Silversea Water Cooler: Part 3, Welcome!

[jpalbny]

Thanks all. Packing is preliminarily done. We did a test-fit tonight, and put everything into our usual two 22" rollaboard cases so that was a happy accomplishment. We'll check the bags for convenience but nice to travel light anyway.

 

I have been busy around the house today. The bathroom remodel is progressing nicely, and I took advantage of the still-open walls to install some in-wall, built-in speakers.

 

They are facing the other side of the bathroom wall, so they can act as back speakers for surround sound in our great room. I had run wires when the house was built but never liked the original setup. This was a good opportunity to change it.

 

So, up and down ladders, cutting holes with the sheetrock saw, and now they are in. Just in time! One more coat of paint over the old screw holes tomorrow, and that's all set!

 

Here they are. The bathroom is on the other side of this wall.

 

 

Off to bed soon. These on-call weekends are tiring!

 

PS. Thanks for the Madrid advice. Haven't really considered weather yet but will look more closely. Lots of different ideas for Chris' birthday to choose from...

 

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[MissSophia]

Hi All.....

 

JP...great ideas with the house gadgeting.....soon to be re-styling some areas here ...admire you for packing so light...l need an army to assist with my luggage!!

 

Very windy day...worse up on the coast ...watching old movies, Cary Grant has just kissed Joan Fontaine in Hitchcock's Suspicion.....such romance in those days...🤗

Hope TTS enjoyed the big birthday dinner......

 

Reading a very interesting book about Queen Victoria's eating habits....apparently she was quite a glutton!

 

😊

[UKCruiseJeff]

 

 

 

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[Tothesunset]

Hope TTS enjoyed the big birthday dinner......

Oh yes. Very much. Venison, partridge, seafood ravioli, autumn fruits salad, a most unusual chocolate pudding, etc etc. Feeling very corpulent today.

 

Incidentally top tip: don't fly EasyJet if you can avoid it. Cheap? Yes. Cheerful? Nah. I do admire the cabin staff for their patience with, frankly, about 150 people who are living proof that evolution was a waste of time.

 

(Just waiting for takeoff so excuse the curmudgeonly tone.)

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! Another glorious sunny day!

 

JP...brilliant idea for the speakers! A home full of music is such a treat!

 

Miss S. that book sounds very intriguing! What is the title?

 

TTS....your birthday meal sounds wonderful! What a great way to celebrate!

 

J...your meal looks YUM! I just read an article in the Economist magazine 1843 about the emergence of Night Markets in London and New York. Thought you might find it interesting.

https://www.1843magazine.com/food-drink/in-the-night-market

 

Have a great day all!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks M,

 

My gift to Coolers this weekend is to share this week's Sunday Clarkson which is on the Audi RS3 and drivers generally.

 

Oh what a hoot to be Britain’s worst driver

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-jeremy-clarkson-review-audi-rs-3-saloon-0sw86x8gq?shareToken=7963a4c70e21a66862957402252ce83a

 

[MissSophia]

M...the book is...The Greedy Queen, Eating With Victoria by Annie Gray.

I've got it on kindle.

 

TTS....l fly EasyJet on a needs must basis but don't like it...Jet 2 were a little better! Glad your dins went well.

😊

[mysty]

Thanks Miss S! Myster just home from his golf game and is napping in "his" chair. :) Quiet time!

[mysty]

So I guess the Colonies do not rate! The book is only available in hardcover. No Kindle option on amazon.ca or amazon.com. :( Maybe it will become available in a few months.

[jpalbny]

We took EasyJet from Berlin to Copenhagen this spring. Not intolerable. We paid a little extra for seats up front and prepaid for a checked bag, and it still ended up being cheaper than the train would have been...and many hours faster! Not something I'll be looking to do on a regular basis but it fit the bill for a 1 hour hop.

 

Tonight's "use up the leftovers" dinner was a pack of frozen short ribs which had been in the freezer for way too long. I put them in the crockpot overnight with broth and a little wine then put them outside to cool this morning. Tonight, we sautéed up the last of our mushrooms along with some onion and carrot, then put the deboned ribs back in to sear before pouring in the cooking broth, reducing, and serving over potatoes. Delicious!

 

 

I had to laugh about the RS3 article. Yes, Audi brake pads are made of a crazy hard compound and they are all prone to nuisance squealing. It does get tiring after a while. But they are so aggressively geared that you rarely have to use the brakes, except in stop-and-go city traffic. Unfortunately, the squealing is mich worse at slow speeds.

