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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Great Big Cruise Liners
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Eigon:
Baptist Trainfan - I've stayed at the Inversnaid Hotel! It was really nice - though I don't think they had afternoon tea while we were there.
I've only passed a couple of hours there, back in 1976. I was on a combined rail/boat/bus daytrip and had a couple of hours to kill between getting off the steamer and getting on the bus to Loch Katrine. I was a poor impecunious student and couldn't afford the hotel's set lunch, so I sat in the lounge and ate the sandwiches I'd brought with me!
The Loch Lomond steamer has long gone (although being slowly restored at Balloch); the Loch Katrine one is still going strong, on steam power, at the age of 115 years! I went on her two years ago and she was great - hardly a "great big cruise liner" though!
[ 07. March 2015, 07:48: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The5thMary:
Give me a small comfy room where I can lay my head after seeing whales and glaciers!
A number of years ago a woman from my church asked me if I would like to see pictures from her Alaskan cruise. I was thinking of pictures of whales, glaciers, eagles, other wildlife.
She had three professional pictures -- one of her and her husband, one of her and her husband with the Captain, one of a buffet with enough food to feed several small nations.
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I've just come across an ad for a cruise from London (Harwich)* round the North Sea to Iceland, jam packed with academics and seminars on related subjects (but also neurosomething or other). Looks fascinating but very expensive. And they lay down the amount of gratuities. Now if you have to pay $11.50 p.d. to the cabin staff, I can't quite see how gratuitous it is.
*Also listed as Harwich** (London). Anyone not au fait with the east coast of the UK should bear in mind that Harwich is not only not London, it is not in, by or near London and requires a train ride.
** Before anyone else gets in on the act, it is adjacent to the time-warp town of Frinton, beset with by-laws to keep it pure for the retired clientele. Hence the phrase Harwich for the Continent, Frinton for the incontinent.
Pursuant to the photograph post, I have noticed that the ship I shall be embarking on on Monday has no library, but does have a photo gallery - I suspect the production of such photographs and the sale of same.
[ 07. March 2015, 16:44: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Gramps49
Shipmate
# 16378
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Posted
The Fifth Mary:
Unfortunately, Cruise West went bankrupt in 2010. While no liner took them over, Un-Cruise Adventures purchased their website.
There are still many smaller cruise liners that ply the Alaskan waters. You do get closer to nature and have a more intimate experience with your fellow travelers.
Posts: 2193 | From: Pullman WA | Registered: Apr 2011
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HughWillRidmee
Shipmate
# 15614
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Bob Two-Owls:
Not wanting to start a pond war over such things but I noticed that a lot on the two US cruise ships I have been on. The British and German ships don't tend to tolerate that kind of thing, there is usually a disapproving granny to tut and tell you not to be so greedy. I wonder if it is because all-you-can-eat dining is still relatively rare over here compared to the USA?
Two cruises (Southampton start and finish), medium sized ship - we went with a couple of friends. Did our own thing during the day and swapped stories in the evenings.
Re food - we opted for freedom dining - no set times and different table-sharers every night. Superb food and excellent (non-servile) service. One couple we met said that they went on a UK ship cruise which ran from Florida to the Caribbean with 50% British passengers and 50% American. Insisted that the dining room was split into two separate sections from the second night as the Brits were content with the portion sizes.
For much the same daily price as a decent hotel I've been able to visit Venice (it rained) Dubrovnik, Kotor and Hvar and Northern Corsica (longer return trips anticipated) Corfu, and the French Riviera (Eze is brilliant). I've spent time in some magnificent gardens, Villa Lante, Gibraltar Botanic Gardens and the unbeatable (IMO) Huerto del Cura in Elche. Add to that wandering around Lisbon and Porto, being amazed by Pompeii and fascinated by La Sagrada Familia. Didn't expect to enjoy cruising but it works for me.
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[ 07. March 2015, 21:18: Message edited by: Eutychus ]
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The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things.. but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them...
W. K. Clifford, "The Ethics of Belief" (1877)
Posts: 894 | From: Middle England | Registered: Apr 2010
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
A few hours from embarkation. Weather involves winds becoming cyclonic in target area. Yesterday, I was followed to the hotel by a gaggle of cackling women - fortunately, it turned out that they were coming off some other cruise rather than coming on mine.
I have a fixed dinner time in a fixed restaurant. 6.30. Bit early, maybe, but if we have eclipse based activities in the evening, OK. Don't know how the tables are going to be organised yet.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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toadstrike
Apprentice
# 18244
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Posted
Hello to the virtual shipmates from the Boudicca cruise ship (Fred Olsen) heading eclipse-ward.
My wife wasn't too keen about coming inside the arctic circle but now wishes she'd come.
She wants me to book a later cruise (in warmer climes) for her to come on now. What a trial.
Food is great alas a year of bunny food awaits.
Posts: 24 | From: Welwyn Garden City, UK | Registered: Oct 2014
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Bob Two-Owls
Shipmate
# 9680
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Posted
The secret is to buy a dinner suit with expanding trousers and a roomy jacket. You can remove the top button from your shirt and use a proper bow tie to hold it in some approximation of closed. Always "pack for fat".
Posts: 1262 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Truman White
Shipmate
# 17290
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Posted
Be nice if they could share some of the excess food with the staff - 'specially the ones that do most of the menial stuff. Staff have their own cooking - it ain't great and neithers the pay.
Posts: 476 | Registered: Aug 2012
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