The Virtual Explorers' Lounge

[Heidi13]

12 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

Photopro, if you think Andy has a good eye for photography, you should see his eye for beer!🍺🍺🍺

 

HaHa!!! Takes a sailor to appreciate the fine points of hopped beverages. Hic!

 

Time to have an IPA or Double Dark with brekky in Mamsens.

[Peregrina651]

If we are discussing cameras, we need a backdrop...

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

 

Edited May 31, 2020 by Peregrina651

[Clay Clayton]

15 hours ago, photopro2 said:

Good call on the food and thanks for adding to the conversation too. Do keep that comfortable spot and chip in whenever! Looks like the lounge waiter is on the way over...... What are you going to have to drink?

 

Hendricks on the rocks with a twist please. 

[Heidi13]

15 hours ago, photopro2 said:

Good call on the food and thanks for adding to the conversation too. Do keep that comfortable spot and chip in whenever! Looks like the lounge waiter is on the way over...... What are you going to have to drink?

 

 

Just spotted our favourite waiter "Von" heading over to the table. Since dinner is finished, I'm opting for a 6-grapes Port & DW a Grand Marnier.😀

[duquephart]

12 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

HaHa!!! Takes a sailor to appreciate the fine points of hopped beverages. Hic!

 

Time to have an IPA or Double Dark with brekky in Mamsens.

 

IPA or Double Dark. Two completely different animals. How do you choose?

[Heidi13]

14 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

IPA or Double Dark. Two completely different animals. How do you choose?

 

Sometimes it depended on whether we had drank the ship dry of IPA, other times just ordered 1 of each.

[duquephart]

15 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Sometimes it depended on whether we had drank the ship dry of IPA, other times just ordered 1 of each.

 

16 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Sometimes it depended on whether we had drank the ship dry of IPA, other times just ordered 1 of each.

 

Black & Tan?

[Jim Avery]

We are starting the day down in the gym.  No worries, we will be back up here after for some Vitamin C.  Probably in a Bloody Mary....😳😎

[Clay Clayton]

10 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Just spotted our favourite waiter "Von" heading over to the table. Since dinner is finished, I'm opting for a 6-grapes Port & DW a Grand Marnier.😀

Thats because you have the silver spirits package, poor me, has to pay for my own.! 😂

[Heidi13]

9 hours ago, duquephart said:

 

 

Black & Tan?

 

Affirmative, that is a traditional British drink with a 1/2 pint of Pale Ale poured first and then topped with a 1/2 pint of Stout.

[Clay Clayton]

If you pour the stout first does it become a Cornish Tan & Black?

[Heidi13]

5 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Thats because you have the silver spirits package, poor me, has to pay for my own.! 😂

 

Affirmative on Silver Spirits. Have pre-ordered for the next cruises, as it was so convenient. In the Theatre, we didn't even have to order, as frequently, just before the show started, another round of drinks magically appeared. Same in the MDR, soon as we walked in, a bottle of wine and beers arrived shortly after we sat down.

 

Once we finished eating, most pax got desserts, I received a glass of 6-grapes. Although it wasn't normally stocked in the MDR, they always had a bottle. When we started having all our meals in Manfredi's, the Living Room Bar always had a bottle, which was routinely stowed out of sight and was known as Andy's bottle.

 

Another benefit of Silver Spirits is once the wine available on the package was finished, they substituted with comp bottles of bottles not included in the package, until they re-stocked. Noting this may not happen on all cruises, since we had some exceptional challenges getting stores. When the ship was getting low on IPA, a number of cans magically appeared in the ice bucket in the MDR and in the cabin fridge.

 

So without a doubt, if not provided on the cruise, we are always ordering SSBP.😁🥂🍻

 

 

[Heidi13]

20 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

If you pour the stout first does it become a Cornish Tan & Black?

 

Clay - when the stout is poured first they tend to mix, rather than being layered. Never did bother with the science, when I tried it years ago, but it must be due to respective specific gravity.

[deec]

Yep, we are Silver Spirit cheerleaders!!!  We even ordered it on the River Cruise last fall.

[duquephart]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Affirmative, that is a traditional British drink with a 1/2 pint of Pale Ale poured first and then topped with a 1/2 pint of Stout.

