Cathygh

We have 1 free day in Tokyo, and it might be the only time we go there. Can any one recommend are the top 5 things to do that are easy to get to from the Mercure Ginza please? thanks. BTW we like history and culture, and may be a tea ceremony

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

It’s always worse late afternoon and evening when, of course, we are always on the ship. I also have a sneaky suspicion that it might be the air con, which is why I feel that I’m stuck with it until I am home. If I still have it after a few days at home then I shall definitely see my GP. 

Mine magically disappeared when I went outside.Next time I go on an older ship I will be looking for hints and tips to avoid it. Ice bucket in the cabin I read somewhere. We opened the door before we went to dinner and then kept it open all night, as that seemed to ease the coughing at night.  It has put me off going on Arcadia again. 

@Selbourne does your sore throat improve in the open air? If so I wonder if it's the ship's aircon? The only time I have had cruise cough since covid was on Arcadia, which has an older aircon system probably similar to that on Aurora. I had to have the balcony door open at night, which I've never had to do before. Just a thought. If not I agree with Snow Hill, see your GP asap.

6 minutes ago, TigerB said:

I hadn't noticed that it wasn't on the Epicurean menu. But yes, the fruit salad is always on the MDR menu for breakfast, and occasionally on the lunch menu. It is often also available in the Cattle Market that is Horizon, and at the Quays.

We used to have it with plain yogurt at breakfast, it certainly wasn't Greek yogurt and didn't taste like the Greek style yoghurt either. To be honest, it did have that fat-free taste to it. These days we have it with fruit yogurt.

Thank you. Shame they don't have it on the Epicurean one.

What great presents your lass got! Belated Happy Birthday.

I noticed there was no fresh fruit salad on the Epicurean Breakfast menu, just fruit segments or melon. Is fresh fruit salad still on the MDR menu? And is Greek yoghurt still oon it? Could be a deal breaker for me as it's how I keep my weight down on cruises!

I have not been in tis position but if I was travelling with a friend or sister I might very well want to go to the solo meet ups to meet new people. My companion might not want to go to them. If I was travelling alone but with family again I might want to go to the meet ups. I do not want to be reliant on my family or  a companion for company. But I agree there needs to be more clarity.

16 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I have never seen so many jewellery shops as there are in the Caribbean ports, especially ‘Diamonds International’ who are everywhere. Thankfully Lady S won’t even look at anything that’s not from Tiffany and we’ve only seen one of their shops this whole cruise and it was ‘Opening Soon’ 👍😅 I can’t imagine that there’s one in the Azores 🙏😂

I recall being told that the cruise companies own a lot of the shops in the Caribbean ports (and also in Alaska) which is why you find the same shops everywhere

20 hours ago, TigerB said:

Day 4 - Tuesday 20th February - At Sea 

 

We both had quite a restless night, with our lass not getting more than about four hours sleep.

We decided to go for breakfast at our usual time, 08:00, and come back to the cabin for some rest.

 

This morning we were in Aqua; the kids didn't join us. We were shown to table number 248, a two-seater that was about 30cm from another one.  Our waiting team were Rocky and Kim.

 

Afterwards we sat for a little while on deck 6 of the atrium, in order to give our cabin steward a chance to finish. 

 

After returning to our cabin we both read for a little while and nodded off. When I woke up I saw that it was 11:35, so I had missed the third of Julian Dismore's talks.

 

We went to lunch late, about 13:15; that was in the Quays.  Our lass had a burger and a piece of fried chicken; I had sweet and sour Quorn and noodles from Fusion, followed by a brew and a couple of desserts.

 

Still a little bit tired, we retired to our cabin for some peace and quiet and a doze. I went to the laundry to iron a couple of things.

For those of you that have an interest in such things, here are some photos of the deck 9 launderette, which is starboard side and just ahead of the mid-ship lifts...

 

 

 

Dinner tonight was in the Epicurean, pre-booked before the cruise.

Our reservation was at 19:00 and we were seated at a two-seater in the middle of the restaurant.

