Tasmania to Tokyo – At Sea – Day 40 can be found here.
Today’s Chronicles can be found here.
I haven’t spoken much about the sea state because there isn’t really a sea state of which to speak.
The water is pretty much a sheet of glass, though that hasn’t prevented some of our fellow passengers from complaining of seasickness or trouble walking around the ship. There are also passengers who seem to believe that “elegant casual” means “footwear optional.” But when it comes to bare feet in Arts Cafe, those little piggies should stay home.
We also had an interesting moment last night when a passenger walked past in the company of two women who had a novel take on “formal optional” and were closer to “clothing optional”. My wife thinks tape must have been involved since there was no apparent way in which the fabric was attached.
I jest, I jest. I genuinely do not wish to approach women’s attire from a place of judgement. But I will add that one of the women was playing her own theme song on her phone’s speaker at top volume as she shimmied through Dolce Vita. And that is a social faux pas which I shall not let pass.
So to answer an earlier question – yes, it does appear that there are more first-time cruisers aboard this particular sailing.
This sea day starts as sea days do, with breakfast and reading / writing / homework. La Terrazza stands at the relatively novel intersection of “good” and “quick”, and I am able to get a decent cappuccino from Arts Cafe in just a few minutes’ time.
My wife even manages to find a chai latte! Apparently word has made its way to senior staff that worthwhile chais have been few and far between, so the manager of Arts Cafe has been training the staff. And it’s pretty good!
Our daughter and I return to Kaiseki for lunch, where sprouts have returned to the ramen, and then we disappear into our respective rooms to pack for our upcoming sojourn to Angkor Wat.
The desire to travel light has been overwhelmed by our practical nature, so we are bringing full rain suits and even sweatshirts. We will be down to four backpacks and three checked bags (one small, two large) amongst the four of us, which seems reasonable for a four day trip.
We run into a roadblock when we discover that our luggage scale battery has died. No luck buying replacements from the Boutique or borrowing a replacement from Reception. Perhaps we could use a bathroom scale instead? But we then realize that the Silversea TV remote uses the same batteries. Victory!
(We do leave our butler a note so that he is not driven mad attempting to turn on our television with a remote sans batteries.)
We have also confirmed a cruise on the Silver Spirit, departing Bridgetown on December 12th and going until December 19th 2026. Although far from the most adventurous of cruises, the price is right at a mere US$3,640 per person for an all-inclusive-plus verandah suite. That’s before any Venetian Society savings or onboard booking discounts.
A quick conversation with the Future Cruise Manager suggests that any friends who also on that particular cruise may also be eligible for an onboard booking discount. So let us know if you’re interested, and we’ll see what we can work out.
Our daughter heads to art class – they are making wooden beaded bracelets today. Hers turns out very well indeed:
Next up, bingo. No winners this time around, though we do get participation points. I think this is a great idea – as Zaid noted during an earlier trivia session, it’s a bit silly to come to these events all throughout your cruise and then not even be able to get a pen with your prize points by the end of it.
On to trivia. We correctly identify the baking ingredient that sometimes leads to false positives in drug tests (poppy seeds), and the animal that kills the most people each year (mosquito). We learn that ducks do have eyelids, and that the bar in the movie Casablanca is named Rick’s Cafe. Our 20 out of 22 score is good enough for third place – still a podium finish.
Back to the room to continue packing, and to briefly admire the setting sun:
Off to Spaccanapoli for dinner tonight. I try something new and get a half-sausage, half-pepperoni pizza tonight:
Very tasty.
I then dash down to the Silversea Passengers Facebook meet and greet. Always great to see people who we’ve spoken to online, or who appreciate our photos. We got a lot of valuable advice there when planning our mid-voyage journey to Angkor Wat. I need to duck out early, though, as our pizza arrives roughly 15 minutes later. (Spaccanapoli continues to be our top choice when we need an early night.)
The kids order ice cream for dessert. They’ve changed up the options, and we’re not particularly keen on matcha or figs but the dark chocolate is quite good. Not nearly as gritty as it’s been in the past.
One last look at the Silver Moon’s decks:
And it’s time to head back to our rooms to finish packing.
Early start tomorrow – up at 5:45 am so we can depart shortly after 7 am.
We will have limited access to the Internet over the next four days, and so posts may be delayed until our after our return on March 3rd.