Homeward Bound

The morning for disembarkation at Southampton started with heavy rain and a strong wind but this quickly turned to blue sky and calmer weather.

Diva and TSH were very impressed with the Southampton arrangements to transfer them to where they had left the car at the departure terminal. At 08:38 they were on their way home.

The first thing they encountered was a huge queue for petrol and signs saying no petrol on the M27 and M3. TSH had planned on an easy departure from Southampton and had filled the petrol tank up before departing on the cruise.

They had both enjoyed the cruise and TSH’s thoughts moved to planning the trips on the next cruise which is booked for the spring of 2022.

TSH asked his daughter, who works for the RSPB, to identify the birds seen at Dundee and on the voyage back to Southampton. The birds at Dundee turned out to be guillemots (same family as the auks he had diagnosed himself) and the little birds on the ship were meadow pipits wisely moving south for the winter.

Gannets, Auks and a free loading goose

TSH was interested in the little auks that were swimming around the ship at Dundee. They were clearly visible as they swam and dived and chased fish underwater, using very rapid wing beats.

The ship had an escort on the way to Southampton. Gannets glided alongside the ship, whilst a group of small birds and a goose chose to sit it out on deck rather than fly.

Diva and TSH avoided the pub lunch in the bar on the last day. They have experienced the Silversea view of a British pub on earlier cruises. They have never heard songs like ‘Knees up Mother Brown’ in any actual British pub.

The remaining onboard credit was spent, although the prices onboard are high and VAT has to be paid because the ship has never left Britain on the voyage.

Packing to go home is arguably easier than before travelling but dirty washing is sorted so that it is already batched up ready for washing machine loads. The butler did offer to pack but Diva and TSH like to know where things are when they get home.

The wild penguins of Dundee

 After many hours sitting in the Firth of Forth outside Leith, the Silver Spirit eventually wound its way slowly to Dundee, arriving a day early. On the bonus day, TSH and Diva joined the complementary bus to Edinburgh and were able to go ahead with their planned walk around the Old Town. Dinner was their final (for this cruise) pizza in the open air in Spaccanapoli.

They visited Glamis Castle and were greeted yet again by a lone piper. It was a good tour, bur a little disappointing for Diva, who had expected to see more of the rooms connected with the Royal Family and less of the old kitchens converted into showrooms for the animal heads, bearskins and suits of armour. Not to mention the stone spiral staircases.

The penguins were brought to Dundee by Scott of the Antarctic and released into the river when the local zoo could no longer accommodate them. They moved along the river to Broughty Ferry (the upmarket part of the area) and established a successful colony. Google does not know about this event, so it was lucky that TSH and Diva had an informative local guide.

No port in a storm

 The arrival in Leith dock was scheduled for 4:30 am. In TSH’s words, there was ‘banging and crashing’ all night, so they assumed that the Silver Spirit had passed through the lock and entered the small port of Leith. Turned out the entry to the lock had failed because of high winds and swell, the lock was closed by the port authority and the ship was at anchor in the Firth. Eventually, Captain Arma decided that it would not be possible to call at Leith and hence Edinburgh on either of the two scheduled days and he was looking for an alternative. By then, TSH and Diva had got up especially early to be ready to take the first shuttle bus to Edinburgh and Diva had eaten her sightseeing breakfast of bacon rolls.

The cruise director (who invited TSH and Diva to dine with him on Venetian night) decided to organise a ‘country fair’ to entertain guests who would be experiencing an extra (maybe 2 extra) day(s) at sea. The main attraction is the towel and napkin folding (attended by 3 guests last time) and they are promised golf. There is much bunting.

TSH had experienced a personal crisis earlier when he was searching throughout the suite for his ship card – which he never loses, as that is Diva’s department. There was a card on the worktop, but that was Diva’s. The search eventually reached her handbag, where she had carefully stored his card instead of her own.

There is still no information about what is to happen next or where Silver Spirit is going. Food and service still excellent.

Culture wars

 The sea became very rough during the enforced day at sea and TSH and Diva had lunch on Deck 4 instead of the usual Deck 7, so as to stay in the more stable part of the ship. They took some of the stugeron they always carry with them and kept themselves healthy. They enjoyed the time-killing circular tour around the Orkneys in spite of the weather, as some of the scenery is very dramatic.

