Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Two

[Mark_K]

Thanks Terry and Mark! I appreciate your interest and concern about my intended camera purchase. But I am not sure why the concern? Do you think I am getting in over my head with a more complex and expensive choice than I need for "simply" taking photos for personal enjoyment? I can say that I am not a person who is into "snob appeal". So there is no reason for concern on that point. As I mentioned, I have a great Olympus camera that I love. It is big, heavy and awkward to carry around especially since we will be taking many flights with restrictive carry on requirements. That is why I want a small camera that will take excellent photos. If you have other suggestions for my purchase I would really appreciate hearing about them.

 

 

 

Thanks again for your interest and concern! :)

 

 

mysty,

 

If anything I wrote is causing you concern about your choice of cameras, I apologize, it wasn't meant that way. They were just general observations, along with a reply to Jeff about what I thought Terry meant in his post.

 

Mark

[mysty]

mysty,

 

If anything I wrote is causing you concern about your choice of cameras, I apologize, it wasn't meant that way. They were just general observations, along with a reply to Jeff about what I thought Terry meant in his post.

 

Mark

Thanks Mark! I appreciate your response! :) I wanted to try to figure out what the concern was regarding the RX100M3. If there was something I missed in my scan of reviews for the camera, I wanted to hear about it. You have no need to apologize! :)

[UKCruiseJeff]

mysty,

 

If anything I wrote is causing you concern about your choice of cameras, I apologize, it wasn't meant that way. They were just general observations, along with a reply to Jeff about what I thought Terry meant in his post.

 

Mark

 

Hi Mark ... just to be clear .... I meant my post to mean we appear to be agreeing. :)

 

Jeff

[mysty]

Not to beat a dead horse or anything..... :) This review of the camera in question is what tipped the scales for me. Just in case anyone is interested. :)

 

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-point-and-shoot-camera-under-1000/

[jpalbny]

9PM here and we are ready to drop. Got to our hotel a bit after 1 and they had our room ready. After a shower we headed over to the Residenz which was great. We made it in time for the 3PM English tour and our guide was a riot! FYI, Würzburg is in Franconia, not Bavaria, so our guide made some funny wise cracks...The Franconians consider the Bavarians "Barbarians" who only drink beer, where the Franconians consider themselves sophisticated folk who enjoy wine more.

 

So after the Residenz we visited an exhibit at the College about Wilhelm Roentgen; this was interesting. It was also completely empty, and totally unstaffed! We just wandered in, looked around, and left. Strange!

 

We had an early dinner at a Weinstube with nice outdoor seating. They had good strong umbrellas so the occasional rain sprinkle didn't bother us. For appetizers we had "modern" food - I had gazpacho with a fried scallop, and Chris had an Asian salad with glass noodles, mango, red peppers, and sprouts. The main courses were more traditional. I had currywurst with fries and salad, and Chris had veal meatballs with potato-bacon dumplings. We had Riesling and Silvaner with the first course, and red blends with the second course. All was delicious.

 

After dinner, we headed out to our favorite part of town, the Alte Mainbrücke, where we grabbed a glass of Rotling (rosé-like wine) and enjoyed the twilight view. It is beautiful to be on the river, and see the vineyards rise up the hills all around you. The local wineries have set up tents in Marktplatz - so since we didn't have the energy for a fourth glass of wine, we'll have to stop there tomorrow.

 

Good night all, from Franconia and Würzburg!

[jpalbny]

One quick comment about the Northern Lights. Iceland!

 

Very close to the East Coast of the US and also from London. No time change from London in the winter, either. And there is so much to do that you won't feel totally cheated if you miss the lights.

 

Trust us, we went there for 4 days in January a few years back and it was great, even though we never saw a peep of aurora.

[Mark_K]

Mark,

 

You have a pioneering spirit ..... which I much admire! I do so hope your cruise is a total success!

 

Your piccy of Stonhenge prompts me to say that Helga my trusty Lady Merc, got us past Stonehenge twice ie going and coming back without breaking down. It does seem to like Stonehenge to take a break so getting back without stopping is a great plus!

