“the Big One”! World Cruise on Sojourn

[shark b8]

As i think about it, we might have also done Arctic (Greenland or Honningsvåg area) but if so I didn't make a definitive mental note of it.  So I suppose that doesn’t count.  🤦‍♂️

[cadburysmom]

17 hours ago, DTtravelers said:

Since you are bouncing around...

 

I'm with you on Bourbon.  Mrs. DTtravelers and I are hoping to complete the "Big Three" next year: Bourbon on Antarctic glacier ice, Bourbon on Alaska glacier ice, and Bourbon on Arctic glacier ice.  

 

If we ever end up on the same ship together, I'd be up to the challenge of finding you a Scotch you might enjoy.  The range of Scotch is huge compared to Bourbon.  But if you would be unwilling to forgo ice, I would never be successful.  Just 1 drop of water in Scotch completely changes everything, and ice ruins it altogether...  (my opinion only, other opinions may vary)

 

As far as beets, I would NEVER try to convert you.  I used think that I liked all vegetables except rutabegas.  Then we spent some time in Cornwall and I really enjoyed the pasties.  We got a recipe and it included swedes.  I didn't know what those were so I looked them up when we got back to the states, and discovered that swedes here are called... rutabegas!

 

Smooth(er) sailing!!

 

btw: celery, peanut butter and raisins: ants on a log.  The grandkids love 'em.

Oh my, Scotch and Bourbon...music to Mr. Cadburysmom's ears!  Yes, he's one of you...

 

In fact, the deciding factor in picking a date for our Iceland cruise was Seabourn's Aug '24 itinerary which includes a stop in Invergordon, close proximity to Speyside...and you know what that means. He will be bringing his dropper for sure.  

Give me strength...one bad night in college destroyed my toleration for each, adding them to my celery and beet list, although I have it on good authority there's a barrel in Kentucky with my name on it.  What can I say, my SO has quite the sense of humor.

[Techno123]

On our cruise prior to Christmas on a line beginning with R 😁 they had Beet carpaccio as a starter. Other half also hates beetroot (although I'm not sure he had ever tasted it but has a habit of hating certain food on sight) so ordered the beef carpaccio from the always available side of the menu. Can you guess what happened? His plate arrived with finely sliced rounds of what looked like beef which he began to eat, as his face contorted into ever more disgusted expressions he told me there was something seriously wrong with his beef and could I taste it. At least he absolutely knows he doesn't like beetroot now 😂😂😂😂

[shark b8]

1 hour ago, Techno123 said:

….his face contorted into ever more disgusted expressions knows he doesn't like beetroot now 😂😂😂😂

 

I feel your pain, brother!

[shark b8]

we’re in the process of changing Captains, as was reported here earlier. 

 

[shark b8]

Exploration of Phillip Island yesterday involved seeing the FIM race track, the “Nobbies” (home to some 20,000 fur seals), and a beer tasting (!) at a local brewery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by shark b8

[Mr Luxury]

13 minutes ago, shark b8 said:

Exploration of Phillip Island yesterday involved seeing the FIM race track, the “Nobbies” (home to some 20,000 fur seals), and a beer tasting (!) at a local brewery.

 

 

 

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Loving that colour chart

[florisdekort]

Speaking of typos in The Hearald… 🤣
 

[shark b8]

The last two days have been different explorations of Melbourne. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by shark b8

[shark b8]

Guide Isabel led us to various arcades and architecturally-oriented sights, with occasional moments where one could consider where the line might be drawn, between “street art” and graffiti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

Last night as we returned to the ship……

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

And tonight….it’s that time again!  Skipped lunch today to leave room for that extra pakora.

 

 

[shark b8]

(As someone who complained about grammar/spelling…I hereby apologize for “sights” rather than “sites”, a couple of posts back)

 

🤦‍♂️

Edited March 11, 2023 by shark b8

[shark b8]

(I could have blamed auto-correct, but…mea culpa)

[shark b8]

Indian Market Dinner was spectacular as always (and yet again, at the best table on the ship)  - I over-loaded my plate with curries & chutneys etc, and may have unbalanced the ship towards port.   Which reminds me…..the last time we sailed out of Melbourne, about 4 years ago, in the middle of the night, the ship lurched badly to port, I was thrown out of bed (no small task), and the next morning we heard that pre-set glassware in the MDR was mostly lost on the floor.  There was a tight-lipped explanation in the Herald (can’t remember the wording), and on a Bridge tour a few days later, my inquiry was explained as “a navigational error”, one of those vanilla wording-things that doesn’t really explain much.

 

 

 

 

[lincslady]

What a delightful evening; Indian dinner sitting at the 'best' table outside looking at the wake.  I am only a bit envious!

 

I think I would probably enjoy that more than most Michelin star dinners.  

[shark b8]

6 minutes ago, lincslady said:

I think I would probably enjoy that more than most Michelin star dinners. 

