Blackduck59

All went well. We have the movers coming tomorrow to shift the rest of her stuff to our place. I'm so sorry that you are unable to go on your cruise. We were looking forward to meeting you. Take care and get well soon. Cheers Lyle

Holy cow, did anyone besides you know what to do with it?🤔

I saw Walkers crisps from the UK here in Canada with the "add your own salt" package. I haven't seen them in some years, We still have a "British" section in some of our supermarkets but most of them don't stock the crisps.

Best of luck to them. That country is an enigma. I think they would have a better chance in Canada, that being said we only have 10% of their population.

I had veal cutlets for a late lunch today. I enjoyed it very much, of course it would have been much better had they pounded it thin (hence cutlet not schnitzel), it was served with mashed potatoes and a rich brown gravy with onions and mushrooms. The best part was that they grilled it on a flat top not deep fried. Coincidently I happened to see an old friend I knew years ago at the local German Club, that woman knew how to make schnitzel.

Some interesting mid century modern design cues in the public rooms, not as much in the cabins. I find it interesting that many of the designs that were common at the start of my career in the early 1980s are now coming back some 40 years later. Personally I'm quite fond of Art Deco and Art Nouveau, that being said I'm not sure there are many craftsmen/women who are capable of doing that quality of work.

I nominate you, be bold, give it a shot😁.

You could ask for kettle for your room and use the ice bucket for the water bath. Empty it out every couple of minutes and just keep putting boiling water in. That way the ship is supplying the heat source and it won't be a loss to you if they confiscate it. Of course they may take your kettle back and probably scold you. I don't think it would be a fire hazard unless you put the foil bag in the kettle🥺

That is a cool video. Makes a person want to run out and buy a Cunard Cruise. Maybe they could have had a didgeridoo in the back track, I thought it was in there but no sign of it in the pictures, I wouldn't mind trying Cunard once but the dress requirements are a little too stuffy for a portly man like myself. Black tie is such a pain. I'm not a good actor and trying to pretend I don't belong in steerage could be difficult. That being said a TA on Queen Mary 2 is of interest to me.

Not a bad looking pie Mr. Gut, I'm guessing Mrs. Gut would appreciate it.

Bring it, the worst they can do is take it away. I don't think it is cost prohibitive to lose a bottle of creamer. Of course you could probably get a very nice latte with any number of flavours on the ship.

I buy my red cabbage in foil bags, I buy my sauerkraut that way too. The problem is how are you going to heat it up😉.

Don't be so quick to dismiss "Mid-century Modern" I am a professional woodworker and the shop I work at specializes in multi million dollar homes. We have done many expensive projects recently with Mid-century Modern design cues. These details may seem trivial but they are time consuming and expensive. They also involve vast quantities of real wood (Sometimes very expensive wood). Previously I worked in a shop that specialized in millwork for cruise ships, there was vast quantities of plastic laminate. And yes during that time we did refit work on almost every "Dam" ship.

Spaetzle is actually fairly simple to make, the key is the consistency of the batter (yes batter) it is much easier with a Spaetzle maker. I am blown away by the true masters who use a spatula and board to flick the batter into the water.

I'm not sure why HAL pays royalties for these names. BB King passed away 8 years ago, stop paying others to use his name. Now who gets the money for Rolling Stone? The band or the Magazine? Does it have to be "America's Test Kitchen"? (I realize that has been gone some time ago) Is the demonstration kitchen still there? Use it, hire some no name chef with some personality who can make a fun show and also work in the galley; forget the "celebrity" chefs, most of them are nobs. Ditch Lincoln Center, not the music. That being said I personally wouldn't miss "chamber" music on my cruise. I am disappointed to hear that they really aren't using the world stage for proper live performances. Somehow a BBC world documentary with "live" music doesn't interest me. All any of us know for sure is that the "Entertainment" on HAL is in a state of flux and we will all have to wait and see what comes out in the end. Until then everyone has to decide to buy the product or not.

Wiener schnitzel is "veal", I think schnitzel could be pork or chicken. It's the Wiener part that would suggest veal. Just as a "Jagarschnitzel" (hunter schnitzel) is served with a mushroom gravy. I hope it shows up on our 11 day cruise at the end of August, I would definitely order it.

We live on the west coast of Canada so our flight times would be shorter. Lyndon had good word about Quantas and he flew just a couple of weeks ago. Our original plan for 2021 was with Air New Zealand, that ended up being cancelled by the airline and we somehow were charged a "cancellation fee" of $600.00, I'm still not sure if that was from Air New Zealand or the travel agent we used. That left us with a sour taste for both outfits. The second try (which was also cancelled) was with Air Canada. Both were in Premium Economy. for us it is worth the upcharge. I suspect that when we finally do make the trip we will go for the business class, it's a 14 hour flight to Auckland from Vancouver.

it feels like we have scared away @crewsgirl they haven't had much to say for some time. I hope they have had a chance to look at options that may fit in their limited time frame.

Thanks Julie, I certainly got loads of good advice from so many helpful people. We were just sorry we only had 11 days for the road trip. We felt we had packed too much in too little time. We did however have meetings worked out with several friends that we have never met in person. Like I said longer on the ground in Oz when we finally get there, hopefully we catch people in Oz and not travelling. I sometimes think we have a better chance of meeting Mic & Rosie somewhere other than Oz 🤔. As it turns out we met our first CC friend in person when Lyndon got close enough to our island that we could meet up for a pint, a bit of lunch and some good conversation. Looking forward to welcoming @MMDown Under to our island in August.

Some people are hard to be polite to, I think I won't bother.

You do know I'm Canadian right?

That's what I thought Leigh but on other itineraries for HAL Fjordland and Milford sound are shown separately. That was the one thing about that itinerary that had me say "huh?". I think we would be very interested in that itinerary to start our down under adventure. Of course the road trip will need to be re-routed. We will be keeping an eye on what is offered after my retirement date.

@crewsgirl Enjoy your planning. We planned our adventure down under twice and they were cancelled due to Covid. You will find the people on this board friendly and helpful. I will give a few thoughts for you. Our plan before and when we re-plan this adventure was a one way starting in Auckland, we planned to arrive 3 days before the cruise. Our itinerary was on Celebrity Eclipse and was quite complete, unfortunately Celebrity has moved and edge class ship and I don't like them. There is a good itinerary on HAL Noordam that includes 2 stops in Tasmania and is around your time line. I am tempted but I think we will wait until after I retire in September 2024. Be aware that itinerary mentions "fjordland" but not Milford sound so that is something to consider (I'm sure our Aussie and Kiwi friends can give some thoughts on Milford sound. We planned a road trip in Australia making the route so we could meet some of the friends we have made on CC. As it turns out we will need to rework the road trip, we have made more friends, that's why we will probably wait until we don't have to think about getting back for work.

I really don't know what they may do in Quebec, you see many in Quebec would like to be their own little country. Hopefully there will be many things on the go. If you were here in Victoria the provincial capital for BC there will be fireworks and I'm guessing Vancouver will have fireworks too. Of course there will be a big show in Ottawa.

No stress, something to look forward to. The move happens next week and we have until the 15th of July to get the rest of her stuff out of the flat.