drron29

As to verandahs in Antarctica definitely especially if one of you is claustrophobic. but also you may see whales or orcas and see penguins or seals swimming close to the ship. Those animals don't know your left from your right. And another vote for including South Georgia not just for the sights but the history. The Shacklton story is just incredible. Seeing where it happened makes it even more amazing.

Morris and his wife Esther went to the state fair every year, and every year Morris would say, 'Esther, I'd like to ride in that helicopter.' Esther always replied, 'I know Morris, but that Helicopter ride is fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars.' One year Esther and Morris went to the fair, and Morris said, 'Esther, I'm 85 Years old. If I don't ride that helicopter, I might never get another chance.' To this, Esther replied, 'Morris that helicopter ride is fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars.' The pilot overheard the couple and said, 'Folks I'll make you a deal. I'll take both of you for a ride, and if you can stay quiet for the entire ride and not say a word, I won't charge you. But if you say one word, it's fifty dollars.' Morris and Esther agreed and up they went. The pilot did all kinds of fancy maneuvers, but not a word was heard. He did his daredevil tricks over and over again, but still not a word. When they landed, the pilot turned to Morris and said, 'By golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn't. I'm impressed!' Morris replied, 'Well, to tell you the truth, I almost said something when Esther fell out, but you know, fifty dollars is fifty dollars.’

Back home and going to a couple of our favourite restaurants on the Sunshine coast. First a fairly new Greek Restaurant. Had our 4th visit this week end with friends. They have BBQ lamb ribs that are fantastic so we had 2 plates. also had octopus,lemon potatoes and babaganoush. Forgot to take one of the Octopus. but all very good and no left overs. A bit out of the way at Forest Glen unless you know your way around the Sunshine coast.

The classic fleet did have tote bags for sale in the boutigue and they were available for points. Sadly they are no more. We were gifted one on our Dawn cruise last August and apparently it was the last one on that ship.

It really does depend on what the children are like, Back nearly 10 years ago we took our surrogate family on the Explorer from Capetown to Accra. We had 2 children 10 and 8. there were some not so kind looks when we boarded but by the second day they were the most popular guests for the trip. And just like your children they had a ball. Back then though there was no children's menu.

When we cruised from Reykjavik a few years ago we spent 3 days in Iceland before it and we saw a good representation of what Iceland has to offer. Some people do like to drive around the island but I personally think 5 days in Scotland and 3 in Iceland would be the way to go. I am assuming you are on the Endeavour cruise not the slightly earlier Spirit cruise. If on the Spirit I would spend more time in Scotland.

We have a cruise in 2025 from Singapore to Athens. The first segment is to Mumbai. However this was sold without Burma but the extra ports in Sri Lanka. The regime in Burma does not have much support from the population. We visited in 2013 and it was one of our best trips. But invariably when speaking to ordinary folk they would say please call our country Burma, most of us are Burmese and Myanmar is the general's name for our country. So I since then call the country Burma.

And thanks to all the posters to a wonderful cruise report. Enjoyed sailing along immensely.

The only ones we would avoid would be the silver suites and owners suites on Deck 9 as they are under the pool. The verandah suites on deck 9 are not directly under the pool. Saying that we had members of our trivia team on deck 9 in an owners suite and another in a silver suite and they both said there wasn't a problem.

Those are excellent photos mysty. I do my cruise reports for the same reason. they act as my memory. Which reminds me I promised to do one more summary post on my last report.

The best cheese balls come from Tasmania. https://www.ashgrovecheese.com.au/collections/amazeballs-all

They also at least on the larger ships have a Silversea trio. Can be heard on the pool deck and Panorama lounge pre dinner that we saw them. They sing as well as play. Also a piano player and a guitarist that we heard in Dolce Vita. And later in the night a DJ in the Panorama lounge though we were in bed by the time he began.

Just to point out the entertainment on Silversea will be changing. I got on very well with the Voices of Silversea on our last cruise on the Moon finishing at the end of May. Their contract finishes in mid August and they were certain they will be the last of the voices on Silversea. Contracts on the other ships they thought would be finishing June or July. So by September the entertainment is likely to be very different.

Fortunately in my cellar I have only had one cork tainted bottle, but I once did buy a dozen whites for Rojaan. fortunately direct from the vineyard when 2 were tainted they agreed to replace them. Didn't insist I sent the original back but they all went to waste water. I love the screw tops which have been used here in Australian on good wines since the early years of the Millenium. No longer can you claim a wine is corked and I dare you to say it is screw**.

I experienced the classic skewing of TA reviews nearly 20 years ago. We had booked at a small boutique hotel in the Lakes district in England whose restaurant had a Michelin star. I the read the Trip Advisor reviews. 50% said it was wonderful and 50% said it was terrible, It became obvious why when we got there, The Manager was a 6ft 9inch thin Englishman. One of the waiters in the restaurant was a fairly short Portugese fellow whose name badge read Manuel. Every night the 2 of them did a Fawlty Towers skit in the restaurant. It basically was so good that instead of eating there one night on our stay we ate there every night. So back to the reviews. Virtually all of the positive reviews were from people in the UK whereas the negative reviews were from those living in the USA who basically were unaware of English humour. So I only take notice of those opinions that make sense. Many of the negative SS reviews on here have statements that are just not true or relevant for me.

Sorry but there are a lot of countries where tipping is not the accepted practice. Here in Australia wages are higher in the hospitality sector and even though we do tip here occasionally it is only for exceptional service.

Fantastic pictures of your arrival into Sweden JP.

Down under us gauche colonial Aussies use an electric cattle prod for similiar reasons.😉

Problem is there are too many daughters and grandaughters called Clematis.

Restaurant bookings start 120 days out. If you want to go to Silver Note book at 120 days. It is small and some obviously book multiple nights. We were booking about 100 nights out on both the Moon and dawn and could only get a couple of wait lists. But telling the restaurant manager got us a booking a day ahead at our preferred early time. Atlantide and SALT do not have to be booked before hand. but if you want to have a large table let them know beforehand.

I am not sure if there is an easily found number of seats in atlantide but both on the Dawn and Moon cruises we have had there were segments that were waitlist only and talking to various officers on those segments there were ~ 580 passengers. So we never missed out on a seat at Atlantide. It certainly got busy on formal nights or the nights of the Captain's welcome or farewell events. However on one of these nights the 8 members of our trivia team decided to have dinner. Rang SALT. Sorry full. I went down to Atlantide -no problem but can you wait 15 minutes. So I doubt you would ever miss out. SALT,La Terraza,Silver Note are often full and sometimes the pool grill at night. Kaiseki only occasionally.