jpalbny

Welcome to the club! Glad to have you.

Going back to Roman times, when SALT was more expensive than gold, perhaps? Maybe they really aren't straying too far from their Italian heritage.

I hope this is the beginning of the END of included excursions. Wouldn't that be great? Unless it's an expedition cruise, we'd much rather DIY than pay extra for "included" excursions. Of course, the end of included excursions will almost certainly not result in a price reduction, but one could always hope!

"Almost always" leaves some wiggle room if the port schedule makes another day more convenient. That's why I said it that way. IME there's more variation in the captain's farewell, than the captain's welcome, but YMMV. For the OP's itinerary, the first 3 days are sea days, sailing to South Georgia. The welcome will most likely be the second night. If the weather is sketchy they might modify that schedule of course. But it's "almost always" going to be the second night.

A poke bowl sounds perfect on a cold day at the grill. Unlike your french fries, you actually want this dish to get (stay) cold!

Le Bellot is such a beautiful ship! Hopefully embarkation was smooth and you're sailing off to your first destination now. Looking forward to the updates when time and WiFi allow.

I think that's a misunderstanding. The Status Match can only be given once - so if you later earn a higher status with another cruise line you can't come back to Ponant for a second upgrade. But the status match does not disappear, according to their FAQs: https://www.calameo.com/read/000132423103bc2182686 Quoted from the FAQs: The first two questions are pretty clear that you don't revert back after one cruise. The third question says that you can only do this once. Obviously this program hasn't been in place long enough to see how it works in real life, and they could always change things. But that's my interpretation of how the program "rules" are written.

It's almost always the second night on board. We did a similar itinerary (15N Cloud, Ushuaia to South Georgia to Antarctica) on Cloud in Jan 2020 and according to my trip report, that's when it was.

It's true that with a domestic F ticket alone, you cannot get into the DL SkyClub. You need either an AMEX with access privileges, or a SkyClub membership. Had you still been on a connecting flight, arriving at JFK on an international business class ticket, you definitely could have entered the SkyClub for your layover. But I suspect since they canceled your original flight home you're no longer in their system as a "connecting" passenger. If you had told them to find your arriving flight information you might have gotten in that way. That is annoying. Hope it's all a moot point now and that you're on your way home; fingers crossed! Sorry your miserable flight experience home is the last thing you'll remember about an otherwise great trip!

Bien sur! Any time on vacation is time well spent. Nice photo and setting.

There always was one on deck 4 next to the salon, where the deck plans show it. We used to get suite 427 all the time (when it was a double suite; now they've divided it in two, 427 and 429, so our old suite doesn't exist). That suite was adjacent to the reception desk so the launderette was right across the hall. We did tons of laundry there on our first few voyages. We haven't been on Explorer in a while. On our last sailing on board, we had booked the (old) 427 and they refurbished the ship after we booked, eliminating our cabin. So we got upgraded to 701, which included laundry. But the laundrette was still there IIRC.

Lots of water of all types available for drinking. All expedition cruises give you reusable water bottles; we have quite a collection at home though some clumsy oaf has managed to break the plastic tops of a few so far (not saying who, but one hint, it isn't Chris). On the non-expedition cruises we've taken they have not always given out the refillable bottles but there is always plenty of bottled water available at the gangway. We try to be good environmental stewards and if they're giving out single-use plastic bottles, we keep them and refill them ourselves. I've not heard of anyone going thirsty on a Silversea cruise so no need to worry. On every Silversea cruise I've taken, they have refillable bottles in the stateroom fridge. I prefer the non-refillable (but replaceable) glass ones that are corked, contain about 85% water, with the rest alcohol and tannins, but the choice is yours. One other thought - you could always ask your butler to bring water for you in preparation for your tours, if you aren't able to secure a reliable supply on your own... @gnome12, I changed the font when I quoted the post, for your reading pleasure.

I hope you can make lemonade out of lemons, and get into the City for a bit to explore. Lower Manhattan, especially on a weekend, is a wonderful place to just wander around for hours. A French marketplace (Le District), and Eataly, are both in that neighborhood. So you can pretend that you are still in Europe!

They are. The ship's agents have far more experience dealing with passports than we do.

Gorgeous scenery Spins! Stay warm.

Ugh! Not the way that you want your wonderful journey to end. Good luck and hope it works out better than expected.

Agree! But you've left out the most critical part. After making your decision, you must go on the internet and argue with strangers to prove that your decision is the only right one! 😉

Nice job on packing light! Giving me some competition. Wishing you smooth flights and connections.

It's good to be a Grand Admiral! Check one thing about the free laundry though. In some places they say that it's limited to 5 pieces per person per day. But when we were on Le Lapérouse in March they assured us that it was unlimited. And in the Indonesian heat and humidity, that was definitely needed!

Love it when you can walk from your hotel to the ship!

What a great trip! Thanks for your reports. Some day we will have to try Le Ponant.

That's confusing here on these boards. X means Celebrity!

Sounds like you're off to a great start! Welcome back to SS. As an aside, we visited Singapore in March of this year and had a great time. I hope that we can return the favor for your US visit.

You might be able to drag Mysty out of the Cooler, but you can't take the Cooler out of Mysty!

TTS, I feel your pain. Got a nice Rado probably 25 years ago and have replaced quite a bit of it since then. They no longer make the ceramic links for the wristband, so I couldn't replace the broken one last time. Luckily my wrist is smaller so I could remove the broken link, and it still fits. But when the next link goes it will be a completely new band.