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

[dani negreanu]

14 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

When at St Thomas we have been to Megan’s Bay a few times and enjoyed it.  Last time we were there we went to another beach recommended by a local shop owner but I don’t remember the name.  We will be there in October, any recommendations on what to do?  We are also stopping at St John’s for the first time.  Any recommendations for here too?

 

When we were in St. John's Antigua (March 2017) we booked a private tour with Elmo Luxury Antigua (who sadly, since then, doesn't exist anymore...). He was amazing. It cost 100$ pp.

I've chosen all the highlights (in my eyes, of course) -- Devil's bridge, Shirley Heights, Betty's hope, Nelson dockyard and the Fig Tree drive. 

Don't miss the Devil's bridge, should you choose this tour. Not every tour operator goes there, the road is awful.

Just to point out that, since we live a mere 10 min drive from a beautiful Mediterranean beach, when cruising, we look for other "attractions" 😉

 

 

8 hours ago, Coralc said:

I think your cruise will be docking at St John's Antigua. Antigua has 365 beaches. Last time we were there we took the helicopter excursion over Montserrat. It was expensive, but awesome. 

 

There is also another island near St. Thomas called St. John. It is a beautiful island, and worth visiting. It is generally easier to take a ship excursion over and visit Trunk Bay (as Sea Dog mentioned). If you do it on your own, it involves 4 buses and 2 ferry rides. Which was fine. But if we do it again, we will just take the ship excursion.  

 

We very very rarely take ship excursions.... But in this "case", which involved ferry ride, we opted for the ship's. We were a bit disappointed, since the St. John natural park visit, which was for us the main draw, was very very short....

 

[dani negreanu]

15 minutes ago, Lionesss said:

Good advice from my dad.

 

Turns out your dad was BIG in good advices...😉

[Arzeena]

12 hours ago, Momof3gurlz said:

A few times but not regularly.  There was a great comedian on one of our Gem cruises, I think his name was Tim Kaminsky?  And on the 2017 cruise there was a fantastic musical group that featured a married Filipino couple as the lead singers (husband may have been Hawaiian?) Can’t recall their names but we would go listen wherever they were playing.  On the final night of that cruise they did a crew member talent show in the Atrium.  The ship captain did a fabulous job singing & playing guitar.  

Tim Kaminsky, yes, Brenda Kaye (hyptonist), Alison and Zander (illusionist), some Donahue (Murphy OBrian), Dave Heenan( looooong time ago), Jerry with a J,   Oh God so many more I know I enjoyes but the names escape me.

I remember the couple...Ariel and something? I remember Jose and Patti who were great but their crowd was mainly the Shushing Karens who scolded you if you clapped and cheered loudly, so I lost interest in those performances.

[Sea Dog]

3 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I like Cinnamon Bay better.

I need to go to Cinnamon Bay. Sounds wonderful.

[lenquixote66]

44 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Trunk bay is paradise.

As you know my wife and I have been on 8 cruises with Eva and Bob .I wonder if you ever met any of the following:

Susan and Ray from NJ.We have been on 7 cruises with them.They cruise mainly with The Gem and RCI ships .

Patricia and Jim from Manhattan.They cruise exclusively with NCI.we have been on a few with them.

Evie and Phil from NJ.We have been on 5 with them,mainly on RCI.

Linda and her late husband from Long Island .They only cruised on NCL .

He was a medical doctor.

[dani negreanu]

5 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Yesterday, we made a trip to the Linesville Spillway to feed the fish with our grandson.  

 

4 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

The fish were like this at the Palace of Versailles.  When they saw a human at the shore line they all bunched up. 

 

We did our "part" at the Japanese Temple in Honolulu 😉

 

[A&L_Ont]

46 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

We did our "part" at the Japanese Temple in Honolulu 😉

It looks like you did as well. The fish at the 17th street Embassy Suites do this too, just on a smaller scale. 
 

Sharon is doing well too.  She has a bit of swelling going to which the Dr prescribed a different type of eye drop. If it doesn’t go down they can use a laser to take care of it, but it is a wait and see if that needs to be done. 

Edited July 11, 2021 by A&L_Ont

[George C]

1 hour ago, singinalot said:

 

last year we took the ferry from St Thomas to St. john and went to Trunk Bay. It was very worth it and one of the most beautiful beaches

That is definitely my favorite, went there many times , first time was in 1979. Only problem is it’s not that easy to get too, they have used that in some movies also. We were in St Thomas a few days ago , but went shopping. 

