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I'm so addicted to cruising that I . . .


DocLC

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1. Joined one of Matt's scopes while running the Disney Avengers Half Marathon this past weekend.

 

2. Do online registration as early as possible.

 

3. View the menus online and already know what I'm going to order before stepping onboard.

 

4. Have reviewed every available Cruise Compass.

 

5. Contemplate when the next, next, next cruise is going to be.

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1. Joined Matt's periscope while on the clock at my Disney bar. Shh! Don't tell!
2. Consider whether or not anything and everything we do could be better done on a cruise.

"Honey, should we head out to the beach?" "We could just book a short cruise and go to the beach in Labadee instead" "Okay!"

"Babe, want Mexican?" "You mean Sabor?" "Uh...not what I meant, but....sure!"
"Wanna go to NY to visit family?" "Could we cruise instead?" "But we haven't been back in 8 years." "Hmmm?" "Eh, screw it. You're right. Cruise!"

3. Wonder why there aren't any cruises in Wine Country! Build a river or something, damn it!

 

Oh, Doc, this list could go on forever!

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3. Wonder why there aren't any cruises in Wine Country! Build a river or something, damn it!

 

Oh, Doc, this list could go on forever!

I agree; the list could go on forever. Regarding #3, if you did a California Coastal with an overnight in San Francisco, you'd have the opportunity to visit the wine regions of California. There's even a decent winery in Ensenada for the required foreign port stop.

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Hello-- My name is Bob and I DVR episodes of The Love Boat--all of them. Every single one of them.

There should be a support group for that.

 

I joined Matt's Periscope last night in the middle of bowling.  It's was little difficult to hear, plus I had to put down the phone, bowl, then come back and pick it.  But hey, we're addicts.  :)

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There should be a support group for that.

 

I joined Matt's Periscope last night in the middle of bowling.  It's was little difficult to hear, plus I had to put down the phone, bowl, then come back and pick it.  But hey, we're addicts.  :)

I did the same thing last night at Costco.

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You could always Periscope again! :)  Of course, you'd probably need to leave the room or do it from the bathroom so as to not disturb the misses, which would then just make it weird. :)

 

Have fun tomorrow.  Brilliance is a great ship and I'm anxious to hear your comparison of her to the Brilliance.  I found it interesting after having sailed Jewel earlier in the year and then the Brilliance with her upgrades.

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Here is what I have learned and other stray observations from watching Love Boat episodes:

 

 

When an episode begins, we immediately need to surf Wikipedia to find a biography of a former hollywood star/ or a wanna-be star. This is always a fun an informative stroll down memory lane. For example: Who would have thought that Olivia de Havilland is still alive, almost 100 years old, and currently lives in France? Or, what ever happened to ___ ___ (insert name)??? Or, why was so-and- so famous?

 

Some of the episodes were filmed on actual cruises during sea days. A frequent guest, Bret Sommers has said doing a Love Boat was easy, fun money--and a free vacation. It's fun to watch the actors in the wind.

 

I joke with my wife "Julie: she gets all the guys..." but in reality Captain Stuebing doesn't captain much but rather focuses his time on hooking up-- and is quite successful, nearly every episode.

 

I can now identify with being a crew member. Because when I hear Julie say at the beginning of an episode "we will be sailing to Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Mazatlan" I say "AGAIN??? Yuk!"

 

It must have been great to sail when alcohol was included in your cruise fare. Sometimes the guest stars were wasted; and we think that is generally pretty funny. Makes me think an Alzamara cruise is not as expensive as the prices I've seen.

 

There is always a sail away scene with guests on the top deck throwing streamers galore overboard. Nearly everyone in those scenes is holding a cocktail. Ahh the good old days.

 

Baked Alaska was a big, big deal in the Dining Room; and everyones dessert. Ahh the good old days.

 

Extravagant Midnight buffets with bands and dancing poolside. Ahh the good old days.

 

Skeet shooting off the aft of the ship. Ahh the good old days.

 

Every night was a formal night. But Love Boat formal nights are what current sailings make fun of on 70's night. Most of the tuxedos on the 1977-78-79 episodes are G-R-O-O-V-Y Man!...and I secretly wish I had one.

 

The stars of the show always have a scene at the pool. The stars of the show are always fully clothed at the pool (unless the guest is Cheryl Tiegs or similar star known to show skin as their skill). Everyone else is wearing a scanty bathing suit. Not that I want to see Don Knotts in a bathing suit.... but the stars stand out for all the wrong reasons.

 

The pool on the Love Boat is very, very small and completely unattractive. The Oasis has larger hot tubs.  

