames in the distance from her deck.  

 

So sad for everyone out there with those fires.  Bad enough with the draught, then add the fires in...very sad indeed.  🤕

[Ozark_Kid]

@island lady  It had to be crazy 😜 going without  Cell service as long as you did.   I am just 3 hours into poor service and I’m about to throw this iPad!

[island lady]

14 hours ago, davekathy said:

Agree.

 

Nope. Close though. The evening of day two we heard it was a free for all. So morning of day three, three of us headed south heading for Woodstock (Bethel). Took the back roads thru small farm villages. Pulled over. Three long hairs in a van. Profiling? Hmmm. Ends up all three of us were busted for not caring our draft cards. Escorted into the village(?) paid our fines (cash) and asked not to return. It could have been a lot worse. 😉 So we headed back north on fumes. Had to wait and see the movie in spring of 1970. It was released on my 18th birthday.

 

June of 2020 my wife and I had plans of flying back to NY and on our agenda was take a day and head down to Woodstock (Bethel). Crap, once again close to making it to Woodstock but we all now what happened to most travel plans. Bummer. Maybe Summer of 2022?

 

Wow...that is a wild story...and so true of the mind set of the "small town types" with attitude against the "long hairs". 

 

Had to carry my lap top in to Bucky to read your story to him.  We both got a good laugh out of it.  Geezz...arrested for not carrying your draft card!!  😖

[A&L_Ont]

2 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

We are finally on the road to Lake Erie!  All prayers for safe travels are welcomed!  Looking forward to eating at Skyline Chili.

Safe travels. 

[island lady]

10 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

@island lady  It had to be crazy 😜 going without  Cell service as long as you did.   I am just 3 hours into poor service and I’m about to throw this iPad!

 

LOL...yup.  If it were not for the Canadian cell towers out there (had to check to be sure I had international plan on my account)...I would have gone 4 weeks with no internet and no cell.  😮 

 

As it was, I could snag a rare signal from those Canadian towers at times, but having to stand outside to talk to anyone.  Sometimes I had a signal strong enough to drive the lap top for internet using my phone as hot spot, but it did not last long.  

 

We obviously ruled out renting or buying that far north into the wilderness in the future.  😉 

[Ozark_Kid]

@Lionesss Looks like after we get close to Ft Wayne, we will cut into Ohio onto hwy 24 and then to hwy 80.  Does that mean I am not going to get close enough to pick up some of the leftover snacks you made up for the wedding?

[Ozark_Kid]

5 minutes ago, island lady said:

Sometimes I had a signal strong enough to drive the lap top for internet using my phone as hot spot, but it did not last long.  

 

We obviously ruled out renting or buying that far north into the wilderness in the future.  😉 

I am using my hot spot for this trip.  I upgraded my phone on our plan just for the hot spot service.  We are out of the hills now but still out.  Should, fingers crossed, have a good connection. 
 

There was an addition built near ours that drops into a valley.  When we found out it had poor cell service we ruled out moving there.

 

 

[Ozark_Kid]

We just passed some old memories.  We past Lambert’s restaurant.  They were known for their homemade rolls but more known for tossing a roll to you when you wanted another one.

[davekathy]

2 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Wow...that is a wild story...and so true of the mind set of the "small town types" with attitude against the "long hairs". 

 

Had to carry my lap top in to Bucky to read your story to him.  We both got a good laugh out of it.  Geezz...arrested for not carrying your draft card!!  😖

Yep, "three 17 year old, skinny guys with hair down the middle of our backs wearing tie dye shirts, cut off jeans in a van" with pot hid up under the dashboard (which he never new we had, 😂) stopped by a red neck cop. It wasn't my first time or last time for being harassed (discrimination) by the cops (including the small village I grew up in) or others based on how I looked. Including my father.  Agree bogus charge and if not that I'm sure he would have come up with something else to charge us with. No doubt. The bigger question is where did the money actually go since we never went to court? Paid cash and sent on our way. Hmmm? Believe me we were in no position to argue or question this cop or even question him why he pulled us over to begin with. You and I know why (Back to the first sentence). Like I said it could have turned out a lot worse for us. Looking back, I'm glad and proud I was part of the 60's movement. ✌️Our 2022 NY trip Kathy and I will head down to Bethel (hopefully) to visit the site and museum of Woodstock. Plan on taking the same route my friends and I did in 1969. I'll tell her when we get south of Cobleskill to watch out for the cops. 😂

[davekathy]

50 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

LOL...I hear ya' there!!  If you notice, all my pictures have been with me absent.  😉  Ditto to hating having my picture taken.  I am the "mystery girl".  😄 

 

That's the pits your ex has your dog tags! 😠  Curiosity just rose..so I just asked Bucky if he had his dog tags.  He said he still has one...somewhere...but no idea where.  😉  I know he has his purple heart, since I saw it many years ago...but no idea where that thing ended up either. 

