SLSD

This morning, we found ourselves tendering into the town of Tobermory on the Isle of Mull--which is part of Scotland. We were met with colorful houses, perfect for photography. We had chosen an excursion to Castle Duart, amost an hour from Tobermory--sometimes down one lane roads, dubbed "weak roads" by those that govern the Isle of Mull. On the way to Castle Duart (which gives out definite Outlander vibes), we saw a verdant countryside, sailboats sailing, castle ruins, road signs pointing to lochs, and homes sprinkling the roadsides. Castle Duart, originally built in the 14th century is home to the MacLean Clan and currently inhabited by the 28th Chief of Clan MacLean--Lachlan MacLean, who is 82 years old. The castle is not large. It consists of a kitchen from the 1890s, a dungeon, a water well (in the dungeon), a dining hall, bedrooms/bathrooms, and a wing which is private for the family. There are displays of fine silver, weapons, and portraits. There are storyboards of ancient legends talking of attempted murder of a wife with the plot discovered and the head of the clan later murdered himself. The Isle of Mull is peaceful, tranquil and green. It is a perfect place ot spend part of a day. What follows are some photos from this morning to give you an idea of what to expect on The Isle of Mull.

It did get a bit chilly on the Isle of Man as we were boarding our bus to return to the port to meet the tender. Our guide told us an old folktale about a Manx necromancer who would cover the island with a cloak of clouds and fog if the island was ever threatened by those who might do it harm. He assured us that the culprit was not on our bus.

So far, I am failing at remembering to take photos! Tonight, we had our first meal at Solis and I forgot to take a camera!! My apologies. Long story short, we thoroughly enjoyed the restaurant and thought the food we ordered was quite good! I do prefer it to the TK Grill offerings of the past. For my appetizer, I ordered that Greek dip that starts with a TZ. (you know the one--I can't spell it). it was served with fried rounds of zucchini. Mr. SLSD ordered lobster ravioli. My entree was grilled shrimp. I could tell that the shrimp was high quality and it was some of the best I have ever tasted and I've had a lot of shrimp. Our table shared a grilled vegetable dish and a potato dish. Both were quite good. For dessert, I had a delectable strawberry/meringue/ice cream dish and the table shared birthday cake for a friend. The Solis dining room on Sojourn is small--and rather cramped, but I think the staff do their best to make it quite a fine dining experience. While I look forward to trying additional menu items, I pronounce Solis to be a success. After dinner, my husband and I adjourned to the Obs Bar as we do most evenings. The bartender David continues to be a true star--always smiling and very quick to serve us. Tonight, Esther was assisting and I recognized her from our cruise on Ovation last year. She told us that our Ovation cruise had been her first contract. Like David, she is constantly smiling and is a true joy in terms on the service she provides. She told us that we looked familiar to her--and I told her that I hoped we didn't look TOO much older. We are just a few days into this cruise and are having a wonderful time.

We are! And I have to say that Mr. SLSD and I are having such a good time with nancygp and Mr.nancygp.

Jon, the restaurent appears to be only open for breakfast and lunch on sea days. I guess I am resigned to that. Some of my very favorite meals have been in The Restaurant at lunch. Yesterday's moussaka was memorable. We still are not doing buffets. At lunch we order from the limited Colonnade menu. It does seem to be expanded a bit--with a pasta entree, salmon, hot dog, chicken, hamburger and maybe something else I am not remembering. I did take a look at the buffet offerings today as I walked through the Colonnade on our way to the veranda. I have to admit that the food looked quite good, That is not my objection. I don't want to handle implements that everyone is handling (and I a not a germaphobe). Also, I prefer a curated menu that I can order from. I am. in no way criticizing those who like buffets.

