Live from Voyager Transatlantic Mar 22 to Apr 5

[ronrick1943]

About the Butler, he/she is there to help do the things that make your vacation the best possible.  Sure you can do a lot of the things yourself, but that's why you're on vacation-not to be doing the things that can be done my someone other than you.  The Butler also makes sure things go right, or finds a way to make it right.  It's really is the little things that add up, something as simple as bring your passport to the cabin.  Finding a table when you can't get that reservation yourself.  Sure sometimes it's over done--but you can just tell them to take it back a bit.  We're easy going, but do enjoy the service of a Butler when on a vacation.  Your report is good and fair, glad your took the time to write-Thanks.

[UUNetBill]

22 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

About the Butler, he/she is there to help do the things that make your vacation the best possible.  Sure you can do a lot of the things yourself, but that's why you're on vacation-not to be doing the things that can be done my someone other than you.  The Butler also makes sure things go right, or finds a way to make it right.  It's really is the little things that add up, something as simple as bring your passport to the cabin.  Finding a table when you can't get that reservation yourself.  Sure sometimes it's over done--but you can just tell them to take it back a bit.  We're easy going, but do enjoy the service of a Butler when on a vacation.  Your report is good and fair, glad your took the time to write-Thanks.

We're batting .500 on butlers - we've had two we could do without and two who really did enhance our vacation.  Our butler on our last Voyager cruise was the best ever - always available but never overbearing.  Engaging but not too familiar.  Efficient, timely, and just a pleasure to have around.  We mentioned on our survey that if all butlers were like Zahid we'd book a butler suite every cruise.

[Mark99]

Sitting here on the balcony in Funchal, Madeira. For those of you who don’t quite remember, it is about half-way on a southeast line between the Azores and the Canary Islands. Wow has this place changed. We’re docked in the same place, but last time (maybe 10 yrs. ago) all I remember across from the ship was an old block wall with a lot of the blocks hand painted commemorating different ships that had docked there. Now there is a full-sized two-level cruise terminal building. The painted wall is still there, but all of the dates are more recent so they must blast it clean from time to time. There are 3 ships in port- us, the Aida Nova and the Marella Dream. We look pretty tiny next to the Aida ship. We are starboard side alongside again, but in this port the dock is on a U from the main boardwalk so starboard looks out to sea over the terminal building and port looks towards town. All 3 ships are pointed bow out towards the east. Cooler weather (low 60’s) but clear.

 

We took an excursion this AM called 3-in-one hop on hop off, which means there were 3 primary bus routes with many stops each, where you could get on and off. There were earphones and a narrated tour in a zillion different languages. The streets are very narrow and steep, so sitting in the front was a little like riding in the front of a roller coaster. There was one stop that had a panoramic view and we took some pictures of the city and the ships. The afternoon excursion was teatime at a classic old hotel, including a couple of stops at scenic coastal sites. The caffeine from the tea seems to be balancing out the alcohol from the poncha quite nicely. We just shoved off from the dock on the way to Cadiz and then on to Barcelona. We’re headed east so we have a great view of the island off the port side. Three days to go.