drron29

So you paid Silversea for an extra night at the Conrad and they are switching that to the Westin Yokohama. As you paid for the Conrad that extra night fee must be refunded to you so you can then book your night in Tokyo. But Japanese hotel prices have skyrocketed since they re opened to tourism and Cherry blossom time is peak tourist season so hotels are always more expensive For example the Conrad on April 1st is from $US720 now. And it is possible by train to get from Tokyo Station to Sakuraguchigo station in Yokohama which is the closest station to the Westin in 33 minutes. We have done it last year as we stayed at the IC Yokohama before boarding the Muse. As well one day in Tokyo won't even get you to all the main attractions. We have visited over 50 times and still find new things to do.

Usually September. But it can vary a lot.

Easier way to find the fares is after you have clicked on the cruise you want then click on Suites in the top white bar.. Gives you the price of the different suites. Click on Itinerary to see which ports are being visited and click on the day of the port you are interested and it will tell you the excursions either included or extra cost selected ones.

We did many short cruises in our sixties but now in our 70s 30 days is the new 7.

Very disappointing. Do you have a Non SS travel agent? sometimes they get a better result even if it is only some OBC to keep you quiet.

In our news today Virgin's Resilient Lady is finishing it's Australian season and sailing to Athens via Singapore,Mumbai, Dubai and Suez in March is now going via Perth, Mauritius, South Africa and the west Coast of Africa and then Morocco, Barcelona, Malta and then Athens and it will be with Passengers.

Next some of the food we had in Tokyo. It actually is hard in Japan to find a small local restaurant when there are 7 of you but we did find a couple. The first night was a cheap ramen restaurant where you ordered at a machine and handed your ticket to the cook. Would have been lost without Google Translate but discovered not always accurate. My dish was supposed to be fried oyster with noodle but was chicken. My son ordered the mystery noodle which was a curry soup. Nice scene across the road. Now my son is a Tiki bar tragic so the second night was at Trader Vics. food wasn't great and was expensive. good cocktails. I didn't feel I could finish this. The third night was in a lamb restaurant where the owner took a like to us. Probably because we ordered too much food and bottles of wine. Here is the place. At the corner of the street it is in good views again of the Tokyo Tower.

Each day I went for a walk around the area. The first was a lovely sunny day and a balmy 8C (46F0. Walked back along a canal that ran parallel to the shoreline. and a canal boat and Autumn leave on the Gingko tree even though officially winter in Tokyo. More signs of autumn. . On the second day walked to the Zojoji temple which is very close to the tokyo Tower. Then a little park just down the road.

Our first hotel was the Inter Continental Tokyo Bay. we had 6 nights there and our family arrived the day after us on a direct flight from Sydney. the hotel was decorated for Christmas. We shared a beautiful salmon and salmon roe pizza for dinner as we weren't hungry. lovely views from our room across Tokyo bay.

Our flight to Singapore was on a BA 789 with the new business class seat. I liked it and with the topping made a comfortable bed. But to the food. A faro and brown rice salad tasted much nicer than I anticipated then I had seared tuna,seared chicken and an unseared cheese plate. The only odd note was that the bread roll was still in it's plastic wrapper. A cheese plate that I wish Silversea could offer. Also FA Ruth was wonderful. Never had an empty glass and always a wonderful smile even towards the end of the flight when I had a very tasty Mexican chicken and chipotle wrap. As always we only do one flight a day and stay at the Crowne Plaza Changi. The renovations hadn't finished so we didn't eat there. The next day was Japan Airlines business class to Narita. It is my favourite airline. Possibly because 2 of the last 3 Airline presidents have worked at JAL. One from Maintenance and a pilot. The new President who will start in April started as a flight attendant. They are definitely customer focussed. So to the food. the menus. Rojaan had the Western menu and I the Japanese. her starter was excellent and the beef a little dry but tasty. Now to my Japanese meal. The dessert was the same for both of us. I thought it was going to be bland but quite tasty. We arrived into Narita 2 minutes late so naturally there was an apology from the crew.

Apart from humour there has been little other activity so I thought I would post some pictures of our recent trip. We spent Christmas in Japan with our family and Grandchildren. When they went skiing after Christmas we headed to Bangkok to thaw out and try and find a new regular hotel for our frequent visits. So starting off with some food. If flying out of Sydney we always stay at Rydges at the Airport and have dinner with family. This time only with a neice. The food is nice. So beef cheeks with gnocchi,scallops,garlic prawns mixed seafood platter,creme brulee and chocolate fondant with blood orange gelato. Then the Qantas International business loung. Unfortunately due to covid etc we have lost status. We both though have One World life time sapphire.Now the business lounge is way below the standard of their First lounge in Sydney. The food in the J lounge would not be seen on Silversea. Various slops. We were travelling BA and they now use The House lounge. It was even worse and was full of screaming children so we waited at the gate.

@mysty many people believe I have a knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. However i believe it is the right place at the right time. For example in Fiji because of the coup I have had long talks with 2 of their Prime Ministers. Colonel Rambuka as he was then after the first coup who was staying in the room above us at the Sheraton Denarau. Also at the Sheraton I met PM Qarase after the 2000 coup. He was having discussions with the Australian and NZ High Commissioners there. They were at dinner which was a buffet. The PM's bodyguard was trying to serve himself at the buffet with one hand as the other hand was clutching his Uzi under his coat. He held his plate and I served him what he wanted. So after the discussions PM Qarase came over to thank me for what I had done. He introduced himself as Laisenia Qarase though some people just call me crazy. He did say I was a much more interesting fellow to talk to than the others.

Fiji was our favourite place to go in the 70s until mid 90s. the Fijians are really friendly. unfortunately their politics have made it not as nice and far more expensive. The Garden of the Sleeping Giants was one of my favourite places and I visited many times. The most memorable visit was a week after their first coup. We went on 3 occasions within 2 weeks of a coup and they only had 4. On this occasion I as usual booked a tour. At the hour it was to leave the hotel the doorman came over to me and said drron your taxi is here. I was the only one booked. The taxi driver was Indian and the coup was aimed at reducing the Indians influence. We went through 3 roadblocks all manned by Fijian soldiers. All over 6 foot tall and carrying sub machine guns. I asked the driver if he was scared. "No sir your white face is my ticket to get through." Naturally he waited for me to go back to the hotel.

So for the Whisper the Singapore to Mumbai Cruise is the first on Waitlist. Due to depart March 3. The voyage through the canal was to end in Athens on the 6th April. The time between arriving in Singapore and arriving in Athens is 34 days. The Moon will take 29 days from Athens to Mumbai. Singapore is further from Athens via the Capetown than Mumbai. The Whispers top speed like the Moon is 21 knots. So that gap is consistent with the time to reach Athens and go into dry dock. For the Spirit the first Waitlist is the Mahe to Dubai 32 days before the Athens cruise meaning it would comfortably get to Athens. If It went on to Dubai only 16 days which would be impossible.

But the Wind was changed because it would not meet the new Norwegian guidelines for cruise ships. No such problem for the Muse. we will have to wait and find out.

According to our TA no final decision on the Spirit has been made yet but should be very soon. She is on the SS Travel experts group.

Wow. I certainlly hadn't heard this. Our airlines have though as no direct flights to DPS. however the OTAs are offering flights with 1 stop somewhere with at least 12 hour lay overs. hope people actually read the details.

Our cruise from Bali in 5 weeks time is on SS. The Muse. On our last Muse cruise we were stalked by a Viking ship. Is history going to repeat?