 

I agree. Especially on CC. I don't want to take a chance someone from CC will recognize me on a cruise and throw me overboard.  I don't even say anything about CC or attend any of the M&Ms.      😂 

 

I have a couple things I kept from that time in my life. But not much. The day I was set free, I threw my duffle bag that was full of uniforms and other junk in a salvation army donation bin and never looked back for many, many, many years. 

[DaniDanielle]

Made it home from the Oasis Simulation.  Good time was had by all!  What a pleasure not waiting for elevators and the elevators being empty when they come😊

[Lionesss]

1 hour ago, Ozark_Kid said:

@Lionesss Looks like after we get close to Ft Wayne, we will cut into Ohio onto hwy 24 and then to hwy 80.  Does that mean I am not going to get close enough to pick up some of the leftover snacks you made up for the wedding?

 

We had less than 3 dozen cookies left from the wedding and the "other" parents hijacked them.

I did not care, I actually only had one cookie the whole time.

I would rather waste carbs on Lays potato chips than cookies.

Even though I am a great pastry chef, they do little for me.

 

I 80 is a very busy route through Ohio.

You have many choices of cutting north to Lake Erie.

Use your GPS or should I say  Police tracking device.

I use WAYS (sp).

 

Pennsylvania to the border of Ohio is a money maker.

They camp out on bridges and use the laser and then photo camera to send you your speeding ticket in 7 - 10 business days.

The daughter got busted and paid over $150.

Rte 11 is quick route and by Chardon is a state highway  money maker.

 

Be safe which ever way you go.

 

Were headed to the Akron lakes tomorrow to do boating on a pontoon boat with friends, then docking at "The Ramp" for dinner.

 

It is supposed to be hot, chance of rain. 

 

 

Drive safely.

 

 

[Arzeena]

We are back from the Equinox cruise.
 

Made it to  St Croix this time.
Favorite ports: St Lucia (always) and Domenica.
 

St Lucia was free flow, no curated excursion required. Went to Reduit Beach via taxi. Taxi was allowed to take only one family, so not a shuttle like before.
 

Did not get off in Antigua since Celebrity excursion was required and no way going with a bus packed like sardines. From past experience their excursions are worse than going on on your own.

Grenada and St Kitts were replaced with Aruba and Curacao which were free flow. Aruba has a curfew from 10 pm to 5 am. Only four people to a group or one family, for table occupancies. Social distancing was good and followed. We took a cab to Palm Beach.

 

Ship occupancy was 1390 ish per concierge.

 

Enjoyed the "no wait" and "no lines" empty ship.

 

Captain announced one positive Covid case while sailaway from St Croix. He mentioned that contacts had been traced and tested negative. Announcement was short and no other details. Saw many people wearing masks and so did we when deemed necessary.  Captain reminded us to wear our tracelets at all times. People wore them in different manners: on ankles, on belts, etc . No other covid cases. We did come few hours early due to a non covid related emergency.

 

We enjoyed the cruise. It was no Edge, but just cannot complain. Crew was  excellent. Mainly from Phillipines, Indonesia, Mauritius, Eastern Europe, Mexico. Some mentioned that their contracts were cut to 5 months....no idea why, but they speculated they may be going to other ships.

 

Blessed to be able to do what we love to do.

 

[Arzeena]

22 minutes ago, DaniDanielle said:

Made it home from the Oasis Simulation.  Good time was had by all!  What a pleasure not waiting for elevators and the elevators being empty when they come😊

I want to hear all about it please?

Did  Cape Liberty have the facial recognition after you disembark yet? I cannot remember. It is in Port Everglades and disembarkation was the fastest I have been through.

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by Arzeena

[Ozark_Kid]

4 minutes ago, Lionesss said:

Use your GPS or should I say  Police tracking device.

I use WAYS (sp).

The wife is using waze.  The one thing I remember about Ohio is the speed traps.  It only took a couple of miles over to get busted.

 

I lived most of my young years near Akron, which used to be known as the rubber capital of the world.  One of my first jobs was with B.F. Goodrich.  We lived in Medina.  While watching the game shows The Hustler and Jeopardy we saw each had a contestant from Medina.  Small world.

[Momof3gurlz]

4 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

We are finally on the road to Lake Erie!  All prayers for safe travels are welcomed!  Looking forward to eating at Skyline Chili.

Hope you have a great time & safe travels.

