Twitchly

19 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Oh, the caftan is Verr-Sache

Speechless.

On 2/26/2024 at 6:10 PM, retiredman said:

https://rubenshotel.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=local&utm_campaign=hotel-the-rubens-at-the-palace

 

Stayed here the week of the Coronation, older Hotel, but within walking distance to so much.

We stayed here, too, and enjoyed it. Close to Victoria station and Buckingham Palace. (We ended up staying there the day after the Queen died, so we were right in the middle of things.) If you stay here, I suggest springing for one of the better rooms. 

21 hours ago, 5thDimension said:

Hmm..Of course there are tomatoes in the Philippines but they're not use  for ketchup. The eggplant/salted egg salad from the menu is close to what I had growing up, and my family used cilantro on most dishes.  Quail eggs which I'm allergic to, are commonly sold by street vendors. 

Interesting. I lived there a long time ago, in a remote area. Never saw any of these things. (I would’ve loved to have tomatoes, but the only ones I found were imported and too expensive.) Maybe we just lived too remotely. In our village, the only street vendor eggs I knew about were balut (fertilized duck eggs). 

Sounds like there is a world of Filipino cuisine I missed!

On 3/7/2024 at 8:04 AM, Clay Clayton said:

No and no.  It’s fusion-nothing traditional.  You can see the menu and photos over on the menu thread.
 

But I did get a promise that he would try to have halo halo served onboard sometime. 🤞

I would love to hear how Viking would make halo halo! Thanks for posting the menu.

On 3/6/2024 at 3:18 AM, vslparis said:

Hope this comes out OK. 

Looks tasty but not especially Filipino. The tomatoes, for one thing. (When I lived there, nobody had them; they have to be imported. They make ketchup out of bananas.) I don’t recall much in the way of cilantro or quails, either. Ah, well. At least there’s seafood.  

11 hours ago, millybess said:

👍

 

I'll be interested to see the menu for that!

Me too. I wonder if it includes pancit guisado and halo-halo*?

*(A kitchen-sink drink made of crushed ice, sweetened condensed milk, corn, black beans, cubed gelatin, jackfruit, and heaven knows what else. Weirdly addictive in 114-degree heat once one gets over the ick factor.)

3 minutes ago, kctwinmommy said:

@FetaCheese - Oh, so just the bookings on the first 2 days are locked in. That's a different thing.

Yup. We got that in 2022, as I recall. They stopped allowing changes in the couple of days before boarding, and no changes for the first couple of days of the cruise. We did talk with the excursion people on boarding day about getting on a waiting list for a later excursion and had no problem.

On 2/20/2024 at 1:43 PM, WanderingBrit said:

The Virgin decor is very modern, shiny marble and bright colors, and there is pop/rock music almost everywhere, almost all the time

I would jump overboard. 

About that bucket list … Meteora, the family farm in northern Norway, more of Italy, more of Ireland. I didn’t get to see much of the latter when we were there on the BIE cruise due to a sprained knee. 

On 1/30/2024 at 2:27 PM, formernuke said:

Intersting, since Viking's stated policy is no visitors (from the MVJ onboard section):

I think it helps to be Clay. If he can get them to make pistachio buns, he can get them to do anything. 🥮

4 hours ago, stretchcruz said:

Nice that you got to bring your friend aboard for lunch!!!

Yes, how does that work? I didn’t know this was possible.

44 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Wow! The Crepes Suzette afternoon tea today was incredible!

I think I just gained 5 pounds looking at those photos.

I imagine traveling in China would be just fine … until it isn’t. Heidi13’s experience is what I would expect, given what China did to its own citizens during the pandemic. 
 

Travel always has risks, of course. These days I’m more cautious about traveling in countries that don’t have a good relationship with the US. If something goes wrong, things can get complicated in a hurry. 

8 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

For a Guarantee Cabin booking?  I did not think that Viking offered that until just weeks before sailing?  I have never seen the option of a Guarantee Cabin in advance bookings.... am I missing something?

The cruise we wanted was all but sold out, even though it was about 10 months away. I think the website said there was one cabin left in the category we wanted when we booked. So we had to get a GTY cabin. 

4 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

found out cabin assignment on MyVikingJourney before the email came from Viking.

This. We found out about a month after booking, many months before sailing. I don’t recall getting an email, but we were using a travel agent and things tended to get lost. Checking My Viking Journey will tell you your room assignment. 

Here’s the view through our window. Maybe looking at it will help you feel cooler.

20 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Did yall see the equator? I almost missed seeing it as it was so dark!😂

So does the water in the drain go counter-clockwise now? 😄 I swear, I used to believe that one.

2 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Ok, enough for now.  Time to get dressed and head to happy hour. 🥃

Maybe enough booze could make you forget the food. 🍷

OK, after watching this I will never complain about rough seas again. (Actually I may never get on a ship again.) I can’t imagine how they got some of this footage.

Sounds like an inauspicious start. Hopefully things will improve shortly. If not, maybe you could grab a ride to Clay’s ship instead. (Sounds like their food is better, at least.)

16 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

This Neptune thread is not near as chatty as the Sky one.

You’ll just have to make up the difference yourself, Jim. 🍷

I would think the chance to see ports around the coast of Africa would be some pretty fantastic lemonade out of lemons. 

We took the British Isles cruise in September 2022 and missed a couple of ports due to rough seas (Ullapool and the Shetlands). Looking back through many reviews of this cruise, it’s not unusual to miss a port or two. Perhaps in part because tender ports are trickier and require calmer seas? That said, we didn’t have to hold onto rails while walking around the ship.

Take a look at past reviews of cruises that interest you. It’s a great way to see patterns.

On 1/13/2024 at 1:40 PM, Clay Clayton said:

Special delivery to our room this morning IYKYK😀

Wow!! Next time we run into the Tragedy of the Missing Pistachio Buns, we’ll just tell them we’re close personal friends of Clay Clayton. 

The cardamom-infused waffles with brown cheese and fruit at Mamsen’s. Sigh.