frantic36

I have a leather bomber jacket does that count? If so I am all set if I decide to test them out. Apparently Scarlett Lady is being based here for our Summer.

Don't encourage him as some of us have to sail with him next year 😅. Virgin Cruises may have a patent on onboard tattoo parlours?

"Bill Gates (through Cascade Investment) and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal (through Kingdom Holding Company) have been majority owners of the company." This is for over 100 resorts and hotels of The Four Seasons Hotel Group, with the Saudi group owning the majority share until a few months ago but Bill Gates has now bought the majority. I do not remember any discussion that they banned alcohol or imposed religious ideology in any of these places. Why would a cruise line be any different to Resorts or a hotel? The Four Seasons has been considered a luxury brand for years.

I find it interesting that they have furry coverings on the benches. I am wondering if it is for softness comfort or to protect the lower regions of those sitting from the cold?

As a retired nurse who had to decipher many Doctors instructions I totally understand 😂.

Que, I feel bad for all the children and parents. How do the parents explain why this keeps happening. We have bad stuff happening here but not in such a large way. Sending healing thoughts to America.

That meal sounds lovely. It must have been the night for it Lola. I usually cook but last night I couldn't be bothered. My local Independent Grocer in our neighbourhood always cooks a range of different hot meals for selection each evening. So at 5pm I went down and chose a couple of different meals for various members in our household. I chose butter chicken with steamed rice and a variety of green vegetables. The nice thing is the different components are in separate bowls so you can choose what you want for your meal.

Hopefully things will improve as the cruise goes on but a good thing for me to be aware of before boarding my cruise in July. Maybe because here in Perth we didn't suffer to much with lockdowns and restrictions but I am used to a smile and hello on my walks. Most of my walks are with my dog so maybe that helps break the ice. Enjoying your travel blog and photos mysty 🙂.

Shyla, I do remember the staff when we were there were lovely so Hopefully with your husband's help and them taking it slow he should manage. I understand loving that sort of thing as it gave me goosebumps walking through an area that was pre BC. The fact they only found out about it by accident when looking to do some plumbing work makes it interesting to me. With regards Mdina our driver had to drop as of at the start of the bridge you see in SLSD's video due to the restrictions on cars. Are you visiting St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta. We did it first thing before it got to crowded but it might work the same towards the end of the day. It is almost overwhelming in its opulence as each different knight seemed to spend money to out shine the others. We have also been to Marsaxlokk fishing village where we wandered the town and took a ride in one of the little fishing boats with painted eyes around the small harbour. I was indulging my inner tourist. We had a lovely seafood lunch there. https://www.maltauncovered.com/malta-island/marsaxlokk-fishing-village/ https://www.arrivalguides.com/en/Travelguide/MALTA/doandsee/marsaxlokk-12888 The arrival guide above has a list of lots of things to do in Malta and a great photo of the waterfront and town of Marsaxlokk. These ideas were over different port stops as you do have to pace yourself especially in July due to the heat. Looking forward to saying hello once you get onboard in Barcelona.

If people do decide to do the Hypogeum pre=booking is a must do. They only allow 80 people in a day so the chances of turning up and getting a ticket are rare. I agree, it is a lovely place and we look forward to revisiting there this time. The cars are restricted to only essential and local traffic so it has a more laid back feel.

Hi Shyla, I did this in 2019 and it is wonderful but it is a labyrinth in semi dark as they are trying to preserve it. Can your brother explore caves that have ramps and stairs and is fairly deep and you have to duck at times? I think it is about an hour but if I have forgotten I do remember it was a long time underground. The time schedules seem to indicate about an hour. About the area I remember I was struck how it seemed like a normal neighbourhood and then we went around the back to the entrance which had the name clearly displayed. We were with a tour guide who dropped us off and picked us up but their really wasn't much I saw too look at. Mind you I didn't research at all as we were moving on to the next place.

At the moment if going inside the Vatican and some other private Museums, Palaces that run tours you will need the N95, Kn95 or our equivalent in Australia is the P2, not the blue medical/surgical mask.

Happy Anniversary mysty and Myster. It sounds like you are well suited with both being kind souls and a great sense of humour.

I remember many years ago doing a food tour on Seabourn and they showed us the extremely large cans of Caviar from which passengers received their requested caviar in a small bowl. At the time it was Osetra but now the caviar comes from a Thomas Keller affiliated sturgeon farm. My point being it makes good environmental and economic sense to still have good caviar but buy it in large containers and serve it in small containers. As long as they clean and sterile the jars after use before re-using.

