Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Two

[mysty]

Is this Michigan as well? Jack Miner's Bird Sanctuary might be fairly close by?

[Mark_K]

Yes, it's in Michigan but the other side of the state fromOntario.

 

Spent the morning watching my granddaughter and other U8 girls play a game we call "bunch ball", aka soccer ...

 

Edited October 24, 2015 by Mark_K

[TLCOhio]

In the summer it's almost like a bird sanctuary; ducks, geese, swans, herons, lots of hawks, and a family of bald eagles.

 

Appreciate the nice lake picture and details by Mark from these locations for what we in Ohio call "that state up north". BUT, I have not heard any reactions from Mark and/or Candy since last Saturday's dramatic Michigan State at Michigan game. Are the "Sounds of Silence" golden? Not rubbing things in. Just trying to help you recover from that shocking, last-seconds loss to a key arch-rival.

 

The good news? Fast-improving Michigan will not lose this weekend. They have the week off to recover from last Saturday's dramatic finish in the "Big House" against MSU. On Oct. 31, Michigan visits Minnesota in a night game. Tonight, Ohio State is in New Jersey to face Rutgers in a nationally-televised, prime-time game on ABC with their top broadcasting crew covering.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Dozens of nice visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc. We are now at 205,892 views for this live/blog re-cap, including much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[jpalbny]

Mark - really enjoyed that picture of the trees reflected in the lake. Autumn is so pretty; if it didn't lead into winter, I'd really enjoy it!

 

Did a long walk this afternoon even though we were both pretty tired. Didn't sleep well last night on-call. Was awake at 4AM and didn't sleep much after that.

 

Not much energy for cooking! Dinner tonight was tapas. Some roasted almonds to start with a sip of sherry. Then, an approximation of a Spanish tortilla with potatoes, onions, and a few leftover mushrooms thrown in. The sherry has been with us for many years; we brought it back from Andalusia over 5 years ago when we toured the Sandeman facility in Jerez. It was nice to have a chance to finish it.

 

On the side I have some homemade pickled Jalapeno peppers. I found some beautiful ripe red Jalapenos and bought a bunch of them, so I pickled the ones I couldn't eat fast enough. So tasty!

 

Though Andalusia and Catalonia are very different, this still makes us anticipate the Barcelona trip coming up in December!

 

 

We have a fire in the fireplace, and settling down to watch a movie. Enjoy the evening, everyone!

[mysty]

JP, that meal sounds wonderful! Enjoy the fire and the movie!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Morning all .... nice piccies all round! Autumn AND food!

 

This week Eazy Onion came back to our shops and this has enabled me back to my curries! Thai red lamb curry ... a big vat of it ... with rice. Prepped early this morning and eaten late lunch.

 

Jeff

 

[mysty]

That looks yummy J!

[Mark_K]

Terry

 

There's not a lot to say about that game. Michigan made an unlikely mistake at the end and it cost them the win. Other than that it was a hard fought, and strangely officiated, game that could have gone either way.

 

Five weeks until the game with OSU, and poor planning on my part as I'll be in St. Bart's on Silver Spirit scrambling for a place to watch it. Preferably somewhere with the commentary not in French. :)

 

Mark

[specialcruisegirl]

Good Morning Coolers! As our clocks turned back an hour last night l found myself wide awake at 5am...!!

At least I got all my chores done and also cheered myself up by finishing flight bookings for next April...[emoji16]

As the weather turns colder it's time to get the slow cooker out for some casseroles and stews...

 

Happy Sunday

 

Sophia [emoji4]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Morning all .....

 

Just updated the ipad to ios 9.1 and the new news app is stunning. It will be my downfall.

 

:)

 

 

Jeff

[mysty]

Morning all!

 

Sophia our clocks don't go back until November 1. Not well thought out that. It will give Halloween nonsense makers an extra hour of crazy. Enjoy the rest of your day!

 

J...what does the new news app provide? Or is it the way that it is presented that is stunning?

[Mark_K]

Morning all!

 

Sophia our clocks don't go back until November 1. Not well thought out that. It will give Halloween nonsense makers an extra hour of crazy. Enjoy the rest of your day!

 

J...what does the new news app provide? Or is it the way that it is presented that is stunning?

 

 

Of course it was not well thought out, the US Congress came up with the scheme that lengthened daylight savings time until the first Sunday in November.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Morning all!

 

J...what does the new news app provide? Or is it the way that it is presented that is stunning?

 

It has been attempted before .. but nothing remotely as good.

 

It gives you a very highly customisable news feed that looks like loads of different customisable magazines that you have specified that is targetted to exactly your interest. It then learns and makes more suggestions both on topics (that get deeper and depper into your interest and new magazines and newspapers and online sourcs.

