Joc123

I'm afraid it's an Australian thing - abbreviate the word, then add a "y". We do it to everything!

We have sailed once on SS - Shadow in Asia. We wanted to dine in LC at least once during our cruise, but didn't realise you had to go to the restaurant as soon as you got on board to make a reservation. In fact, we did as was suggested in the brochure, asked our butler to make the booking for us. Needless to say, we didn't get to dine there, as it was booked out! I know it is a small restaurant, but fighting to get a reservation is just a little mass market for us. Also, if you have to book before you are even on board, how do you know that is where you want to dine on that particular evening (unless it is a special occasion).

Had to google Noilly Prat and now that I know it's vermouth, I shall give it a go. You never know I may turn out to be a wiz in the kitchen after all!

Wow! Way too many steps and ingredients for me. Obviously this is where I'm going wrong. If you are ever in little old Adelaide, please check out my pantry and give me a cooking lesson.

Jeff, can you tell me what the sauce is on the pork belly please? It looks lovely and somehow I never seem to get it right. Hope it isn't a trade secret.

By then, it will be too late.

I would love to know also. Always thought it was was for the USA only.

Thanks Wes for the Oz wine list. The Reds are lovely and from the Barossa Valley in South Australia which is where we have a "hobby" vineyard. St Henri is probably one of our favourites.

I must say, to only have one white wine is a little sad. We grow lovely crisp whites here and a large variety, but I know Americans do like Chardonnay.

We are platinum level with only a few more nights to diamond and we have not had any contact from Seabourn or TA. After our experience on Quest maiden voyage we were one of the first to pay our $400 for the new build. As soon as we heard it was going to be late 2016 we started to worry if we were going to make it - it is Christmas and our summer holiday season and we always spend that time with family. Then when the itinerary was announced, no way would we do it. Really disappointed. Can't imagine what special events they will hold other than fireworks in Singapore. On Quest we were treated to a wonderful evening in Monte Carlo. Really can't imagine why they are so slow off the mark with this. They have known for ages that they would be 3 ships down and precious staff would leave but nothing was organised. Such a shame.

Our Uniworld documents arrived today!! Excited to be there in two and a half weeks!

 

 

Looking forward to a break from this nasty weather.

We did that trip (SS Catherine) and loved it. The ship is lovely, although the decor is not to our taste. Food was spectacular, the crew were some of the best we have experienced. We had a problem (nothing to do with Uniworld, ship or cruise) but the cruise director went out of her way to get it sorted. We have not booked another river cruise because as much as we loved it, we are really Ocean people. Have a great time.

Seeing you are in Australian waters are there any of our beautiful wines on offer?

That itinerary definitely counts us out. Anyone want the penthouse we have reserved?

Sydney to Singapore is 8hrs 10mins - a short flight for us!

If this is correct then sadly we will not be on her. We have family commitments that time of the year - it is summer and the kids are on school holidays. Maybe, if she stays down here,we can pick up a cruise from Sydney. At least we will save on airfares.

This is a little off topic, so please forgive me. It looks like the maiden voyage will be in December and reading between the lines, will leave from Dubai. Do you think they will have this over the Christmas New Year period? If so, it will make it very difficult for us to go. When we put our $400 down we were told it would be in the Med and in June! For what it is worth, I really don't like the names.

Jeff, I'm afraid I don't know my family history other than I'm 7th generation Australian. Dad's family were from Wales and there is talk of a smuggler on the Cornish coast in Mum's family. My sister has tried to find out more but she keeps running into dead ends. She did find out that some of Dad's side went to NZ so there may be some Kiwi in me. All quite ordinary I think.

