CanadianKate

We got out of Tonga 2.5 hours late and the seas are suspiciously smooth considering the high winds we experienced earlier today. At dinner everyone was discussing how they had expected a rough time of it and yet it was calm.

I've been napping, doing Trivia and then enjoying dinner so haven't written up Tonga yet, but have lots of good things to say when I finally get it written. Everyone had good stories about the people.

Currently stuck in Tonga - a tropical depression and the wind is too high to make maneuvering safe. Captain hopes this will pass shortly.

Here's an update on the past few days:

We continue to be blessed with amazing weather. The seas were calm all the way from Hawaii to Pago Pago and then on to Tonga. At times it looks like we are in a harbour, not out on the open seas.

The other night, after a delightful dinner on the pool deck with the surging of the pool water sounding like waves on a shore and live, lounge, music in the background, we went up to the bow to look at the stars now that we are below the equator. The Milky Way was gorgeous and the sky was amazing. Along the horizon to the port side of the ship was an active lightening storm but overhead, the sky was clear. We had one rain shower one morning and another 5 minute shower one afternoon but aside from that we don't seem to get rain in the daytime.

We figured Pago Pago (pronounced Pahngo Pahngo) might bring rain. After all it is the worlds rainiest habour. But the day dawned beautiful and it remained that way .

After so long at sea it was lovely to be able to be on deck to fully enjoy the approach to land.

Tiny flying fish dashed out of the way of the bow as we came towards the island of Tutuila, American Samoa. The harbour is almost hidden from view as you approach since it was formed when the seaward wall of the volcano collapsed and the sea rushed in. It is deep like a fjord, almost cutting the island in two. We docked, late, because everything runs on Island time here. That's okay, it wasn't raining and we had all day in port.

Dh and I dressed to protect us from the sun and headed off. The temperature was hot (33*C) and humid, so we'd only go a half a kilometre or so, and then duck into a museum or a store. Prices at the grocery store were very reasonable, not much more than LA.

We visited the local museum and then walked along the waterfront some more, stopping into McDonalds to cool off and check out the menu (it was too early to eat) and then on to National Park Visitor Center where we took advantage of the a/c and the wonderful facilities to rest while watching a cultural documentary on the mat weaving by locals, and checked out the displays.

The views along the waterfront of the lushness, the tropical plants and the beautiful water were breathtaking. We were blessed with unusual weather.

We walked back to McDonalds and had some lunch and used their wifi to do all that random googling we wanted to do but can't bother paying for on board, caught up on email and I managed to download two more editions of The Economist so there's a chance I'll get them read before getting home.

After our lunch break we continued on, past the port, to the beaches. There we sat in a shade structure, enjoying the cooling breeze and drinking in the scenery.

While we were sitting there, dh spotted sea turtles surfacing and then diving. This is the best shot of that we have. It was tricky to predict where they'd surface and finally I said we should just sit and enjoy the moment rather than trying to capture it. As we walked back towards the ship, I came across one of my trivia team girlfriends and so we sat in the shade chatting. Her dh went in swimming, stripping down to his skivvies and so dh did the same.

Dh reports that the water was the same temperature as the air so there was no difference to his skin when he stepped into the water, it was just wet. No major rashes yet so I'm assuming he hasn't contracted any awful parasites from the Starkist Tuna Factory across the harbour. Actually, that's another blessing of the day, the slight wind was blowing the factory's rotten fish smell away from town.

We walked back to the ship and I did a bit of shopping on the pier, picking up a souvenir, and a tropical top to wear around the ship. Then we came back aboard, peeled out of our clothes, showered, started a load of fine washables in the laundry room, had tea, hung up the clothes to dry, and I played trivia. After trivia there was a cultural dance/drumming show on the pier and then sail-away. As we headed out to sea, we watched a rain storm come across the water toward us, just brushing by one side of the ship.

We had a lovely evening. There was an early show, a Cole Porter review, then dinner, then we went to Karaoke night. We sang Bohemian Rhapsody (with a lot of help from the crowd) and Daytime Believer. It was a lot of fun. BTW: Oliver served me my Coke at the bar and now I know why you all love him so much!

