Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[Lois R]

1 hour ago, jollyjones said:

 

Ah yes, def need something better than that joyful crossing! Ditto craving warm weather cruise.

 

And it's only 21 days to mine! But, alas, on Crystal not SS - am a bit apprehensive about the work involved in finding out all the 'wheres' and 'hows' on a totally different ship - won't be as relaxing as it should be. And it should have been the Shadow but SS cancelled that one for the extended dry dock and Crystal was the only other even vaguely comparable cruise I could find in the time frame (which I didn't want to change). We'll see, hope it's not too bad.

 

All the best to you and Dr Spins, hope you enjoy!

 

Good morning, you know on the Crystal forum there is a really nice person named Keith.....he can help you with

any questions.  Hope you have a great cruise!

[jollyjones]

6 minutes ago, Lois R said:

Good morning, you know on the Crystal forum there is a really nice person named Keith.....he can help you with

any questions.  Hope you have a great cruise!

 

Yes, I've read all his endless stuff but it's how it applies to me that counts.

 

And I'm very far from a conventional cruiser, I find an awful lot of the minutiae discussed on these boards to be irrelevant to me.

[Lois R]

5 minutes ago, jollyjones said:

 

Yes, I've read all his endless stuff but it's how it applies to me that counts.

 

And I'm very far from a conventional cruiser, I find an awful lot of the minutiae discussed on these boards to be irrelevant to me.

I was just trying to help with the suggestion. 

[lincslady]

jollyjones - while I tend to agree with you about Keith, I do feel your reply to Lois was a bit brusque and uncooler like.

[QueSeraSera]

We are just a month away from sailing on the fresh-out-of-drydock Shadow.  Flights booked and paid for.  Starting to smile a lot more than usual, take most anything in stride, and know the date without checking somewhere 🙂

[Lois R]

9 hours ago, lincslady said:

jollyjones - while I tend to agree with you about Keith, I do feel your reply to Lois was a bit brusque and uncooler like.

Thank you. I appreciate your words as I felt like I was being berated for trying to help.

[Lois R]

Anyone on here ever try Windstar?  My birthday is in March and I have always wanted to try them.

 

[jpalbny]

Hi coolers and happy Sunday! We lost an hour last night which allowed a little extra sleep but now it's pitch black out at 6PM so not really worth the trade! Enjoying the hot tub after a busy weekend. 

 

We woke up by 7 yesterday and took a walk around the block before hitting the road for the Finger Lakes. We made good time and got to our favorite winery in time for a special wine tasting flight at 1PM. This weekend was their harvest festival and we all gathered to celebrate their 40th anniversary. 

 

 

The flights were great. They raided the cellars for some really old vintages including a 1999 sparkling wine, and a few old Riesling vintages from the early 2000s as well as an old Cab Franc. Was great to compare and contrast. 

 

 

After a few hours in Watkins Glen to sober up,

 

 

we were back at it for the evening harvest festival. More wines, and plenty of appetizers, served under a tent with a jazz band playing,  and lots of merriment being made.

 

And la pièce de résistance - an appearance from Hermann J Wiemer himself! He's been retired since about 2007 but he showed up for his winery's 40th anniversary celebration and we had a chance to chat with him for a few minutes. 

 

Chris and I shook his hand and thanked him for coming to the Finger Lakes and planting Riesling. It's not a  stretch to say that things might have turned out differently without his vision for that region.

 

When I told him that I'd grown up next door in Cortland county and had been coming to the region for wine tasting since the early 1990s, he laughed and asked how I liked the "garbage wines" from that era! Then he told us some stories from the early days. 

 

We stayed overnight in Watkins Glen and it was a beautiful (but chilly) evening. We walked the pier out into the lake and enjoyed the view. 

 

 

This morning we got to sleep in due to the time change. We were still up by 6:30 and at breakfast by 7. Then we shoved off for home, but stopped by my brother's house in Ithaca for an hour along the way. My sister was there too so we had a 3/5 reunion. Lots of fun.

 

Work this week, then off to Portugal on Friday night! Super excited for that. Practicing my Portuguese on DuoLingo in preparation for the trip...

[Stumblefoot]

Did anyone here know that in addition to his doctoring duties, JP is a Motelier as well?  Found this joint in northeastern Arizona this week.  It looked pretty rough.

[Lois R]

Too funny...…….I found some wine with the same name!

[jpalbny]

Cute, Stumbles and Lois! That wine looks Portuguese. Might have to track it down next week!

