little britain

We had a fabulous dinner in Gold on our final night. Possibly one of the best tender steaks 🥩 I’ve ever had! The final nights show was Effectors. I’ve seen this before on Odyssey but I felt the show and vocals were very weak almost as if it was mimed. No orchestra. We ended with a final drink in Music Hall where the band Rhythmocracy were excellent. I’ll give our final thoughts tomorrow. drones…

Have just heard that as of next cruise ( typical) the $25 off specialty dining will be valid on board Spectrum… not against at Chefs table or the Teppanyaki

The CC roll call only has 8 people.

We popped into cafe 270 for lunch: it serves a far wider selection than usual, such as noodles 🍜 and various sausage in pastry flavours. Whilst there the new cast were doing a run through of Silk Road. Complete with aerial artists!! Even as a dry run it was an amazing show. Apparently the new cast start on 21st and it will be the first time aerial acts will be back after Covid 👏

Gold Dining on D16 and the Balcony outside at front of ship

The new Explora ship is getting very high reviews ( luxury MSC) and does some great itineraries.

It’s a sea day… so shopping day! Shoes, coats, jeans… 👖… never seen so many brands for sale on a ship! Armani X Bally Cocinelle Hilfiger Largerfeld Marc Jacobs Kate Coach

Captain Flemming

The 340+ toiletries are a different brand. The jar in the shower is the usual Salt and Breeze.

Tonight’s show was Silk Road in 270. Visually stunning but no idea what was going on. It did have my favourite track by Jain (Makeba) which is pretty funky. Some parts were reminiscent of Spectres. No aerial artists

This is the drinks menu in every bar:

After a morning spent in the empty pool we caught the tender up Patong beach. At sea level we could clearly see the jellyfish 🪼 were the size of dinner plates!!! It was a very big local boat for the tender and it was about 15 minutes to shore where we were at the pier at the south end of Patong beach. We have not been to Thailand/Phuket for many years and always knew it was a little “ sleazy” but it has really gone down hill. Shops selling cannabis, lots of ladies (?) wanting to give you a massage … people must have really bad backs in Thailand 😉, music blaring… we know that many places in Thailand have the most beautiful luxurious hotels and outstanding food… so if Patong was your first introduction to Thailand I think you would be sorely disappointed. We had an excellent lunch, again like yesterday very good value, and a few beers; but our interest levels were waning ( my photographer DH didn’t even bother getting his camera 📷 out) so we returned to the ship earlier than planned. Spectrum from Patong dodgy Thai wiring fake handbags etc

Any clues yet as to Suez Canal changes? Is the announcement meant to be 16th

Virgin. No children. No additional charge for specialty dining. Innovative entertainment

So we decided against swimming with jellyfish and staked out on the crowded ship pool. The big screen is now not showing the usual cute kittens falling over… it is showing a programme about building trucks in Russia! I’m not kidding!

Just checked again - it’s $35 cover change +18% and then additional charge if you want the frogs legs etc… @bonsai3s I was given incorrect info first time. I find the crews command of English is not as good as in other ships

The 📣 announcements for tendering continued until 8:45 when they went to open tendering. 🤦‍♀️ Given that Breakfast in Silver ends at 8:30 😳 off to sample breakfast in the WJ. I found the cereal, but no small cartons of milk. Milk is full or skimmed ( no flipping half and half 😉)! No bagels. Lots of interesting looking fruits like dragonfruit Our plans were to go for a swim but as we can see the jellyfish 🪼 in the water clearly from deck 14 we may need to rethink that!

@DevonianCruiser yes there are quite a few kids as it is CNY week. Both Asian and non Asian children. The ship is very noisy! There is no concept of keeping quiet during the shows and as the Asians seem to congregate in large groups they all then to talk over each other!! It is only 6.40am and already they are making tender announcements for Phuket… 💤

The new paper bags are much larger than the old plastic bags.

I was going Morecombe and Wise or Black and White Minstrel Show… also showing my age!

Because we had had a good lunch at the E&O, we weren’t hungry, so we tried the more casual Silver dining, which had a buffet (looking very similar to the one at lunch), but it also had a few menu items you can order like striploin steak, salmon, chicken or prawns. There was a stirfry station at the buffet which we went for. Tomorrow is Phuket in Thailand 🇹🇭. It’s a tender into Patong beach. In the cabin there is a letter advising if we can have priority tendering if required between 7.45- 10.00. Clocks back an hour tonight. Then forward an hour tomorrow night!

A bit out of sequence- last night’s show was Showgirls. I’m not sure if it is the same as the version on Odyssey, but it was similar. Lots of lovely leggy ladies and feathers! We don’t think Spectrum has a live orchestra 🤷‍♀️? There was certainly no sign of one at the show, no mention of one when Bonnie (CD) came on at the end to thank lighting engineers etc etc; and no band at the Top Tier event.

Today we are in Penang. A gorgeous place. You dock right in town. Full of beautiful shophouses and a new street art trail shophouses streetart After 10,000 steps we ended at the E&O for lunch.

The sign says only P in Silver and Gold on this cruise. There are 30 Ps on board.