SLSD

A few nuts and bolts items: The beds are made up with a fitted bottom sheet and a comforter with duvet cover. If you want a top sheet, be sure to ask for it. If mattresses with valleys and significant lumps bother you, be sure to request that a plywood board be put under your mattress--especiallly if you are prone to back issues. This made a world of difference for my husband and I found the bed significantly more comfortable after the plywood was in place. Yesterday, the director of The Restaurant told me that the The Restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch EVERYDAY on cruises that are longer than 7 days. This is good news. HOWEVER, Seabourn breaks many cruises down into 7 days segments and The Restaurant will NOT be open for breakfast and lunch on those segments. An examplae, we booked a cruise that was adverstised by Seabourn as a 28 day cruise (see title of this thread--as that was the advertised name). From the beginning, I recognized that the last 14 days of the cruise was its own segnment. At some point, the first 14 days of the cruise was broken into two seven days segments. When that happens, The Restaurant will not be open for breakfast and lunch on either of the seven day segments. SO--those of us who sign up for a 28 day cruise, do not get that benefit. Just stating a fact here so people will know what to expect--no matter how long your advertised cruise is. We avoid the Colonnade for two reasons--one, we really don't like buffets and two, we don't like the ambience of the indoor dining in the Colonnade. We do sometimes dine on its Veranda and order from a very limited menu there. If you ask for bottled water in your suite, it will be provided for you. We have been given large bottles of Evian. The water provided by the ship's water purification process is what you will find in your suite to begin with. It is in large awkward washable plastic bottles. These same bottles in a smaller size are provided for passengers getting off the ship in ports. These LEAK! They are awkward to drink from. Many don't care for the test of the water. I find it just ok, but Mr. SLSD really doesn't like it at all. We buy, from time time, plastic bottles of water onshore to take with us when we leave the ship at a port. Others bring their own water bottles from home and fill with the water of their choice on the ship. We have room service breakfast almost everyday. We have found that it works best for us to have the waiter set the entire tray on the small low table beside the larger table that we dine upon. It saves his time AND we prefer to leave some of the tray items on the tray because when all placed on the larger table, it is terribly crowded. We put the white tablecloth on the table ourselves and then bring up items from the large tray as needed. This may not be what everyone prefers, but we find it easier and more pleasant. We met passengers last night that cruise a lot more often on Seabourn than we do, but did not realize that when you get onboard, you can use Onboard Credit (OBC) to pay for excursions EVEN IF you have prepaid for them. To do this, you go to Seabourn Square on 7 and ask that your OBC be used. You will be refunded the previously paid amounts to your credit card.

Last night's dinner at Earth and Ocean was quite good--as always. Both Mr. SLSD and I had the seed encrusted salmon. It was cooked to perfection. The maitre d' came by and asked if it was moist and cooked correctly. We could tell him that it was.

Newsflash--for those who care about this topic: The Restaurant is going to be open for both breakfast and lunch while we are in port at Trondheim. Mr. SLSD is teasing me and saying that it must be the note I left in Seabourn Square which tipped the scales and made Seabourn change its mind about opening The Restaurant.

A pretty sunrise near Trondheim this early morning, The high temperature is supposed to be 75 degrees fahrenheit today. Right now, it is VERY cold out on our balcony, but of course it is not quite 5:30am.

We DID receive a bottle of champagne upon our arrival. We also received two glasses of champagne already poured.

Thank you Mary. There is no doubt that the trip would be better if you and Herb were here, but we are confident it is going to be great. I'll report on Trondheim late tomorrow.

The speaker mentioned Atlantic Crossing in her presentation today! We will look for it! We are in Norwegian waters now!

We choose the laundry perk, the excursion discount, and then the % off wine and spirits.

Today is another enjoyable day at sea on our way to Trondheim, Norway. We began with breakfast in the dining room. I will not be ordering pancakes again. They arrived listless and cold. The shared fresh fruit plate was fresh and good. The bacon undercooked... I attended two lectures today--one on the resistance movement in Norway during WWII (in the morning) and the other asking the question, "Can you have an authentic travel experience on a cruise ship?" (the afternoon lecture) Of course the answer is yes. Both lecturers do a very good job. We had a tasty lunch in The Restaurant. The staff confirmed that there were exactly 57 diners in the The Restaurant for lunch today. There is only one empty suite on the ship for this two week sailing. This afternoon was billed as a "High Viennese Tea" in the Observation Lounge. A very freshly baked apple strudel was served along with the usual tower of treats. This is the first time this trip we have allowed ourselves the tower. I'm happy to report that we did NOT eat everything. The scones were my favorite thing. We will not be having the tower again--have to cut calories somewhere! Toward the end of tea, a fellow passenger alerted us to a whale spouting close to the front of the ship. It continued to spout for quite a few minutes and this was enjoyed by all. We plan to dine at Earth and Ocean again tonight. Short ribs are on the menu. Tomorrow, we dock in Trondheim!

You will not get grief. Just ask for it! Currently, we have an unopened bottle of champagne in the refrigerator of our suite--from the first day. You can also order any other bottle of complimentary wine. Champagne is no different.

