Blackduck59

I've never reached the 15 limit either. You can ask for a glass of water, they are free. If you insist on canned water, that counts against your 15 drink limit as does pop. I have to think that if you go over the 15 you would be charged full price for subsequent drinks on that day. I would suggest you keep track of your count and at the end of the day grab some water or pop and put them in the fridge in your cabin. Keeping in mind the "mini bar" in your cabin is not part of your beverage package.

This is what the sunset was like as we sailed away from Sagunay. It was the gift that kept on giving. I hope you get a nice one tonight.

I'm not sure that HAL would be taking a ship (which has recently been doing the Alaska season) out of service for 2 months in the North American summer. Also 2 months is an extraordinarily long refit period. When the company I used to work for was doing a refit everything was ready to go and at dockside when the ship showed up. We had 2 weeks (if we were lucky) to get it done. There was no option to go over that time.

That's too bad Andy, we really enjoyed White Heather. We will keep an eye out for other options. Or you may find a local who can lay on tea 😉

The Confederation Bridge is indeed a little spindly. It is however a marvel of engineering, it is the longest span in the world over water the ices. We drove over it when we were there and it feels a little precarious with one lane each way. I'm sure the islanders love it because it eliminated the ferries. Of course it neutralized their moat.

Bad news Mic, I hope your recovery is quick (as quick as such an injury can be) and complete.

Maybe they comped my boss I don't know. I know I never got anything except my pay, and the satisfaction that I built them.

You won't find many locals shelling out for "Afternoon Tea" at the Empress. There are better options, but the Empress has "The Room" it is (or was) a grand space. I don't think much of the renovations. I actually built the large roll top tea carts in The Empress, I have never gone to the Empress for "Tea", the price is simply prohibitive.

Clearly we will quickly be identified as Visitors.

I certainly wouldn't pay that tariff for the menu. Someone at HAL needs to find a clue.

The aviation museum is a great place. I don't know if the local bus will get you there though. We don't use public transportation so bus schedules are foreign to me. Spitfire Grill is literally across the Airport from the museum, you can see it across the tarmac. Unfortunately you need to go around the airport to get there. Mary's Bleu Moon Cafe is closer to the Aviation Museum but we haven't been there in years. You never know, you may befriend a local and they could maybe help with transportation.

We don't lay on "afternoon tea" often but when we do we make an effort. I know that logistically it is impossible for HAL to do what we would do, but you would think they could bake fresh scones.

When we go to the trouble of doing "Afternoon Tea" in our house, I go to the trouble of getting "double Devon cream" it's very thick almost like butter. I will agree with you about whipped cream, you can't put jam on top of that.

clotted cream first (like butter) then the jam. Keeping in mind this is supposed to be an elegant affair without getting gobs of cream all over your face.

Thank you for clearing that up. At first read it really did look like a "Guarantee" mistake a rookie would make. Good luck with your dilemma. I'm not much of a gambler so I'll leave the Guarantee roulette to others. I want to pick my cabin when we book the cruise, if we can't do that, no cruise.

We had the blankets in our Vista Suite on Zaandam, they are very cool. I would have bought one but my lovely wife wasn't that enthusiastic, oh well, maybe next time.

We went to the highly rated "afternoon tea" on Viking...once. We also went to tea on Zaandam...once. What they "used to do" doesn't count, what they do now counts, and it's not anything special. You're better off grabbing some cold cuts, cheese, bread and fruit from the lido and making your own.

I have to say the "Afternoon Tea" served on Zaandam was rather a waste of time. The quality and taste of the snacks provided were pitiful. I saw some pictures on this thread and thought "if only ours looked like that", even then the best picture shown in this thread isn't great. I would caution anyone going to "afternoon tea" on HAL and thinking it will be some event.

So @CruiserBruce what you are saying is that you were proceeding to dinner, walktail in hand, minding your own business. Then suddenly dinner didn't seem that important and perhaps you should catch the next set of pre dinner music.

Sorry to say I don't know. I just happened to be passing by and saw the race on. I got the bartender to turn up the volume and watched until we had to go for an excursion. Maybe @CruiserBrucecould have a look out or ask at Mix bar if they show the football ⚽️

Did you have 9 other cruises on hold at the same time?

Well there in lies the dilemma. Some 20 years ago smoking was banned in all indoor spaces in greater Victoria. Smokers had rallies about their "rights" etc. It was predicted that bars everywhere would close because the patrons couldn't smoke. There was a lull for a few months then suddenly all the non smokers who couldn't stand the smoke are now going out for drinks, enjoying live music in the night clubs, meals in restaurants and going to the Casino. Smoking is still banned indoors, the casinos are still open and surprise surprise, non smokers gamble too.

So I guess you found the limits of the "courtesy" part of courtesy hold.

I'm not sure that "Mix" is a Martini Bar per se. I think it is a bit of a catch all, it's the closest bar to the Casino, they had the Formula 1 race on the TV one morning and I think they had a few games on as well. Part of it is set up like a sports bar with seating facing the TV. The other part is set up as a "Piano Bar" around the piano. I do agree however that they should have menus for all the bars. Maybe they should have one of the bars more suited to martinis with all the appropriate ingredients to make an interesting array of Martinis. I don't drink them myself and personally felt the Martini Bar was a loud and obnoxious bunch on Celebrity cruises.

Yes, we didn't really need ice, we would get cans of water and put them in the fridge to cool down alas one day we had no cold water and out of pure chance our steward was in the process of filling our ice bucket. Sometimes between talking with the steward and happenstance you find out the service was better than you thought.