[A&L_Ont]

Lucy the other day in the gardens was zipping around like she was crazy on cat nip. 
 

She’d sit still for a minute. 
 

 

Then she’d bolt like she was barrel racing. 
 

 

She even climbed the tree. It was interesting to watch. 
 

Edited July 11, 2021 by A&L_Ont

[Sunshine3601]

16 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

When at St Thomas we have been to Megan’s Bay a few times and enjoyed it.  Last time we were there we went to another beach recommended by a local shop owner but I don’t remember the name.  We will be there in October, any recommendations on what to do?  We are also stopping at St John’s for the first time.  Any recommendations for here too?

The last time we were in st thomas we did a royal excursion where you ride underwater scooters with big helmets that connect to an air/oxygen tank.   It was really fun and we got lots of great underwater photos too.  

[grapau27]

It was a fairly routine Sunday today.

We went to church this morning then went to the beach for a couple of hours.

It was 70°F and sunny until about 3pm and we were sitting in the garden.

We then had 30 minutes of rain and it has brightened up now.

We have just had bacon sandwiches and it is now 18.05 and we are watching Theresa (Long Island medium) on TV.

I'm looking forward to the Euro final starting at 20.00 between England and Italy.

I hope everyone is enjoying whatever they are doing today.

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

1 hour ago, dani negreanu said:

 

 

We did our "part" at the Japanese Temple in Honolulu 😉

 

 

Looks like we might have gone to the same place-, Byodo-In Temple in O’ahu.  

 

 

 

[ATG]

4 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

It was a fairly routine Sunday today.

We went to church this morning then went to the beach for a couple of hours.

It was 70°F and sunny until about 3pm and we were sitting in the garden.

We then had 30 minutes of rain and it has brightened up now.

We have just had bacon sandwiches and it is now 18.05 and we are watching Theresa (Long Island medium) on TV.

I'm looking forward to the Euro final starting at 20.00 between England and Italy.

I hope everyone is enjoying whatever they are doing today.

Good luck to England this afternoon.  I hope the game is as exciting as the Copa America final last night.  Congratulations to Argentina and Messi for finally winning a trophy.

[h20skibum]

16 minutes ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

Looks like we might have gone to the same place-, Byodo-In Temple in O’ahu.  

I think everyone who has been to Hawaii has been there at least once.  Beautiful place. 

[h20skibum]

My 8 YO grandson, who lives near us in PA, took up golf last fall.  He entered the qualifying round of the PGA Drive Chip Putt competition.  Qualifiers go from the local round, to Nemacolin, to Oak Hill CC in Rochester, to the finals at Augusta. 

 

My daughter was with him while he was playing, when SIL texted her and asked if she saw Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh Steelers QB) there. She looks around, and tells him “He is with his son in our group.  I thought it was the guy from the YMCA that looks like him.”

 

So how did grandson do?  He didn’t make it as one of the finalists, but played good enough to get an alternate spot.  Not bad for not playing for that long.  Daughter will soon find out how expensive this hobby is. 

[A&L_Ont]

Owen had a ball game yesterday about an hour from home. Even though it was overcast we didn’t need to use the bleachers. Perfect weather for sitting outside. 
 

Owen’s team was ahead for half of the game. At this age everyone still pitches and Owen had his turn in the third inning. Our coach doesn’t put the pitchers into the batting order until they are done pitching.

 

So Owen didn’t play/bat until he was done pitching. Then he takes a field position and that player gets rotated out. This game we used 5 pitchers, one for each inning, and not our strongest ones. That is except for the bottom of the last inning. More to come. 
 

Owen did well even though he isn’t a fan of pitching. The other team actually got three runs in when Owen was pitching to take the lead. Their kids hit dingers and their smaller kids refused to swing. 
 

The tongue in cheek must be the focus point. 
 

 

Owen finished pitching in the bottom of the third and was the second to last batter in the top of the 4th. First at bat he had two RBIs on his single to left field. A bit of redemption. They scored no runs in in the bottom of the 4th. 
 

Top of the 5th.  This would be the last inning as the game almost hit the 2 hour max, so they had to play out the entire inning which was dependant on the score. Owen’s team got a few more runs to be in the lead by 3. Owen had a solid hit but he ended up being out with a forced play at third. 
 

Bottom of the 5th, we brought in our closer.  They ended up getting in two runs, with the bases loaded and one out. At bat was their biggest player, who we first joked was a coach. 6’3” and weighed 190lbs at 14. He hit dingers earlier in the game and he did again.
 

