vagporto

The hotel looks really good (although too ornate for me... But when in Constantinopla...).

Take your time and don't rush the sights: you can easily spend an entire day at Topkaki. There is a cafe with a view to die for, bring a book, sit in a shade ovelooking the Bosphorus in the palace gardens. Take long walks in the city. I only had 2 days, rushed through everything and regret it immensely. Have to return...

My other 2 cents: stay with azamara. Avoid MSC like the plague (even YC). I enjoyed Cunard more than HAL (in a sense, both passengers and crew in Cunard make an extra effort, and I appreciate that) and there are some benefits to a larger ship (for example, better medical team and its onboard equipment, which is handy (pun) when you happen to break a wrist in Santorini. "Need a cast? Right away... And will send the xrays to our medical specialists in Southampton"). And I don't think you need the Grills experience. Lots of relaxing spaces throughout the ship without having the grills. But 2-top tables may be impossible, and that may be a deal breaker. 

typo alert: my last line should not have "16th century" but "6th century" or "1500 years old" !!!   By the 1600s Hagia Sophia was already 1000 years old and moved back and forth a couple of times between being the largest cathedral to the largest mosque in the world...

Glad to know you are ok and already planning future GSJs... Keep them coming.

Bribe the nurse for i.v. guiness. Miraculous stuff...

Get well soon. 

Yes, I moved to Porto after college and never looked back. Horrible weather, but much better quality of life. Land trips in Portugal are quite nice, because the landscape changes every hour... But Lisbon is fairer. 

Hi. Thanks for the wonderful report... Silversea is a bit outside my budget range, but you make the company very tempting. I was puzzled by your visit to Santo Condestável Church, which I know well because my high school was close by, but most people in Lisbon would have lot of trouble pointing it in a map and because it is a fairly simple church and not at all a touristic highlight... On the other hand, I had no idea that you could go on the roof of Basilica Estrela: nice idea... 

21 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

As currently planned that will be in May 2023. But who knows.....

 

Norris and Carol: thank you for these long reports of joyful travels... 17 months without these reports will be too much... Hopefully, the call of the sea will tempt you before long. 

3 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

I have enjoyed looking at your blog and encourage others to click your link.

My God... I did not even remember that blog existed! A marvelous daughter happened in feb 2017 and a dreadful virus in feb 2020, and what was planned as an active travel blog is now collecting informatic dust... 

I remember visiting Sagrada Familia in 1985 (never returned, btw...) on a long road trip to Rome (first of several visits over the years). As far as I remember there was no ceiling and there were only 2 facades up. What I remember really well was that there were no lines whatsoever (maybe even no entrance fee...) and that the museum downstairs was a huge open space with walls of exposed stone (more in the style of the "modelling workshop" that you have in a couple of photographs) and that the inverted model with the small sandbags (that Gaudi photographed and turned downside up to calculate weights and tensions) was already an highlight... Time flies... In 1985, construction was advancing at snail pace and the overall feeling was that the project was NEVER going to be finished. 

44 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

 

Why do you have to wait for your 4 series BMW until March?

Aren't you aware of the current chaos in the auto industry? Perfect storm combination of sudden demand for new cars and worldwide shortage in all kinds of chips, aluminium, man power, etc... Wait time for new builds is now close to 6 months, but some car makers only guarantee delivery in 2023... BMWs are coming without power seats (no parts) and many bmw produced in november are coming without touchscreen (which is standard... Not an optional - you have a large 10 inch screen that should be tactile, but that is only voice or knob operated...). And no hifi sound... And no special lights... And no lumbar adjustment... Seriously: when I placed my order (last week of september) the dealer went through the excel sheet that he received in the morning that listed all components that cannot be ordered anymore. He receives a new excel file every monday morning. 

Hi... Not technically a full lurker... But a very occasional poster, and your live/delayed reports are one of the exceptions (although I usually stumble on them long after finished...). But if you mention Portugal, I need to say Hi. 

