Chanbre

Guest Services, on one of our Silhouette criuses, had a book with a whole variety of things that could be ordered (for a fee) to enhance our celebration. I remember seeing things like flowers, champagnes, cakes, room decorations, etc. I don't remember the full list.

Borealis had line dancing in June 2022.

I have had some fine deserts in the OVC on the Eclipse and the Silhouette. Just next to the ice cream station they served proper English puddings, often with custard. Puddings like fruit crumbles, steamed puddings, cobblers, rice puddings. They even served Spotted Dick, although they gave it another misleading title.

There are nearly two weeks remaining for Celebrity to let me know that I have won. T's&C's 5.1 says "The draw will take place within three (3) working days of the close of the Competition. The winner ... will be notified ... within 14 days of the draw." T's&C's 2 says "The Competition ... concludes at 12:00hrs GMT on Thursday 9th February 2023."

Yes, Superman. I mentioned him on post #8 of this topic.

After about three days I have had one of the five codes, for Barcelona, acknowledged. Still waiting for the other four. My wife also sent her five codes and she has not had any acknowledgements yet.

After each number was entered the web page said I would be sent an email. Two days later I have not received any email. Have other people received entry confirmation emails?

From the T's&C's:

"2  COMPETITION PERIOD

The Competition commences at 07:00hrs GMT on Thursday 26th January 2023 and concludes at 12:00hrs GMT on Thursday 9th February 2023."

Just leaving the Barcelone cruise port in April 2019 took ages. Our preboooked taxi arrived an hour late because of traffic around the port and our taxi ride was very slow for first mile or so on leaving the port.

T's&C's include "3.1 The Competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom who are over 18 years of age."

I really liked the Barcelona picture. We have visted there a couple of times and it was great to see some of the places we visited.

Parts of the Barcelona picture are fascinating. There are several "incomplete" people: legs without heads and shoulders, or heads without legs. There is a the rear half of white car that appears as if a red car has reversed over it. Clearly the whole image is made by combining several photos. Superman is flying over one roof. There is a big advert for the iPhone 7, suggesting that the picture is from 2016

We have done the tour twice. First was in 2014 on the Eclipse, then in 2022, last year, on the Silhouette. Both tours visited the bridge, the engine control room, some food storage areas, the I95 and the main galley.

The Eclipse tour also visited a (cold and windy) forward area where the mooring ropes and anchors are controlled. We also visited back stage of the theatre and some crew areas.

The Silhouette tour was somewhat shorter, the other main spaces we visited this time were a garbage room and  the laundry room where sheets and towels and similar are cleaned. (They mentioned that there is another laundry room where uniforms are cleaned.)

I thought both tours were very interesting. We saw more places on the Eclipse. Maybe Covid protocols have led to the shortening of the tour. Each area was described by someone from that area. Different people have different abilities in talking about their area; maybe their langauge skills vary, maybe we were one of the first groups that some had ever spoken to. Most of the presenters were proud of their position and seemed very happy to talk to us and to answer questions. In most places the group had more questions to ask and we would have been happy to stay longer, but the tour leader had a schedule to keep.

One memorable, but minor, part of the Silhouette tour: We were accompanied throughout the tour by two of the ship's security officers. After the bridge we took a lift down, we filled the lift. The security officer touched a key fob (not their sea pass) to a place on the lift control panel and then the little display in that panel in the lift read "Priority". I guess that our group were important.

With regard to keeping medicines cool, may I suggest going to any bar on the ship and asking for some ice cubes. Put them into a Ziploc plastic bag and put that into the medicines bag. Repeat as necessary until you have access to a fridge.

Here is an excerpt from the "Dine & Drink" section of a Silhouette daily from August 2022, showing afternoon tea.

7 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

how the heck?

isnt the charge only usb port connected directly to 120v ac then stepped down to 5v dc?

how do you put a virus where's there's no computer?

How do you know what is behind the faceplate of the wall-socket that has outlets for mains electricity and a USB? How do you know what wonders of technology are behind the USB socket at your aeroplane seat? There are many suspicions that some East European and some Asian countries do everything they can to collect Western information. The UK press has very recent accounts of an MP's mobile phone being infected with malware.

Some people recommend using a "USB Data Blocker" when charging from power sources that you do not own or control. I generally use one when charging my personal phone from my work laptop.

A "charge only" usb cable should also be sufficient. The downside of a charge only cable is that you then need two cables (one for charging and one for connecting phone and laptop) and remember which is which. The data blocker is a very small box.

4 hours ago, hcat said:

They  give so few veggies on the plates, hardly worth it for 2 asparagus.

 

We often ordered extra vegetables when dining in Blu. Normally they served a bowl of steamed carrots, brocolli and cauliflower. One evening they served nice haricot beans with the main. The next day I asked for, and was served, extra haricot beans. The same the next day, I like haricot beans. I asked for them on the next day, but none arrived. When desert was served the maitre'D came and apologised for not serving extra beans. He had sent runners to every other restaurant in the ship but none had ordered beans from the store rooms. He ordered beans specially for me for the next day.

In September 2021 we got an upgrade from Sunset Veranda to Aqua soon after boarding the Silhouette in Southhampton. The ship was nowhere near full.

We boarded and dropped our bags in our booked cabin. Then we had a conversation with Guest Services and arranged the upgrade. There was a charge for the upgrage, I forget how much but we thought it reasonable. I think they had more than one Aqua cabin available so were happy to let us choose another, but we liked the first one they offered.

On Silhouette, middle of last month (August 2022), we did a behind the scenes tour. It was listed with all the other excursions and booked as an excursion. We paid £103 per person.

The papers left in our cabin on boarding day also offered a back-stage tour of the theatre. This had to be booked on-board. I do not recall whether there was a fee.

On Silhouette, middle of last month (August 2022), the buffet was mostly self service. The range of foods available was wonderful.

Have a look at the "Testing" section of this Fred Olsen web page: https://www.fredolsencruises.com/travel-confidence

We were on Borealis from 17 to 27 June. One waiter told us there were 600 passengers and 600 crew on board; obviously they stated approximate numbers. Maximum numbers are 1360 passengers and 662 crew according to https://www.fredolsencruises.com/our-ships/borealis.

There were plenty of waiters circulating around the bars and seating areas. We were asked whether we wanted a drink within minutes of sitting down. Service in the main dining room was as quick as in any other restuarant, i.e. the waiters give you time to enjoy the dining experience.

The public areas of the ship were clean. We frequently saw the crew cleaning handrails. Several times saw vacuum cleaners being used.

Borealis appeared to be fully crewed.

The last picture above has a three-wheeled car. There are about 30 three-wheeled Morgans parked in the Crown Plaza hotel car park (very close to the Liverpool Cruise Terminal) this evening. They are taking the ferry to the Isle of Man tomorrow. About 50 cars in total are expected. Once there they will drive leisurely around the TT circuit - definitely not racing, honestly officer.

My invite to the webinar was sent at 19:17 UK time. Have registered for this one.

The wording after the words "Cant make it" is confusing. I could not make the time for the previous webinar, so believing those words I did not register. I am still trying to find the recording. I wish I had registered for the previous webinar.

@lgw59 We have had 3 non-cruise holidays in Venice. On one memorable day we got a day-pass for the water busses etc, crossed from Venice centre to Lido then took a mix of wheeled buses and water bussess to Chioggia. Maybe not much in Chioggia (it was raining when we went) except some lovely restaurants, but a great journey seeing parts of the Venice bay. Returned via the same route.

@Iamthesea I recommend you looking at our UK government's website. There is lots of travel advice based at travel abroad. The foreign travel advice link leads to information about many countries including France.