 

Poor man's Pousse-Cafe.

[Clay Clayton]

3 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Clay - when the stout is poured first they tend to mix, rather than being layered. Never did bother with the science, when I tried it years ago, but it must be due to respective specific gravity.

I was making a joke.  Cornish scones vs Devonshire ones.  Sorry it was too obtuse LOL

[Clay Clayton]

3 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

 

So without a doubt, if not provided on the cruise, we are always ordering SSBP.😁🥂🍻

 

 

Agree with you about the convenience and I enjoyed it when we purchased on our first Viking Oceans cruise due to an abundance of non refundable OBC.  But given Mike doesn’t drink a lot and I don’t unless it’s prepaid, we have found that taking a bottle aboard and making a predinner cocktail in the room (and perhaps purchasing another if we end up staying longer at the Aquavit than expected having crab legs and sushi before dinner) is a better value for us. We are too frugal for our own good sometimes! LOL

[PasadenaDave]

I really appreciate the comments about the SSBP.  We are going Venice to Istanbul next April and I have to say that I am on the fence given the reasonable prices on drinks, however I am intrigued about the better grade wines when you have the SSBP.  I do think that I will drink more if I have the SSBP, but given the steam room and snow room, that will take care of issues relating to getting my monies worth.  I'm grew up in Maine and I have scotch ancestry!

 

Thank you

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, PasadenaDave said:

however I am intrigued about the better grade wines when you have the SSBP. 

 

 

Someone who is more of a wino than me can probably give you a better idea, but my experience as NOT a wine snob is that the wines by the glass on the upgraded list are only marginally better. In order to get the really good stuff, you have to buy a bottle. While you get a discount on bottles when you have the SSBP, It sorta seems to me that blows the whole point of paying for the package. I would think that bringing your own good stuff or spending the money to buy a bottle in port  would be a better value if doing so is a possibility.  

[Peregrina651]

33 minutes ago, PasadenaDave said:

I really appreciate the comments about the SSBP.  We are going Venice to Istanbul next April and I have to say that I am on the fence given the reasonable prices on drinks, however I am intrigued about the better grade wines when you have the SSBP.  I do think that I will drink more if I have the SSBP, but given the steam room and snow room, that will take care of issues relating to getting my monies worth.  I'm grew up in Maine and I have scotch ancestry!

 

Thank you

 

Dave -- and anyone else contemplating the package... 

 

As an innocent bystander listening to all these discussions about the drinks package, I have come to the conclusion that people buy the package for one of two reasons. There are some who buy it simply for the convenience; they don't care if it saves them money. They don't want the hassle of keeping track of what the are spending; they like the idea of being able to sample new cocktails and not having to feel that they have to drink the thing even though they don't like it. Others buy it because it saves them money. They  look at their drinking habits; the understand what is covered and what isn't; they do the math and then they decide if it will actually save them money.

 

If you have questions about the package, just ask us. We are happy to help.

[Jim Avery]

Hi Gang,

Is this seat taken?   Wow, I had a huge breakfast in the MDR.  Don't usually eat that much at brekkie but it was so good.  Eggs Bennie, fruit, toast, and a side of pancakes.  All I want to do right now is stretch out here with one of these warm furs and relax.  Will one of you wake me for lunch???😎

[Heidi13]

9 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

Hi Gang,

Is this seat taken?   Wow, I had a huge breakfast in the MDR.  Don't usually eat that much at brekkie but it was so good.  Eggs Bennie, fruit, toast, and a side of pancakes.  All I want to do right now is stretch out here with one of these warm furs and relax.  Will one of you wake me for lunch???😎

 

Jim - After that breakfast, you still have room for lunch????😁

 

🍺 Silly me, you're planning a liquid lunch! 😀😀

[Jim Avery]

13 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Jim - After that breakfast, you still have room for lunch????😁

 

🍺 Silly me, you're planning a liquid lunch! 😀😀

Hence the wake up call. Don’t want to miss out.🍺😎

[Clay Clayton]

Bunch of drunks 

[Jim Avery]

41 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Bunch of drunks 

It's Andy, a right bad influence.😎