AJK

You are my hero!
 

Currently on Allure.
Masking everywhere and at all time indoors.  Not awful, yes that KN95 does get warm and a little uncomfortable during shows, but it is tolerable.  Notice a lot even masking while walking through Central Park, on pool deck and solarium until they get into a seat.  Yes few blatantly tried g to get around policy, just not many.
No they are not asking to to mask up between sips or bites, generally when seated with drink or food mask off.
Surprised by the number of vaccinated children 5-11 years old.  Really surprised.
Passenger counts.  3250 total. 2000+crew.  147 D+ 19 Pins. 
Original passenger count was supposed to be 4500 almost 1000 cancellations last minute, info from Loyalty Ambassador but I could also have numbers off by a little but generally what I thought it should be.  Except I'm surprised at the high number of cancellations.
Yes hot tubs not in Solarium are all kids, but that was my expectation.
Windjammer open for dinner, during busy breakfast lunch some lines,b ut it looks like they move quickly.
Can't speak to MDR as not eating there
So far still glad we decided to stay on this cruise
Btw. MERRY CHRISTMAS 

thank you so much, need2cruz. My deepest condolences on the loss of your daughter.  We really want to celebrate this cruise as if he is there with us.
 

When you do self-debarkation you can go at any time.  They allow you off first but if you want to wait, you can.

I have a Roadtrek SS Agile for sale if you are interested. Check out RV Trader

foxrunner we have the murphy bed plan. The space is amazing for the footprint. We had a Roadtrek SS Agile with power couch that made a king bed, but the rest of the space was just not enough for a long trip. Check out the LTV Unity and Regal Brougham also. We had it narrowed down to those 3 and just came across a great deal on the Vienna.

@AJK Some hotels allow parking on there premises and I know it’s in conjunction with a stay, but they might allow parking for a fee providing they have ample space. It might be something worth checking out as another avenue.

We just bought a 25ft Renegade Vienna (built on Mercedes Sprinter chassis) and plan to travel the country. I still want to cruise now and then, so we will most likely incorporate them into our travel route. Anyone else ever driven an RV to a cruise port? I am trying to gather information about 7 day parking - it fits the width of a parking space, but sticks out a bit in length. I saw one parking spot say 
"No RVs". I would be willing to park it somewhere safe and then Uber or Lyft to the cruise port.  

Update:
Typhoid Mary has been banished to another state with her mother for the cheerleading competition. She has been fever free and acting her usual self since about 3pm yesterday so hopefully the Tamiflu keeps working it’s wonders. We are optimistic that we will all be healthy and ready for a well earned and desired vacation. It’s currently snowing hard enough here in NY that I just lost power.....yay

Well, the child tested positive for the flu. She has been quarantined to the shed in our back yard. Food/drink will be sent via sling shot.......Just kidding.....sorta. She does have the flu, she has started Tamiflu and scripts have been sent to the pharmacy for the rest of us just in case. Currently disinfecting the entire house and stocking up on OJ etc. We have all been taking immunity boosting vitamins so hopefully the rest of us will be spared.

Our first full day on Independence of the Seas the first week of December my husband woke up sick. He immediately knew what it was from several prior experiences. He had prostate cancer surgery about 4 years ago and he gets urinary tract infections once or twice a year. It has no warning until it hits him like a truck. He went straight to medical and told them what was going on. They ran a urine test and said it was fine, it must be the seasickness patch he was wearing (but he had just put it on 10 min earlier because the ship had a lot of movement that morning and he was being cautious). He told her about prior experiences where he had been told he was fine, but 3 hours later he was in an ER. He insisted they do a blood test, and the Dr gave him antibiotics as soon as she saw that test. He came back to the room and went to bed. I knew it was best for him to have a quiet, dark room so I went off exploring the ship by myself. I got back 90 minutes later to check on him to see a wheelchair in front of our room and a nurse and male employee getting him to the chair to go back to medical. He had thrown up (common with these bouts) all over himself, the bed, the floor. He said he tried calling for help, then tried to get to the phone and called 911. The nurse said she had already alerted staff to clean the room. He stayed in medical for over 2 hours to get iv's for dehydration and more antibiotics. The he was told he was quarantined for 24 hours. We knew he wasn't contagious, this is normal with this infection, but they stood their ground and he was taken back to the room by wheelchair. All he had to eat for 48 hours was a banana and lots and lots of plain water (the banana was after the 24 hours). We expected a huge bill but the total for everything was $369.83. We thought this was amazingly low for all that had to be done. Sadly, because of the quarantine he only got 2 days of a 4 night cruise and we had the deluxe beverage package. He couldn't go ashore on our 1 port day or go to "formal" night and since I didn't want to go alone I stayed with him. Lots of other tales about our 1st cruise, but we have determined not to let that color our view of cruises and hope to do another one in the future.

