'tis better to arrive than to travel hopefully

Diva and TSH decided to pre-ship most of the luggage for their 69 day cruise, using the FedEx service. This was despite the problems with sending luggage in advance in early 2022, when all of TSH's clothes were in a case that took twelve days to catch up with the ship.

It makes the journey much easier if you send as much as possible in advance but it does add some interesting issues. Firstly, if you send a lot of clothes two weeks before you leave, it reduces the clothes you have to wear at home. Then there is provision for the journey itself, with two nights in different hotels on the way to the Silver Moon. Including a gala dinner in Florida.

TSH and Diva had to deal with the very important issue of spreading clothes between all of the cases so that in the event that one (or two) were delayed there would still be clothes available for both of them. TSH took photographs of the contents of each case and the associated FedEx documentation. This might be considered more than a bit nerdy but was not as big a job as Diva thought (please don’t tell her). 

TSH had one or two issues of concern regarding the FedEx service, so he sent an email to Silversea for clarification. A very welcome and helpful phone response from the Vice President of Global Guest Relations followed.

TSH kept a close eye on the progress of the bags in case emergency action was required. Before leaving the UK at Stansted airport the bags did a tour of Britain to get the hang of travelling – Newcastle upon Tyne and Derby were amongst the places visited. The suitcases entered the USA at Memphis on Christmas Day, just after the monster winter storm hit.

After seeing how many items were still needed as hold luggage, Diva decided that a larger case was required. So on Christmas Eve, TSH and Diva bought themselves a new suitcase.

All of the cases arrived in Fort Lauderdale on the 27th December despite one of the bags deciding to stay on at Memphis for twelve hours after the others had be shipped onwards. All have been signed for by the ship's agent. 

TSH and Diva are much relieved. 

Last few days

The last port of brief call was Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands. The authorities have created an almost Disney style secure area around the cruise pier. It has air-conditioned shops selling souvenirs and beach clothing, as well as secure beaches and many bars and restaurants. Beyond the security fence, Diva caught a glimpse of one of the island’s wild horses.  As Silver Spirit left in the early afternoon, Princess cruises ‘Royal Princess’ arrived to take its place.

One of the lecturers on board Silver Spirit is Ernie Rea, ex-Head of Religious Affairs for the BBC. He is, as would be expected, an excellent presenter, with first-class visuals. Far better than many ship lecturers. He has spoken about Rastafarianism, the Cuban crisis and the Jones cult religious suicide/massacre in Guyana (1978).

The last afternoon saw a special Trivia session for the Circlers. It was like an exam with everyone working alone. The subject matter was all connected with the cruise. TSH and Diva did not do well but the winner was given an iPad.

Arrival in Fort Lauderdale was shambolic. Disembarkation was delayed by an IT fault in immigration and queues were long and badly organised, with some guests managing to just turn up and miss the queue. It took a long time to process each person and one queue was delayed by problems in taking any fingerprints at all from one Swiss woman. Queue start to getting on the transfer vehicle was 1 hour 30 minutes for TSH and Diva.

But the Silver Spirit new propeller blade arrived for fitting by engineer-divers.

This has been an amazingly successful cruise. Highlights were scenery in Peru and Chile (especially the extreme south), pre-Columbian museum in Lima, king penguins in the Falklands and both the sail-in and Carnival in Rio.

TSH and Diva could do this length (or more) again if the itinerary was right. They are currently in the Pullman Hotel waiting to go to Miami airport for the 22:00 flight. So this blog sector ends. To the next!!