Spirit Live August 25th Venice

[mdpa]

 

We spent a wonderful 5 days in Venice staying at the Marriott Boscolo Venezia. I enjoyed the easy access to the water taxi and a quiet neighborhood, our daughter enjoyed the bunnies on the hotel grounds.

 

We had a water taxi take us to the cruise terminal at 12:00 from the Boscolo and we were eating lunch in Terrazzo by 1:00. It is now about 6:00PM and I've enjoyed red wine, Silver Spirit, and a Basil Gillette...I will keep progressing through the cocktail menu as my kidney allows[emoji6]

 

We'll eat at the MDF tonight and rent a car in Slovenia tomorrow.

 

 

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[mdpa]

Giblet. Hate auto correct!

 

 

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[Keith1010]

Have a wonderful cruise.

 

Keith

[spinnaker2]

Enjoy and thanks for posting!

[les37b]

Our next cruise was meant to be on the Spirit from Venice (insert sad face)..... glad yours is on the move. Hope you have a great time... and I guess we'll have to live that one through your report as our replacement is far from the Med!

 

Have a good one.

 

 

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[TLCOhio]

We'll eat at the MDF tonight and rent a car in Slovenia tomorrow.

 

Appreciate this great update, details and pictures. Keep 'em coming. Want to hear lots more of your impressions on Venice, plus with each of your stops. And, what you liked most about the Silver Spirit. Will enjoy reading and filling along.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Venice: Loving It & Why??!! Is one of your future desires or past favorites? See these many visual samples for its great history and architecture. This posting is now at 69,580 views.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1278226

[rpfarris]

Giblet. Hate auto correct!

Would that be *gimlet*?

[mdpa]

This is the "Better Half" posting! We had a wonderful time in Slovenia today. Rented a car and the plan was to drive to Lake Bled with a stop in Ljubljana on the return. Traffic was extremely heavy and had to skip Lake Bled completely, sigh! Maybe next trip. We found the people of Slovenia to be extremely helpful and kind. Ljubljana was a fun town to visit.

Tonight was our one formal night and we enjoyed lobster as the main dish on the outside deck of La Terraza, very enjoyable.

Renting a car again tomorrow in Kotar, Croatia.

 

 

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[jpalbny]

Oh no! Sorry about the traffic. Chris has been talking about Lake Bled for a while now, and we're trying to figure out how to get there some day soon.

 

Enjoy Kotor. The journey to/from is spectacular! If you have time after your car adventure, climb to the fortress overlooking old town. You do mean Kotor, Montenegro, right?

[Stumblefoot]

You do mean Kotor, Montenegro, right?

Yes, surely. It's wonderful how relaxed one can be on a Cruise. Hey honey... what country are we in? Love it! And, love the sail into that little harbor in Kotor.

 

 

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[TLCOhio]

This is the "Better Half" posting! Renting a car again tomorrow in Kotar, Croatia.

 

Appreciate your continued excellent posts, pictures, details, etc. Keep it coming!! Really interested as to where you drove, what you saw and did in and around scenic Kotor. Below is one my personal favorite visuals/experiences. Driving up, UP, UP to the top. Fortunately, I was not doing that challenging task of driving.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Wonderful Kotor and nearby Montenegro? Check these postings. Have had over 37,736 views on this posting and appreciate those who have tuned-in and commented.:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1439193

 

Here’s our driver going to up, back and forth, through twenty-seven serpentine twists and turns to rise up the 4000’ high mountain above Kotor as we headed to the old Royal Capital of Cetinje. You can see our cruise ship down below tendered in this scenic harbor.:

(Open your screen/viewer wider to see these pictures larger!)

[Solo mi!]

Terry: what wonderful pics. They brought back so many memories of our three years in the former Yugoslavia. I had not thought of Cetinje for so long. I remember the drive, oh my, and we had a cement truck behind us. Boca Kotor is one of my favorite places. Thank you!

Penny

[mdpa]

 

Getting ready to watch the Russian Ballet!!