 

Stumbles, that hotel looks downright scary. Did you stay there?

 

I found my namesake hospital in India a few years ago, along the nice highway from Delhi to Agra.

 

[Stumblefoot]

36 minutes ago, Lois R said:

Too funny...…….I found some wine with the same name!

That sounds more like the JP we all adore.

[Stumblefoot]

2 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

Stumbles, that hotel looks downright scary. Did you stay there?

Definitely not.  Too scary for my taste.  So, stayed in our land yacht.

Edited November 4, 2019 by Stumblefoot
Inserted picture

[jillyf]

Wow Stumbles, that looks a serious caravan. I think I could even be persuaded to stay in it and I’m not a fan of caravanning. I like luxury and that looks like it would tick all the boxes. 

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

Have a great day all!

[Lois R]

Good morning...….omg... Mysty, that pup is sooooooo cute

[spinnaker2]

Good rainy and dark morning from Florida.

The dog doesn't know about the time change.

Grrrrr.

 

Hope your Monday is terrific.

[pf778c]

14 hours ago, Lois R said:

Anyone on here ever try Windstar?  My birthday is in March and I have always wanted to try them.

 

Never tried Windstar Lois, but Sea Cloud is on my bucket list for the Caribbean.  If you make it before I do, PLEASE post a review!

 

Bechi

[nowornever]

We were  on the Wind Star about 10+ years ago from Athens to Istanbul & really, really did not like it.  In fact, of all of the cruises we've done, this is the only one I have intensely disliked.  Didn't love the Ponant ships booked with Tauck but this one was on another level entirely.  The regular cabins on the Wind Star only had portholes, a very uncomfortable chair & a tiny round table.  It was dark & uninviting.  I think there were a few cabins (PH?) that had a balcony. (?)  When they unfurled the sails, they played the March of the Valkyries on the PA system extremely loudly, I suppose to make it dramatic, when it was, in my very humble opinion, pretentious & silly.  The food was ok, nothing special at all.   I've heard that they've done a very nice job with the "little sisters" they purchased from Seabourn so hopefully things have changed.  Much probably depends on the particular ship you are on.  Do research on the cabins offered.

 

We saw the Sea Cloud in a port in the Caribbean - the original Marjorie Meriweather Post one - & it's just spectacularly beautiful.

[Lois R]

9 hours ago, pf778c said:

Never tried Windstar Lois, but Sea Cloud is on my bucket list for the Caribbean.  If you make it before I do, PLEASE post a review!

 

Bechi

WOW....….this looks pretty neat!!!!

[Stumblefoot]

18 hours ago, jillyf said:

Wow Stumbles, that looks a serious caravan. I think I could even be persuaded to stay in it and I’m not a fan of caravanning. I like luxury and that looks like it would tick all the boxes. 

Thanks Jilly!  We only know how to do things one way; first class.  

It really is an incredible rig and we enjoy it every bit as much as we do sailing on SS.  Just winterized it today after visiting JP’s motel, so it’ll rest comfortably now until spring arrives.

[SWFLAOK]

On 11/3/2019 at 7:40 PM, jpalbny said:

The flights were great. They raided the cellars for some really old vintages including a 1999 sparkling wine, and a few old Riesling vintages from the early 2000s as well as an old Cab Franc. Was great to compare and contrast. 

Hermann the German?  We took many trips to that winery years ago with sibs. We always stayed at a B and B with a winery overlooking one of the smaller Finger Lakes. It was a great time with family and friends. We probably drank that same vintage years ago. I am not normally a Cabernet Franc fan,  but when in the Finger Lakes, it's challenging to find a red that you can drink on it's own rather than something to wash down pizza and pasta.

[Lois R]

OK Coolers.....I will be staying in Madrid for a couple of days after my river cruise.  Which one of you has been

there and can recommend a hotel?

[jpalbny]

Made some Rahmschnitzel tonight for dinner. One of my favorite dishes from our Germany trips... it always brings back great memories. 

 

 

With lots of Spätzle, of course! And Grüner Veltliner.

 

 

Time to think about packing for our trip. We probably will start on that tomorrow. 

[jpalbny]

3 minutes ago, Lois R said:

OK Coolers.....I will be staying in Madrid for a couple of days after my river cruise.  Which one of you has been

there and can recommend a hotel?

 

I'll let you know in 2 weeks, if you can wait... we will arrive there a week from Friday.