 

How could Gopher possibly be the purser of the ship? He can't tie his own shoes. He's in charge of all the money????

 

The accommodations for the crew are spacious, single bed per room, and have phonographs and posters and windows and various souvenirs. So I'm calling out the stories I've heard about current crew members living below deck in cramped quarters with a couple other roommates. Obviously that isn't true.

 

Scenes on the bridge are funny because it so doesn't look like a bridge and Captian Stuebing is so unconcerned about the heading the ship. If he ever needs binoculars-- they are hanging on the wall.

 

Captain Stuebing's quarters resemble a boardroom in a way. It makes me say myself "Why have I never seen a photo of a current captions quarters?" I bet they are equal to a Owner's Suite.

 

Debarkation: When the entire crew shakes your hand and thanks you for coming aboard. Ahh the good old days.

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Very interesting, Booroo.  Great observations.

 

I can comment on 2 things - because of the All Inclusive Ship Tour (or whatever it's called....) that I took a couple of year's ago on the Jewel.

 

1.  I was able to visit a "typical" crew's quarters and it is MORE than just cramped.  It is downright sardine-esque.  2 crew share a cramped room with a tiny porthole and there is no room for anything !  I felt bad for them !

2.  I was able to visit the Captain's quarters and while VERY roomy, not nearly as grandiose as you might think.  They have no balcony, for instance. It is larger than an Owner's Suite but not as large as one of the Royal Suites...at least, it seemed that way to me.  OF course, I did not see his "bedroom" so it might have been very spacious there.  The Captain's quarters is 1 deck immediately below the bridge on the starboard side of the ship.  It's located there for a reason.  The Captain will ALWAYS enter the bridge on the starboard side just as the Chief Engineer must enter the bridge from the port side (his/her quarters, presumably, is in a similar location on the port side of the ship).  I guess this is an old maritime tradition that has carried over from whenever....  It is considered bad luck for the Capt. to enter the bridge from the port side and vice versa for the CE to enter from the starboard side.

 

I love maritime history and traditions !  They are so interesting, I think.

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While I have the floor and I'm admitting to all my cruising shortcomings:

 

I'm so addicted to to cruising that I..... <deep breath> post video reviews of cabins that we have had in the past on YouTube.

 

I'll be completely honest--I AM A BALCONY SNOB. I go to great lengths to select rooms for our cruises. #1 criteria is Price; #2 what is the balcony like?

 

I can not be the only one who distrusts RCL deck plans. So I share fairly short, sweet videos of our cabins and their accommodations for all the world to see; usually when we first enter the room. I've posted 6 of them now.

 

My YouTube channel is  bobroo007

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Two additional confessions:

 

1. I keep a spreadsheet of all of my cruises to keep tracks of the ships and the number of days I've spent onboard.  My goal is for my son to have spent 365 days onboard before he reaches 18; I have 10 years to meet that goal and I'm only about one-third of the way there.

 

2. The local mini-golf place in town opened a Johnny Rockets inside, but I refuse to dine there as I want it to be my Royal Caribbean thing.

 

 

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Lots of reveling confessions here, many I am guilty of too.

I'd say my worst is going online and discussing trivial things as if they were important, but you wouldn't know anything about that now would you ;).

 

I was just thinking... How many of you could spit out your 9 diget Royal Caribbean membership number without thinking twice, but need your phone to know your mothers phone number? Like this post if this is you.

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Okay. Just thought of another one as I'm sitting here listening to today's podcast (#123).

I'm so addicted to cruising that..... MATT is a household name in our home! :D :lol:

Seriously, I can say "Matt said this" or "Matt did that" and my wife knows who Matt is. I don't know too many other people whose name doesn't also require an associated description. Matt is THE Matt. No questions. No discussion.

Does that make me a RC addict or a RC BLOG addict!? ;) Is there really any difference though? It's all RC FUN!!!!!

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When does it become unhealthy? ;) When we have one of those stalker photo walls with Matt's face plastered everywhere?

(sometimes I wish I had photoshop - that would have made this post a lot funner - and more frightening)

I actually have an alter set up with candles burning around a picture of Matt. It looks like something out of Criminal Minds. <jk>
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1. I keep a spreadsheet of all of my cruises to keep tracks of the ships and the number of days I've spent onboard.  My goal is for my son to have spent 365 days onboard before he reaches 18; I have 10 years to meet that goal and I'm only about one-third of the way there.

 

I wish I would have thought of that.  My son just turned nine and he has 46 under his belt (with another 14 next year).

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