Initial Iceland

The excursion at Djupivogur, Iceland, was described as a ‘Culture Walk’. Diva knew it was only a small town but envisaged a main square, a church, a town hall.  Instead, they were guided round an industrial estate, and then up a fairly steep path. For Diva, this definitely fell into the mountaineering category. The interesting things they saw were the egg sculptures representing the eggs of local birds, the small houses for the elves (very important in Iceland) oyster catchers and eider ducks with their chicks. One woman asked if there was any connection with her eiderdown. The guide was very polite but, really, the clue was in the name.

Part way through the ordeal (for Diva), they were beckoned by a woman in a long skirt and a shawl , reminiscent of the woman in 73 yards – a recent Dr Who episode. They were ushered into an ‘arts centre’ in a disused fish tank. The door was closed to achieve total darkness and then the woman sang, in Icelandic (?) in the resultant eco chamber. TSH quite enjoyed the morning, which may be partly due to his use of his camera.

On return to Silver Spirit, Diva found the missing toothbrush head – tucked behind the spare toilet roll, where TSH had stored it for safe-keeping. $4.99 of on-board credit wasted.

2nd

At the Venetian night on the second leg of their cruise, TSH and Diva were second in the league. They will not do better on the rest of the cruise as the guests with over 2000 days are also staying on to Southampton. The Silver Spirit is not full – only about 350 guests (max is about 580), of which less than half are Venetians (sailed with Silversea before).

They dined that night with Captain Ivo Botica (Dubrovnik), Hotel Director Luis de Sousa Marques (Portuguese but living in Mexico) and four other British guests. They discovered that they had not misheard Captain Botica’s announcements – he really does start with ‘This is your silly captain speaking’!!  The Hotel Director expressed his view that Covid tests are a waste of time, as you can obtain a positive result by dropping orange juice onto the tester. Diva’s view is that the tests are meant for people, not orange juice.

Music Magic

The Welcome bottle of pink champagne is finished. Mostly by Diva but TSH has allowed himself the occasional glass (without incident). TSH has been assured in the past that only on initial embarkation is pink issued and after that it is replaced by ‘normal’ white champagne. Diva charmed Isaac the butler, explaining that they are embarking 4 times. And he brought another bottle of pink champagne!

But Diva cannot be on form just now, as she has missed two opportunities to give strategic guidance to the Silver Spirit management. In conversation with the head butler she failed to mention the dust on the bathroom shelf, the less than thorough vacuuming and the persistent stain on the worktop. At lunch time, the executive chef was standing outside La Terrazza – although not engaging with guests – and she did not tell him about the missing grilled peaches. Perhaps the blueberry pancakes made up for them.

Regular readers will remember that on a previous cruise Diva brought along an electric toothbrush with no brush head. This time, TSH brought a brush head but has now lost it. So he is reduced to using a manual toothbrush bought on board.

The background music throughout the ship is as dreary and old fashioned as ever. Bad covers of USA rat pack, mostly.  If Royal Caribbean are trying to attract a younger set of guests they will need to do better. It was astonishing that within an hour in Panorama lounge this morning, TSH and Diva heard both Ed Sheeran and Queen. ‘It’s a kind on magic’. They made sure to tell the bar staff how much they appreciated the change.

The sea has been calmer than anticipated and perhaps TSH and Diva did not need their precautionary Stugeron.

Lerwick Lost

When the captain’s voice is heard on the public address system before 8am, it is never good news. Especially when he says ‘This is s very important announcement’. The Silver Spirit will not make the planned call at Lerwick, Shetland because of a threatened storm. If the ship were to dock, the chances are that it would have to remain there for several days. So TSH and Diva are heading straight to Iceland, with the estimated arrival time unchanged. With an extra day at sea, the journey is obviously expected to be slow. The crew are securing the large plant pots and safely storing the cushions from the outside chairs. TSH and Diva have taken medication and are wearing their wrist bands.

The last time TSH and Diva crossed from the UK to Iceland in 2013, the sea was sufficiently angry that they said they would never do that crossing again!