 

Off to unpack and repack the two suitcases. Now we'll split our stuff in half, and put half in each suitcase, instead of one suitcase each. I am off work tomorrow, so as of 8AM, I'm on vacation! Chris has to work tomorrow but I'll have a glass of wine waiting for her when she gets home.

Edited October 22, 2017 by jpalbny

[UKCruiseJeff]

 

 

 

 

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[jpalbny]

Nice looking soup...and the bread, yum! Many hours to dinner here.

 

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[Zombatar]

Any of you UK coolers know about when we receive the famed Silver Box for the next cruise. We are 40 days from sailing now and I unsure if I should chase up our TA or not.

 

Peter

[Randyk47]

Any of you UK coolers know about when we receive the famed Silver Box for the next cruise. We are 40 days from sailing now and I unsure if I should chase up our TA or not.

 

Peter

 

US here and we got ours about 40 days out. I assume it was printed in and mailed from Italy to our TA like the previous cruises. Our TA repackaged along with some goodies they typically send out and expressed mailed it to us. I have no idea how long the TA took to get it back in the mail to us after they received it. Maybe you ought to give your TA a ring or email to check. I’d imagine they have it and just haven’t forwarded it to you.

[eastwoodboy]

Any of you UK coolers know about when we receive the famed Silver Box for the next cruise. We are 40 days from sailing now and I unsure if I should chase up our TA or not.

 

Peter

 

Got mine about 10 days ago for 6th December sailing.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Got mine about 10 days ago for 6th December sailing.

 

Your post reminded me of your Istanbul BA ticketing challenges a year or two back. I think we managed to find details of your tickets via the Finnair site at the time ... was it a security issue that gave you the lack of seat reservations? How did it resolve?

[Camillus112]

Good morning, traveling and stay-at-home Coolers!

Yesterday was the last day of our "summer in Autumn", with clear blue skies and temperatures above 70F, rather unusual for this time in our area. We had a lousy summer, cool and rainy, so we all welcomed Fall. I just read JP's first posting on his upcoming cruise, and plan on following his detailed comments with fervor, since it seems we will not be cruising for a big while...life gets in the way...

Off to my Tuesday early aerobics class at the gym; y'all Coolers have a great day!

[eastwoodboy]

Your post reminded me of your Istanbul BA ticketing challenges a year or two back. I think we managed to find details of your tickets via the Finnair site at the time ... was it a security issue that gave you the lack of seat reservations? How did it resolve?

 

Your memory is far better than mine but I do recall that it was nothing to do with security at Istanbul. This was the one occasion in about 20 something SS sailings that I had taken advantage of their transport arrangements. An was only because I was nervous about the cancellation of the Istanbul call. As it turned out I was quite right and the switch to Athens had to be sorted out by SS rather than myself.

The problem to which you refer was the inability to be able to book the BA seats and it turned out to be because SS only confirm the tickets about 60 days prior to sailing. I assume I must have had a locator number as I did find my reservation on Finn Air which was a surprise but was unable to reserve a seat.

I forget how far out the switch to Athens was made but all worked out well in the end. Having said that I found the SS travel arrangements a real pain on the return when they insisted I had to be on a later flight back about 1800hrs rather than the usual Athens LHR which goes about 1300hrs. Despite me showing SS that there were seats on the earlier flight they would not switch. Accordingly I will carry on making my own arrangements and only use SS if I feel there may be a problem with either the arrival or departure.

[jpalbny]

Hi all, from Albany airport. On the first leg to Quito. A relaxing morning so far...hoping for continued smooth travel, and so excited to board Silver Explorer tomorrow. Hard to believe it's been 3 years since we've been on SS at all, and 4 since we've been on this ship. Time flies.

 

More later, on the other thread. Have a great day Coolers!

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

Your memory is far better than mine but I do recall that it was nothing to do with security at Istanbul. This was the one occasion in about 20 something SS sailings that I had taken advantage of their transport arrangements. An was only because I was nervous about the cancellation of the Istanbul call. As it turned out I was quite right and the switch to Athens had to be sorted out by SS rather than myself.

The problem to which you refer was the inability to be able to book the BA seats and it turned out to be because SS only confirm the tickets about 60 days prior to sailing. I assume I must have had a locator number as I did find my reservation on Finn Air which was a surprise but was unable to reserve a seat.

