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

[Keksie]

Well this week has been a challenge.  My son moved to Florida for many reasons but one was to help his father  who was having some health problems.  Sunday my son called me to let me know his father had fallen while he was leaving a restaurant and had broken his hip.  Monday they did a hip replacement.  Tuesday my son called to say that his dad was being moved to icu because he was not doing well.  His dad ended up passing away that night.  It has been really hard on my son. Today the funeral home said the ME might have to do an autopsy to find a clear cause of death for the death certificate.   Even more challenging is the fact that my Ex left a financial mess for my son to decipher. My heart hurts for my son having to go through all this.  I am thankful that my son's fiance is such a wonderful young woman who has been there for him.

[StanleyandGus]

4 minutes ago, Keksie said:

Well this week has been a challenge.  My son moved to Florida for many reasons but one was to help his father  who was having some health problems.  Sunday my son called me to let me know his father had fallen while he was leaving a restaurant and had broken his hip.  Monday they did a hip replacement.  Tuesday my son called to say that his dad was being moved to icu because he was not doing well.  His dad ended up passing away that night.  It has been really hard on my son. Today the funeral home said the ME might have to do an autopsy to find a clear cause of death for the death certificate.   Even more challenging is the fact that my Ex left a financial mess for my son to decipher. My heart hurts for my son having to go through all this.  I am thankful that my son's fiance is such a wonderful young woman who has been there for him.

How heartbreaking for your son. 

[Tree_skier]

8 hours ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

We were expecting it to be really cold here in Akureyri, Iceland today but it turned out to be really nice.  No heavy jacket needed.  This was the path we took at the Godofoss Falls.

 

 

Myvatn Lake

 

Wow!

[derorim]

1 hour ago, Keksie said:

Well this week has been a challenge.  My son moved to Florida for many reasons but one was to help his father  who was having some health problems.  Sunday my son called me to let me know his father had fallen while he was leaving a restaurant and had broken his hip.  Monday they did a hip replacement.  Tuesday my son called to say that his dad was being moved to icu because he was not doing well.  His dad ended up passing away that night.  It has been really hard on my son. Today the funeral home said the ME might have to do an autopsy to find a clear cause of death for the death certificate.   Even more challenging is the fact that my Ex left a financial mess for my son to decipher. My heart hurts for my son having to go through all this.  I am thankful that my son's fiance is such a wonderful young woman who has been there for him.

What a sad situation for your son to be faced with. I’m glad he has the support of his fiancé and also from you.  Heartfelt {HUGS} to you all.

[aussielozzie18]

Please accept my condolences @Sunshine3601 on the loss of your dear friend Mike, @Keksie on the sudden loss of his father that your son is currently dealing with and the loss of your beloved family pet, Cooper @jagsfan

Edited September 1, 2023 by aussielozzie18

[aussielozzie18]

@mo&fran I hope you continue to manage to consume food as you continue with your treatment.

 

@ReneeFLL &  @sea2shiningsea your photos are beautiful.

 

Hope @singinalot and those of you and your family members have not suffered much damage during the storms.

 

Wishing @sgmn and @dani negreanu and everyone else who has an upcoming cruise a lovely holiday.

 

Apologies, if I have missed anyone this week.

[aussielozzie18]

Until last year, Australia was free of the varroa mite.  In June of last year, they were discovered in sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle, just over 2hrs north of us.  The Dept of Agriculture has since been trying to contain this infestation and stop the spread of the outbreak.
This week, my dad’s friends who live in a rural area in the North of Sydney were informed by the Dept of Agriculture that all their honeybees would need to be exterminated and their hives burnt.  Very sad. Now, my dad’s friends that keep honeybees on the Northern Beaches are on knife edge as to whether they will be forced to do the same very soon as the infestation continues to head towards the Sydney basin.

 

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

Good morning!  It is a brisk 39 degrees outside.

