Aussieflyer

According to my husband, I am the one who just 'disappears' - one minute I am right there with him and the next - voom, gone. I only stop or veer off a little to look at something and of course he keeps walking,😁

Happy New Year. Canberra started very grey and drear this morning but there is some blue sky around now. We watched the fireworks from our place last night but were well in bed before midnight. Canberra only did one fireworks show at 9pm so that made it an easy decision. Hope 2024 is all you wish it to be and brings joy and peace, thinking especially of those who are facing health or other challenges. J

And available on SBS on demand. Just watched it.....so funny.

I thought the Tattoo was on earlier in the week but is available on iView. I saw the War Horse puppet last night when there was a program looking back at the history of the Tattoo. It is probably available on iView as well. The live ABC concert is always a total waste of time watching IMO. Dinner for One is always hysterical, especially as we know what it coming.

Wishing all a very Happy New Year and a safe, happy and healthy 2024. We will be watching the 9pm fireworks from our place as we have a reasonable view and are pleased that Canberra is only having the early display this year so we don't feel bad going to bed before midnight.

Your MDR dishes look much better than what we had in July. It was one ship where the buffet was better than the MDR. Agree that Alchemy is by far the best bar on the ship. Interestingly the Piano Bar was basically dead every time we went past (even quite late).

I reckon it is almost impossible to get really good photos of whales as they mostly do look like floating lumps of wood. Exciting to see but hard to photograph. Love the SGHT fundraising auction idea.

Hopefully the small gift shop will be open - credit card (or English pounds). Like an idiot I did not take mine when we were there 4 years ago so couldn't purchase anything.☹️

So clever Geoff.

Merry Christmas to all from downtown Canberra. Will be a quite day for us, just the son and a friend for lunch tomorrow and mainly salads etc as we only got back from our Silver Muse cruise on Thursday. Wishing everyone smooth sailing, whether on the water or land, and good health (especially for those we know who are ailing). Fair winds to all. Jenny 🎄

I sometimes don't even bother with the oven/airfryer and microwave only. Pastry can be a bit soft but that's fine, my teeth are old!

Ah so that is a bit different so could have been some issue identified at the end of the last cruise.

Strange though that these pax had non-allocated guarantee cabins when they arrived to board. I have only done guarantee a couple of times and always had the cabin number weeks before sailing. I wonder about something unforeseen as I would have thought that the pax would have already known their cabin numbers.

From an earlier post, it seemed to be at the terminal - ie they were ready to board - and the letter was given to 13 couples. That is pretty poor IMO - a week or more should be minimum especially for those who have to travel.

Wow - we had heavy rain on Wednesday but has been only off and on rain since then. Friends down the coast have had much more than us. Hopefully will have dried off a bit by now.

True for you but I am from CBR and when cruising from OPT always go the day before and stay close to CQ - so more convenient for me. Obviously not for you. When embarking from MEL usually take the tram from the city (stay in the CBD) but then it is a bit of a hike from the end of the line to the pier. Taxi would make it easier.🙂

Sydney has the Opera House which is a wonderful venue for opera (not so keen on the concert hall barn), and we go there for that a few times a year, but for a weekend away, Melbourne is usually the one. Maybe as we originally came from there but there are no real family left there but we find it easier to navigate and mostly stay in the CBD which is better than Sydney IMO. Embarking from Melbourne is nowhere near as convenient as the OPT though.

Yes the shorts and long socks were quite the thing in the 70s and 80s. It was more the short socks and sandals with shorts which was not a good look.

Any short socks and sandals on a gent! especially when wearing shorts as well.

☹️ Thinking of you,

Carnival? What have you been taking Uncle Les??? When I was on a Carnival cruise, it was certainly underwhelming. 😂 And sorry if I sound a snob but plenty of bogans!

Enjoy the time in BKK and hope you start to feel better soon. I remember in SIN last year a couple of weeks after we had both had COVID, we were just so tired we didn't do much at all. I liked visiting Jim Thompson's house in BKK when we were there about 8 years ago, but I am a sucker for silk. 😃

Interesting that Muse is a Laem Chabang as I thought she would have been small enough to go up the river. From memory friends were on Azamara a few years ago (same basic size) and they were able to. Agree that the drive from LC to Bangkok is something to avoid if possible.

That's such bad luck - isolation again. Hopefully you will be both feeling better soon and then right to gain your freedom at the end of the iso period.☹️

I did Splendor to the Pacific Islands in school holiday time (stupidly didn't check dates) and the ship was heaving with kids, big, middle, little, in pushers, babies, extended families (cousins, in laws) etc. I have never seen so many tattoos and sleeveless athletic singlets in one place before. 😃 That said, we did have a good time but I wouldn't repeat it. It was the only ship where the buffet was better than the MDR.