I forget how far out the switch to Athens was made but all worked out well in the end. Having said that I found the SS travel arrangements a real pain on the return when they insisted I had to be on a later flight back about 1800hrs rather than the usual Athens LHR which goes about 1300hrs. Despite me showing SS that there were seats on the earlier flight they would not switch. Accordingly I will carry on making my own arrangements and only use SS if I feel there may be a problem with either the arrival or departure.

 

Thanks for that update ..... I remember because it threw up an issue of interest and head-scratching. I routinely reserve seats on unticketed reservations using the PNR. The most regular has been when booking First Class BA tickets to Singapore and several times to Sydney using Avios and an Amex 241 which we have been doing when not using cash. The routine is to book the outward on line as availability shows up at around 355 days ...... and then a few weeks later you have to telephone and have the return leg(s) added. At that stage you only have a one way ticketed and the return goes through a lengthy manual change system and can remain unticketed for months because it is low priority in the BA manual ticketing department. But even though the return travel is unticketed and the exisitng eticket remains in place for the original outward journey only, it still allows to reserve the return seats. So it isn't ticketing perse that holds up reservations. I think it is a special process for group travel ticketing which seems to allow a PNR with special restrictions until it is firm from SS. Having said all that the secret with SS when they are offering flight packages is to give your TA or CC exact flight choices and not allow the booking to be firm until SS confirms either your flight choice or something you are happy with. I realise your one threw up complications but they should have offered the best earliest flight back although perhaps they were concerned about the earlier flight being too tight in case of late arrival into port. 13:00 implies an 11:00 arrival'ish at the airport which has little lattitude for safety.

 

It all adds to our communual knowledge of these challenges.

Edited October 24, 2017 by UKCruiseJeff

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hi all, from Albany airport. On the first leg to Quito. A relaxing morning so far...hoping for continued smooth travel, and so excited to board Silver Explorer tomorrow. Hard to believe it's been 3 years since we've been on SS at all, and 4 since we've been on this ship. Time flies. More later, on the other thread. Have a great day Coolers! Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

 

 

This is really exciting. Send Cooler best wishes to Chris and hope you both have a really great trip ...... and looking forward to the story.

[jpalbny]

Thanks Jeff, and everyone else who has sent us so many very kind bon voyage wishes. We are a bit worn out, and so very much in need of a break.

 

Work has been nuts and dealing with the ancient cat has been stressful. She's safely boarding at the vet and hopefully we'll see her again. Three weeks is a long time for a 20-1/2 year old cat. It's sad to see her getting more frail but she seems to enjoy life still, so it's hard to know if it's her time, or not yet.

 

Here she is when we dropped her off this morning.

 

 

Anyway, cheers to everyone from our flight from Albany to Atlanta. We have a great flight crew and the wine is flowing freely.

 

 

We should have Wi-Fi all cruise, so I'll keep in touch.

 

We'll plan a stop at One Flew South in ATL, concourse E, before our 6PM flight to Quito. [emoji1] Love that restaurant!

 

PS...is there a Cooler part 4 in our immediate future?

 

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[MissSophia]

JP she's a gorgeous furry baby and she's in the right place for sure...it's so hard leaving our pets.

 

Cheers to you both ...enjoy your travels....✈️

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks JP. We'll all be rooting for ancient cat .... and few deserve this lovely break more than you and Chris. Think of it. No phones going off. No stress!

 

ps. as you are wifi'ing fairly regularly, if you are bored for a moment or three during your trip ...... it would be interesting if you could do a couple of speed tests for download and upload speeds ..... but only if you really have nothing any better to do. :) I think in time customers might be interested in those speeds as they offer (or not) some possibilities.

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! As my 65th creeps closer, some musings on aging. Please note that I have never looked like the reflection in the mirror and I do somewhat resemble the older pictured soul. :)

 

 

Aging Pains

 

I am avoiding mirrors these days

I am not who I see

An aging woman’s reflected there

How can this be me?

 

In my mind, I’m ever young

My days of youth not lost.

My body, though, is not in sync

For it has paid the cost.

 

Grey hair tops my youthful mind

Wrinkles etch deep tracks

My joints now sound a groaning creak

As relentless age attacks.

 

The print in favourite magazines

Has shrunk to pinpoint size.

My ears begin to muffle sounds

As my youthful spirit cries.

 

“Let me out! I’m not this hag.

I’m trapped in this disguise.

The essence of me is still young

Despite my body’s lies.”

 

In truth I am not ready

To face the toll of age

I struggle with the tide of years

As against its claim I rage.

 

In the march of years to come

And with what that will engender

My body will surely fall to age

But my spirit will not surrender.

 

 

 

Have a great evening all!