This time Owen was in the outfield. He caught the pop fly and threw the ball to second base. That runner tagged up and was safe. However the tying run at third was already across home plate and almost in their dugout. The issue, he didn’t tag up. The ball was thrown to third, and the ump called him out.
 

Double play and GAME OVER. What a crazy ending.  The hour drive home wasn’t bad at all. They are currently tied for first but in reality are second by a close run percentage. 

 

Final score.

 

 

Edited July 11, 2021 by A&L_Ont

[Sea Dog]

2 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

Owen did well even though he isn’t a fan of pitching.

 

 

Great form and technique. Nice extension.

[h20skibum]

We did manage to get a short hike in this morning, before the rain came. 
 

 

Seeking shelter in the cave

 

 

And leaping puddles after the rain

 

 

A nice section of trail

 

 

Edited July 11, 2021 by h20skibum

[A&L_Ont]

4 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

We did manage to get a short hike in this morning, before the rain came. 

It’s great to see you out and about even with the weather. The grandkids look be be having an amazing time. We are just hanging and relaxing today. Jays game is on TV right now. 

[A&L_Ont]

13 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

So how did grandson do?  He didn’t make it as one of the finalists, but played good enough to get an alternate spot.  Not bad for not playing for that long.  Daughter will soon find out how expensive this hobby is. 

This is amazing to read. I’m smiling to read about his success.  A little laugh too, about the cost of the sport.  We shall not discuss that factor. 

[Jimbo]

@A&L_OntWhy a baseballgame with a time limit? I can see maybe the 10 run rule, but it looked like the final score was 16-15 right?

 

It wasn't dark enough to end the game was it?

 

Watching the Phillies/Red Sox game here on direct TV......Still like watching my favorite team the Phillies even though we now live in Virginia.

 

Phillies lost their starter today Aaron Nola, him and 3 other players are out, one player tested postive for Covid, other and the other were within close contact to him.

Edited July 11, 2021 by Jimbo

[A&L_Ont]

30 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Why a baseballgame with a time limit? I can see maybe the 10 run rule, but it looked like the final score was 16-15 right?

 

These are the universal rules for our provincial ball association, a quick version for the 14U age group. There is a 7 inning max. No new innings after two hours.  They finish the innings they are in if needed. There is a mercy rule after of 10 runs after 5 innings.  Pitching is 60’ and bases are 90’. 
 

They also have strict pitching regulations, so the kids don’t premaritally injure their arms. In 2020 they added extra nights of rest between games for set pitch numbers.  Owen pitched under 35 yesterday so he needs no days of rest. It goes up from there, with the highest being bracket being 81-95 pitches needing 4 days of rest before they can pitch again. Different ages have different rules.

 

As for the time regulations, other games happen afterwards at the diamonds and it keeps games on schedule.

 

Quote

It wasn't dark enough to end the game was it?

 

It was a noon start yesterday for us, but all of our diamonds have lights. The next game at this field is a night game, with an 8:30 start. 

 

 

Quote

Watching the Phillies/Red Sox game here on direct TV......Still like watching my favorite team the Phillies even though we now live in Virginia.

 

If I remember right I saw the Phillies play the Expos as a young kid. 

 

Quote

Phillies lost their starter today Aaron Nola, him and 3 other players are out, one player tested postive for Covid, other and the other were within close contact to him.

That sucks.  My understanding is once a high percentage (80%?) of the team is vaccinated they no longer have a mask mandate for the team. They should all recover quickly.  Hopefully none of them are in the All-Star game.  At least they have the break for some time between now and the return of play. 

Edited July 11, 2021 by A&L_Ont

[dani negreanu]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

I'm looking forward to the Euro final starting at 20.00 between England and Italy.

 

and @sgmn

 

All my family and friends are keeping their fingers crossed for England today 🤞

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

 

I'm looking forward to the Euro final starting at 20.00 between England and Italy.

I hope everyone is enjoying whatever they are doing today.

Hopefully, you won't be offended if I root for Italy.😉😊

[Jimbo]

@A&L_Ont interesting restrictions on the pitchers and the game. When I played in High Scool back in the 70's they had none of those restrictions on Pitcher's and the game's length.

 

Phillies player with Covid Alec Bohm will miss 10 days, the other 3 will be back sooner I believe once they are tested again to make sure they didn't get it.

 

Most likely cause of the All Star Break, they should be back to start after the break, meaning those 3 guys will only miss today's game.

Edited July 11, 2021 by Jimbo