frantic36

While I agree with much of what you say I do have some queries. With regards to Barbara Muckerman I have always wondered why she left Silversea so abruptly this year? Was she pushed or did she jump? As to your comment on junking things I do question that not having helicopters especially in places like the Kimberley is not good economic sense. I sailed on True North in the Kimberleys last year and the helicopter was heavily utilised and as far as I know the same can be said for Scenic's helicopters. So they seemed to be good revenue raisers. I would not classify most of the passengers on True North as seriously rich but comfortably off just like most of the passengers on Seabourn.

Enjoy your next cruise line.

Feel free to do so 😁. I live on the West coast not the East but I have visited various places on the East and middle. On the Australia & New Zealand ports of call and the general discussion board the people are very helpful.

We will have to agree to disagree. Even land based restaurants would be overwhelmed if multiple individuals at a table ordered extra appetisers and entrees per person as that's a lot of food. I can't fathom ordering more than one appetiser, entree and a side dish.

It sounds like the poor servers would have been overwhelmed with just your table of 8. Multiple appetisers and entrees for individuals, were you all wanting to try as many things on the menu as possible?

I understand your frustration but as non-Americans I have found both LAX and MIA difficult and long. In fact one time in LHR in England our business class line took almost 3 hours. I will be interested how our first time through in Haneda will go.

Feel free to ask. I have been there a few times and done the usual tourist spots and try the less unusual.

@ninjacat123 thank you so much for all this great information. I will definitely look into trying to fit some of these into our land portion pre and post cruise in October. I'm doing a 5 day trip with a girlfriend next week to Singapore and it should be fun showing her all the places I love to visit. It will also be hot and humid but thankfully I know where to go to escape the heat and still explore. Enjoy your cruise with your husband in September. Julie

Enjoy. Why does poor little kitty have a collar on?

Thank you for your wonderful blog and taking us along. Enjoy chilling and being in your own home.

@Cruise5life I had a similar question as doing the same thing soon. I'm also wondering if I need to go to the Visit Japan website to get the QR code as is recommended if you enter Japan by plane? My TA suggested it but I'm not sure if needed if we are on a ship?

@ninjacat123 thank you so much for your wonderful blog. I have just been showing some of it to my family as it looks like you are having so much fun. Do you have the contact details for the night food tour you did a few days ago? If not maybe at the end of your trip when you have time you could do a list of some of your tours? Thanks again.

Thanks, I'll make sure to put an alert in my calendar.

I am hoping to go there in late October. Do you remember how far in advance you had to book your tickets? Did you book direct with them or with Klook? Thanks in advance.

Good to know and a sensible plan. I think the reminder to get boosters every decade is not done until we are in the middle of a bad infection period. I just saw advertising tonight reminding people about flu injections because we are having high levels of influenza. Influenza A has been nasty the last couple of years.

Here in Australia we recommend revaccinating for whooping cough every 10 - 12 years as protection drops. Especially recommended for people who are going to be around small babies ie grandparents, as they can't get their first injection till 2 months. I know of a few whooping cough outbreaks over the years due to my nursing career. It is very sad to see babies and toddlers struggling for breath in hospital. I must check when I had my last booster.

11 June, Darwin. We arrived at 7am and had to prepare for a face to face with immigration after 8am as we were coming from International waters. It was quite painless as each deck was called, you had to show your passport and yellow customs form but we had nothing to declare so easy. We were then able to reboard the ship. As we had been in Darwin a few times we were just going to catch up on maintenance matters such as a manicure & pedicure, hair trim for my husband etc. An American friend booked herself in for multiple spa treatments and she loved her half day of indulgence. I had hoped to visit the RFDS Museum like @jpalbny did but ran out of time just wandering around. I will talk about some of the tours others did in a seperate section. That evening a few of us went to dinner at Hanuman which is one of Darwin's top restaurant serving fusion Asian. It was partly because of wanting to enjoy something different and partly because of the upcoming Bio-security check due on Pursuit on the 12th. 12th June, Darwin Because we had come from overseas Australian regulators wanted to check the whole ship was clean coming into Darwin. So the ship had been having to clean everything and food was going to be thrown out so our supplies were getting low. Romaine lettuce etc was hard to find. It was rather embarrassing as an Australian. I know we try to keep our country safe but I have never seen it as extreme as this. All passengers had to pack all the belongings apart from anything in the safe and put their luggage out the night before whether in transit or not. We then had to collect our luggage the next morning and go through Customs again with our luggage. Another hard part was that after Customs we handed our luggage over to border staff where it was put in security and we couldn't return to the ship. For in transit guests there was all day tours put on or people could just spend the day in Darwin. I had booked a private plane tour to Kakadu National Park. The earliest passengers were allowed back on the ship was 3.30pm and embarking guests it was after 4pm. Thankfully Seabourn passed with flying colours. I did remark to one embarking passenger who complained about the 4pm check-in that as per @jpalbny's blog Silver Cloud embarking guests didn't get on until after 7.30pm. So something for people to be aware of on cruises coming into Darwin on expedition ships. Tomorrow's entry will be about some of the Darwin tours and our Kakadu flight. Now it is time to get ready for inner.

