sgmn

6 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Why can't all airlines fly like this?

 

 

I worked for Emirates at Heathrow from 2003 to 2021, on the Ticket Desk, so dealing with all the problems!

Their airbus A380 is pretty amazing.  Light and airy. 1st has an onboard shower, and there's a Bar with barstools and seating at the back of business class. Even economy is pretty good.

90% of times the planes gates were either side of our lounge and so we were able to board 1st and business straight from the lounge into the plane. 

Their onboard entertainment was always ahead of the game 

https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/experience/our-fleet/a380/

2 hours ago, Blue Eyed Belfast Belle said:

I just did a dummy booking for the 17 night Brilliance TP and for the UK Market the deposit has increase from £150 to £430

Hmm, I can only imagine that's going to put a lot of people of booking. £860 deposit for two in a normal non suite cabin !!!

Thinking of you and your poor country Dani.  I hope you're sleeping OK and can get some respite on this thread, knowing we all care deeply how you and your family are. 

Praying for a swift end to this nightmare and for stability to return 🙏 

15 hours ago, gammite said:

I just got off the 10/1 Allure sailing.

 

Omg, so many kids and so many ill behaved kids with parents that didn't care what they were doing as long as they were not bothering them.

 

Parents had to be reminded daily that children in many cases crying infants were not supposed to be in the Solarium.  I spent a fair amount of time in the Solarium and had to point a few out.  For some reason crew members literally were fearful of speaking to the offenders.

 

I generally time my cruises when there should be a minimum of kids sailing.  I have no idea why so many school aged children were out of school for a week the first week of October.  And that is on top of the infants and toddlers.

 

Since Covid I have been doing all inclusive land based based vacations at adult only resorts.  I have clearly become spoiled.  Not only due to no kids but also due to a sophistication of demographic.   The drunk idiots were out of control as well.  

 

While I enjoyed my vacation I have never had such a poor experience when it came to other passengers.  Something dramatic has changed since I last cruised in 2019.

 

I will give RC another chance either late this year or early next year.  Carnival is not an option.  That was a one and done experience.  I am not inclined to try Virgin.  I will likely need to be looking at SilverSea or Azamara moving forward.  I like the big ship experience.  But if the demographic I experienced last week is what RC is aiming for it is time for me to move on.

There's a few UK lines that are either fully adult or have a couple of ships that are adult only  P@O, Virgin, Saga (over 55s). Maybe something like this would suit, not sure if they sail in Caribbean.

Celebrity also seem to have less kids 

Alternatively the longer cruises usually have less children 

This is where herons belong,  NOT in my back garden eating my fish. Spotted this one on the Thames this afternoon 

4 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

Thanks for the holiday wishes.
 

Here are a few photos from our Thanksgiving yesterday, from here in Canada. 
 

 

 

My plate of food. Most everyone finished their seconds before I did my first. Thank-you jaw. 😉

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians.

Andrew those bread rolls look yummy 😋 

Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in the UK, but we do have Harvest Festival services in church. But not the big family get-together you have on your side of the pond

We had 9660 on sister ship Serenade last month

Two loungers, two chairs plus one big and one small table on the balcony. Loved the aft views.

$88 is £72. On my Symphony cruise in May Chops was £60 with no wine/cocktails, so I think it's quite a good deal for an upscale meal with drinks 

Dani, my heart breaks for what is happening in Israel. Each generation just seems to perpetuate the violence. My prayers go to you and yours and Bonnie's hubbys family too that cooler heads will prevail and the violence will stop 🙏

@dani negreanu

@BonTexasNY

19 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

I hope this is temporary and Royal can re-consider whoever has “turned up the volume” on the shows, so to speak.

 

The show WAS really great; lighting, costumes, those incredible divers!  But I wish there was a way to make this giant area at the back of the ship more useful the rest of the day. Takes up so much real estate on the ship!

Don't forget to mention it in the post cruise survey 

9 hours ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

Another old castle on our way to the next stop

 

Next stop- Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland

 

 

 

 

We hiked up the mountain and then down the mountain to get to…..

 

This

 

And this…Basalt Columns results of ancient volcanic fissure activity

 

 

 

Last look before we head out to Belfast, Ireland

Great pictures,  keep saying we need to explore more of the UK and Ireland. You look like you've got good weather for October 

18 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Is that Windsor Castle?

Yes, great view from the river. The castle's right in the centre of Windsor which is a  easy train ride from London, so a great day out, see the castle, pop over the bridge to Eton and lunch by the river. Or hire a little boat and take a trip down to the next Lock and back

19 hours ago, Luckynana said:

Beautiful pictures, Sue.  I love your boat!!!  Nice!

