Bloodaxe

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

It has been a nice 21°C and sunny here today.

Pauline went to the hairdresser's then we went to Boundary mill and bought several items.

From there I drove down to Newcastle port and saw Marella Explorer formerly known as Celebrity Century docked.

It was nice to see people on board and people getting on board.

Take care everyone.

Graham 

We did a transatlantic  crossing on Celebrity Century in 2006, lovely ship at the time, not sure about Marella though.

Very interesting and informative, we may give Saga a try has seems that it would  be a good fit for us.

Our favourite line Azamara rarely sails round trip UK and our flying days are probably over.

11 hours ago, Tom47 said:

I have been reading Bernard Cornwell's books for 30 years and enjoyed every one.  Here is a review of a Last Kingdom book  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3486999396

  It is now a tv mini series, on amazon Prime and I enjoyed that also.  i suggest reading them in order.

Great writer, I have also been reading his books for years.

29 minutes ago, nordski said:

Note for Grandmacruising.

 

This morning I learned that in Anglo-Saxon England “Northumbria” referred to North of the Humber River. This makes obvious sense but I had never realized it.

 

And when the Humber was mentioned, I immediately thought of the delightful photos you have posted on this thread.

 

Thanks again!

If  you are interested look up the book series, The Last Kingdom by Bernard Corrnwall, fictional characters but based on factual events,.

Brilliant books set in the period of Alfred the Great through to Athelstan, the uniting of the kingdom's of England

We have been at the Airport by 9am several times but always with a pre booked taxi or transfer.

On 8/7/2021 at 8:26 PM, uktog said:

I suspect the objectives of a post lay up dry dock are very different from a between cruises dry dock. Even more the case when the structures were laid up in such cold climate with temperature extremes 

They are probably in much better shape than some of the ship's that have been cruising around or anchored just offshore all Winter.

Thank you for the review,  you confirmed my suspicions that if we sailed MSC it would  have to be in Yacht Club

11 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

On Google Maps Street View you can see the P & O Oceana docked right in the centre of town in Kotor  - as we did on Azamara.

Some larger ships do dock in Kotor, we have had to tender on Azamara when the dock was occupied by larger ships 

32 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

What were they driving?😉😇

Probably Renaults

2 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

There is a gentle Northerly wind today, which will take edge of temperature, will probably be cooler on the breakwater. 
 

We go home next week, but plan to go back via the scenic route through Snowdonia.

Not sure how well you know the Island but the north side is also worth a visit.

Cemlyn nature reserve will be full of nesting bird's, mainly Terns, you can sometime see Seals on the shore,  Cemaes Bay is a lovely little seaside village and Paris Mountain near Amlwch is a strange moon like landscape which was once the largest copper mine in the world.

3 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

Started off overcast this morning but has turned into another glorious sunny day, slapped on the sun cream today. Beaumaris Castle was amazing, named the best castle that never got completed. Managed to walk the part of the outer curtain walls and part of the walls of the inner keep, view across the town,  the Menai St and Snowdonia spectacular from the high walls of the keep.

 

This afternoon visited South Stack, decided not to go to lighthouse after seeing steep descent, it’s not the going back up that is the problem, my knee wouldn’t cope. Saw numerous puffins, gulls and choughs on the cliff face, some serious photographers there with some amazing photography equipment.

 

Back at apartment now, all quiet as the pilots at RAF Valley have put away their “toys” for the day, preparing evening meal which will be downed with a glass or possibly 2 of a French White wine I had for Father’s Day, followed by some French cheese.

We used to walk up and down those South Stack steps with no problem at all but that was almost 50 years ago, no chance now.

The clutch cable on my Car broke in that Car Park, luckily a kind person gave me lift into Holyhead to get a new part and I fixed it, we had no breakdown cover in those days.

Have you visited the Nat Trust property Plas Newydd it's well worth it, the views over the Menia Straights are spectacular.

16 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

We were due to dock at San Basilio with Azamara but sadly the MSC incident happened a couple of days before and we were therefore in the regular Cruise Terminal.  Sad that now we are unlikely to have the San Basilio experience.  We are due to end our B2B on Quest next April in Venice.  Wonder where we will end up ?

We did dock in San Basilio a few weeks later, the damaged MSC ship was still in the dock moored on the opposite side.

