Flamin_June

Happily on board now, chugging through the Tasman Sea. Half an hour ago we saw some sea birds skimming the waves along side the ship and a couple of dolphin fins momentarily breaking the surface. It’s a trifle choppy with a strong cool breeze and a pale grey sky turning to azure where it meets the sea. We boarded yesterday around 13.00, there was a short queue and then our vaccination certificates and negative test photos were checked reasonably scrupulously before we went through various passport, boarding-pass and security checks. Apparently later the queue swelled and the health checks were rather cursory. Perhaps I shouldn’t mention this but there was a paper notification in our suite that the Australian government requires everyone to wear masks when indoors, but no one , not crew, nor officers, nor passengers is. Stepping on board, everything was as expected and yet the ship, the corridors, the suite, all seemed smaller than remembered. She is showing her age a bit, there are rust stains here and there and some wear and tear, but this an ocean-going vessel constantly exposed to the sea’s corroding power, and we are not here to spend our time examining rivets and welding. Otherwise everything is in pretty good nick, there are new style sofas and chairs in our suite and a sturdy polished stone topped coffee table. We are both 70, first cruised Seabourn when we were 58, and I expected us to now rank among the more more senior passengers, but the vast majority are of such advanced age, one might even say decrepitude, that we still feel that we belong to the younger generation. I do like a bit of people watching to while away the sea days and there is as wide an array of types and attitudes and behaviours as one might expect to find in several Dickens’ novels. But everyone we have directly encountered has been charming, affable, fascinating and convivial and we are already on first name terms with a number of chatting acquaintances. The crew are absolutely knocking it out of the park: there are a few familiar faces and many of the newer recruits are now on second contracts. Everyone is addressing us by name.The Captain is Krasimir Radev, the CD Robert Brendan. the food is good and we have got past the obligatory first night not quite hot enough offerings. More to follow; we are still jet lagged, as are many others, and I’m off to try my hand at Trivia.

One hopes it will be a fond farewell for us, but right now it is a fond hello. She is docked in Sydney. I ventured out of our hotel room at 7.00am and gazed at her across the harbour from the east quay. After the behemoths that have been parked there these last few days she looked small, certainly sleek and fine (the o class ships were, still are, a striking design), almost vulnerable. I was transported back to the first time we boarded her, in Mumbai, after five cruises on the beloved little sisters. Then she had looked huge and imposing in contrast, and we had approached her looming bow with some apprehension, though the chaos of a Mumbai embarkation no doubt played a major role in generating those mixed feelings. Now it feels as if we are about to greet an old friend. As with many meetings with old friends after a period apart, one hopes we will still have much in common.

To add a happy coda, we tested negative this afternoon. 🎉 Happy travels to you all. Repacking now😕 Yesterday we walked across the Botanical Gardens to the Australia Museum, where there was a great, but rather small, area devoted to Pacific Art, which we both have an interest in, although from different viewpoints. It was in the mid to high 30s C when we walked back, zig zagging from one shady tree to the next. Saw a kookaburra. The gardens are a delight. Much cooler today and forecast for tomorrow. The last three days we have had the MSC Magnifica, Carnival Splendour andP & O Pacific Explorer in port. It will be a pleasure to see Odyssey tomorrow.

In the uk you have to contact your TA, in writing (email) and ask them to contact Seabourn Flight Ease, to request early ticketing. In my experience, if you have a decent TA it should all be done within 24 hours. But you have to have already paid in full for the flight.If you booked direct with Seabourn, I suggest you phone Flight ease and talk to an operative to get it sorted. It is a rather annoying process. A note of caution. Should there be a flight/schedule cancellation or change and you are booked onto an alternative flight, you will have to go through the early ticketing request rigmarole again. It may be different in the US. In any case, contact your TA/SB and get the Early Ticketing request in motion.

Just to add from our balcony we saw egrets or cormorants (at any rate birds with long beaks and long necks) flying out sea in dawns first light, and now the house martins are swooping, squeaking and feeding high over the trees.

Thanks to one and all for your kind wishes and thoughts. Will try to start another thread, as the current title is no longer apt. Home thoughts from abroad would be the obvious choice, but I am hoping not to be thinking too much about home for the next six weeks. Given the recent bombshell perhaps ‘Last post for the Odyssey’ although she will keep going a while longer, but it is unlikely we will sail on her again. All this talk of cuts and and sell offs casts a slight pall, but, as others have said, there are always changes and nit picks and small issues, On Sojourn one time the aircon in our suite would not stop gurgling and they could not fix it. In the end they kindly gave us a thousand dollars OBC to compensate, and we got used to it anyway. We have always experienced the odd fail with food and service - long waits for anything to be served, inedible ribeyes and dried out Dover Soles , one time the Armagnac ran out, (but there was Carlos Primera). We are here to be enchanted by Australia and French Polynesia, to sail Pacific waters, to follow in the footsteps, or more correctly the wake, of Capt. James Cook, Robert Louis Stevenson, John La Farge, and many others. The fact that we can do it on a fine vessel such as Odyssey, and not have to row, or survive on ship’s biscuits and sauerkraut is a bonus. We are still jet lagged, by the way. Went to sleep around midnight and woke at 3 AM and could not get back to sleep. No worries, as they say around here. Have been sitting on our balcony, overlooking the Botanical Gardens, since 4. 30 , listening to night birds coming in to roost watching the dawn come up slowly, drinking coffee. There is a thin crescent moon high in the deepest navy blue sky, which is slowly fading to a pink and orange glow behind the trees. Think we just heard a kookaburra ((whatever that is). The city is coming to life with road traffic in the distance and early joggers in the park. yesterday we wandered around the circular Quay and the Rocks, found an AMAZING artists supplies shop and A bought a hat from an Argentinian lady. It is so cosmopolitan here in an AESEAN kind of way, vibrant with optimistic energy. Anyway we will stagger around today and hope to sleep well and long tonight. And fill in our online health declaration forms.