 

 

We missed the full moon the other night.  This morning’s is still sort of full.  The seagull wanted his picture taken, too. 🙂

My feet picture 

 

[grapau27]

7 hours ago, Keksie said:

Well this week has been a challenge.  My son moved to Florida for many reasons but one was to help his father  who was having some health problems.  Sunday my son called me to let me know his father had fallen while he was leaving a restaurant and had broken his hip.  Monday they did a hip replacement.  Tuesday my son called to say that his dad was being moved to icu because he was not doing well.  His dad ended up passing away that night.  It has been really hard on my son. Today the funeral home said the ME might have to do an autopsy to find a clear cause of death for the death certificate.   Even more challenging is the fact that my Ex left a financial mess for my son to decipher. My heart hurts for my son having to go through all this.  I am thankful that my son's fiance is such a wonderful young woman who has been there for him.

I'm so sorry to hear your sad news @Keksie.

Condolences to your son, yourself and his family and friends.

[grapau27]

Rabbit 🐇 Rabbit 🐇 White rabbit 🐰 for good luck this new month to all on Dani's @dani negreanu thread.

It is cloudy and 62°F here in the UK.

I hope everyone is safe and well.

[grapau27]

12 hours ago, mo&fran said:

Just got back from my radiation appointment. Thursdays, the Dr checks my progress, and he was impressed with the progress with the lumps decrease in size. Tuesda they will do scan, and he expects a big reduction in the power of the radiation to concentrate on eradicating the cancer.  

 Now eating what I can, supplemented by PEG tube feedings.

I'm happy to hear your fantastic news.

Graham.

[Sunshine3601]

8 hours ago, Keksie said:

Well this week has been a challenge.  My son moved to Florida for many reasons but one was to help his father  who was having some health problems.  Sunday my son called me to let me know his father had fallen while he was leaving a restaurant and had broken his hip.  Monday they did a hip replacement.  Tuesday my son called to say that his dad was being moved to icu because he was not doing well.  His dad ended up passing away that night.  It has been really hard on my son. Today the funeral home said the ME might have to do an autopsy to find a clear cause of death for the death certificate.   Even more challenging is the fact that my Ex left a financial mess for my son to decipher. My heart hurts for my son having to go through all this.  I am thankful that my son's fiance is such a wonderful young woman who has been there for him.

So sorry to hear of this loss.  

Maybe he had a blood clot issue after the surgery.

Happy to hear your Son's Fiance is there to support him through this loss.  

May he RIP🙏

Edited September 1, 2023 by Sunshine3601

[h20skibum]

15 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Rabbit 🐇 Rabbit 🐇 White rabbit 🐰 for good luck this new month to all on Dani's @dani negreanu thread.

It is cloudy and 62°F here in the UK.

I hope everyone is safe and well.

It is only 49° at our house this morning.  
 

Speaking of good luck, it has been said that carrying an acorn in your pocket will bring you good luck.  
 

That being said, I already gathered seven “buckets of luck” from my yard yesterday.  If anyone needs one, I am sure I could market them like Royal and sell them at 30% off.  
 

 

 

[jmh2006]

13 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

Same here Debbie. Andy thinks he would go stir crazy with that many sea days. Which means he’d be driving me nuts so I don’t see one in our future.  

 

12 hours ago, akcruz said:

 

I am with the 2 of you, I think I would love it, Jim not so much.  He starts going stir crazy with 2 consecutive sea days 🤷‍♀️

Deb and April, add Dave to Andy and Jim's viewpoint. 🤣

11 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I'm with you.  I Love sea days, reading and relaxing.   Maybe all us girls should do a TA and leave the guys at home.  😇😁

That sounds like a great idea!!!

[bobmacliberty]

26 minutes ago, jmh2006 said:

 

Deb and April, add Dave to Andy and Jim's viewpoint. 🤣

That sounds like a great idea!!!

 

We never quite got bored on our TP from Vancouver to Hawaii last fall, but we weren't exactly excited either.  The sea days did start to run together.  We enjoyed the evening activities much more than the day time stuff.  It didn't help that Micheline had lingering back issues for the early part of the cruise.  We were happy when the cruise was over and we could enjoy Hawaii. 