@AJK, if you can, crop the eDoc page with the luggage tag and print 4 tags to a page. Cut to size and insert into your holders.
I think we have the same holders.

Many people, including me have purchased these tag holders off Amazon. They are designed specifically for the cruise luggage tags.
https://www.amazon.com/Cruise-Luggage-Holder-Seal-Steel/dp/B01E4SQNLS/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?keywords=luggage+tags+for+cruise+ships&qid=1575432917&sprefix=luggage+tags&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFQSklFVkw0RUo1UDUmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA5NzQ3NjlRRDczRFJDVkNRM1QmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDM0Mzg1NTFXNzdSSE85UUhFN0wmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

It is just that I bought the tag holders with the wire hangers from Amazon last July and spent 3 hours looking for them yesterday. Now, I have nothing to put in them! ??

It is just that I bought the tag holders with the wire hangers from Amazon last July and spent 3 hours looking for them yesterday. Now, I have nothing to put in them! ??

Someone is getting famous ??Congrats! 

Facebook too!

With our fabulous dinner over around 10pm I was too full to retire so I changed into shorts and went for a walk outside on deck 6.  Venturing forward we were sailing into some sea mist from the warm waters yet cooling air and there were some clouds in the sky but I also glimpsed what I thought was something I've photographed before in the night sky.  So I went back to grab my camera and mini tripod.
I've often sailed into the sunset but tonight we were sailing into the milky way.

Capturing the milky way requires long exposures but on a moving ship in the ocean it took some playing around to find some settings that worked.  With the 10 to 15 second exposures I was using I managed to catch some lighting in a distant storm on the horizon.
The bow is dark at night so the bridge crew can keep watch.  The long exposures captured enough light to make the bow look like it's illuminated but it isn't, that's just low levels of ambient light 

The sea mist, clouds and moving ship didn't make for the best astrophotography conditions but I'm pleased with the results.  More lightning:

On land the stars would be more precise and clear, that's the problem with shooting from a moving platform, but I'll take the results.

Also found this from our Concierge tonight. It was also on the front page of our cruise compass. 

Not sure if this is new but I don’t recall seeing this on Anthem a few weeks ago. 

Tonight we saw 1977.  Great show and it did not disappoint. The drones were a really nice touch.





Calling it an early night tonight as we are planning to head out to That Yoda Guy tomorrow. And our usual nightly stroll through Central Park has been spoiled by the rain that is still going on. Back in our cabin with a Vodka and Tonic and one more round of Lucifer ?

Binged all of Season 4 in one night on Netflix
 

Binged all of Season 4 in one night on Netflix
 

Sorry, my drinks don't last long enough for me to stop and take a picture of them!
And also, those morning, (ahem) "enhanced" coffees we like to have don't photograph very well in those paper cups.
If they didn't want you to have alcohol in the morning, they wouldn't make alcoholic drinks with breakfast juices/beverages!

Since there are so many Disney fans here, I have to post this picture I saw near an apartment!  

Today we spent several hours at segrada familia and now are trying to great you the energy for a couple hours at the Picasso museum!  More later!  Jane

Our tour was very nice.  Plenty of time to see things and get out of the very nice van.  Here are some highlights:. 



Park guell:




I apologize in advance...I'm taking most pics on my camera but trying to do some for here on my phone.  I had beautiful pics of the buildings with the columns in the back. I also have some amazing pics of the tile work close up. The pics here don't do it justice!  Give yourself at least an hour here... We only had an hour and we'd have liked at least another half hour or so.  Jane

Vacations to Go has a 90 day ticker that updates when prices drop. You might want to give that a look.