drron29

Here is Cairns weather. June until October is peak season but May is reasonable. Cyclone season has ended and the weather not too bad. Major benefit in May is that accommodation Should be cheaper and easier to book. Further South the weather will be slightly milder but the outer reef will be further off the coast. I quite enjoy Townsville. Worked there for 6 months.

Well I never thought I would need to say this. Silversea need to consult with british Airways on how to present a cheese plate. Business class on SYD - SIN yesterday. Simple with 3 very nice cheeses.

According to Barbara Muckhermann in her Q&A aboard the Muse a month ago the proper procedure is that only 50% of the restaurants should be available to book before boarding. The remainder to be available when boarding. Personally I doubt that this is what occurs. But it is the official policy.

And all the best to you @mysty. May your wishes come true. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year as well as the most amazing World Cruise ever.

I reported this from the Muse a month ago after the Barbara Muckerman Q&A that we had onboard. The SS Air was in the process of being taken over by the RCL air department. So all air arrangements are now through RCL and not SS. More agents that book more airfares and so hopefully better prices and choices.

We have just had morning coffee with Malcolm AKA RooFlyer who will be joing you on the Wind. A very good friend of ours. He is flying to Santiago today and we are flying to Singapore then on to Japan to have Christmas with the family. Hope you have a great cruise. I am sure you will enjoy South Georgia and Antarctica. Finally thank you for your cruise report. Maybe we will do a TA sometime.

Sure it wasn't the Spirit of Tasmania.😉 https://www.spiritoftasmania.com.au/?ds_c=Retail+|+Brand+|+Mainland+Australia&ds_ag=SoT+Brand&ds_k=spirit+of+tasmania&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4NWrBhD-ARIsAFCKwWvQCKjozo0Sh1fG1ME75fFaEDwof7hWnwfD3aGeov0orF2N_PXfBVAaAmdWEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Have never used the SS hotels so don't know. but I am presuming you are talking about the benefits of a Virtuoso booking. If so I doubt you would get them as Barbara muckerman's talk to us on the muse a month ago said SS has contracts with hotels for a fixed number of rooms which means a discounted rate. When we book a Virtuoso hotel the Virtuoso rate is more expensive than doing it direct however the benefits make it a better option. Especially so with Intercontinental hotels as i have diamond status. have never missed out on the Virtuoso upgrade with a second diamond up grade. So often get a suite and sometimes club access as well.

Indeed once when it was time to pay in full when we made the booking on board a deposit was accepted as a hold for I think 3 days. So we emailed our TA to pay from our card that they have on record. The extra benefit for us is that our agent is a Virtuoso agent and most SS cruises are Virtuoso cruises so you get OBC or an Excursion thrown in. There easn't going to be that much difference if we lost the 5% booking on board and our TA doing it and getting the Virtuoso benefits. It was much better though to get both.

On our last 3 cruises Dawn, Moon and Muse the people more likely to try it on at restaurants on formal nights were usually older persons. and i mean older than me. I am 77. All of our first few cruises were Expedition cruises.definitely no formal nights.

Yes.

We always book door to door without flights, transfers and pre cruise hotel. They have always done this for us. Then we still have the better cancellation coverage.

The only photos that I have that are rotated are ones from my iPhone. I go back and rotate the photo on my iPhone and re post but that doesn't always work. However it doesn't happen to my iPhone photos on other sites i post photos.

According to CD Bruno on the Muse Moss has only signed on for one contract with SS and told them it is his last. So you are doubly lucky having him on the World Cruise.

I think the problem with your long wait was in fact your waiter. You know the Trainee Maitre'D Pablo and when he was our waiter our starters would appear within minutes. After those dishes disappeared it was less than 5 minutes until mains unless we asked for a little delay. We had a few talks with the restaurant manager and he said in passing on one occasion that Pablo would go and select our dishes and made sure no one else who ordered later got their dishes before us.

I love lemongrass so wouldn't have been a problem. Rojaan doesn't do curries but twice a week we go to a Vietnamese restaurant where she has the same dish every time. yes it is lemongrass beef.

On the Dawn in March 2022 and the Moon March 2023 we arrived at the ports ~ 11am and were able to begin the checkin process. On board before midday. In October this year we arrived ~ 3pm as it was pouring rain and we had a 4pm hotel checkout. Thought the hotel would be the more pleasant place to watch the rain fall than the Muse.