One can’t let this thread end on such a memorable image as supplied by Mr L. So, to continue, I can let those of you who might be interested know that we we arrived safely and happily - as happily as any can be after a 23 hour long haul - in Sydney. As did our luggage. The first leg to Singapore was pretty good, the second leg in a clapped out 777 was not that great, but at least we did not have to adopt the brace position. Our hotel suite is better than expected, the night reception team were among the best we have ever had in two decades of serious travelling and the cruise terminal is just on the opposite quay to the hotel. All that remains between us and our veranda suite is a rapid flow antigen test the day before boarding. As anxiety has been a common theme here I can tell you that every cough, even a slight clearing of the throat, is greeted with alarm.

The house and cat sitter arrived Saturday afternoon, so we have had a few days intensive training to get him up to speed on all the quirks of cat and house. He is due to sit a written exam this evening. We blinked when trying to stare down our 13 hour flight in Premium Econ, upgraded to Business and cancelled the chiropracter in Sydney. Darling daughter is driving us to the airport hotel tomorrow, so nothing to do now but fiddle about with last minute hand luggage items and look forward with pleasure to our new adventure and plan what special requests we will put in to the chef.Definately Grand Marnier soufle, probably clam chowder (which we have not seen on a our previous few cruises), chicken cassoulet pie, and spotted dick. OK, just kidding about the last one. Our anticipation is tempered somewhat by the various issues raised here. I am not sure if our delicate natures will be able to bear being surrounded by people in polos and jeans at dinner and the absence of three different bars of soap may prove to be a deal breaker for future cruises. I seem to recall hearing rumours that the turn-down chocolates have also been culled. I am steeling myself in case the cognac runs out and fearing the worst as far as the undrinkable water is concerned. Seriously, as many others here have said, it is the itinerary that is the great pull. Being able to discover and explore some far-flung regions in the comfort of a Seabourn ship is a significant bonus.

That's the problem with once in a lifetime adventures. Once you have had one, you want another one.

Well Seabourn french fries specifically. It's the contrast between the creaminess, blandness and crunchiness of the fries and the saltiness, fishiness and silkiness of the caviar. Its an unexpected synergy, like oysters and Guiness.

There was a couple on our Spirit transatlanic years ago, who would sit at the Sky Bar and order caviar for six, and then wolf it all down between the two of them. It is always nice to have the option, but as we prefer to cruise in tropical waters we find that caviar is not really the thing for very hot weather. I like it with french fries.

Galley lunches are too much of a feeding frenzy for us, always avoid them.

Talking of flights, we will be stoping over for a couple of days in Atlanta on our return from Honolulu. That final leg has been another source of stress and worry courtesy of Delta and Seabourn Flight Ease, but enough of that for now, I would rather focus on the trip ahead. Mind you, it is snowing heavily here as I write, and A is concerned that if this keeps up the airport will be closed and flights cancelled. 'Concerned' is putting it mildly, in fact she is rigid with anxiety, which could turn out to be useful, as we have a couple of floorboards that need replacing. The boarding passes have appeared on our final documents and in Seabourn Source, our TK Grill bookings have reverted to the original table for two for six evenings, rather than one evening with a table for 12, but the app on my phone is still telling me that our flight is from Mangalore😶. Nonetheless, we have decided to risk heading to the Radisson at Manchester Airport next Wednesday, we've booked our meals for the first leg to Singapore ( playing it safe with pan roasted cod in a pomodoro sauce with creamy polenta and long beans), though can't yet settle on any of the 15 Book the Cook offerings for the second leg. We have our boarding time In Sydney, a very convenient 13.40. Daytime temps in the high 20s C, with a chance of light showers and some clouds are forecast for our time there, which, after this bitterly cold and interminable winter, sounds pretty good.

I don't believe it comes out of a tap......

!!! As someone starved of being at sea for four+ years even that sounds good in a bracing kind of way, though I am checking that we have packed the wrist bands....

don't mind beets - but I can just about try and eat anything. Will draw the line at tripe and Andouillette (shudder); though have managed to brave Italian style tripe in tomato sauce when it was served at a dinner party.

