Lirio

2 minutes ago, mysty said:

 

Wish I could help Lirio!  We haven't been to L'Anse aux Meadows.  If you're talking about the historic site in Newfoundland, that would be quite a trek from Montreal or Quebec.

Seabourn has a cruise with stop there, but my preference is Silversea.

We are looking for 2023 cruise and one option would be New York to Quebec early october with the following ports: Boston, New Port, Portland, Halifax, Charlottetown, Saguenay, Quebec.

We would stay 2-3 days in Quebec and drive to Montreal for another couple of days.

Any comments? I would love to visit L'Anse aux Meadows. Is it a must see in thos area?

On 1/11/2023 at 11:27 AM, saminina said:

Great advice by Wes.  There are other sites to investigate for sourcing tickets.  Do your homework and skip the ship's section.

 

We paid a very high price a few years ago for seats in air conditioned, fully catered box.  Across the track from us the SS ground level section with passengers profusely sweating.  

These sits with air condition, im my view, if one can afford, is the best option.

20 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Are you on a cruise?  Where did the ship port for this excursion?  [Our Silversea cruise next January will be stopping in Akaroa, and their shorex choices include Christchurch but not the International Antarctic Centre.  This would be my top choice, if I can figure out how to get there...]

I am not on a cruise. The International Antarctic Center is very close to the Christchurch airport. It is a mixture of a amusiment park and a cientific museum. Great for children of all ages, including me (59)....

Back to Auckland already. Unfortunately my new hotel room does not have a view to the port, but I guess there is a SS ship here today. Are you @zqtchas?

Today I visited the International Antarctic Center in Christchurh where I had the opportunity to go on a ride in a Hagglund, had an encounter with huskies, went to a simulator of an Antarctic Storm where the temperature goes as down as -18C (the lower temperature I have ever felt) attended some presentations and 4D movies as well a virtual reality (VR) about Shackleton journey. It was great. At every moment it remminds mr about the great Antarctica cruise on board Silver Explorer. 

a hiking to a cave nearby Christchurch.....

From my balcony this morning.......

22 minutes ago, mysty said:

 

Or maybe even from further west.   😁

From Rio de Janeiro........

My hotel is a pre cruise hotel for Norwegian. Fully booked today. last night there were 2 ships in town. Queen Elizabeth and a second big one that I dont know.

5 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

With that tall space ship like thing?

This is aroof top of hotel where we went for a party

Happy New Year. 20 years now we came first time to New Zealand an we fell in love....

9 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

You are correct. They did charge back when we first started doing expeditions (2009), but they stopped charging by 2017, I think.

In our cruise in August 2022 a pen drive were given free of charge. short and only the environment. No guests images.

3 hours ago, crusinbanjo said:

Hi Lois, Logos we’re my business for 30 years………. And Mrs Banjo and I sailed on Hollander America many times when they had smaller ships.  
 

hope you are well, looking forward to your next cruise.  Theresa and I will be cruising the Nile River in March.  Next SS cruise is not in the very near future, possibly in the fall.  Hope our paths cross again sometime.

in what cruise line you will do the Nile River? I am looking for our next cruise to celebrate my 60 b-day in 2023. So far I couldnd decide, so many options. Nile is a good choice.

From my balcony in Auckland. I have no idea which cruise is that.....

Flying to New Zealand today. 

8 hours ago, TLCOhio said:

 

For those with "no words" for this cold, below is some "evidence" to illustrate what it is like to now live a "deep freeze".  My guess?  About three inches of snow on the ground, but very high winds that drives the wind chill factor down so extremely deep.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

From our front door this morning, below is the view of the empty roadway, our driveway, etc.  Not much traffic this am.  Second is the view out our back patio door.  If it looks COLD, that is because it is really chilly!!  YES, a White Christmas!:

(Open your screen/viewer wider to see these visuals larger/better!)

 

Thanks. I never "saw" such temperature in my entire life. Not even when I went to Antarctica. Have a great holiday!

19 minutes ago, TLCOhio said:

 

Agree!!  Merry Christmas to all.  Good news here in the Midwest?  We will have a White Christmas with lots of snow, etc.  BUT, however, it is very, very, very, very cold here.  Not warm and sunny as Spins and others are enjoying in Florida.  