 

 

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[mdpa]

Having a wonderful time so far. I will work to provide updated pictures. We had a blast renting a car in Slovenia ( although the traffic was too heavy for lake Bled so we enjoyed Ljubljana instead (great place). Enjoyed their venison stew, potato dumplings, and dessert with poppy seed.

 

Yesterday, we enjoyed Croatia and went to pvitice lake. Beautiful, but crowded (felt like we were in Yellowstone). Did get a homemade strudel with poppy seed and cherry. Also stopped by a restaurant to try a mixture of lamb & pork from a spit before returning our rental car.

 

The evening included the Russian Ballet.

 

Today we did a Hvar highlights excursion. Trying to have every drink on the menu before doing Le Champagne tonight

 

 

Exhausted from the effort. [emoji3]

 

Enjoyed the galley tour yesterday. We were the only ones to participate, very enjoyable. We have Fernando for our cruise director..amazed at the personalization. My butler just filled the fridge with German beer and feel an obligation to have one of those before my wife and daughter finish their pedicure. [emoji41]

 

 

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[mdpa]

Photo bomb https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com

 

 

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[mdpa]

Photo bomb 2

 

 

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[mdpa]

Photo bomb 3

 

 

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[mysty]

Thanks for taking us along! Lovely pics! Enjoy your adventure mdpa and ladies!

[les37b]

Trying to have every drink on the menu before doing Le Champagne tonight

 

 

Yikes! Most of their cocktails are just so strong!

 

I'll wager you didn't sample more than two! lol

[mdpa]

I'll add a correction...all these town names blend together (maybe too much drinking), but we are in Montenegro tomorrow.

 

Really appreciate all the tips everyone has provided so far...fridge is stocked with Cognac and German beer, shoes are polished. Already tried the Duck Ragout, have an Indian dinner scheduled, and may also try a Philippine themed meal (about 65% of the crew are from the Philippines).

 

The executive chef told us the Osso Buco is the one meal that is hard to recover from if they guess wrong, since it takes so long to prepare. Hoping to try during the cruise.

[UKCruiseJeff]

The executive chef told us the Osso Buco is the one meal that is hard to recover from if they guess wrong, since it takes so long to prepare. Hoping to try during the cruise.

 

Good to see you trying everything .... particularly getting some of the chefs to give you their own national home dishes. Envious.

 

I presume he must mean if he gets the quantities wrong as this is a slow braise meal that is difficult to mess up prep-wise. You just cook slow and low, and it improves with refreezing and rewarming.

 

The ingredients are also relatively cheap - veal shanks and soffritto being the main ingredients and many kitchens see this as a bulk perfect sous vide meal, ie bulk prepped and either microwaved or kept in the bath until it is required, so it is difficult to see why there should ever be a shortage or any other complications. It is normally accompanied by either gremolata or risotto which should be easy to produce. A really nice low cost restaurant staple ie easilly prepared meal not requiring a la minute stress.

 

Enjoy the Indian meal. With lager, no wine!

[Mudhen]

The Spirit's version of Osso Bucco, was the best I've ever had! Makes me drool just thinking about it!

They also did a nice version of a pomegranite martini....yum!

[dougburns]

If you like martinis try the Vesper. They really make a great one on the Spirit.

[mdpa]

Fantastic meal at Leisure Champagne last night. Our family really enjoyed the experience. I had the Dover Sole deboned at the table, wife had the Lobster Thermador, and the kids had Rack of Lamb.

 

The service at La Terraza has been mixed, and coffee/espresso doesn't come out quite fast enough for this addict, but overall service has been great. You can tell that everyone learns your name over time and people make you feel welcome.

 

Thought the pictures with names and description of each guest in the galley pretty neat to see. Fernando knew our names and that we were a family of 3 on the first day. I've got German themed beers and Cognac in the fridge by the third day.

 

La Terraza didn’t wow me until now, but today was exceptional for lunch. We tried breakfast in the restaurant this morning (service was great). We now understand that the 9th floor is the best place for on demand espresso.

 

We are going to have a Phllipine themed dinner tonight.

 

 

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[mdpa]

 

 

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