Today is Monday and we arrived at our first port, Douglas, on The Isle of Man, early this morning. The tenders got a bit of a late start due to some ferry traffic at the port that had to be completed before our tenders were alllowed to sail. We chose a ship's excursion which included riding on a Victorian Era narrow gauge electric train. In fact, we rode on two trains, changing from one to the other at the station at Laxey. I don't know what my expectations had been for the Isle of Man, but they were certainly exceeded. The isle is beautiful, consisting of about 80% farm and grazing land. Seeing the countryside from the vantage point of the train was enjoyable. We saw many goats, Europe's largest water wheel, beautiful flowers and interesting terrain. Our guide was quite good and explained some of the background information about the Isle of Man including the fact that it has the oldest continuous parliament in the world. After lunch (from the menu) on the veranda of the Colonnade, (Mr, SLSD had a hot dog and I had baked chicken with vegetables), we played trivia for the second day in a row. You are not going to believe this, but our team won first place again. Mr. SLSD was particularly pleased with the prizes today. They are pictured below. I just have to mention that our fellow Cruise Critic poster nancygp and her husband made up a third of our team and are excellent players. Tonight will be our first time to try Solis, the newest restaurant on Seabourn ships. Stay tuned for my report.

Last night's dinner was at our very favorite restaurant on Sojourn (or Encore/Ovation). Earth and Ocean! Our idea of cruising certainly includes dining on great food while watching the sea. The weather was perfect and the meal could not have been better. We were so busy enjoying ourselves that I forgot to take photos except for one of Mr. SLSD's appetizers. We chose to split a Ribeye steak (medium rare) and I added a great endive salad, while my husband enjoyed the pictured pasta appetizer. Really pretty apple tarts made a wonderful dessert. Dinner was marred only by some adorable (cherubic looking) children who were playing by the hot tub from 7pm until 8:15. Mr, SLSD is usually very tolerant, but he wrote a note for the hotel manager concerning the distracting noise at dinner. There were black nets seeming to signify that the pool area was closed during dining hours, but it was the chosen play area for children during our time at Earth and Ocean. We followed dinner by going to the Grand Salon to watch the West End chanteuse Phillipa Healey. She has a beautiful voice and a sense of humor. We both wore ear plugs to save our hearing. Mr. SLSD measured the decibel level at 92. (If exposed to that level of noise for half an hour, you will suffer damage to your hearing--thus, the silicone ear plugs).

Thank you for this reminder Nops!

Today began with a late Room Service Breakfast for a leisurely Day at Sea. Nelson was our room service waiter. I had a Western Omelette with toast, fruit and tea. Mr. SLSD had granola, yogurt, a blueberry muffin, orange juice and coffee. All was delivered on time. Following breakfast, I attended the first lecture of this cruise. The speaker was Dr. Colleen Batey who spoke about the Vikings in the vincinity of The Isle of Man during the 800s and 900s. Dr. Batey is an expert in archaeology as it pertains to the Vikings and what can be learned from recent finds. I look forward to her next two lectures. Friends onboard convinced us to play Trivia this morning, We usually do not play. We were a small team of six and had a great deal of fun. Lo and Behold, our team won first prize--and by a large margin. Are we overconfident now? No, we are not! Following Trivia, we had a delightful lunch in The Restaurant--which was open as we are having a sea day. I splurged (calorie wise) and had the most excellent Moussaka. I was so busy enjoying the dish that I forgot to take a photo. Of course a toast with wine was involved to celebrate our win at Trivia. What's on for the rest of the day? Perhaps a bit of Name that Tune, and later we may try dinner at Earth and Ocean. As we head north, it is only going to get colder and we like tonight's menu there. We'll participate in the next Formal Night, but are going casual tonight.

This is our second time to sail on Sojourn--the first being five years ago in 2019. Generally, the ship looks to be in very good condition. I think I am noticing a few places where refurbishment has been done. Specifically, there appears to be new upholstery in the Obs Bar. The banquettes have all been upholstered in black fabric. Probably not what I would have chosen, but what they used. We noticed new loungers around the pool. Mr. SLSD thinks that the table in our suite is different from what we had in 2109. One quirky little thing is the telephone in our suite. It is labeled in pen! Someone has handwritten the labels for Guest Services, Room Service, etc. I'll try to make some more observations tomorrow. Our second day onboard is going to be a Sea Day.

