Never got a crystal block!

[OnTheJourney]

2 hours ago, prekteacher said:

I hope I get one when I hit 140 on Icon this August.

I hope you do too! Report back. Seems like this thread will still be around LOL 

[OnTheJourney]

11 hours ago, island lady said:

And some have "pointy" edges.

Betcha those came from cruises on Vulcan....😁

[Biker19]

13 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Was that Monarch block one you sold? 

That was just an example of the low-end pricing.

 

Biker, who is a minimalist and sold all his blocks (and most other RCI memorabilia).

[island lady]

11 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Well, in my case I didn't have much choice if I wanted one for having attained 140 points 😉 Would have been much more meaningful if I had gotten one from RCL as they promised.

 

Just after Covid restart, they were out of blocks.  Took six months to get our sent to us.  I had pretty much forgotten about it...then UPS paid us a visit.  😉 

[island lady]

15 hours ago, elcuchio24 said:

probably grab one on Ebay for $4.99

 

And little Lobster magnets from China at the souvenir shops too.  I have several of them.  😉 

[island lady]

11 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

LOL...well, just that I recognize the spines. They look very familiar.

 

Looks to me like there are very few of those in your schedule!!! 

 

We really like them. Most recently we did the Mississippi, but that didn't go very well so we wound with vouchers...again. The Mississippi was done using vouchers from the infamous Northern Lights cruise of March '19. So we have to book something by October. Probably one of the Great Lakes. If Viking went out of either of our two local ports and offered similar itineraries as either RCL or X, I doubt that I'd even go much more with either of those.

 

We had a B2B (2 weeks) paid in full with American Queen Voyages.  Was supposed to be for my birthday and our anniversary next month.  They filed for bankruptcy.  Even with going through the masses of required paperwork with surety company and bankruptcy court, I doubt I will see that money again.  😡

 

And yeah, we are not home much.  

 

Thus instead of a two week cruise followed by 2 weeks at a VRBO winery guest house south of Portland...I changed it it 4 weeks.  Leaving a week from today, still looking forward to the trip....errr....no blocks awarded though.  😄 

 

All of our Viking cruises involve rather long flights to get to port....but they worth it, since they are rather long cruises.  😉  And Viking does not have a loyalty program...thus still no more blocks.  But that's OK, I don't have much room for more anyway.  😄 

[island lady]

11 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Which really isn't all that often (?) We're the opposite. I like being home the majority of the time actually. Alot to do here for one thing with the property and pool, so then a few occasional trips - 2 or 3 a year. Sometimes a bit more. And nothing longer than 3 weeks. I need a plant waterer (huge collection) for anything longer than 9-10 days, so the longer the trip, the more work for a relative. It's getting to the point where I'm going to run out of people to do it without bringing in non-relatives. Not big on that idea. Also, I'm a full-time church organist so wouldn't work too well to tell them I'll be away for some significant % of the year's services. As we get older, we're starting to like things simpler too. DW wouldn't miss it if we never flew again, though that's a tough sell for me since I really enjoy fly/drive trips. Never rented a place through VRBO or Airbnb, etc. though might do that sometime. I don't travel at all during summers - too hot for one thing - plus that'd involve someone to take care of the pool. When DW and I taught public school, the only time we got to travel was during summers, so in retirement I promised myself no more of that. Spring and fall is when we like to go. Not fond of traveling during winter either. If I'm going to worry about what's going on at home (need someone to plow snow if such is the case), what's the point? Might as well stay here. IF it's a trip that we truly feel we want to do, and it's during the winter - like the Viking Cities of Antiquities and Holy Land cruise last year - that's ok.

 

We sold the big house on the water with lush landscaping, pool, boat dock, 3 boats.  Still traveled in the motor home, but sold that now as well, since our fur babies (was the way to travel and take them along) were taken by the demon cancer.  🥺

 

Our small house here in this quiet gated, guarded community works well for us with little to no upkeep.   We have a caretaker we pay to watch over it and water our plants.  

 

The long worldly trips came up since we are pet free now, but after 5 years....I still miss them dearly.  Once the world travel bugs get kicked out of our system....we will stay more local as well. And with limited cruises booked now with RCI...I don't have to worry about not having room for those additional blocks now.  😄 

[island lady]

11 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Betcha those came from cruises on Vulcan....😁

 

If it was a referral to Star Trek....yes, Spock gave them to me in person.  😄 

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

Took six months to get our sent to us.

This is why I never thought to contact them, having no idea how long it would take - especially since they told us they were currently out of them. So, as additional months rolled by, with being busy we totally forgot about it.

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

boat dock, 3 boats.

Whereabouts on the waterfront were you? I would assume FL. Our very first cruise was out of Canaveral on the Carnival Fantasy.

 

1 hour ago, island lady said:

Spock gave them to me in person.  😄 

Ahh...but which Spock? The movies got to the point where both young and old versions existed at the same time. Hate when they keep messing with those timelines.

Edited May 21 by OnTheJourney

[elcuchio24]

15 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Yeah.  You could walk down the beach on a romantic evening.  Find an interesting shell to take home and remember the time you enjoyed on that beach. 

 

Or...you could go to the touristy shell shop that brings in shells on container packs from China and pick one up.  

 

Which one brings more memories.?   

 

The memories exist no matter what. If its important to someone to memorialize those memories in physical form, and the cruise line is saying no, this is the next best option.

[elcuchio24]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

And little Lobster magnets from China at the souvenir shops too.  I have several of them.  😉 

 

I've had a couple times where I wanted to get a t-shirt at port, and forgot, or got busy and it didnt happen. So I just ordered one. My Malta shirt is still just as good even though I forgot to get it in Malta....it was waiting for me when I got back home! 🙂

Edited May 21 by elcuchio24

[OnTheJourney]

1 minute ago, elcuchio24 said:

 

The memories exist no matter what. If its important to someone to memorialize those memories in physical form, and the cruise line is saying no, this is the next best option.