 

November isn't far away.

 

:)

 

Jeff

November is not far away, 80 days until the cruise according to My Silversea. I'm faced with the difficult choice of either losing 10ish pounds or replacing half the clothes I took along on our last cruise.

 

My daughter used to name the cars I bought for her. First was Gretta ( the Jetta), then Yolanda (the Honda), then Yolanda II. Funny, after she started buying her own, she quit naming them.

[UKCruiseJeff]

JP, how bleedin' exciting!

 

Now be truthful ....you feel at home there don't you! A bit disappointed with your food. Must do better! All that way and not eating like a local. Things can't get any wurst.

 

Jeff

[UKCruiseJeff]

November is not far away, 80 days until the cruise according to My Silversea. I'm faced with the difficult choice of either losing 10ish pounds or replacing half the clothes I took along on our last cruise.

 

My daughter used to name the cars I bought for her. First was Gretta ( the Jetta), then Yolanda (the Honda), then Yolanda II. Funny, after she started buying her own, she quit naming them.

 

It's always the first few pounds that are easy ....and then nothing happens ... except it goes up again!

 

Helga didn't have the latest GPS disk on arrival and we didn't bother to upgrade her. Consequently she get's quite miffed and narky when we drive down a new section of A30 that she considers to be open fields. She get's a bit vitriolic and tells us we're going the wrong way and won't let it go. You would have thought by now she would have learned. In the end, she wins. She gets to Stonehenge and refuses to go any further. As she is a lady, I refuse to open the bonnet and look inside, and just hope that she lasts OK between the service every two years. She is a bit of a boozer though and only gives us between 19 and 21 mpg. A bit of a Pilsner.

 

Wifey's Volvo is obviously Agnetta.

 

Jeff

[UKCruiseJeff]

One quick comment about the Northern Lights. Iceland!

 

Very close to the East Coast of the US and also from London. No time change from London in the winter, either. And there is so much to do that you won't feel totally cheated if you miss the lights.

 

Trust us, we went there for 4 days in January a few years back and it was great, even though we never saw a peep of aurora.

 

Thanks JP,

 

I don't do surprises or disappointments well. I grumble.

 

So if the lights were there the day before we arrived and the day after we left and nothing during our visit, then I'd grumble and grumble ... so best not.

 

Jeff

[mw8811]

My first bike in Bermuda was Harry (only 1 car per household allowed) then there was a whole list of Sidney Suzukis then a Yogi Yamaha and then subsequent Yamahas all reverted to the name Sidney.

In so far as cars (sizes and models dictated by law so nothing exciting) we had Lionel Lancer (his predecessor didn't have a name) a slew of Rodney Rovers then Freddy Ford - here we have Godfrey Golf who hardly ever ventures out as we try to walk everywhere.

Many moons ago I had a Morris 1000 (Fred) who taught me how to drive (legally on the roads) although I initially started driving at 5 on a tractor through our fields LOL:):):):)

Mary

[specialcruisegirl]

Morning All,

 

Lovely following travels with JP and Chris, sounds like you are having great fun.

 

Interesting camera talk....mine is about ten years old but does the job l want it to although l tend to use the iPad most these days.

 

The only car I've ever named was my old racing green mini that l had in the 70's...she was my Green Goddess and l even had that name painted on her..:rolleyes:

My current Chrysler Grand Voyager is a big gal that the kids call The Bus! Could really do with changing to a smaller vehicle but she's so useful in many ways.

 

Quiet weekend in with pup who has kennel cough, trying to get antibiotics down him is proving rather a challenge to say the least...he's too clever for his own good!

Soon to start on cruise prepping...:D

 

Sophia :)

[lincslady]

Sophia - I think we are going away at about the same time; ours is not with Silversea, however, so we will not meet. Ours is also Med, with some stops at possibly difficult ports nowadays, in Greece and Turkey.

 

We are obviously a bit stodgy when it comes to naming cars; we have had several with usable number plates, like Emu, and currently Fuzzy (nearly the same as the plate). DH has some choice names for his eccentric sports cars, but they are not repeatable.