In St Magnus’ cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney, TSH and Dive were asked to leave contact details for Covid purposes, so Diva offered the QR code to her NHS app. She was reminded very firmly that she was now in Scotland, a devolved nation with its own Parliament and that her English customs were not welcome.

As there are so few guests on board, a number of travel agents have joined the Silver Spirit for promotional purposes. They are largely younger than the other guests and are determined to have a good time. Complaints have been made by some guests, alleging that ‘they are noisy’, ‘they drink alcohol at 9:30 in the morning’ and – the ultimate taboo – ‘cheated at trivia’.

Is it a sign of the ultimate culture war of civilisations that Diva found a picture of ET on a tombstone the cathedral?

Stormin’ away from Stornoway – again

 The call at Oban was a success – a white-knuckle (for Diva) tender ride followed by a walk along the seafront for air and exercise and bird spotting.

For the second time on this voyage, the weather conditions at Stornoway were not favourable for tender operations and the call was cancelled. TSH had been following the weather forecast and had been predicting this for several days. The sea is a little rougher – TSH and Diva are not venturing outside or onto the higher decks. But they have travelled through far worse in the past and they are well and have plenty to do including booking food deliveries for when they are back at home. They will not need to attend the cappuccino art lesson or the napkin or towel folding demonstrations.

The cancellation of the tour at Stornoway has left Diva with the problem of how to spend the remaining onboard credit. No doubt she will find a solution to this problem before reaching Southampton.

 

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The crew make a run for it

In Falmouth, TSH and Diva made it to the beach and promenade area and took a good look at the Brend hotel for future reference. This is their favourite UK hotel chain – like a cruise on land – but they have not stayed at the Falmouth one yet.

The days on the ship have been filled with Tai Chi, development of TSH’s steam engine website and Diva’s work on her astronomy course. She has already upset the course director by asking too many questions (she made constructive suggestions about how to improve the presentation of the maths) and has been told to spend some time improving her maths and IT skills. For those readers who are not aware, Diva has a BSc in Mathematics and had a long career in IT. War has been declared.

The prettiest view of Fishguard is from the ship, so TSH and Diva remained on board to enjoy it. However, some of the crew, who have not been allowed off the Silver Spirit for months, were treated to a short excursion to climb a hill and look down at the sea and the ship. As one put it: ‘We were so happy to breathe fresh air’. They have access to very little outside space. One of the older waiters (25 years with Silversea) at dinner was complaining about aching legs from the climb.

The spectacular sail-in to Greenock was enhanced by the lone piper at the quayside – a feature of most of the Scottish ports so far. Someone from the US asked where the pipers were – he could not believe that so much noise came from one person and one instrument.

On their 20^th wedding anniversary, Diva and TSH had pink champagne, a chocolate cake and a lot of fuss from the waiters.

TSH is really on a roll

Diva went to the Spa to have her nails done – an excellent experience apart from the continual up-selling. The spa doctor popped into the pre-treatment ‘mood room’ (Diva had insisted the lights be left on) to discuss treatment for any aches and pains. Given the average age of guests, it is unlikely that there are many without aches and pains. The nail technician tried to sell reflexology, eye cream and a more extensive manicure before working out that the number of days Diva had been on the ship mandated a full pedicure. The spa manager appeared at the end to recite a list of possible treatments.  

Meanwhile, TSH spoke to the Hotel Director and Guest Relations Manager. After a brief discussion about the lack of wifi in the suite and the lack of response to this being reported on many occasions, it was agreed that they would be upgraded to a different part of the ship. The butler was to arrange the move during the morning, reception said it would take 10 minutes and TSH and Diva were to retain the services of the same butler and suite attendant. By lunch-time there had been no progress. Eventually the move took place in the late afternoon, with TSH and 2 butlers working hard for 45 minutes. Diva stayed out of the way, but then spent another hour rearranging her things. Her clothes had all been hung in the wrong order and the suite is a mirror image of the first one, so it is all very confusing.

TSH also raised the issue of the additional onboard credit which had been promised verbally when the itinerary was changed from northern Europe to around Britain again. This was news to the Hotel Director and the Guests Relations Manager but the money had been credited to the account by lunch time. All excursions and Diva’s nail treatment have now been covered by onboard credit.

