From the cow kings to an Empress, Norton goes on a little Sojourn

[Emperor Norton]

I think your food photography .... and especially your cocktails photography is excellent. I particularly like the chicken on the serving platter!

 

Out of interest, did you set the scenes up in any way or did you just take the photos as and when they arrived?

 

If I may offer a constructive criticism for some of the other - landscape and outdoor - photos, think about keeping the horizon straight where possible.

 

Thank you. The issue with the first table is that whatever light/s is/are over it produced some interesting banding effects on the images (embarkation day).

 

I not a fan of staged food photos (I've received flak for not staging them:lips-sealed:/) as that's not what you receive so what you see is what I was served/shown (for food - drinks I'll play with)

 

Horizons - I do need to work on those even with the in camera levels:o

[Emperor Norton]

I absolutely adore the chicken in TK Grill. I can never quite believe that I'm raving about a meat as mundane as chicken but it's always been so good. I like it with Mac Cheese. And the TK carrots.

I haven't tried the shrimp. Must be sure to next time. Whenever next time will be.

 

That may have been a good time to be daring and try vending machine roulette. I don't see any sweat in that one.

 

 

Much like Irn Bru I'm still trying to place the flavor that was in the drink. I want to say it was reminiscent of melon but per wiki its like a cross between Sprite and Ginger Ale.:confused:

[Emperor Norton]

Our next stop was our final stop in Japan and final stop before starting the crossing. This is where Nelson would disembark.:(

 

The plan for today was to see some cranes, wander in a marsh and grab some sushi before returning to the ship.

 

I wonder how many of these are removed from the bus.

 

 

Unlike some other wildlife tours the crane center was an actual facility with the cranes in cages. This made the chance of seeing them without a telephoto lens and luck a sure thing. As luck would have it there was a 3 (or was it 4) week old chick with two of the birds. The cages were just chain link fencing but at some spots in the fencing a shooting hole had been cut so people could photograph the cranes without the fence being in the way.

 

I guess these were example cranes to let you know what to look for. The cranes in question are Japanese Red Crowned Cranes (they're the basis of the logo of Japan Airlines

 

This one looks to be a little more real.

 



 

[Silver Spectre]

Thanks for your postings Norton, enjoying following your trip and loved seeing your visit to the Hakodate market. Did you try the extremely fresh cuttlefish sushi?

 

 

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[Emperor Norton]

I did not. The game looked interesting but squid/cuttlefish/octopus aren't generally at the top of my list for seafood. Too many rubber experiences - which is why I was blown away with the octopus I had in Kobe.

[Catlover54]

I did not. The game looked interesting but squid/cuttlefish/octopus aren't generally at the top of my list for seafood. Too many rubber experiences - which is why I was blown away with the octopus I had in Kobe.

 

LOL! You sound like my midwest-born DH, who hates "rubbery stuff with weird consistencies" (that just means there are then more clams, oysters, and octopus left for me:). )He also passed on the smoked eel you could get for breakfast when he was on HL with me.

 

I just discovered your thread, Emperor, spent 2 hours with it from the beginning to get up to date, and as usual with your threads I am greatly enjoying the photography and my sides are hurting due to laughing from your narratives.

 

However, so far, I am very happy I just finished the last 2 weeks in the Med on HL's MS Europa Nice to Bilbao savoring luxury food properly cooked, steak tatar 4 times in different ways, impeccable service, classical music performances, and Ispacion Spanish dancers, rather than on your Sojourn cruise with its construction nightmare, an excursion with pounding Japanese dreams (just the little video clip you posted was more than enough to threaten a migraine) and having a waiter accuse me of lying about what I had ordered.

 

I have never been on the Sojourn, just on the Odyssey and Quest, and wonder if it and its crew are typically very different from its sister ships.

 

I still look forward to additional posts with information, pictures, and laughs.

[Emperor Norton]

For texture I'm fine with oysters/clams and cartilage. Something about incorrectly prepared cephalodpod:confused: From what I've gathered/heard the Sojourn may be the problem child of the fleet.

[Emperor Norton]

Where was I? Oh yes, the cranes.

;)

 

Spot the colt (there's a trivia question: What is a baby crane called?)

