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Ndfan89

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  1. Wow
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from TXCoastPatriot in Casino Royale: Jackpot   
    I won $2700 on Harmony and my husband won $3500 
  2. Like
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from Bowen in Casino Royale: Jackpot   
    I won $2700 on Harmony and my husband won $3500 
  3. Thanks
    Ndfan89 reacted to Gadget Hackwrench in Free cruise offers   
    Here is the casino brochure for Enchantment of the Seas.
     

  4. Like
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from TheRick in A Cheapskates Guide To Cruising-Harmony of the Seas-August 21-28 2022-Live Blog   
    Wonderful Blog! Thank you for taking the time to write. 
  5. Like
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from Skigoofy in A Cheapskates Guide To Cruising-Harmony of the Seas-August 21-28 2022-Live Blog   
    My son represented the state of Alabama in 2016 in Warner Robins, GA at LLWS.  We lost.  
     
    TheRick have a great cruise! So looking forward to following along.  I will be checking-in this time next Sunday ! It is our first cruise since November 2019.

  6. Thanks
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from teddy in Liberty of the Seas August 28-September 4, 2022   
    Great writing! Have a wonderful cruise. 
  7. Love
    Ndfan89 reacted to teddy in Liberty of the Seas August 28-September 4, 2022   
    I’m still not quite sure about how good I’ll be at this, but I figure I’ll give it a shot.  I’m neither a writer nor especially witty, but I thought our experiences may be of help to someone who is coming to Galveston for a cruise for the first time (like us).  On that note, thank you @Galveston Stevefor your thread about Galveston.
    Please forgive any spelling, grammar, tenses, or other mistakes.  I may ramble, too.  I’m more of an in-person communicator, so I have no problems with constructive criticism. My cameras are an iPhone 12 and an iPad Mini.  I’m not a photographer, so my apologies in advance.  🙂
    Background:

    My wife and I originally booked this cruise in January 2020 while at Next Cruise on Adventure.   We booked it as wedding present for my stepson and his fiancé who were getting married in July 2021 on the 10th anniversary of their first date.  Because of Covid, everything got pushed to 2022.  A huge thank you to @michelle for rescheduling everything for us.  (Edited to add..another thank you to Michelle for helping us upgrade from Interior cabins to Balconies). 
     
    On the surface, it may seem weird that parents are going on a honeymoon cruise with their son and new wife.  However, they are both on the autism spectrum.  High functioning to be sure, but a trip from Maine to Galveston, then boarding a cruise ship is more than they feel comfortable navigating on their own.  
     
    Our original plan was to fly into Houston’s Hobby Airport the day before and spend one night in Galveston.  After some cancellations and changes of our flights by American, as well as all the uncertainties with flying nowadays, we decided to fly in two days early.  After a few calls to American, we decided to fly into George Bush International rather than Hobby in order to have one layover and arrive in Houston early in the afternoon.   We are still departing for home from Hobby on September 4th.  

    Day 1 (Friday 8/26): 
    We departed Portland, ME on time at 6 am and arrived in Philadelphia at 730.  Our connecting flight was delayed by 30 minutes, so we had plenty of time to walk from terminal B to terminal C.  On a side note, this was the first time we’ve connected in Philadelphia and not had to run from terminal F to terminal A or B.  It was nice. 
     
    Our flight from Philadelphia to IAH left promptly at its rescheduled time.  Interestingly enough, we touched down in Houston one minute earlier than the original arrival time (1218 pm).  
     
    We booked a shuttle to our hotel in Galveston through Galveston Express.  The meeting place is right outside Terminal A at IAH….literally a stone’s throw from the baggage claim we were assigned. 
     
    The Galveston Express driver (Ernest) texted us to let us know he arrived.  He was driving a Mercedes Sprinter van that was very clean, and the a/c worked fine.  We made a stop at Hobby to pick up another couple then we were dropped off at our hotel.  Obviously we only have this one experience with Galveston Express, but based on it, we’d use them again. I’ll follow up with our experience on the trip from Galveston to Hobby.  The cost for four adults from IAH to Galveston was $140 and the cost from Galveston to Hobby is $120.  Travel time from IAH to our hotel was about an hour and a half.  There was some construction outside of Hobby that snarled up traffic for a bit.  I’m not a good passenger, but I had no issues with Ernest’s driving. We felt safe at all times.  

    We are staying at Springhill Suites on Galveston Island.  We booked here because we could pay partially with Marriott points.  It’s located on the right shortly after you come on the island.  
     
