First World problems

 The clean laundry was not delivered during the afternoon, as is usual, and there is no spare laundry bag, so TSH and Diva had to contact the butler again. The laundry appeared after dinner, the new dirty laundry was placed outside the door and there is now a spare bag for future use. 

The packing has proved comprehensive this time but Diva wished they had brought their Lakeland Sticky Stuff Remover. Her tube of foundation had a label which has proved impossible to remove by any other method. Inelegant.

Diva was unable to log into the ship internet to write this blog, so she thought she would write it in Word and cut and paste it in later. But Microsoft wanted her to log in and could not authenticate her without the internet. It would not even allow the use of Onenote. Is this organisation some sort of global domination monopoly? Don't answer that. 

The hair dryer supplied in the suite was designed and sourced by people who had never used a hair dryer. A button had to be continually depressed during use but its position was such that the manual skills to hold the button, hold the dryer itself and manipulate the hair brush were far beyond Diva's capabilities. A chat with a helpful woman on Reception resulted in a replacement dryer - there is still a button which must be held throughout but it seems easier to use. 

Time and Technology taunt the Travellers

Diva admits that being an hour ahead of ship time on the first morning was because she misread the instructions. But she was baffled when two days later they were an hour ahead again and they entered a breakfast Dining Room empty of all but crew laying tables. And the day after that they were an hour behind official ship time.  It turned out that in the night the phones were choosing which time zones to communicate with and they were resetting the time themselves. The phones have now been instructed not to do this again.

Microsoft and Google have also introduced obstacles. By demanding passwords, refusing to recognise correct ones, switching to recovery accounts and generally delaying use of IT by many hours. At one stage, TSH’s iPad went into ‘loading’ mode for many hours and had to be reset by the wonderful Guest Services officer. Some of the issues might have been cause by timing – the Internet on the Spirit of Adventure is extremely slow, even by maritime satellite standards.

TSH and Diva have now crossed the Arctic Circle and are wearing extra layers, especially when walking around the outside deck. They have been invited to ‘an exclusive event’ to see a glacier with the ship’s officers. ‘Bring warm clothing’.