“the Big One”! World Cruise on Sojourn

[shark b8]

One more moment with the officer at the MDR table last night - I asked about the window-table-glass-tinting business.  He acknowledged that the glass becomes reflective after dark, and thus window tables aren’t really coveted any more, but I didn’t get a definitive answer as to why.  I mentioned that on a previous cruise (maybe Antarctica?) the Observation bar windows were closed at night, and at that point it was clearly explained that it was to avoid bird-strike problems.  He nodded and suggested that might be part of the issue - anyway, my point being…….yes, the after-dark glass becomes a mirror, and no, we are still not 100% sure why.

[shark b8]

We did a day-long wine-tasting tour of the Barossa Valley today.  Very personable and knowledgeable guide, which makes those 8-hour round trip bus rides much more tolerable.  Anyway, three stops for wine tasting, the middle one included (quite a good) lunch.  Wine is, of course, as dangerous to talk about as politics & religion these days, but….our reactions were:  they usually started with Grenache reds & Sauvignon Blancs, friendly but not complex.  Shiraz selections were better, in our book.  But then….we got to Seppeltsfield, renowned for their red fortified dessert wines.  Their Shiraz was bigger and bolder (better?) than the previous, but the tawny wines ruled the day.  I bought a bottle of their 20 year old tawny, and I’m sipping it right now as I jdfbrhvhdkjbncu4757dh.  🍷🤪

[shark b8]

No, no - not really incapacitated.  Yet.  

 

We’ve tasted and bought lots of port when in Portugal, of course.  This particular bottle is remarkable, it seems to me, that the color is deceptively light, but the nose & flavors are remarkably strong. I am depressed that I wont be able to walk to our neighborhood store and buy this.  Guessing Amazon won’t be a good alternative.  

 

 

[shark b8]

But THEN…..(drum roll….) we were offered the opportunity to taste their “Centennial” edition.  In the late 1800s, they started reserving a small amount of tawny every year, which is then stored for 100 years.  They just opened the “1923” edition, and….WELL.  Don’t quite know how to put this.  Exceedingly viscous, and just incredibly intense.  They only offer a tasting of 10ml/glass, unless you want to buy a $1,650 bottle.  You could pour this over ice cream or waffles, but only if they were made in Heaven.  Sorry to be so rapturous, but…this is extraordinary stuff.  

 

We were swept up in the “wine boom” in the 1980’s, and have fond memories of buying vintage Bordeaux First Growths for $30-40.  In 1979 we were on a tour went through Chateau Margaux and as it happens, the bungs were off the barrels, and the smell was, well, indescribable.  Don’t mean to seem stuffy or braggy about the wine-past, my only point is that this tasting, of a 100-year-old 1923 tawny, was near the top of any previous wine memories. 

 

[bmwlover]

We are 8 Canadians from Grand Bend,  Ontario , joining in Capetown for the last 30 days to Barcelona. I do not like Montaudon so was pleasantly surprised to see it was replaced by Cattier. Here in Naples, Florida , where we spend the winter , Montaudon  retails for about $35.00 at Total  Wine, and Cattier is $70.00 . Cattier is also the give away on Celebrity cruises with the Premium Package. It used to be Montaudon but they have seriously upgraded. It is indeed hard to believe that Celebrity would be giving away better bubbles than Seabourn. 
One  memeber  of our party drinks Mapmaker , a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. Last March on the Odyssey it was readily available. Please check on that and make a photocopy of the Seabourn Complimentary Selections, always available , and post it. If Mapmaker  is not on it , we would appreciate it if you could talk with the chief of Food and  Beverages , and see if lots of it can be included in the Capetown reprovisioning of the ship. As for foil gras being served once in 2 months that is ridiculous . It should be available daily as with the caviar. There are obviously financial worries with Carnival. We were just on a Regal Princess  cruise for Valentines Day and 

the ship had not been reprovisioned for 2 cruises .They  ran out of Grand Mariner the  first night,  most scot the second day, then all cognacs the third day, then Southern Comfort, then Canadian Club . The crew are now only paid monthly instead of weekly beginning February 1 st.  400 to 500 passengers got a free  cruise to gamble. There are no longer chocolates on your pillow, no wine glasses in the cabin. All pasties were almost inedible ,  but the bread and rolls were excellent. A lobster tail is $19.95 extra. You couldn’t take your unfinished wine glass from the bar to the dining room , so they poured into a paper cup for you. I guess they thought thatcher would steal the glass.  It just went in and on. Never again on Princess. We have good friends on the full Island  Princess World Cruise . They are calling it the S.S.Walmart!  Say that nothing special ever happens  on their cruise. Poor wine selection on the package . Enough said. 