Internet is now available!!.

TSH arranged the new ship cards for the new suite but in the chaos of the move Diva carried hers next to her phone with the result that she could not open the suite door the first time she tried to use it.

There are only 147 guests on this leg of the cruise. As the ship is designed for about 600 passengers it feels quite empty. Especially when in the evening they are spread between 5 inclusive and 2 chargeable restaurants.

All set to repeat the previous 12 days and go round again.

In which TSH does everyone a favour

 Part-way through the first leg of the cruise, TSH visited the shore concierge to enquire about the complementary Southampton excursions for transit guests. ‘News to us’, they said. ‘Where did you get that idea from?’ He showed them the small print on his cruise ticket, they arranged a complementary tour to Stonehenge and 23 guests had an interesting morning out in bright sunshine. Quote of the day from a fellow guest: ‘Why did they build it so far away from everything?’

When starting an excursion, the guide reads out a risk assessment statement (very tedious on the nth excursion) from Silversea. When they got to the bit about the hand gel dispenser installed on every tour bus, Diva, who is not usually a heckler, called out that on this bus it was empty. Apparently it was not empty but had solidified. So that’s all right then.

Reboarding the ship was not possible until both had a negative lateral flow test. Combined with the daily temperature check carried out by the butler, they know they are both healthy. Towards the end of the first leg of the cruise, there was more socialising, as guests had meals with people they were not travelling with but many people are just keeping to themselves. Masks are still worn when moving around the interior of Silver Spirit, but most people take them off when sitting, even if not eating or drinking. Everyone, including TSH and Diva, occasionally forgets, especially when they leave a table.

Sitting on Deck 11 in Southampton, TSH and Diva could see their car in the quayside car park, sitting in splendid isolation awaiting their return in 12 days time.

Stonehenge, Southampton, silver spirit

An unconventional distillery

 

In Dundee, TSH and Diva walked along the waterfront and into the impressive city centre, which has many grand stone buildings. In spite of it being Saturday, the centre was not busy and they wondered how long it will take for large town and city centres to recover from the Covid crisis.

TSH even managed to see a steam train passing by the ship – Tornado for those who wish to know.

Some people may be familiar with the Irish folk song about the pub with no beer. Much to TSH’s disbelief, the excursion in Edinburgh included a tour round a distillery with no whisky. The reason is that it is a new enterprise and it is not allowed to call its product whisky until it is 3 years old. So in the meantime they are selling products which are produced on the road to whisky, and gin which they can make in just a few days. The gin flavouring is sea salt (from a named coast) and beeswax (!!).  The other part of the tour was supposed to be a guided tour of Holyrood, but the ‘guided’ part was dropped, there was not much in the way of helpful signage and Diva did not want to touch the audio tour equipment. So it was all a bit unsatisfactory.

The next morning, they went on their own visit to the royal yacht Britannia, which is an excellent visitor attraction. In its days of service, the vessel had 240 crew (not sure if that included the food, drink and cleaning people) and conveyed at least 2 cars – a smart Bentley (??) and a small Land Rover type for expeditions to uninhabited parts.

The view from the ship in the port of Leith is spectacular – a full panorama including distant hills, Edinburgh Castle, Arthur’s Seat, road and rail bridges over the Forth and a Regent cruise ship in the fore-ground.

One pleasant dinner with Dr Peter Crimes and one pleasant dinner of pizza in the open air.

No TV for several days. No internet in TSH and Diva’s suite.

TSH has booked the Sainsbury delivery for the return home at the end of the month.

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cheesecake and ice-cream, pizzas, Titanic museum in Belfast, dressed up again, flowers in Dolce Vita

Hacker alert

 Diva was shocked when she looked at her phone in the morning. A red warning message from McAfee stating that the onboard wifi has been hacked and she should disconnect immediately. Although they realised it was probably a false alarm, in the light of recent events, they informed Reception, who sent the butler to ‘sort out the phone’. Diva insisted on speaking to an IT person and one eventually appeared and explained that this message was connected with O2, whose service appeared to be confused by the satellite communication from Florida. This was a less than satisfactory explanation in many ways but Diva decided to accept the false alarm diagnosis, whilst being relieved that TSH, unlike some other guests, is not doing banking transactions from the ship.

