Around the Seabourn Water Cooler... Off topic and fun posts here!- Updated

Denise (SF) passed several years ago ~we were friends ~I so enjoiyed she and Ken. A super couple who were fun, loyal Seabournites! Good friends of Capt. Geir-Arne. She has been missed as the others who have passed away.

Martita B

Heads up to all traveling to or through France this May. The natives are becoming very restless and will probably disrupt regular daily activity in the form of heavy manifestations and possible strikes. Give yourselves extra time to make connections if possible and stay away from Paris on May 1, 5 and 26.

Thank you for the info.

Bob

Matt

Ohhh no~~which Denise? I know several Seabournite "Denises."

Hope you're doin' well.......I'll never forget when you kindly helped me in Ft Laud take Capt. GA his "cowboy/sheriff" outfit, (even his black initialed branding iron) Eric De Gray, his Carmen Miranda spiffy hat and sweet Pres. Deborah N., her dozen red roses ~her mother, father and sister were aboard with her, all having lunch with Debbie. I hosted a dining room luncheon ~ We certainly enjoyed Capt. Geir-Arne, Eric, his cousin and several other Sailors. The dining room was packed ~everybody so happy to see one another ~once again a fun Seabourn family reunion! :D We made memories that special day.

Hugs from West Texas,

Martita B.

Martha - I remember our day in Fort Lauderdale quite well, meeting Deborah, Lunch with Captain GA, then drinks in his suite! Unforgettable!

Miss You! :D

PS - I will be on the Spirit in November! :eek:

Matt

Ohhh I had forgotten that Capt. GA invited us to his quarters after lunch....

I miss you too!

The 'lit Girl Spirit is special ~~~hope "Dag" is your Master ~~happy to hear of your voyage.:p

Miss M

There was a recent thread that contained a discussion about Bourbon Whiskey, but I am too lazy to do much searching. Anyway, in the current issue of Esquire, John Mariani, the Restaurant critic has an article on Deconstructing Bourbon, although he did not write this one. Here's the link.

http://www.johnmariani.com/current-issue/

Denise (SF) passed several years ago ~we were friends ~I so enjoiyed she and Ken. A super couple who were fun, loyal Seabournites! Good friends of Capt. Geir-Arne. She has been missed as the others who have passed away.

Martita B

We met Ken and Denyse on a Seabourn cruise in 2002 and became good friends. They bought a house from our builder, about a mile from us. Denyse sadly died four years ago. Since then Ken and we sold those houses and moved out of the East Bay. Last week we attended Ken's wedding at San Francisco City hall to a lovely lady.

One thing that is so special about cruising, and particularly on smaller ships, you make lifelong friends.

This is way OT but I have some friends from Seabourn with whom I correspond and don't have any other ways of reaching them because I have been hacked. Obviously I am not in the Philippines, because Seabourn doesn't cruise there! No need to send money, but if you insist.....lost my address book so this is just to let you know, I am fine and my email address hasn't changed, still @prodigydotnet. Drop me a line there so I can add your email address again if you want. Ta!

Jane,

I got one of those emails from "you" from the Philippines as well. Needless to say it was immediately deleted.

A couple of months ago I also received one of those Emails from another poster on this board. Wonder if it has anything to do with CC's security?

It could be from os many places, such as FB r other listserves. Took me 6 hours to straighten it out and the worst part was that my address book was erased. Fortunately, I have some captured on my phone.

Henry, I am surprised that you got one; had no idea I had your email address. To quote Rogers & Hammerstein"It's a puzzlement."

Jane,

I also got the same email from another SB passenger who obviously had my email in her list as well. As you say, it's a puzzlement!

!

After a three year hiatus, I'll be taking my sixth Seabourn voyage - Spirit crossing in Nov. I'm just checking to see if some of my favorites are still going on along with some questions...

1. Are the breadsticks still as delicious as ever?

2. What's a good excursion in Funchal? I've done Tea at Reids about 3 times :rolleyes:

3. Do they still do the "Liar's Club" - love that!

4. Do they still do "Invitations" for dinner? At this point I will be solo, so I am looking forward to this.

5. Market Lunch - always a favorite - do they still do it?

6. Any recommendations for a pre-cruise hotel in Barcelona? I don't care much about location - just something nice and safe....

Hey Matt,

Here are some answers.

1. unfortunately, the breadsticks are as delicious and addictive as ever.

