worldtraveller99

Thank you tiggertom! Probably not £20 but certainly around £15 a bottle retail. There are great styles of wine you can get for that. Less than £10 a bottle they can taste very similar and light.

Which ship would you be on in the Greek Islands momofthr3?

That is terribly short notice momofthre3 - I hope they have given you a full refund? I am glad we let them book the flights for us. If that happened to us we would give up and just book a hotel to drive to in England.

I hope you both have a lovely time - I look forward to your reviews?

Thank you Observer! I didn't find the children intrusive dawntrdr, mostly they were a Brazilian family who were charming and rather cute. Thank you for the Celebrity list Accessor, that sounds good!

I'm not saying the decor wasn't lovely because it was. And as you say I have 0 to compare it with re the size of the veranda suite. I just don't think an £8 or a £7 wine counts as premium, when those are what we in the UK call entry-level wines. And we didn't happen to see much of our butler (still not sure whether I was expecting too much there). But we did have a great time!

PS Let's not argue on the luxury level! Here is SS's landing page - definitly says "ultra-luxury". Leader in Luxury Cruising | Silversea

We enjoyed the cruise very much. I just didn't think ultra-luxury was right, when the nicest included wine costs only £12 a bottle! And they were trying to force Valpolicella (included, costs £7 a bottle in the UK) on everyone as the standard wine in La Terrazza in the evening. The Thai beer (included) in Indochine was thin too. If I had paid more thousands than I did I would have expected at least £15 for each included bottle to make the cruise ultra-luxury. In Indochine I think I asked (remember - 20 questions to find an included wine!) do you have an Alsace Gewürztraminer? Oh yes he said - and brought a really cheap and tasteless Edelzwicker - a cheap blend made in the presence of some Gewurztraminer grapes! (sells at £8 a bottle in the UK). Otherwise, apart from the butler who obviously thought other people would tip him more (too right there) so ignored us, everyone was lovely!

My review of our recent Alaska cruise on the Silver Muse has been published. What do you think? Silversea Silver Muse Cruise Ship: Review, Photos & Departure Ports on Cruise Critic

Our 4th jab (2nd booster) will only be available to those over 50 and probably around October 2022. So cruise lines cannot ask for it, or they will lose half their customers (from the UK at least).

Thank you, I shall keep looking!

Does anyone know any long range forecasts for it to rain again? We don't go till the Christmas Markets at the end of November.

Well this is our very first ocean cruise, so I sincerely trust that we will like the food! I am not fussy - a nice piece of meat & 2 veg does it for me! Though I do like good gelato?

I am very surprised that SS doesn't provide real maple syrup, unless you ask for it? I certainly shall! Did you get it ok when you did?

I am interested that the ship cared about something called VERIFLY? Neither BA nor our cruise line has mentioned it. Hopefully we will be fine with paper ArriveCan receipts, test results and vaccination certificates?

Thank you Ozzie26. I keep checking our "Manage Your Booking" on BA and also Alaska Airways. One of the latter flights did get cancelled and they moved us (without telling us) to a connecting flight with 30 minutes (!) changeover time! I don't think we would have made the 2nd gate, let alone our bags. So I changed that to a flight 4 hours later (sob - we arrive at Seattle around 5 in the morning!) as there was nothing in between. Your photo is very relaxing, I know it will be worth it when we get there.

Thank you Italy52, it sounds idyllic. Let's hope ours, plus QueenWiggler's, is wonderful too. I am also watching lots of videos!

Thank you strickerj. Yes it does seem to be much worse now than earlier in the year, when we had a great trip to Dubai in March with no Government apps needed either way, or any tests (and yes masks indoors there, but people were slowly taking them down!). We had runny nose Covid in late April, so I sincerely trust we stay immune for the next month at least!x Will tell you if this doesn't work!

Thank you surreymum, that all sounds good (apart from your husband's Covid). How long did they make you quarantine for before you flew home?

Thank you all so much. I've been sitting and thinking about the things I am looking forward to - whales, sea otters, First Nations museums, cocktails! to stop me thinking about the things I am not - the fact that our BA plane into Vancouver from London has been consistently from 1.5 hours to up to 5 hours late taking off every day for the past 3 weeks! But I have emailed to the nice people at Shoppers Mart Pharmacy in Vancouver and we are booked in for our pre-cruise Covid test (which I have never done before, not having a need to do so) so I guess I am ready now!

Wow! That sounds brilliant! Counting down now!

Thank you for all your information quack2, hope your Covid completely clears up soon. It is sad that everywhere seems to have closed shops, restaurants, etc. But we put this off for 2 years, and it is far too late to think of putting it off again. And I think we are prepared for not great weather (and will be a relief as London is going to to be very hot for much of next week).

PS Sorry to get political. I do really appreciate those of you who are encouraging, despite the hassles. Will feel better when we (and the suitcases!x) arrive I know.

Thank you all - especially the fantastic photos! I know it will be worth it when we get there. Re the ArriveCan app it wasn't me saying that, like all immigration apps, there is a side of all Governments which aims to shed employing people, and discriminates against those with poor eyesight who cannot see a whole page of text on a 2" mobile screen: The ArriveCAN app may be here to stay. But could that kill business in Windsor? | CBC News

That's great PhotoGal07! Thank you for the report Shuyak - the photos of mountains and glaciers are breathtaking. We will have nothing to compare our cruise to, having not ocean cruised before (we have taken river cruises which we love). So we probably will love the food and drink - we are not too fussy there! But I still hate all this compulsory online ArriveCan etc, which I understand the Canadian Govt wishes to keep long term, so they don't have to employ real people in immigration, huh.