Wendy The Wanderer

They lump us Canadians together with the Americans. We get mostly the same regs and perks.

Oh, do tell! How could we possibly figure that out?

Mostly I'm reacting to the marketing language. The ships are all fine as they are, in terms of luxury, although I admit I like the newer ones. But they just don't need to get any more luxurious (or expensive.)

Ick, glad I'm going to miss all that. It's all so over the top.

No disrespect, but I'm trying to picture bringing garlic powder and tabasco into Compass Rose. 🙂 My experience in the past requesting less salt has not been good, but perhaps they handle special requests better now. My ankles always swelled after a couple of days onboard.

We got upgraded to 8 once as well. It was divine, but only at the discounted price. Ah, those were the days!

Yes, we did two of those courses in the early days. On Voyager they happened in Signatures, using the galley for the cooking part. Chaotic but wonderful.

Presumably this tab just doesn't show up on the older ships that have no culinary classes?

I'm pretty sure we've stayed in 421. (425, etc., but can't remember 426.) Great value.

You could do something modest such as visiting the church of Santa Maria Della Vittoria. 10 minutes walk. So many great work of art in beautiful churches. There's also the Fountain of Moses nearby. (I haven't been to either, btw.)

Fingers crossed for Greenland!

Yes, La Veranda is definitely the place for as quick breakfast prior to excursions, if not the other choices mentioned above. Compass Rose is not speedy. In Concierge suites, you wait and tell your steward what your preferences are. I would call and ask if there's a waitlist for the cooking class.

Nice to see the Pierre NA wines. I quite enjoyed them.

Sorry, my reply ended up inside the quoted post, above.

I can't comment on specifics, but if by "land", you mean at the airport, then the question becomes, where are you staying? After a long flight, your hotel restaurant might be just the thing. Bear in mind that most hotels aren't close to the port or food trucks, but some hotels have restaurants nearby.

I wouldn't call it a plethora. Depends on the state of renovations at these places, and changes of ownership. We stayed twice at Le Meridien and it's now named something else and is temporarily closed, presumably for renos. Hotels don't last long in this climate. The Hilton has been renamed and renovated a few times since I was first there in 2000.

How about boat trips? We did Lamanai twice from Belize City. Yes there is a bus ride, but not too long as I remember. Then a fairly leisurely boat ride up a narrow river full of wildlife to the magnificent Mayan ruins. Boat trip and bus ride back. We loved it enough to take a friend back there. Again at Santo Tomas we took the paid trip up by speedboat and then by a slower boat up to see the Maya refugees who live in the Qe'qchi village. It also, back then, included lunch in the town of Livingston, a Garafuna town which was also very interesting. The speed boat ride was a bit harrowing, take a hat with a strap or otherwise cover your hair!

If I remember correctly there is an option to not go into the Yukon, or at least not get off the train, thus avoiding Canadian Immigration. We did this one years ago, perhaps it's still offered?

Thanks for the wonderful pictures and commentary.

Any news from the world cruisers?

The standard balcony suite are lovely. Avoid extreme aft suites if you can due to vibration. Great theatre, great aft lounge, with balcony. Small, intimate ship, cozy at times if weather is bad. A bit bouncy in heavy seas.

Where is the lemur?

I'm not a single but we've befriended singles in the past. No need to just stick with other solo travelers. Trivia, excursions and shared tables are good for facilitating mingling. Many couples are not joined at the hip.

Okay, so this is a token by the sounds of it. We lost something similar when we cancelled the 2021 WC, for obvious reasons.