2. If you haven't taken the tram up the mountain and the toboggan back down, that's a great thing to do in Funchal.

3. On most cruises as I recall they still do Liar's Club.

4. Hosted tables are still around.

5. They still so the Galley lunch, usually last day before disembarkation.

5. IN Barcelona check out El Palace in Eixemple, very convenient.

Have a great crossing.

Re: Barcelona Hotel.

Last time we stayed at the Hesperia Presidente on the Diagonal. Nice hotel, away from the touristy and 'unsafe' areas. This is the Barcelona where people live rather than visit.

Some good bars around there for a light breakfast (croissant & coffee) at normal prices as well as for tapas later in the day. Also some good restaurants and we found the concierge to be quite helpful. Plenty of shopping if that interests.

Plenty to do in Funchal without taking an organised tour:

Walk around the town and the lovely main square, and admire the fabulous mosaic pavements which you will find everywhere. Sometimes there is a craft market in one of the smaller squares of the main sea-front road which sells very interesting items.

The market is one of my favourite anywhere. Amazing flowers (and the flower-sellers all wear traditional costume, very photogenic), huge variety of fruit and veg - the custard apples are really tasty and there are about twenty different varieties of passion fruit! If you go to the upstairs section you will find some 'posher' stalls and you will be able to have a tasting of many of them. There is a huge fish market at the back, with lots of espada (scabbard fish) and tuna.

For lunch sit down in a bar or cafe and order a 'special steak sandwich' which is delicious and very good value. It's essentially like a hamburger, but made with steak plus salad and sauce. The bread is very different though, it is made with sweet potato in the dough which makes it very moist (and quite heavy) and delicious. DH now makes these as a treat and freezes them.

Take the cable car up to Monte, look around the church and then around the tropical gardens of Monte Palace, with the oriental section, an orchid garden, statuary, waterfall and also a small geology museum. Then either take the cable car back down, or be adventurous and take the wicker sled down! Well, part of the way down these days, when we were first there in 1982 it went much further down towards the time. At the very least take some pictures of the sleds.

There are plenty of other gardens to visit, the botanical gardens at Quinto Bom Successo (which also has a bird park) or the Magnolia Gardens. The municipal park close the seafront is pretty too.

If you're active and in port for a full day you may wish to take one of the half-day levada walks, we went on the Mimosa Valley one a couple of years ago and it was breathtaking. You are bussed to the starting point and collected from the finish and in between you wander through the high slopes and valleys, along the channels of the irrigation system, so it was pretty gentle but spectacular.

We are off to Madeira for a week very soon (land trip) and I'm really fed up that I won't be able to do any levada walks, as I've still got some problems with leg weakness after recent spinal surgery. But, I know I will find plenty to do.

Here is an ETSy site I enjoy and when searching for an Arctic pillow cover for my Pride cruise, I found one with Antarctica and thought perhaps it might be a fun memento for someone on the Quest itinerary. http://www.etsy.com/listing/95616492/decorative-pillow-throw-pillow-map?ref=transaction_complement (I have no vested interest in this site other than shopping).

Here is an ETSy site I enjoy and when searching for an Arctic pillow cover for my Pride cruise, I found one with Antarctica and thought perhaps it might be a fun memento for someone on the Quest itinerary. http://www.etsy.com/listing/95616492/decorative-pillow-throw-pillow-map?ref=transaction_complement (I have no vested interest in this site other than shopping).

Wouldn't they make great trivia prizes on Quest Antarctica cruises?

Yes, and there are many map pillow covers. Great for gifts.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/travel/36-hours-in-monaco.html?ref=travel&_r=0

36 Hours in Monaco

Should you be flying through or to LAX:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/booming/for-a-chef-41-years-in-the-kitchen-takes-its-toll.html?src=recpb&_r=0

Marseilles, a frequent Seabourn port. http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/travel/marseille-polishes-its-image.html?ref=travel

Part 2 of a great article on Greece and the islands, written BY EDWARD BRIVIO, a Food Critic for Esquire.

http://www.johnmariani.com/current-issue/

The link for Part 1 does not work, but there is a good table of contents search link. This article reminds me of the great travel pieces written by Lillian Langseth Christensen in Gourmet, many years ago.

Me again. Another popular Seabourn port. One of my personal favorites, too.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/travel/36-hours-in-buenos-aires.html?ref=travel&_r=0