Bloodaxe

We did the Antarctic cruise a few years ago and agree that it is spectacular.

However we had better Whale sightings in Alaska and New Zealand.

The best ever was on a Whale watching trip off the coast of New England in the Spring, 

1 hour ago, pete14 said:

We are in an historic room overlooking the putting grass and croquet pitch with trees and fields all around. Very pleasant

I grew up not far from Thoresby, Clumber and Sherwood, this was long before it was a Hotel

Used to  cycle all around  that area, Thoresby had a large herd of Deer, they were often found on the the Cricket ground.

1 hour ago, Bloodaxe said:

 

 

 

We did that about 10 years ago, have also done several Miami Europe both East and West Crossings.

The on!y really bad weather was a New York to Rouen crossing on Journey which I believe was a one off.

It' was in April 2012 the repositioning cruise after the special cruise to commemorate the sinking of the Titanic 100 years before.

That was a real traditional crossing with no ports between, the last few days were very choppy.but we enjoyed it.

 

I have just remembered another cruise which goes to show how fickle the weather can be.

Our transatlantic was from Rome to Miami with a few ports in the Med before the crossing.

The weather in the Med was wild, particularly between Corsica and Sardinia.

Our last stop in the Med was Gibraltar and some people left the ship saying they could not face the Atlantic.

The crossing was fine so you just have to go with the flow has you never can tell what lies ahead.

37 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Did Lisbon to Rio on Pursuit in autumn 2019. Flat calm and lovely weather all the way, except for a days rain when we got to Brazil. We’re doing the same trip in reverse in a week & hoping for similar weather.

We did that about 10 years ago, have also done several Miami Europe both East and West Crossings.

The on!y really bad weather was a New York to Rouen crossing on Journey which I believe was a one off.

It' was in April 2012 the repositioning cruise after the special cruise to commemorate the sinking of the Titanic 100 years before.

That was a real traditional crossing with no ports between, the last few days were very choppy.but we enjoyed it.

Swinegate is the  name of a York street, if my post is removed for that reason, look it up.

York has lots of good Restaurants Italians are well represented.

4 hours ago, Presto2 said:

Well we have just returned from a short break in the beautiful city of York. The whole stay, hotel and Italian restaurant we found, included in that statement. If you are on here and live anywhere near this beautiful city you are very lucky indeed. Have never been before and it certainly will not be our last visit. We had a great cruise down the river and we enjoyed our aft view from our seats 😉

We were in York today and are a half hours drive away, we usually shop there weekly but not always in the City Centre.

Which Italian Restaurant did you use?, we frequent Lucias in Swinegate

42 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

Even York railway station is lovely with many original features still there. At least it was when we last went.  As well as the many interesting attractions York has, it's old buildings are beautiful. We love to wander at the lanes and alleyways just looking at them.

Sis

Snickleways in York Avril, there is a book all about them.

7 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Please share! If they’ve got the same atmosphere and quality of food I’d happily try to steer my wife towards them! She’s potty about Bettys.

I agree the atmosphere and the pastries are good but there are good smaller Cafes who's names escape me, next time I will take note.

We are in York frequently and never use Bettys but the tourist obviously love it.

If you like Italian food Lucias Wine Bar is very good.

54 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

If you do go to York, consider Bettys for lunch, or better still an afternoon tea. Very civilised, and good food (I wouldn’t recommend their fish and chips, but wife says it’s a daft thing to order there anyway.).

 

Downside’s the likely queue, and the price. Excellent pastries etc though.

Lots of other options in York just has good and without the queues

A new Premier Inn is  being built on the edge of the City Centre opposite the City Walls.

The Selby bus is very frequent and calls at the Designer Centre.

We often park there are bus into the City using our passes.

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

 

I totally forgot about Beatlemania! I saw it as part of a  class trip back in 1977-78 time frame. I guess that could be considered my first concert.  Or was it a play since it was in a Broadway theater? 🤔

Talking of the Beatles, in 1962 I went to see Roy Orbison who was touring the UK, another great singer in my opinion.

On the same show was the Beatles who had just released Please Please Me which had made No 1 in the UK.

33 minutes ago, Britboys said:

I was lucky enough to see Angela Lansbury playing Madame Arcati in the 2014 London production of Blithe Spirit. Well into her 80's by then, she was marvellous, even down to throwing herself over the back of a sofa!

I just had to check the year I saw that and shocked myself to find it was nearly 9 years ago...😱

Yes time does fly, the event I referred to at Ellis Island was in April 2012.

I remember it particularly because the cruise prior to our transatlantic was a special one to the site of the sinking of the Titanic 100 years before.

There was a display in the Manhattan cruise terminal with lots of information about the survivors arriving in New York.

1 hour ago, Adawn47 said:

I haven't see the new version of Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, but I did watch the early '90's Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris starring the wonderful Angela Lansbury, she was a fantastic character actress.

Avril

It's not often I post these days but I do follow along and sometimes cbip in,

Your mention of Angela Lansbury jogged me to respond.

About 10 years ago we were joining a Transatlantic cruise from New York.

Before joining the ship we did a tour of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

On Ellis Island they were presenting awards to Immigrants who had become famous later in life.

We watched the award being made to Angela who had emigrated from England has a child, she was in her eighties at that time.