The sea day yesterday was quiet and uneventful.

Tonga today was wonderful but I haven't written the travelog yet so will post that in a few days. Next stop is Auckland.

For those joining us in Auckland: I'll be having dinner at 7:30 in the restaurant and will open up a table for newcomers. Ask the Maitre D if you can join Kathryn and Ken if you are interested in meeting us the first night.

I see the usage stats are inaccurate.

According to the bottom of the page stats that show me each time I've logged in on the current calendar day, we've used 31 minutes today (which corresponds to my personal impression of amount of time.) Total data usage 42MB (that amount is high because an extremely large document is being backed up at home via email and I'm on the backup list – that will stop at the end of the week but I can't figure out a way of not downloading that email to my in-box but to still receive all the other emails to that email address (which I do have to monitor while away.)

But according the summary at the top (the one that told me we used 6000 minutes), comparing two different sign out screens (yesterday and today) I've used 1000 minutes in the past 24 hours (but only 66MB.)

Since the last sign off on yesterday's calendar day was at 11:47 p.m. there is no way I could have used 969 minutes in the last 13 minutes of the day yesterday. So obviously something is wrong with the stats I've been quoting as my usage while on the unlimited plan.

Yes, I was surprised at the number myself. Remember, although I've been on board since Jan 6, all but three of those days have been sea days.

As well, there was a cancelled port of call and that day had nothing big on, no concert, no lectures, just a movie in the afternoon and an interview with the captain in the morning. It was to have been a deck bbq – also cancelled when it rained in the morning.)

Finally, there was no reason to disconnect because it was unlimited so we'd leave the line up from 5 – 7:30 when we left for dinner but weren't necessarily online that time. It was also left up by accident multiple times and once because the system 'broke' and nothing would come up, including the sign-off page.

Still, we were aware that because it was unlimited we were online much more often (for instance, I went online during tea to answer a question that came up in conversation, something I would never have done by-the-minute.)

We do work and need skype to check voicemail at home (we don't make other calls that way but respond by email.) We also have to check email at least twice daily but that takes all of 12 minutes a day (3 to check both email and download all forum pages I need to read, read posts and write responses offline, 3 to reply & repeat later in the day.)

As for multiple devices – sadly, no. In fact, had it allowed that, I would support the unlimited daily rates (although I would suggest the 5-day rate should not be 5 consecutive days but 5 days over a cruise.) My main complaint was my 1000 minutes was taken away.

We cheat and use a router in the cabin so all four of our devices can be up simultaneously and when we are on a “minutes plan” we try to only go online when we are both here so we can both update at the same time. We also download the podcast of the radio news each evening and we do that concurrently with checking and sending emails and updating forum posts.

In fact, the router was the main reason we'd disconnect from the internet before leaving the cabin – that way we could access the internet from the lounge or other rooms.

BTW: as to the comment of 'piggish' behaviour when I talked to the IT guy, saying not disconnecting was the only way I could think of protesting SS refusal to sell me the $250 package, he said it made no difference because they had upgraded the bandwidth. Remember, I was simply not disconnecting. I was not up or downloading any content so the amount of bandwidth my computer would be using to maintain connection would be minimal.

I dislike the new tvs. There, I've said it. Yes, they take up much less room than a CRT tv, but there is a major disadvantage to the new tvs.

Actually, it is mainly the remote control I hate. No mute (nor a mute button or volume control easily accessible on the tv; volume, channel, power are all out of sight/reach on the top of the tv) and no digits so you can't directly enter a channel, you have to press channel up/down. The receiver on the tv for the remote control is finicky so you have to be pointing the remote 'just so' in order to make changes. I can't do it from most spots while sitting down.

I don't use the tv much but I keep it on, muted, all the time on either bridge view or map view and use it for listening to announcements. Since running the volume up takes almost 30 seconds, I now just bolt for the door and listen the announcement from the hallway. That's faster, despite the fact the tv was already on and often on the channel.

I'll be adding this comment to my end of cruise survey.