 

It is a gorgeous day here, real Indian Summer, so a bit of gardening has been taking place.

 

I am, again, off the pace re jp and Chris. I know they are in Germany, and it sounds fab, but have the impression they are getting a new car from there? If so, how is it getting back to the USA? My brain does not work too quickly these days, so I have probably missed something here.

 

Regards to all

 

Lola

[UKCruiseJeff]

Not to beat a dead horse or anything..... :) This review of the camera in question is what tipped the scales for me. Just in case anyone is interested. :)

 

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-point-and-shoot-camera-under-1000/

 

Just push on Gal ....

 

:)

 

Jeff

[mysty]

Hi Lola!

 

JP posted an excellent explanation of the process of buying a car from the factory on the Water-cooler Part 1. I have copied the posting for you below:

 

The European delivery program is offered by the big 4 German auto makers (BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Porsche). I don't known the details for those other than Audi, but their program is really fun. We did this last year with Chris' car and now it's my turn!

 

If you think about it, the same events take place whether you take delivery at home (in the US), or in Germany. The sequence just gets shaken up a bit. If you order an Audi from your local dealer in the US, they still build the car for you at their factory in Germany, take it to a port, ship it to the US, pay import tax to US Customs, ship it to your dealer, and then you go there, pay for the car, and drive it home.

 

If you do European delivery, you go to your local Audi dealer and order the car just the same. Once it's built, you pay your local dealer for it, then you fly to Germany and pick it up at the factory (Audi USA gives you an authorization once you pay). You drive around for a week (or a few weeks), then drop it off at one of their drop-off centers and fly home to wait. Audi ships the car to the US, pays import tax, and delivers it to your dealer where they deliver it to you.

 

The differences are (1) you pay for the car a little earlier, and (2) when Audi imports the Euro delivery car, it's a used car not a new one, so they pay less US import tax. Audi actually gives you a price reduction because of this, so that saves a few dollars. They also pay for temporary insurance and registration within Europe (up to 15 days; you can buy more if you want), and they provide a hotel room for one night as well as transportation to/from the factory. In fact, they sent a beautiful A8 all the way down to Munich to pick us up last time!

 

Plus, of course, you get to drive the Audi on some of the no-limit sections of the Autobahn which is a great place to see what it can do. So it's a great program and a really fun way to pick up your car. You even get to keep your Euro plates as souvenirs - when the car comes to the US, they are still attached.

 

Have a great day!

[specialcruisegirl]

Sophia - I think we are going away at about the same time; ours is not with Silversea, however, so we will not meet. Ours is also Med, with some stops at possibly difficult ports nowadays, in Greece and Turkey.

 

We are obviously a bit stodgy when it comes to naming cars; we have had several with usable number plates, like Emu, and currently Fuzzy (nearly the same as the plate). DH has some choice names for his eccentric sports cars, but they are not repeatable.

 

It is a gorgeous day here, real Indian Summer, so a bit of gardening has been taking place.

 

I am, again, off the pace re jp and Chris. I know they are in Germany, and it sounds fab, but have the impression they are getting a new car from there? If so, how is it getting back to the USA? My brain does not work too quickly these days, so I have probably missed something here.

 

Regards to all

 

Lola

 

Hi LL.....Greek and Turkish ports for me also...on the Spirit early October. Not worried at all as to me the ship is the destination and as long as I'm fed and watered (Hic) I'm a happy bunny.

 

JP and Chris are collecting a car on this trip....l was also wondering how they are getting it back to the states....so you're not alone with missing...;)

 

S :)

[mysty]

Just push on Gal ....

 

:)

 

Jeff

Good Morning Jeff! Or good afternoon for you! I continue my research and I have to say that I am not finding anything to dissuade me!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Mooning coolers.

 

Well although sunny .. it is a trifle cool 16c here outside in La Cucina! So listening to Salsa from Brasil on the radio app .... trying to increase the temperature!

