Lirio

Last month Silversea booked us at Hilton Nordica. If you get a good room, it is a great hotel. But there some tiny rooms that are very disappointing. Breakfast is very good. Restaurant is very good as well.

After the cruise we stayed some nights at Edition that we booked directly. Pastries at Tides Café were the best I ever had. But the restaurant is pretentious. The Spa is fabulous. There is hot tub, steam, and sauna. I didn’t like the room. TV is on the bed side, not in front of it. There is a chair and a stool. Not comfortable. The room that I got was totally exposed to the other building nearby. Curtains must be closed all the time. Location is everything in this hotel. In front of the port for small cruises (walking distance) and very close to several main attraction.

11 hours ago, TrulyBlonde said:

Instant coffee? Nespresso Dark Roast in this family. Order over the internet and you receive your pods. Plop a pod in the machine and there you go. Misty, what is your address, I will send you some. 😉 

In England do they do instant tea? I do not think so 😉  

Coffee...Italians do it best.

I do not drink coffee or tea, should I quit this "group"?

winter time in Ipanema.....

best time to be in Rio is from fall, winter and spring. Not summer that is too hot, too humid, and full of people

12 hours ago, Tothesunset said:

Well, it's got us in the end. Yesterday OH had symptoms like a common cold. Positive Covid test. Today, the same for me. 

 

Spent the weekend at our son's wedding with 125 guests. Wonder how many of them are feeling similarly under the weather? 

 

Still, it's endemic now, I suppose. Just need to be grateful for the 3 doses of vaccine. 

 

 

Hope you recover soon.

57 minutes ago, mysty said:

 

No adequate button to react Lirio!  So very sorry to hear that things were such a trial!  Hope your dear lad is recovering and sending hopes that you managed to escape the nasty! 🥰

We had a glimpse of Iceland and we want to get back. 

Back home. We left the ship on a Monday and on Tuesday night my husband had fever, cough, sore throat. Tested positive for covid. It was complicated because we were already in a remote area of Iceland with no place to stay and I don't drive. Despite the annoyances, in the end everything worked out, but it was 7 days of isolation and the vacation partially lost.

The return flight on the part from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro the airline (TAP) replaced the regular plane of the route with a chartered airplane of the 1990s in terrible conditions. Two hours after a lot of argument, police, etc. we took off and we spent a bad night on board.

somewhere in UK....last  vaccation day....Monday back to office, I mean home office. enough of ship office  hotel office......

4 hours ago, zqtchas said:

Winter in Rio de Janeiro........

she was in from my hotel yesterday. tomorrow we start our way back home. London for 1.5 day then back to Rio flying London-Lisbon-Rio de Janeiro.

Asap I will do a trip review.

On 8/12/2022 at 2:33 AM, highplanesdrifters said:

Captian Alexander Golubev

HD Stephan Drevlak

CD Sarah Bomber

 

Aa mentioned earlier, this is not an intense hiking trip. The first 2 days of excursions were nice, interesting, but not wowzas, and will cover them later. They were a nice warm up. It's not Antarctica. With clouds lifting we are getting some stunning scenery.

 

The trip in the pack ice was well worth the cost of admission.

 

Expedition Staff is outstanding.  The line up is heavy hitters who all came to play. I think 26 in total. Will also do a post on them. 

I travelled with captain Goluev 2x: Antarctica with Silversea and in Seabourn Quest in 2019 France.

Covid is a collective problem. I was in wind 2 weeks ago. Crew was with masks all time. Expedition team wore it most of the time. Most guests didn´t.

Covid can cause symptoms even in those with 4 doses of a vaccine and symptoms can destroy your vacation (fever, headache, sore throat, cough, etc.).

We are talking about ourselves, but suppose crew gets covid and can’t work, this will also cause a lot of problem during a cruise.

I guess Silversea guests average age is over 60, who are most sensible to covid. I guess RC guests average age is lower.

Vaccination, testing and masks are so far the best option to reduce potential problems.

yesterday in front of my hotel....

22 hours ago, RachelG said:

Oklahoma steak is way better than Kansas steak.  Lol.  Nicer grass here.

So I must try! 

8 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

Thank you for your reply Lirio.  I understand most Iberostar passengers will be Brazilian.  Do many Brazilians speak English as well as Portuguese?

For the guests of the Iberostar I guess that at least they can have a light conversation. 

1 minute ago, Lirio said:

right in front my hotel on the opposite side of the road. 

8 hours ago, Lirio said:

I was thinking of @RachelG....

I misunderstood the post she wrote. I thought she was from Kansas.....

Yesterday we left our cabin in Silver Wind at 8 am and arrived at Hilton Nordica at 5 pm. Long day.

19 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

Hmmm… there’s RachelG who is a doctor from Oklahoma whose husband is a lawyer and gentleman rancher. Could it be George you’re thinking of?

I was thinking of @RachelG....

Tomorrow is disembarkation and we will back to Iceland for a road trip. Greenland was a great destination. Learned a lot.

And we had two new experiences: first time I tried Baked Alaska (have seen it many times in Food Network but never tried) and steak from Kansas ( I know there is someone in this group that is from Kansas and is related to the steak industry).

We traveled in february 2022 during carnival. In this particular cruise we did not identified any english speaking guest as the majority of the guests was brazilians.

22 hours ago, mysty said:

@Lirio How is Iceland?  Has it warmed up a tad since the temps of low 50's F for our adventure?

Hi @mysty, thanks for asking.

 On day one we rested most of the day and visited the National Museum.

Second day was the embarkation day and was tough. We had to leave the hotel room by 11 am, lunch at 1130 am and bus to airport at about 1 pm. Bus delayed 20 minutes and the charter flight to Greenland delayed 2 hours.

Silversea offered a 2 hour drive along the lava fields (no stop) to pass the time.

Finally got to the port and embarked at Silver Wind (security, health check, etc.). We had a buffet dinner at La Terazza and at 10 pm the drill. Got to bed very tired again.

Silver Wind is a nice ship but after we have done 2 expedition cruise on Silver Explorer, 1 at Silver Galapagos, plus Australis to Tierra del Fuego, I feel Wind is very big and lost the atmosphere we usually experienced in expedition cruise.

We are enjoying Greeland and already considering options for next year when I will be 60!

I promise to post photos and a complete review of the cruise. After the cruise we will be back to Iceland to have a 12 day land trip.

I will post photos later, something is getting wrong

23 hours ago, zqtchas said:

good luck thru LHR.

The flight had a 2-hour delay. got to the hotel (Hilton Nordica) at 2 AM. This was the worst trip we did so far. But when we chose this cruise, US border was closed, and my US visa was expired. So, we decided to come through London. And we are not so familiar with LHR. We took 36 hours to arrive. The best route would be flying to JFK (which we are very familiar) and from there to Iceland.  

But here we are; we took most of the day to rest and visit the National Museum.

We just had the covid test offered by Silversea and we both got negative. Tomorrow we fly to Greenland to board Silver Wind.

Hilton Nordica is full. There is the Silversea counter, one from Regent and one from Viking on the reception.

In town we saw the MS National Geographic Explorer and from my window we can see one ship from MSC.

Pictures will follow later today.

On my way to Iceland, departured home yesterday at midday, braziliam time. Currently at LHR.....

In preparation to the Greenland cruise next week, I checked the packing list provided by Silversea and found out that a recommendation for an insect headnet. Does anyone know if it necessary?