Later and later

The third formal night offered the usual good dinner and both TSH and Diva ate beef wellington and crepes suzettes. The previous night in East meets West, TSH gave lessons in beer pouring. The waiter hurled (no other word for it) the beer into the glass so that the foam head filled the space. He then went to fetch a spoon and had to be stopped from removing the foam!! TSH demonstrated the correct method of pouring gently against the side of the glass but was unconvinced that the waiter really understood. 

Lost in translation .... Some guests had a problem with the rubber seal on the balcony door and rang to say there was a draught. 'So there is a problem with the air-conditioning?' 'No, the rubber seal has perished'. 'Your door is broken?' 'No, it is just the seal'. First the air-conditioning engineer arrived and then the joiner, before they rang Reception to contact the door seal expert.

TSH and Diva are beginning to understand why the ship has been moving comparatively slowly and why the Captain has been so cautious in denying access to the upper decks. During the rough passage a few nights ago, a freak wave hit the ship and many guests were thrown to the floor on Deck 12. Broken hip, broken femur ......... Saga clearly do not want to risk a repetition.

The Bay of Biscay - in both directions - has been completely smooth.

The horses have been encouraged to sail as fast as possible but they are not able to reach Portsmouth for the planned docking time of around 7:00. The new plan is for arrival in Portsmouth around 11:00, with TSH and Diva disembarking around mid-day. So Diva's hopes of an afternoon at home with the washing machine are dashed. And the Sainsbury order is rescheduled for Thursday. 

Across The Bay

The notoriously choppy Bay of Biscay is smooth for TSH and Diva. Everyone now has all their bags - some guests had to have their first dinner in their travel clothes because the luggage had not been distributed. TSH and Diva were lucky to have had their clothes bags in time for their first major appearance.

The Spirit of Discovery is up-to date and has a button by the door to indicate 'do not disturb'. Next to it is another button saying 'make up room'. Diva was very excited and thought that this was a special place for applying her cosmetics. She had read the emphasis wrongly - it was an invitation for the cleaner to enter.

The day was leisurely - walks around the promenade deck, a lecture about Cadiz and another about the geology of Madeira. Both excellent speakers. The third talk - also excellent - was different from any other cruise ship talk. It started with a trigger warning about the violent and upsetting content.  The speaker was a Geographic Profiler who worked with the police to solve serious crime. The basis of the work was concerned with correlating the locations important to the criminal's life with the locations involved in the crime. He discussed several well-known crimes that he had worked on. Some police officers think that this work is more helpful than that of criminal profilers. 

TSH and Diva confirmed that Saga, like Silversea, will offer other complementary wines if the wine of the day is not acceptable to a guest. They were very impressed when the people at a nearby table tried to order 'paid for wine' and the waiter dissuaded them by offering a wide range of alternative complementary wines. 

TSH has so far taken no photographs.

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.

Bordeaux

The sea was still calm as the Silver Wind made its way across part of the Bay of Biscay. Diva spotted a couple of dolphins leaping out of the water as they came over to investigate the ship. It was good to hear that one of the waitresses (20 years with Silversea) had been able to find time to visit the Guggenheim in Bilbao.

A few nights ago, Diva thought that the butler was very efficient on a time-change night as the alarm clocks has been altered. Turns out it was TSH who was the efficient one.

Bordeaux is a beautiful city which can be appreciated even from the mooring close to the city centre. The only other vessels there were river boats, including one belonging to Viking. The morning walk took in the seafront, a farmers’ market and several large squares, including the one between the cathedral and the hotel de ville and the one with the main theatre.

Referendum: One young woman thinks that the best prospects for the UK lie in Brexit and then becoming a tax haven. Her greatest fear was of extreme German socialism. Not sure which kind of socialism she was afraid of.