 

It has two dimensions to it - both your interests and suitable sources. As I say, attempted before but this is stunning and I think it is a really potentially significant achievement.

 

It has made me wonder whether I need all my news subscriptions and apps etc.

 

Have a look.

 

Jeff

[mysty]

That sounds like a wonder to be sure! When Myster gets home from golf, I'll point him in that direction. He is an avid follower of info on climate change. Thanks J!

[mysty]

Of course it was not well thought out, the US Congress came up with the scheme that lengthened daylight savings time until the first Sunday in November.

And of course Canada had to follow the leader. Unfortunately my bedside clock was made before the new designation so this morning it decided to go back an hour. It moves ahead on its own in the spring as well. Otherwise it still works fine so I feel guilty replacing it.

[UKCruiseJeff]

..... happy to help!

 

It ends up producing an infinite number of "magazines" on your favourite topics ...

 

The key thing is to keep going back to the "explore" tab where it offers even more targetted suggestions of both feeds and topics. It has produced dozens of magazines on topics I would have been tempted to pay for. Currently reading "kitchen gadgets" which will be my total downfall ....

 

:)

Edited October 25, 2015 by UKCruiseJeff

[mysty]

Oh My J! Kitchen gadgets! Your wife may need to put mittens on you! :) But of course you are a resourceful dude so the mitten thing would probably not hold you off for long!

[mysty]

Interesting statistics encountered this morning. According to an article in RELAXNEWS, more than 22 million travelers boarded cruise ships in 2014. "Global demand for cruising has increased 68% over the past decade, driven by countries like the US, Germany, the UK and China, one of the fastest growing markets."

 

The statistics by country are:

 

1. US: 11.2 million

2. Germany: 1.77 million

3. United Kingdom: 1.61 million

4. Australia: 1 million

5. Italy: 840,000

6. Canada: 800,000

7. China: 700,00

8. France: 590,000

9. Spain: 450,000

10. Norway: 180,000

 

Canada is right in the middle of the pack. :)

[UKCruiseJeff]

Those number seem suspect to me and to be missing out significant countries completely.

 

I think one might question the sample cruises they used to compile it to scale it up.

 

Jeff

[mysty]

The article was written based on a report by Cruise Lines International Association. Here is a link to their research page.

 

http://www.cruising.org/about-the-industry/press-room/research

 

I didn't find much information on the methodology used. According to the blurb "CLIA conducts and publishes a variety of market research and economic studies which provide valuable insight relative to demographics, vacationing habits, interests of repeat cruisers and cruise prospects as well as the overall contribution the Cruise Industry makes to the economy. In addition, research and statistical data on the industry is compiled and reported quarterly and annually.

 

Research, data, studies are compiled by CLIA’s Research Staff and commissioned from independent third parties."

[Mark_K]

I'm not sure if/how it would change the rankings, but I did notice that the figures do not include river cruises.

[mysty]

Good point Mark! The stats are for Ocean cruises. River cruise stats could well affect the "by country" data!

[UKCruiseJeff]

A glance at the first report I looked at - ie the North Amercian Market research report indicates it uses blatently methods to show crusing in it's best light.

 

The scales are all positive biased eg perceived value of cruising versus land has a scale intended to nudge a positive response, A real giveaway is when passengers are asked to compare cruises versus land travel and are offered the choice of "Very High Value" "Somewhat High Value" "Moderate Value" ( which in fact means pretty close to "Somewhat High Value" to m) and only "Low Value". That is three positive choices and one negative choice in the question and respondents aren't even allowed to say "equal value" to land travel which might be where the bulk of the answers might lie. The report on that issue cannot be trusted. It also doesn't show the actual questions and scales when it talks about satisfaction just says that 89% were satisfied and what they say is good I'd say is bad ie only 51% said they were "extremely satisfied" ... whatever that means.

 

Anyway ... the organisatipon and it's surveys clearly imho shouldn't be trusted as providing real research if those few pointers are what it does.

 

Jeff

Edited October 25, 2015 by UKCruiseJeff

[Mark_K]

Those number seem suspect to me and to be missing out significant countries completely.

 

I think one might question the sample cruises they used to compile it to scale it up.

 

Jeff

 

 

Which countries do you think should be in the top ten that aren't?

[mysty]

J....you have made some excellent observations! Of course, with any survey on any topic, the questions and the options for response can skew the results. Even national statistical agencies have this problem with the surveys they conduct. They tend to have a large team of methodologists working to minimize that. There may be huge flaws in the methodology with the survey in question and self-reporting has its own issues. Wise to take the data with a salt shaker to hand! :)