    The hotel is clean, modern, and the staff is very pleasant.  Our room has the typical sleeping area and sitting area we’ve seen in hotels in the $200-$300 range.  We have a small balcony with a couple chairs, but so far it’s been too hot and humid for our northern New England blood to sit out there.  It was very quiet last night, which is a change from staying in hotels near the Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports.
     
    After a dinner of delivery pizza, we fell asleep early.
    Day 2 (Saturday 8/27):
    Breakfast is included and is what we’ve come to expect from complementary breakfasts.  There are typical offerings…scrambled eggs, sausage, waffles, cereal, fruit, yogurt, muffins, bagels, etc.  
    Our plans for today are to run to Target (across the highway from the hotel) then explore Galveston a bit. 
    This is the view from our hotel balcony.  We look out to the southwest, so if we wouldn’t have fallen asleep so early, the sunset would have been nice.  
     
     

  8. Love
    Ndfan89 reacted to TheRick in A Cheapskates Guide To Cruising-Harmony of the Seas-August 21-28 2022-Live Blog   
    Sorry I missed posting this last night.

    Day 5: St. Kitts, the dolphin experience
    We started with breakfast in the main dining room, we set an alarm and everything. I loved the classic Benedict, I’m a sucker for hollandaise sauce, a hash brown, and the corned beef hash. The hash brown was small, and I could’ve eaten 13 dishes of the corned beef hash, it was that good.
    Next was St. Kitts. My wife brought cash and her iPhone. I figured since we didn’t have service in St. Kitts, there was no use in bringing my phone. Remember the last part because it is on the test later.
    We split from our group and went on our dolphin excursion. As we were waiting, we went shopping at the shops. The workers in the shops were a little pushy, but not overly aggressive. We got souvenirs for the grandkids and some of our kids, but only the ones we like.  I’m just kidding, we love all three of our children, but one son wants something from the Kennedy Space Center, so we are holding off on getting his gift until Sunday. My other son, wants an island girl. 
    After shopping we got into line for our excursion. We were early, we just didn’t know how early we were. While in line we figured we were in the 10:30 am excursion line and ours was at 11:15. The excursion person said he could get us on the earlier excursion and put a green wrist band on both my wife and myself. This too is important to remember for later. On the bus I noticed some people were wearing different colored wristbands, but being the introvert, I didn’t ask, which I should’ve.
    When we arrived, we put our stuff in a complimentary locker, which was an ease on my mind and it was then time to get fitted for life jackets. The man brought me a large one, how cute is that. He soon realized I needed an extra large one. After instructions, we were in the water with the dolphins. One of the most exciting things in my life. We did commands, petted, gave belly rubs, shook fins, and touched the dolphins, and it was fantastic, my wife loved it too, but was a little disappointed because we were supposed to be pushed and pulled by the dolphins. I grappled with removing my life jacket, and for a split second, I thought I might win, but winning was not in the cards for me, but luckily, one of the workers tapped in like a WWE tag team partner and we were victorious. My wife was already off to inquire about the pushing and pulling. When I caught up with my wife the employee said the person at the dock put the wrong wristbands on us, if only someone spoke up on the bus, stupid introverted me.
    They accommodated us by allowing me to struggle back into a life jacket and took us back into the water just my wife and I. They kind of separated my wife and myself, which is a little problem because I have severe hearing loss and couldn’t take my hearing aids in the water with me and I rely on her a lot to communicate with me. If you are following along with my live blog you have found out I’m super sized, have hearing loss, and sleep with a CPap machine, you are probably wondering how my wife snagged such a catch, she probably wonders too.
    We had a quick push and pull by the dolphins and then it was shower off, get dressed, and off to the gift shop to buy photos.
    We realized we forgot our debit card, we didn’t have enough cash for photos at $40 a piece, but they did take PayPal. I have PayPal but my wife doesn’t. My wife had her phone, I didn’t. They were pushy when it came to selling the photosand I asked if it were possible to get a link and buy them when we get back to the ship. Their response was now or never. I tried for about forty minutes to log into my email on my wife’s phone to buy the photo package which was 2 for $80 or all forty-five photos for 100. Because my iPhone uses Face ID to log in and I’m not very smart ( my wife is so lucky to have me), I finally gave up and lo and behold, they suddenly came up with a link to buy the photos when we got back to the ship, but they were quite rude to us about it. I know I seem to complain from time to time, but really we are having the time of our lives and will never forget what a great time we are having.  Back on the ship I ordered our photos and after several emails back and forth, we got the link to the photos a few hours later. The photos are great, but we are only able to get 42% of the photos to download on our phones before we get an error message. The link is only good for a month so we will need to figure it out.
    Back on the ship was dinner at the main dinning room. Our waiters are the best on the ship. Unlike me, my brother is a big personality and both our waiters are drawn to him for most of our meals. I ordered the ahi tuna, but since I don’t like my fish seared, our waiter had it made well done. I know the chef probably cried himself to sleep last night because he had to cook it well done, but it tasted wonderful.
