Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome!

Cheers Jeff, if you are able to indulge in the Pecheur...where are the food photos? Or is it a liquid lunch?

[quote name='UKCruiseJeff'] I just wanted to encourage Terry not to be discouraged by the persistent nastiness of a couple of pathetic posts on another thread. I know it sounds really silly of me but I was upset to read the two snide comments. [B]Terry seems to me to be a thoroughly nice person. Highly individual.[/B] His style is .... err ...different! :) Never done anything to offend anyone. But two people have taken the time and trouble to pointlessly hurt his feelings. He will be hurt and perplexed by it. Shame on the pair of them. Jeff[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=] [B]V8Babe[/B]: I'm [B]another supporter of Terry[/B] - have followed his posts for quite a few years and always find them interesting and appreciate the time he takes to share his time with us. Karin [/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=] [B]UKCruiseJeff[/B]: I do hope Terry comes back soon to his old muckers [/QUOTE]

[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="3"][FONT="Georgia"] [B][I]Appreciate so much these very nice comments[/I][/B] from Jeff, Karin, etc. Both here and on that other thread. Nice to hear those comments and receive that support. Sorry that I have been swamped with work during the past week. I do some elections-related work here in Ohio and that big voting day is coming up on Nov. 4. Got to earn some money to pay for these trips and adventures.

Things are going well, but just busy, busy. [B]Had my birthday yesterday[/B] (while I was on the road all day up in Cleveland visiting TV stations there), but our son from Virginia is home for the weekend. Had a great dinner last night. It was at one of our town's top four dining places [B]called "Barcelona".[/B] Nice Euro feel and style!! I had an entree called Vieras with pan seared sea scallops in a wonderful cream sauce that included bacon, mushrooms, baby lima beans, dates and chile flakes. Wish that I had my camera and had taken some pictures to share. It was super, super excellent. My wife and son both had Paella de Costillas y Vieras with braised beef short ribs, pan roasted scallops, piquillo peppers, caramelized Brussels sprouts, sofrito, Ñora pepper aioli and calasparra rice. Sound good?

Also had a great, fancy dinner Thursday night at a high-end dining place here in Columbus in connection with one of the TV stations I work with here in Columbus. Great food, company and fun. Plus, somebody else was picking up the bill. [B] Free is always the right price!![/B] But, sorry, no pictures. Will work on that for the future.

Glad to hear that Sophia and Jeff are feeling better. Lots of college football on for today, including Ohio State playing at Penn State.

More to come, especially in November as I get better focused on travel planning.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, [B]Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle[/B] cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 161,494 views. Nice to be hitting this high of a level for viewership. Appreciate the interest and follow-up questions/comments!!
[B][url]www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923[/url][/B]

Great suggestion Jeffers....I do rather tend to rush things because I like to be organised!!

Spin, the BA sale is worldwide as far as l know....I'm looking at Miami flights.

Good to see you back with us Terry....belated birthday wishes to you, hope you have a lovely weekend with your son.

I half opened the galley today and produced a mini mixed grill for lunch. My big freezer has decided to misbehave so I'm keen to get the damn thing emptied this week then replace it before the move. ...much easier to do this end!

S :)

Good Afternoon Coolies!

I've been really bored over the last week or two - for reasons too delicate to elaborate on - and I decided to use this rather ambulatory time to improve my knowledge of some of our very local history ie within a few mile of home - and it's been well rewarded. I'm obsessed with social history rather than the more regal versions. I simply love trying to immerse myself into what it might have felt like to be alive at points in the past and trying to understand what it was to have lived then and to go about their daily business.

We're really lucky in that we have in our village both the site of an old Roman Villa and other relics of the past like a banjo settlelement. We're particularly lucky in that every few years a large group of enthusiastic archeaologists descend on the village - many villagers included - and undertake fresh explorations. These explorations are led by one fo the UK's most emminent Sir Barry CunLiffe.

[URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Cunliffe[/URL]

[URL]http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/BC1.html[/URL]

Barry, is a wonderful approachable down to earth Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology at Oxford. He is the sort of man who you can ask really simply questions of - as I did at the last "dig" like "Why go to the palaver of building a complex multi story Roman villa when they are so much harder to build and there was no shortage of space to build a single story building where all rooms could have had underfloor heating". In fact he is even lovely enough to respond to email with answers to equally dumb questions from inquisitive people like me. My last question was "Did anyone in Britain where togas during the Roman occupation?". He says he enjoys my questions!

Another real contribution he has made was to undertake the first in-depth investigation of stone-age hill forts - the one in particular being Danebury.

[URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danebury[/URL]


I was also reading more about Old Sarum, and it really saddens me that so many visitors to our shores will go to Stonehenge but Old Sarum has only 5% of the total number of visitors. But it is really interesting so long as you "read up" in advance. It is only a few miles from Stonehenge and in my view has so much more to offer..

[URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Sarum[/URL]

I hope visitors make the journey!

Today it was a "home" pub lunch of Steak and Mushroom Pie, with mash and brussel sprouts and some fine English warm ale from Cornwall.



[IMG]http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt210/sparkyguts/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-10/5F5456A5-2B1B-4B7E-87E8-2CAE4B35DB86.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='UKCruiseJeff'] I decided to use this rather ambulatory time to improve my knowledge of some of our very local history ie within a few mile of home - and it's been well rewarded. I'm obsessed with social history rather than the more regal versions. I simply love trying to immerse myself into what it might have felt like to be alive at points in the past and trying to understand what it was to have lived then and to go about their daily business. [/QUOTE]

[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="3"][FONT="Georgia"] Appreciate, Jeff, this [B][I]added historic background on your home British area[/I][/B]. Am I assuming correctly that you are near Stockbridge and roughly between Winchester and Salisbury? Have not been in these exact UK areas, but we have done things nearby in Oxford, the Cotswolds, Bath, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Rye, Sevenoaks, etc. Great, interesting areas!! Lots of wonderful history, architecture, sights, character, etc., in these areas.

Food and activities on [B]our Sunday in Ohio?[/B] Below are a few visuals and samples. Wonderful, sunny fall day in Central Ohio in the midwest. Nice having our son home from Virginia for a few days. Good break for him and us. This food shot helps compensation for not getting pictures from delightful dinners on Thursday and Friday evenings.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

Back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, [B][I]Sydney to Auckland adventure[/I][/B] on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:
[B][U][url]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139[/url][/U][/B]
for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 82,681 views for this fun posting.


[B]Here was our Sunday afternoon dinner at home with our son visiting from Charlottesville, Va.. Shrimp and grits!! A little "taste of New Orleans" and/or the south. Had good "heat" to add the proper, fun spice to make this dish so good.:[/B]

[IMG]http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm271/tlcohio/FallShots10-16A6_zps44cb0700.jpg[/IMG]


[B]Then, we did a drop-by at Ohio Stadium, 2.5 miles south of where we live. No game today. Watched a TV commercial being filmed. Right on the 50-yard-line!!! It was fun being able to walk around on the field where this coming Saturday night, ABC-TV will do a national telecast of our Ohio State team hosting visiting Illinois in front of 106,000 fans in this large, double-decked stadium. In the second picture, you see my wife and our son in the stadium with the TV shoot happening in the background. Also seen in this picture are the white goal posts and National Championship banners. Third and fourth are two pictures of our state's Governor doing his final campaign commercial for this fall's campaign. Finally, here is my wife and me in the end zone of this big college football stadium.:[/B]

[IMG]http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm271/tlcohio/FallShots10-16A9_zpsa5cbb2cd.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm271/tlcohio/FallShots10-16A7_zps31a53c66.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm271/tlcohio/FallShots10-16A8_zps31a53c66.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm271/tlcohio/FallShots10-16A10_zps99529246.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt210/sparkyguts/Travel/DE5D26F1-FDA6-4550-9C47-518A80674ABD.jpg[/IMG]

Foreshadowing?

Hi All,

Really busy right now with just three weeks until the move...:eek:

Thankfully feeling more human following the dreaded virus but still very tired.

