Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome!

[TLCOhio]

Terry, hope you and your wife are still asleep. That beautiful flower is the bougainvillea and they are so vibrantly gorgeous in those colors. Be careful, they do have thorns. We have them in our yard, and almost, but I say almost, take them for granted. We have green all year long and when I travel to other colder climes, I am always struck by the grey of everything in winter. Enjoy the day today and begin the unwinding process. The sun will refresh your spirit!

 

Appreciate your nice wishes and details on that colorful flower. Taking our time this Sunday morning to get up, clean up, etc. Will do a two-to-three hour tour around Barbados late this morning. Our driver will show us the various sights, I'll grab lots of pictures, etc. Then, he'll drop us and our luggage at the Silver Cloud early afternoon. That's our plan. The ship does not depart until 11 pm tonight. Plenty of time to sample Barbados later this afternoon and evening before our return day on Feb. 11 at this location.

 

BEING LUCKY??: We traveled through Atlanta's airport yesterday morning, then saw the TV stories and headlines about how a bomb scare made things a mess there later in the day there. Fortunate to avoid those types of delays as the world's busiest airport. Then, I am watching the TV news here in Barbados and seeing about how bad are the storms hitting parts of the midwest and into the northeast U.S. today and tomorrow. Glad to be avoiding that snow and cold. Sunny and perfect here now. The news had Miami at only 49F this morning.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 169,797 views. Appreciate the interest and follow-up questions/comments!!

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[spinnaker2]

Yes terry, it's crisp here today. But the sky is blue and clear and everything is beautiful.

I have houseguests who just flew in after a sail on the Ponant sailboat around the windward islands. They are going to back up north on Monday, but in the meantime, it's pretty cold here.

Speaking of Atlanta, I had to sleep on the floor of the airport after that crazy person jumped the security a few years back. There were so many stranded, and no hotels. They closed the medallion lounges and we were driven a pillow and blanket and most of us just staked out territory on the floor. Think of the GERMS, no on the other hand, don't think of them.

We await your photos.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Lovely to see some more posts and all the news .... it's nice if we can keep the exchanges .. and news.

 

Strolled around Marina bay this morning back for a doze ..... and out to One Fullerton this evening for another stroll followed by some really great food. All cooked to order in front of you whilst you wait and the whole meal was cheaper than the cost of two local Big Macs ie it was S$9 ........... she started scoffing it up before I could take my piccies ........ and also one of the reasons why Singapore is so pleasant are the rules .... and they are very strictly applied. Yesterday a man was fined just under S$20,000 for throwing cigarette butts out of his appartment window. Residents complained to the environment agency. CCTV set up - culprit filmed and found - prosecuted - fined - and no one else wants to throw cigarette butts out of any appartment windows. These are the rules of using the MRT. I wish they'd add no shouting at mobile phones ......

 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2015 by UKCruiseJeff

[mw8811]

Terry

 

Enjoy Barbados my favourite Island (after Bermuda). We were there in January at the end of our SS cruise but I had a dreaded nose thing that made the couple of days slightly miserable.

 

Mary

[UKCruiseJeff]

This morning was a bus ride past some lovely traditional Singapore shop houses, to start a great walk around Swan Lake, The Ginger Garden and Botanic .....

 

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

 

[TLCOhio]

mw8811: Terry. Enjoy Barbados my favourite Island (after Bermuda). We were there in January at the end of our SS cruise but I had a dreaded nose thing that made the couple of days slightly miserable. Mary

 

Yes' date=' Mary![/i'] We had a super lovely day BOTH on Barbados and to start our Amazon River-Caribbean combo adventure on the Silver Cloud. WOW in so many different ways!!

 

Below are just a few quick visual samples as "evidence". Got to have PROOF in today's world, right? We have a busy two days for today and tomorrow in Bequia/St. Vincent & the Grenadines and St. George's, Grenada. I will be starting and fully posting a more detailed live/blog with lots and lots of visuals. BUT, that might not be commenced until our first sea day. Lots more details to be featured.

