DDaley

4 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

He examines every leaf and tries to impress me with the Latin names for each and every species.  I’m certain he makes most of that up.  I will have to call his bluff and quiz him sometime.

If you use an iPhone it has a nice plant lookup feature on any photo you take of plants/trees/flowers. You just swipe up from the bottom of the image to find this “Look up - plant” button. According to Siri, this pic I took is of a Bird Cherry, or Prunus padus! 

Uh oh, that sock lady is me!! I always wear flip flops or Rothy’s flats on planes so then when I get on board I put on socks so my feet don't freeze off. Usually I just tuck one foot under my butt and one rests on top of the corresponding shoe. Sue me!! 

PS you really got FCC for that one night when people were loud on their balcony and stopped when you light-signaled them? I have never complained but that happens to us on literally every Royal cruise we’ve been on. How much do they offer you?? I should be complaining at GS more often!! 

Oh funny, I always upload the same two pictures for my husband and I and we’ve never had to retake them at the terminal, and we’ve sailed from LA, Miami, Tampa, Puerto Rico and Seattle. 

I particularly like this because my photo is from at leeeeast 8 years ago and I look fantastic every time we’re scanned on and off the ship. 

On 2/7/2024 at 8:11 PM, jbrinkm said:

I searched for whether you could get videos to play on the Invision platforms and it looks like that is not a feature.

Ahaha the bane of my existence!! Luckily she’s going toe up this year and we can finally abandon that bug-ridden hell hole!  About 5 years back I would’ve told you Invision was my favorite prototyping platform, how times change. 

Definitely ordering a cup clip, I bought my mom one for her patio for Christmas not realizing I should be using it myself on vacations! 

PS. YOU GUYS I am in resume review for a senior designer at my agency and some guy’s portfolio has the Royal App, every Royal email I’ve ever received, the little heart safety icon thing from right after Covid, a Coco Cay map.. just wow. Never reviewed someones portfolio before where I’ve actually experienced the product!! I had to share with people who would care!!! 

41 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

it is just not embedded so we have to download it to watch it

How do you do this? The only way I see to download videos on these boards is to enter the Inspect Element panel and grab the source like a dev nerd, surely it’s not that complicated? On Mac it just looks like a video player with no content inside. 

This is probably user error but I only see 10 ships listed? I scrolled within the module, but it only shows the first 10 ships in the fleet alphabetically. Adventure - Icon, thus any ship starting with a letter farther into in the alphabet than “I" is not on the chart at all. What am I missing? 

Oops, edited to add: If I search in the field for “Oasis," all of the data populates! But it’s not seen in the chart unless I filter by things only found on Oasis class or searched for specifically. Using Safari and Chrome on MacOS.

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

3:40 Disney flight

Ooh what's a Disney flight? And why would it go to Chicago? Do they have their own airline I’ve somehow missed seeing?

Finally caught up on this blog after a ski trip to Mammoth last week! I have to tell you I had a wild dream when we were up there where I was in a tiny rowboat, I was putting along in a channel and saw the docked Allure! I looked up and thought to myself “I gotta get a pic of this for @Ampurp85, she’s on board!”   Which is wild because I left on the 23rd and you were still on Wonder, which means my subconscious remembered your S2S2S itinerary. 

The amount of shenanigans you and your brother witness baffle the mind. I think I must be living in a constant bubble to never notice anything like you do! 

For what it’s worth, my absolute favorite port and vacation country is Jamaica! I have never been or seen anyone else harassed in Falmouth, Ocho Rios or Montego in the 25 years I’ve been visiting. Yes, people may hand signal to you offering you weed but literally all you have to do is say no (or in my case, how much?! ) 

4 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

She and my brother got into it because she insist on putting her phone to charge constantly.  Like if she uses 10% of her battery she has to get it back to 100%

This made me laugh because my parents used to be like this about their DVR, it HAD to be ~90% EMPTY or they’d freak out and start deleting stuff. This is how I missed out on Season 2 of Rupaul back in the day, and had to wait for it to come out on iTunes (that sounds so archaic ). 

You’re so close to a mother-free Wonder experience! 

On 1/5/2024 at 12:41 PM, Kelseylovestocruise said:

Should I take a taxi from the cruise port to the Acropolis or the metro.

I am guessing the Metro is cheapest but I took an Uber from the port, took about 15 minutes and cost 15€. If possible, I recommend getting to the Acropolis site right at 8am when it opens and having your ticket pre-purchased, this will save you a bunch of time at the gate. 

16 hours ago, She Sails Away said:

Os he a drug-sniffing dog?

No, he’s the family pet of the Chief of Staff. https://www.instagram.com/p/C13BiumLJFD/

2 hours ago, SweetPea said:

If they ask if you're checking in, just tell them you're grabbing breakfast at The Kitchen. If you take the elevator or grand stairs, fake right to go to The Kitchen, left to cut through the pool and the walking path to the parks. The onsite hotels have their own security line to enter City Walk and the theme parks, and the one on that side is for guests at the Hard Rock and Portofino so always shorter

Wow, love this sneaky trick! Come figure out Universal Hollywood for me! 