BTW: we have had problems with the satellite feed (even in port in Hawaii) so, the channels are not any more reliable than they used to be. A 'repair' attempted a few days ago made no difference. As well, the tvs on the exercise machines will not start to work until Auckland or later.

On the plus side: there are lots and lots of inputs. We are still working so travel with a video cable in order to add a second screen to our laptops, or connect to a customer's projector. We are using that to feed the streaming movies offered on the internal system through the tv instead of having to watch on the laptop or tablet.

I'm not sure anyone has talked about the streaming video content, yet. Aside from the dvds you can borrow from the library and the movies they put on three channels (btw, that printed schedule only went to Jan 9 and nothing has been delivered since), you can also stream additional content by accessing the wifi sign-in webpage. On the sign-in page you have the choice of streaming movies and older tv shows for free (Downtown Abbey, season 1 for example, Pacific Rim was one of the movies offered). Once the weather gets bad, we'll start watching movies. It is also a plus when one spouse can't sleep; the awake person could go elsewhere on the ship and still watch a movie, sitting in the observation lounge, for example.

This is a very positive change and opens up other possibilities. For instance, we'd like to see a link to the daily schedule put on the same internal webpage so that once can access the schedule using a wifi enabled device anywhere on the ship. Yes, I know I can ask to see the schedule kept at the bars, etc, but if I'm snuggled into a cabana, I don't want to have to move in order to see if the lecture is at 2 or 3. At this point, I take a photo each day of the schedule and carry that with me so I don't have lift my lazy butt out of a chair.

All these sea days just run one into another here. I just got through explaining to an elderly relative who got email so she could follow my trip that it was Friday night here. Nope, it is Saturday!

I'm getting a feeling for what a crossing would have been like during the days of the liners since they didn't stop at assorted ports of call but just went straight across the ocean. Today was day four at sea. I have two more before land.

The sea continues to be eerily calm. And aside from a rain shower yesterday morning, in general the weather is fantastic.

We crossed the equator at 12:23 today. At the noon update, Captain reminded us to “mind the bump!” King Neptune made his appearance at 4, delaying tea for me while I watched.

Trivia continues to be delightful nonsense full of laughter and good fun. Fernando risked turning the event from PG to R waters when his tongue slipped and he referred to an erection instead of eruption at one point.

I'm back on limited internet but managed to get the $250 package back. That should last us to Sydney if we ration carefully. We average 40 minutes a day. During sea days it is tempting to surf the net but once we are in NZ there were ports day after day and our usage should drop.

Fdnycruiser: Yes Oliver is tending bar (one of my trivia team members confirmed that for me since we don't use the bar.)

Crystal advertises $300 for 1500 minutes (so 20 cents vs 25 on SS.) We'll see about speed, or even if it is available when we cruise next year.

Whining has paid off, the $250 package is now being offered on my current cruise.

BTW: during the time we had unlimited internet we used 6000 minutes.

Not only do they charge for internet, they have recently raised the cost of internet for those who use it moderately (i.e. 40 minutes a day over 4 devices, in our case.)

On this cruise, they are not offering the 1000 minutes. Therefore, our choice was to buy multiple 250 minutes (we'd need 5) or buy unlimited per day at 18, 20 or $22 (every day of the cruise, per 5 day block, per day). Additional cost for us ~250.

I'm not sure what happens if you have to pay the daily charge for every day of the cruise or the five day block if, during that time, you are in places where ship board internet is not available (parts of Alaska due to geography, or within x miles of certain countries, as in Japan IIRC.)

Attention SilverSea corporate lurkers - you can be sure I will repeat this fact over and over and over again and encourage people who are on the fence about SS to consider other luxury cruise lines. It is with pleasure that I report my next cruise is with Crystal.

To pick up with the blogging after an exhausting 3 days in Hawaii.

First an update: my 7 p.m. dinner reservation at Hot Rocks didn't happen at 7:00 but 7:45. No offense, but if I wanted to eat at 7:45, I would have booked my reservation for that time. I was starving and did not manage to stick to the healthy eating I had planned as a result. I will say our waiter was exceptional at getting food to me quickly. Once again, they don't 'get' that messing with meals might not be a great idea for guests that suffer severe mood swings due to low blood sugar. My dh learned early on in his travels with me that keeping my meals regular is of utmost importance for his safety and well-being.

