Silver Cloud Live - Dublin to Reykjavik - June 15th to 25th

[highplanesdrifters]

Thanks for taking us along.  Enjoy!

[RyanJCanada]

Isle of Canna:

 

 

[lincslady]

Very 'atmospheric' photos, giving a feeling of being there!  Thank you.

[RyanJCanada]

18 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Very 'atmospheric' photos, giving a feeling of being there!  Thank you.

Thank you! Very kind of you to say so.

[RyanJCanada]

Day 3 Update:

 

We had no further excursions planned for Portrush beyond the Giant’s Causeway, so we spent a leisurely afternoon reading in the observation room.

 

My son and I also took part in trivia for the first time – and I was pleasantly surprised that we managed to get more than half the answers right, despite being a group of two. This first attempt was just an experiment, but I think we’ll try again and will attempt to join a group next time.

 

After, I went to the expedition briefing for the next day. I’ve mentioned that our planned trip to Dunvegan had been shortened to the point where we would not be able to make the Old Man of Storr Hike. Now, instead of Dunvegan, we would be making a trip to the Shiant Isles, where we will be doing extended Zodiac or kayak trips.

 

The Shiant Isles are private islands that were originally purchased in the 1937 for the sum of around a thousand Pounds. They are now the home to a great deal of wildlife, including seals and seabirds. The history of them is quite interesting, and several books have been written on the topic - more can be found here: Shiant Isles | Archives

 

Unfortunately, this meant that we would need to cease our efforts to make the Old Man of Storr hike on our own and cancel the preliminary plans we'd made with Donda at Dunvegan Taxi - Home (dunvegantaxis.com). Donda was very responsive and the prices quoted seemed very reasonable, so I would highly recommend trying them for any private tours you may want to book on Isle of Skye. We'll certainly try them again next time we're there.

 

That evening, we had been invited to dinner at La Terraza with Hilman, the expedition coordinator. He was incredibly friendly and great with the kids, and had some great stories about his time in the Antarctic – as well as some amazing pictures. I also enjoyed talking to him about Indonesia, where he’s from – I’d gone there on a school trip when I was 14, and it really solidified my love of travel.

 

(I know, what kind of school trip takes 14 year olds to Indonesia? Was this some sort of fancy private school? No… I think our teachers were just very, very bored of visiting Europe year after year. Amazingly enough, no one died and they managed to bring back the same number of children that they started with.)

 

Also, it turns out that I still remember a bit of Indonesian from that trip almost 30 years ago… either that, or Hilman was being very kind.

 

Looking at Hilman's pictures reminded us how much we'd love to do an Antarctic cruise at some point, and we’ll definitely be considering Silversea for that trip. From what we’ve heard from some of the other guests, it also sounds like it’s best to include the South Georgian Islands on that trip if possible. Very much tempted by the one that goes from Ushuaia to Namibia via Antarctica. We'll have to do some thinking as to whether the kids would be able to handle a 40 day long cruise...

 

For dinner, I tried the veal – excellent again, but no photos as this was a dinner with crew.

We turned in early after putting in an order with room service – another early start the next day as we visited Loch Scavaig on the Isle of Skye.

 

Next morning dawned bright and early – up at 6:15 am so that we could be ready for breakfast in our rooms at 6:30 am so we could be ready early. It was delicious and extremely elaborate, but I’m not sure we really accomplished our goal of saving ourselves much time – it’s quite the production, bringing in all the food and setting it up. I think we’ll be back at La Terrazza tomorrow.

 

We’d developed a fairly good system with our packs after our hike out to Giant’s Causeway, so it was mostly just a matter of getting ourselves sunscreened and refilling water bottles before we set out on the Loch Skavaig hike. It was about 4.3 miles of really boggy, uneven terrain – which the kids absolutely loved.

 

Weather was beautiful and there were no midges, despite the reminder to bring bug spray. They’d set it up so it was a single path out and back, so that the expedition team could roll up any stragglers. The method seemed to work well – we did make it to the far side of the lake and got back after about a 2.5 hour hike.

 

Back on the Zodiac, and our driver took us in for a view of some seals that were relaxing on a rock. We managed some nice pictures with our phones but some of our fellow guests were getting great shots with SLR cameras and advanced lenses. Something to consider for next trip…

 

On to the Grill for lunch, which was absolutely slammed – though service was still excellent. Burger was almost as good the second time around and the cocktail – Crimson Reef? Will need to confirm – was lovely and refreshing.

