drron29

That was the problem as they had pepper sauce for the turkey. I though had it with mango chutney as they always have 3 Indian dishes for breakfast. It went pretty well.

In the west we arque about Christmas and Santa Clause. But here in Thailand were Christmas isn’t a holiday the old man in red brings true excitement for the young children. Here is breakfast at the Marriott Mayfair apartments on Christmas morning. And Christmas breakfast was roasted turkey and veggies, pork with apple sauce and what might be the Thai version of Christmas cake. I see my iPhone is up to it’s old tricks and turned the last photo upside down.

Well the weather for our Christmas Day is a mild 30C - 86F. But here in Bangkok it’s a lovely day with very little humidity. I hope those having extreme weather will get a respite soon. A Merry Christmas to you all.

Yes he was even though I ended up the subject of a lot of his jokes. We had tickets to his show in Newcastle Australia. Unfortunately at the last moment I had to be on call for the hospital. And the only time I got a call ever when out was just before Dick started his show. We were in the front row so it was obvious when I returned. But I did laugh.

For our English friends.

I gave my description of the survey on post 15308 of the water cooler thread.

We had many cruises on the Explorer when I was aged 65 to 73. I have peripheral neuropathy plus severe spinal canal stenosis at L4. This means I have reduced feelings in my hands and feet . I have also had slowly decreasing power in my arms and legs. I will no longer do expedition cruises as I would be causing too much stress to the incredible staff. I remember some amazing feats by the gate crew on the Explorer. One was at Cape Dorset in Hudson Bay. It was as flat as a pancake when we went ashore but a gale blew up. I was on the last zodiac back to the ship and the last of the zodiac. It took some time before my turn. The zodiac rose and I gripped the gate crew with both arms when the zodiac suddenly dropped 6 feet. The crew hung on to me until the zodiac rose and I could push off from it and make it back on to the ship. I didn’t feel scared as they had a strong grip and are very strong. At the time I weighed 230 pounds naked. On another occasion Rojaan had fractured her ankle a few weeks before a cruise and was still in a moon boot. With the help of the Senior Expedition leader she didn’t miss a zodiac excursion. On the Explorer’s first cruise of West Africa there was a 90+ woman in a wheelchair. She was able to do some of the zodiac excursions with crew lifting her in and out of zodiacs. So there are very few who absolutely can’t do an Expedition cruise. The greatest fear is fear itself.

With apologies to Freddy Mercury and Queen.

Maybe Mysty could answer this question for me.

Now hopefully a bit of laughter.

The survey was personalised in that it had our SS days and compared the current system to the proposed new system. The new system is that if you cruise on the classic fleet in a veranda or less then everything stays the same. But if in a silver or medallion then you get 2 points for each day. If in a top suite you get 3 points. If you do an expedition cruise then the points per day are 2,3 and 4 respectively. There was also a section asking whether they should have reciprocal benefits across all RCL lines.

In 2019 we cruised on the Muse in a Silver suite and it was a lot larger than on the smaller ships so we asked to see a veranda suite and it is not that much smaller than silver on the smaller ships and about the same size as silver on the Explorer. So we bit the bullet and had a veranda suite on the Dawn and enjoyed it so another 4 cruises booked.

Same here. We are closer to the end of our cruising life than the beginning. Only the last cruise of 18 days has been in a veranda suite. All the others in silver or medallion suites. About 70% have been Expedition cruises.

We are known for our being in the right place at the wrong time. Our first visit to Thailand was in May 1974. It was the time of the student protests with many deaths and tanks in the streets. We have visited Fiji within a week of 3 of their 4 coups and ended up talking to 2 of their PMs. First Colonel Rambuka who was staying in the room above us at the Sheraton. Then Mr Quaraise who was meeting the Australian High Commissioner at the Sheraton. His body quark was trying to serve himself at the buffet whilst trying to hold onto his Uzi. So I served him what he wanted. The PM came over and thanked me for helping. He introduced himself as Mr Quaraise though most call me crazy. We have also been present at many episodes of civil disobedience. Moral if you are booked to a place we are visiting then cancel.

You are only a young fellow so time to pull your socks up.😁