Wendy The Wanderer

7 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

Many many years ago (2005 to be precise) I took a Panama Canal cruise on Mariner with cooking classes organised by the Cordon Bleu school in Paris.   The chef was fantastic.  The classes - hands on - were in the kitchen at the old Latitudes restaurant with the prep work done on the restaurant tables (covered for the mornings).   So it is possible to combine the two.  However there wouldn't be any overhead mirror or loudspeaker etc I suppose.

Yes, we did two of those courses in the early days. On Voyager they happened in Signatures, using the galley for the cooking part. Chaotic but wonderful.

Presumably this tab just doesn't show up on the older ships that have no culinary classes?

I'm pretty sure we've stayed in 421.  (425, etc., but can't remember 426.)  Great value.

You could do something modest such as visiting the church of Santa Maria Della Vittoria. 10 minutes walk. So many great work of art in beautiful churches. There's also the Fountain of Moses nearby. (I haven't been to either, btw.)

Fingers crossed for Greenland!

Yes, La Veranda is definitely the place for as quick breakfast prior to excursions, if not the other choices mentioned above. Compass Rose is not speedy. In Concierge suites, you wait and tell your steward what your preferences are. I would call and ask if there's a waitlist for the cooking class.

Nice to see the Pierre NA wines. I quite enjoyed them.

1 hour ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

Sorry, my reply ended up inside the quoted post, above.

15 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

...

Last year on Navigator, they had a sale on some Brics handbags toward the end of the cruise, and I found one that was exactly the type of handbag I normally buy.  ...

Okay, so what's the deal with Bric's, if you don't mind me asking? I'd never heard of them and just looked on Amazon. I've seen Fossil bags onboard in the past.

I can't comment on specifics, but if by "land", you mean at the airport, then the question becomes, where are you staying? After a long flight, your hotel restaurant might be just the thing. Bear in mind that most hotels aren't close to the port or food trucks, but some hotels have restaurants nearby.

I wouldn't call it a plethora. Depends on the state of renovations at these places, and changes of ownership. We stayed twice at Le Meridien and it's now named something else and is temporarily closed, presumably for renos. Hotels don't last long in this climate. The Hilton has been renamed and renovated a few times since I was first there in 2000. 

How about boat trips? We did Lamanai twice from Belize City. Yes there is a bus ride, but not too long as I remember. Then a fairly leisurely boat ride up a narrow river full of wildlife to the magnificent Mayan ruins. Boat trip and bus ride back. We loved it enough to take a friend back there. 

Again at Santo Tomas we took the paid trip up by speedboat and then by a slower boat up to see the Maya refugees who live in the Qe'qchi village. It also, back then, included lunch in the town of Livingston, a Garafuna town which was also very interesting. The speed boat ride was a bit harrowing, take a hat with a strap or otherwise cover your hair!

13 hours ago, baybridge said:

Thanks for the support. Now I have another concern. The whole group of us are taking the train in Skagway into the Yukon. I found some other helpful posts in other groups.  One person was not allowed to take the train ride, another one was pulled aside as they entered Canadian waters. Seems that entering Canadian waters with a felony conviction in itself is illegal.  

Regent won't/can't stop the boarding in Alaska (confused as to why).  Rest of the group we are traveling with said not to worry because the person in question has driven a car into Canada within the last 2 years.  

I am the only one in our group who is concerned so I guess I should not borrow trouble.

 

If I remember correctly there is an option to not go into the Yukon, or at least not get off the train, thus avoiding Canadian Immigration. We did this one years ago, perhaps it's still offered?

Thanks for the wonderful pictures and commentary.

Any news from the world cruisers?

The standard balcony suite are lovely. Avoid extreme aft suites if you can due to vibration. Great theatre, great aft lounge, with balcony. Small, intimate ship, cozy at times if weather is bad. A bit bouncy in heavy seas.

Where is the lemur?

I'm not a single but we've befriended singles in the past. No need to just stick with other solo travelers. Trivia, excursions and shared tables are good for facilitating mingling. Many couples are not joined at the hip.

4 hours ago, JSOL1 said:

Sorry, I’m new this and meant to quote your question in my reply above…

Okay, so this is a token by the sounds of it. We lost something similar when we cancelled the 2021 WC, for obvious reasons.

When did the deposit become non-refundable? Is that the full, usual deposit for such a cruise, or a more token amount?

That's disappointing, don't remember this in the past. As for CR, there's no excuse for bad acoustic architecture--this should be integral to the design from the get-go.

Thats disappointing, don't remember this in the past.

Your photos and commentary are so amazing, I'm so grateful. Never got to Japan, always wanted to.

Thanks for the great photos of Bangkok. Brings back fond memories.

Mostly, I'm happy not to see the CD, as long as he does a good job.