After an almost completely smooth crossing to Hawaii, we enjoyed three ports over three days. We've never been here before but hope to return for a land based vacation some time. Now I understand why people come here.

Hilo, on the Big Island, was first. It was wonderful to see land again after 5 days at sea. There was a shuttle to the centre of town provided by Silversea and another to the Walmart (with a large mall across the street) on the outskirts, provided by the port.

We went into town in the morning and enjoyed walking around and checking out the shops that were open (about 1/3 of them - it was a Sunday.)

Our noon helicopter tour was canceled due to low cloud ceiling after we had finished the safety briefing. We went back to the port and waited for the shopping bus. I then proceeded to spend a lot of our 'savings' from the canceled flight on clothing.

Ours wasn't the only tour canceled, two others were as well due to heavy rain that had fallen overnight. (We were treated to thunder and lightening all night long.)

The second island we visited was Maui and we enjoyed a strenuous hike through the rainforest to waterfalls. We loved the whole 7 hour day, although we returned to Lahaina muddy and exhausted. We dumped our hiking poles and swimming towels with the security at the pier and then shopped some more. Loved Maui, hope to take our family there some day and hire the same, superb, guide to explore the island further.

Today was Honolulu. My dh went on a VIP tour of the bases. He said the tour was good but the guide was poor. I had intended to explore on my own but couldn't find a tourist information kiosk. Seriously. No materials on board aside from the basic printed sheet. No materials in the cruise terminal. No kiosk at Aloha Tower. So I took the shopping bus to Ala Moana mall, figuring it would be a stop on a hop-on/off bus tour and asked at the information booth where to pick up the tour bus. They told me none came there (apparently, that isn't true) and my only option was the $2 trolley to Waikiki to find tourist information there. I didn't take it because it was exact cash fare, and I only had 3 singles. I did shop, spending the last of the canceled tour savings.

Liked the Big Island, loved Maui, but will probably pass on Honolulu when we return to Hawaii.

I can hear the winches now as we prepare to cast off. Six days at sea now, since Fanning Island was canceled. No tours offered at Pago Pago (none to SS standards) so not sure what we'll do there. As for the following stop in Tonga, I've heard they were badly hit by Cyclone Ian so will not be surprised if they are canceled for the same reason as Fanning Island.

By the way, forgot to tell you (I think) that the Always Available menu uses the term Always Available loosely. So far there have been three different ones (we are 8 days into the cruise.) Tomorrow is day 9 and I think we have cycled back to the first Always Available menu. At least the baby back ribs have returned. We suspect it cycles through every 3 days. At least that has been the pattern so far.

The internet billing has not been changed back. My dh keeps asking me if I've disconnected and I keep asking him why he's asking. There's no incentive for me to disconnect anymore, doesn't cost me a cent more.

Since hypoallergenic soap didn't arrive in my suite after Hilo or Lahaina, I bought a bar today and have given the receipt to housekeeping for my account to be credited the $2.89. Yes, that's petty but I'm pretty pissed about this right now. I'm collecting examples of SS promising/advertising one thing and not delivering. A bar of Dove did appear tonight in my bathroom but since it is a full-size bar, my guess is someone went out and bought it. Fine, but they could have done that two days ago. So could I but I waited to see if they'd take action. When nothing happened, I bought one today because I don't have enough soap of my own to last to NZ.

In 2007 we took the NYC - Southhampton cruise following the WC and many of the Brits stayed on to go home. Some are still friends today. And this lot seem very friendly, although I've arrived on board at the start, this time so they haven't had a chance to form a clique yet.

I will say that I greatly enjoyed the socializing on the WC segment from Sydney to Hong Kong, despite arriving in the middle.

It is important to remember that us newcomers in the middle of a WC are 'fresh blood', new conversation, new stories to hear. We choose to sit at tables of 6 so perhaps the WCers I meet are those who want to interact with the newcomers and so I meet the welcoming ones and simply ignore the rest.

