On The Sea, Again!

 Time to fire up the blog!  It has been a long time. (but I have forgotten how to do it?!?!)

After 835 days on land, I got back on a ship.

"Ah, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you", and your name
is SILVERSEA!

The details:  the SILVER MOON is much smaller than any of the Cunard
ships, 596 guests.  The agent we used, in London, Maria Amato, did an
excellent job in selecting a suite (Superior Veranda, 918) and advising
the back to back first voyage (CPH-CPH) then CPH-STK, for a total of
17 days.

It was wonderful and is, I think, the way service on Cunard ships was in the 

1950's when my grandmother sailed several times.  We had a butler,
shared with the stateroom next to us - an excellent butler - and a
steward who was very much better than the lazy lout we had in the Princess
Grill 3 years ago.

A walk-in closet including a dresser (6 drawers) and the normal safe.
The bed was the best I have EVER slept in and I found that once I was
settled in, I went to sleep almost immediately.

One thing that I missed - no reclining chairs on the balcony.  

I recommended them in the end-of-cruise survey.

Room service:  a 6 + course menu, served within 20 minutes of ordering
Breakfast in the stateroom served by the butler!
Beverages:  all, and I do mean all, free, so it was quite common to see
people having champagne (the real stuff!) at any time of the day or night
and all the waiters knew exact details about the wines of the day and
would call the sommelier if something special was desired.  Per was
happy with the wines recommended by the waiters, as well as the
after-dinner wines and the port he enjoyed in the Silver Note bar.

There are specialty restaurants but neither of us was interested so
I cannot comment. 

The second week was supposed to include St. Petersburg and when that
port was cancelled, apparently a lot of reservations were cancelled.  It
is my opinion (no proof) that cheaper tickets were offered because the
first 2 days of the second week were marred by rowdy drinkers who
could not believe their luck, re free drinks, families who let the children
wander, sullen teenage girls whose dispositions did not improve with drink.

The team trivia got completely out of hand, with teams of 12 or more,
yelling at other teams, and at the Entertainment Director.  

I won one game by myself (MS - Main Squeeze) had gone home for the day, 

to take our dirty
clothes) and a woman asked to see my answer sheet - we marked our own. 
I always wrote the answers in pink and the corrections in black so she
could see that I had not cheated.  She was still unhappy and the next day, got 

more people in the team.  I still beat their team - Schadenfreude?
Not moi!

And then, it calmed down a lot and was much more enjoyable. 

The Entertainment Staff consists of 4, the director, an assistant
whom we first saw as we were leaving the ship and 2 assistants, a man
and woman for the first week and two women for the 2nd. That's it
and they did a very good job. 

Most of the tours were free and we did mostly walking tours which were always on offer.  The Malbork Castle in Danzig (Gdansk) is amazing, all the more for me because I knew a direct descendant of Gotthard von Kettler, a leader of the Teutonic Knights who built the castle.  My friend was born in Courland and driven out by the Russians in WWII.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthard_Kettler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malbork_Castle

Although not billed as a walking tour, it was.  Up the stairs and down the stairs, from the sub-basements, cellars to the attics, and all of it fascinating.  The guide is a professional for this fortress and knows everything.  The bus ride there was through villages, especially those with stork nests or interesting buildings.   The ride back was only 1/3 as long and through industrial areas.  We were too tired to care.

Some of the guides (in Oslo, Flam and later in Visby) were ill-informed, disinterested and should be in other jobs.  The rest were excellent, especially in Tallinn.

I wondered how everyone on the staff seemed to know our names, almost as soon as we boarded.  The waiters all have either tablets or used the large computer for the orders.  We were, at first, asked our suite number and only later learned that our names and photographs were on the screen.  Aha!  It was still very pleasant to be referred to by name by all the waiters and butlers.

I once worked with a Unilever manager who had worked in Sweden.  He fumed to me about the Swedes (I had planned a holiday in Sweden).  "They never work", he said, "and in the summer, they don't bother to come in."  It's less of a joke than I like.

Our train from Stockholm to Lund started in Stockholm and was sitting on the track - we could see it - but was 20 minutes late boarding the passengers.  No driver.  It was not full, we had reserved seats and the Bistro had tea.  What's to worry?  I immediately went to sleep and Per kept muttering - 30 minutes behind schedule, 40 minutes behind schedule, until I asked him to mutter more quietly.

At one point we were 2 hours late and that would have meant a 50% refund.  We arrived in 111 minutes late, having gone so fast at one stretch that I thought the train would jump the tracks.  There was no conductor for the first 2+ hours so the tickets were never checked.  Much of the Swedish countryside is picture-postcard-beautiful and I enjoyed seeing it again for the first time since 1984 M, M, and I took a train-hotel holiday.

Yes, it was an expensive trip even though we got $400 each from the price since we did not use the Business Class flights on offer and yes, I as a non-drinker ended up paying for all the drinkers but I would love to cancel the Cunard trips already booked and use the money for SS or try RSS but

1. the cancellation fees are exorbitant, no idea why considering that the better staterooms are always sold out first and have a waiting list, 
2. MS wants to celebrate my birthday on a ship and
3.  I have arranged to meet friends all along the route of the 2023 QV WV.
But, we will be on SS next June to go to North Cape and celebrate Midsommar during the voyage. 

I am truly blessed.

PS:  sorry for the crazy formatting - I have forgotten a lot.  Photos to follow.