Silversea Water Cooler: Part 3, Welcome!

[spinnaker2]

Enjoy!

You have the packing thing down to near perfection. Carry on bag and carry off you go!

[TLCOhio]

Terry, pleased all went well for you and you are recovering.....am l correct in thinking cranberry juice is good for this condition......S 😊

 

Appreciate MissSophia's follow-up. My wife, the RN, said that cranberry juice is best for lessening infections in these areas, not that much related to kidney stones. Yes, as Jeff had indicated, the "pain period" are pretty much gone. BUT, still not quite 100%, yet. Getting close, however!!

 

Looking forward to hear more details from JP as to what they are doing and enjoying in charming Prague. From our visiting there in 1997, twenty years ago, that is one of most favorite locations. Lots of great history, architecture, character, etc.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 179,676 views for this posting.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good news Terry, hope the progress continues. Joining you in looking forward to JPs trip reports ...

 

 

Todays lunch ....

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[MissSophia]

Hello Coolers 😊

 

The wet weather has changed and the clouds have given way to some sunshine and warmth......I've enjoyed a beautiful morning in the garden planting, arranging and then re - arranging..but all very therapeutic....

 

Hope JP and Chris are having fun in Prague....and Mysty is still in one piece over in Picton!

 

Thanks Terry for the Cranberry update.....do hope you are continuing to improve.

 

Enjoying the on board reports from Cam......sounds like you are enjoying the voyage.

 

Spins.......l do wish l could pack and travel light but no chance......I begin so well but then start cramming stuff in the 'just in case' case.....

 

I normally go into Ostrich mode when it comes to politics but l do understand the worry on both sides of the pond......Mrs May's current policies on elderly social care in her manifesto is not sitting well right now.....my personal thoughts are that this could cost her votes......but what do l know !!

 

Carry On Cruising.....😉😊

[Camillus112]

Talking about packing light.. or not. I packed for warmer weather than we had except for today, and hardly used my summer clothes. I'm packing my suitcase right now and feel DH needs to compensate for my irritation... how about another cruise in the dead of summer? NO, he says, with our luck, we'll invite a hurricane to join us...

[UKCruiseJeff]

Talking about packing light.. or not. I packed for warmer weather than we had except for today, and hardly used my summer clothes. I'm packing my suitcase right now and feel DH needs to compensate for my irritation... how about another cruise in the dead of summer? NO, he says, with our luck, we'll invite a hurricane to join us...

 

 

Hi Camels,

 

It's extremely sad that you didn't get the weather you'd hoped for. Sadly even in the Med this is a season that is uncertain, so even more so on the route you took. Sad Roberto has not succumbed. Keep working on him.

 

Today was ribeye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Camillus112]

Ribeye looks wonderful, Jeff. Enjoy! Tomorrow Blacklane will take us to our hotel and we will surely have a great time in your beautiful city.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hello Coolers ��

 

Mrs May's current policies on elderly social care in her manifesto is not sitting well right now.....my personal thoughts are that this could cost her votes......but what do l know !!

 

Carry On Cruising.....����

 

Soapy,

 

I suspect that a few days ago alongside myself several hundred thousand emails went to their local MP to explain exactly what was thought of the 100% inheritance tax on offer and you would have heard this morning that they will now introduce an unspecified cap.

 

The cap should be per couple ie per property and not per person. Because a £100k per person will effectively wipe out the inheritiance of the average couple that they pass to their kids.

 

We await the cap.

 

 

 

Dear XXXXXX, I hope you and XXXXXXX are well,

 

I realise that you are busy so I will try to be brief.

 

My wife and I fully get the "having to make tough decisions" mantra, but making tough decisions does not excuse making the wrong and blatantly unfair decisions.

 

My wife and I have worked hard throughout our lives and have now retired. I gave up a lucrative corporate job and started a business that was successful in order to give a better life to my family. Because the business had controlled expenses we paid extraordinary business taxes, VAT and paid exceptionally high taxes on our income. We rarely took holidays whilst we built the business. From that income I mortgaged and bought property. My aspiration was that I'd be able to look after ourselves in old age and my family and when "we'd gone" they would inherit it.

 

The current worsening of the care arrangements in old age has the effect of rewarding those that have largely contributed little or nothing too society having been either unemployed or employed on low earnings, many living in subsidised social housing and many also living on benefits, whilst penalising those that have done what the Conservatives have always called the "right thing". Those others who have contributed relatively little will pay nothing for any care they need in old age, but we might have to pay extraordinary fees that subsidise those paying nothing and who have contributed little.

 

The cost of care in old age should be spread across the whole of society and should not be another excuse on top of inheritance tax to confiscate assets bought from taxed income. It should not be a mechanism that favours and rewards and cross-subsidises people living in the North or those that have led feckless or relatively responsible free lives or those that are ill from cancer rather than dimentia.

 

The current offer from the conservatives is to have Theresa May negotiate Brexit and accept what is effectively a potential 100% inheritance tax, or have Jeremy Corbyn run the country and protect our property for our kids. An offer that should never have been made and a piece of blackmail like this will I predict have long-term repercussions for the Conservative party and Prime Minister.

 

I hope that you will consider how we feel about this,

 

best wishes,

 

[MissSophia]

My thoughts exactly Jeff....although l haven't seen the latest news today........and the PM is actually in our town right now canvassing....very brave of her as its always been a staunch labour seat......but then she's guided as to where she goes isn't she......which is more than l can say for us golden oldies right now!

She's making a big mistake.......😞

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hopefully the cap will be sensible.

 

Wifey is off for some dental explorations this afternoon and what we hope isn't anything too big. She has one appointment that showed an infection but the the treatment hasn't worked yet .... all fingers crossed.