I'm sorry, Brimary, that your experience wasn't as positive as ours have been as far as socializing goes.

Dieter: that might be true for Verandahs but for Vista cabins, the two times I've tried to book a segment early, we've been denied a cabin assignment until after full payment was due. The first time I was sick so just canceled the whole booking because there was no way I'd be well enough to travel in 3 months. The second time, I bitched and threatened to move the booking to a cruiseline that would provide a confirmed cabin.

I can only assume the difference between your experience and mine is that Vistas are in short supply compared to Verandah.

As well, we were booking 2 segments (to Auckland and then Sydney) which is a little trickier since the cabin has to be empty for two back to back segments.

The weather is improving day by day. It is also getting rougher but nothing more than a long swell. I've stopped exercising on the outside deck and am using the treadmill (when I actually exercise) because my knees can't cope with the side strain of the ship's movements when I'm walking quickly and I can hang on better on the treadmill.

The Meet & Greet was well attended by SilverSea staff but only 4 out of the 6 who had signed up, showed up. (To be fair, it was against bridge.) We had a lovely visit with GGP's and then enjoyed dinner with them and a lecturer in the evening. Mr. GGP's was on stage in the evening assisting the magician.

Trivia continues to be fun. We are consistently second place. At this pace, I'll have 60 cruise points to 'spend' when I get to Sydney.

Today the schedule is shook up with the concert at 6:00, a pool deck meet & greet of everyone on board at 6:30 and a movie tonight. The movie is "50 First Dates" which probably will be sparsely attended if I'm a good judge of demographics and taste. If this was a recent movie or a long past classic the attendance might be better. But with a 44% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and Drew Barrymore instead of John Barrymore, I can't help thinking the Hawaiian setting of this film won't be enough to pack people in.

Still haven't figured out how our 7 p.m. Hot Rocks reservation will work with the 6:30 party in the same space, but we had our butler confirm it.

Spoiling ourselves with the Verandah cabin has us worried we'll never be able to return to deck 4. It has warmed up to the point where I can have my breakfast on the balcony now, and between now and Sydney I'm not sure we'll need the blankets our butler brought to us. Except maybe in the theatre (there is constant muttering about the temperature in there - seriously, folks, you are all experienced SS cruisers and that theatre is always chilly. Bring a wrap.)

A relatively quiet day for me. Not so quiet for dh, he had to wake me up to stop my snoring on the pool deck!

Did a morning destination lecture on the Big Island, and an afternoon lecture on theatre. Eating, physio on the balcony, and trivia filled out the day.

Lovely formal dinner tonight. I'm annoyed because I don't fit any of my formal outfits so feel like I'm slumming it but enjoyed looking at the lovely ladies and their gowns.

Captain said there are more crew than passengers. But I still don't have more accurate numbers than that.

Tomorrow at 11a.m. is the Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle

(I bolded that to remind anyone on board who didn't get an invite but sees this, to pop along; we're in Panorama Lounge.)

We came second again at Trivia. I despair for our team once the pianist and lecturer get off, even if we do know the answers ourselves, they give us confidence that we know what we know. It is a great team and there's lots of laughter and fun, no pressure in our corner of the bar.

This evening the comment I heard several times is that it feels like we've been on board for a week, not just two days. Familiarity with the ship, the large number of repeat guests (I heard 100 of the World Cruisers are repeat World Cruisers, plus the usual high % of Venetians), and the wonderful staff makes it feel like we can't possibly have only been on board for just over 48 hours.

I've had no problem booking WC segments, just getting cabin assignments. Those don't come for me until the day of final payment and only if I kick up a huge fuss. Understandable but frustrating since on a cruise with 2 5+ stretches of sea days, happiness with a cabin is crucial to enjoyment.

For years I've been claiming Vistas are wonderful. And they are. But today is a perfect day for a Verandah cabin. My knee needs lots of physio in prep for an upcoming hike and to do it on our balcony is true luxury and makes me resent the time spent on physio a bit less.

This is my second cruise with WCers and they aren't the same sort of annoyance as a regular large group. My surprise is that my menu was changed due to their event, not that I had to move to another restaurant.