The IT has improved but is still not reliable and the TV has also been unavailable at times.

TSH and Diva took an excursion on Orkney to see some of the ancient remains, especially the Ring of Brodgar, which is very atmospheric. That evening was Venetian night and they were surprised to be invited to dine with Captain Arma. There were many cruisers with many more days, so it was unclear why they were singled out for this honour. It was a pleasant table of 5 people and both TSH and Diva ate the excellent filet mignon. Captain Arma explained that neither he nor the doctor is allowed to be ill as they are the two people legally required for ship operation.

At breakfast, a nearby guest ordered his eggs ‘broken’. ‘Scrambled?’ asked the waiter. ‘No, broken.’ ‘Sunny side up?’ ‘No, broken.’ Turns out broken is something to do with mushing up the yolk whilst leaving the white intact. On what planet of the spoiled incompetent can grown men not mush up their own yolks? A power game.

Wildlife sightings:  Cormorants, swans, greylag geese, sheep, Aberdeen Angus, highland cattle (predominant colour used to be black but Queen Victoria liked the red ones, so breeding proceeded accordingly and now the predominant colour is red).

 

 

Life ashore

 

TSH and Diva walked around Falmouth but did not go ashore in Fishguard, because there was a long tender which was not properly available until 11:00. It seems to have been a good decision as there is very little there, many shops are boarded up and there was only limited access to the tapestry which is the main ‘attraction’ of the town.

In Belfast they visited the Titanic museum – their second visit, but still very much worth doing. There were limited numbers of visitors and so no problems with social distancing. In Oban, they went on their first excursion – to a nearby garden run by National Trust of Scotland. The garden was moving into its autumn state but there were pleasant walks and excellent viewpoints. It was a first to see a dog being pushed along in a child’s buggy with no actual child in sight. The sail-away from Oban was extremely scenic and comparable with a Norwegian fjord.

In Stornoway, the plan was for anchor and tender but TSH and Diva knew it was all cancelled when Captain Arma’s voice could be heard at 8:00. Due to the heavy swell, tendering would not be safe. The cruise director then announced an exciting new programme for the day. When TSH and Diva were movers and shakers at work, no-one would have guessed that their retirement excitement would involve napkin folding. They will not be attending this event.

Wildlife sightings: A few gannets (on and off the ship), white horses on the sea and llamas in a field.

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Dressed for dinner, lemon meringue, Silver Spirit

All change?

 

Silversea’s overlords at Royal Caribbean have decided to rebrand them. At the moment, this appears to be limited to the external appearance of the ships. The bottom section has been painted in what Diva assumed was undercoat, looks like battleship grey and is apparently meant to be silver. The logo on the funnel has changed so that it looks washed out – as if someone put white undercoat across it. There has been no official mention of this onboard – TSH and Diva asked the HR manager about it when they were chatting with her. They think it is a huge mistake.

The HR manager also described the logistics of the last 16 months. Getting as many crew as possible home - sometimes using the ships as ferries, preparing to help with evacuations from the Australian wild fires, assembling quarantined and vaccinated crew, dry runs to prepare the restaurant staff for the return of guests. The latter involved filling each restaurant in turn with non-restaurant crew such as cleaners and deck hands, who all enjoyed the new experience of being waited on.

The passengers are still trying to help out. During a lighting issue in the theatre when the lecturer could not read his notes, a passenger offered him her phone torch. It was politely refused. The lecturer – Peter Crimes – was a PhD student in the Geology department at Liverpool University when Diva, in her first job, worked on the Computer Helpdesk.

Weather misty but not too cold and the sea is very flat.

Wildlife sightings: 1 rabbit, 1 egret, 2 cormorants.

 

Life on Board

 

The crew are determined to make this a successful cruise. There seem to be more of them than ever before and they are attentive and cheerful to an even greater extent than before. Captain Arma says that there is a full ship of guests and a normal number of crew. Other sources suggest about two thirds the number of guests and observation suggests more than the usual number of crew. There are a number of guests who are regular cruisers with other lines such as Cunard and Azamara.