 

The quick ship report is that there are only 179 passengers on-board for this 17-day sailing with three island stops on the way to and 900 miles up the famed Amazon River. Then, back this famed waterway and returning to Barbados on Feb. 11. Lots of super nice passengers on this ship. The two biggest groups of passengers are from the USA and the UK. Compared to the potential ship maximum capacity of 296 passengers, the crew of 222 will be able to give us great service and attention. We have felt and experience that wonderful level of friendly attention in just our short time time yesterday.

 

The Internet sign-on worked very well. It's early morning and crew are around polishing things up, getting the pool filed, etc.

 

Here was the lead headline in our Columbus newspaper this morning: "Falling snow, temperatures make roads slippery, delaying classes" with these details: "As snow blanketed central Ohio early today, temperatures were falling well below freezing, making roads treacherous and prompting many school districts to delay the start of Monday classes." Are we in the right place now?

 

It's a little after 6 am and the sun is getting read to rise! Seeing some of the islands as we sail and I enjoy the Panorama Lounge. Got fresh orange juice! What can be better? More fun to come?

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 169,840 views. Appreciate the interest and follow-up questions/comments!!

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

 

 

We started late morning in Barbados with a private cab driver giving us a wonderful three-hour plus tour of this amazing and very interesting island He shared so many details, we asked lots of questions, learns so much, etc. Loved this beach as this picture with my wife shows/proves. Next is an example for some of the island “wildlife” running around on the grounds of their national history museum. Cute monkeys, right? Finally, we went all of the way up to the top of the island where the Caribbean and Atlantic meet with wonderful drama. Great view with my wife and me?:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first dinner on the Silver Cloud? Here are just three quick samples to prove that we did not go hungry. Lovely white wine from Chile. Two wonderful items before the main dinner dish of pork. Great service!! Chatted with both the Hotel Director and Bar/Beverage Manager before our dinner. Off to a great start.:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 26, 2015 by TLCOhio

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hi Terry!

 

Nice piccies .... and the one with you and wifey looks like the more rugged wilder East coast?

 

And I see you are honouring me by drinking Sauvignon ... and to be complete "full bodied with character but fresh.." ....just like me!:eek:

 

Jeff

[TLCOhio]

Hi Terry! Nice piccies .... and the one with you and wifey looks like the more rugged wilder East coast? And I see you are honouring me by drinking Sauvignon ... and to be complete "full bodied with character but fresh.." ....just like me!:eek: Jeff

 

Appreciate Jeff's quick and kind follow-up/comments! Yes, that one picture of me and my wife was on the wilder, eastern, Atlantic side of Barbados. We were at the top, top part of the island where the Caribbean and Atlantic meet.

 

Great sunrise now as the ship is going into our first port. Many more visuals to come.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 95,241 views for this posting.

[jpalbny]

 

Willing to share some of our excess good fortune...

 

Chris and I got back from Las Vegas yesterday. Should have stayed there! It was in the high 60s and sunny.

 

 

Enjoy the Cloud! Our Med cruise in October was also half full. It was strange seeing the MDR so empty night after night. But you are in for a treat with the personalized service.

Edited January 26, 2015 by jpalbny

[UKCruiseJeff]

Terry, you wooldn't have heard of him in the US but we had a pop star in the UK - Eddy Grant .. he made a song about Brixton, London called "Electric Avenue" ... and from the proceeds of that one record he bought a house not far from the spot you photographed and converted it over many years into a a world class creativity and recording studio where artiste(s) could relax and create. It is a place where much creativity and many well known hits were hatched and recorded. Imagine spending a week or two on that wild coast just creating and making from scratch music with wonderful evenings with real food and candle light and waves crashing on those stones ...... and just working in a studio.

 

He had an idea .... a very good idea. :)

 

 

Today's Nutcam shows again that cashews have migrated from Singapore and I thought I'd throw in a couple of piccies of lunch in our small garden, just to prove we don't always go native ... and the garden and a piccy of an enormous lizard that stared at us in Botanic today. I reckon he was around 8 feet long ....

 

 

 

Edited January 26, 2015 by UKCruiseJeff

[jpalbny]

I've heard of Eddy Grant and Electric Avenue. It got lots of airtime in the mid 80s. Didn't know he was British.

