Celebration

Diva told the butler that they wanted a speciality restaurant booking for their wedding anniversary. Mistake.  In the early evening, the butler appeared with Prosecco on ice and two glasses. Following his stroke, TSH does not drink alcohol so the Welcome bottle of champagne was not finished and about half of it was still in the fridge. They did not explain this to the butler and hoped he was not too offended when he returned later to find the Prosecco untouched.  In the Nepalese speciality restaurant, after the main course there was much banging of trays and several waiters gathered round their table to sing ‘Let it be you’.  They had already ordered carrot cake but an elaborate chocolate cake and two more glasses of Prosecco appeared.  TSH refused his and they both cancelled the carrot cake. The photographer ordered TSH to move from his seat to sit beside Diva for a photo. TSH refused on the basis of his reduced vision. So Diva had to squeeze out of the narrow space to move to sit beside him. The photos have not appeared yet.

On return to the suite, they found towels folded into the shape of swans and a Happy Anniversary banner. Many thanks to Saga for all their efforts.

Food and service are still excellent and TSH and Diva are looking forward to their last full day at sea before the return to Dover.

‘Feel like you’re on a ship’ mode

For TSH and Diva’s first time in the Isles of Scilly, they visited the famous Tresco tropical gardens. The clue was in the name. Diva wore her raincoat because the transfer to Tresco was in a partly open local boat, which, although it was not raining, was likely to be breezy. So by the time she had walked to the gardens she was very hot and exhausted. Fortunately, Saga had supplied a packed lunch so, along with most other guests, they treated the garden visit as an extended picnic. TSH covered himself in glory for once, as, despite his reduced vision, he was the first to spot a red squirrel. A few others appeared later but moved too quickly for there to be any chance of a photo.

Over dinner, TSH and Diva chatted to a couple whose male half was distressed at the loss of a pair of specs. They had retraced their steps around the ship and were unable to find them. Diva advised a call to Reception, who in the past had carefully looked after lost specs belonging to TSH. The female half was sitting on a cushion and when she came to leave she wanted to take it back to the cushion store. Fortunately she ignored TSH’s advice to leave it for the waiters to deal with. There under the cushion was the specs case – she had been sitting on it throughout the protracted wailing.

Some of the guests thought that there was a lot of motion of the ship during the night crossing to Eire. (TSH and Diva didn’t notice anything in spite of being 5 decks higher than their preferred location on Silversea). Some people mentioned this to Captain Jason and he explained that the additional movement was because he had set the autopilot to ‘feel like you’re on a ship’ mode. 

Sinking ships

On arrival at the Irish port of Cobh, Captain Jason put the Spirit of Adventure into a manoeuvre called Stop and Spin. This is exactly what it sounds like. The port welcomes cruise ships by encouraging their passengers into the Titanic exhibition and the heritage museum with a section about the Lusitania. TSH and Diva were assigned boarding cards with the names of two of the passengers – one from each ship. They never discovered if they survived but as Irish people in third class it seems unlikely.  

At breakfast, Diva asked for a brown roll to go with her Cumberland sausage. The sausage arrived but the roll came some time later because a waiter had to go to another restaurant for it – 7 decks away! And then they brought two rolls, which was too much for requirements.

The first use of TSH’s camera did not go too well – he had charged the battery at home but forgot to insert it back into the camera.

There have, as usual been timing issues. TSH’s phone decided it was in France and moved its time forward. So the alarm went off very early. It has now been instructed not to do it again.

Spirit of Adventure shows no sign of sinking and the food is excellent and the wine plentiful.

TSH stars in the blog already!

The day started with a rush. TSH and Diva got up early to have plenty of time before the car arrival slot of 8:25 – 8:55. At 7:20 came a text message to say that the car would arrive at 8:00. Which was better but slightly challenging. By 13:30 they were seated in the Grill on the Spirit of Adventure. The embarkation arrangements at Dover are second to none. Many many Saga employees to help and show the way. Security staff who are helpful and polite. Airports who have staff barking unintelligible commands could learn a lot from this.