[Ozark_Kid]

It’s great to hear how folks are getting back to cruising and having a great time on them.  I think we would of enjoyed the itinerary.  So the ship stopped at Antigua.  They canceled  our stop there on Symphony in October.  I was looking forward to it.  I had never been there.

[h20skibum]

I came in from a hard morning of yard work (where were all those people that love it?), and found my wife watching “Love at Sea” that was filmed on Harmony.  She said it really made her want to get back to cruising.  

Speaking of cruising, we got a friendly reminder email from our TA that they would be processing our final payment soon for our First week of our Oasis B2B. Not wanting to wish time away, but I am so ready for a cruise.  I am even back in to searching for other cruises next year. 

So a question for those who love mowing, raking leaves, etc.  Does anyone have an easy way for picking up acorns?   At our house, we are just entering acorn season.  This morning, I filled one of these 95 gallon carts about half full with them.  In bumper crop years, I will get over 600 gallons from my yard, and this will be a bumper crop year. 

 

If anyone has found something that will pick these up, I would like to know. 

 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Arzeena said:

Did  Cape Liberty have the facial recognition after you disembark yet?

Yes, on the way in for check in as well - whether it’s used is another matter. 

[DaniDanielle]

1 hour ago, Arzeena said:

I want to hear all about it please?

Did  Cape Liberty have the facial recognition after you disembark yet? I cannot remember. It is in Port Everglades and disembarkation was the fastest I have been through.

 

Facial recognition was great.  We got our luggage, faces recognized and out to pickup area in fifteen minutes from leaving stateroom.  Would have been faster but escalator was out!

Oasis is amazing, always has been my favorite.  Crew were outstanding.  CocoCay was beautiful, we lucked out and made it back to the ship before downpours.  Don’t know if I will be able to go back to a crowded ship😳

[island lady]

2 hours ago, davekathy said:

Yep, "three 17 year old, skinny guys with hair down the middle of our backs wearing tie dye shirts, cut off jeans in a van" with pot hid up under the dashboard (which he never new we had, 😂) stopped by a red neck cop. It wasn't my first time or last time for being harassed (discrimination) by the cops (including the small village I grew up in) or others based on how I looked. Including my father.  Agree bogus charge and if not that I'm sure he would have come up with something else to charge us with. No doubt. The bigger question is where did the money actually go since we never went to court? Paid cash and sent on our way. Hmmm? Believe me we were in no position to argue or question this cop or even question him why he pulled us over to begin with. You and I know why (Back to the first sentence). Like I said it could have turned out a lot worse for us. Looking back, I'm glad and proud I was part of the 60's movement. ✌️Our 2022 NY trip Kathy and I will head down to Bethel (hopefully) to visit the site and museum of Woodstock. Plan on taking the same route my friends and I did in 1969. I'll tell her when we get south of Cobleskill to watch out for the cops. 😂

 

Wow...read this one to Bucky as well.  Too funny...though I am sure was not at all funny at the time!  😮 

 

Yup, Bucky ran into the same thing at the same age.  Then his Dad forced him to join the Army, ushering him down to the recruiter.  Was that...or....  😳

 

Worst thing was he ran into the most grief when he returned from his 2 tours of Vietnam.  No hero's welcome for you guys...which is far worse.  The military coming home now are treated with praise and respect, which is good for them...bad sad for what you guys went through on return.  😞   

[Sunshine3601]

On 8/27/2021 at 10:08 AM, dani negreanu said:

 

 

.... and sometimes more than one copy, even 5, for example, to be filed and distributed to various divisions....

 

When a I got accepted to the University (1969), my father bought me a portable type writer with a huge novelty -- an automatic space bar....

 

1973 -- IBM's Selectric -- such a huge improvement !! I'm still keeping 2 balls 😁

Remember "white out" came in different colors - canary, goldenrod are the first two I can remember using.

[George C]

2 hours ago, DaniDanielle said:

Made it home from the Oasis Simulation.  Good time was had by all!  What a pleasure not waiting for elevators and the elevators being empty when they come😊

Someone asked what was the biggest difference of cruising with reduced capacity, I told them , no waiting for elevators.

[Sunshine3601]

23 hours ago, DaniDanielle said:

I believe we have just under 1000.  Empty elevators are awesome!  It just seems sad that the casino is pretty empty.

I read on one of the live threads there was something like 600 to 625 passengers on your test cruise.    Any under 1000 had to feel so empty, which is good and bad.   I like when the casino is hopping with good vibes.   did the casino give out certificates at the end of your sailing?

[Sunshine3601]

6 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

We are finally on the road to Lake Erie!  All prayers for safe travels are welcomed!  Looking forward to eating at Skyline Chili.

Excellent to hear your family trip is still on!     Safe travels, Enjoy and have fun😍