Our waiting team were Arman and Lalit; the latter was a funny lad with a beaming smile who, when asked how he was would reply, "I'm ticketyboo", and when asked if he was getting of the ship the next day, would ask what day it was, and that they all merge into one.

 

Tonight was Menu 1. I tried to photograph it on the board outside the restaurant, but they didn't come out well. A copy of this menu is available online.

 

 

Tonight we had...

 

Amuse bouche...

 

 

Starters:

 

Our lass...

She almost always chooses this from this menu, but I end up with the Fairy liquid mouthwash, and the parchment bread roll go untouched. I asked Arman how many of the latter go back to the kitchen untouched. He reckoned about 60% or more, saying some guests don't know the best way to eat them; he was keen to stress they get put in the bin and are not recycled.🫢

 

Me...

Even though the scallops could go with being a little bigger, I have never had a poor one of these starters.

 

Mains:

 

Our lass...

 

 

Me...

 

When ordering, I asked Arman if chef would allow it to be served as a single portion; it is meant to be shared by two. I ask each time and have only been refused once out of six requests; I always have the black cod fish to fall back on. When he returned he tried to kid me with his pregnant pause, but couldn't hide his smirk.

The encrusted halibut I had in Opal on the first celebration night was nice, but this one was on a whole other level; truly melt in the mouth gorgeous!😋

 

Palate cleanser...

Mango sorbet. Our lass is not keen on this, so I had both.

 

Desserts:

 

Our lass...

 

Me...

This is always my go-to dessert on this menu. There are still not flambéing it table side, but at least they are doing so in the restaurant, and not far from out table.

The ice cream chaser was pistachio 😋

 

Coffee and chocs to follow

 

Afterwards, we were supposed to meet the kids in the Crows Nest, and then I was going to join them at the silent disco. Our daughter-in-law was suffering with a bit of a dry throat, so we sacked it off.

Our lass was tired anyway, and wanted to retire. I took her to the cabin, got her sorted, and went to the 7/10 Club.

 

Tonight it was 'On The Rocks'

Another great set.

We had an excellet waiter on Aradia last August, called Armah, he was moving to Iona. I wonder if it's the same one? HIs cheeky sense of humour  sounds like him. He is one of the best waiters we have had and went over and above to help some one on our table who sent his food back every night.

45 minutes ago, TigerB said:

Well, not tomorrow! Lanzarote has just been cancelled 😕

Do you know why?

1 hour ago, cruisingiscool said:

Thanks for your advice. I expect the lounge bars etc will be very busy in the evenings  as well. I'll try to look on it as an adventure. 

You are welcome.Service was slow in the Emerald Bar and Andersons, a lot of pax meet there before dinner. I forgot to say the Infinity Pool at the back of the ship gets busy with kids, the others aren't as bad.

22 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Did you go to see the offshore registration building with the plaques showing you who had investments?  I found it fascinating to see they'd run out of space!  The tour guide was very proud to show us Mick Jagger and Bono in particular but I was astonished at how many individuals names I recognised and the really interesting one was the Welsh village who were making a protest to the UK government.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/crickhowell-inside-the-welsh-town-that-took-itself-offshore-in-tax-protest-a6752511.html

Wow no I didn't get to see that.Love the story about the Welsh Village!

We sailed on Iona in the May half term last year. Yes it was busy but you might not see many children around as they love the kids clubs so much. I would go to the MDR for all your meals but that will be busy in the evenings especially if you like to eat early or you don't want to share. Perhaps someone who has been during  a more recent school holiday can advise about wait times for the MDR in the evening.

12 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

The cost of living in the Cayman Islands is extremely high. I can recall in 2014 watching a lady in a supermarket buy a box of 10 fish fingers for a sum I calculated to be around US$15.  I dread to think how much now.

 

This website gives interesting information on cost of living for people considering relocating to live permanently, I find it very interesting to get a rough idea of basic costs when I travel.

 

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Cayman+Islands&displayCurrency=USD

 Our tour guide told us that many many celebrities own property there as it's very private. She wasn't allowed to tell us who as most of the celebs sign a document to say they want privacy but Elton John hadn't signed it so she could tell us where he lives. So they can afford to pay exhorbitant prices. The guide said the islanders had a better standard of living than on the other islands as their government was not corrupts and did not strip the island's assets. Don't know if that's true. She also told us that crime is low as punishment is severe - you go to prison for littering.