23 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

None of the balcony partions will be opened for guests because unlike those on Celebrity they cannot be secured and it's a safety risk when the ship is under sail. I've asked before. 

 

Phil 

I can understand why, once on boarding we found ours broken with jagged edges,   very dangerous, don't know why the steward had not reported it.

They came and rep!aced it once I had reported it.

35 minutes ago, DgBg100106 said:

My DH is VERY particular about his whiskey, to the point it drives me crazy.  I have no idea what the included whiskey is, and that uncertainty is driving him crazy.  lol  So knowing he can bring it on with him is great. 

Unless it has changed recently, it is Famous Grouse.

28 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Well, so far, I have only sailed on Quest and it was easy to do

Quest and Journey had this available, Pursuit didn't, not sailed on

Onward.

32 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

But the lowly people in Verandas and outside or inside cabins are charged $35 per person.  How many are going to pay that when they've already paid for dinner in the dining room?

Lots of people, we have always had a standard balcony on our many Azamara cruises and have at least 50% of our evening meals in the Speciality Restaurants, you can buy  multiple packages which are good value even without OBC.

3 hours ago, George C said:

Love your pictures of our favorite hang out in New York City, we love Gallagher’s which is just a couple of blocks from our favorite hotel the michealanglo. 
   Just finished watching a very exciting Buffalo Bills win in a blizzard in Buffalo, only issue was we have the lights for our Christmas tree set up with the clapper so lights kept going on and off wile we clapped for the Bills . Hopefully we will be back Memorial Day weekend to New York and drinking at Gallagher’s 😁😁😁

The picture of the Steakhouse really jogged my memory from 30 years ago.

A while ago I posted about us missing seeing Sinatra at the Radio City and then managing to see Alan Alfa in a play instead.

We then had a great meal in a Steakhouse near the Theatre, could that have been the same one 30 years ago?, I seem to remember that display of Steaks.

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

I wish I would have seen him before he passed. I really did not become a big fan till later in life and really started listening to the beauty of his voice. Also the bands backing him were incredible especially the Count Basie Band when Quincy Jones was writing the arrangements. Incredible!

I am not a regular contributor to this board but often read your interesting threads, they remind me of many happy holidays we have spent all over the US.

The mention of Sinatra reminded me of a visit to New York around 30 years ago, we live near old York in the UK.

We had just arrived at our Hotel and I picked up  copy of the New Yorker magazine with a picture of Sinatra on the cover.

He was performing at the Radio City Music Hall, it was probably one of his last times has he was already getting on.

My Wife was a big fan so next morning we went straight to the box office and managed to get tickets for the Sunday show.

We arrived at the show to find that it was cancelled, he had a sore throat and could not perform.

They offered us tickets for another later show but we would be back home by then.

Has a consolation they gave us a free tour of the theatre which was very interesting.

Afterwards we went down to the ticket office in Times Square and got last minute tickets to see another of my Wife's  favourites Alan Alda in a play, so all was not lost.

3 hours ago, nordski said:

Always impressed by the Humber River and that magnificent bridge.

 

Those views certainly make for an impactful walk.
 

Some day I hope we can see it in person. Couldn’t an Azamara ship make its way at least up to the bridge?

Not really sure about that but probably not, the Ferries to Europe dock in the Humber River but closer the sea at Hull.

It had been planned to build a cruise terminal in Hull but that seems to have been forgotten for now.

Some cargo ships do go up river under the Bridge to Goole a port 40 miles further inland.

32 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Having a new gas boiler (Worcester Bosch) installed today to replace our five year old Baxi,  which has been playing up. And, obviously, since we ordered the new boiler,  the Baxi has performed impeccably !

For the price we are paying, the new boiler had better last longer than I will !  

We did the same a few weeks ago but our Baxi was over 20 years old and had only recently been much trouble but availability of spares was becoming a problem.

51 minutes ago, zap99 said:

If you're the only person with a working phone during the apparent imminent armagedon...........who you gonna call?.🤔

Hopefully if power cuts happen they will. be rotated like in the 1970s,  this reminds me of an incident that happened then.

I worked in the Power Industry at that time, our small estate had two different supp!y  lines, sometimes only some houses had power.

One night a knock came at our door, a neighbour stood there saying you have power and ours is off, I bet it's because you work for the Generating Board.

I said actually I bring home a bucket full every night.

41 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Worth remembering that in a full scale regional power cut, the mobile phone network will not be operational. 

Also, if you have a cordless landline phone, that also will not work. 

We keep a old type landline phone for just such an emergency, have only needed it once in years.

On 10/16/2022 at 12:03 PM, Nippy Sweetie said:

Is there much to see in Livorno?

We enjoyed wa!king around Livorno, the waterfront further along from were the ship docks is interesting.

In the town is a good indoor food market and outdoor stalls se!!ing shoes and c!othing. 

A!so canals and a Fort you can visit, the Cafe's in town are much more reasonable than in tourist areas of Italy

2 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

What does wearing the uniform have to do if they are or aren’t working Royals? They served in the service and that’s what the uniform is about imo. What about non-Royals? If someone was in the service can they still wear their uniform to a special event?

 

That’s exactly what I think. 

I am afraid the rules are set by Buckingham Palace and are well known 

13 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

They said it was The Lone Piper's Lament. I don't know if that's the correct title though. 

Avril

I believe the lament was called Sleep, dearie, sleep.