Mumbling about Marina

[clo]

45 minutes ago, SATaxman said:

At Toscana you can ask for a half size portion of any of the pastas.

Oh, thank you very, very much. Some of the dishes do sound awfully good.

[pinotlover]

1 hour ago, clo said:

We don't see that as much at home any more because generally we don't go to restaurants that serve those huge portions. I know it's a no-no but I could sneak something out in my bag for snacking on later. 🙂 I love rare/almost raw leftover steak. Actually we've been known to take little slices off the raw steak before we cook it. I AM my father's daughter 🙂

We often see meat platters masquerading as dinner plates! Take a look at the size of your older China plates which were normal servings. Now we get what was meat platters completely filled. Most of obese America has lost the concept of what a normal serving is. We asked for soup last week, in a very nice restaurant, in lieu of the salad and the soup bowl was the size of large serving bowl for a family. 
 

Oceania drastically reducing serving sizes to reasonable levels is a good thing. No one needs a doggie bag on a cruise ship.

[SeattleGourmand]

9 hours ago, Vallesan said:

We sailed Silversea for the first time  last year and I was pleasantly surprised by the portions being smaller than I was used to on Oceania. Yes I think it does make sense too. I guess there should be far less waste and of course if anybody is ‘hungry’, as if, they can always ask for more!

 

Hope it doesn’t get too rough for you.

 

We are also embarking the Marina in San Antonio and am enjoying following along here. I'm happy to hear the portions will be smaller. I dislike wasting food and when we go out to a restaurant, usually take home at least one, if not two meals worth of leftovers. Obviously we can't do that on the cruise!

[Eloise4Ever]

2 hours ago, SATaxman said:

At Toscana you can ask for a half size portion of any of the pastas.

 

A half size portion of the lasagne is a perfect starter ☺️

[shepherd really]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

No one needs a doggie bag on a cruise ship.

One exception, the Queen Mary II has a kennel, so doggie bags are appropriate.

[ORV]

Amazing how I can read and post here but can’t get my email to download. Internet is real slow down south. 

[Torquer]

@ORVThanks for the great info.  We get on Marina on Feb. 14 in San Antonio as you are getting off.

 

Earlier you mentioned O was offering laundry by the bag for $24.95.  Was that offer really available while the ship was in Antarctic waters or was that for before you got there?  We are in a suite so we get 3 free bags, but that won't be enough and it really complicates things if there is no laundry service or self-serv for 5 days in Antarctica.  This is our first cruise that will have both really hot and really cold weather and we are struggling to figure out how all our clothes will fit in a reasonable number of suitcases so being able to get clothes washed on the ship throughout the cruise would help a lot.

[shepherd really]

8 minutes ago, Torquer said:

@ORVThanks for the great info.  We get on Marina on Feb. 14 in San Antonio as you are getting off.

 

Earlier you mentioned O was offering laundry by the bag for $24.95.  Was that offer really available while the ship was in Antarctic waters or was that for before you got there?  We are in a suite so we get 3 free bags, but that won't be enough and it really complicates things if there is no laundry service or self-serv for 5 days in Antarctica.  This is our first cruise that will have both really hot and really cold weather and we are struggling to figure out how all our clothes will fit in a reasonable number of suitcases so being able to get clothes washed on the ship throughout the cruise would help a lot.

Currently Orv and the Marina are just North of the Antarctic Peninsula so he may not have internet access.  Marina is 

 

[clo]

4 hours ago, pinotlover said:

We often see meat platters masquerading as dinner plates! Take a look at the size of your older China plates which were normal servings. Now we get what was meat platters completely filled. Most of obese America has lost the concept of what a normal serving is. We asked for soup last week, in a very nice restaurant, in lieu of the salad and the soup bowl was the size of large serving bowl for a family. 
 

Oceania drastically reducing serving sizes to reasonable levels is a good thing. No one needs a doggie bag on a cruise ship.

