Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Four

[TLCOhio]

A couple of pics from Qatar Business:

 

Appreciate from Tothesunset these pictures and all of these details/specifics about your excellent experiences with Qatar Airways. YES, it seems that "things" went very, very well. Your wife's happy smile says it all. Great reporting!! Keep it coming on sharing more experiences from your Silver Spirit sailing and what you saw/did in and around South Africa.

 

THANKS! Enjoy!Terry in Ohio

 

AFRICA?!!?: Lots of interesting, dramatic pictures can be seen from this live/blog at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2310337

Now at 36,531 views for this visual sharing including Cape Town, along South Africa’s coast, Mozambique, Victoria Falls/Zambia and Botswana's famed Okavango Delta area.

[Mudhen]

OOOO! Wonderful pix of Qatar business class! We actually have a bathroom that's smaller than the business class seat space! haha! We have only recently started to fly business, as we usually use the included air when we can. We don't have many "points" to upgrade with. Teacher's don't get many pts!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Afternoon Coolers,

 

A cold but bright morning here in Hampshire. Today I am around ten or eleven pound lighter than on my return from Vienna and my knees have thanked me a little with a slightly less painful longer walk. So I am sort of happy today but I suspect that today's carbonara will not help lose me ounces. Wifey pronounced this "lovely" and ask that I make it more often. And some toasted ciabatta. It is odd that some of loveliest of all eating things are relatively easy and inexpensive ......

 

TTS, to be honest I think those seats are as good as BA First and good for you for doing it. She looks very regal enthroned there. :)

 

Linda, what do you teach?

 

And just a note to leave on the Cooler noticeboard for when Lois returns after her "op" that all her Cooler friends were raising a glass at the bar during her day and thinking of her and urging her a speedy recovery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[spinnaker2]

Ooooooo

Jeff.

Food looks so scrumptious.

Nuff said.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Many thanks for the words of encouragement Spins. :)

[Fletcher]

I just flew back to London from Buenos Airies using business class on British Airways. I have to say it was embarrassingly bad and shockingly antiquated, by far the worst business class configuration I have ever experienced. It was 2-4-2. I had an inside aisle seat. There are also two inside seats in the central aisle and one was taken by my wife and the other by a total stranger - fortunately a woman as it was like sharing a double-bed. Staff had to reach across passengers to serve them the disgusting food - in my case, smoked salmon served on a bed of raw potato slices. Bog standard wines. The entertainment system needed constant rebooting and had a screen barely the size of a mini-tablet.

 

I complained to the head cabin attendant and she said, well, we're getting better seats in 2019 and BA is investing millions. That's all right then.

 

Honestly, BA is a disgrace and a laughing stock. (It was a very comfy seat, though.)

[Mudhen]

Good Morning, All!

Just came in from shoveling about 6+" of the fluffy stuff. Not a big deal as it isn't too terribly cold. Even Snitch, our aged JRT didn't mind and did go to ground in the snow!

I'm retired and taught ceramics and sculpture in our HS and John (also retired) taught food service in our vocational HS.

Jeff, your carbonara looked WONDERFUL, I'll be right over!

And yes, absolutely...in the "it's 4 o'clock somewhere" tradition, we've got our glasses ready for Lois....so what if it's only 10am here.....it's bloody mary time or at least a mimosa! Here's to ya, Lois!!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Fletch,

 

Sadly human nature being what it is all of us judge largely by our latest experiences, but I agree BA is certainly past it's best days. Sadly, the reality is that BA is basically a large pension fund that runs an airline as a side-line.

 

The hard Club product on longhaul is poor because the herringbone nature of the majority of 2-4-2 of seats involved either climbing over someone else or being climbed over and that makes LH BA not an option for us and we always use First for our Singapore trips and any trips onward to Oz, but it no longer competes well with other line's F product. The Club World product on the upper 747 deck if you nab something like 64k can be as good or better than F. I am currently looking at theBA site daily to decide whether I should be triggering our extended trip to Singapore in January 2019 but I need ot burn some BA miles and a 241 rather than pay £20k cash'ish. Full price is around £27k although two can sometimes be found for £12k'ish.

 

Also whereas it use to be that the staff on World Fleet were more experienced and better than Mixed Fleet, now there seems to be an increasing attitude issue with some of WF crew whereas MF seem to have younger and more enthusiastic staff. What keeps us is The Concorde Room and LPGS and of course a large stash of miles and Amex 241's although they are increasingly becoming harder to use.

 

I think a lot has to do with how you bond with the flight crew and all of our flights over the last few years have been really great. Our trip a few weeks ago to Vienna in Club was wonderful as they kepy the booze flowing continually and I was pleased I had booked Chris The Merc to deliver us and fetch us from LHR. :)

[UKCruiseJeff]

Just call me Al Dente Linda. :D

[MissSophia]

Greetings All.......just digging myself out of the renovation rubble to post and take a break! Yesterday saw my bedroom stripped to the walls and today we are breaking through to the annex which is rather exciting but not doing a lot for my brain that's going ten to the dozen with so many ideas that change by the minute!

The closet company can't seem to grasp my 'Hollywood Glamour' theme and their plans are drab and uninspiring....so far!