    After dinner was the headliner show, a singer, comedian, and impressionist. His voices of other people were spot on, but the show was mostly geared toward gen X and baby boomers. My nephew and niece knew almost none of the people he was impersonating.
    Then it was off to sabor for margaritas and off to bed.
    Stray observation:
    Our room steward is amazing.
    I have a bartender who not only remembers my drink order, but also my name which is cool because I’m pretty forgettable.
    In the public men’s rooms, I like the comic strip panels over the urinals even though they are lacking in plot, character development, and a character arc.
    Next up is sea day two. We have three sea days this week.
  9. Love
    Ndfan89 reacted to FionaMG in Four Negative Test Results   
    Yay! Enjoy! 😊
  10. Like
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from WAAAYTOOO in Four Negative Test Results   
    I feel your joy! We received three negative test today too! Our first cruise since COVID.  I truly can’t imagine having suitcases packed and getting a positive.  I would be heartbroken. 
  11. Love
    Ndfan89 reacted to Kirsten in Four Negative Test Results   
    Congrats!  We are heading to Bermuda on Saturday and the 4 of us tested negative this morning, so I totally get it!
  12. Love
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from Cruisin and Boozin in Four Negative Test Results   
    I feel your joy! We received three negative test today too! Our first cruise since COVID.  I truly can’t imagine having suitcases packed and getting a positive.  I would be heartbroken. 
  13. Love
    Ndfan89 reacted to FionaMG in Four Negative Test Results   
    Have an amazing time! 😍
  14. Love
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from FionaMG in Four Negative Test Results   
    I feel your joy! We received three negative test today too! Our first cruise since COVID.  I truly can’t imagine having suitcases packed and getting a positive.  I would be heartbroken. 
  15. Love
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from teddy in Four Negative Test Results   
    I feel your joy! We received three negative test today too! Our first cruise since COVID.  I truly can’t imagine having suitcases packed and getting a positive.  I would be heartbroken. 
  16. Love
    Ndfan89 reacted to TheRick in A Cheapskates Guide To Cruising-Harmony of the Seas-August 21-28 2022-Live Blog   
    (I skipped yesterday so here is yesterday’s and today’s update.)
    Day 2:  A perfect half day at Cococay
    We spent most of our day at Cococay and half of it was a perfect day. The other half, not so much.
    Let me start by saying none of the bad luck was Royal Caribbean’s fault, mostly just bad luck and some stupidity on my part.
    We got of the the ship, no problem. My wife dipped me in a vat of 9,265 spf sunscreen. She held me by my heel so I had an Achilles sunburn.
    After the sunscreen I got into the pool at the oasis lagoon, got a drink and floated around for about 15 minutes when I realized my iPhone was in the pocket of my swimsuit. Luckily it survived.
    Following the lagoon and a few more drinks, we headed to chill island where we snorkeled. My wife bought two full face snorkeling masks on Amazon for under $19 each, which also came with dry bags for our phones and ear plugs. The masks worked perfectly, the pictures from our phones in the dry bag were less than average. But the masks I highly recommend.  We snorkeled by the giant rock and saw a lot of fish, but I’m not a strong swimmer, so the poor lifeguard almost had an anxiety attack watching over me so I gave him a break by giving up and sitting in a lounge chair. I absolutely hate the beach. We live near a beach and I loathe it. Our beach has year round freezing temperatures, a strong undercurrent, and sand. However, at Cococay, I didn’t mind it because I was resting in a lounger under an umbrella and a nice guy kept bringing me drinks.
    When my wife and sister in law finished snorkeling, we headed to the snack shack on our way back to the lagoon. I got a chicken sandwich and a brownie, my wife got the funnel cake. Back at the lagoon, a bird promptly stole and ate my wife’s funnel cake and to show his appreciation, he pooped on our beach towel.
    I headed back to the lagoon where I got a drink and then lost my seapass card. After retracing my steps in the pool for about 45 minutes, I gave up and reported my lost card to security.
    Then after being told several times to stop doing backflips into the pool by lifeguards, a kid continued to doing backflips into the pool, but he finally stopped when he flipped head first into the side of my sister’s face causing bruising and swelling. After that my 76 year old father slipped and fell. The lead lifeguard treated his wounds well, he was very kind staying with my parents the entire time and even arranged transportation back to the ship for my parents and sister in law who was helping them.
    I was done so my wife and I headed back to the ship where I waited in line with all the other careless people who lost their cards. I was given a temporary pass to get back on the ship. After a shower and a rest, I was issued a new card at guest services and then was dinner.
    I was hungry so I ordered two appetizers: Asian style pork tacos and a shrimp cocktail, two entrees: the garlic tiger shrimp and the salmon. Because I didn’t want to be a pig, I only ordered one dessert.
    Due to a medical emergency, we diverted to Nassau for an medical evacuation. A few people expressed their displeasure with the casino closing due to being in port.
    Following dinner was the ice skating show: 1887 a journey in time. The skating was amazing, but I had a hard time following the plot (that is if it even had a plot).
    Then another trip to the wonderland bar to try the rest of the cocktails on their menu. It was super close to closing time, but they stayed open later to accommodate our party of 9 (my dad stayed in their room.) the mad hatter was even super friendly to my 75 year old mother. She loved the wonderland bar and wants to go back.
    After a late night pizza and a beer, it was back to our room for bed.
     