46 minutes ago, TigerB said:

@Cathygh, he's done three talks, all before we hit Madeira. Our next sea day isn't until Sunday, and he's still onboard flogging his book; so I expect he'll continue on Sunday.

I suppose he could leave on a port day. He's always at the sailaways..

We have done a similar tour (not the ship's tour)in Grand Cayman and I agree about the cost of the rum cake. It's much cheaper on other islands. 

We had Julian as speaker on 2 cruises last year. His talks can be bit cheesy and OTT but he came on a tour with us and that is just his personality. He was very entertaining on the tour. He is up for everything and will join in as many activities as he can. I don't know where he gets his energy from!

10 minutes ago, 0106 said:

@Cathygh We throughly enjoyed all of our private tours.  I highly recommend booking privately.  We used HIA credits to book 2 HAL tours.  I was unhappy with both because of the waiting and large crowds at the sights we visited.  I booked the HAL tour to Magdalena Island in Punta Arenas to see the penguins because it was a 2 hour boat ride from the port and I was going without my DH.  If I hadn’t already seen so many penguins it would have been a good tour but it was late in the season and there were fewer penguins than on my previous tours.  
 

Book your private tours ASAP, they will sell out.  I found people to join me on the Roll Call.
 

If you are interested in photography, I recommend a zoom lens.  However, all the photos posted on this thread (unless I indicated they were taken by someone else) were taken with my iPhone SE.

 

We used our verandah frequently during scenic cruising.  It was very windy many days.  Be sure to bring appropriate clothing.

Thank you very much. It looks like we will need winter and summer clothing, is that right?

We also have a shorex credit so we will be careful what we choose.

Thank you, we have booked this for 2025.

Can I please ask, is there anything you wish you had done and you didn't? Or anything you think is not worth doing?

Thanks

6 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Day 50 - Wednesday 21st February - Sea Day

 

 

 

Well I am delighted. I really like true crime and that’s the subject of all his talks. My wife said that he had mentioned that he was on board until the end of the cruise and would give a talk each sea day, so that’s a big relief for me to have something to look forward to on the long drag home. Today’s talk was titled ‘The Porthole Murder’ about a murder on a cruise ship in 1947 that he has investigated. It was very refreshing to  hear about a case that I’d never read about and his presentation style was very good.

 

He is an excellent speaker. We saw him on Arcadia last year and we loved debating the verdicts between ourselves. 

20 minutes ago, puppycanducruise said:

Use the shorex credit as soon as you see a shore excursion you want.  Some excursions are sold out long before the cruise so you don't want to miss out.

Thank you for the heads up. I am used to other lines where nothing sells out till close to sailing date

HI I'm new to HAL and have the HIA package, sailing a year from now. Can I  use the shorex credit before we board? Or do we have to pay upfront for any excursions we book now? Thanks

For Iona and Arvia there is a list of bed positions on a certain bookish social media site but I don't know about the other ships

51 minutes ago, NorbertsNiece said:

I've not looked at how much an itinerary on Scenic Eclipse would cost. The shock wouldn't be good for my heart!!

That's why we will be on Holland America or Princess. 

11 hours ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Any other Brits following here..... Ch 5 has Cruising with Susan Calman in Antarctica. Have watched the first few minutes of ep 1.... want to watch one straight after the other..... she starts in Buenos Aires then flies to Ushuaia to board an expedition ship.... haven't watched long enough to see which one.....

I've been following this live from and your own live as we are hoping to do the same cruise later ths year or in 2025. You have a real treat when you catch up with Susan Calman, we weren't going to do the Antartica sail by itinerary but I am beginning change my mind!

1 minute ago, D&N said:

As does ours. I was quoting from the pdf copy.

@Cathygh That's a Britannia Club and a Queens Grill booking with the same Main dining room shown in My Cunard.

Thanks. I'll tell her.