Blackduck59

We had a visitor in Victoria today. We happened upon a small group excursion at the summit of Mt Tolmie, you can see the ships from there. I decided to take a picture, a royal visitor as it were.

I should just let this thread fade and die but felt I should chime in. The title of this thread is COMPLETELY misleading. I thought it was someone (like myself) who felt that Viking had not delivered the cruise experience they had expected for the price paid. When it turned out to be whining about the terms of payment, which are very well known. I just went, huh? Like many others who have responded, I think that you buy the product with the terms that apply or don't. There is no "standard" to live up to. If that product does not live up to your expectations then you may comment on that (which I certainly did after my cruise) Maybe now would be a good time to let this poorly titled thread fade off the board.

Try a "Pimm's Cup", it's not as dry as a G&T but a nice cocktail. Traditionally made with "Pimm's #1" mulled cucumber, lemon juice and ginger ale. My wife really enjoys them.

We were just watching the evening news and the flooding in NSW is quite alarming. It looks much like parts of British Columbia during last fall when we had the "atmospheric river" event. We hope everyone is safe. The destruction looks quite complete from the pictures they showed. Take care everyone. Lynn and I are thinking of you and hope you're on high ground.

Welcome to cruise critic. You will find much knowledge here and folks are more than willing to help. I thought I should mention that Australia is a vast country about the same size as the "lower 48" United States. So seeing much of that in 15 days will be hard. When we planned our 2 cancelled cruise vacations down under we planned to be away for 28+ days. The cruise portion with many port stops in New Zealand was a one way from Auckland to Sydney and that was 11 days. I'm sure you will get lots of good advice here but I suspect most will tell you 15 days isn't nearly long enough. Cheers, enjoy planning your trip.

I'll try San Juan, Puerto Rico

Perhaps they were magic mushrooms😉 I like mushrooms in pie they make a nice accompaniment to the all important meat. I'm sure there are some tasty pies without meat. I like cherry or banana cream myself although other meatless pies like apple and peach are quite satisfying. 😁

Nothing of substance, 3 officers have been released from hospital and 3 are still in hospital 1 in ICU. All the wounded were members of the GVERU (Greater Victoria Emergency Response Unit). The unit is made up of members from several different police departments in the region. There were 3 members from Victoria PD and 3 members from Saanich PD wounded. I don't know how many ERU members were deployed at the beginning of this action but there were many regular patrol officers that responded as well. So far there has been no word as to who the perpetrators were and I think they will probably keep the names of the police involved confidential for now at least. My friend Matt was not involved and he really didn't elaborate as to what he knows. He did thank us for our concern. So far there are many more questions than answers especially whether or not there were 3 perpetrators. Whatever information the investigation has uncovered they won't be sharing it any time soon. I think that there will be a long investigation into this, they were still at the scene today collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses. They are also asking people to supply any video that they have. I know one thing, I sure wouldn't want to be the person writing the after action report on this event.

@possum52 Deepest condolences to you and your family Leigh.

Indeed Les, Matt is a Staff Sargeant so some of the members involved could have been in his squad.

I have friends in several different police departments. Most are retired now after 30+ year careers. My friend Matt is still active with the Victoria Department, I have sent him an email with best wishes for a quick recovery for the wounded. I think perhaps many of the members involved will be working through a whole range of emotions going forward.

It happened just before noon and it is now almost 7 pm and we don't have an update on the serious cases. The 3 less serious are expected to be released from hospital perhaps already.

Well there was a shocking shoot out today between police and 2 armed robbers. Witnesses think that up to 50 rounds were exchanged. Both perpetrators are dead and there were 6 police wounded, 3 with serious injuries. Armed robbery with a gun is very uncommon anywhere on Vancouver Island and an actual shootout with police is unheard of. I have a friend on the Victoria Police and he used to be on the ERT so I don't know if he was involved or not. I sure hope the injured officers will have a quick and full recovery.

Welcome back Don, enjoy your G&T I'm not a big fan of that particular cocktail although Pimm's and ginger ale is quite nice.