BTW, recent bimmer here... Waiting for my ordered 4 gran coupe (to be delivered in march, if bmw does not run out of chips).

6 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

Hope to see Portugal some day from the deck of an Az ship.

You should... Not only Lisbon (birthplace) but also Porto (home for the last 30 years). Loving your journals, as always... 

Does anyone know of WC blogs this year? I antecipate that both safarigal and Roscoe will be posting their wonderful texts once they join their vessels (QM2 and QV, respectively, if I am not mistaken), but are there other ones I am not aware?

Thank you all for the help. The download link worked perfectly. I hope Inbro and Cunard fix this issue for the next set of brochures. 

Exactly. I have the 92 page PDF.

Cunard, if you are listening... Why do you produce a brochure and then make it so difficult to disseminate? I was hoping that in some markets there was the 240 page brochure available as PDF...

Just realized that the title suggests that I have the PDF file of the brochure, while in fact it is quite the contrary. It was not done on purpose and I appologise if it appears to be clickbait. It was not my intention, and I would edit the title if CC allowed it. 

Just curious to know if there is a way to download a PDF of the full brochure (the one with 240 pages - august 2019 thru may 2021). I was able to get (through the website of an online  T.A.) the PDF of a smaller version, but that does not include the maps of the itineraries but only lists the ports.

I can see the brochure online, but printing any page is really difficult to get rid of the margins. Cunard does not mail me the printed brochure and I am an Android person and so cannot use iPAD/iPhone app.

Any help is appreciated

Vasco

@The Beach: Just a heads-up regarding Fatima. Are you aware that the 12th and 13th June are special pilgrimage days at Fatima (special days are the 13th of May thru October)? In my opinion this is a very good occasion to visit, but you should be aware of that to plan accordingly because it may complicate the plan a bit. On the evening of the 12th there is the really moving Candlelight Procession, and on the 13th the Pilgrims Mass and Farewell Procession (noonish, I believe). If you are catholic and privy to Fatima, these are not to be missed. On the other hand, expect a lot of people (not the tens of thousands like on the 13th May or August, but really decent crowds), and a LOT of traffic and delays within Fatima. Enjoy, and PM if you need any advice.

Vasco

Hi,

I like to use this site for wave and weather charts:

http://www.surf-forecast.com/weather_maps/North-Atlantic?type=htsgw&&over=none&

Thanks for your no-nonsense review. Really enjoyed reading your comments...

Although the official number of berths in the Koningsdam is 2650 (lower berths), the actual maximum number of guests of the ship is over 3000 (most sources say 3128 but I have also seen the number 3194). Thus, not all is lost: the new Queen may be a bit larger than Koningsdam but carrying the same number of passengers (or even a bit less).

On the other hand, if they were really speaking about the absolute number of passengers, that is a stupid PR mistake given the Cunard fans they were addressing.

Hi,

QE is docked today in Porto and is taking advantage of the new and beautiful cruise terminal; the port authority published a stunning series of photos in their facebook page, and I wanted to share them with you all...

Credit goes to the Facebook page of the Port Authority:

Just for information: the journalist that wrote this piece has a cruise blog that I follow because his texts are very interesting. The blog is:

Www.fromthedeckchair.com

In his blog you will probably enjoy both reports of his crossings:

http://www.fromthedeckchair.com/2012/10/28/queen-mary-2-live-voyage-report-day-1/

And

http://www.fromthedeckchair.com/2015/09/05/queen-mary-2-transatlantic-crossing-voyage-recap/

Wow... Great professional looking videos. The drone footage is amazing and is a great way to document the northern landscapes.

But what the heck is the monstrous fish that can be seen at 29:22 ?

Yes. They play at Crow's Nest. In june (Norse Legends cruise) they were amazing. It gets loud due to the low ceiling, but the energy of the vocalist Tempest was out of this world. I wrote a longer review of that cruise...