I'm one of those annoying people who take pix of their food both at home and out. (Please believe me that I'm quick and subtle when out!). Our portions are reasonable enough that a FB friend once asked if that was a platter rather than a dinner plate 🙂

See that large portion of pork tenderloin 🙂
 

[Snaefell3]

2 hours ago, shepherd really said:

Currently Orv and the Marina are just North of the Antarctic Peninsula so he may not have internet access.  Marina is 

 

One of StarLink's advantages is that it uses polar orbit satellites instead of equatorial, and so it works just fine even in deep polar regions.  Shame if O didn't get it yet on Marina for this voyage.

 

Sheesh!  Look at all those ships.  Almost like a parking lot at Walmart? 

Edited February 2 by Snaefell3

[ORV]

We don’t have Starlink and internet is real slow, it would probably be better if I didn’t have to wait for unnecessary pictures of food to come up. Appreciate the map position pics. Woke up to icebergs outside our window. 
 

I’m not sure what advice to give on the laundry. I’d say just have everything you brought clean before the Drake and Antarctic portion of your cruise. It’s not that cold. I don’t remember the bag offer before the laundry being closed. 
 

 

[shepherd really]

By George ORV, you are by King George Island. About 5 miles off the starboard side of the ship.

[ORV]

6 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

By George ORV, you are by King George Island. About 5 miles off the starboard side of the ship.

I’m on the port side and not dressed yet, I better not run over there and see just yet. I’d hate to be disembarked for unreasonable behavior. Not much to do here. 

[ORV]

Antarctica is pretty cool🥶

[ORV]

We were scheduled to see Admiralty Bay-and Half Moon Bay today. The 👨‍✈️ worked in Maxwell Bay which our narrator had not been to before and was first time for Marina to be there. So that was neat. 
 

Interesting that today is Groundhog Day and we will get up tomorrow and pretty much do what we did today, and then the next day we’ll do it again. 🦦

[shepherd really]

2 hours ago, ORV said:

We were scheduled to see Admiralty Bay-and Half Moon Bay today. The 👨‍✈️ worked in Maxwell Bay which our narrator had not been to before and was first time for Marina to be there. So that was neat. 
 

Interesting that today is Groundhog Day and we will get up tomorrow and pretty much do what we did today, and then the next day we’ll do it again. 🦦

Looks like you are heading for Deception Island, I hope the captain takes Marina into Neptunes Bellows, you know, for practice next month. 

[ORV]

We’re at Deception Island now. 

[clo]

19 hours ago, Snaefell3 said:

One of StarLink's advantages is that it uses polar orbit satellites instead of equatorial, and so it works just fine even in deep polar regions.  Shame if O didn't get it yet on Marina for this voyage.

 

Sheesh!  Look at all those ships.  Almost like a parking lot at Walmart? 

Remember that it's summer there and a short season for traveling there.

[clo]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

We’re at Deception Island now. 

I can't remember if that's part of Antarctica and can you go ashore?

[shepherd really]

10 hours ago, clo said:

I can't remember if that's part of Antarctica and can you go ashore?

It is in the Antarctic Peninsula and no, you can't on this cruise. 

[ORV]

It’s a new day and absolutely beautiful. Schedule says Gerleche Strait  and Wilhelmina Bay, we’ve seen a lot of whales 🐋 and some really impressive icebergs. 

[shepherd really]

The Marina's current location, ORV is in the little red circle.

 

[ORV]

Yeah, that’ s where we’re at. 
 

So I’m in a public room with comfy chairs and floor to ceiling windows. I’m the only person in here, all other inside venues with a view are wall to wall people. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. 

Edited February 3 by ORV

[SophieM]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

Yeah, that’ s where we’re at. 
 

So I’m in a public room with comfy chairs and floor to ceiling windows. I’m the only person in here, all other inside venues with a view are wall to wall people. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. 

You can’t do the polar plunge if you stay in your comfy chair. 

[Torquer]

2 hours ago, ORV said:

So I’m in a public room with comfy chairs and floor to ceiling windows. I’m the only person in here, all other inside venues with a view are wall to wall people. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. 

Which public room are you in that isn't crowded?  Could be a useful tip for our upcoming cruise.