drron29

First Miami made a decision and we do get the 10% t ransferred. Which brings me to my second point. Before the Muse cruises for early 2026 there were no cruises in November, December 2025. So the Muse was in Athens and the next cruise began in Mahe which we have booked. It could have been thought that there were to be no repositioning cruises but this week they have appeared, So the cruise before ours is Mumbai to Mahe which we will book. Saves us a big problem as hotel rooms for January 2025 are insane with the cheapest Hilton property being the Doubletree at $1000 a night!. If you think that's bad IHG have only one property a Six Senses resort and for the night before our cruise was a measly $39000 for the one night. So now we will be bringing our hotel room with us.

As the eccentric Spike milligan said - "I have learnt from my mistakes and can confidently repeat every one of them." SS may be headed down the same path. But on another place a guest complaining that their TA Vancouver to Tokyo on the Moon has disappeared. Following that is one Tokyo to Tokyo cruise finishing on October 12th and the next cruise is November 17th Sydney to Auckland.

I am concerned About the January 2026 Muse cruises. We are booked on the Mahe to Capetown cruise. Then we cancelled our May 25 cruise through the Suez as we were initially on a back to back from Singapore but then SS put a 6 day gap between cruises in Doha. They deny it but my feeling it is for a charter. They would not put us up in Doha and offered a 10% extra discount on another cruise. So we added the next Capetown to Capetown cruise as it went up the East Coast to Mozambique. Then less than a week later all the January, February Muse cruises went to waitlist only as did it's October Athens to Dubai cruise. And November December were blank. So now the Muse stays in the Mediterranean until December and then goes Athens- mumbai- Mahe to arrive for our January cruise. When the January cruises came back on we had lost a port on the Mahe segment and the next cruise now went to West Africa which we have cruised before. So we are trying to cancel that sector and switch to a different cruise but retaining the discounts pointing out that less than a week after we booked it the cruise was changed to something we wouldn't have considered. The decision is being made in Miami who have had the request for a week. Again I am becoming paranoid about SS and feel they are positioning them selves for the possible scenario of the Red Sea still being dangerous then. not as far to reposition if going to Namibia.

I also just work as a detour on it's way to the toilet bowl.

And RCL has cancelled their World Cruise May segment through the Red Sea and Canal already. About time SS realised keeping people hanging on doesn't endear them to a significant numbers of their passengers.

This teared me up.

But it does extend to extra help for example a family emergency and a crew member needs to depart the ship. SS pays the fare but the crew fund does supply some help for when on the way home and at home. This was first hand from a waiter that received this sort of help.

Though today I have google translate on my iPhone which makes life a little easier so I can read the signs. But also handy in that you can have a conversation with a local even if they have no English. just type in your question and the phone will say it in Japanese.

I think JP has the right hanging nest. There are apparently weavers around the Amazon but the photos of the nest look different to your image but the pictures for the oropendola look identical. There are also pantanal birds that build hanging nests but totally different to the other 2. However if it is then your guide was wrong about the nests. In the Amazon it would be the green oropendola or a crested oropendola ( which has recently been reclassified and is no longer called an oropendola ). However with both of them there is a dominant male in the group who breeds with most of the females so unlikely he builds a nest for every female he breeds with.

Do a little research. Almost everywhere it is cheaper to book a private tour than the SS tours.

It's one of the few wines that if it is on for the night I ask for an alternative.

The next day we were off to Osaka for Christmas. however we had a late checkout and we had decided to catch the 1.20pm train to Osaka. So a free morning and I decided to do one of my back street walks. Gives you a different view of the city. It was recycling day. People bring their bags to a pick up point. Though an enterprising young fellow had about a dozen bags tied to his bicycle and arms and making off with his collection. Ended up back at the shopping street. something for everyone. Fruit. Temples. Seafood. General wares. Street food. Flowers. And a shop called Foodjunkie. Being a morning supply vehicles made it interesting. I noticed this entrance. So went exploring. a lovely place to live.

It is. You can book excursions as soon as you book which means if you book close to the day of embarkation you often miss out. it changed not too long ago and IHMO is a mistake. And this comes from someone who has already booked our 2026 cruises. As to dinner reservations bookings open at 120 days out and online those book out quickly especially for Silver Note. however officially 50% of the reservations are meant to be available for online bookings and the other half for bookings on board. So as soon as you board see the Restaurant Manager or the restaurant itself to book what you want. Some get there butlers to do it but that can be hit or miss. Some butlers are excellent and some are a bit slower and you may miss out. So dinner reservations may not show because it is more than 120 days to your cruise or because your cruise is less than 120 days away.

Time to go to dinner. I suggested the yakitori place but it failed as our son found a much better yakitori place a little further away. When we arrived it did indeed look a much better yakitori place and it even had a decent wine list. Unfortunately it also had a sign on the door saying fully booked tonight. So we back tracked and went into a shopping street as usually a few restaurants. Well there were but most had between 2 and 10 seats so we weren't going to fit. We passed a pizza place which I pointed out and the grandkids thought it looked good but again overruled. After about 15 minutes the pizza restaurant became the only real choice. So in we went. There was an English menu but the server didn't speak any English so pointing was the way to order. Also there wasn't that much English on he English menu An unusual place. 2 of the children wanted ginger Ale. Here it is. But it really was ginger ale. The pizzas appeared 2 at a time. But there were excellent and some that you wouldn't get back home. Mushroom. I had the spicy fish roe. And it was spicy. Our son had the vegetable pizza. 2 of the kids had the Neapolitan with an egg. They both said one of the best that they have had. The others had the margherita pizza. Turned out to be a great family evening. As I was leaving the man and woman doing the cooking asked how it was. One simple word caused them to celebrate. Oishii. The shopping street at night. And the garden lights back at the hotel.

Virgin voyages are expecting the problems in the Red Sea to continue at least for another year. They have already abandoned the Australian 24/25 cruising season because of the Red sea problem. " Virgin Voyages has announced a number of changes to their upcoming Australian summer season aboard Resilient Lady. This includes the outright cancellation of any sailings in Australia later in 2024 and early 2025 due to the fall out of the Red Sea issues. Due to heightened tensions in the region, the Resilient Lady had to reroute its sailing through the Suez Canal for the 27 March half world voyage to return to Europe. A host of new itineraries are expected to be announced on Thursday (29 February), stay tuned to VV Insider for the latest updates." https://vvinsider.com/virgin-voyages-cancels-australian-2024-2025-summer-sailings/

We have a famous American in Australia at the moment and half of Australia have absolutely lost it.

An interesting walk back from the Museum basically alongside the train tracks. one section was industrial but one place had a good display of flowers. But then I looked at the name on the building. Caught the shuttle from Kyoto station. It passes a huge temple complex on the way back to the hotel. And tonight a 4.30pm sunset.

So just a few of the exhibits in the museum. They do design different trains in Japan. First some of their history. The first mass produced locomotive in Japan. And their first successful electric train. Other exhibits. A wonderful model train set up. It was time for lunch. naturally the cafe overlooks the train lines. almost constant traffic. And my lunch. A bowl of miso ramen with pork and an egg. And yes i cracked the egg into the ramen and slurped it down with great gusto. The old Japanese fellow beside me gave me the thumbs up. I then had to pay a visit. The rest rooms were very clean. I had noticed many dads with very young boys. So the cubicles came with this. Then outside. You could get steam train rides. Then the roundhouse full of steam locos. And over the road the Royal Park hotel had put old trams to good use.