I'm not Duct Tape so I don't have the official numbers but unofficially through my butler:

~170 World Cruisers

~300 pax on board for this segment, full house from Auckland to Sydney

During the discussion at La Terazza (where I'll admit to being bitter) it was stressed over and over that the set menu was for the World Cruisers and we should never have seen it and our butler would be spoken to for causing the confusion.

That seemed unfair to me because through the day our butler had been negotiating a special appetizer for dh to go along with the roast beef and no-one told her the roast beef wasn't being offered to us. So there are definite on-board communication problems. (The appetizer wasn't available because of the lack of 24 hours notice but, of course, we don't know what meals are being served the next day until after dinner each night so can't possibly match special requests to entrees on offer - but that is another issue we are working through with the staff.)

On the other hand, in-suite dining took our order and then asked if we'd prefer to have the set menu instead. So yes, that was proactive on the part of staff, once our displeasure had been made known.

One of the biggest issues I have with such mix-ups is that they occur when I'm at low blood sugar. I'm used to eating by 6 so going for dinner at 7:15 and discovering that it will be 8:20 before someone shows up with food for me is not going to bring out my sunny personality. So, despite a pretty good day at sea, my memory from the day is getting all dressed up for a dinner to top off a great day, being seating, then having to leave the dining room, then having to sit in the cabin, waiting an hour for my meal to arrive. We eat virtually every dinner sitting at large tables and dinner is the social highlight of the day for us. That was ruined for us last night through a chain of mistakes (both policy decisions made to offer world cruisers a special event at the expense of other passengers, plus miscommunication through the ranks.)

Sigh.... Another mix-up.

While the Chronicle didn't highlight it, the Restaurant is closed to the general ship population for a World Cruiser event. The only clue from the Chronicle was that there are no hours for dinner at The Restaurant. Our butler told us to go to La Terazza, without reservations, since it is the only restaurant open to the remaining passengers. No problem. Arrived early since there could be up to 200 passengers dining there. It was empty.

Turns out the menu for today we were given last night is the set menu for the World Cruisers. We spent the whole day looking forward to Roasted Prime Kansas Beef but were handed today's menu at La Terazza. That was what was being offered. Unfortunately, while we eat there when invited by compelling hosts, Italian food is not generally to our liking and not our choice.

So it was back to the cabin.

The in-suite menu is still the old "always available" menu (yay!) so I was settling for my old standard (and favourite) starters and salmon. By the time we went to place the order, word had been sent from La Terazza to room service that we would be calling in and they offered us the set menu. So I'm getting my favourite starters along with the roast beef.

The plus: I'll probably enjoy this dinner more than the set menu. The minuses: I won't be dining with others, plus I got dressed up and put on makeup unnecessarily (although I'm not changing back but staying dressed up for the concert tonight.)

BTW: our stop at Fanning Island (a Silver Experience) has been canceled due to infrastructure damage. I'm a curse to my fellow passengers (on the 2011 WC segment, our Silver Experience at the Great Barrier Reef was canceled and on our 2012 Wind voyage up, the Dinner under the Stars in the Desert was not offered, after years of offering it, and despite the WC doing it.)

Spent the day slowing down. It is hard work to leave behind the frantic month of December (I'm a preacher.)

Up early due to not having adjusted to this time zone. Enjoyed the view of an amazing sunrise over the ocean from the comfort of my bed (we sleep with the drapes open.)

Got to the sunrise walk almost on time in order to live up to my vacation goal of taking care of myself after ignoring my body for far too long. Followed on with exercise bike and physio stretches as I continue to recover from being bedridden over a year ago and then again this past summer.

Pedicure (I'm from the north where paying for a pedicure and then putting on socks and boots is not conducive to long lasting results)

Then quiet time in the cabin, lunch, reading on the pool deck snuggled together under blankets with dh (sunny but cool wind, high in the 60's, then a nap (went to bed at 12:30 last night) and then a lovely time at tea and fun time at trivia.

I'm getting my sea legs slowly. The headache is almost gone. Still tired but then again I'm keeping strange hours.