On 1/7/2024 at 6:48 AM, MO & LO on the go! said:

Cozumel = All Terrain Buggy and Snorkel

We did this tour on Brilliance last March, it was so fun. I hope you get to see a croc at Punta Sur! 

I love Cruise Mapper but also use the Marine Traffic app when you need more details that CM doesn’t provide, like other types of nearby vessels, their current speed, heading, wind speed, temp, etc. I paid like $3.99 for it years ago when I lived by the port of San Diego and it was so worth it!

Did you know Dole has four different cargo ships continuously bringing fruit from Ecuador to SD twice a week, year-round? Thanks, Marine Traffic! 

1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

Does Navigator have those Panoramic Suites with no balconies that at the front of the ship?

Ooh yes, it has two. Even though I live and die by having a balcony, that room is so unique I wouldn’t be mad to end up there! 

17 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

The only thing I can see that is possibly different is that at a "suite guarantee" there is a small, itty bitty, microscopic baby chance that you get a Grand Suite.

Love this tiny chance!! I’m going for it! 

I’m pricing a Navigator cruise next year and see one price for Suite Guarantee ($735pp) then, if I choose to instead pick my own suite, there is a second guarantee option listed as Junior Suite Guarantee for $975pp, and finally the actual pick-my-JS price of $1045pp. Won’t the Suite Guarantee get me the same exact thing as the Junior Suite Guarantee? Why are they listed separately? JS sales for this sailing are slow as there are tons of cabins available so presumably the normal Suite Guarantee would also garner me a JS in the end. Thoughts? 

The Suite Guarantee is exactly $70 higher than picking my own OVB so it’s a no-brainer to bump up for double C&A points. Does the suite guarantee still get double C&A? 

On 12/31/2023 at 1:35 PM, Jax said:

I have come to the realization that if Europe 2024 happens we are not taking all this luggage.

I'm so glad you’ve come to this realization! Hahaha

My husband and I doing Amsterdam/Germany/Switzerland this summer and with 4 hotel changes and a cruise I know I gotta keep the packing to a minimum. If your squad can get it down to one checked bag each I will be so proud!!! 

We did 17 days in Greece with only a single 22” carry-on and backpack each (no outfit repeats and no laundry service) so I know it’s doable! 

Thanks for another great blog!

I actually thought of you guys a week or so ago when I was watching a Diners, Drive Ins and Dives from a place in Victorville and looked you up! All 5-star reviews!! 

My husband loves his Insta360 and gets comments on it wherever we travel! Do you use a chest mount at all? He’s got a necklace he can put under his shirt and then the Insta360 just attaches to his shirt via magnet from the necklace. Then he’s hands-free but still capturing everything!

I was also wondering if you can batch-color grade per location/activity or do you have to manually adjust each shot in Lightroom? I am a Creative Suite power user but never use Lightroom. Might be handy to download for my next round of vacation photos. I took 2,800 in Greece but only 1,300 in Alaska, basically child’s play! 

Saw your arrival in a cool Instagram timelapse this morning! Glad you made it home safely.  

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0_76IGrazb

3 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

NFL game at NRG Stadium on New Year’s Eve vs Titans in club level seating.

Love this! I am a lifetime watching-football-because-of-others person (first with my parents, now my husband) and I attended my first NFL game right after Thanksgiving at the new Sofi stadium in LA, it was AWESOME. If I could watch every game live from the club section I would absolutely be converted to a football fan. I was so engrossed I didn’t even think to LOOK at the score until the 3rd quarter! (No surprise there, Chargers were losing) Not to mention all the free food and cocktails! Have the best time!

Your itinerary sounds great, Roatan and Costa Maya are still on my to-cruise list so I will be happy to gather port suggestions from you guys. 

I Googled "Oasis 14692" (super easy to do) and found this: That is where they store the window washing rig when it isn't in use. Not sure if it’s accurate but makes sense based on deck plans. 

On 4/21/2023 at 6:57 PM, Jill said:

I’m expecting total shock lol. 190 passengers. We had to bring along 3 other couples as our emotional support cruise buddies. 

I am jealous you’ll have table mates for the dinner seating! I am traveling with my husband on our first river cruise in August 2024 (we chose AMAWaterways, Rhine from Amsterdam - Basel) but our ship only has 150 guests and I am nervous to have to sit with different people each night/be more easily recognized by other cruisers. Usually we are easily lost in a sea of 4000+ guests! 

I’ll be interested to hear how you like Viking, the only reasons I chose AMA over them were for the all-included excursions (instead of just one per day) and not having to adhere to Viking’s absolutely WILD payment timeline. They wanted all $10k over a year in advance! What! I am happy to have all year to scrape it together and make final payment 3 months ahead like usual, haha.