    Day 3: a sea day
    Today was a sea day so we slept in, I got us coffee to drink on the balcony. Next was a quick bite to eat at the mini bites breakfast. Some of it was delicious and other things were just okay. Then off for more coffee at cafe promenade. The cold brew was great.
    My wife went to lay by the pool and I started drinking pina coladas taking them back to the room to drink on the balcony while watching the water go by.
    Then it was up to the pool deck to find my wife and watch the sexiest man contest. I didn’t last long on the pool deck and headed back inside. I waited in the rising tide bar where the bartender said it would rise in about five minutes. Fifteen minutes later we never launched and I received a text from my wife they were headed to the windjammer, so I got off the rising tide bar and has an unremarkable lunch at the windjammer.
    My nephew and sister in law boogie boarded and then my nephew headed over to the standup surfing flow rider. My brother was in line to zip line. We stood in between to see who would go first, but they both went at the same time.
    Then it was off to get ready for dinner. For appetizers I ordered the wedge salad and shrimp cocktail. For an entrée I got the seafood fettuccini Alfredo, and the soufflé for dessert. Like always the food was excellent, but the service was even better. The only mishap was the drink waiter spilled a Jack and Coke in my brother’s lap. He had to eat the rest of the dinner with a soggy grundle, which just so happens to also be the name of a band I saw at the Fillmore two weeks ago.
    On the way to the room to change my clothes, I found the stowaway piano player again. We saw him briefly at the wonderland bar last night. I messaged my family and they came down to see him. I tipped him and he asked me three times if I had a request. I declined the first two times and finally asked if he would play Let it be by the Beatles. He is by far the best entertainer on the ship.
    Next up was Grease. We all loved it, although my wife politely had to shush the older couple in front of us who decided that the middle of a Broadway musical was the best time to hold a loud conversation about their lives. I was also very concerned for the girl who sat next to the loud conversationalists that she would be unsuccessful at Candy Crush, but to my surprise she was better than I expected because she kept that game going for almost the entire hour and a half performance.
    There are nearly 6,000 passengers on the Harmony of the Seas this week and tonight it was obvious. The only other times that I noticed that we have that many people on the ship is every time I get on the elevator with all the other 5,999 passengers on the same elevator.
    Stray observation:
    We went to the bionic bar tonight. Although I love the concept, the cocktail wasn’t very good, but it could be I just picked out one of their cocktails. It’s amazing that someone probably graduated from MIT with a phd and then invented a robot bartender. It’s genius really. Although I didn’t like the cocktail, I really liked my bartender, R2-3PO. Nice guy, has a family back home, he showed me a photo. He married a lovely blender and they are raising 3 sweet, but rambunctious toasters.
    Tomorrow (or today) is a stop at St. Thomas.
  17. Love
    Ndfan89 reacted to TheRick in A Cheapskates Guide To Cruising-Harmony of the Seas-August 21-28 2022-Live Blog   
    We didn’t need to show vaccine cards at the port, we even asked. They only wanted to see our negative tests.
  18. Like
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from ellcee in A Cheapskates Guide To Cruising-Harmony of the Seas-August 21-28 2022-Live Blog   
    My son represented the state of Alabama in 2016 in Warner Robins, GA at LLWS.  We lost.  
     
    TheRick have a great cruise! So looking forward to following along.  I will be checking-in this time next Sunday ! It is our first cruise since November 2019.

  19. Love
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from WAAAYTOOO in A Cheapskates Guide To Cruising-Harmony of the Seas-August 21-28 2022-Live Blog   
    My son represented the state of Alabama in 2016 in Warner Robins, GA at LLWS.  We lost.  
     
