jollyjones

And your starter for ten: Where am I?

And back to Chris's original post - here on the Nova there is no touching serving utensils yourself in La T for lunch, you are served by a crew member. Who, one has to hope, has put clean gloves on not too long ago and hasn't touched anything dodgy without changing their gloves. One hopes. And the public areas are being wiped down a lot - elevator panels (there are no buttons), stair rails, chairs, all sorts of things. After the lecture this morning a crew member came round the theatre and sprayed something on all the seats and surfaces. The library is still closed 'for extra sanitation' - dunno what, probably waiting for any virus to wither and die of old age. Hope it does before I do, I'd like to look at some books. No-one seems worried although there are some people wearing facemasks, I presume they are still concerned about Covid. Hope no-one has H5N1. But Captain Samuele appears in a good mood and very cheerful so mebbe all is well.

Yes. They knew it didn't work against Noro. It was PR and CYA. (Since this is the acronym thread)

But how does the comparison work if you are a solo? If I see a Seabourn cruise that interests me, I look at the solo pricing and turn away fast.

Wow, am I at a disadvantage! Having cruised exclusively on the Moon and Dawn recently - seven times in the past couple of years - I thought I knew every inch of those ships and was sure I just had to figure out where they'd moved things to on the Nova and I'd be home free. Wrong. Ah, hubris! This is the Through the Looking Glass ship, it's sort of the same but at the same time, it's all completely different. When they called her the Nova, they meant it so much more that we realised. Now I've got to forget all I knew and start again, it's a good job this is a 23 day cruise, it may take me that long to properly understand the underlying dynamics of the spaces and activities and people flow in the little village that this cruise ship is, and find out how I fit in. Don't think I am disturbed by this, it'll be an exciting adventure, and so far I am very happy; all my meals have been well cooked from quality ingredients and well presented, both the Dusk bar and the Salt bar have served me perfect cocktails, the crew have been unfailingly efficient and smiling despite what must have been a very difficult turnaround day for them, and my team came third in Trivia. (OK, full disclosure - third equal with six other teams). With so many sea days Trivia is a serious business on this cruise. Well, isn't it always. But what are all these differences to which you allude, you ask?? I think they will have to come in future instalments, there is so much to get my head around first and I do want to try and get it right. My goodness, don't I sound pretentious!! Just follow the other thread by flyers if I am annoying, but I know there's some other solos out there who are interested and there's no doubt that the solo's impression and experience of cruising may differ markedly from that of couples or groups. To be continued ...

Everywhere - schools, care homes, restaurants, hospitals etc etc - suffer from norovirus outbreaks, particularly in the winter. Cruise ships are obliged to report outbreaks when they rise above a certain percentage of pax or crew so they appear more in the news. Clickbait.

I have posted about the virus on Chris's thread but I'd prefer to start a new thread since (I hope) my cruise is not going to be defined by norovirus. This won't be a 'live from' but will be my random observations about this new class of ship. I have sailed all the classic SS fleet, including the Cloud and Wind in the before days (I don't do expeditions) and I can already tell that this ship is 'now for something completely different', to steal the line. I am definitely not expecting the Spanish Inquisition, but I'm not sure what else I'll find, yet. Watch this space. PS apologies if you're not a Monty Python fan.

There certainly has been an outbreak of something on the Nova - described by Captain Failla as 'gastrointestinal illness' - which SS is taking very seriously. They probably think it's noro because the advice given to us yesterday at embarkation has a very strong emphasis on hand washing with the suggestion that hand sanitiser is ineffective. **I do wish pax would remember that high alcohol hand sanitiser may work against corona virus but does not work against norovirus.** Boarding started at 1pm which was earlier than I expected, but much of the ship was closed and sealed off for cleaning, which they clearly were doing very thoroughly. We were not able to access the cabins till 4.45pm - this became very tedious but entirely understandable. Made more tedious by the fact that the still-like-new carpet pile is so thick it's quite difficult to haul your carry on wheelie bag around - silly but true! So I didn't do as much exploring yesterday as I'd hoped - that's now the plan for today, a sea day, and I shall be keeping an eye out to see what infection controls are in place.

Always seems to be blokes, innit. Or are there Karens lurking too?

" Fish at the Pool Grill was good (but tiny) at lunchtimes." I agree with that but it's so simple, I just ask for two portions ...

There are three Long Bays in Bermuda. Somerset, Warwick and Cooper's Island. To the OP, your best bet is Tobacco Bay, get the ferry from Dockyard to St George, then a short taxi ride over the hill. Despite the reef, most of our beaches can see rough conditions depending on the weather.

And consider that if not owned by RCI with its deep pockets, SS would probably not have survived the Covid shutdown. Especially since it is possible that Manfredi sold the first tranche to RCI because he was already a bit over-extended with the new ship orders (I don't know that for a fact but have heard suggestions that it was so). I for one am very glad that my favourite cruise line is still sailing at all, even with some modifications, and I'm very excited to be boarding the Nova in a couple of days to enjoy finding out all about her.

The other posters are quite correct, it is all domestic travel but your concern about an ESTA being denied seems extreme - if you got it once, unless you have indulged in criminal activity since, the chance of it being denied is slim to none. And if an ESTA was denied for reason, your chances of getting a visa are less than slim to none.

But why wouldn't you renew your ESTA anyway? Do it right now, it's quick, cheap, and simple, then you won't have any anxieties. You don't have to wait for it to expire to get a new one, I think it's only $20. Make sure you go to the official US Gov website so you don't get ripped off with extra fees from the 'ESTA agency' sites. https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov

And even when they are in evidence on My Silversea, once you board they may be on completely different nights. I'm boarding the Nova in a week and the bow ties are currently visible on My Silversea, it'll be interesting to see what actually happens. And Hi Ron - love the bow tie but not sure I'd drink something such a fluorescent yellow.