[Mr Luxury]

8 hours ago, shark b8 said:

But THEN…..(drum roll….) we were offered the opportunity to taste their “Centennial” edition.  In the late 1800s, they started reserving a small amount of tawny every year, which is then stored for 100 years.  They just opened the “1923” edition, and….WELL.  Don’t quite know how to put this.  Exceedingly viscous, and just incredibly intense.  They only offer a tasting of 10ml/glass, unless you want to buy a $1,650 bottle.  You could pour this over ice cream or waffles, but only if they were made in Heaven.  Sorry to be so rapturous, but…this is extraordinary stuff.  

 

We were swept up in the “wine boom” in the 1980’s, and have fond memories of buying vintage Bordeaux First Growths for $30-40.  In 1979 we were on a tour went through Chateau Margaux and as it happens, the bungs were off the barrels, and the smell was, well, indescribable.  Don’t mean to seem stuffy or braggy about the wine-past, my only point is that this tasting, of a 100-year-old 1923 tawny, was near the top of any previous wine memories. 

 

Go back next year and they will have made another bottle with 1924 written on it

[shark b8]

3 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

Go back next year and they will have made another bottle with 1924 written on it

 

Yes, that’s exactly what they do.  It will contain that year’s tawny.

[goaliedad30]

On Kangaroo Island today, we hiked through Penneshaw's Kangaroo sculpture park. In addition to the awesome art, we ran across a number of wallabies just hanging out!

 

[tv24]

10 hours ago, bmwlover said:

We are 8 Canadians from Grand Bend,  Ontario , joining in Capetown for the last 30 days to Barcelona. I do not like Montaudon so was pleasantly surprised to see it was replaced by Cattier. Here in Naples, Florida , where we spend the winter , Montaudon  retails for about $35.00 at Total  Wine, and Cattier is $70.00 . Cattier is also the give away on Celebrity cruises with the Premium Package. It used to be Montaudon but they have seriously upgraded. It is indeed hard to believe that Celebrity would be giving away better bubbles than Seabourn. 
One  memeber  of our party drinks Mapmaker , a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. Last March on the Odyssey it was readily available. Please check on that and make a photocopy of the Seabourn Complimentary Selections, always available , and post it. If Mapmaker  is not on it , we would appreciate it if you could talk with the chief of Food and  Beverages , and see if lots of it can be included in the Capetown reprovisioning of the ship. As for foil gras being served once in 2 months that is ridiculous . It should be available daily as with the caviar. There are obviously financial worries with Carnival. We were just on a Regal Princess  cruise for Valentines Day and 

the ship had not been reprovisioned for 2 cruises .They  ran out of Grand Mariner the  first night,  most scot the second day, then all cognacs the third day, then Southern Comfort, then Canadian Club . The crew are now only paid monthly instead of weekly beginning February 1 st.  400 to 500 passengers got a free  cruise to gamble. There are no longer chocolates on your pillow, no wine glasses in the cabin. All pasties were almost inedible ,  but the bread and rolls were excellent. A lobster tail is $19.95 extra. You couldn’t take your unfinished wine glass from the bar to the dining room , so they poured into a paper cup for you. I guess they thought thatcher would steal the glass.  It just went in and on. Never again on Princess. We have good friends on the full Island  Princess World Cruise . They are calling it the S.S.Walmart!  Say that nothing special ever happens  on their cruise. Poor wine selection on the package . Enough said. 

A Princess World Cruise?  Where do the go?  Cleveland?  I can't imagine.  And then there was the time we bought a crossing on Princess that was supposed to deliver us to France, but instead left us in the UK all on our own with no transport to France.  Never again!

[shark b8]

Thanks, goaliedad!   Here are some more, from our (different) excursion.

 

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

 

 

 

[shark b8]

 

 

 

[shark b8]

Booooo.

 

(understandable, of course, with wildlife-confrontation issues)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

 

[shark b8]

(beware the Ides of March)

[shark b8]

Is the Ghost Of The Colonnade trying to tell us something?

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

Just now, shark b8 said:?

Is the Ghost Of The Colonnade trying to tell us something

Maybe the Ides of March thing?

