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You must not have had as much!

We enjoyed our lunch there very much. It was more of an appetizer though, so we went to the grill for dessert burgers an hour or two later.

There were 3 or 4 but they tend to cloud the memory... Other than Hendricks I would be hard-pressed to name the others. There definitely was a traditional London dry type. Maybe also Bombay Sapphire? All were included. Last cruise (November 2021) they had Schweppes Indian tonic which wasn't bad. Not quite Fever Tree but it served the purpose; neither of us contracted malaria while on board! If you can wait until June I'll update from aboard Silver Wind.

It's very enjoyable. Sometimes we go. Sometimes we don't. We'll go again on our next cruise; already made the reservation (request). But only you can decide if it was worth it to you. Food is subjective; what's "worth it" to me may not be "worth it" to you. Make a reservation if you want to try it. Then look at the menu once you're on board and try it if it sounds good. Otherwise cancel.

That does burn a few calories!

Or after wine (just ask one of our regulars at the Cooler...)!

Oh well. We've been there already. Now I guess we need to look for someplace else... 😉 (Just kidding! They both look worthy of a visit.) We visited both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides. They were different and complemented each other very well. From the Argentinian side there were a number of great hikes and you could walk out into the middle of Devil's Throat. It was a spectacle. The power of the falls was unreal. From Brazil you got a better overview of the many different falls from the opposite bank. And you could get a different perspective of Devil's Throat - from below the falls level, not above. Will have to figure out how to get as many views of Victoria Falls as possible.

Looking forward to your Arcos de la Frontera pix! We were there a few years ago after a VERY long DIY day in Cadiz. I think we were both sleepwalking by the time we got there...

I know! #lifegoals Chris is impressed! And she wants to know which was better.

Coolers - anyone been to either Namibia or Botswana? Looking for a place to go in October. Botswana seems to have some great lodges and the Okavango Delta looks like a unique place. We've looked at some of the A&K itineraries and also the Sanctuary Lodges. Sanctuary also offers a lodge-hopping itinerary which includes a few days near Victoria Falls to start. We're looking for a mix of game viewing and "other" since we've done a few safaris in the past. We have looked at Namibia for years but cannot get a feel for how to best visit there. Some of the landscapes look unique, and we've actually done a series of virtual walks through Namibia on our treadmill... It looks like a place we must visit, but it seems that everything is far-flung and connecting the dots might be a challenge. Also, it seems that nobody offers an itinerary that COMBINES Victoria Falls with both Botswana and Namibia, which would be perfect for a 2-week trip. Any advice welcome!

We are doing D2D w/o SS air in June. We did our own air and took the air credit and the transfer credit. Pre and post hotel is still included. Airport transfers to/from the hotels are not included. This might be different from the experience of others, since it's an expedition cruise? Transfers between ship and hotel are still included. Sounds like you'll need to get a definitive answer from SS. Good luck!

We were just in 412 on Le Laperouse. Nice location and a fine choice.

Nice Pics Ron! This one gets my heart racing, though.

Go for it! Sounds like a fun cruise and a nice way to visit the region. We have really enjoyed our two Ponant cruises and I'm sure that you will also. The Anglophone group on our most recent cruise was a great mix of Australia/NZ, Great Britain and Ireland, plus a fair number of other Europeans who use English as a second language (German, Dutch, etc). It was a fun group. I also look forward to reading your trip report.

Terry - we had pretty much 3 full days in Singapore but only two nights. We disembarked on Thursday morning, and flew out so late Saturday night that it was actually Sunday morning (1:30AM). We did like the restaurant that Ron and Ann had recommended - Whitegrass. Plenty expensive but the food, service, and cooking were excellent. However that was pretty much the only "formal" restaurant meal that we ate. The next day we had both lunch and dinner in hawker centers. On Saturday we had a late lunch at a riverside open-air spot which was much more informal (but not cheap). So Whitegrass is the only restaurant that we tried (and can recommend) in the whole 3 days we were there. What did we miss? Plenty of course; there's only so much you can do in three days. Regarding big-ticket items - We didn't get to Sentosa Island. We missed one of the two conservatories at Gardens by the Bay (the Cloud Forest). The Ferris Wheel was closed for maintenance, which was OK with us. And we didn't get to the top the the Marina Bay Sands. None of these were high on our list but we would have done them if we'd had the time. But, we enjoyed the sights that we did see and I think we got to enough places to wear ourselves out.

Dinner looks great, but they overcooked the steak!