Talking of celery and peanut butter, one of the greatest sandwiches I ever had was camembert, peanut butter and celery on granary bread. They used to make them back in the 1970s in a little lunchtime cafe just off Hanover Square in London. Sounds demented, tastes divine. If anyne wants to try it at home, you should be generous with the camembert and peanut butter and slice the celery quite thinly and scatter throughout. Sorry to go ot

Sailing by Indonesean islands, through the Banda, Molucca, and Celebes Seas in 2018 we had Bintang Beer on board Sojourn - quite a pleasant easy going lager, great with some ikan bilis to snack on. I 'm not a big beer drinker either, but have found that if you ask at the bar what bottled beers they have they will tell you and bring you a bottle if you ask for one. Enjoying the pics of Sydney, we will be there in 10 days!! I agree it is one of the great sail into experiences. Yet to witness a sailaway, but won't be long. Was lucky to sail away from Singapore late at night, so have a completely different and memorable perspective with the lights of the city and shipping glittering in the blackness and gas flares in the distance.

Ahhh...Mr L, always a source of comfort and reassurance 😉

We know Changi quite well, having stayed in Singapore for a few days at a time before embarking or diesembarking , or when just passing through.One could almost say we are fond of it, if one could ever be fond of any airport. A's favourite airport in the world, believe it or not, is Kuching, Sarawak. Small, friendly, efficient, not crowded, just a few shops with some interesting tat. She is quite picky about her airports and point-blank refuses to fly in or out of Heathrow, for example. We are not going business class 😭. The cost was just prohibitive for our budget, so we have opted for Premium Economy 😒. I keep telling myself it will be just like business was in the days before every airline had lie-flat beds. We will soon find out. We usually break up flights to the farther side of the world with a three or four day stay in Singapore, or KL, or Dubai. But Dubai has gone down the pan in the last decade, KL wouldn't fit, so we decided to bite the bullet and do Manchester to Sydney in one go. It seemed quite do-able, and possibly rational, when we were putting the trip together eight or nine months ago, but looking back, we must have been stir-crazy coming out of lockdown. At least we will have 4 nights in Sydney to recover, although I will miss staying at Hotel Fort Canning which became our favourite in Singapore (this is not necessarily a recommendation as HFC is quite quirky to say the least). The last time we disembarked anywhere, December 2018, was in Sydney, coming off Sojourn, so there is a pleasing symetry about embarking Odyssey there. Talking of Sydney, I forgot to mention the self-administered Rapid Antigen Tests that have to be crammed into cabin luggage along with everything else. Seabourn protocols for Australia, or NSW at any rate, have recently been updated, so now passengers over 12 have to be vaccinated, but no longer have to have a booster (which seems questionable to me as the vaccine will wane over time, so having boosters seems a safer option). But anybody over two years must take a test before boarding. Self-administered RAT taken up to 24 hours before boarding is ok, and one must have a photo of the negative test result next to one's passport and something showing the time when the photo was taken (but, strangely there is no mention of a requirement for the date). This of course is another source of major anxiety and will be until we have the negative test results in front of us. Should we wear masks in the airports? On the plane? I fully expect that every passenger near us will be maskless and coughing throughout the flight, but we will be armed with bottles of Boots Dual Defence which we will be squirting up our noses every three hours.

And now it is 16 days before departure.10 days before we set off. Where have the last 40 days gone? Here things have been moving on at pace ( "at snail's pace as far as some people are concerened" mutters A. I don't know what she means). The big suitcases are more or less packed, but my cabin luggage case lies open, items strewn across the futon and I am wracked with indecision. Do I take one change of clothes or two? I have to pack the Bose speaker and the ipad and the camera, as they all have lithium batteries, so the chargers have to go in as well. And the presecription meds. And the documents - proof of vaccination (4 copies each just in case), proofs of ESTA authorisation and IMMI approval, letter from doctor explaining why I need 120 doses of a controlled drug - and a spare pair of glasses. Should I pack the other over-the-counter meds? What about my beloved Nintendo DS, so I can play MarioKart on the endless flight? Should I pack swimming trunks? I don't wan't two pack two changes of clothes, and we are flying Singapore Airlines after all, they are supposed to be quite good. So it's unlikely that our hold luggage will be lost. But we have a 2.5 hour layover and change of plane at Changi, so that is a splendid opportunity for mismanaging our luggage if ever I saw one. But it is Singapore Airlines and they are supposed to be, at least, competent. This bubble of tranquility and happy anticipation that I have tried to convey, has however been prone to ferquent puncturing by further moments of stress and anxiety. Not the least of which have been induced by some of the posts and discussions on here, but also courtesy of Delta Airlines. More of which later as I have to cook the Sunday roast RIGHT NOW!

Yup. Mr L is correct. As well as the booked on board FDC 5% discount, Seabourn also offer, on 'selected' sailings, a 5% discount for Seabourn Club members. That should be 5% off whatever price your TA is quoting, irrespective of any TA discount. Maybe you should find another TA?

Not even Armagnac ? ... What about Calvados ? Or Poir William? ... Not quite the same thing, I know, but any port in a storm. By that I mean harbour, not the other stuff.

Yay! Well done you!!!