Jeff.....emails are bouncing back.....maybe my iPad has picked up the virus!!

Happy Weekend

Sophia :)

[quote name='specialcruisegirl']Hi All,

Really busy right now with just three weeks until the move...:eek:

Thankfully feeling more human following the dreaded virus but still very tired.

Jeff.....emails are bouncing back.....maybe my iPad has picked up the virus!!

Happy Weekend

Sophia :)[/quote]


Sorry to hear of your ipad issues. Before you contemplate anything more drastic try a "hard reset". This will keep settings but reset apps.

Reset iPad: [B]Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.[/B]

Good luck. :)

I am looking for advice from any of the coolers or the lurkers.
We had an issue with SS and I wrote an email to them outlining the experience.
I have not published anything about it on the CC boards, because I was hoping to have it handled outside of enlisting the advice of anyone on the Forums.
The email was not responded to. After a month without response, I resent the email and I received a response that the person I was trying to reach was out of the office, but that there would be a response to my email by a date certain, which was mentioned in the email. I wrote back that I was relieved because I felt it was out of character for SS not to reply, and that perhaps my first email had been caught in spam. Nevertheless, the "date certain" came and went without the promised reply. I then wrote another email after the date had past and have received nothing back. In my latest email I simply asked
for acknowledgment one way or another that they intended to address my concern or not.
Fast forward, still no response. I guess I need to go up the chain of command, but not certain to whom I should address my email.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
I guess I could email the top guy.

[quote name='spinnaker2']I guess I could email the top guy.[/quote]

[URL]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34352689&postcount=3[/URL]

The email address he uses the domain silverseacruisesdotcom and he is known by his first name and next initial with no gap ...... that's all the help I'll give ..... ;)

If you do write I respectfully suggest you keep your note short and unemotive and respectful. He is very customer satisfaction orientated and he may (or may not) choose to reply or forward it to the relevant VP.

Good luck ... and report back!

Jeff

Thanks Jeff. I have his email address. I was trying to be respectful and use the proper channels. It has gotten me nowhere.
I will not elaborate on the issues I addressed to SS in my email but they were legitimate and not superficial. I suppose that is what irks me the most, besides the fact that someone promised to get back to me and then completely ignored me. In my line of work, when I worked, if I promised a return call it happened. And it generally happened within 24 hours.
So as Judge Judy says, "don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining".

Sadly Spin, over the last 10 to 15 years - as I'm sure most of us know - there has been a significant swing away from genuine deep individual customer issue resolution prcesses to a focus on superficial gloss. Things these days rarely get easilly resolved and generally have to fight to receive a response, then fight for someone to actually read, understand and deal with the issue and resolve it.

With the increase in corporate trial by internet there is an increasing market for genuine customer satisfaction management and I suspect this will come in time .... when a couple of companies experience how quickly they can be buffeted by a significant number of adverse reactions ... then .... ;)

Write to Manfredi with a very short summary. Your complaint is now that you are being ignored and request your issue be past to someone to handle to satisfactory conclusion.

Good luck.

Thanks Jeff. I will keep you posted. Again, I was trying not to air my laundry in public.
Just looking for the right thing to be done. Silly me!

[IMG]http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt210/sparkyguts/Mobile%20Uploads/Daily/6F039D18-E0C9-477F-AB5C-AEC237048309.jpg[/IMG]

Aha...and voila...the pizza appears!

[B][U][I]A[/I][/U][/B] pizza, you mean. :)

My one. I was in catering mode tonight and the host obviously gets the ugliest one. It's only polite. It was lovely though. There is nothing more rewarding than making pizza. Especially for others. Wifey hates pizza normally but she told me tonight that the one I made for her was the best she has ever eaten and asked me to make her one tomorrow. :D

Hey Jeff, you OK? You don't seem your usual cheery self - hope everything well.

Pizza looks delicious.


Karin

Good luck with the Silversea email Spin (hope that's not too forward of me calling you that ;) )

Sophia - glad things picking up for you.

