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.

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.

 

Invader Danger

Unusually loud crashing and banging from the ship’s innards was interrupted by the ping of the PA system and ‘the Captain speaking from the bridge’ at the unprecedented time of 6am. He wanted all deckhands for a ‘rescue’ and the doctor to stand by in the hospital. Guests assumed that something had happened to a crew member or guest and everybody worried about what was happening and if everybody was OK.

The captain spoke on the PA system several times over the next hour. The noises had been caused by the manoeuvring of the Silver Spirit. The ship’s crew had spotted a small fishing boat – the Invader - with two occupants on board, drifting without power. Attempts were made to cast a rope to it, to tow it to safety and then to take the two people onto the Silver Spirit. During this process, the boat scraped along the side of Silver Spirit – more painting for the crew!! But the fishermen were understandably reluctant to abandon the means of their livelihood, so the captain called the coastguard to attend the situation. They were slow to attend but ‘in the interests of human safety at sea’ Captain Arma refused to move until they did arrive. So it all ended well, with the professionalism of the Silversea crew demonstrated once again.

TSH and Diva walked along the shore at Bequia, St Vincent and Grenadine. This is a holiday resort which offers water sports and little else. But a very pretty bay for Silver Spirit to anchor in.

Silver Spirit is full for this leg of the cruise. The Circlers are overwhelmed by strangers. There are also lots of new waiters and service is slower.

Invader

Two Firsts

For the first time in over 300 days cruising, TSH and Diva were invited to dine with the Captain. And for the first time, the senior maitre d’ rang their suite with a personal message from the captain (just a small change in the arrangements). At the table in La Terrazza, the captain was assisted by Christiane (HR manager) and Marco (Safety and security manager). The other four guests were also British.

Very enjoyable evening but the (Italian) Captain made the mistake of mentioning Brexit, which he was supporting. This led to awkward silences, as there were mixed views around the table and people were mostly too polite to fight in public in front of non-Brits.

TSH and Diva made a rare visit to the evening show – excellent coverage of well-known opera combined with Les Mis and Phantom. Their rendition of Abba’s ‘Winner takes it all' in Italian was an ‘interesting’ twist.