When we moved here 7 years ago this month, there was a Koi pond behind our pool.  The pond had already been turned off for the Winter,  We called the Koi store the following Spring to open and clean the pond for us newbies.  The previous owners had a net over the pond.  After the young man finished with the pond, he told us he lived nearby, and our pond was deep enough that we wouldn't need the net.  Awesome!  You could see the fish so much better this way!  Fast forward an hour or so later,...as I went upstairs for a shower, I looked out my grandson's bedroom window to admire our new backyard.  Good grief!!  There was a heron with one of our huge fish in it's mouth!  By the time I got down  to the pond, three fish had already been eaten.  

Man, I was bummed!  I bought 2 heron statues, and have added 3 big owl statues to protect our fish since that day.  Jim opens and closes our pond.  We had the owner of the Koi store clean our pond last month, and he told us it's not really a Koi pond.  He said it's not really deep enough, but I'll say this...we've had 3 new baby koi born this Spring/Summer.

Thank you 😊

How awful re the heron and your Koi 😟 . Our pond is not that big, maybe four feet x 4 feet, its raised and about four feet high.

Good news on the babies,  I've never had any but mum always did, she said you had to have  'breeder'

Mum always said that once a heron knows where a pond is there'll keep coming back until they've cleared it.

I've always cleaned it myself but next spring I may get a professional in as it's a mucky job.  The goldfish were from 3inch to about 10 inches so not that big and not valuable.  More sentimental as my son and DIL had rescued them from mums pond when we put her house up for rent and filled in her pond 

58 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Dad has been enjoying the fruits of his garden.  A punnet of strawberries a day and first ever paw paws.

 

 

 

 

last weekend, courtesy of dad’s garden I came back  home with spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas and strawberries.  Delish.

Wow, great crop  he's such a good gardener 

1 hour ago, aussielozzie18 said:

I love your visitor even though he is snacking on your fish.  Is there a way to move him on?

My mum use to have a fake heron statue she said kept real ones away. I've secured the netting more tightly over the pond with some heavy weights to stop the heron getting her beak under. Hope it works 

1 hour ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Lovely day out on the water and I like your style - up the front of the boat with a glass of champagne in lovely pink jumper.

Ha, thanks. I was up there as designated lock tie up person. As there was two locks in fairly quick sucession I thought I may was well stay on top 

We have a fish pond in our garden with 6 fish, some of which came from my mums fishpond when she went into a care home in 2016.   As it gets colder they spend more time at the bottom of the pond and are difficult to spot. But they are definitely disappearing and we were down to two 

 Then Gary spotted this on our fence , the culprit even though I have netting over the pond. 

Thought I had lost the last two, but yesterday I spotted them amongst the pond plants 

We're trying to get a few trips out on the River before she gets laid up for the winter.  For one reason or another we haven't been out as much as we should this year. 

Out with my brothers and partners last weekend. Stopped in Windsor for a picnic lunch and then on a bit further where the river runs alongside Windsor Great Park. 

9 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Family is everything ❤️

We think alike !😊

12 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

Saving the best for the end....

 

The grands very much enjoyed the visit to "Ripley's believe it or not" museum, especially impressed by the highest and the tiniest man, and the one with the longest nails....

 

 

Our "Israeli" son has very limited time off, and we offered to foot the bill for a short flight (4 days) during the long Yom Kippur WE. It was a huge surprise for the grands, who were rooting for him to visit. Here's where he suddenly appeared by the back door.... The expense was so worth it, just to see their sheer joy.

 

 

During his short visit, he managed to teach the youngest one to ride the bicycle, a feat his own father didn't manage to accomplish....

 

 

Wonderful Dani, family is everything ❤️ 

27 minutes ago, fruitmachine said:

This is primarily driven by the UK's use of contactless payment, where there is no opportunity to add a tip.  

So true, there's no opportunity to add a tip at my hairdressers using contactless payment. I have to try and remember to take a cash tip. As I just don't use cash anymore I have to search my old cash jar for some ££ or get some out of an ATM

2 hours ago, UK1sttimer said:

 

Celebrity realised years ago that the only way to get staff to crew Australian cruises was to build the cost into the base price as the gratuities were always being removed

I thought it was because its Australia law to show the complete price upfront without hidden extras 

20 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I suspect your wife would be doing fine even without the Paxlovid.... just my opinion.

I didn't take anything except paracetamol for my early August bout of covid. It wasn't too bad, but I've got a lingering cough which I can't shake. 

7 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

I was thinking that too; they really need to put that link somewhere!  It was a life-saver; I missed a bunch of stuff in the app because it’s not really eye-scan ready like the Compass is. AND the info on CocoCay was so much more accessible there.

Agree,  I miss the paper compass. There seems so much more info there than in the app, or maybe it's more different to find than just scanning the paper copy .  And I don't always want to take my phone around everywhere 

11 hours ago, maggieq said:

We had one of those and liked it a lot.  Definitely made the cabin feel larger imo 

I also liked our infinite balcony on Beyond