Russell21

Must keep my eyes on the menu when we are on board on the 26 Sept. When I lived in the Philippines I made the acquaintance of a lovely French lady from their embassy who introduced me to some of the finer points of French cuisine.

Totally agree with you.

Known as Trepang or Beche de Mer.

Regarding hand sanitising, if like me you are allergic to the alcohol based sanitisers then there are available sanitisers based on Benzalconium Chloride which are equally as effective as the alcohol based ones. Hands First Antibacterial is the one I use. Thankfully it's not the alcohol I'm allergic to, but to something that is common to the sanitisers, washing up liquid and some soaps. Peels the skin of my hands.

One thing I have learned in life is that if any of your activities are in any way dependant on the mercy of mother nature, and you are prone to getting very upset, then change your activities, or learn to cope. If you ride a motorbike you are going to get rained on. If you go hiking see riding motorbike. If you go camping you will get your tent leak, blown down, flooded. If you play outdoor sports you are going to get rained out. If you go cruising you are going to be upset by the weather. If you live on a floodplain you are going to get flooded and really have something to complain about.

I can understand how you feel. Yesterday was 3 birthdays without cruising, and based on recent events our next cruise in September will most likely be watered down from the Conflict Islands to some meaningless meanderings up and down the coast, which we will still enjoy.

I second the visit to Larnach Castle, have a look at the main staircase as there is no nails or screws used in its construction.

The Noble One is an outstanding example of a Botrytised wine, it is so good that for many years now it has not been entered in competitions due to the continued winning to the point of almost embarrassment.

What do they call us pre Baby Boomers?

Thanks Julie.

Julie can you remember the brand you bought? There's only about a million to choose from. 🙂

To give you some idea of real wine prices our current home drinking Shiraz has a cellar door price of $50.00 and I was, was as in the particular year is no longer available, paying $15.00/bottle buying 3 dozen at a time. Most of the reds and whites we drink have a Shop price of $25-$35, and I pay no more than $12 50 for any of them. Believe me, shops and ships buy better than I do. The only downside for most people is the quantity you have to buy each time.

The average bottle of wine is considered to be 8 standard drinks, but normally there is roughly 5 glasses of wine to the bottle. So at a meal my wife an I would consume 4 standard drinks each.

This is what we did on our last cruise pre-Covid, and what we will be doing on future cruises. BTW a bottle lasts one meal for us.

It's not necessarily a matter of too expensive, it's quite often just a matter of a ridiculous price for low quality.

I'm not sure that we could even drink some of the wines on offer, let alone enjoy them. We have already packed our selection of wines to take, even with $15.00 corkage they laugh at the wine list on board. Think Pirramimma Heritage Limited Edition Shiraz 2017 for starters.

It's 12 days, is that Bad?

I think you will find if you photo the certificate and put it in that way it will go in, it's a fussy app as we have all found out. We are taking printed copies of everything just in case.

Now I'm worried about the 26Sept cruise to the conflict Islands, I inadvertently called it as November in an earlier post. It is a privately owned Atoll and belongs to an Australian setting up an eco resort. My Bro Inlaw has been there in earlier cruise some time ago, and said it is a brilliant place to see turtles etc.

Any sign of Wine List prices on the Coral Princess yet?

Just posted in the other thread about the vacancies on the 26th Sept, our group of 6, 3 cabins, have fully paid so hope it goes ahead. I paid our insurance too

Just had a look at the 26 Nov Coral Princess 12 days Conflict Islands trip. All suites booked, still a few mini suites, quite a few balcony available, and still some ocean view. missed interior. Still listed as available.

Having the necessity of carrying emergency glucose jelly beans, and my phone, I gave in to carrying a manbag, which now closely resembles an emergency first aid kit, manicure set, superglue for torn fingernails hers and mine occasionally, sewing kit, mini tool kit, and many other little bits and pieces that life has shown me to be vital when needed. One of our close friends used to jokingly needle me about carrying it until she gashed her arm in a remote situation.

I'll bid 6, 44 was a good year. 😁

A bit savage locally too, but the cover is extensive to compensate.