 

Great pics from TTS....l liked the Emirates 380 business class with the 1-2-1 configuration, the window seats being quite private, cosy but spacious. Business on the 777 was terribly uncomfortable with a heavily loaded cabin. Think BA and Virgin need to up this game....

 

So lovely to see the newcomers to the cooler bar...welcome.

 

Wishing Lois a speedy recovery.....loving the food Jeff...

😊

[Tothesunset]

And on the question of cost of Business. Our son is likely moving to Perth later this year so I had a play on Kayak for flights with Qatar Business. LHR to Perth £4200. Stockholm to Perth at roughly the same time £2000. To say we get ripped off in the UK is to merely hint at the rapacity of the UK governent's taxes wedded to the airlines' impenetrable pricing structures.

 

So if we go we will get a cheapy to Stockholm Arlanda for about £100 each return, get a nice hotel on the way out and way back and trouser £2000 each compared with leaving from LHR.

[TLCOhio]

I just flew back to London from Buenos Airies using business class on British Airways. I have to say it was embarrassingly bad and shockingly antiquated, by far the worst business class configuration I have ever experienced. It was 2-4-2. I had an inside aisle seat.

 

Great food views from Jeff. Looking good!! Plus, challenges on clearing snow in New York and remodeling issues.

 

Interesting discussions on the various airlines, their seating arrangements, who is doing well (and not), etc.

 

Sunday afternoon, we fly on Cathay Pacific from Chicago to Hong Kong on a Boeing 777. BUT, fortunately, we have both business class and a 1-2-1 seating set-up. That works so much better than worrying about needing to climb over people, etc. It's a 15-hour and 50-minute flight. AND, we have window seats. Wonderful!! Will take some visuals to share later. Expecting decent food and service from Cathay Pacific. And, a number of drinks and decent wine samplings.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean adventure that started in Barbados, here is the link for that live/blog. Many visuals from this amazing river and Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, San Juan, etc.):

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 54,868 views for these postings.

[Lois R]

Hi friends, just want to say everything went well and I am home from the hospital now:D........to be totally honest, right

now I am not even sore......(may be that the pain meds are working LOL) but seriously, Dr said everything went well.

I am now home bound until ?.............I will probably go stir crazy by this weekend:eek:

[UKCruiseJeff]

Excellent news L.

 

I cooked a snack for you ......:D

 

Take it easy.

[spinnaker2]

Welcome home.

Now rest and recuperate and recover.

:-)

[Lois R]

Thanks:D

 

GO JAGS:D

[Mudhen]

YIPEE! So glad that all went well and you're feeling fairly perky! I will now open that bottle of wine and toast to your good health!

[jpalbny]

Yay for Lois! Welcome home, now rest up and recuperate. Glad to hear good news from you. :)

 

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[MLeh]

So good to know all is well, Lois. May your recovery continue going well.

 

 

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[Bill B]

Lois,

I'm glad to hear all went well.

 

The best business class I've experienced was on Emirates from Incheon to Copenhagen... upgraded from Economy -

 

 

The seat goes horizontal... they'll give you a mattress and down pillows & duvet. Theres a bar at the back with premium liquors... sweet!

[jillyf]

We have just booked Melbourne to Paris then Venice to Melbourne in Qatar business class. $A6000! That is nearly the lowest I could find on Kayak, zuji, or momondo. Southern China Airways were always cheaper but reviews are mixed and we like Qatar.

 

Like your pasta Jeff. My favourite when I go Italian.

 

Off for dinner. It’s 39.5C out so not looking forward to it.

[Tothesunset]

We have just booked Melbourne to Paris then Venice to Melbourne in Qatar business class. $A6000! That is nearly the lowest I could find on Kayak, zuji, or momondo. Southern China Airways were always cheaper but reviews are mixed and we like Qatar.

The prices seem very much determined by the point of departure.If we fly 2 hrs to Stockholm the Qatar business flights are less than half what they would be if we flew from London. Madness.

[Tothesunset]

Lois,

I'm glad to hear all went well.

 

The best business class I've experienced was on Emirates from Incheon to Copenhagen... upgraded from Economy -

 

 

The seat goes horizontal... they'll give you a mattress and down pillows & duvet. Theres a bar at the back with premium liquors... sweet!

The Etihad, Emirates, Qatar trio really lead the way. They are constantly competing with each other for the kudos of having the World's best airline and the business product seems to be the focus of their efforts. Good for us.

[Mudhen]

We have just booked Melbourne to Paris then Venice to Melbourne in Qatar business class. $A6000! That is nearly the lowest I could find on Kayak, zuji, or momondo. Southern China Airways were always cheaper but reviews are mixed and we like Qatar.

 

Like your pasta Jeff. My favourite when I go Italian.

 

Off for dinner. It’s 39.5C out so not looking forward to it.

 

Morning, all.....

WOW! It's about 5 f here with 8" of new snow....brrrrr! Kinda nippy....Snitchy hated it and he's pretty tuff!!!

[spinnaker2]

43 F here in South Florida.

Iguanas dropping from trees again.

Brrrrrrr.