Picture quiz

It is that time of year and in the papers and on various websites I have seen lots of little quiz's.

So here is my quiz for the year, answers to the usual address, prize the same as usual (so that not a lot, just the satisfaction of getting the answers right!)

5 ships in picture, try and name them. The answers will be given on my next post, to be published on 2nd January - so come back them and see how you have done.

Good luck!

 Ship 1

Ship 2

Ship 3

 Ship 4

Ship 5

Comparison of Luxury Cruise with a Land Resort holiday

I have recently been talking to some customers about the merits of a Luxury cruise against a stay in a Luxury resort.

Of course when you compare a cruise to a resort holiday, you have the benefits of a moving hotel with a different experience and port each day whereas in a land resort you stay for your whole holiday in the same destination.

But what about the other things, like dining or movies or gratuities.  So here's a little comparison between a Silversea cruise and a land resort.

	Silversea	Resort
All open seating a la carte dining.	Yes	Maybe
All on-board gratuities are included, none expected.	Yes	No
Complimentary beverages throughout the vessel including in suite beverage cabinet stocked with your preference of wines and spirits.	Yes	No
Complimentary cocktail receptions (open bar and canapés).	Yes	No
Complimentary use of the on-board venues for meetings and presentations.	Yes	Maybe
Complimentary food and beverage for business breaks.	Yes	No
Complimentary 24 hours room service.	Yes	No
Complimentary in suite movie channels.	Yes	No
Complimentary daily activities and special events.	Yes	No
Complimentary nightly entertainment including stage productions, variety acts and live musicians.	Yes	No
Complimentary twice daily suite service with turndown every evening.	Yes	No
Complimentary personalised stationery in each suite.	Yes	No
Complimentary and personalised Silversea Chronicle – daily news and activities schedule.	Yes	No
Complimentary health and fitness centre, including fitness equipment, aerobics, yoga and more.	Yes	No
Duty free boutiques and shopping.	Yes	Maybe
24 hour, on site medical services (full time Doctor).	Yes	No
24 hour security (access to the vessel is exclusive to documented guests).	Yes	No

So what do you think? As expected, you get far more benefits and service on that Luxury cruise, added to which you get the joys of those new experiences everyday give it a  go.

 

Where does (one) Nautical expression comes from....

Do you wonder where various expressions in common use come from, especially at this time of year when the weather is getting colder?

So we have all heard the phrase, 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey' but did you know this has a maritime connection.


Way back in history when ships sailed with cannons for protection, they had to find a way to keep a supply of cannon balls near each cannon without them rolling away. So they developed a storage devise so that the cannon balls could be stored in a pyramid in a safe way, which was a metal pate with indentations to hold the bottom row of cannon balls, called a 'monkey'.

Now for the science, not done that for a long time!, if the monkey was made from iron because of the damp on ship the cannon balls would rust onto it, no good; so the solution was to manufacture the money out of brass.

However, brass will contract when it is cold. So, in colder temperatures the indentations would shrink so much so that the cannon balls would come adrift from the monkey. Hence 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey'.

No I am not so sure how true the science is here and how cold it needs to be, but it is an interesting story.

Now for an irrelevant fact, the "brass monkey" is the nickname of the house flag of the Cunard Line, adopted in 1878.