drron29

Give me a Jamaican pattie any day. even better with a scotch bonnet inside.

So as promised in another thread a report about gin on th Sunshine Coast. Two weeks ago I went to an event held here on the Coast. this was the speaker. At the end of the event this fellow was invited up to be presented with an Ukrainian flag. He is the owner of my favourite distillery on the Coast. He had produced a gin just called Ukraine. I did buy and consume one. However he had raised $A450000 from that Gin. The money has been didtributed to organisations looking after the orphans of Ukraine. He has now produced 2 more gins and a Vodka to raise funds for demining Ukraine. Here they are. The second was for the General who lead the liberating forces. The Vodka is interesting as the name is of a dog that finds the land mines. Coincidentally the gin I am drinking at the present is one of his gins made with dragon fruit and released on Valentine's Day. This is their website. https://www.sunshineandsons.com.au/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIto7QpeLWgAMVjV0rCh15WgnQEAAYASAAEgIBbfD_BwE#

Boy that Lady Elliott island day trip is expensive. $USD1499 is $A2300. A private tour from Brisbane to Lady Elliott island is half that price. https://ladyelliot.com.au/day-tour-ex-brisbane-redcliffe/ Unfortunately the day trips depart too early to be able to do it from the ship. It gives you a little more info onthe day's activities on the Island.

Probably need to take some extra precautions in Ecuador in the next few weeks. pretty volatile. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/assassination-presidential-candidate-shocks-ecuador-election-2023-08-10/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Daily-Briefing&utm_term=081023

Yes your situation has been mentioned many times on the various threads on Silversea dress code. I was just pointing out not everyone is in the same boat ( pun intended ).

I will still wear a tie on Formal Optional nights but may switch from my usual bow tie to one of my much more colouful ordinary ties so that no one misses the fact that I do wear a tie. For me my job was such that I was not allowed to wear a tie at work nor even a long sleeve shirt even in winter so going formal and wearing a tie reminds me how I have left that restrictive era behind.

Sorry @mysty that list of gins is out of date. Here is an article from nearly 12 months ago when there were over 800 Australian gins, The same source in 2018 said 300, 2020 600. Probably getting close to 1000 now. https://www.racv.com.au/royalauto/lifestyle-home/food-wine/australias-best-most-awarded-gin-distilleries.html I will post a picture of a couple of special bottles in a couple of days time that tell an interesting story.

Though in April this year on the Moon a fellow had his own scooter and was able to take it on the tenders, use the tour busses with scooter in luggage compartment underneath and never left his scooter in the hallway on deck 9. The only problem he had was at Rome airport where at check in they hadn't done the necessary paperwork meaning everyone was stuck in the airbridge for ~ 30 minutes. We were on the same flight. Wasn't his fault.

Just make sure it is activated though the speed test saying Starlink suggests it is. I certainly hope so as our next 3 cruises are on the Moon. The other possible reason everybody got on to the internet having just boarded. I would have problems on sea days with everyone online so used to go to lunch early and go online as soon as finished and then usually an hour of better speeds. When on the Moon I did a virtualy live cruise report. 54 days and at the end of the cruise was only 4 days behind even though very photo intensive as you can see.

And back to fighter pilots and the greatest of them all.

Ten weeks have passed since getting home from our Moon cruise. The bad part was that in 10 weeks away I put on 11Kg. But in the 10 weeks we have been back 8 of those nasty Kgs have gone. But only 9 weeks before boarding the Muse here - For another 44 days to possibly get it all back!

A quick search reveals no reports of Starlink being installed on the Muse or Spirit When we cruised on the Moon in March Starlink had only just been activated. Since March I believe the Muse has only been in Asia and Alaska so possibly still not installed. The old internet service was rubbish. Starlink even without the premium was much better.

I’m confused about the word 'service' used by these organisations: Banking 'Service' Postal 'Service' Telephone 'Service' Internet 'Service' Local council & State Government 'Service' Airline 'Service' Federal Government 'Service'. What they actually provide for us is not what I think 'Service' means. I recently visited my uncle who’s a farmer and he hired a bull to 'Service' his cows. Suddenly, WOW! it all came clear…… Now I understand what all these organisations are doing to us!

On our Northern europe cruise on the Cloud they certainly clashed at times with other passenger's wishes. But that didn't stop them wanting my services when they found out I was an Aussie doctor. most got politely told you have your own doctor and I am on vacation.

On both the Dawn and Moon we were able to order any sushi roll for lunch and delivered in a few minutes. The one chef out front can not physically put together all the items so there is a second fellow in the kitchen who does the lunch bowls and a lot of the rolls. So yes if you are pedantic they are pre made but only in the kitchen and during the lunch service. Definitely not the same as the sushi on the La Terraza buffet in our experience.

A good TA can be worth the fee they charge. We actually have a TA for cruises and sometimes hotels as they are excellent for cruises and can get some very good hotel rates. However they are not very knowledgeable when it comes to airfares. So we have another TA for any complicated trips as he knows various fares that are never advertised by the airlines and is worth every penny of his $A200 fee. For example we are flying first class from Sydney to Singapore where the advertised cheapest return fares on the airline sites are ~$A7400 for BA and QF and over $A8500 for the others. One OTA advertises a BA fare of $A6975. We are paying $A7200 on BA which includes the agents fee. However it includes a circle Asia fare in business class and we are flying to Taiwan, Japan and Thailand as well for that fare,

having sailed on the Moon and Dawn in the last 12 months we felt there is no basic difference in Kaiseki between them. Though we got on famously with the staff on the Moon. But we went basically for lunch. We did have dinner once on each ship and didn't think it was worth the upcharge. Kaiseki on the Muse was totally different with the evening meal Teppanyski. We have booked a few nights there for when we board her in 10 weeks time.

I presume you mean the TA with the same initials as this site CC. If so they don't always blend in and we had one cruise on the Explorer which they dominated and one on the Cloud where they were somewhat disruptive. However 2 other cruises where they did blend in.