pavementends

Gutsy move, flying in the day of the cruise. Two options. Take the airport bus to the BSI station and check bags there. (But verify!). Walk around town, get a meal or a museum, get sunlight (if any) and then go the the ship. OR go immediately to the Blue Lagoon and then to the ship at your leisure. (I think the Blue Lagoon also checks bags). Reykjavik has one of the more unusual specialty museums in the world.

I spoke too soon. It's on the coffee table now.

Hey- that means you can use it as a coffee table book. Bit of a story here. You can insert photographs effectively or ineffectively. There are settings for compression and if you choose them wrong you can have a one-page flyer that is 10 MB or so. I know, I get them by email sometimes. By the way, I didn't get one. Maybe it depends on how expensive the cabins are that you buy.

Too late, but now you know what to give in place of tips.

In fact I think there are now FOUR different kinds of artificial sweetener. Personally I don't partake, I like the real stuff. Smaller molecules.

Maybe the same guy runs the metal detector for Carnival, etc. Did the port have a metallic taste when you tried it?

Both pizza and hamburgers can be made to a very high standard. I remember some NYC restaurant with a hundred dollar burger with foie gras and wagyu beef and stuff like that. And even when made with more ordinary materials these can be well worth ordering if carefully executed. Having said that- I do prefer ordering things that are difficult to make, or too complicated, or too messy.

Well the US State Department rates Ecuador in general as level 2 advisory, with some areas higher. Having said that a great many countries have level 2 advisories, including both Spain and Argentina, both of which I have visited recently without finding them particularly alarming. AND earlier this year there were trip interruptions for people visiting Machu Picchu. However for a Galapagos cruise I think you could be pretty well isolated from the turbulent bits.

While there may be benefits to using a travel agent they are pretty thin on the ground these days, especially if you are after an agent that does many cruises AND with a particular cruise line. I have not used an agent for any travel, personal or business, since the nineties. If you can't identify an agent easily, you may want to go ahead anyway with direct booking rather than miss the cruise. I have booked my second SS cruise directly. I may have lost some benefits, but maybe I make it up by arranging my own flights. As far as the sports coat is concerned- I plan to have a look at what others do and maybe go to one of the other restaurants if the sports coat and tie isn't enough. Personally I have not owned a dark suit since...actually I can't remember ever owning a dark suit. I've heard about things called tuxedos but have never actually experienced one.

If you go a bit farther in the booking process on the web (without actually finishing the booking!) you will see a choice between different options if they are available. As far as I know the posted price is always D2D. You may see: D2D, D2D no flights, and P2P.

dress code reserved loungers not my favorite soft drink/ wine/ spirit things not what they used to be tipping are we done now?

On a different cruise I arrive at 7 AM and I have booked a flight at 5 PM. I am hoping to spend some time in the Blue Lagoon if I can arrange it. A 9:40 AM flight would be crazy stressful. I'm not even sure it's possible.

Yes, Dublin is still on the schedule (Leprechauns willing).

Part of what I expect to get on an "all inclusive" line is freedom from the need to guess what reasonable amounts of additional tips are required. If is it broadly expected that "additional amounts" will be given...thank you...I will go somewhere else.

Did that after the first cancellation. I kind of liked the second tour on offer as it was a castle + distillery (if I remember correctly, details now gone). I expect you are right- Dublin should be easy.

Posted here because more than one cruise stops at Dublin. I signed up for a Book of Kells tour. Canceled. Then another tour to a castle and distillery. Also cancelled. Now I am signed up for another one that doesn't look that attractive. Maybe I will cancel and just walk the city. Maybe a James Joyce walk? No, I'm not going to read Ulysses as prep.

Maybe because they see other people do it. Is it more of a thing on family-type cruises? So far I haven't seen any decorated doors.

I think one should pick a cruise line based on what they actually offer, rather than what they used to offer, or their history. I seem to remember being offered Prosecco at dinner, and some respectable pasta dishes, 24 month Parmesan, and a grappa after dinner. So there is at least some Italian character.

We were independent and were almost the first off the ship. Of course we were carrying all our luggage. Next time I will be far more conservative in scheduling flights.

I am American but not impressed by having a butler. But then I'm not impressed by a lot of things that other people seem to care about, like expensive watches and designer clothing. I had some difficulty coming up with things to ask. On an upcoming trip I will have a better idea of what is helpful. An example of a very useful thing was a very early in-cabin breakfast on the arrival day. I'm not sure if I will end up giving a butler enough things to do but I've decided it's not my problem. Like back when I had a fraction of a secretary and didn't have much to ask. A butler is toward the bottom of the list of the things that make Silversea attractive. For the record: a major attraction is that there are not miscellaneous charges for tips, drinks, food, etc. etc.

I looked at my Silversea key card and a key card from another line's expedition cruise. Both have not only the passport number but also nationality. Based on these two data points, maybe all lines do this? It occurs to me that this information could be handy if one were run over by a truck and it became appropriate to inform the embassy. Although such a thing does seem unlikely in Antarctica.

OK so we have done Scotch, gin, and cognac. But how about vermouth- in my opinion the most critical part of a Manhattan. Last cruise I ordered a Manhattan, and found it disappointing. It tasted like they used something like Gallo or Martini and Rossi. Anybody want to save me the experience of closely questioning the bartender? By the way, I was pretty happy exploring the range of other cocktails, although I found (oddly) that the same Martini was different on different nights.

Thanks alithecat, I will give the restaurant manager a try on boarding. Many apologies to all for not spelling restaurant correctly. As some have enjoyed it, I will give Kaiseki a try for dinner. It is the only extra-cost thing I expect to have during my cruise.

Inspired by the question about La Dame 1. How is Kaiseki? Worth it? 2. How do I get to try Silver Note? I have 3-4 wait list reservations, and on other nights it seems to be too full to even take a wait list.

Strangely...Viking was willing to give me free transfers. Don't know why, maybe it was because on this cruise there was only ONE flight that made sense for almost all of the travelers.