Now I'm waiting for our pre-dinner snacks of cut veggies for me, and sushi for dh. Then dress for dinner and the concert after.

We have an excellent butler, our best yet – no training or getting into the rhythm of each others' patterns needed, we seem a perfect fit from the first day.

Dave, the IT officer is working very, very, hard and asking headquarters to go back to offering the 1000 minutes. Once again, there's the disconnect between corporate and on-board staff. Corporate see us as revenue generating units, on-board treat us like valued guests.

Wes: we were told it was special pricing for the world cruise. We were also told there were no minute packages but when we signed in, that was an option (but at 50 cents per minute so not economical since we need 1200 minutes minimum.)

It seems to be a screw over the rich folks because they won't notice policy. My next long segment to finish our cruising goal is on Crystal. Haven't tried them before but at this point am looking forward to it since SS is doing nothing to encourage my loyalty.

Suffice to say the website lies. Internet pricing is different and no hypo allergenic toiletries.

Two other new things:

1. Slippers are different style. More a flip-flop, thong, slipper (depending on your country's word for the style where there is a post between the big toe and the second toe. I can't wear those due to stubby toes (and didn't bring slippers because I didn't need them, SS provides.) Luckily we saw our butler walking by with a pair of the old ones and she got me a pair as well.

2. New menu. Completely new. This is also disconcerting as I was looking forward to the penne off the always available menu. It isn't there now. And the new choices are less exciting to me (except for the salmon.) On the other hand, they list the available sides and sauces (which I like) and, being SS, seem willing to make adjustments for taste. It will be interesting to hear what others say about the new menu.

The next-day's menu sheet delivered the night before (optional now), only has one item listed under each category except the main. So that is new too.

Smooth sailing, rocky start.

We are underway and the ship is moving smoothly so far, although I'm a little woozy. Don't drink so will have to blame the location of my cabin. My fault (I agreed to the last minute change of cabin) and hopefully I'll get use to it.

Other things are not my fault and taking me by surprise and/or sadness that things haven't got better since our last cruise 2 years ago.

First (and most important to me) no hypo-allergenic toiletries. I'm violently allergic to the other offerings so this won't do. I do wish they'd stop advertising they carry them since for many of us, this isn't a matter of liking one brand of scotch more than another, it is a health issue. Fortunately, I learned from our Africa cruise two years ago and have enough of everything with me for the cruise, except soap but will have more than enough to last to our first port of call at the end of the week. I intend to present SS with the bill for the soap requesting the amount be credited to our account.

Second: no fruit on arrival (although our butler asked and it is here now, after dinner.) I was famished, so really missed it. There was a nice box of chocolates, though. Which are now missing many. So much for my plan to eat healthy and lose weight.

Third: no sparkling anything in the cabin. We don't drink alcohol but were kind of hoping for the Sutter Fre. That was offered at dinner. No bottled water in the suite either.

Fourth: of course, none of the things we had requested to be in our cabin were there. Seriously, why offer the space for requests on the dang form that we must fill in online if our requests won't be acted upon. Pillows were eventually found and brought to the cabin. The bed was made up as we requested so I suppose I should be grateful for small mercies. All the things we requested that can be provided are now in place after dinner. But rather than having us ask for them twice (once online and then again when we meet the butler), it would have been nice to have our first request honoured.

Fourth: No umbrella in the suite. Not sure if they have all been removed or just ours. Binoculars are still there. This is just whining, I have my own umbrella with me, it just looks like a decrease in service.

Fifth: The new tvs don't have a mute button. We like to have the bridge cam or the weather update on but no music or to mute the tv when the butler comes to the room. Now we have to grab the remote and raise the volume manually each time. This sort of little thing will irritate me multiple times per day.

Sixth: someone in the terrace suite put a chair outside their cabin. Had to walk around it during the muster drill. Hope they are flogged. Or at least realize now that the area outside their suite is the emergency route and can't be cluttered up with furniture. Although I was shocked it was left there and not removed by the crew who were conducting the drill. I fought back the urge to toss it overboard on my way past. Just as well because that would have broken the “don't throw anything over the side” rule.

