jpalbny

Wow some good choices. #1 has South Korea and Sri Lanka which I'd love to see in depth. And the Red Sea. I don't need the Caribbean and so much South America though. #2 is nice but spends a lot of time in Europe at the end. Would like to visit Nordkap though. #3 looks very interesting to me, though it does skip South Korea. I may be delusional after rehydrating with too much beer after the Oktoberfest 5K this morning. None is perfect, but I'm sure any would be wonderful!

Sailed on Silver Wind, suite 523, in June of this year along with a bunch of other CC posters. No issues.

With all the time you spend on CC, when do you have time for that?

A very interesting building. Thanks for sharing those pictures. Those glass walls and walkways always make me weak in the knees too. But the views are pretty!

That is distributed to everyone free of charge. In ancient times it was $150 (as in, our first few expedition cruises in 2009 and 2011) but not recently.

After having taken five cruises each on them, I can say that we adore Wind and Cloud but reluctantly agree that they are getting a bit long in the tooth. We had a fantastic voyage on Silver Wind just a few months ago (with daddyo et at), with no hiccups, but can't turn a completely blind eye to the serious issues that these almost 30YO ships are having with their mechanical systems. Guess age catches up to all of us. It will be sad when they sail their last voyage, but we do have an Endeavor cruise booked for July 2025!

Not far behind you, M! But I'll happily raise a glass to you when you hit that number.

You can rest your camera and/or lens on it to hold it still while taking pictures. Helpful on safari with long lenses that don't have wide aperture, where you need to do a longer exposure. You can avoid blurry photos. Much less bulky than a tripod.

Who burned that steak? For shame. Thanks for posting your nice synopsis. Having migrated to SS from Princess and Oceania some 14 years ago I have to agree that it's a very pleasant step up. The problem becomes, that it's hard to go back after this!

Beautiful scenery - love that waterfall! I'll put that on my list.

Don't let Chris see this. She already thinks that I talk to you more than I talk to her...

Not likely. You average my consumption out, so they need to make up the loss! Much appreciate the kind assistance.

It's been 12 years since we visited the Galapagos and you're sorely tempting me to go back. Thanks for taking the time to put together this great report! And the pictures were spectacular. Much appreciated.

Here you go, Silver. Some of those bottles were uncorked and I didn't want them to spill. Some weird timing for formal nights for sure! On our last Spirit cruise we had the usual night 2 then the second was mid-cruise for Venetian night as well, and no farewell. It felt strange to do it that way.

We have not been to Japan, so looking forward to following along!

Yes, the same ones work at both poles.

This can be arranged. If you're going west to east I'd change the order a little bit, but nothing major. Niagara then Carleton then Albany, down to NYC and Lady Liberty, then JFK.

That, and wine. The important stuff!

I'll vouch for that!

Amazing! I'm exhausted just reading your post, and duly impressed! Here I was all proud of my tomato salad garnished with fresh basil, both from the garden. Looks like I've got to move to a better climate. Kudos for all of that incredible work.

Enjoy it Lirio! We have only been there once. The French Quarter just begs for a slow wander through, taking in the atmosphere. Lots of good food to try. The beignets at Cafe du Monde are famous too. I'd say just soak in the atmosphere and enjoy the food. It's a lot of fun.

Ouch! That makes my head spin just reading it. From Albany, it's not that much further to Toronto compared to PHL; might have just driven there instead! Korean flies direct from Kennedy though; that's how we got to Indonesia earlier this year. If only there was an ALB-JFK flight like there used to be years ago. Now for NYC, we only have ALB-LGA, which is completely useless for international connections.

They are. We are loyal to SkyTeam as much as able because we've amassed a ton of miles. So we fly with DL,KLM, AF, etc whenever possible. Chris detests the drive to Kennedy and it's not my favorite either, so the one stop itinerary to JNB from Albany is a very acceptable tradeoff. Plus DL is flying the A350 on the ATL-JNB route and those business class suites are not a bad way to spend 15 hours. But Albany airport definitely has some advantages. We can leave our house in an Uber and be through security in Albany, at the bar ordering a drink, in 20 minutes of less. So if we can get a routing from Albany to our destination with only one change of planes, we do that over a drive to one of the 3 big airports. When the Albany itinerary becomes three legs, or a lot more $$, or we need the direct flight, we suck it up and drive.

I think their cruise was only a week long so it's over now. Ponant's expedition cruises would be just fine for someone in that age group. We are "about" 10 years older and we did their trip to Indonesia in March. Loved it. Trip report in my signature. Ultimately you'll have to try it and see for yourself but we are very happy with their product. One thing I'll say about Ponant; when they go hiking it's NOT a slow amble like many other cruise lines do. You can get lazy if you're used to other "hiking" speeds. You've got to move it to keep up (which we actually like)!

We bought our own too, super cheap, and have used them for a few expedition cruises now. I use them at home if I have to shovel the walk or when walking down the driveway for the newspaper in the morning if our snow plowing guy hasn't been there yet. PS a little envious that you're back on the Wind so soon! Have a great trip.