I think you will love the Signature @highplanesdrifters. Our friends who have visited all think it is the nicest suite. Because it is in the aft not the bow you don't have to worry about the lights from your suite causing a hindrance to the bridge so no problem to sit outside on your large balcony at night. We have used the spa frequently and it is very warm. We actually ask the suite host to not fill it all the way say we can top up with some cool water.

I am planning to do a catch up. The two days in Darwin were interesting and difficult which I will explain later. Then I felt run down but today was a good relaxing time. Over the next few days I will do catch ups as we have been to this part of the world last year on a small expedition cruise and so will be taking sea days to enjoy our suite. At the moment I am enjoying the gorgeous weather and calm seas but need a late afternoon nap 🙂. Julie

We get it you like to tip because it makes you feel better. The concern I have is that some in the service industry favour those who like to tip and don't treat others equally even when we ware told not to tip. I personally have not had a problem with most crew on Seabourn but as I said I don't like it when crew specifically mention how they like being front staff to get tips. I avoid them from then on.

We waved from our Seabourn Pursuit zodiac as various Cloud zodiacs went past. As you say JP I thought it important to get a blessing of the water with a dip underneath the waterfall under the gentler waterfall. The other one would tip the zodiac over. I'm glad you are enjoying the scenery. As a proud West Australian I am pleased to see others enjoy the scenery of the Kimberley Coast. I hope you enjoyed some Aboriginal Rock Art today.

I have just made an onboard booking for a classic cruise and know others who have booked expedition and there is no mention of a price differential with a refundable or non-refundable price. I would wonder if this is a Seabourn initiative or more likely a travel agent choice. My TA certainly doesn't do this. As for having a reduced deposit that is only usually if certain promotions allow it. My recently made booking doesn't and it doesn't include any OBC either. I will just keep an eye on the pricing and before final payment if there is a better offer I will get my TA to re-price it.

Gam, Indonesia 8 June We had the option for an early morning difficult jungle trek to look for the bird of paradise in the mountains. Since it wake-up was for 4am we chose not to go but some did. I am not sure yet whether the saw the bird? I was planning to do the snorkel later in the afternoon but for two reasons I opted out. One reason was they couldn't do snorkelling from the beach and second my husband became unwell fo a few hours and I wasn't prepared to leave him alone. His symptoms only lasted 4 hours but that was enough to kill of any afternoon plans. Some people did another hike to an inland lake and others snorkelled of a zodiac pontoon and were happy. A sea day for the next two days before our arrival in Darwin.

Wayag, Indonesia It was very hot this day so we opted to not do the morning zodiac. Friends later confirmed it was hot though some enjoyed seeing Batfish, a shark (small) and a turtle. Because I am not a strong swimmer my husband and I opted to do the off the beach swimming and snorkelling as opposed to the pontoon snorkelling as it was for more advanced snorkellers. I know the pontoon was a a richer experience with more coral and bigger fish like Wrasse etc but the beach was paradise to me. I didn't have to swim to far to swim over some colourful coral and fish. Okay they were smaller but there was still an abundance. Neon fish, mini Black & white, ones with a big white dot, starfish and a mini orange a chocolate brown flatworm that undulated his way past me. When he landed on the coral he looked like a leaf but when swimming looked like a spanish dancer. I have poor underwater photos as I don't have a waterproof cover for my iPhone (any suggestions welcome) but I will post what I can. Getting to the beach was tricky due to the narrow channel This coral doesn't look great but further out there was more brain coral, branch coral and those huge flat topped ones I can't remember the names of. The coral was mainly orange, white, brown and yellow but we also saw some bluish and greenish. There were quite a few crew getting a well deserved break on Paradise beach for a couple of hours as well. Kristie from destinations and I did some jungle trekking to get photos of this mangrove monitor lizard. And so ends another day in paradise.

This is the Seabourn board. I know they use the money on Seabourn for providing parties for the whole crew for example they are providing food truck options for crew in Darwin on the 12 June since we have to deal with bio-security checking the ship and staying off for many hours. This includes guest and crew. I also have encountered crew who have had to return home unexpectedly and yes Seabourn paid for their flights but crew fund helped them as well. I just like to think my money helps those like laundry, security, guys cheerfully clean stairwells and stop as you walk past etc. I had someone a few days ago tell me it is great being at the bar dispensing because you get tips. I really dislike that attitude and am still not sure how to handle it as I don't find him any more worthy than others.