The Silver Spirit is now so far north that there is very little darkness in the night. Perhaps that is why the telephone rang at 1:30 am. Diva was asked if she had ordered ginger tea. She was reasonably polite to the caller but very annoyed. The next morning, an oblivious TSH asked if there had been a telephone call in the night and, if so, what it had been about. There was a verbal apology from the Head Butler, who blamed the disturbance on ‘a technical problem’.

The dinner reservation in La Terrrazza (Deck7) has been cancelled. TSH and Diva will eat in Atlantide on Deck 5. Lower down and more stable.

Cruise Capital

Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, is reckoned by some to be the Cruise Capital of the UK because it has the most number of cruise ship calls which are not embarkations. TSH and Diva cancelled their morning excursion because there did not seem to be any point in a scenic tour engulfed in the haar which had followed them from Aberdeen. Instead, they took the shuttle bus into the centre of Kirkwall and took an unguided walking tour. TSH bought some shoelaces.

Whilst TSH and Diva were having elevenses in the Panorama lounge, the Captain walked by. He acknowledged them and said he would work on keeping good weather and smooth seas.

The desserts at lunch time are always very beautiful but not appealing to Diva because they are smothered in cream, which she does not like. On this occasion they offered an excellent Scottish option – Ecclefechan cake – which tasted like a rich fruit cake.

The evening show featured Mark Haslam, a magician originally from the Lake District but who now works in USA. His card tricks were excellent and quite baffling.

 

Aberdeen Adventures

Bagpipes are playing a significant part now. TSH and Diva were greeted on arrival by pipers in both Newhaven and Aberdeen and an impressive group of pipers performed a pre-dinner show in Newhaven. The rest of the show was less to their taste and Diva insisted on leaving when the host tried to get people to join in with ‘Donald where’s yer troosers’.

On entry to the show, the Cruise Director was working hard at her charm offensive and informed TSH that he was looking very handsome. He replied that this was not a surprise, as he thought he looked handsome all the time.

In Aberdeen, TSH and Diva were walking through the Reception area towards the gangway when another guest asked them where the tour buses were. Perhaps expecting them to be brought on board? He certainly had not read the joining instructions sent out the previous evening. Guests going on tour were waved off by an impressive line-up of Captain, Hotel director, Cruise Director, Guest Relations Manager and several others. Perhaps it was the first time Silver Spirit had visited Aberdeen and there was to be a ceremony with local authorities.

The tour consisted of a drive round the city followed by rather too long at the impressive Winter Gardens. There was a strong smell of fish in the harbour area but it was not clear exactly where it came from.

Sitting in the café in the afternoon, a German guest excused his generous consumption of Sauvignon Blanc with ‘It’s dark somewhere’. Clearly their equivalent of ‘It’s five o’clock somewhere’.

Magnificent Mariners

 On their second visit to Newhaven (for Edinburgh0, TSH and Diva decided to go ashore for a short walk. Making the journey to Edinburgh seemed too much effort – almost 30 minutes on the tender plus 30 minutes on the shuttle bus plus waiting and connection times. They much preferred the previous arrangement when Silversea ships docked in Leith next to Royal Yacht Britannia.

Going ashore, they were greeted by a man from the local tourist organisation. TSH, who can be tactless, has specific instructions not to talk to people from the USA about their presidents in general or Donald Trump in particular. Unfortunately, Diva had not thought of banning conversation about football at a time when Scotland is out of the Euro 2024 competition and England is, at least for the moment, still in the running.

The current captain of the Silver Spirit does not speak good English and struggles with the announcements, of which he makes as few as possible. At the start of each announcement, he seems to say ‘This is your silly captain speaking from the bridge’ but he probably means ‘Silversea captain’.

Today is the International Day of the Seafarer. At lunch-time, using the public address system, the Captain spoke to express his thanks to the whole crew for their efforts in making the customer experience excellent. TSH and Diva joined in the applause requested and as a result two of the Maitre D’s came over to chat to them. It was a strange time to make such an address –  La Terrazza was almost deserted because most guests were ashore in Newhaven.