 

If you have plenty of time (i.e. retired) and you enjoy spending a lot of time reading or otherwise just relaxing, then a TA/TP is a great way to get to a destination with very little impact on your body from time changes.  It was nice being in Hawaii with zero jet lag.  We however like to be more active and do new things.  In the future, we'll probably just fly and spend more time where we're going. 

[Keksie]

5 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Until last year, Australia was free of the varroa mite.  In June of last year, they were discovered in sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle, just over 2hrs north of us.  The Dept of Agriculture has since been trying to contain this infestation and stop the spread of the outbreak.
This week, my dad’s friends who live in a rural area in the North of Sydney were informed by the Dept of Agriculture that all their honeybees would need to be exterminated and their hives burnt.  Very sad. Now, my dad’s friends that keep honeybees on the Northern Beaches are on knife edge as to whether they will be forced to do the same very soon as the infestation continues to head towards the Sydney basin.

 

That is so sad.  I hope they get the mites under control quickly before more honeybees are lost.  Bees are so important.

[HBE4]

11 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

We love Serenade and have sailed on her for a month in 2020 before lockdown and something like 25 days January 2019.   

 

We haven't been onboard her since 2020 and really looking forward to our 12 night repo sailing on 9.12.  We know this ship very well...love this ship class.

 

We always wanted to sail Serenade again but never did. We were a bit hesitant  to sail her at first since every other cruise had been on a ship with a Royal Promenade & more dining/drinking venues and thought we'd miss all the "bells & whistles" of the bigger ships.  But the ship had great reviews, it was a great price for the time & we like the itinerary - Southern Caribbean out of San Juan. Turns out, it was one of our more favorite cruises. We did transitional late-seating dining and were assigned to 10-top table.  We immedialty hit it off with all 4 other couples & spent a a lot of time doing things with them during the cruise, hanging out late into the night & a few last minute excursions. Would have loved to go back & explore the ship more but never happened.

 

i like your itinerary & once I get my sea legs back, I might check it out in future years.  I have several  friends that live in the Tampa area (like an hour in each direction) and it would be a great opportunity to visit them & cruise back close to home.

 

[HBE4]

11 hours ago, Keksie said:

Well this week has been a challenge.  My son moved to Florida for many reasons but one was to help his father  who was having some health problems.  Sunday my son called me to let me know his father had fallen while he was leaving a restaurant and had broken his hip.  Monday they did a hip replacement.  Tuesday my son called to say that his dad was being moved to icu because he was not doing well.  His dad ended up passing away that night.  It has been really hard on my son. Today the funeral home said the ME might have to do an autopsy to find a clear cause of death for the death certificate.   Even more challenging is the fact that my Ex left a financial mess for my son to decipher. My heart hurts for my son having to go through all this.  I am thankful that my son's fiance is such a wonderful young woman who has been there for him.

 

So sorry to hear this, for both your son and you. It's a good thing that your son has a great support system in his fiance to help him deal with all the things, which I'm sure must also put your mind at ease that he's in good hands.

 

[sgmn]

13 hours ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

Our Bermuda cruise on Saturday got changed due to the Hurricane.  We are now going to Portland Maine and Halifax Nova Scotia.  Those are both new ports for us so any recommendations are welcome.  We are totally good with it.

 

Cheers 🍻

Mark

It's very easy to hire a car in Halifax. There's a couple of car hire places a few minutes walk from the ship. Last visit we took the hire car to Peggy's Cove where we met some friends and then drove down to Lunenburg

[George C]

56 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

We never quite got bored on our TP from Vancouver to Hawaii last fall, but we weren't exactly excited either.  The sea days did start to run together.  We enjoyed the evening activities much more than the day time stuff.  It didn't help that Micheline had lingering back issues for the early part of the cruise.  We were happy when the cruise was over and we could enjoy Hawaii. 

 

If you have plenty of time (i.e. retired) and you enjoy spending a lot of time reading or otherwise just relaxing, then a TA/TP is a great way to get to a destination with very little impact on your body from time changes.  It was nice being in Hawaii with zero jet lag.  We however like to be more active and do new things.  In the future, we'll probably just fly and spend more time where we're going. 