Karin

[quote name='V8Babe']Hey Jeff, you OK? You don't seem your usual cheery self - hope everything well.

Pizza looks delicious.


Karin[/quote]


Fine thanks, and I've managed to keep my weight down since the malady malarky! At my lowest ebb I managed to pas back down through that medical profession imposed threshold to be merely under-height or over-weight rather than obese! So at my worst ebb I was actually - bizarrely - technically the healthiest I'd been for a couple of years! C'est la bleedin' vie! :rolleyes:

I'm glad you like the look of my pizza. It is a part of the celebrations to mark Guido's near success at blowing up King James 1st. Pizza, Rioja and Champers. Come back you Italians! More tonight. :)

Personally I think Guido was sent by The Pope. Isn't it suspicious that the Pope Clement's real name was Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici! Guido ... Guilo .... toooooooo close to be coincidental!

We'd been a country of happy Catholics for a 1000 years since the Pope had thoughtfully sent us Augustine in the 500's to show us the error of our heathen ways and were purring like happy contented and un-confused kittens until Henry became all hot and sweaty about yet another female and wanted to dump Cathy of Arragon. I don't think their heart was ever genuinely "in the change" though, because his daughter - Elizabeth - admittedly was no "looker" but remained a good Catholic girl throughout her life. "Like a Virgin" as they say. ;)

Thankfully Guido, having been promised a rather eye-catcing and crowd-pulling (but inconsiderate) execution inconsiderately died prematurely during the process and never had the joy of seeing his own genitals removed and burned. However he still had the joy of being quartered.

Still, I hope that our ruling classes are constantly reminded that they are merely a Swan Vesta away for being put back into their place.

Happy Guy Fawkes Night all Brits.

:D

And Jeff proves that Sunday fare is not always fair..as they say, fare is what you pay to get on the bus.

[quote name='spinnaker2']And Jeff proves that Sunday fare is not always fair..as they say, fare is what you pay to get on the bus.[/quote]

The pizza experimentations continued on Sunday ..... with a Chicken Korma Pizza for supper ....

:D


[IMG]http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt210/sparkyguts/Mobile%20Uploads/Daily/2CEC333B-755F-4CF4-A670-B098A97270A4.jpg[/IMG]

A question for UKCruiseJeff and other Brits:

After getting off Seven Seas Voyager in Cape Town, we will be flying to London for three days over Christmas. We will be staying at Waldorf Hilton near Covent Garden. We are having a hard time finding a (reasonably priced) place for Christmas Dinner. Do you have any recommendations? Walking distance would be great but willing to find a taxi if need be.

thanks,

Marc

[quote name='Marq']A question for UKCruiseJeff and other Brits:

After getting off Seven Seas Voyager in Cape Town, we will be flying to London for three days over Christmas. We will be staying at Waldorf Hilton near Covent Garden. We are having a hard time finding a (reasonably priced) place for Christmas Dinner. Do you have any recommendations? Walking distance would be great but willing to find a taxi if need be.

thanks,

Marc[/quote]


Marc,

You won't have a problem finding somewhere to eat.

A starting point might be registering for "open table" and glancing through this list of 33 restaurants and their menus that are listed as taking bookings for Christmas day. You can then either book online or contact your concierge and ask them to do it. Then just call on the day before and check they are still expecting you ... your concierge will fix any problem.

[URL]http://www.opentable.co.uk/promo.aspx?m=72&pid=584&refid=ppc_ggl%26ref=12428%26sp=ppc_g_UK_NONTM[/URL]

Enjoy your stay in London.

Jeff

Good Day Coolers-:)

Still a bit hectic here so trying to catch up. Still wading through the stuff that needs throwing out and hating the now bare shelves and emptiness.

I'm however happy to have found a local animal shelter who desperately needs anything and everything to sell to ensure the welfare and care of their pooches who are all in need of medication, having been abandoned by their owners.
It's something very close to my heart and I'm so pleased to help. They've collected a load of stuff this morning.....unlike the 'usual' charity shops who appear to be so very selective these days.

Happy Day

Sophia :)