Seventh: check in. This time it was Silversea's fault, not the port. There was a long lineup and only one person checking documents. It was 40 minutes from the time we got to the top of the escalator until we were onboard with a glass of punch. And then another short queue for the pictures and registering our credit card. About 30 minutes of that we were standing still in a lineup. The only fun part was watching the confused looks of those arriving and seeing the lineup and assuming it was for another cruise line and asking where to go for Silversea. On the plus side, once SS added enough personnel to deal with the crowd, the backlog was cleared out in 10 – 15 minutes. So arriving at 12:25 was a bad idea.

Ninth: THIS IS HUGE FOR US: The internet charges have changed. There is 200 minutes for $99, or unlimited for a single charge. Per day. Of $22 if you buy a single day, $20/day if you buy 5 days in a row or $18/day if you buy for the whole cruise. This has added about $200 to the cost of internet for us for the cruise. We used to buy 1000 minutes and then top up with another 200, averaging about 40 minutes per day. On the plus side, now I don't need to be irritated when I'm burning through minutes because the internet is so slow. That's the only plus side – you still can't have two devices online at once.

On the plus side:

First: our luggage arrived quickly

Second: Nice sail away

Third: food is still good by our standards. Service is a bit sloppy but that will improve, I try not to judge by day one because it is such a chaotic day.

Fourth: crew is still hardworking

Fifth: our fellow passengers are as interesting as ever.

Sixth: it's been a long time since we've been on the Shadow/Whisper and our memories seemed to have mixed up the ships. Thought there was more storage in the suite (must have been thinking of the Spirit). On the other hand, thought the gym was much smaller and don't recall the yoga room. Both were pleasant surprises.

Hello all my fellow cruisers and for those arm-chair cruisers following along at home!

I'm ensconced in my hotel in Long Beach, counting down the hours until I board! Got some shopping to do (sunscreen is number one on the list!) It is lovely to have +20*C weather after leaving home in well under -20*C temperatures. We ended up having to bring long underwear just to get to the airport!

I'll be aboard for the first two segments of the world cruise blogging along the way. I'm not a World Cruiser so it will be up to those on segments after Sydney to take up the mantle.

Just a reminder for those on the first segment, I have confirmation from Cruise Critic that a Meet & Mingle is in place, am now just waiting for word once I'm on-board as to the details. I'm sure the World Cruisers also have special events organized but they are welcome at this M&M as well.

If you are interested in joining in, please register to attend a Meet & Mingle (it is a red link in the box above the posts in this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1946653)

Glad to hear about the selection. Our dvds got left behind due to space/weight issues.

We are on our way. Step one completed - shut down the house in -30*C weather and move to the airport hotel. I'm sitting here in the hotel, looking at the three suitcases and wondering what I've forgotten.

Our first flight towards LA leaves at 8 so we'll take the shuttle to the airport around 6-ish and have breakfast in the lounge. Looking forward to being warm.

Was the price you received for airfare from SS or from an airline?

I hear that several of the middle east airlines offer good deals through Dubai, so that might be another option. Or perhaps an around the world fare with Australia just one stop. Airfare does add to the cost of the cruises but in general, we've managed to keep our expenses quite low by using a number of strategies.

Another option might be to concentrate all your spending on one travel reward credit card.

Or to simply state this is worth it to you and therefore we'll cut expenses by 1K per month over the next year to pay for it.

(In our case, my dh is semi retired and basically all his net earnings go to Silversea and our retirement budget just has $10 per year in it for other travel.) BTW: travel is our biggest expense after income taxes. Of course, once we sell the house and have to pay rent (which adds up to 36 days a year on the ship!) that will change but for now our Silversea my #1 expense in Quicken!

I find the library selection quite good but my standards may be low. I was reading "Cat Who..." books on my last cruise and ran out but the library had several others. The last time I really looked (many years ago) the non-fiction selections included many currently on the best seller list. Of course, now that so many are using e-readers, the library may be getting less attention due to less demand.

There is also a set of shelves in the Observation lounge where passengers leave their books and can take another book should they want.