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app

[lincslady]

Loving all the pictures, Terry and Jeff. Must be wonderful service on Cloud, Terry - but I do wonder how Silversea keep going, financially, with only 179 on board, and it seems this happens quite frequently?

 

Just seen our news, with a report on the snow on the Eastern seaboard of the States. Looks pretty grim for a few days; mostly it has mitigated a bit by the time it crosses the pond, but could be coming our way in the not too distant. Presently quite mild in the UK, for Jan.

 

Just heard of the death of Demis Roussos; only in his late sixties though one have thought older. That voice takes one back a bit to one's youth, n'est ce pas? Hope it wasn't the problems in Greece which hastened it!

[UKCruiseJeff]

I've heard of Eddy Grant and Electric Avenue. It got lots of airtime in the mid 80s. Didn't know he was British.

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app

 

Hi JP.

 

Eddy's parents and he were originally from Guyana but his parents emigrated to the UK. He was originally in the Equals which is where I first came across him. They had an equal hit record called "Baby Come Back". They lived and were based in North London. He looked intimidating but like many he was a gentleman.

 

Jeff

[TLCOhio]

Did not want to neglect the "Cooler". Below are a few examples from the first two port days in Caribbean. Plus lots more "food porn" samples. Assume Jeff is busy and enjoying his warmer weather in and around Singapore. Really bad weather that just hit New York City, Boston and many parts of the NE USA and Canada.

 

Check out the live/blog for many, many more pictures, plus added details on the Silver Cloud, its staff, the food, service, etc.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

As we are commencing our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo back-to-back sailing over 26 days on the Silversea Silver Cloud, here is the link below to that series of posts on my live/blog. Lots of great visuals from the first two Caribbean Islands, plus many food pictures, etc. Check it out at:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

 

 

It was a challenging debate on lobster versus beef for dinner selection. What to pick? My wife did the beef Wellington as shown below. She said it was the best version of this dish she had ever, ever enjoyed. Great praise! Then, next is my grilled lobster tail. Super wonderful, also. Had extra sauce provided to make it even better with the grain also included under the lobster. Finally, it is dessert, highlighted with a pistachio cake.:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner, it was the “Singers of Solstice” in the main theater. This was a “Latin” style mix of songs, dancing, etc. Worked very well. Nice variety of costumes during the program. These singers will do three more programs on this cruise with a variety of music styles, etc. Plus, these six will do some cabaret-style shows with smaller numbers of them doing these varied programs.:

 

 

 

 

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hi Terry,

 

Lovely to hear your news on your blog and see your pictures. Don't try and stretch yourself in posting here ..... this will still be here when your cruise is over. Lovely thought but this thread is only for nothing important ands stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere!

 

Lovely and thoughtful of you though!

 

Jeff

[UKCruiseJeff]

I've heard of Eddy Grant and Electric Avenue. It got lots of airtime in the mid 80s. Didn't know he was British.

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app

 

This is his place ...... I wish I could play the ukulele .....:D

 

Blue Wave Studios

of Barbados

[mw8811]

Envying you folks in warm weather - just plain nasty here snow, sleet, snow - just nasty.

Sort of a maintenance day here, snow covered gardener, plumber - seems we need a new pump soon in the heating boiler - hey ho the joys of living in this country.

Mary

[UKCruiseJeff]

Envying you folks in warm weather - just plain nasty here snow, sleet, snow - just nasty.

Sort of a maintenance day here, snow covered gardener, plumber - seems we need a new pump soon in the heating boiler - hey ho the joys of living in this country.

Mary

 

Mary,

 

Terrible weather ...... and I know that boiler feeling. In the end we just replaced the whole boiler and some of the pipework because it was 30 years old anyway and was only ever going to be a source of problem.

 

Just been looking at some of the weather sensors back home and it's just under 1c and has been as low as -6c outside ..... but the worrying thing is that was planning to use the garage as a place to condition beer .... but it's been as low as 2.5c .....

 

 

 

 

At least we had a frost-stat fitted to the boiler .....