 

 

 

Quick power nap in the room, then off to the expedition briefing for tomorrow which confirmed timings for the 60 to 90 minute long Zodiac cruise for Shiant Islands. No landfall unfortunately, but not surprising given that they are private islands. It will also give our feet a break after 9 miles of hiking in 2 days.

 

Then it was off to the Isle of Canna for a quick walk – we elected to skip the suggested western path and instead loop northeast through the forest where there were a great number of midges as well as some sort of gigantic nest – an eagle maybe? – and a very storybook-like atmosphere, if one ignored all the buzzing and arm-waving.

 

We then looped around through a field to the ruins of a castle and a beautiful black sand beach. The kids were having a blast damming up a small stream that was running down the rocks.

 

We didn’t stay long, though, as we could see rain looming on the horizon. We soon packed up, and dashed back to the docks where the Zodiacs were waiting – sparing one long, sad, lingering look for the lovely-looking pub that I unfortunately had to skip in order to get back before getting completely soaked.

 

Despite our early departure, the rain came down hard and heavy, giving us only a few moments to get on our rain jackets before we were completely soaked. Silversea had the situation well in hand, however, and we were only waiting a minute or two before we were loaded onto a Zodiac and whisked back to the Cloud where we were soon able to get out of our sopping clothes.

 

I'm now back at the observation lounge for a drink and a quick bit of writing, and then we'll be off to the Restaurant for dinner tonight.

[RachelG]

It does help to have a “kid” or at least a younger person on your trivia team, so you should be able to find some old folks like me who will welcome you and your son to the team.

 

love your pictures, but that hamburger looks nothing at all like what they served on the Wind this past week.  I should have taken a picture to demonstrate how bad it was.

[Lois R]

Hi Ryan, enjoying your "live from" very much😃it all sounds like the family is having a good time. Are your kids the only ones on board?

 

 When you mentioned your teachers got tired of "going to Europe year after year".......that is something that never happened when I was a kid.  Sounds like you had a more cultured school experience. I went to camp for summer vacation. 

 

 

[RyanJCanada]

1 hour ago, RachelG said:

It does help to have a “kid” or at least a younger person on your trivia team, so you should be able to find some old folks like me who will welcome you and your son to the team.

 

love your pictures, but that hamburger looks nothing at all like what they served on the Wind this past week.  I should have taken a picture to demonstrate how bad it was.

Good to know! My son was very glad to hear that.

 

Strange that the burgers could be so different - the influence of the different executive chefs, perhaps? Maybe someone more knowledgeable than I could weigh in…?

[RyanJCanada]

51 minutes ago, Lois R said:

Hi Ryan, enjoying your "live from" very much😃it all sounds like the family is having a good time. Are your kids the only ones on board?

 

 When you mentioned your teachers got tired of "going to Europe year after year".......that is something that never happened when I was a kid.  Sounds like you had a more cultured school experience. I went to camp for summer vacation. 

 

 

Ours are the only young children aboard. Seems to be quite rare on the expedition ships. Everyone has been great with them, though, staff and guests alike. Parents have been getting overruled when it comes to whether the kids get additional hot chocolate or Shirley Temples…

 

I can only guess at the motives behind our teachers… I grew up in Calgary (aka oil country) so perhaps that impacted whether kids were able to afford more elaborate trips. I believe the teachers travelled free (or at a heavy discount) in exchange for organizing the trip, which is fair enough. Either way, very grateful that they organized the trip for us.

[RyanJCanada]

Menu from the Restaurant tonight:

 

 

[RyanJCanada]

Meal tonight - Meat Gyoja, Black Tiger Prawn Curry, and Chocotorta.

 

 

 

 

 

[RyanJCanada]

And something I didn’t know existed! The elusive Silversea Children’s Menu…

 

 

[RyanJCanada]

I’m not saying it was rainy today, but one of our life jackets got so wet that it spontaneously inflated while hanging to dry…

 

 

(At least it didn’t happen in the middle of the night.)

[drron29]

It really does depend on what the children are like, Back nearly 10 years ago we took our surrogate family on the Explorer from Capetown to Accra. We had 2 children 10 and 8. there were some not so kind looks when we boarded but by the second day they were the most popular guests for the trip.