Last night, we dined at Earth and Ocean, our favorite restaurant on Seabourn ships. It was Formal Night and we were tempted by the tasting menu in The Restaurant, but, in the end, Earth and Ocean won out. We are never sorry when we dine there. It is very relaxing, and seems to us what is best about cruising, Mr. SLSD and I shared the huge 16oz Cowboy Ribeye steak. It was excellent, grilled to perfection to medium rare, just as we ordered. I had the endive salad, while Mr. SLSD had the pasta first cours. We both had the baked apple dessert.

Not really apologizing-just explaining that this narrative is not chronological. We certainly are on vacation, but with plenty of downtime to share a few words here.

I have noticed that most servings are quite small--but not all! I was served beef cheeks at Earth and Ocean that could have served four people generously.

And a bit oddly shaped I think. I'll ask Mr. SLSD how they were.

The Restaurant was open for lunch today as we are having a sea day. There were at least 12 tables of diners--some with two diners, others with four. Here's the menu of specials (there were also classic offerings), and one of our entrees (fish and chips) and one of our desserts (a sherry trifle) --we forgot to photograph the others.

To continue with our tour in Isafjordur, Iceland--after leaving the museum in town, the bus drove us through a tunnel to another small town on another bay where we visited old turf houses which were fishing huts. The huts were only used for fishing. We also met a fisherman who was dressed as Icelandic fishermen dressed some years ago. He explained what fishing was like in those days. Next, we visited a typical Icelandic church, where we were treated to a short program by a young woman who sang several Icelandic folk songs. I've included a very short video here. IMG_0687.MOV

We haven't talked with the future cruise specialist yet. I do know if you do a future cruise deposit, you will get 5% off the price of a future cruise. Over the last few days, we have received various offers by email which I am sure you have received also. I will have to look up the name of the hotel manager. We have met the beverage manager and see him most days, but I will have to look up the spelling of his name. The chef's last name Ainsley. The food has been excellent. The cruise director is Robert.

I apologize that my narrative of this cruise is not entirely chronological. I fell behind a few days, but want to include two more ports in Iceland. The first is Isafjordur, a small, but scenic town on a bay. Our young guide in this town was only 20 years old and he had a sense of humor. We appreciate his sense of fun, but not everyone on our bus felt the same. People need to lighten up sometimes! First, we were taken to the town's waterfall which they claim has fountain of youth powers. We were all given a cup of the water. Unfortunately, no results so far. After the waterfall, we visited a small museum in a log house. We were offered (and accepted) some bites of dried herring, pickled Greenland shark, and a small sip of Schnapps. We liked them all. The museum had a number of rooms showing how Icelanders lived some years ago.

We go to about half of the shows after dinner in the Grand Salon. Last night's show was a country western/rock combination. Right now on Sojourn, there are only two singers in the Seabourn Singers and six dancers.

Occasionally, in the afternoon, if we are not going to tea, we order a snack from the Room Service menu. We've ordered fruit plates, cheese plates and the charcuterie board. Sometimes we order caviar. It is important to know that caviar is not on the menu. You have to ask for it.

After leaving Sandwich, England, our excursion made its way to Walmer Castle at Deal. Walmer Castle was built by Henry VIII in 1539/40 as a defensive castle to protect his realm against attacks from France. The castle is very close to the English Channel and just a few miles from France. Later, Walmer Castel became the home base for the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports--one of whom was Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. The castle has eight acres of beautiful gardens as well as apartments for the Lord Warden. We walked through the gardens which are mostly grown in a natural style and we toured the apartments that the Queen Mother occasionally inhabited during her time as the Lord Warden. The apartments are surprisingly modest, both in scale and in level of luxury. There is a very small catering kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and sitting rooms, all furnished in a comfortable English way with chintz and chenille. No photography was permitted in the apartments. Following the excursion, we returned to the ship and had lunch on the pool deck. I enjoy ordering from the menu there--and especially enjoy having the fish of the day and the soup of the day.

We chose to take a ship's excursion in Dover which was formulated for "in transit" passengers which means the passengers staying on the ship for the next leg of Sojourn's itinerary. This excursion took us to the medieval town of Sandwich as well as to the Walmer Castle and its gardens. Along the way to Sandwich, we were able to see abundant farmland, growing such crops as onions, barley and wheat. Beautiful scenery. Our guide explained that Sandwich is an ancient medieval town which used to be quite important as it was one of the Cinque Ports established by Edward the Confessor. These days, Sandwich is a sleepy small town. We saw the original medieval gate to the town which was in part built with flint rocks. You can clearly see the marks on the flint rocks where they had been worked with tools. I'm attaching some photos from the town of Sandwich.

Yesterday, we reached the half way point in our 28 day cruise. We returned to the port at Dover and several hundred passengers disembarked. According to a member of the staff, 90 of us remained onboard while around 358 new passengers embarked. We enjoyed a view of Dover Castle and The White Cliffs from our suite.

I've been attempting to search for future cruises at seabourn.com and have been stymied at every turn. All I seem to be seeing is huge photos of various parts of the world. When I searched for Northern European cruises, a trans pacific cruise came up. I remain amazed that Seabourn cannot get this right.

About the sound level at musical performances-- Mr. SLSD measured tonight's performance at 95 decibels at its height. At 95 decibels, one hour of exposure can cause hearing damage. We wear ear plugs to protect our hearing. Perhaps others are comfortable taking that risk. Because my husband already has hearing loss, we are very cognizant of the dangers. I don't have hearing loss and try to protect myself. The only reason I mention this is so that others who choose--can bring ear plugs if they share our concerns.