The food is well up to standard, including ‘the best Danish pastries in the world’ (TSH). Afternoon tea is no more but the Arts café has food, including sandwiches and cakes, throughout the day. La Terrazza is still buffet style for breakfast and lunch but guests indicate what they want and waiters put the food onto the plate. Thus far, TSH and Diva have not been there at busy times, so it has worked well for them.

The IT situation has been badly affected by the general IT outage at Silversea (almost 2 weeks now). Internet and TV are intermittent. For the first day or two there were no puzzles and no country news sheets.

Captain’s Welcome was held in the bar. No receiving line but Captain Arma spoke to many people in the room. In theory, guests are supposed to sit only with their own group but there is no space for that to be rigidly observed. Similarly in the restaurants, people are dining in twos more than usual but there are also group tables. No official tables – last night’s formal was the first for many years where TSH and Diva had no invitation from a ship’s officer. Masks are compulsory indoors when not eating or drinking and this is rigidly observed and enforced. The crew wear masks all the time, which must be really uncomfortable. Butlers take guest temperatures each day, using a device pointed at the wrist. An element of ‘best of 3’ about this. TSH and Diva have both registered low on these tests and have then had it re-taken on the neck. So far so good.

The guests are making a defiant gesture to Covid. Never have so many sequins and sparkles been seen on board. Diva has a sparkly mask for formal nights.

 

The QR Quest

 After an uneventful drive, TSH and Diva arrived at the all-day pub which Diva had carefully selected for refreshments on arrival in Southampton. They now know that ‘all-day food’ is a relative term. They were ‘greeted’ at 11:05 with the news that breakfast was long finished and lunch would not start until 11:30. They were not even allowed to order any food until that time.

Embarkation procedures shore-side took just over an hour – much longer than usual but very well organised. They passed quickly through the first few stages of documentation checks despite TSH’s Big Mistake.

They both passed their Covid test, which was much less brutal than the kind which their local pharmacist supplied. The Northern test involves mirrors, torches, tonsils and many nasal centimetres. This one was a series of gentle swirls just inside the nose. Diva was relieved and impressed.

The Silversea check-in also took place in the terminal building. A woman was heard to say ‘can I go up to my suite on Deck 5 now?' The attendant gently reminded her that she would need to board the ship first.

Within minutes of boarding, TSH and Diva were greeted as old friends by waiters, a restaurant manager, the Commodore of the fleet (Captain Arma, who took them round South America) and, most importantly, the Head Sommelier. The latter invited them to a day-time wine tasting tomorrow but this does not sound like a healthy option.

The Big Mistake?  TSH does not trust his smartphone or his own ability to use it in a hurry. So all the documentation, including the NHS QR codes confirming double vaccination for both, was printed out. And just for extra assurance he had 2 copies of much of it – 1 in his zipped pockets and 1 in the suitcases. He offered 2 sheets of QR codes to the medical documentation desk, who were trained well enough to spot that both applied to him and there was not one for Diva. The suitcases with Diva’s QRs were by now deep into the luggage system and totally unavailable. He offered the NHS vaccination record cards instead but these are not acceptable as proof. A frantic search through both phones followed and Diva was extremely relieved when she tracked down her QR code. So was TSH – he knew he would not be embarking alone.

TSH’s defence: he sent an electronic link of both NHS QR codes to Diva to cover any subsequent problems. He did not expect the problems to be self-created.

Information drips out

 The Silversea website is still down. There is no real official explanation but guests are told that the Tech Department are working on it. TSH has been told verbally that the system was taken down in response to a threat and that no data is compromised. An unofficial communication included the words 'It takes longer to get a system back up than to take it down'. Really? Over a week? Contingency planning should cover such an eventuality. Diva has seen an online comment that Silversea need a new Tech Department.

TSH and Diva have now been sent information about the second leg of their cruise, confirming that it is another round of Britain. Or, to quote Silversea 'an immersive experience'. Which is an unfortunate turn of phrase from a cruise company. An interesting quirk is that the itinerary down the east coast visits Edinburgh before Dundee. A mistake or a scheduling issue with the ports? Watch this space. 

TSH has had his hair cut.

The itinerary is just a wish list

 TSH and Diva have seen a communication from Silversea suggesting that their visits to Northern Europe and the Channel Isles have been cancelled. Instead, they are to circumnavigate the British Isles twice. Same ports twice. How the mighty are fallen. The original plan for January 2021 was to circumnavigate South America. Once.

