“Live From:” Z and TB’s Magical Mystery Tour of the British Isles

[Travelcat2]

Whew - was so glad to read that it is okay to insult you ...... if I couldn't, it would not seem normal🙃  How nice that you flying American First Class........ the lounge looks really nice!

 

Unless things have changed, you can take escalators up but not down at the Guinness facility.  I found that interesting and a bit odd (but did enjoy the Guinness).  

 

Not sure if you are interested in Irish Whiskey (or should that be Whisky in Ireland - always get the two confused.)  Jameson has a hard to find but lovely plant in Dublin (they no longer brew there but the tastings are great).  I knew that during the tour volunteers are asked to raise their hand for a tasting (you taste about 5 different whiskies).  I knew that being a woman I would be picked and I was.  Lots of fun and you learn just how horrible some U.S. bourbon's are compared to Jameson.

 

Enough blabbing - looking forward vicariously sailing with you! 

Edited June 15, 2019 by Travelcat2

[Zqueeze1]

The Flagship lounge is pretty big and seems to have a large variety of drinks, food, and snacks. The champagne is not too dry although a little warm for my taste. The cheeses are superb.

 

TB is busy with some puzzles and I’m people watching and making up names based on my observations. 

 

 Our plane is here!

[vegasdriven]

Let the fun begin! Following👏😂

[ronrick1943]

Looking forward to reading about you journey of fun and lot's more......have a save flight and enjoy the cruise.

[ronrick1943]

Forget, with that much luggage I'm guessing you'll meet any dress code no matter what it is🤗.

[hypercafe]

Have a great trip, looking forward to your comments especially on the condition of the ship. I was told by Regent that this drydock has fixed the brown water issue. As said today is a great day here in NY with no thunder storms for tonight.

[Zqueeze1]

We are onboard in what looks like the sardine flight wit so many folks waiting. Weather looks good and the seats are awesome. 

[liptastic]

Really looking forward to your live blog. We live about 2 hours away from your Invergordon port . You have great ports on this cruise, and look forward to hearing about the Navigator dry dock changes.

Bon Voyage safe travels, Jean.

[pingpong1]

42 minutes ago, hypercafe said:

"..... I was told by Regent that this drydock has fixed the brown water issue...."

Dang... That's too bad!  Some of us are really going to miss it.  That's one of those things I always looked forward to on Navigator.  Perhaps they could stock a couple of bottles of the vintage "old stuff" in the mini-bar, just to remind us of the "good ol' day's"....  I hope they don't really screw up and eliminate the aft vibration, too!  That will ruin the whole experience.

[flossie009]

....... try Newcastle Brown instead .....

 

Safe journey, Z&TB.

Weather this side of the pond is starting to improve slightly in the coming days but you can still expect it to be "changeable" 🙂

[Got2Cruise]

This is on my short list for 2020. Reading every detail! Bon Voyage! 

[1teach53]

3 hours ago, Zqueeze1 said:

We are onboard in what looks like the sardine flight wit so many folks waiting. Weather looks good and the seats are awesome. 

 

Looking great Pam! 💞Have a blast!

K

[Zqueeze1]

Comments about our first flight:  first of all, I consider myself a positive person somewhere in between the main character in “Legally Blonde” and George C Scott in his introductory speech in “Patton.”  But, although the seats we have rock, service sucked. The wine tastes like it was fermented in an old shoe and strained with one of my sweat socks. That bad. The  main course had four anorexic green beans and reheated Mac and cheese. However, the salad was good, but the short ribs although they could have used some sort of gravy on it.  For some reason the meat kept reminding me of a Doors song called “The Soft Parade”  especially the lyrics:  “

When all else fails

We can whip the horse's eyes

And make them sleep

And cry”

 The meat looked as if it had been whipped. 

 

Our flight attendant is over caffeinated and is throwing food out like an “I Love Lucy” episode when Ricky puts Lucy on a schedule to impress his boss. 

However, the worst infraction is that they will not hand out the Bose headsets which means we can’t watch a flick. I was looking forward to watching ‘ The Professor and the Madman” which is based on a book I read about the writing of the first comprehensive dictionary in English. 

BTW, the third glass of wine is tasting better.

Z and TB

[Mudhen]

Did you get pajamas on your flight? Was kinda hoping to catch a shot of you in your pjs!

TB looked adorable as usual and totally relaxed. Need to see one of you now....(giggle!)

[ronrick1943]

Well😪, at this point it can only get better.  So one the positive side you have a lot of great service coming your way😋.  Just for the heck of it ask the airline crew for a frozen daiquiri-see what happens😎.

