twangster

Approaching Cromarty on the left. Looks like someone has been out picking up some breakfast to bring home. I think I see a fish in its beak.

Our approach into Invergordon had us sailing through Moray Firth where we passed some large ships at work. I suspect they may be installing wind turbines with the first ship laying the undersea cable and the second carrying the vertical sections of the turbines. This is near where I spotted our first monster in the water! Perhaps related to the Loch Ness Monster? False alarm... just birds.

No tender today. We are at a pier.

The weather app on my phone places the North Sea around 10°C / 50°F all day so presumably that's the sea temperature. On deck it's fresh outside, long pants weather with a light jacket. Starlink gateway city remains to be London. Starlink speeds holding steady and performing well.

Sunrise 4:44am Sunset 9:37pm Temperature ~ 10°C / 50°F Forecast: Mostly cloudy, high temperature around 18°C / 64°F

Ship excursion today, Legends and Landmarks, Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle Ruins Looks like I'm searching for monsters today.

At 5am it's already bright out. Gangway down at 8:30am so we've got a few hours to go. Progress report:

Day Four - Inverness (Invergordon), Scotland Cruise compass: JW May 15 day 4 cruisecompass.pdf

Time: 11:49pm Still some light in the sky this late. Time for bed.

I was hoping you would come to Amsterdam and let me know... I didn't venture inside. However, there are areas nearby where I didn't take pictures, and the possibilities could lead to some serious trouble for an old single guy. Maybe trouble isn't the right word. Or maybe it is.

Martin Brock our magician in the theater tonight isn't bad. I don't normally do these types of shows but this guy was pretty good.

Mind you it’s fresh outside. Temperature is mostly a factor of sea temperature out here. Pack accordingly.

Nearing the summer solstice it is still light out at 9:30pm. The sun may have set, but it’s still golden hour.

He did talk briefly about the transition from SilverSea today. I suspect he is enjoying the larger audience and crowd. I’ve sailed SilverSea so by no means do I mean to offend that crowd, but for a younger person who is lively and seemingly suited to the CD role I suspect he will do well at Royal.

That’s him on the left. Upon boarding he immediately introduced himself right after this. Seems well suited for the task.

He came over from SilverSea. Try that forum. So far he seems to be doing a good job. He handled Captain’s Corner today well.

Harrison Smart in the Schooner Bar. He is pretty good. Piano tunes.

A fog has been lifted off my head and it’s clear sailing at the moment. Sailing away into the sunset.,,

I confirmed the speciality coffee voucher did not count against my regular CAS drink vouchers today. I inquired with our Loyalty Ambassador Isabeth regarding the extra speciality coffee voucher. It’s due to the high number of D and D+ on this sailing. They are trying to reduce the pressure on the CL coffee machine. So thanks D & D+!

Formal night. I’m more smart casual. The Windjammer doesn’t judge.

The Minstrels Duo in the Centrum. It’s moments like this I’m glad our Crown and Anchor drink vouchers work nearly everywhere. I’d much rather be in the Centrum listening to live string music compared to a lounge.

JW Balcony Selfie.MP4 Test upload, this may not work out, let's see. Vertical video balcony selfie on a foggy sea day.

Here on a sea day with a "Thriller" dance practice taking place in the Centrum I repeated the tests. Wired: Test 1 - 169/29 Mbps, 27ms Test 2 - 187/23 Mbps, 26ms Test 3 - 181/35 Mbps, 34ms Wireless: Test 1 - 162/39 Mbps, 35ms Test 2 - 159/38 Mbps, 42ms Test 3 - 116/25 Mbps, 40ms Wired should always rule and the results support that. Starlink has some variance built in as the satellites are in motion in 3D space relative to the ship and the gateway city. Depending when you run the test you could see some differences just based on positioning in that moment. Pinging the local default gateway over wireless yields an average of 10ms so that much latency is just the nature of the WiFi on board and that doesn't appear to be unusual especially with a crowded WiFi spectrum sharing the RF airspace with other devices in the Centrum. Deducting that "WiFi penalty" from the results above appears consistent with latency expectations. In other words and in non-technical terms... it's working pretty great. 🙂

I feel like we're splitting hairs at this point. Plus I'm not sure they'd like my 300' ethernet cable running down the hallway after me. 🤣

Times for CAS related events: Day one Welcome Aboard Celebration is new. Top tier on day six. Note at the bottom there is a specialty coffee voucher "Valid this sailing only". The coffee machines in the CL and SL both appear to be working. Not sure why they've extended the extra voucher for this cruise.