drron29

And it was 350 days for a 7 night cruise when we first cruised SS in 2011. I would be mighty disappointed if they changed the days for a 14 night cruise being on 495 now.

Our Australian swimmers are complaining that 60% of the dishes available in the Olympic Village are vegan. That is not what most athletes consume in the days before their race. They point out that no world re have been broken in the swimming which is extremely unusual in swimming. So not just being unable to understand the reactions possible from a ceremonial view but hammering the ability of athletes to perform at their best.

I can usually get better air fares by doing myself or if I can't get our TA who specialses in flights. He sources some amazing fares. We would never arrive on the day of departure. just too risky. Also only ever book late afternoon or evening flights out on day we disembark.

And one for those from Wales. A truck loaded with Worcestershire sauce is driving through the Welsh town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Anglesey on its way to Rhosllannerchrugog in Wrexham, when it collides with a Nissan Qashqai. The truck then skids down the road and hits a car from Llanfihangel Tre’r Beirdd, injuring the two otorhinolaryngologists inside. One of them, suffering from Schistosomiasis, has a myocardial infarction. A bystander witnesses the entire event and quickly calls to report the accident on his Huawei. The emergency operator asks the bystander, “What happened?” He replies, “It’s hard to say.”

Another wonderful report. I will be on the look out for any further reports, It does seem you did enjoy the galapagos. our cruise there nearly 20 years ago is still in my top 3 trips. I did get to swim with the sea lions. it was just me with 3 young male sea lions who i tried to copy. on my 3rd attempt following them down as I began to go up one came and surfaced with me with a flipper on my back and looking straight into my eyes. Then snorkeling in a shoal of small fish when a group of blue footed boobies decide those fish looked tasty Having the boobies and then gannets doing their mating dance right at my feet. i was told not to move until they finished. I wasn't going to anyway. And the sight of penguins swimming over a coral reef.magic. But your last stop at zuketa was the perfect ending to a great trip. once again thanks for having us along.

We are currently booked on the Singapore to Doha cruise. We were also on the Doha to Athens cruise but they inserted a 6 day gap in Doha. They gave reasonable compensation if yoy cancelled so we did. We are about to cancel the Singapore to Doha sector as the time between arriving in Doha and the next cruise from Athens is less than it has taken ships going around Africa.

We did a West African cruise on the Explorer in 2013.We got off in accra though. But We thoroughly enjoyed it. Beautiful people. And a great moment in Accra. We had a late flight out so organised a van and driver to take 6 of us on a tour of accra and then on to the airport. On entering I realised I had left my computer bag in the van. I went back outside thinking I had seen the last of that computer. But there was the driver with my computer bag waiting to give it back. As I said beautiful people.

We cruised on the Explorer from Otaru Japan to Guam with a B2B from guam to Fiji. It was before I was on CC regularly but I do have a report on another site. It was in 2024. The Explorer was not suited to warm climes either so we had a medallion suite with a larger balcony and it was fine, https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/threads/fiji-the-long-way-with-our-last-qfi-jasa.62529/page-6 This is where the cruise began. The first 2 pages are places I worked in Australia. Pages 3-5 are from our pre cruise time in Japan. Page 11 is from Guam to Fiji the majority being PNG, Solomons and Vanuatu. We had a great time and really loved it. The cruise was supllemented by the cruise doctor arranging clinics in several of the ports and 4 of us doctors onboard joined in. It was quite humbling. Not all the pictures have survived. We also did the Cape to cape cruise on the Explorer which included South Georgia. it is a must. Described as the Galapagos of the southern ocean.

Well the lovly Rojaan took a picture of us at the bar of the craft brewery.

We went into China in 1981 when it had just opened up to tourism. we were served what was described as a classical Chinese meal. The fish was carp cooked in the middle with the head and tail still moving. The meat according to our guide was rat meat. most went hungry.

I guess my sashimi sea urchin tonight wouldn't have gone down well with quite a few here in the cooler. But it was fantastic. So fresh.

No we were too full after our huge meals. but we ate many times at their sister restaurant The Dead Fish at Crockett. fantastic platters of garlic shrimp and mussels. https://www.thedeadfish.com/menu1.html

We have had a fantastic butler on 3 of our last 4 cruises. she was our go to person for tech problems. she had us fixed up very quickly.

Maybe it is worth you contacting SS by phone or email. I learnt a few years ago if the call centre is useless blame the company who hired them. I had a problem with a complex award from American Airlines as Malev went into bankruptcy and all flights cancelled. On ringing I got a call centre in Manilla and a person called Candy answered my call. She was apologetic saying today was her first day on the job. It was a long call as I imparted my knowledge to her but I also learnt a few new tricks from her for example getting a KLM flight on my AA awrd. i found out that when she was employed an AA agent schooled the new employees for 3 days. I guess SS just employed them. period.

I think the problem with the low cost tours around $100 is that they are no longer free to those on the lowest fare with excursions not included so they have to show a price. when you book an excursion and you are on port to port or door to door fares the price disappears when you book.

I remember one of the times we went to San Francisco and had lunch at the Stinking Rose restaurant. I had the garlic bouillabaisse and Rojaan had the 40 clove chicken. We were heading east and stopped at a Factory outlet mall. Rojaan wanted to buy something at Pier 1 imports. but every time either of us opened our mouth the server took another step backwards. No idea why.

Our Kimberly cruise was on the Orion when it was Australian owned. The Explorer was a much better ship. We also did our Antarctic cruise on the Orion. In the next cabin there was a senior Linblad Captain who in retrospect was seeing that she was a fit for their fleet. We got on famousaly. Even guested him into the Qantas lounge in Auckland. The interesting thing about the NG Orion is that we were on the Whisper in the Baltic sea nd when we docked in Tallinn the NG Orion was on the other side of the wharf. Virtually all of her crew from our Antarctic cruise 6 years previously were still with her.

Again some of the best steaks I have had have been on our last 2 cruises on the Muse. Either in Atlantide or Hot Rocks. Just before the first of those Muse cruise in October 2023 they had changed their provider of beef to a Texan producer. The steaks certainly were better than the cruises on the Dawn and Moon cruises before that.

Dali wasn’t mad enough to agree to control Silversea.

It is also possible the chef has changed. We were on the Muse in October last for 7 weeks and again in March for 4 weeks. There were some disappointments with food but one thing was consistent. The steaks in Atlantide were superb and cooked exactly how they were ordered.