 



 



 

[Emperor Norton]

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[Emperor Norton]

There were also some other things to see at the location.

 



 

 

Guides were quick to point out any tree that still had blossoms on it.

[Emperor Norton]

Our next stop was a walk in the park. Rather a walk in a marsh in the park. If found it interesting that the logo for the park was entirely in English.

 

There was a lot of parkland surrounded by agricultural land.

 

 

Naming conventions for JDM cars escape me.

 

I forgot my hip waders at home. Thankfully there was a wooden bridge/path through the area that was in a bit better state of repair than the uneven hole ridden steps we descended to get here.

 

The requisite visitor center/gift shop

[Emperor Norton]

Sadly aside from a few cranes at a great dinstance (I would've needed a telephoto) this was about as close to a wildlife sighting as I got.

 

These are caused by freeze/thaw cycles and almost look like some kind of muppet vegetation. I half expected eyes to pop out.

 

After a while it started to look a little blah to me.

 

The wonderfully maintained and not at all uneven, broken, with holes in them stairs.

 

[Emperor Norton]

Our final stop was a local fish market. This one was much smaller than the morning market in Hakodate. If pressed I'd say this one was setup specifically for tourists rather than locals/businesses. On the way to the stop we were handed sheets to fill out to request what sushi/shellfish we wanted to eat at that market. The big surprise for me was the inclusion of whale meat on the list. I know some in Japan eat it but I can't imagine many Westerners would be interested in it.

 

We could select up to six items in any combination we wanted. I went with two otoro (fatty tuna) two chutoro (medium fatty tuna) and two Hokkigai (arctic surf clams). I actually found the otoro too fatty for my palette. However the chutoro and surf clams were excellent. The sushi came on top of a rice bowl with a pea sized dollop of genuine fake wasabi and a seafood soup thing with the shell parts and maybe a bit of meat from a crab that looked to have been broken down with a sledgehammer.

 

Clockwise from the top: Genuine fake wasabi, otoro, chutoro, Hokkigai

 

 

 

Having finished my sushi I wandered around the park across the street from the market.

 

 

There was a park there with a train and some playground equipment. Also across the street was a school (kindergarten?). I watched as the class, singing as the walked across the street hand in hand in order to reach the playground. They had perhaps the most evil school bus that I've ever seen. It was very sinister looking and will be haunting my dreams.

 

Did I mention the park had a train?

 



 

[Emperor Norton]

The guide kept telling us about all the shops and local things on offer near the ship, however the tour returned a bit close to departure time for me to be inclined to pay them a visit. After a very short ride back to the pier I was back on the Sojourn, where it seemed the pool wasn't coping well with all the construction and gotten sick.

 

 

you can tell it got sick because it turned green

 

 

The port itself had a nice view

 

[Emperor Norton]

I needed something to cleanse my palette after the sushi as dinner was going to be in the opposite direction taste wise.

 

What better than a true martini, served without the silly questions.

[frantic36]

 

However, so far, I am very happy I just finished the last 2 weeks in the Med on HL's MS Europa Nice to Bilbao savoring luxury food properly cooked, steak tatar 4 times in different ways, impeccable service, classical music performances, and Ispacion Spanish dancers, rather than on your Sojourn cruise with its construction nightmare, an excursion with pounding Japanese dreams (just the little video clip you posted was more than enough to threaten a migraine) and having a waiter accuse me of lying about what I had ordered.

 

I have never been on the Sojourn, just on the Odyssey and Quest, and wonder if it and its crew are typically very different from its sister ships.

 

I still look forward to additional posts with information, pictures, and laughs.

 

I am sure Emperor experienced all he has written and the photos definitely show there a major construction work on deck. So my following comments are not meant to cast doubt on his experience, as our experiences/expectations are different. However I just wish to address some concerns you voiced.

 

A received an email from an English friend the other day who has just returned home after 72 days on Sojourn. She did the Singapore to Vancouver sailing. She had been concerned prior as it was the longest cruise she and her husband had sailed. In her email she said she had a wonderful time and loved the cruise. Though she was glad to be home to see family and friends she did miss being on the ship.