We're having a few days of hot (for us) weather, it has been 30 celsius and we expect the same tomorrow. We keep seeing cruise ships transiting the Salish Sea on the way to the port but aren't really in the area to photograph them. We went for breakfast at Spitfire yesterday. We haven't had any offers for our house so we are meeting with our realtor tomorrow to work on a new strategy. We have seen a listing we quite like but can't move forward until our place sells. Lynn is looking forward to retirement in January 2023 I will probably work until August 2024. Our next cruise is August 2023 so that's more than a year away.

We will be having our first HAL experience in Zaandam next year, it is the Boston to Montreal itinerary, ours includes a stop in Newfoundland. I really think that any disappointment about lobster on the ship's menu for this itinerary is really a non issue. If you want lobster on a New England/ East coast Canada cruise you probably want to get it fresh from any number of vendors ashore. Anyone who has enjoyed a lobster that was live moments before it was cooked are likely to be disappointed with "lobster" on the ship with unknown origin which has been frozen for who knows how long. No matter what ship in what cruise line it was served on.

@OzKiwiJJLynn and I are so sorry to hear that your furry friend Niki has passed. It is good you had him home for his final few days.

So the local news channel has a show called "The Upside" and they are at our cruise port as I write this. Ovation of the Seas is alongside now, Celebrity Solstice should be alongside shortly and Oceana Regatta is here as well. They have set up a little game show with cheesy "Canadian" prizes asking Canadian trivia questions of passengers as they wander by, so far some Newlyweds from Utah are the only ones that got the right answers.

I spent a lot of time in the museum in my youth, it was free then. I really enjoyed the "Old Town" and the "Ship", unfortunately as good as it was in the 1970s it hadn't changed much in almost 50 years. So for a local like me the cost of admission wasn't worth it. Of course for anyone visiting for the first time it really was a good display. That portion of the museum that was full of wonder and surprises in my youth is already closed and they are packing the artifacts as I write this.

At this point in time much of the many interesting displays in the Royal British Columbia Museum are closed and the entire Museum will be closed in September. This was recently announced and is definitely a very contentious issue. They intend to store most of the artifacts, loan others and perhaps repatriate others. The existing building will then be demolished and a new museum built on the site all at a cost of close to a billion dollars. If this actually happens there will be no Royal British Columbia for 8 years (Assuming the demolition and construction go off completely as planned).

That must have been an unusual itinerary Lyndon. Solstice has been home porting for the Alaska run out of Seattle, which puts her in Victoria about once a week. I don't think Vancouver is a regular stop for her. Eclipse is home ported in Vancouver and only drops in here a couple of times each cruise season. We usually see the Seattle based ships for the Alaska season. They need a "foreign" stop to comply with the PVSA. These stops are ridiculously short and I feel they really short change the Visitors to Victoria. There is plenty to fill a full day here and I can't figure out why they come in so late and leave early, no way it takes 6 hours to get to Seattle from Victoria even at 15 knots.

That's okay there is no "topic" there never was. I created this just to shoot the breeze with new Australian friends as I tried to navigate things a Canadian should know when visiting Australia. That was 2 years ago, now it looks like it will be another 2 years before we finally make it down under after 2 cancelled attempts.

I'm not sure what cut of beef it is but it is sliced very thinly and you pound it out more. Then you spread it with mustard (I use a German brand but dijon would work) then add sliced pickles, onions and a strip of bacon on one end. Roll it up, secure it with a toothpick and set aside while you complete as many as you are going to make. Brown them off in a pan, add beef stock and simmer until the meat is tender. Remove the rouladin and thicken the simmering liquid into a gravy. Serve with you favourite vegetable and mashed potatoes like I did or you could do something with a more German flair perhaps serve it with sauerkraut or red cabbage and spaetzle.

Rouladin for supper tonight

As reported on a different thread Celebrity Solstice was in Victoria (the Canadian one) Thursday. We watched her for about half an hour as she approached through the Salish Sea. I love the Celebrity "S" class ships they are just beautiful, not too big not too small.