 

Need proof and evidence?  Below is what is posted now for Central Ohio by AccuWeather.  Sure glad we were not flying today.  Lots of scrubbed flights and other serious challenges for those traveling.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

I have no words for this temperature!

4 hours ago, first time cruising said:

Merry Christmas everyone. No white Christmas here in Adelaide, South  Australia. Our forecast for Christmas Day 31C then following days  37C, 41C, 38C. Looks like pool and beers.

Almost the same here in Rio de Janeiro....

Argentina! what a great game. And congratulations also to France.

42 minutes ago, spinnaker2 said:

Don’t know if the internet upgrade completed. I inquired and was told huh?????

Ship docked at 26. Not sure if she will dock there again.

Pretty easy to find out where she will be.

I am now on day 6 of a nasty cold. Not covid. Tested and negative repeatedly.

 

Lots of coughing aboard, and very few masks. 

 

 

 

Get better soon!

We are looking for 2023 cruise and I found a cruise starting at Rio de Janeiro. It must be interesting to start a cruise at your home town. I am not convinced yet, and will keep brownsing. There are some many good options everywhere around the world.....

6 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

Long weekends in Europe are a ton of fun! We only do them when we can leave Friday and come back Monday, and only to places where it's a direct flight so we don't waste half of the time traveling, and only if we can find reasonable business-class tickets. If we don't get some sleep on the plane then we'd be dead in the water for the whole trip. But a couple of hours will be enough.

 

This should be very relaxing. We can leave work at noon on Friday and drive to the Massport parking facility in Framingham; from there the Logan Express will take us directly to the airport. So it's only about 2h from home to there; once we arrive at the garage the vacation officially starts.

 

In terminal E we can hang at the Virgin Atlantic clubhouse which has always been a great way to start a trip. The flight to London is only 6h and it's only a 5h time change so jetlag should not be a real issue. Plus you never get fully adjusted to the time change on such a short trip so coming home won't be a big issue.

 

We get in at 7AM Saturday so we'll head right to the hotel, dump our (small carry-on) bags, and hit the ground running.  We are staying at the NoMad Hotel in Covent Garden. Looks like there are two great Christmas Markets; one in Covent Garden and one on the South Bank just across from where we are. They are open even past Christmas, unlike most of the continental markets which close on 12/23 or maybe 12/24. And they sound like they will have tons of great food stalls to try. So we may not need to worry about finding a place to have a full dinner. A day of grazing sounds wonderful.

 

On Christmas Day, the NoMad is having a special prix-fixe lunch menu that sounds great. Just snagged one of the last reservations for 3:45 so it will be a late lunch/early dinner, then we can spend the evening walking around enjoying the lights, and not worry about what's open.

 

On Monday we don't leave until 4PM so we can sleep in and/or enjoy a last run through more markets. Then we'll head back to LHR to use the Virgin Upper Class Wing which is such fun. The drive home from the garage won't be the highlight of the trip but oh well.

 

In case you can't tell, I'm really excited about this!

 

 

 

Lola, we will pay for it the next week at work. We're both on call for 7 days straight starting Tuesday, but life is short and there is much fun to be had.

 

We did similar trips for Christmas in 2014, 15, and 16 but then for the next few years, Christmas was midweek so no long weekend, and so there was no way to make it work out. In 2020 we were super excited because Christmas was a Friday, so we could resume this tradition, but we all know what happened then and again in 2021. So we were NOT going to miss out this year!

 

 

We certainly will! We have been really wanting to go back to London for some time now. Excited that it will finally happen!

Xmas flying from Rio to Auckland. I will fly on Dec. 25 and will arrive on Dec. 27 and have a whole month with the daughter. Back to Rio on Jan. 27. We are looking for what to do for carnival when we have 5 days holiday....(carnival is in last week of Feb.).

Enjoying the weekend watching the world cup games. I think it would be very interesting to be in a cruise with a lot of sea days during the games.......

Well, on the other side of the globe, on a sunny sunday we went for a hike in the Morro das Aranhas (spiders hill) just behind the hotel. Then  to the beach and in the afternoon  the conference will start. A local flower.

Santinho beach @Florianopolis in the south of Brazil.....A lovely spring day.....