Very well said. Agree completely.

 

2 hours ago, island lady said:

Once the world travel bugs get kicked out of our system

Heck, why not do a full world cruise (like with Viking) and get 'er all done in one fell swoop!  Wouldn't be for me though. I'd be ready to jump overboard after the first month.

[OnTheJourney]

1 minute ago, elcuchio24 said:

My Malta shirt is still just as good even though I forgot to get it in Malta....it was waiting for me when I got back home! 🙂

Yeah. And, of course, you don't tell anyone where you actually got it!

[OnTheJourney]

2 hours ago, island lady said:

Our small house here in this quiet gated, guarded community works well for us with little to no upkeep

This is the way to do serious travel. I'm sure you really don't miss the big property and all that went with it. DW and I have more frequent talks about downsizing. There ARE many things I'd miss for sure, but other things (like all the outside work and upkeep) that I'm sure I wouldn't.

[island lady]

20 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Whereabouts on the waterfront were you? I would assume FL. Our very first cruise was out of Canaveral on the Carnival Fantasy.

 

Ahh...but which Spock? The movies got to the point where both young and old versions existed at the same time. Hate when they keep messing with those timelines.

 

LOL...actually I liked both actors.  Zachary was a favorite of mine when he played the bad guy on Heroes.  😉   And how could you not like Leonard?  😄  

 

We lived for 20 years on one of the large canals in Merritt Island.  Could hear the ship's horns as they left (when PC let them sound off more) and always wished we were on board.  Back then, was quite limited on cruise ships, and in fact it was just a gravel road with shrimp boats at the port when we moved in.   Monarch will always be in our hearts.  🥰

[island lady]

8 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Very well said. Agree completely.

 

Heck, why not do a full world cruise (like with Viking) and get 'er all done in one fell swoop!  Wouldn't be for me though. I'd be ready to jump overboard after the first month.

 

We "jumped ship" on RCI world cruise in LA a few months ago (did first quarter, 63 nights).  We already have Viking B2B booked for 45 days (down under) beginning of next year.  The Serenade world cruise did not do a full circumnavigation of Australia (which Viking does).  Plus we had no interest in going through the Suez Canal or into the middle east.  (that was before they were forced to cancel that route).

 

We are rejoining for the last quarter (62 nights) in Barcelona doing western Med, Baltics, Greenland, Iceland and then working our way down eastern US seaboard back to Miami.  

[island lady]

11 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

This is the way to do serious travel. I'm sure you really don't miss the big property and all that went with it. DW and I have more frequent talks about downsizing. There ARE many things I'd miss for sure, but other things (like all the outside work and upkeep) that I'm sure I wouldn't.

 

Hubby loves puttering around the yard, tending his plants and landscaping when we are here at the little house.  He grows many of them from seed.  We also have community lawn service...but that is just to mow the lawn and trim.  Our palm trees and Pineapples are on their own when we leave.  

 

The big property just got too much for us when we retired and starting traveling a lot.  Don't miss 

that part of it indeed.  😉 

[OnTheJourney]

1 minute ago, island lady said:

He grows many of them from seed.

I have loads of houseplants and pretty extensive flowerbeds, but I don't work with growing anything from seed. I don't do vegetables either. Used to have a good number of fruit trees but as those died we didn't replace. Never kept up with the spraying schedule either. Till you do all that, and spend the money for the chems, it's alot easier to go to the local farmers' markets and buy whatever you want! We added a sunroom off the back of the house so that it would accommodate the plants, especially those that were 9-10ft. tall.

[Ocean Boy]

35 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Very well said. Agree completely.

 

Heck, why not do a full world cruise (like with Viking) and get 'er all done in one fell swoop!  Wouldn't be for me though. I'd be ready to jump overboard after the first month.

I don't think I'd last a month.

[elcuchio24]

2 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Yeah. And, of course, you don't tell anyone where you actually got it!

 

No one knows but I! And now you fine folks....

[OnTheJourney]

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I don't think I'd last a month.

LOL...well, I was trying to optimistically stretch what might be the extent of my endurance level, but, in actuality, I think you're probably right. I can handle 3 weeks on a ship - and have - but I wind up starting to count how many days are left. 2 weeks, give or take a few days, is probably what works for me best. If traveling anywhere overseas, though, I won't do that for much less than 2 weeks. Doesn't seem worth it otherwise.

[OnTheJourney]

2 minutes ago, elcuchio24 said:

And now you fine folks....

my lips are sealed...

[island lady]

6 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

LOL...well, I was trying to optimistically stretch what might be the extent of my endurance level, but, in actuality, I think you're probably right. I can handle 3 weeks on a ship - and have - but I wind up starting to count how many days are left. 2 weeks, give or take a few days, is probably what works for me best. If traveling anywhere overseas, though, I won't do that for much less than 2 weeks. Doesn't seem worth it otherwise.

 

Always funny for us.   When we are home...we miss traveling.   When we travel...we miss home.  The VRBO homes are not as bad as cruising...since I still get to cook and feels like a real home.  😉 

[OnTheJourney]

28 minutes ago, island lady said:

When we are home...we miss traveling.   When we travel...we miss home. 

LOL. I can relate to that! After being home for months I do get the itch to get back out there and travel somewhere.

 

29 minutes ago, island lady said:

.since I still get to cook and feels like a real home.  😉 

No..this we have little interest in. DW would be the first to tell you that if she's gonna cook, might as well be at home where everything's convenient. Even if we booked an airbnb or such, I'm sure we wouldn't do much or probably any cooking. Hotels that include a nice breakfast buffet are great!