 

Anyway further days of nothing important here, but in temperatures always around 25c in the shade and upper 30's in the sun. Wifey is still asleep and I'll be getting her up to put her lead on and take her to the National Orchid Garden for a morning walk.

 

Yesterday we had some great mutton biriyani on a banana leaf at the Tekka Market, which is essentialy an Indian/Muslim market we like in Little India. I didn't take my camera out yesterday but this is a curry from the same stall .... and gives the idea. We had a few meals from a few different stalls and shared them. This one was £2.50 and it was the best biryani I have ever had. They really take a pride. Of course we shared a couple of frozen Tigers ..... and this is a picture of the food from the same stall and the stall that someone else has taken. There is so much pride in that rice and is just wonderful. We had more meat with ours .... perhaps they though I needed fattening up!

 

Edited January 29, 2015 by UKCruiseJeff

[jpalbny]

The cooler has been quiet, and I'm worried that Jeff might be starving, as there haven't been any food posts lately. Are you getting enough to eat?

 

What a difference a week makes - the weekend before last, we were in Las Vegas for a conference (well, Chris was) and I was enjoying the nice warm weather. Here is a shot of the skyline at sunset, from the huge Ferris wheel called the "High Roller" that they've built by the Strip:

 

 

The weather was just beautiful!

 

 

And last weekend, we got well over a foot of snow in Upstate New York. Tonight, well below zero (F). The sad thing is that I can't complain, because it was worse in Boston!

 

 

 

We are busy planning for our upcoming Rhone River cruise on SS Catherine (Uniworld) next month. Hopefully it will warm up by then, but if not, we'll just have to sip more wine. :D

 

Cheers all!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hi JP,

 

No still in Singapore ..... and not starving!

 

Our trips here get into a very repetitive routine and I must admit most days I don't take a camera with me. It's so hot and so very humid, and you don't like to carry anything especially when you'd just be photographing stuff you've taken pictures of so many times before ... and of course I just point and snap and post so my pictures are put to shame by Terry's trouble and efforts.

 

Wifey is saying that even after three long visits a year, this visit has been the best. I think it's because I have stopped trying to map out a day of what we'll be doing and just plan what we'll do next. So I don't plan where we'll eat and we'll just let the day evolve.

 

Our main reason for the winter trip is simply to walk. At home we wouldn't be able to get out so it's great in the morning - every morning - to simply have a long walk.

 

Yesterday we walked through Little Arabia to a modern housing estate by the Golden Mile Food Centre. These Singapore estates are really fascinating. A normal format would be a few blocks of public rented housing with a communal center where people sit out and gossip and a small hawker center where people would come down and have their breakfast and those not working would spend much of their day. So we like to sit there and have some beer and watch people. Yesterday an elderly lady pulled her chair up to our table to chat to us ... and of course all her neighbours also stopped to gossip. You have to get your ear in to understand "Singlese" but her and her lovely friends were delightful company for an hour or so and I could ask about their lives and they about ours. We went on to Golden Mile - largely a centre selling Thai food - and went to a stall we hadn't visited for we think eighteen months or so for some roast duck rice and some char siu and to our astonishment the stall holder ladies eyes lit up and she clearly remembered our last visit - so infrequent are foreigners in the centre. She clearly chose all the choicest cuts and was pleased to see us back. Genuine hospitality.

 

Wife wanted me to take her to the Changi (Prison) Museum, something I really hadn't wanted to do. But it's something I think we had to do and it explains why the Singaporeans so love the Brits and we them and how we suffered together during "that period". A sobering experience.

 

Visits back to The National Orchid Centre .... I'll include some orchid piccies in case anyone loves orchids ... and we've had a few evening river walks and we took in the light show amongst the "trees" in Gardens on the bay. My pictures do not stack up to Terry's ......

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

[UKCruiseJeff]

[UKCruiseJeff]

[UKCruiseJeff]

The new ..... improved Lau Pa Sat ....

 

 

 

 

Underground and indoor air-conditioned connect malls and shops for when walking is really "hot" ...

 

 

..... and some river walk ...

 

 

....... I think that's all for a while ....!

 

Jeff