Having flown with nearly fifty different airlines I have finally found an airline that I would not wish to fly with, even if they offered free seats. Rayani Air began services last Sunday (20th Dec). This airline is the first Malaysian Sharia compliant airline. Of course they don’t carry wine, which is not a problem, […]
For the last twelve years my wife and I have hoarded our frequent flyer points by doing our best to only use airlines in the same ‘group’ as Virgin Atlantic. In May of 2014 Virgin Atlantic stopped flying to / from Australia. Our aim was to have enough points to ‘buy’ a business class round trip […]
During the Corona Virus lock down, I decided to do a spot of Spring cleaning of my study. All went well at the beginning until I started to find things that I’d forgotten about, so of course I welcomed the distraction by checking out my own bits & pieces, which I had not seen for […]
You can sail the Danube or the Mekong or even the Amazon for pleasure, and not have a worry, but I doubt that you would choose to sail up or down the Shatt Al Arab for your annual holiday. The map will give you an idea of where we were heading – we bunkered (refuelled) […]
With a capacity of 800 you had to be seated at least 30 minutes before the show began. The Princess ships have their own dancers and singers, and their own musical backing – in addition, various outside entertainers are engaged for one or two nights. They would fly in – entertain the passengers and fly […]
Sunrise over New Caledonia For a time I was in a business partnership with a Frenchman, who lived in Tahiti and later moved to New Caledonia before finally moving to Sydney. I can remember him saying that for a Frenchman working for the French government and being posted to one of the French colonies in […]
As part of the cruise we were entitled to a complimentary visit to a specialist restaurant. Not being a great fan of Italian food or fish, I voted for the Crown Grill. In addition, we had a voucher for a bottle of wine not to exceed $70 (AUD). I’d never bought a bottle of anywhere […]
In my last posting I promised photographs of the public areas inside the Ruby Princess. This our cabin, on first impressions we thought it was smaller than similar Princess ships cabins. On a positive note it had plenty of storage space, a standard bathroom, which included the shower, which was one of the best that I’ve […]
Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship The quote is from The Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and the ship is Ruby Princess. When I took the photograph, Ruby Princess was at anchor off Dravuni Island, Fiji. Launched in 2008, registered in the […]
My new ship MV Juna, launched in 1951, 7583 gt, and built for Federal Steam Navigation Co. under the name of MV Cornwall. She was prone to engine trouble and had been in Sydney for extensive repairs after which she was transferred to British India Steam Navigation Co and renamed MV Juna in August of 1967. I […]
My wife & I currently live in Australia. We have five grandchildren (three boys & two girls). I have always been interested in travel, writing, reading and anything that simulates the mind. My only disinterest is sport, even though I travelled all over the UK playing rugby. I once told a teacher that ‘I’ll never […]
There comes a time that when you are offered something and it sounds great, you should be careful – but I wasn’t careful and agreed. As MV Juna reached Fremantle in Western Australia I agreed to supervise the loading of freezer and chiller cargo, on the understanding that once is had been completed I was […]
In my last posting I promised photographs of the public areas inside the Ruby Princess. This our cabin, on first impressions we thought it was smaller than similar Princess ships cabins. On a positive note it had plenty of storage space, a standard bathroom, which included the shower, which was one of the best that I’ve […]
The history of Qatar can be traced back 50,000 years. Throughout history various empires controlled the peninsular on which Doha stands . Qatar is the purple bit which is a peninsular, not an island. Manama is the capital of Bahrain and not part of Qatar. Qatar became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1872, and […]