[cruiseej]

On 3/13/2023 at 8:05 AM, shark b8 said:

They just opened the “1923” edition, and….WELL.  Don’t quite know how to put this.  Exceedingly viscous, and just incredibly intense.  They only offer a tasting of 10ml/glass, unless you want to buy a $1,650 bottle.

 

@shark b8 Why mess with the amateur stuff? I just did a quick search to see if the Seppeltsfield Tawny is available anywhere in the US, and came across this listing for a bottle of the 1899 edition:

 

 

Sure, it's nearly double the cost of the one you tasted, but how many wines have you tasted dating back to the 19th century! 🤣

 

If that's out of your price range, then I found their 10-year Para Tawny for a more modest $40 at a few US wine shops. 😉

 

 

[SLSD]

Shark B8--I've enjoyed your commentary, but I have a question.  Has your voyage met your expectations for a World Cruise?  Have you been pleased with all the offerings--including service, cuisine, tours, entertainment, supplies, your suite etc.  

[shark b8]

8 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

@shark b8 Why mess with the amateur stuff? I just did a quick search to see if the Seppeltsfield Tawny is available anywhere in the US, and came across this listing for a bottle of the 1899 edition:

 

Sure, it's nearly double the cost of the one you tasted, but how many wines have you tasted dating back to the 19th century! 🤣

 

If that's out of your price range, then I found their 10-year Para Tawny for a more modest $40 at a few US wine shops. 😉

 

 

 

Yeah, guessing I won’t be hoisting any 19th century hooch any time soon, but thanks for the tip!  🤣.   I also looked around a little, as Seppeltsfield is advertised in places as featuring worldwide shipping, but if you go to their online sales site, it’s Aus only.  Even if their stuff could be found in USA, there’s the further complication of getting it to Hawaii, so many things like this are continental-48 only.  Might have to do the ol’ mainland visit, wrap a few bottles in clothes in a suitcase and bring home that way.  There are a couple of good local wine-specialty shops in our neck of the woods, I’ll for sure talk to them and see if there’s a way to beat the system.

[shark b8]

7 hours ago, SLSD said:

Have you been pleased with all the offerings--including service, cuisine, tours, entertainment, supplies, your suite etc.  

 

Yes, absolutely.  It seems to me that everything is about the same as usual, and by that I mean pre-covid.  If a traveler were happy with all the various aspects of Seabourn-life before the pandemic, you’ll be happy with it now, at least that’s my judgment.  There are always little annoyances, for instance, they will be delivering a third closet safe to our suite later today, the first two had no “juice”, even after I swapped out new AA batteries in the panel inside.  And of course, the first couple of weeks featured Part VII of the tired old “Sauternes story”, but that corrected fairly quickly.  But anyone whose expectation is that nothing unexpected or annoying can *ever* happen or else it’s a total disaster, that person is going to be a pretty unhappy traveler, seems to me. About the only thing that’s different about this cruise, compared to previous cruises is…..it’s a lot longer!

[shark b8]

Just thought of another nit I would pick.  When the gangway is on our side, a look over the veranda rail tells you where it is that particular day.  Otherwise, unless you hear the announcement in the morning (and somehow I virtually always miss it), it can be a bit of an adventure to find.  Once you land on the correct deck, then there’s a sign, but more than a few times we’ve had to up or down to find the correct deck.  Seems to me they could have signage at the main elevators on every deck, advising location.  I read on some piece of Seabourn literature in the room that the gangway location can be found on the Source app, but darned if I can find it. 

[DTtravelers]

2 hours ago, shark b8 said:

 But anyone whose expectation is that nothing unexpected or annoying can *ever* happen or else it’s a total disaster, that person is going to be a pretty unhappy traveler, seems to me.

Hi shark b8:

 

Yup, first thing a guide taught us when we started traveling XX years ago: Be a willow, not an oak!

 

They do have interesting ways of hiding things in the Source app.  I'd find something and get all excited, but darned if I could find it again the next day! 

 

As far as cruise length, sometime soon it will suddenly hit you that you only have a couple months left!!

 

Internet must be all better again.  Keep posting!

 

D

 

[shark b8]

Just now, DTtravelers said:

….sometime soon it will suddenly hit you that you only have a couple months left!!

 

Actually, we are just about exactly at the halfway point, might be tomorrow.   2 ½ months down, 2 ½ to go!