[MissSophia]

Good Luck to Mrs Jeff......maybe time to open one of your vintage wines Jeffers to maybe kill the pain......although I'm sure she will be well pampered anyway...☺️

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks Soapy, I'll pass it on .....

 

I think she has a bad infection and because of the reticence to prescribe antibiotics it hasn't cleared with lesser stuff.

 

I've poached a lovely salmon which I plan to mayo. We'll have some cold meats, boquerón, some wheatberry bean salad with a light English salad with some Isle of White tomatoes - and no carbs this week as Mr Fatty must get a little lighter. I'm going to make it our first meal this year in La Cucina.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Ribeye looks wonderful, Jeff. Enjoy! Tomorrow Blacklane will take us to our hotel and we will surely have a great time in your beautiful city.

 

I hope they didn't let you down and London looks after you.

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! Myster and I survived our babysitting gig! We got home yesterday afternoon and we were exhausted! There was the expected melt down on Saturday morning when Myster went in to get the youngest moppet out of his crib. YM lost his little toddler mind! After about 45 minutes of heart-breaking tears he decided that he would give us a chance. Things went smoothly from then on. Thanks to all Coolers for their kind thoughts and encouragement!

 

Is it me or is the world losing its collective mind? I feel like I am on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. So many decisions that make absolutely no sense are being made by world leaders and others with supposed responsibility to protect and support the citizenry . Like Spins I too am waiting for the next shoe to drop.

 

Best wishes to Mrs J that her dental issues are resolved post haste and with little pain in the process.

 

Have a great time in Prague JP and Chris!

 

Have a great day all!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks for all the wifey good wishes.

 

She has just returned and sadly her tooth is dead and needs removal once the antibiotics clear the infection. So it is a Friday extraction. So there was no champers which I'd iced for her but she enjoyed eating her salad in a rather over grown Cucina.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[spinnaker2]

OMG, is that chow chow?

 

Sorry about the tooth. Will the tooth fairy give her some remuneration in exchange for the tooth if she places it under her pillow?

[Camillus112]

My best to your wife, Jeff, and I support the idea of a generous tooth fairy.

 

We were picked up on time by Blacklane and arrived safely at the hotel. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

We spent the afternoon walking about, since Roberto wanted to revisit his favorite places from 1976. We spent some time at London House, the student housing building where he lived. The Great Hall you may have seen in a Harry Potter movie!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Not wanting to start a new thread but wishing to keep the topic under boiling level, in the light of the Muse roll-out many Coolers may be interested in some of the thought processes buzzing around SS ten years ago when some of the idea of SS moving up-market (yes there is one ......) from the rather higher postion (imho) they had in those days with higher levels of luxury and quality to an even higher one with higher diems and more affluent customers even amongst those seeking a genuine ultra-luxury alternative to owning their own.

 

I sought of hoped that Muse might boldly move in the direction of "Priveleged Passage" that Albert Peters envisioned as being a possible way forward for the whole SS fleet and product. It was an interesting experiement that much to my sadness never caught on. Sad because it wasn't a bad idea, it was simply not rolled out in a way that would make it work. You have to see that work against the background of the smaller fleet of smaller more exclusive craft it then had and at a time when it's majour competitor was rather short of balconies. Those were the days. :)

 

Discussions on the areas the experiment tried to address become emotive and I invite Coolers to either at their choice reopen the linked thread or if they feel safer simply discuss it here if it was of interest. It was a fascinating time to see the SS thought process and product aspirations and how it seems the pursuit of revenue seemed to reverse some of those ideas. There were early warning signs about reconciling customer aspirations with lowering diems.

 

SILVERSEA SET TO MAKE WAVES IN 2007

WITH DEBUT OF "PRIVILEGED PASSAGE,"

A NEW ULTRA-PERSONALIZED AND

ULTRA-INCLUSIVE CRUISE CONCEPT

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=433533

[TLCOhio]

Wifey is off for some dental explorations this afternoon and what we hope isn't anything too big. She has one appointment that showed an infection but the the treatment hasn't worked yet .... all fingers crossed.

 

Good luck to your wife. Sorry about the bad news on the dead tooth. Having just come back from the office of my urologist, I can appreciate the "UN-FUN" parts of these visits. Today for me, it was the MD needing to go "inside" and remove the stent from last week's procedure. Got it done, and things are now nearly back to normal. Hopefully there will be no kidney stone problems in June during our Lisbon, Portugal, NW Spain, Bordeaux and Brittany adventures.

 

On another thread was the unfortuate news about the passing of super Silversea traveler Duct Tape. She was very unique, special and involved. Sad to hear. These CC boards will miss her postings, presence and personality.

 

Enjoying Jeff's nice food and other pictures. Continue to follow with interest the British elections. Not sure that I understand some of the issues being discussed, including about the cap. In politics, it is always easy to promise more and "more". BUT, how to pay for ALL of these costs and "free" services from the government??? Not easy!! Promising is easier than paying.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 214,379 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks Terry,

 

I also only knew DT from her postings, and she seemed extremely nice. I think as you've mentioned it in the unique confines of the Cooler perhaps it is appropriate that we all raise a virtual-glass in our virtual-bar and wish her safe travels in whatever that new adventure is.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Camillus112]

Yes, I agree we should toast her life... Cheers! Salud!

[spinnaker2]

OMG and hope all OK at ariana grande concert

[UKCruiseJeff]

So far ....."just a number of casualties".

[spinnaker2]

We are hearing explosions and multiple people killed.

That's from CNN

[UKCruiseJeff]

We are hearing explosions and multiple people killed.

That's from CNN

 

 

19 dead, 50 injured. Life is a sod.