This change was half-expected because of the Covid status of France in particular. As a precaution, this is OK with TSH and Diva. But they will need clothes for cooler climes such as Scotland in late September. And Diva has wasted money on Day 2 tests that will not now be needed. 

They look forward to a confirmation of where exactly they are going. And information about the dress codes. And luggage tags. But the Silversea website has been down for days with no real explanation. 

Silver Spirit is in the Bay of Biscay, still heading for Southampton.

7 sleeps to go

 TSH is raring to go. He has most of his holiday wardrobe hanging on the planning rails. Many lists have been made and many pieces of documentation printed out. He is watching the progress of Silver Spirit towards Southampton but is concerned that the ship appears to be resting near Gibraltar. 

TSH and Diva have both taken a lateral flow test and both proved negative. They will have to undergo more of these tests before embarkation and again during the cruise. Diva thinks that they constitute an assault and that some more civilised method should be found. The Day 2 tests to be taken on return have already arrived and the numbers for the Passenger Locator forms are carefully stored. 

Diva's wardrobe optioneering is still in her head but she is almost ready to start the selection. She needs to avoid any potential clashes with the clothes required for her 70th birthday outings. Her cruise supplies list is ready for use. How much toothpaste? How much hair spray?

 Final visit was to the National Trust Killerton. Marred a little by large numbers of dogs - sometimes running free - and the lack of Covid awareness. But a good day out all the same.

TSH shocked the waiter by asking for 4 (very small) bread rolls at breakfast. So much so that they brought them on 2 plates and handed one plate to Diva. He ate all 4 with cheese.

TSH and Diva will really miss the wide sea view from the Victoria and the sheltered balcony where they could sit in comfort at most times during the day and evening.

A final visit to family in the south for some rocket launching and then home for tea.

Looking forward to cruising next. 

It's just up the hill.

 

Spent a great day in Lyme Regis with family members. Visited the Dinosaur museum, which had lots of fossils. The 4 year old was able to give Diva a good definition of a fossil and query the dating on some of the exhibits (we are talking millions of years here). Lunch was at a pizza restaurant, followed by stone throwing (safely into the sea) and Cumbrian cairn building on the beach.

The day in Sidmouth was a bit more challenging - wet and windy and not very Covid-aware in general. Diva has spent so long being deprived of bricks and mortar shopping that she has forgotten the rules of queueing. She accidentally jumped a queue (so un-British!!), was refused service and left without the pasties, so lunch was very sparse indeed. 

The Victoria hotel is excellent - great food and service and very Covid-safe. One guest made the mistake of leaving his seat in the bar and forgetting his mask. A waiter was very quick and polite to explain the law to him.

TSH and Diva also had a good visit to the stunning gardens at Coleton Fishacre. They had excellent Cornish pasties for lunch. And on the way back, they saw a number of sleeping CRUISE SHIPS in the bay next to Torquay. Can't wait for their awakening.  

This whole region is much more hilly than they remembered. The walk from the Lyme Regis car park down to sea level seemed OK but the walk back in afternoon heat was a struggle. Ditto the walk from  the lower part of Coleton  Fishacre back to the Visitor Centre and the car park.

The one where the focus stopped

 It was to be the first night away from home since the return from being transported to Australia. The Focus was out of the garage and packed with all the luggage and many face masks and gloves. The house was secured and Diva sat hopefully in the passenger seat whilst TSH started the engine. Nothing but an error message. Repeat. Repeat. 

So Diva rang the AA. 15 minutes for them to answer the phone but then an engineer appeared within the hour and within another hour had been away to acquire the correct battery and had fitted it. They were both very grateful that this happened at home and not by the roadside. But they never made the booked Bents breakfast. 

The journey was hot and uncomfortable with many stretches of slow traffic. But the Victoria at Sidmouth was as clean and welcoming as ever. The young man who helped with the luggage asked if they had visited before. Diva said it was a few years ago and he said ruefully 'Nothing has changed'. 'Isn't that the whole point?' replied Diva. A passing guest remarked on the large volume of luggage (light for TSH and Diva). 'We are just here for dinner' replied TSH.

Dinner was excellent and wine on the balcony with the sea view rounded off the day.