jpalbny

Nice view QSS! Enjoy the day.

Stumblefoot, is it a math quirk related to kids traveling in the same suite as their parents? In other words, if a cabin is for 2 people, does adding a kid make that cabin 150% occupied?

Nostalgia and old memories are hard to compete with. I'm not as good as I was in 2009 (when we first tried SS), and I don't expect SS to be either. BUT - Can anyone name a travel company whose service and product was markedly improved by the events of the past few years? The world is a different place now. Travel is a mess. Things may never return to the way they were. If everyone has slipped a notch or two, it's not fair to hold that against the individual companies. The question should be whether or not SS still offers a product that satisfies you vis-a-vis the price you pay for it. For us, it does. If there's another line that suits someone else better, by all means they should cruise with that line. I think the only way to determine whether SS meets your standards is to try it for yourself. Go into the cruise looking to have a fantastic time. DO NOT look to make comparisons between SS of today vs your expectations of what SS was like in some mythical time in the past. That doesn't exist any longer. If you don't enjoy it despite that, then you know it's not for you. Hope you enjoy it!

What an unfortunate chain of events! Hope you and your iPhone are on the mend soon.

I'm happy to flip them for you, if you have some that you really want to post, but they are upside down.

Agree! But it looks like her post count is still at zero.

Sounds like a life goal to me...

That's been our usual experience. The additional formal night might well be on Venetian Night, but as far as what day of the cruise? Who knows. OP: For our last cruise, the bow ties never showed up at all. And there were 2 formal nights - Night 2 for the welcome, and mid-cruise for Venetian Night. We never had a Captain's Farewell; maybe because we were docked late in Cadiz that night? Seems like it's all over the place.

Beautiful scenery, and good on Ponant for getting you there before the invasion. And I agree; that galette looks delicious!

Absolutely not! Don't disappear. We would all miss you.

Maybe after he's booked on them?

Here you go Ron. This should get you adjusted for the Northern Hemisphere... 😄 The malrotated photos are maddening!

Have a wonderful trip!

Glad you had a nice trip QSS. Sorry about the extra baggage that you brought home, but happy that you are feeling better!

Metzger really has cat behavior down to a T. This one really made me lol.

We are a bit older than you (50s) and have enjoyed expedition cruises on both SS (six) and Ponant (once). We are signed up for one with each line next year, as we think that both offer a nice product. Food is subjective so you'll find as many opinions on that as there are people posting. We like the offerings on both lines. From our one experience on Ponant I'd say that their menu is less extensive than what you'll find on SS but not bad at all. It's more French though that may vary a bit by location. Silversea has more depth. If you look in my signature I have links to my most recent trip reports for Ponant (Corsica, Sept 2021) and Silversea (Antarctica and South Georgia, Jan 2020). There should be some menus and food pictures in each review to give you an idea. Both cruises offered an excellent team of naturalists who were accessible and helpful. The naturalists are the best part of any expedition cruise and both lines were great there. I will say that the hikes offered by Ponant in Corsica were faster-paced than what Silversea usually does. The Ponant Explorers are new ships which are very slick. There are some pictures in the Corsica review of Le Bellot. They have an excellent and easy setup for getting in and out of the zodiacs. Ponant's newest Polar ship Le Commandant Charcot looks incredible. I'd go on that in a heartbeat. The Silversea ships are about 30 years old (Cloud and Wind) - not specifically built as expedition cruise ships, but retrofitted to serve as such. We love the ships, both before and after the retrofit, and will happily keep sailing on them but if you must have a "new" ship then you may wish to avoid them. The wild card is Silversea's recent acquisition of the Silver (formerly Crystal) Endeavor, a new purpose-built expeditions ship which will start with this winter's Antarctica cruising season. Let me know if you have other specific questions about the two lines. Both will offer you a great experience but some of the above differences may or may not be important to you.

We were in Milan and Como in early June. It was already a bit hectic. I can only imagine that it's worse now. It must feel like a sanctuary on board!

Have a (another) great trip! That ferry looks a bit packed.

Welcome to the club.

Last night, a fairly quick pasta dish. Cauliflower cut into florets and roasted in the air fryer for 20 minutes with olive oli, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Added sliced shallots halfway through. Browned a little butter while the cauliflower roasted. The recipe called for Spätzle instead of Italian pasta for more bite. Luckily I had some in the pantry. All tossed together in a pan with a little lemon zest and juice to brighten it up. Fresh dill to garnish and a Sylvaner from Northern Italy to accompany. Very tasty!

With our summer highs here regularly over 30C, that seems very nice at this time!

We have not been to that region yet! But it looks neat.

Better living through fluoroquinolones? Works for me... ETA: following along with interest as we will be there for a few days in March. Hoping to meet up with a former colleague who lives there now and get a bit off the beaten path!

Tonight's cooking adventure. We found a recipe for Spice-Roasted Halibut. Spices are our favorite souvenir. So we have some odd ones lying around. It basically called for making a paste of spices with olive oil, coating the fillets with the paste, then roasting and serving with a salad of herb leaves dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. Looked interesting but we had to improvise for some of the spices. The first ingredient was khalta hara...a chile spice blend that we didn't have. Some Google research showed that it includes Aleppo pepper as the base, combined with cumin, coriander, dried lime, cardamom, and cinnamon! OK here goes. No Aleppo pepper but I did have some Kahsmiri mirch pepper that we'd bought in India a few years ago. Was looking for an excuse to use it, so I added a bit of cumin and cinnamon. I ground a few coriander pods that we had from Zanzibar. Then a bit of lime zest. The recipe also added extra ground coriander and some ginger. The mix smelled nice! Coated the halibut then baked it, in a pan over lemon slices (to keep it from sticking). The fish cooked in the oven while we made the salad. Chris chopped the herbs after I picked them. I used a base of parsley and added some mint, tarragon, and basil for flavor. Also picked a tiny hot pepper from the garden to add some punch. I also cooked up some couscous in chicken broth with a splash of cumin. That is such a simple side dish - I have homemade chicken broth in the freezer so I put a cube of it in a large measuring cup, nuke it until it melts, add a spice or two if I want, and water to make 3/4 cup of liquid. Then add 1/2 cup of couscous and nuke it again just until it starts to boil. Let it sit for a minute or two and fluff it. Done. Looked pretty good together, and it was very tasty too! The Kashmiri pepper was just a touch warm, not too hot, and very flavorful despite costing me less than 50 cents in some random bazaar in Murshidabad, India five years ago. I'd make this again.

Either a jest, or a misunderstanding. I have to admit, I puzzled over this post for a while too. Highplanesdrifters no doubt made a typo in the original post. It took me a while to find it: "Thanks AGING Terry for letting us play in your sandbox." was obviously meant as "Thanks AGAIN Terry..." I think Retiredandtravel noticed the typo and made a funny reply about it. I completely missed the typo this morning and did not understand that post either. Amazedbycruising, I don't think that any slight against Terry was meant in that post.