[rcandkc]

Or a Lemon Drop like they do it in Navigator Lounge. 😜

[Travelcat2]

You described perfectly why we choose not to fly on U.S. based airlines (although out Business Class flight to Chile on American's 787 was much better than what you just experienced).  

 

Have to say that we loved the Bose headsets and I plan on getting Dennis one before our next long flight.  Trying to figure out why you couldn't watch a movie.  Were you on one of the newer planes that do not have a screen and you must use a iPad or tablet?  That seems to be the future of air travel.  When we were on the now grounded Max 9 aircraft, there were no screens.

 

Try to get some rest on your next leg.  TB looks great - please wish her a wonderful trip from us!

[rcandkc]

I think the comments are on their first flight from Miami to NYC so still domestic. 

 

[Zqueeze1]

Jackie:  we could not watch movies because they would not issue the. Ose headsets. The plugs were two pronged so I could not use my own. 

Mudhen. I don’t use pajamas. 

Pam always looks lovely to me. 

Z and TB

[kjbacon]

Great reading so far! I don’t think the flight from Miami to NYC is long enough to watch a movie.

[forgap]

Just a tidbit about two prong plugs.  On a recent trip I discovered that if you insert the one prong Bose plug halfway into the two prong receptacle, you get sound to both ears. I’m not sure if this was an anomaly or if this is a workable hack each time, but it worked for me as I had forgotten the two prong adapter.  

[Hambagahle]

Those seats didn't look good to me -  was that the First class??   Didn't seem to be much room in them but then perhaps that was the camera angle.

 

We hate to fly on US carriers - service is appalling and food is hit or miss.   (Looks from the photo that this food would be better to be missed...).    Next cruise though we have a short flight (SJC/SAN) on Alaska.  In 1st class but I am not expecting anything...just hope we land in one piece in San Diego!

[RJ2002]

 

14 hours ago, Zqueeze1 said:

Jackie:  we could not watch movies because they would not issue the. Ose headsets. The plugs were two pronged so I could not use my own. 

Mudhen. I don’t use pajamas. 

Pam always looks lovely to me. 

Z and TB

5 hours ago, forgap said:

Just a tidbit about two prong plugs.  On a recent trip I discovered that if you insert the one prong Bose plug halfway into the two prong receptacle, you get sound to both ears. I’m not sure if this was an anomaly or if this is a workable hack each time, but it worked for me as I had forgotten the two prong adapter.  

 

On a flight some time ago, we were given these type of adapters, and I always carry them with me on flights.  I actually prefer using my own earbuds instead of the 'over the ear' headphones the airlines use.  Here is a link to some available on Amazon.  Not expensive.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/Warmstor-Adapter-Converter-Headphone-Airplane/dp/B073H2V73F/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=earphone+adapter+one+prong+to+two&qid=1560699356&s=gateway&sr=8-2

 

Looking forward to your reports from the Navigator.  Enjoy!  We are onboard in a couple of months for the last leg of the Grand Arctic Quest...  Amsterdam to NYC.

[boblerm]

I hope and trust that your second leg will be much better than the first.  And if not, keep dreaming about being on Navigator!

Wishing you and TB a fabulous cruise (we did this itinerary a few years ago and loved it)

Bob

[Zqueeze1]

 

Good morning!  It is a partly cloudy Monday morning in London. I’m having a quiet coffee while I wait for Madame to get herself ready for the day. The last 36 hours have been a blur. After a great flight to NYC, we watched the Yanks game from the lounge and boarded our flight to London. TB put on horse blinders and passed out for seven hours while I thought up ways to torture her since I was up the whole flight. AA does a great job on their 777-300 business service. Although we didn’t have dinner on board , their was so much food being served. 

Upon arrival, we got through customs and immigrations in a breeze, found the luggage in a flash, then went to meet our driver and we waited....and waited. 

The hotel is excellent and we got our room right away and took a three hour nap. By then it was 1530 and we were starved, so we hit the road in search of chow. After a fifteen minute walk, we headed into the Británica Pub for a great beer and fish and chips (of course). I’m not a fan of mushy peas, but these were awesome with a touch of mint so ate mine and some of Pam’s. It was such a nice afternoon that we decided to walk though part of Kensington Gardens where it seemed the whole town was outside enjoying the weather. 

The Boss went to bed by 1800 and I followed her two hours later.  Although the bed was a little too hard for us, I slept like a baby (sleep deprivation). 

We are now enjoying a complimentary breakfast before trying to do London in a day. Thank goodness we’ve been here before.  

Next stop: Westminster Abbey and a speed tour of London’s highlights. 

Here’s the highly educated Boss asking if the little white cubes on our table were mints. Priceless.

Z and TB

 

Edited June 17, 2019 by Zqueeze1