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Host Jazzbeau

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    Cruise Critic Host & 20,000+ Club
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    New York
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    Jazz, food, wine
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    the next one
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  1. It's mostly just a change in terminology. Door-to-Door still means what it always did. The middle grade that was called "Door-to-Door Without Air" is now called "Port-to-Port." The old Port-to-Port has changed the most, becoming "Essentials" and losing shore excursions [without getting any cheaper]. But yes, at today's prices I think I have booked my last Silversea cruise too. So glad I have two more booked at the low prices of the past!
  2. I am indeed planning to sail on new Crystal, but not Explora – in both cases because of the opinions on Cruise Critic from posters whose judgment I have come to trust. The negatives about Crystal seem minor compared to the positives [IMO and based on the things we value in a cruise], while the negatives about Explora far outweigh the positives [again, for what we are looking for]. Keep in mind that my comment was in answer to mike@sea's snipe at "the Crystal cheerleaders and the Explora haters on this board", which I consider unfair. In any case, I hope you continue to enjoy Explora as I hope to enjoy Crystal.
  3. I don't know where you went in NZ, but in all my research I didn't find many places that called out to me that were far from a port. Each of the three cruises we booked had some variation in ports (would have liked to see Napier and Gisborne, but a day would certainly have been sufficient), but I felt that this itinerary [with the addition of Queenstown and the International Antarctic Centre, and aerial views of Mt. Cook] was a compleat enough introduction that we feel we 'did' New Zealand.
  4. Not likely at this point, with cruise bookings recovering to record levels. But since Star Legend had to be repositioned from the mid-east with many itineraries cancelled, they may have decided to hold off on announcing its future itineraries until the world situation stabilizes.
  5. @jpalbny you are so right – halibut is always a nice upgrade to cod, and works in any cod recipe. [Arctic char would be even better, if you can find it.] A light Pinot Noir would also work with this recipe. But so would a full-bodied NZ Sauvignon Blanc*. Or, pace @QueSeraSera in the other thread, a large Gin... *PS – I just ordered a case of Auntsfield Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, that was such a hit for me in Auckland in January, from wine.com. Too bad they don't stock it at Empire.
  6. We seem more and more simpatico. If you, Mysty/Myster and we could get together at the Black Tartan – we would all be glad for my DW, who would be the only one fit to drive us home!
  7. I think all Silversea prices went up overnight. I had checked my two booked cruises yesterday to see what the old P2P fares would be [both althready higher than when I booked those cruises, so that downgrading from my D2D-no air rates was no bargain] – and today all three levels of booking are higher. I think Silversea is using this as a reset to take account of the much higher airfares and excursion costs.
  8. @mike@sea I'm glad you enjoyed your Explora cruise, but – having read every post on this forum and remembering the history of this new cruise line, I think you should have another perspective on those who are 'dissing'. Many were Crystal orphans [remember the timeline with Crystal's bankruptcy and Explora's creation] hoping for a new luxury line that would be similar to Crystal – and the early announcements didn't give any reason to doubt that. But between the first announcements and the first cruise reports a lot of things changed! A lot of early promises were broken. And then Crystal came back, the same and better! So Explora's job now is to find that new-to-cruising audience they seem to be bent on catering to. Maybe you are that audience [or at least open to their differences.] But have a little empathy for those of us who have been cruising for decades and know what we like – and thought that Explora was promising to deliver it.
  9. I understand that there is a revised version of this flyer, with page 3 corrected to reflect the same (better) terms as page 2. Can you post it?
  10. Yes it's a good deal for them. But since we will be taking the shore excursions anyway, it's also a good deal for us. I have no problem helping the cruise line when it also helps me.
  11. Ah yes, Gelato on the Rocks – great place! And they always had coffee, so DW never considered anything else! Good pistachio too.
  12. I agree that cruise line land packages are usually poor value propositions, but sometimes the transportation and other ease factors make it worthwhile anyway. On our first river cruise we took a post-cruise extension from Basel to Lucerne and Zurich because we had no experience traveling in Europe (except a long long time ago when we were young and fancy-free) and no German – I'm still glad we did that one. Next year we are taking another AMA post-cruise extension from Bordeaux to the Loire Valley and then to CDG – also worth it because it includes transportation that would be hard to do without a rental car. I think the Italian Lakes is another area like that, so you made a good decision.
  13. No – was that at Miann? We tend to stick to our usual favorites: coffee for DW [when we can find it – why is that so hard?], salted caramel or pistachio for me.
  14. It's supposed to start tomorrow (Mar 18). We'll know then.
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