 

We also had a wonderful cruise on Sojourn last year in Alaska and we are looking forward to sailing her again later this year.

 

Julie

[Emperor Norton]

Dinner again was in the Colonnade. Rather than a Thomas Keller menu it was one of their national/regional themed dinners. Tonight was English roast beef.

 

Like I seem to recall R2 doing in the past - they seem to love their themed butters up here. Tonights was probably one of the odder ones I've sampled: mustard butter. I'll give this a pass in the future. The mustard overpowered any flavor the butter may have had and it tasted as though I'd just spread plain mustard over the bread.

 

From top to bottom: mustard butter, boring extra virgin olive oil (it lacked pizzaz) and whipped butter

 

 

The shrimp cocktail was comprised of bay shrimp. I'm not a fan of this size shrimp as they have a tendency to cook unevenly (some are over cooked, some are under and some are just right. Perhaps it would be better to think of them as Goldilocks shrimp). The sauce on them was nice and they made a nice light refreshing start to the meal.

 

This was not a fan favorite (the mustard butter).

 

Prime Rib sliced thin, rare with green and white asparagus, Yorkshire pudding, prepared horseradish, mustard and some other vegetation, all on top of a thick rich sauce. This was delicious.

 

Dessert was an individual apple pie a la mode with creme anglaise. The crust on this was probably the best pastry I had on the ship, buttery, flaky and tender. The filling was good, but then someone had to add raisins to it.:eek: Still, I'd happily order it again.

[Emperor Norton]

Good timing about the deck work. Something the videos and previous pictures don't show is that the work didn't stop when the sun went down.

 

 

 

Kushiro Gallery

[SKP946]

Thank you Emperor Norton for your excellent photos and narrative, most enjoyable.:)

[Isklaar]

I can't quote to reply for some reason just now, so on the broader subject of Sojourn...

I'm aware of the deck problems, I saw the start of the issue in December 2017. At that time it was minor, cosmetic damage so not at all disruptive.

Aside from the deck problems, Sojourn IMO is in no way a worse ship than Odyssey and Quest. Same for the crew. Some of my best SB cruises have been on Sojourn.

[RustyRollock]

We have sailed in all 3 “O” class ships and of course they are all the same. What made our experiences different, good and bad, were things like service, cuisine, fellow pax, even the weather and itinerary.

 

This was not a “bad” cruise, it just had a couple of disappointing elements. - for us, the general standard of cuisine including the whole TK hooplah, and some of the service slips. It’s how we dealt with them that mattered.

[Emperor Norton]

Everyone has different tastes and expectations. I'm happy that other people were able to get past the way Seabourn handled the notification of the deck work, the sounds/smells/closure from the work, the under staffing in venues and food issues.

[Emperor Norton]

The next several days would be at sea, including one Groundhog day experience (we had two 23rds of May).

 

I found this little critter on board.

 

Before he left Nelson got the ball rolling on sangria.

 

Lunch was in the restaurant and had a few surprises in store for me. I'd ordered an appetizer portion of the satay and ended up with this (surprise 1 - size). The dish had seasoning, spice/heat and flavor (surprise 2).

 

The entree was the Seabourn burger. It wasn't cooked correctly but the fries were nice and (surprise 3) so was the slaw.

 

The strawberry ice cream was good.

[Emperor Norton]

Dinner was another TK dinner in the Colonnade. This time it was mutant ribeye. Why mutant? It seems the cows were missing half their bones. It was supposed to be a bone in ribeye but as only half the beef arrived with bones they deboned all the beef and the bones were a request only item until they ran out. Michael Sandoval was the exec chef tonight.

 

 

The steak was (for me) perfectly cooked and full of flavor.

 

A little cheese and honey.

 

A slice of chocolate silk pie to finish the meal.

[Emperor Norton]

The next day tragedy struck when the Patio bar was closed for deck repairs.

 

On crossings it's traditional to serve bouillon, this crossing was no different. Except they seemed to have run out of beef.

 

The down side of trivia is the mad rush to the dining venues at 1230.

 

For dinner this evening I joined people who'd been on since Hong Kong in the TK grill. Everything I had was off the regular menu aside from the appetizer. The appetizer special was a unique rendition of shrimp scampi.