    TheRick have a great cruise! So looking forward to following along.  I will be checking-in this time next Sunday ! It is our first cruise since November 2019.

  20. Love
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from TheRick in A Cheapskates Guide To Cruising-Harmony of the Seas-August 21-28 2022-Live Blog   
    My son represented the state of Alabama in 2016 in Warner Robins, GA at LLWS.  We lost.  
     
    TheRick have a great cruise! So looking forward to following along.  I will be checking-in this time next Sunday ! It is our first cruise since November 2019.

  21. Love
    Ndfan89 reacted to TheRick in A Cheapskates Guide To Cruising-Harmony of the Seas-August 21-28 2022-Live Blog   
    Eight Days and Counting
     We have eight days to go and we are already packing. In our defense we leave town in either five or six days. I want to leave on the 18th and my wife wants to leave on the 19th (we will stay with my parents so we won’t have to pay for a hotel). Like any good couple, we will calmly discuss why we want to leave when we do. Have a civil debate before coming up with a compromise, which means we will do whatever she wants.
    We have two large suitcases, a carry on, and my C-Pap machine. We decided because we have two suitcases, we will put half my clothes in one suitcase and the other half in the second suitcase. We will do the same with my wife’s clothes, that way if one of our bags gets lost on the flight from California to Florida, we’ll each have some clothes to get by. My wife and I have been married for 30 years and together for 33, we have weathered many storms including the awful plunger incident of ’91 (which she brings up at least once every few months), and most recently when she reset my Wordle stats back to zero. But I will tell you right now, if we don’t separate our clothes and one of our suitcases gets lost in transit forcing my wife to wear my skivvies for seven days, we’ll probably never recover from that.
    Since I’m retired and my wife still works, I offered to take a load of her shoulders and pack for both. She responded with an enthusiastic, “Not a chance in Hell, buddy.”  She would rather spend all day in work meetings that easily could’ve been an email than have me pack for her or myself or anyone for that matter. I am so bad at packing that she wouldn’t allow me to even pack for her worst enemy.  I don’t blame her one bit, I mean last time I packed for myself I ended up with two pairs of jammies, one shirt with a mustard stain, and eight pairs of undies for a 3-day weekend getaway, because when I pack underwear, I am like a fricken Boy Scout, “Be Prepared.” Here is how I pack my chonies: one pair for day one and one pair in case I poop myself. One pair for day two and one pair in case I eat Taco Bell for lunch (If you know, you know). One pair for day three and one pair for…surely it can’t happen three days in a row, but just in case, one more pair. And finally, two extra pairs just because. I always forget socks. It’s like my hidden talent to forget to pack socks. My wife is afraid if I pack for myself I might end up bringing three pairs of snow pants to the Caribbean, but hey, you never know when you need a good pair of snow pants.
    We have stacks and stacks of new clothing my wife has been buying since we booked the cruise almost six months ago, yet I am not allowed to wear any of them. I swear, you get one little mustard stain on your shirt every time you wear one, and suddenly your wife doesn’t trust you around clothes…and food. Remember when you were a kid and you went to your friend’s house where the couch was covered in plastic and you weren’t allowed to sit on it? It’s the same thing with my stack of cruise clothing.
    My wife is packing and I’m in the room to lend moral support, but I’m not paying very much attention. When I arrive on the ship and open my suitcase it will be a surprise, like when my kids were younger and they opened their Christmas presents in front of me and I see for the first time, what we got them.
    I’ll be back in a few days to report on my pre embarkation testing and our traveling from rural county in California to the Sacramento area.  
  22. Like
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from TheRick in A Cheapskates Guide To Cruising-Harmony of the Seas-August 21-28 2022-Live Blog   
    Following.. I will be getting on the Harmony as you are getting off on 28 August .. 
  23. Love
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from FloatyBoaty in Check-in clarification   
    Thank you for the response.  First cruise back so wasn’t sure what was the issue if any.   I hope you have a wonderful cruise !!
  24. Wow
    Ndfan89 reacted to berkeleykel in Check-in clarification   
    Same for me for my sailing out of Barcelona. When I checked in a couple of days ago the vaccine status box was there, but not gone.
  25. Wow
    Ndfan89 got a reaction from Evantra in Check-in clarification   
    I have a question .. So I uploaded vaccine cards yesterday.. First cruise since the shut down.   Ealier this morning all said “approved “ on the  App...  So I was just looking on the app  and now the third section is totally gone .. Does not even show the “vaccination status” box.. Just shows Travel info , Arrival time and health status .  is this normal ?

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