 

So many people traveling and prepping! How exciting! And JP and Chris amongst all those increasingly concerned Germans. I reckon Frau Merkel is going to go pretty unpopular over the next month or so and one hates to think about how all this stuff is going to nudge along the far right in places like Germany and Austria.

 

Got roped into a charity liar panel game yesterday and I won all my questions. Nobody believed my stories when I told the truth or when I lied. :confused: I think we all have bizarre experiences in life but no one thinks of them as bizarre. The one no one believed for some reason was my anecdote about going to see the charity premiere of 20001 A Space Odyssey with one of the apes who was a mate. Laurence wasn't dressed as an ape for the premiere but they still seemed doubtful. Still I raised most for charity ...:D

 

Still. Today, we're sharing a rib eye and some jacket charolottes, some roasted beefy tomatoes, stuffed mushrooms, slaw and salad.

 

Jeff

[mysty]

Hi S! I am feeling a little disloyal to my old faithful Olympus (I don't name cars but I call my camera Old Betsy) by even considering a new camera. She still takes great pictures! Unfortunately the requirements for our next cruise are making her a little ungainly. Thus the decision (supported and perhaps prompted a tad by Jeff) to get a pocket camera that will take pictures of a quality comparable to what Old Betsy can do. I'll make sure that Betsy knows she is still loved and valued though. :)

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Morning Jeff! Or good afternoon for you! I continue my research and I have to say that I am not finding anything to dissuade me!

 

Most reviews say this is the best compact (apart that is from newer reviews which say the model 4) and if you can bite the bullet on the price then I can't see how you can go wrong.

 

Having spent another day or so fiddling I reckon this is even better for you than me. It is fully functioning as well as point and shoot. One thing I noticed is that there are a memories settings for you to pre programme favourite settings. So for example you could put into memory one for your evening restaurant setting with everything set exactly to take a perfect picture without fiddling. I'm largely sticking to point and shoot but I guess you might explore the camera more than me.

 

Jeff

[mysty]

What, in the name of all that is holy, is a liar's panel? I have never heard of something like this. And charities can make money from it? Very interestiiiiiiiing!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hi S! I am feeling a little disloyal to my old faithful Olympus (I don't name cars but I call my camera Old Betsy) by even considering a new camera. She still takes great pictures! Unfortunately the requirements for our next cruise are making her a little ungainly. Thus the decision (supported and perhaps prompted a tad by Jeff) to get a pocket camera that will take pictures of a quality comparable to what Old Betsy can do. I'll make sure that Betsy knows she is still loved and valued though. :)

 

I think it probable due to Betsy's old age that the Sony will probably always take better pictures. You won't lose any controls, but will lose a degree of zoom, but because it is over 20mp instead of your current 8 you can simply crop.

 

Jeff

[UKCruiseJeff]

What, in the name of all that is holy, is a liar's panel? I have never heard of something like this. And charities can make money from it? Very interestiiiiiiiing!

 

We have a TV programme in the UK where people tell true or false stories and the other side has to work out which is true or false. I think this came from this.

 

Jeff

[mysty]

Most reviews say this is the best compact (apart that is from newer reviews which say the model 4) and if you can bite the bullet on the price then I can't see how you can go wrong.

 

Having spent another day or so fiddling I reckon this is even better for you than me. It is fully functioning as well as point and shoot. One thing I noticed is that there are a memories settings for you to pre programme favourite settings. So for example you could put into memory one for your evening restaurant setting with everything set exactly to take a perfect picture without fiddling. I'm largely sticking to point and shoot but I guess you might explore the camera more than me.

 

Jeff

Jeff, those memory settings are features that caught my attention right off the bat! There seem to be 12 of them to play with. I want to give myself lots of time to play with a new camera before we leave so I think I will be acting soon. What did you get as a memory card?

[specialcruisegirl]

What, in the name of all that is holy, is a liar's panel? I have never heard of something like this. And charities can make money from it? Very interestiiiiiiiing!

 

This 'liars' game sometimes happens on board ship when one has to decide who's lying or telling the truth....can be good fun!

 

S:)