And just like your children they had a ball. Back then though there was no children's menu.

[RyanJCanada]

The sun sets on the Cloud

[RyanJCanada]

Hello, Shiant Isles

[RyanJCanada]

7 hours ago, drron29 said:

It really does depend on what the children are like, Back nearly 10 years ago we took our surrogate family on the Explorer from Capetown to Accra. We had 2 children 10 and 8. there were some not so kind looks when we boarded but by the second day they were the most popular guests for the trip.

And just like your children they had a ball. Back then though there was no children's menu.

Agreed, absolutely. We’ve wondered whether Silversea should try to make their expedition voyages more appealing to families, but I think the only way that would work is if the kids are well behaved.
 

One of the reasons we’ve given up on regular Disney cruises was the behaviour we saw on board - though, fair enough, it is designed for family vacations. The other reason was the excursions - no crew members accompanying you, so you’re at the mercy of whatever vendor they’ve hired. But perhaps Adventures by Disney would be another option.

 

Thank you for your trip reports, by the way, we’ve very much enjoyed reading them! 

[RyanJCanada]

Today’s Chronicle:

 

 

 

 

[RyanJCanada]

Shiant Isles:

 

 

 

 

 

[RyanJCanada]

 

 

An eagle, chasing the puffins

 

 

 

More seals

 

[RyanJCanada]

[RyanJCanada]

Poll for those who have done Antarctica before - do you think it’s worthwhile to spend the extra for a verandah? And would you recommend port or starboard side?

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, RyanJCanada said:

Poll for those who have done Antarctica before - do you think it’s worthwhile to spend the extra for a verandah? And would you recommend port or starboard side?

Nope to your first question, and either side is fine to your second.

 

Now, about that burger…

[AusMum]

17 hours ago, RyanJCanada said:

Ours are the only young children aboard. Seems to be quite rare on the expedition ships. Everyone has been great with them, though, staff and guests alike. Parents have been getting overruled when it comes to whether the kids get additional hot chocolate or Shirley Temples…

 

I can only guess at the motives behind our teachers… I grew up in Calgary (aka oil country) so perhaps that impacted whether kids were able to afford more elaborate trips. I believe the teachers travelled free (or at a heavy discount) in exchange for organizing the trip, which is fair enough. Either way, very grateful that they organized the trip for us.

I think these junkets are designed by teacher/for teachers.  My son's school (in Perth Western Australia) offered a surf trip to The Maldives, science and music trips to NYC and Florida, and trips to Turkey for ANZAC Day.  Some of the schools do regular trips to Indonesia, but it's considered to be 'just down the road' for us.

 

We have traveled a lot with our son.  We took him to Alaska when he was 4, and he was one of three children on that particular cruise. He got an award at school for doing a presentation, in front of the entire school, on 'glacier calving in Alaska', and now (at 25) is working his way to a career in renewable energy.  Your kids will gain so much from any travel you do with them!

 

I'm curious about what camera you are using?  In the past I have dragged a Canon SLR (and lenses) across the globe, but it does become a pain.  I'm thinking about investing in something smaller for when we do Greenland and Iceland.

 

Thanks so much for your informative updates!

 

[highplanesdrifters]

Just now, RyanJCanada said:

Poll for those who have done Antarctica before - do you think it’s worthwhile to spend the extra for a verandah? And would you recommend port or starboard side?

I'll respectfully disagree with the all knowing Stumblefoot. A rare occurrence.  If there is something outside on my side of the ship  I dont want to miss it running somewhere to get outside, especially in my PJs.  Not that I haven't thrown a parka over them in the past. 😄. On sunny calm days I've had my coffee outside. Evening can be just as magical with almost 24 hour daylight. I grew up in Chicago, so Antarctica was a bit on the warm side.  Every day in the 20s & 30s, farenheit that is. South Georgia is a must. We are going back next year because their is a Cloud itinary  with 5 days there. Either side of the ship is fine. Kids will be treated like royalty.  Staff miss their kids and family at home and many of us miss the grandkids. 

 

Btw, Old Man Storr can be a zoo with all the Prometheus fans wanting selfies. The town had expanded the parking lot but still doesn't always have enough room for the throngs.

 

Loving your posts.