lisiamc

Sometimes the coffee from the machine in Windows is noticeably better than what the barista makes in the Mosaic café. On our recent Iceland cruise, I gave up trying to get a good cappuccino from the Mosaic. Possibly a batch of new baristas. The ones from Windows were very acceptable.

I seem to remember a shower cap, too. I take those home (unworn) to use as a bowl cover for things in our fridge. Very useful!

My only close encounter with a semi-famous person was Paul Burrell (Princess Diana’s former butler) on a Celebrity cruise. He was on a book promotion tour and having a honeymoon. He mostly kept his head down, but did appear one night with the new husband in the Martini Bar, and bought a huge flight of 36 martinis to share around.

Everything done as part of a cruise stop is going to be a quickie. San Marino is charming with lots of beautiful view points, delicious food and very good wine. It’s worth a long weekend if done as part of a land trip. Plus, it’s a lot nicer than it used to be. The first time I visited, about 15 years ago, it was known as a great place to buy a gun, 😳 or a huge bottle of cheap, knock-off perfume. They had a bunch of souvenir shops with plastic gun replicas displayed out front. I think the guns are still available, but much more discreet. It’s all about views, history, food, and wine these days!

I keep mine clipped inside the case. For what they cost, I don’t want to take a chance on someone stealing them.

We just did a port intensive Iceland cruise. Probably better to have wines from elsewhere! 😄 My impression of Chateau Ste Michelle from 30+ years ago (when I liked sweet whites) was that their wines were very sweet, traditional Rieslings and other German-style whites. Too sweet for me even then. I can hope that they have evolved in the three decades that have passed! I now prefer flinty-dry whites and heavy but smooth, dry reds.

I know! I’m tempting fate aren’t I?🤫

I’m so pleased to see that the Royal Club tonic seems to be on the way out. That’s great news!

I have a soft spot for Pisa, obviously. For a first-time visitor to the area, Florence has priority, of course. But some of us have been back to Florence several times, or we visit on a ship that does a two-day call, or make a land trip. With good advance planning, Pisa can be nicely squeezed into one of those occasions. @cruisemom42, I’m so pleased your son enjoyed climbing the tower! It’s certainly been a good memory for me. You may laugh to learn that we had a port call in Livorno on a cruise this past May, and it was such a nice day that we hired a car, drove down to Marina di Pisa and had a gorgeous meal in a seafood restaurant overlooking the beach. The joys of a seaside resort before the season really starts won out over wandering around in a crowd that day.

I’ll disagree with Hank a bit, because I always stick up for Pisa. It is worth doing IF you have the time to do it justice, about half a day. We climbed the leaning tower in 2002, not long after it re-opened to the public. It meant something to me to know that my feet were walking on the same steps that Galileo’s feet walked on. The steps are dished from the centuries of feet that climbed up and down, and it gave me goosebumps. There is one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Europe in Pisa, well worth a look. There is also the Baptistry, where if you are lucky, you can hear a guide singing multi-part harmony with themselves because of the acoustics in the building. You can visit Santa Maria della Spina, a lovely jewel box of a chapel on the bank of the Arno, one of the most outstanding Gothic edifices in Europe. There is a lot more there than just a silly photo opportunity.

When I first emigrated to the UK, in 1994, it was a big deal to advertise ice cream as “Real Dairy Ice Cream”. I hesitate to think what it might have been made from if it didn’t involve any real dairy ingredients. 😳

I will get the next booster as soon as it’s offered, but they seem to be rolling out at different speeds in different countries. It’s a bit less stress for me to not have to chase a booster date.

This is a fairly new development on the wines. Since Sycamore also owns a winery, or at least is heavily involved in one, and should have good connections in that area, it seems like a very reasonable idea. I’ve heard some lacklustre reviews, and some better ones, but I’ve heard the same for the previous included wines too.

The tables are not particularly low. When we were still awaiting the arrival of chairs, I sat on the table a couple of times. My feet were off the floor when I was sitting on the table. And the table didn’t creak, groan, or collapse, so that’s reassuring! 😁

Someone onboard hopefully will test this for you. The chairs are not tremendously deep, though, so even if the arms butt up against the table, you won’t be miles away. We just got off Pursuit a couple of weeks ago, and I noticed that the chairs at the Patio Grill do not fit under the tables there. They are fairly deep, but it’s not really a problem.

If my first cruise had been a very short Bahamas cruise, I doubt I would ever have cruised again. They’re just not the same as a 7 day cruise. Different type of cruiser, different focus, usually very basic ships.

They might be. They were in place when we got on board for the Inaugural. The chairs arrived a few days afterward. I believe the chairs were a last minute substitution for the ones originally ordered, and may be replaced in the future. Our view was that they were infinitely better than no chairs!

The table is quite tall, so it’s good for eating on. The chairs are more comfortable than they look, too.

I think that at least part of the ‘one bottle of liquor’ is that the smaller bottles that they used to offer two of are not easy to get right now. The Champagne choices, I can’t excuse. I like nice Champagne, and they need to pull their socks up.

Have you had a chance to try that Champagne yet? What’s your verdict? I find the NF drinkable, but a bit too sweet for my taste.

Time will tell if I get this email or not. So often I still don’t get the important ones. Thanks for sharing, uktog. Until they get the IT thing completely sorted, I’m so grateful for Cruise Critic!

The Swirl and Top seems to bring out the little kid in everyone! I don’t eat either these days, but I always thought the regular gelato was delicious.

Yes, I’d be interested to hear too. We used to cruise with Celebrity, and then with Azamara and Celebrity both. We dropped Celebrity about 4 years ago, as they were taking the cruise line in a direction that didn’t suit us. It will be interesting to hear what a more recent Celebrity cruiser thinks of Azamara.

Yes, it was for us. It’s too far to walk, so Azamara usually lays on a free shuttle in cases like that.

I wouldn’t worry too much yet. There is a lot of investment on-going in the facilities at Ravenna. By October 2023, a lot more will have been completed. Our experience in May was that the facilities were already adequate for what we wanted them for. There were shuttles to take us into Ravenna itself, a public bus system that could take us from the shuttle stop to the train station, and a few taxis about, but not many. There was a shuttle to take us to the airport in Venice at the end of the cruise. There will be a charge for this now, and I’m not sure how much. Ours was included because of the late change from Venice to Ravenna. There will probably be a few more taxis in a year, or some private car services, depending on how many local people want to go into that line of work. For those who like the beach, there are a couple of good ones within walking distance from where the ship docks. If I were making plans to embark or disembark at Ravenna again, I’d fly to or from Bologna, but we’ve been to Venice many times. If you want a few days in Venice before or after, then a flight to or from Venice could make more sense. Your plan to fly into Milan could work pretty well. I think they will have sorted out what to offer the passengers arriving by train by then.