Still no butler!

The first evening meal in La Terrazza and the first lunch-time burgers have been consumed and are as good as ever.

The Silver Spirit is anchored off Sorrento in the Bay of Naples - an extremely scenic spot. Early breakfast delivered by Room Service - the new butler was reportedly  'busy'. TSH and Diva went to Pompeii by a tortuous route involving the tender, a shuttle bus and a tour bus, followed by a walk to reach the site. All in reverse to get back, so lunch was at the unseemly time of 14:30.

But walking in the steps of people who perished (or fled) almost 2000 years ago is quite an experience. More of the site can be visited than either TSH or Diva remembered from their visits long ago.

Pompeii was built on the site of a prehistoric lave flow from a previous eruption. Which should have given them a clue about what could happen.

At the time of writing, there is no sign of the new butler but there are now 3 bottles of champagne in the fridge.

Taking a parrot for a walk

The last call of the first cruise was to Livorno, from where TSH and Diva took an excursion to Lucca - a town inhabited at least since Roman times. Lots of very narrow streets, shops and churches. Perhaps the most notable feature was the Roman amphitheatre, which had shops and offices in its perimeter walls and a circular open space in its centre.

Goodbye to Bright, who is taking 2 months leave. After a contract of 7 months, that does not seem unreasonable.

While waiting for disembarkation, the faces of the leavers were classic - miserable because they were leaving, tense because they were travelling, anxious because the food and drink bonanza was over.

The morning was spent walking along the waterside at Civitavecchia, in a freshly landscaped area. Nearby ferries were painted all over with characters such as Batman.

TSH has been asked to do something outrageously bloggable without embarrassing Diva in public too much. So far, he has not obliged.

Oh, yes, the parrot. Sitting by the waterside at Civitavecchia was a man with what was initially assumed to be a toy parrot on his shoulder. However, this was not a dead parrot!! After a few movements of the head and ruffling of the feathers, TSH and Diva realised that it was real, that it was sitting there voluntarily and that it was acting like a pet. The man and his female companion were dressed more like tourists than locals.  Do people take parrots on holiday? Can you get a passport for a parrot? No idea of the back-story here.

From Monaco to the Italian Riviera

The ports in this region mostly require tender operation, which is difficult when the sea has a high swell as a left-over from a recent storm. The weather is good (apart from a sharp shower in Portofino) and there is nothing about the sea which troubles the Silver Spirit. But transfer from ship to tender is difficult and, at Monaco, had to be suspended for a while during the afternoon - fortunately after TSH and Diva were back on board. The visit to Portofino did eventually go ahead but at one point it seemed likely that the day would be spent in Genoa instead.

They have had dinner with the Cruise Director but were appalled that they were not invited to Venetian night (for guests who have cruised with Silversea before). An oversight which as yet no-one has explained or apologised for.

The arrival in Monaco was to the old port, which meant that they decided to go into the old town and view the outside of the royal Palace. Different from central Monte Carlo, where they usually go, but there are still defibrillators at regular intervals to assist the wealthy residents who cannot manage the hills.  There were many helicopters overhead - obviously a standard mode of transport locally.

From Portofino, TSH and Diva boarded a local boat, which took them to visit the picturesque towns of  Santa Margherita & Sestri Levante.

For the first time, TSH and Diva have met a crew member from Kazakhstan - the waitress in Indochine was from there.  
They have an invitation for later to a 'bloody mary and mimosa party' in honour of guests like them who are staying on for the next cruise. 

Superb

A tender ride to Antibes passed closed by Dilbar, a massive super yacht belonging to a Russian man. The town presented an opportunity for TSH to stock up on Strepsils and Fisherman's Friends. He and Diva also saw the market, full of lavender, oils, spices and an array of fresh fruit and vegetables. They then made their way to the Picasso museum, where Picasso produced a lot of his works, some of which remain in situ.

A passer-by told TSH that his t-shirt was 'superb'.

France is not as it should be

The Welcome dinner was hosted by Cara, the cruise consultant. Unusually, she had invited a mixture of 'high Venetians' (our 2 Brits) with a lot of days and four people (USA and Australia) who had never cruised before. The mixture worked well, the only problem being that the tables in Indochine are rectangular rather than round, which makes it difficult to conduct a general conversation. The subject of Brexit was raised but fortunately everybody was sympathetic.

TSH and Diva spent a pleasant morning wandering the streets of Marseilles, finishing along the side of the Marina, before returning to the Silver Spirit for lunch.

The captain announced that because of rough seas to come, it would not be possible to run the tender service to St Tropez. The call was therefore cancelled and the new destination was to be Cannes. 24 hours later, the forecast has worsened, Cannes is cancelled and the call will be to Antibes.

All hail to Lady Hale and her colleagues!!!

Gaudi

TSH and Diva had pre-booked tickets for two of the Gaudi-designed houses - La Pedrera and Casa Batllo. The first of these was the most enjoyable, as the visit was early in the day, whereas Casa Batllo was very crowded and the stairs very steep. The roof-top on La Pedrera must be one of the most spectacular in the world, with its spooky chimneys which look like alien beings.  They certainly felt that they had made the most of their morning and visited two of the city's most famous buildings.

The metro was easy to navigate and the journeys not long.

Lunch provided a magnificent seafood buffet, more excellent salads and a frangipane for Diva. TSH had gorgonzola cheese.

Invitation for tonight for a Venetian Society dinner in Indochine.

A day of two halves

3:45 alarm and 5:00 departure for airport. Travelling is sleepless work!!

The only good part about Manchester Airport Terminal 2 were the exceptionally helpful and cheerful staff, both at the check-in booth (of which more below) and at security. The cafes were all crowded and grubby and Diva was baffled by not being able to order food without a table number when their table, and many others, had no number. The approach to the Gate was down a scaffold staircase and the journey to the plane was by bus. And then the heavens opened. Not friendly Manchester all-day drizzle but a real cloud burst, complete with thunder and lightening.  So by the time anyone made it to the plane, they were soaked. Including inside Diva's open silver sandals. The plane almost ran out of paper towels.

The Jet2 departure was one hour late and the experience gave a whole new meaning to 'cattle class'. Diva sympathised with the cabin steward, who had great difficulty in persuading one passenger to close his device for take-off and landing. He had to tell him the rules a great number of times.

On arrival at the cruise terminal, TSH and Diva quickly entered the luxury world of Silver Spirit. They didn't make the target 'lunch at 1' but by 14:00 were in La Terazza eating excellent salads, including a particularly good one with pineapple. No events at the drill, as Diva decided not to test the torch or the whistle. In an excellent example of nominative determinism, the butler, from Ghana, is called Bright.

New York strip-steak (Diva) and sea-bass (TSH)  for dinner, after 'my little allotment' starters on the special Silver Spirit plates.

TSH, who, in fairness, has a cold, excelled all day. He put the boarding cards for the return flight (for almost a month's time!!) into the folder for 'outward travel' so that a long delay was caused at the check-in booth whilst he searched for the 'inward travel' file. On arrival in Barcelona, the automatic password reader proved challenging and there was another hold-op for a while. 

Commiserations to all at Thomas Cook who helped to arrange this holiday and many others.