[conspire] Off to elsewhere; see you Oct. 29th

[Tony Godshall]

What a trip. We got to ride the Eurostar last year, which I think is a TGV
variant, as well as the Italian Freccia Rossa. 200 mph and 200 kph
respectively IIRC. The Italian one was more nicely appointed and cleaner,
but the French British one was faster.  And had airport-level security.

On Oct 12, 2016 9:52 PM, "Rick Moen" <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:

> I wrote:
>
> > The October CABAL meeting will _not_ occur this Saturday, Oct. 8th,
> > because Deirdre and I will be in the Sierra Nevada[1] and then off to
> > the Mediterranean.[2]  (We'll finally get to ride the TGV!)
>
> And we did, indeed.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGV
>
>
> > [2] http://www.seadream.com/voyages/11642
>
> Above is actually the _second_ (7 day) leg of our cruise, the longer leg
> from Cannes to Civitavecchia.  First leg (3 days), which was supposed to
> leave yesterday from Nice (to Cannes), was
> http://www.seadream.com/voyages/11641B
>
> And, funny thing that, just as we were waiting at SFO for our flight, we
> heard from our travel agent that the Nice to Cannes leg of our cruise had
> (just then) been cancelled -- because of engine fire at 2am on Sept. 1
> off the Calabrian coast (the 'toe' of Italy) en-route from Amalfi to
> Palinuro, the damage from which they've been frantically repairing in
> Naples's shipyards, while cancelling subsequent cruises incrementally
> through (so far) our Nice-to-Cannes first-leg cruise.
>
> http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2016/09/articles/fires-1/fire-
> breaks-out-on-seadream-i-in-italy/
> http://www.maritimeherald.com/2016/cruise-ship-seadream-i-
> with-105-passengers-caught-fire-off-naples/
> http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/
> seadream-i-fire-repairs-are-being-evaluated-in-naples.html
>
>
> Ye olde vessel is currently here in Naples:
> https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=8203438
>
> ...And we're here, in Nice:
> https://www.google.fr/maps/place/Hyatt+Regency+Nice+
> Palais+de+la+Méditerranée/@43.6950466,7.2630642,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:
> 0x68db894d7d179001!8m2!3d43.6950466!4d7.2630642
> <https://www.google.fr/maps/place/Hyatt+Regency+Nice+Palais+de+la+M%C3%A9diterran%C3%A9e/@43.6950466,7.2630642,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x68db894d7d179001!8m2!3d43.6950466!4d7.2630642>
>
> Cannes is about 30 km southwest of Nice (where we are now), no problem
> to reach _if_ M/V SeaDream I finishes repairs in time to haul ass across
> the Mediterranean to Cannes by Saturday's early evening sailing time.
> If not, our second leg must, too, be cancelled.[1]  We expect to have
> final word about this from SeaDream HQ in Oslo on Thursday.
>
> Meantime, we'll just have to put up with being in the south of France.
>
> (We have a Danube river cruise lined up, as alternative.
> http://www.amawaterways.com/gems-of-southeastern-europe-2016 )
>
> [1] Ship's normal cruising speed is 28 km/h (15 knots, 17 mph).  Online
> sources say its maximum speed is 18 knots (33km/h).  Port of Napoli to
> the Port of Cannes is 398 nautical miles = 737 km via normal sea lanes
> along the Italian coast and then rounding Corsica's north tip, according to
> http://ports.com/sea-route/#/?a=3426&b=3381&c=Port%20of%
> 20Napoli,%20Italy&d=Port%20of%20Cannes,%20France
> So, I estimate 22 hours' ship transit time from Naples to Cannes.  So,
> theoretically, SeaDream _could_ defer decision to as late as Friday
> afternoon, October 14th -- but reportedly will decide a day earlier.  Of
> course, the company must also weigh cost and revenue considerations, in
> deciding which cruises to cancel.
>
>
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