We did a Hawaii to Vancouver about 20 years ago , what I thought was interesting was gift shop had shorts and summer outfits to sell at beginning then shifted to sweat shirts and cold weather gear afterwards, ship then went to Alaska but we got off at Vancouver. Still haven’t done Alaska in our 75 or so cruises.

[Ocean Boy]

3 hours ago, h20skibum said:

It is only 49° at our house this morning.  
 

Speaking of good luck, it has been said that carrying an acorn in your pocket will bring you good luck.  
 

That being said, I already gathered seven “buckets of luck” from my yard yesterday.  If anyone needs one, I am sure I could market them like Royal and sell them at 30% off.  
 

 

 

Make sure you raise the price for the big Labor Day sale.

[Arzeena]

11 hours ago, Keksie said:

Well this week has been a challenge.  My son moved to Florida for many reasons but one was to help his father  who was having some health problems.  Sunday my son called me to let me know his father had fallen while he was leaving a restaurant and had broken his hip.  Monday they did a hip replacement.  Tuesday my son called to say that his dad was being moved to icu because he was not doing well.  His dad ended up passing away that night.  It has been really hard on my son. Today the funeral home said the ME might have to do an autopsy to find a clear cause of death for the death certificate.   Even more challenging is the fact that my Ex left a financial mess for my son to decipher. My heart hurts for my son having to go through all this.  I am thankful that my son's fiance is such a wonderful young woman who has been there for him.

Very sorry for your son's loss.
Prayers for him and loved ones.

 

[sgmn]

11 hours ago, Keksie said:

Well this week has been a challenge.  My son moved to Florida for many reasons but one was to help his father  who was having some health problems.  Sunday my son called me to let me know his father had fallen while he was leaving a restaurant and had broken his hip.  Monday they did a hip replacement.  Tuesday my son called to say that his dad was being moved to icu because he was not doing well.  His dad ended up passing away that night.  It has been really hard on my son. Today the funeral home said the ME might have to do an autopsy to find a clear cause of death for the death certificate.   Even more challenging is the fact that my Ex left a financial mess for my son to decipher. My heart hurts for my son having to go through all this.  I am thankful that my son's fiance is such a wonderful young woman who has been there for him.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your sons dad. Especially as it happened do unexpectedly and quickly

 I'm sure  his fiancé will be a big support as will you

[sgmn]

6 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Until last year, Australia was free of the varroa mite.  In June of last year, they were discovered in sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle, just over 2hrs north of us.  The Dept of Agriculture has since been trying to contain this infestation and stop the spread of the outbreak.
This week, my dad’s friends who live in a rural area in the North of Sydney were informed by the Dept of Agriculture that all their honeybees would need to be exterminated and their hives burnt.  Very sad. Now, my dad’s friends that keep honeybees on the Northern Beaches are on knife edge as to whether they will be forced to do the same very soon as the infestation continues to head towards the Sydney basin.

 

Awful news. We need more honey bees, they are in decline here as well 

[Ocean Boy]

29 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

We always wanted to sail Serenade again but never did. We were a bit hesitant  to sail her at first since every other cruise had been on a ship with a Royal Promenade & more dining/drinking venues and thought we'd miss all the "bells & whistles" of the bigger ships.  But the ship had great reviews, it was a great price for the time & we like the itinerary - Southern Caribbean out of San Juan. Turns out, it was one of our more favorite cruises. We did transitional late-seating dining and were assigned to 10-top table.  We immedialty hit it off with all 4 other couples & spent a a lot of time doing things with them during the cruise, hanging out late into the night & a few last minute excursions. Would have loved to go back & explore the ship more but never happened.

 

i like your itinerary & once I get my sea legs back, I might check it out in future years.  I have several  friends that live in the Tampa area (like an hour in each direction) and it would be a great opportunity to visit them & cruise back close to home.

 

We did the Southern out of San Juan on Serenade also. That was back when we were cruising in a larger family group and my parents would come along. Serenade is a beautiful ship but my mother reminded me several times that she missed the Royal Promenade and I did too. If it had not been such a port intensive cruise (one sea day at the end) I'm sure I would have had more reminders. Mom can be a bit persistent.🙂