1 hour ago, ann141 said:

It sounds lovely.Its definitely on my To visit list.Enjoy the rest of your holiday

We are booked for a long weekend in September, Anglesey is lovely Island.

Sometimes wonder why we left but our move to Yorkshire was work related.

It will be a very nostalgic has our Son was born there and it would have been his 50th Birthday during our visit, sadly he only made it to 47.

We are staying at a Hotel only a few miles from our home in the 1970s, it was still a working farm when we lived on the Island.

13 minutes ago, Dr H said:

Phil, I've been following your posts for a while. The ship has obviously been in "dry dock" since cruising was stopped. This dry docking that they are leaving, was there any refurbishment being done during this rather dry period? I think it was Journey that was scheduled to have the casino removed, but was anything else involved? Anyone? 

They have not been in dry dock, they have been in lay up in a wet dock, unlikely any work was done other then essential maintenance.

The dry docks are to be carried out in Cadiz, that will be the ship's first destination after Glasgow.

On our last cruise in June 2019 I was asked to fill in a question are about the Speciality Menus,

Who knows what they will be like in the future, anybody's guess.

Some years ago one of our favourite dishes in the speciality restaurants was Ossobuco, (that's probably spelt wrong).

It was taken off the menu but when we mentioned our disappointment to the Maitre he said when are you coming again.

On our next visit it was made especially for us and it was our best meal of that cruise.

Our favourite desert was the Grand Marnier souffle but that had also been removed along with the Lobster bisk stsrter

Again they have also been made especially for us since the were taken off the menu.

Nothing was to much trouble but we stopped mentioning things that were no longer on the menu has we did not wish to cause them extra work.

29 minutes ago, mwf7501 said:

Ok, I know it's Irish, not Scottish, but the phone booth immediately took me back to "Waking Ned Devine", and gave me a smile.   Gracias. 

It probably reminds most people of local Hero, I great feel good film with music to match.

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Hi Eric.

We decided to have a trip down to Junction 32 outlet this morning then called at the York Designer outlet this afternoon and had lunch there.

Just as well I am used to driving many miles a day because we can see lots of nice places within 100 miles from home.

Graham.

Graham it's hard to believe now but Junction 32 was once the site of a coal mine, I worked at the Power Station nearby.

3 hours ago, grapau27 said:

That's a shame it would have been nice to say hello to you.

There was a busker on the corner who was absolutely excellent and he had a massive crowd around him.

We parked in the Tower car park opposite the Hilton.

Pauline went into Fenwick's first and I sat in the square with a coffee while she was inside.

 

We are in York at least once every week, our day varies depending on the weather, about 30 minutes from home.

We park at Sainsburys on Foss Bank, it's just a short wall into town and free parking for 4 hours if you spend a tenner in the store.

We then call at Waitrose on the way home and sometimes the outlet.

Eric

45 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Take care and stay safe at the Dentist today Kalos.

Graham

Missed you by one day again Graham, we were in York on Wednesday and went past were you had lunch, good choice.

We sometimes lunch in Lucias cafe and wine bar on Swinegate.

13 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

He's in episodes 5 and 6 I think. 

 

Phil 

We know Edwin very well, always have a great chat,  he loves his Cricket.

4 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Premium is included in our package. $6/pp per day to upgrade. Without that we might look at that, but I was just wondering if there is a discount on premium bottles that might not be part of the Ultimate for occasional splurges if they caught our attention. 
I wasn’t very clear on my question. 

They sometimes have quality bin ends on sale, we have benefited from that in the past, worth asking the sommelier that's if that still have them.

3 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

I only hesitate because we have another couple traveling with us for the first leg. We are trying to get side by side to open balconies for the first leg. 

You may not be allowed to open balconies, pretty sure they banned that some time ago.

7 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Sounds like you had a great time yesterday Ann.

I hope you avoid the rain in Scotland as it has been raining all night and still raining now in Sunderland.

Graham

Weather is the same here but our gardens needed it, hardly any proper rainfall for weeks and our water butts were empty.

It's set to dry up again tomorrow and for the foreseeable future.

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Cheers Kalos.

We finished the day by calling to the beach on the way home.

Graham.

Just missed you Graham, we will be in York tomorrow and 

may call at the outlet.