jpalbny

Hey now. We cut our teeth on that back in the '90s. When we were feeling like something extra special we went for the reserve!

No wonder I can pack less; I only do color blocks. They take up less room without the extra vowel.

Yes. It appears on board magically. And disappears just as magically once the wine list is inspected. Enjoy!

Looks like a nice itinerary! Haven't been on L'Austral yet so don't know the difference between the MDR and the Gastronomic Restaurant. Yes - we wear casual clothes around the ship all day. Even shorts and T-shirts are fine for dining in the MDR, if appropriate for the ambient weather. We were just in Indonesia with Ponant last month and it was hot, so casual clothing was appropriate. I've never turned the TV on in our stateroom in two Ponant cruises. But as an Anglophone who also speaks two other languages (not French), Chris has never felt out of place on Ponant. I can speak plenty of French if necessary, but it isn't a requirement. You can do just fine if you only speak English. @AussieBoyTX has a thread about this on these forums. I'm too lazy to search for it as it's too close to my bedtime... Jacket not required. Dockers and collared shirt are more than sufficient. Hope that you enjoy your cruise!

That pizza looks perfectly cooked to me. It's not beef, so let that fire rip, and cook it to well-done! A few charred spots are desirable. Ron, loved your humour about the name of the port and its resemblance to a well-known GI pest. And the Kinder throwing rocks. I would have joined them, being a big kid myself...

We sailed on River Beatrice (before she was upgraded to SS Beatrice) on a similar itinerary - Budapest to Passau. That was in 2016 so obviously things could be different now... Yes, the CD gave a talk about all the excursions as part of an overview on the first night. That was SOP on all of our Uniworld cruises. Hope you enjoy Uniworld as much as we have!

2 for 1 Zen is even better! And "Twilight Anesthesia" sounds like something that you should patent as a cure for jet lag. Off to make dinner but already looking forward to the next installment.

Glad that your adventure is off to a (mostly) great start! I hope it only gets better from here. Enjoy Explorer, our first introduction to SS back in 2009 and still a favorite.

Do you have a photo of his dinner jacket?

Ok, that's the church we climbed to. It's an enjoyable stop. More fun if you climb the stairs! 😉

The republic would crumble, if that were the case!

Tough choice! We love both cities so IMO you should concentrate on the place that you've not been. For London, have a look at the Hotel St. Pancras. I think it's a Renaissance property (or it was when we stayed there). The building is gorgeous and it's on top of the train station so catching the Eurostar is very simple. In fact if you book some room categories, they include an escort to the train station by hotel staff, who will put you in an express line to clear immigration faster. King's Cross - Saint Pancras is a major hub for the London Underground so you can get anywhere else in London very conveniently from there. When we took the Eurostar to Paris pre-cruise in 2018 we stayed at that hotel and enjoyed it. We went from London to Paris in the afternoon, leaving after a (late) checkout and arriving in Paris maybe 6PM. We had a nice dinner then flew out of CDG early to get to our cruise. But it would be just as easy to take the train in same-day. The Gard du Nord area (where the Eurostar arrives in Paris) isn't the nicest neighborhood but it was OK for one night. Enjoy whichever choice you settle on - it would be hard to make a bad choice here.

What do you do for the tour in Lamego? We stopped there for about two hours on our self-drive from Porto to Salamanca. We went to the old town near the castle and wandered there for a bit. Nice views from the castle, but not much of a "castle" per se. There was a cute little archaeology museum near by. Again, a quick stop. Then we went to another part of town and climbed the stairs all the way up to the Church of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios. Beautiful staircase with azulejos along the way. We didn't visit the church. There are some pictures of Lamego here: https://notadourocruise.blogspot.com/2019/11/day-6-along-douro-from-porto-to.html Don't know anything about the other option - sorry!

There was a thread about this just a short time ago. Consensus was that 11:15 was too early for a flight. Wouldn't recommend trying for an even earlier flight than that.

I Googled it and found the 26/1/24 departure from Perth. Looks fun! Go for it. No single supplement!

My sister has. She did that insane "world marathon challenge" a few years ago where you run a marathon each day for seven days, on a different continent each day. So on day 2 they flew from Cape Town to some airstrip on Antarctica, ran for a few hours, and flew back to CPT to refuel for the flight to Perth for round 3. I can get you that info if you'd like... 😉 How does the trip you're looking at work? Definitely cool to consider.

It is a great option. We've done it before. We had a cruise from Copenhagen to London so we flew to London on a RT ticket, stayed at the Horel St Pancras, and walked downstairs to the Eurostar for Paris the next day. So much better than the slog back out to Heathrow! The hotel St Pancras is beautiful. And the journey was pleasant. The area around Gare du Nord in Paris isn't the nicest but it's still Paris. From Paris we caught a quick AF flight to CPH for the cruise. I guess... I recently (reluctantly) took advantage of my first senior discount. T-mobile offers a 55+ plan at a substantial savings compared to their regular rates. It was difficult to admit to it.

Nice itinerary! Looking forward to your updates.

Certainly not on on the €30-per-day allowance that he's allotted! 😉

Not me, but I've met him!

We did do the climb 10+ years ago. The problem is that you need to reserve a time slot and if you're there on a ship's tour you rarely have enough time, because all the times are sold out for many hours in advance. I think it was our second visit, and it wasn't crowded because it was November. So we ran to the ticket booth as soon as we arrived, and luckily there was a slot available not too far in the future, before the bus left! It's worth the entry fee because (in our opinion), it's a real trip to climb the spiral staircase while it's at such an angle! So steep on one side, such a gentle incline on the other. Disorienting almost. Worth skipping lunch for! 😉

That would be a deal-breaker for me.

I was hoping for a photo of that which the young Englishman was ogling.

Looks like a nice hotel! The included transfer from there to the port in Cairns will be a doozy, though.

Looks like a fun ending to a great trip! Thanks for sharing and I hope you're back on the rivers soon. The Douro is beautiful; though we have't done the river cruise there (yet) we have visited by land. Welcome home!