Embarkation at the port in Dover was fast, easy and quite civilized. Our suite was ready by the time we boarded around 12:45. Our luggage came quickly. We had a leisurely lunch on the veranda of the Colonnade. Since we don't do buffets (or try not to), I was pleased that there were choices from a menu at lunch. It's not a huge menu, but includes hot dogs, minute steaks, salmon, chicken breast, hamburgers, and a pasta dish. We can make do with that for lunch when The Restaurant is not open. There was the usual Sailaway and introduction of the cruise director (Robert), entertainment director, the Seabourn singers and dancers. Dinner tonight in The Restaurant was quite good. We dined with friends after meeting them for a before dinner drink in the Observation Bar. At dinner, I ordered cold shrimp, as an appetizer and filet mignon as my entree with raspberry sorbet for dessert. A little plate of petit fors were brought to our table as well. It was just right. Our waiter was Simba who is always so cheerful and understated in his approach--which we appreciate. We remember him from last summer's Norwegian cruise on Ovation. After dinner we went to the Salon for a quite impressive (and loud--wearing ear plugs from now on) program based on dance. We followed this with a trip to the Obs Bar where David is bartending. We asked him to make us Chimayo cocktails with tequila, creme de cassis and apple juice. He did just that, and they were excellent.

Thank you Jon. Tonight we had Simba as our waiter and he was great. I remember him from last summer's cruise on Ovation.

We began our journey with a flight on British Airways to Heathrow and an hour and fifty minute drive by car service to our lodging at The Pig at Bridge Place near Canterbury. Tomorrow morning we will have a less than thirty minute drive to the port at Dover. I cannot say enough good things about our lodging. The Pig is a charming hotel and the employees have shown us the most gracious hospitality. They have been friendly and helpful in every way possible. I highly recommend The Pig at Bridge Place if you are sailing from Dover and want a special start for your cruise. The hotel restaurant is provisioned from a beautiful and extensive onsite kitchen garden which adds to the ambience of this delightful bucolic hotel. The food has been excellent. We like the hotel bar as well. I'm including a few photos from The Pig. We chose room #11 at the hotel which is in an adjacent building and looks out over a meadow as shown in one of the photos.

We usually do have great service. Last summer we had exceptional service and we were able to recommend our waiter to friends who sailed after us. I just wanted to know if someone had a waiter they especially enjoyed.

We board Sojourn in jujst a few days now. Any advice on which waiter(s) we might ask for in the Dining Room?

I'm disappointed to hear that there are so many large groups. In my experience, they change the feeling of the cruise. Perhaps others don't notice a change, but I usually do. They are usually noisier, more boistrous, and more demanding.

I'm afraid that an occasional ya'll comes out of my mouth!

The owner of last year's dog was from Mexico if I remember correctly and was not a jewelry designer--so this is mostly likely not the same dog. The owner was not well liked onboard and I witnessed her being quite rude to one particular excursion guide and quite pushy with the gatekeeper at the TK Grill. We'll be on Sojourn going to Iceland and Norway (again) this summer Herb and will miss you and Mary!

I'm listening

Whenever I take photos aboard a ship, I am always so careful to not include other people in my photos--and if I do, their faces are not visible. I think this is so important.

I hope you do have a good community of travelers and that makes or breaks a cruise for many of us. I think we've sailed with you--but did not meet you--some years ago from Kobe to Vancouver. The great thing about that cruise was that it was 20+ days and all the same people as there was no way to slice and dice it into 7 day itineraries. I know Mr. SLSD and I will have a great time this summer because we will make it a good time for us--but I don't look forward to the constant changing of passengers. Hopefully there will not be groups!

This is one thing that concerns me. It has not happened to us, but I know it has happened to others. I had never received an email like this one we received from Seabourn yesterday. I clicked on the link about charters--and there as all kinds of marketing language. This is a big push by Seabourn both for group travel (with incentives) and charters. We are so looking forward to our 28 days on Sojourn this summer. We'll have to analyze where to cruise going forward after that.

It was from Seabourn.

Right now, It is getting more difficult to find itineraries that are longer than 7 days. We're sailing for 28 days this summer--but the first 14 days were divided into two 7 day cruises some times ago. I think the second half is still a 14 day cruise, but who knows. They will divide it if they can.

I received an email from Seabourn today pushing the idea of group travel (with some incentives) and charter travel on Seabourn ships. I find this a bit disheartening, while realizing that Seabourn is trying to sell their suites and will do most anything to accomplish that. I've never enjoyed seeing large groups traveling together onboard Seabourn ships and would not like to see our plans changed due to a ship being chartered. It's a new world at there and I assume there will be more changes to come.