We have sailed once with Silversea and will not sail again. We were on the Shadow in Asia several years ago and chose it for the itinerary. We found the ship was worn out and we didn't like the Art Deco look, but that is personal. We found the service was not as good as Seabourn and as we are low maintenance people we found no use for the butler. In fact we thought she was intrusive rather than helpful. On this cruise, we thought the food was dreadful, but it was just prior to the ship failing the CDC inspection. I gather this has been improved since then. We didn't like the automatic payment to some Charity we had never heard of. We found it embarrassing to have to go to reception to say we were not going to pay. The one thing that was better were the tours. They were great, well organised, with very professional tour leaders.

Every cruise has a different feel to it, we have enjoyed some Seabourn cruises more than others, but we just thought Silversea were not up to Seabourn in too many areas to try them again.

Jeff, third date and so soon - only to say I would never call anyone gauche- I maybe from convict stock but my upbringing has been better than that. Apology accepted. You never know, there maybe a fourth date!

Thank you for the warm welcome. I may join more often but wont promise anything - ha!

Terry, you really have been to Adelaide, I know the places in your photos well.

Most people, when they make the long trip here, only visit the Eastern States, which I think is a shame, but I would, wouldn't I.

Sadly a lot of wildlife has been lost in the fires and there is an appeal for people to make booties to cover the koala's burnt paws. The people who go in and recuse these animals are wonderful.

Jeff, I am a true blue Oz girl but I have, and some may say an unhealthy, love affair with your country. We have been coming to the UK every year (sometimes twice) for over 30 years and have travelled north, south, east and west. I love reading the chit chat here about the villages and life in general there. People often say I was born in the wrong country. Not sure about that, but I love to visit. We will be back in London (my favourite city in the world) in August and I hope the weather is warmer than it was last year.

Had to stop lurking to let you know if you want to get relief from the cold, come to South Oz. We have had temperatures in the 40c. This sadly has resulted in bush fires in the hills that surround our lovely city and 27 homes have been lost. Today they are predicting flooding rain! Not sure what is happening to the weather patterns these days.

I do wish I could post photos. Please don't try to explain how to do it, as I've read the instructions many times, and to me, it is case of words on the page that have no meaning. It reminds me of how cross I got with my dear Mum when I tried to explain how to use a cassette tape - now it's happening to me. My son (who has a degree in computer science) has no patience with me.

Another thing I would like to know, how did all these girls find guys who love to cook? Sure didn't happen here!

Oh well, back to lurking

We sailed on Uniworld SS Catherine in April and loved it. We went Avignon to Lyon. The crew were lovely, the food and wines very good (in fact better than our last Seabourn cruise) the boat, although not decorated to my taste, was very comfortable( we did book a suite because the rooms are very small) and the the tours were excellent. It is all inclusive which we like. Remember, river cruising is very different from ocean cruising and to be honest I was not keen on trying it, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. We would do it again.

Just thought I would stop lurking to remind you of the medal tally in Glasgow Oz - 65, England - 53. We have to enjoy any success we can.

What happens is that Seabourn will take a deposit for an itinerary with no sail date yet published. This requires a deposit ($400) and you are given 1st shot at a "requested" cabin before its open the general public. I just did that for a Canada-Ft Lauderdale trip and got what I asked for.

We have done this for the new build, don't know where, don't know when. We like V 6 suites on deck 8, but these are already gone, so we are wait listed!

We received an email about this cruise last week. We would love to have done it, but it is just not enough notice for us. I wish it had been announced earlier, or was it and we missed it!

That's interesting.

 

When you visit the UK, what aspects of the UK ..or London, if it's confined to London ... do you most miss when you return home? What would you most like to take home with you if you could?

The thing I would love to bring home is the choice you get with a big population ( but I don't want the big population) eg theatre, museums, restaurants, shopping, even the underground. We have travelled north, south, east and west of your lovely country, and it constantly amazes me the amount of open space given the size of the country and the population. I love that you live, work and play in your old cottages, barns and buildings - we knock anything old down and let's face it, anything old here is only 19th century.

I have a cooking question for you. Have you tied Sous Vide? I have bought a cooker and am having a love / hate relationship with it. Any advise?