'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. 

River cruise

Whilst sailing along the north coast of France, Diva and TSH saw a spectacular night thunderstorm which continually lit up the sky with sheet lightning.

TSH knew from previous holidays that reaching Rouen involved sailing up the Seine for a number of hours, although this was a surprise to Diva and many other Silver Moon guests.  It was a very scenic voyage, just like a river cruise, as they passed many attractive towns and villages, greeted with a wave by many local people.

TSH was disappointed that he failed to identify the camp site on the banks of the river where,  in 1974, he spent his first night outside the UK. He thinks it passed whilst he had lunch and that that he will miss it on the way back because it will be dinner time. Getting the priorities right. He has also had one of his few day-time beers of this cruise – a sign that the weather is getting warmer.

Rouen is an industrial city with an historic centre which Diva and TSH could see by taking a short walk along the river. Naturally, TSH had to climb the steps to the bridge, walking across the river to get a better view for his camera.

In the Alantide restaurant, they made their choices from the menu and the waiter immediately rushed over to take the order. Apparently the sign that service is required is TSH removing and folding his glasses.

Diva has been busy with Wordle every morning whilst TSH shaves. It has always been a good sign if she has been able to complete it faster than TSH can shave. They know of one other guest who has also been doing Wordle, claims not to be very good and actually deduced the word in fewer tries than Diva on one occasion.

Diva had a discussion with another guest about the horror of the lack of face soap on the Silver Moon. Her husband said that the conversation fell into the category of ‘overheard in Waitrose’.

Diva and TSH are very aware that the end of the cruise is near. Luggage labels and instructions will shortly be appearing for the disembarkation and the journey home. Looking back on the cruise, they agree that they have visited many very interesting places and have enjoyed themselves. The problems were all at the start, with the bad experiences at Manchester Airport and the Athens pier and the twelve day delay in TSH receiving his clothes from FedEx.

 

 

Last few ports

In scenic St Malo, TSH and Diva took an unguided walk through the narrow streets and along the waterfront outside the city walls. They then re-boarded the tender in order to return to the Silver Moon and enjoy the view from the water. The Captain was also on the tender – he had been to see the port authorities to exchange plaques, as this is Silver Moon’s first visit to St Malo. TSH and Diva have often viewed the plaque collections on the Silversea ships – they did not know that the port authorities also receive a plaque from each ship. Where do they put them all?

On the last formal night of this cruise, TSH ate a filet mignon, whilst Diva had a chicken curry.

Easy days

In Bordeaux, TSH and Diva ignored all the offered excursions and walked unaccompanied along the riverside and back through the city. Local people held a small protest outside the ship – objecting to the carbon footprint of the Silver Moon.

The next day was a sea day. At lunch time, as wells as the buffet, there are always a couple of dishes cooked to order – usually a pasta and a stir-fry. One of them was labelled ‘crazy water’, which was a new concept to TSH and Diva. They think it must have been something like this: Fish in Crazy Water Recipe - Marcella Hazan | Food & Wine (foodandwine.com)

A guest from the US is spending 2 weeks in London at the end of the cruise. He wants suggestions about what to do and he has chosen TSH and Diva (Northerners who hardly ever visit London now) for his source of wisdom.

The Sainsburys order has been placed. So food will arrive at their house 16:00 – 17:00 on the day of return

Covid update: 3 guests testing positive. All ‘more or less’ well.

Crazy water, Bordeaux, silver moon, sainsburys, covid

Drinking in the morning (4)

The excursion in Bordeaux took TSH and Diva to the wine museum. This is a very modern, interesting and well set up building – photo below. In order to hear the commentary and understand the exhibits, you need headphones and a transmit/receive device. Point the device at the indicated places around the museum and you hear the commentary in your own language. Unfortunately, no-one told TSH and Diva which bit of the device to point, so they needed help from some kind French people. In turn, they were able to help other people who had not been told how the system worked. They learned that the original meaning of ‘symposium’ was ‘drinking together’. So all those business meetings were accurately described after all.

The final part of the visit was to the Belvedere on the 8^th floor. Diva does not like crowded lifts but dug up enough schoolgirl French to ask the attendant not to allow too many people in with her. He was very sympathetic and held most people back for a later ascent. On the Belvedere, they each drank a glass of Bordeaux rose (seemed more morning-like) and looked at the views over the city. TSH and his camera went to the outside viewing platform.

Over lunch, Diva was incredibly impressed to hear people discussing the recently found possible discrepancy in the mass of the W boson (Particle’s surprise mass threatens to upend the standard model (nature.com)). This potentially overturns the standard model of particle physics. And one of the people on the next table had been involved in the work at Fermi Labs!!!

Later, outside Panorama lounge, there was discussion about the advantages of the James Webb telescope over the Hubble telescope. Silver Moon is a physics ship.

 

TSH is let out on his own

In St Jean de Luz, Diva decided that she did not want to be herded round on another guided tour, The ship was anchored in the very scenic bay, so she decided to enjoy her last views of the Pyrenees.  

TSH left the Silver Moon to visit Bayonne and Biarritz accompanied only by his camera.

He has often encountered road signs in two languages but this time there were three. In Bayonne, road signs were in French, Basque and Gascon - a language local to South-West France.

The cathedral in Bayonne had an English feel about it -  the building was started by the English and completed by the French.

The bus driver expressed a view which TSH has often thought to be the case. He said that he was driving something stronger than the cars, so he could pull out in front of them at a busy roundabout. However, he was more polite when there was an emergency vehicle behind him - he drove the bus right round the roundabout to let it pass. At Biarritz the driver encountered a “Route Barree” sign, so alternative parking and additional walking were organised.

TSH returned triumphant – he had been on the correct tour (see Turkey) and he had not been left behind anywhere (see Terracotta warriors). By the time he returned, La Terrazza was closed so he went to the Arts Café for lunch.

The bus theme continued into the evening as one of the waiters sang “the wheels on the bus” whilst turning the handle on the parmesan cheese grater. 

The pilot for the navigation along the Gironde  river to Bordeaux was dropped onto the Silver Moon from a helicopter.

Diva is still working out how much remains of the on-board credit and what she can spend it on.

Photoblog 4