December 2024 saw us heading for Trumpland, in other words Florida. We had a three night stop here
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| Premium Economy on Level was quite satisfactory | ..with a business lounge stop in Barcelona | and a long flight to Miami |
Before we headed for the Silver Ray in Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port
Aren't you glad that the Americans are not into healthy eating. Do you think we can eat all this
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| A brief stop in Miami | ..before we got into food in Fort Lauderdale | We stayed at this nice little hotel |
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| We could watch the boats all day | ..though the madre did keep a stern eye on us | and this is the flat |
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| We were encouraged to find Father Christmas knew we were here | and we enjoyed the glass or two of the local pick me ups | That's the madre up there, we cannot escape her stern gaze |
When Silversea knew that we were going to be on board, they upgraded us to the Owner's Suite. We generously allowed the padres to join us there. We are not sure where they put the Owner after they threw him out of his suite to accommodate us. Anyway his suite was very large, very comfortable, and had a lot of "extras".
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| That's our suite, three times bigger than anything else | ..complete with our own christmas tree with lots of baubles | ..a very comfortable large bed.. | ..and a regular supply of tapas |
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| ..we are not too keen on baths | .. but apart from that the cabin was wonderful | We had our own dining table .. | ..our own gingerbread house, and an endless supply of buns |
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| ..buns on the balcony | ..and tapas on the balcony | ..introducing our new friend Silversea | . who gets to pull the cracker ? |
We think this old chap was Father Christmas, he tried to confuse us by not wearing his red coat, but you cannot fool us like that
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| We had a complete tour of the ship to check every corner | .. reception is not much good | ..and we don't think we want a hot tub | .. nor a game of chess |
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| ..but this fellow looks promising | ..we could perhaps order buns to be delivered to us here | .. or maybe a few cocktails here | ..and this nice lady looked after us in the Marquee Restaurant |
Difficult to thin we got this far without mentioning the food. There was as much food as we could eat, sometimes even more than we could eat.
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| Somerville's quest for buns led to hands on experience here | ..but probably best to stay outside the display | ..dinner at the Dama anyone ? | .. or indeed dinner anywhere ? |
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| Then we went to the Chefs Table where we met the Chef | ..chose our food from the menu | ..enjoyed erudite conversation with fellow guests | ..made sure the old fellow did not eat nor drink too much |
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| The Chef introduced us to his little friend | ..we are not sure if we like octopus | The chief's little friend supervising | Cheers Mr Chef |
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| A wine and food tasting in the Dama. | We prefer the food | We all enjoyed this experience | ..and in the Silver Note Restaurant |
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| We had dinner with Rico, the Cruise Director | He was a very nice man, but was not sure what to make of us. | But we ended up as very good friends and.. | ..he gave us a new member of the family - Silversea Bear |
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| Then another meal in La Dama | ..seems to be no end to stuffing ourselves ..mind you | the madre will probably put the three of us on a diet later | We are all looking un-naturally smart in this photo |
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| One guest and was taken off ill. They had 8 suitcases | ..they gave us a certificate for crossing the Equator | Dinner with some fellow passengers | ..and afternoon tea with Silversea Bear |
There were signs of Father Christmas everywhere, except in our cabin on Christmas night
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| He doled out presents, but none for us | ..he was on the stage, but looked suspiciously like Rico | ..our friend Alfredo is now world famous | |
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| We think we should have bigger Stockings. In the unlikely .. | ..event that Father Christmas should come by our cabin ..there is | not a lot of room for presents. But he did leave a Pannetoni |
We stopped at Aruba, and should have stayed on the ship
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| Aruba is a Dutch island | They got out big water pistols to greet us. | We went to a Butterfly farm . Boring | Butterfly on the madre's hat was the highpoint |
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| Same butterfly from a different angle. And we had a chat | with some butterflies, who said they were bored | You can just see us here. The wall is a bit garish | You could hardly call this beach a high point. |
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| They waves were a bit splashy. That was the high point here | Then to a farm that made Hello Vera. No idea who Vera was! | Father Christmas was around Aruba | and the Madre made a new friend |
On to Curacao
At least they had guns here
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| We did look for Father Christmas, but no sign | That is our ship in the background | We are not too keen on museums, but we went here because .. | ..they have guns |
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| Curacao is known for , guess what, | ..Curacao Liqueur. Comes in different flavours | The stingy people at Silversea only allowed us a small plastic cup | Then we found this big bottle, but never managed to open it |
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| She took us down a cave. It was dark, crowded and scary | ..we were offered different sorts of transport | ..not sure if we are allowed to sit here | ..eventually we decided to take the train. |
After Curacao, next stop was Cartagena. As well travelled bears we had been here twice before
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| Now then Boyzz, which car do yo want to drive? | We decided on this one, but they would not let us drive | Apparently we needed a Colombian Driving Licence | But we were treated to a nice ride round Cartagena |
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| We re-visited the statues scattered round Cartagena. | Probably best to avoid the Dentist's chair | ..and we are not into sewing either. | .and this is chess again. We avoided that on the ship |
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| Then they took us to a restaurant for an early lunch at 10 am. | But we are not bears to turn down an early lunch | .. we don't usually drink before noon, but decided to make.. | ..an exception here as it was a very nice restaurant |
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| A bit of an undignified way to get a photo | There is Santa again. Perhaps we should remind him about us | Os with one of those heroic South American liberators | The we went to this poncy hotel Note the Doorman |
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| ..where we enjoyed cocktails | ..and a chat with the guide | Before we went to another venue | for more cocktails |
After a couple of days in Cartagena, it was full steam to the Panama Canal
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| Unlike the other bears on board, we had previously .. | ..transited the Panama Canal | ..they have these dinky little engines to pull ships through the locks | ..and it is still as impressive as ever. |
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| That is the Captain on the Bridge. He looked a bit worried, so . | .we offered to help him navigate the Canal. We are not sure why | .but he declined our offer. But decline he did | We did get certificates to prove to skeptics that we had done it. |
After the Panama Canal, there was only one stop , Manta in Ecuador, before getting to Lima, Peru. Good for our geography all this travelling
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| The crowds to greet us in Manta were enthusiastic, but .. | ..not very numerous | We had the sort of compulsory stop from the padres at.. | ..the sort of "old stone" site that puzzlingly they seem to like |
And final stop and destination, Lima
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| Breakfast it the port could have been more scenic | Then the inevitable visit to old stones ...though technically | .. these were made of old mud bricks and not old stones | And we never did find out who this lot actually were |
We were picked up the next day and continued to tour Peru - We were to learn the hard way that there are awful lot of mud bricks in Peru