Agree. Can't log in any more

Welcome aboard! I'm glad the process was so smooth. And congrats on the speedy time from on-board to first drink.

I couldn't find our ship on the schedule in Singapore, for our scheduled arrival there earlier this month. But we ended up disembarking there anyway. 🙂 I've found that port schedules are pretty good but (like everything else), not perfectly reliable.

It's a script, M. Luckily I know a doctor...

Well... Yes and no? When taken regularly in fairly high doses, bismuth subsalicylate will definitely reduce the risk of traveler's diarrhea. At least, some forms thereof. Probably not all of them. Problem is, the doses in the study (2 pills or 30 ml 4x/day) can be hard to tolerate. It's not recommended to use for more than 2 weeks at that high of a dose. In some people that dose can cause salicylate poisoning. Always a fun time. Maybe lower doses, or one-time doses work. Maybe they don't. And I don't know how it works so I won't comment on the proposed mechanism. Me - I just take a big bottle of ciprofloxacin along with me. I had to give all of it away in India but since then, the new bottle hasn't taken too much of a hit.

Glad you made it without too much trouble though the hour-long wait at immigration/customs is just what you don't need after such a long flight! Sleep well and looking forward to following along on your adventure!

Glad you made your connection without too much trouble - but that kind of stress isn't the best way to start your vacation. Enjoy Lisbon! It's a beautiful city.

Some random thoughts on the cruise. Itinerary – this was great. We had some question marks prior to the trip, especially about the stop in Badas. Sometimes these ‘local visits” can seem contrived and uncomfortable. Turns out that we didn’t feel that way at all and we enjoyed that stop. Also in Probolinggo, would there be a real “hike” or just a shuffle? Turns out, it was a nice hike. We’ve found in our two Ponant cruises to date, they tend to work you a little more during excursions than comparable expedition cruises on SS. A positive. Komodo was handled very well. The snorkeling stops were lots of fun. And the orangutan expedition was great. The choice of ports that we visited was very well-done also – not everything was a jungle expedition and we had a great mixture of different types of port calls. Something for everyone. Ship – we really like it. Our second cruise on one of the "explorers" - we haven't tried any other type of Ponant ship yet. The one thing we miss compared to SS is that there isn’t an outdoor walking track. We hate lying around on sea days, especially with all the good food and drink that need to be sampled. So it’s a struggle to burn calories. Other than that, the ships are really nice. The cabin type that we book is small but well-organized. The common areas are very pleasant and everything is close together. The forward observation lounge has a big outdoor area in front for your viewing pleasure. The bar just inside of the pool deck is spacious and was our usual go-to place to hang out, have breakfast/drinks/etc. There are lots of tables outside on the pool deck where you can hang out (as long as it’s not meal time) and most are protected from the sun. And the Blue Eye lounge is such a unique place – I just wish it were open more often! Food – subjective. I think that you can tell from this review that we liked it. If you’re expecting an extensive menu with 10 different choices and multiple specialty restaurants, you will be disappointed. Out of 10d/9n on board there was only one dish that we didn't think was done well. I will say that the included wines this time seemed more repetitive and less varied than I remembered from the Corsica trip. Luckily we had some OBC and we could sample four interesting bottles from the list. Laundry – contrary to what we’ve heard, on this voyage at least the free laundry for Major status was unlimited. We confirmed with the front desk and took advantage of this. When the daytime high is 88 degrees for the entire trip, it’s harder to wear clothes a second day without washing them. We’d put clothes out in the morning at breakfast time and receive them the next day before dinner. Once they came back the same evening. Naturalists – great; comparable to SS. As above, the tours on Ponant are a little more vigorous, which we enjoy. The naturalists really enjoy what they do and their enthusiasm is infectious. Expedition cruises suit us well and Ponant has some great itineraries that we’ll continue to try. Bottom line – Ponant remains an excellent alternative for us. We slightly prefer the on-board experience on SS but that’s nothing negative about Ponant. Consider SS at level “A” and Ponant at level “A-1” perhaps. Ponant has a slight edge with itineraries and excursions. We didn’t book another Ponant cruise yet – we looked long and hard at an Indian Ocean itinerary – but it will happen for sure. Now, 10 weeks until our next (Silversea) cruise to Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Denmark, and Germany. With such short flights, we won't know what to do!

Thanks Ron! We actually found some of this in a wine shop in Tomar. Bought a bottle of the red for €2.99. How could you pass up that bargain? I will await your review.