I also don't like this idea. We have already seen some pitfalls with included air because of our upcoming Grand Voyage cruise next January. Our TA checked in to see if we could arrange our flights as normally it was ~250 days prior only to be told it has been change to ~160 days out which is a concern with needing to travel at the beginning of January when it is likely to be more in demand. We also would prefer to travel west from Perth to Miami as we could use Qatar or Emirates and avoid any USA domestic travel and it is two flights with only one stop in the middle. Our TA will ask but has told us not to be disappointed if we can't get it. I am thinking this isn't such a great idea now.

Yes, we are at Villa Spalletti for 5 nights and looking forward to exploring a new area for us. I like the look of the menu of the Salumeria and was my preference on a quick dive. Knowing you can book a table in the wine cellar makes it more appealing so I will look further and get the hotel to book for me if we can fit it in. Only two weeks for you? I hope you have a great time and it will be interesting to see if you get to Morocco? We have 6.5 weeks which makes it both scary and exciting as I feel like I'm running out of time to get things organised both here and there.

We did a similar tour a few years ago and it is one of my highlights as I long wanted to see the tapestry. I bought a scarf with a print of some of the scenes so I had a tangible memory to wear. I just checked and non of that mentioned by dusababy and jpalbany is on my scarf. 😁 I agree the single line and audiobox worked well. There were a couple of times I wished I could stay a bit longer to check something out on the tapestry but realised I was more than happy to see it in full.

Why not 🙂? Having fun with fashion especially with a bit of colour is a good thing. I remember one gentleman who wore a gorgeous brocade print jacket with black trousers and he looked wonderful.

Only trying to help marazul 😁. Which Roscioli have you booked? I am thinking of going to one of them. Mind you my hotel sent me their list of restaurants they recommend nearby or a short taxi ride. After looking through just a few I think I need to book another trip to Rome just to get a chance to try a few more. Luckily Qantas are starting up direct flights from here in Perth to Rome so that makes it easier. I don't mind long flights as long as I'm in business class.

I will be in Rome from the 5th- 10th July prior to boarding the ship. I will come back and give my thoughts on the restaurants. Today I need to book Ristorante Sibilla in Tivoli as we will be in Tivoli after the cruise from 14-16 August during Ferragosto and my Italian friend here told me I should book quickly. I had planned to stay overnight at the airport hotel to catch our flight home after the cruise but flight was changed by the airline to the early morning of the day we disembarked. After multiple phone calls we got it changed to 2 days after so took the opportunity to stay in Tivoli and explore all the places that I have wanted to for awhile. Being there for Ferragosto will just make it more interesting. Thankfully at this time neither Singapore nor Australia require testing as long as you are fully vaccinated and bolstered as we are, so I won't have to worry about finding a testing place during a festival time.

I am so happy as today I got confirmation that my hotel was able to book dinner for me at Colline Emiliane. They also have checked my online booking for Casa Bleve is also confirmed. Casa Bleve was recommended multiple times on Tripadvisor and the menu, decor and reviews made it very appealing. Have you eaten there?

I hope you have a great cruise. I have friends on Ovation at the end of May so I will be interested to hear what they say. They don't use Cruise Critic so I will hear via email. I will be on Sojourn and I am curious as to how busy it will be, though my cruise is more likely to be impacted by Summer holiday time.

Normally I would agree with you but in this case it obviously caused the Author distress so why keep bringing it up. The author has moved on to look for a better fit for them and I frankly have moved on as well and would rather not rehash everything. I have a cruise coming up in 7 weeks in the Med and would rather know how things are evolving there now with people cruising.

Always best to use direct. I think the problem is using Viator you don't always get all the information up front. I remember in Barcelona we had booked a tour too Montserrat with a local company. Met at the meeting point and we had to wait awhile for a family who was also booked. We were just about to leave when they turned up in a rush and very stressed. It turned out they had booked though Viator who had given them an incorrect meeting place and they didn't have the contact details for the tour guide. The family had to contact Viator who then had to contact the company and call back the family to give them the correct information. Our tour guide was also trying to contact Viator to find out where the family were. That confirmed why I don't use third party to book tours. Too many extra steps and it gets too confusing.

Scott said he didn't want further discussion on Cruise Critic especially on this board. I think we should respect his wishes and go no further with this here. I am sure there are other places like on his youtube that you can post your questions or thoughts. SLSD sometimes you just have to let things go.