The suite is a mirror image of the one they had last time. Interesting for anybody – daunting for the partially sighted. After unpacking her mountain of luggage, Diva realised that although she had charged her spare electric toothbrush before leaving home, she had not packed a brush head for it. She asked the butler if he could help. He thought that the shop might have one and the times when the shop would be open could be found in the daily schedule. Not an impressive start. Fortunately the shop did indeed have a toothbrush.

The first event was the mandatory safety drill. International Maritime Law. Captain Jason informed everybody several times that they would need to take their keycards to the muster so that they could be ‘swiped’ as having attended. TSH arrived at the muster point without his card, to much consternation all round. Fortunately they agreed that Diva’s ‘swipe’ could count for both.

Almost finished

TSH and Diva knew it was the last full day when the breakfast included champagne, bucks fizz and caviar. None of which they wanted, but it made for a festive atmosphere.

The best entertainment on the Spirit of Adventure has been the Irish group The Four Harps, who performed a mix of traditional Irish and modern pop songs. They took a risk with ‘The wreck of the Irish Rover’ but it went down well.

Second best entertainment – look-alike Elton John.

Packing soon.

The carpets in the suite (photo above) have been chosen so that they will not show red wine stains – not a problem on this cruise, as TSH neither drinks nor pours.

In the fjords

Gerainger does not have docking facilities for a ship like the Spirit of Adventure but it does have the Sea Walk. This is a long walkway which ‘folds’ and sits parallel to the quay side when not in use and stretches out to form a walkway from ship to shore when needed. The problem on this occasion was that the engine which drives the folding was out of use and a small boat had to do the work. Diva knew that this was not a well-practised procedure when the driver of the boat – attached by a rope to the walkway – shouted panicky instructions to the people on the walkway and as soon as the rope went taut the driver’s assistant fell over from the rebound. However, after much revving of the boat’s engine and application of its pull and push power to several strategic points on the walkway, the folding operation was completed and the Spirit of Adventure could make its way back down the fjord.

Before long, the group of waterfalls known as the Seven Sisters was reached and Captain Jason twirled the Spirit of Adventure for a while so that everyone had a good view.

The location of Andalsnes is even more spectacular than that of Gerainger, as there are more snow-capped jagged peaks in many directions. TSH and Diva enjoyed the brighter warmer weather and, after a walk around the small town, had their first outdoor lunch of the cruise on the lido deck. Salad and burger for Diva and salad and fish and chips for TSH. This was also the first occasion of coinciding with the Hurtigruten coastal voyage.

A chat with one of the waiters, who has also worked on Silversea ships, revealed the interesting fact that he thinks that the crew are treated better on Saga than on Silversea and he is trying to persuade his friends who work on Silversea to join Saga instead. 

 

Putting the record straight

 TSH and Diva consulted the family zoologist about the presumed orcas and TSH sent several pictures. She was able to contact a cetacean specialist who pronounced them to be pilot whales.

TSH was upset when he left his light sensitive specs in the Living Room but the Spirit of Adventure lost property system worked well and he reclaimed them from Reception.

They have left behind the Land of the Midnight Sun and now there is twilight from around midnight until 3:00ish. Still no actual darkness.

Diva forgot to mention that the nail salon on the Spirit of Adventure is crewed by the usual failed dental hygienist. Who not only hurt her but insisted that she should relax and feel pampered and happy throughout. She could not just leave because she was trapped in the large chair with built-in foot spa but was actually reduced to saying ‘just put some nail varnish on my toes and then I can go’. There was also an attempt to ‘upsell’ by announcing that the excellent gel polish applied to Diva’s finger-nails just before departure had grown out and needed immediate replacement. Not a good experience.

Gerainger has the best scenery and the best weather of the cruise so far. The sail-in was early in the morning but TSH and Diva are looking forward to the sail-away at 17:00.