 

I hear you, lincslady.  The older I get, well……..4 years ago when we were about to board the Encore for the aforementioned cruise (including The Melbourne Incident), in Auckland the night before we sailed, we happened to wander into a small, unheralded local Nepalese restaurant.  I know precisely zero about Nepalese food but we had a great meal, lots of fun, great crowd of locals, new and different and wonderfully tasty stuff, and without any of the stuffiness that unfortunately can sometimes be part of the Michelin-thing (love that too, but, well……)

[shark b8]

And once again….read that sentence out loud.   Isn’t there an extra verb in there?  I have repeated my rather generous offer to be a proof-reader - I’ll work cheap.   (Just a midship Deck 6 suite, I don’t require a Penthouse. 😉).  We’ll see.

 

 

 

[Mr Luxury]

3 hours ago, shark b8 said:

Indian Market Dinner was spectacular as always (and yet again, at the best table on the ship)  - I over-loaded my plate with curries & chutneys etc, and may have unbalanced the ship towards port.   Which reminds me…..the last time we sailed out of Melbourne, about 4 years ago, in the middle of the night, the ship lurched badly to port, I was thrown out of bed (no small task), and the next morning we heard that pre-set glassware in the MDR was mostly lost on the floor.  There was a tight-lipped explanation in the Herald (can’t remember the wording), and on a Bridge tour a few days later, my inquiry was explained as “a navigational error”, one of those vanilla wording-things that doesn’t really explain much.

 

 

 

 

Don't forget that there will be a strong wind after the Indian Market dinner.

[SLSD]

7 hours ago, shark b8 said:

(As someone who complained about grammar/spelling…I hereby apologize for “sights” rather than “sites”, a couple of posts back)

 

🤦‍♂️

It happens.  I never assume someone doesn't know the right word/spelling.  Our fingers fly over the keys and sometimes our brains and fingers have different ideas.   You have done a great job of commentary for your world cruise.  

[docpetey]

Hey Shark, Overall how is the ship? Food, Service and room, all good? I  have a 14 day trip on Seabourn in Oct. Mark

[Isklaar]

5 hours ago, shark b8 said:

Indian Market Dinner was spectacular as always (and yet again, at the best table on the ship)  - I over-loaded my plate with curries & chutneys etc, and may have unbalanced the ship towards port.   Which reminds me…..the last time we sailed out of Melbourne, about 4 years ago, in the middle of the night, the ship lurched badly to port, I was thrown out of bed (no small task), and the next morning we heard that pre-set glassware in the MDR was mostly lost on the floor.  There was a tight-lipped explanation in the Herald (can’t remember the wording), and on a Bridge tour a few days later, my inquiry was explained as “a navigational error”, one of those vanilla wording-things that doesn’t really explain much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We experienced a very strong lurch to port coming into Boston a few years ago. We were dressing for dinner at time. I'm not prone to vocal outbursts but taken by surprise as I was I yelled 'woah' or similar, and we heard yelps and even loud swearing (!) from neighbouring suites. Apologies were fairly immediately forthcoming from the bridge. It was attributed to having to take very speedy evasive action because of an uncharted sandbar. 

[shark b8]

19 hours ago, docpetey said:

Hey Shark, Overall how is the ship? Food, Service and room, all good? I  have a 14 day trip on Seabourn in Oct. Mark

 

Ok, my initial reaction is….are we comparing to other cruise lines, or are we more talking about strictly “Seabourn life”, pre-and-post-COVID, that sort of thing?  If the former, I cant offer much - our first cruise was in the early 80’s on the Love Boa…..er, the Pacific Princess (demolished 10 years ago), and it’s been Seabourn ever since.    If we’re talking about general Seabourn-life, I would say….it’s pretty much business as usual.  Might be a vanilla, boring answer, but i think it’s accurate.  At the beginning of this thread (or maybe it was even a bit earlier, on a different thread) I read someone claiming that the Sojourn had gone to seed, the food was crap, the service was crap, and that everywhere you looked it was dirty.  Even with the usual skepticism we have all developed about the ol’  “it must be true because I read it online”, obviously our eyebrows were raised.  Anyway, that’s just silly -  if you have been happy with Seabourn food, service, and room in the past, I can’t imagine you’ll have some huge new and different negative experience.   Whomever wrote that complaint post, well, I have to think there was some personal issue at play, and they felt the need to lash out, that’s my guess.   The only thing that’s different from the pre-COVID days is the occasional COVID form to fill out for any given upcoming port/country, but for my money, even that is far less complicated and oppressive than it was even 6 months or a year ago.

[shark b8]

We got one of those invitations to dine with an officer - not usually my thing but it was formal night and Mrs Captain Sharkbait loves to go see what everyone is wearing.  🙄

 

Anyway, we had a lovely dinner with the designated officer and several other guests, so here are a few (small) nuggets:

 

After all my crowing about how much better the wifi had been (since Papeete), the internet was so bad this morning that the Square put out a message apologizing, saying they were working on it.  The officer at our table anticipated my question….he said that Carnival is deep into developing the new Starlink system, as I’ve read other cruise lines are doing.  Elon Musk, love him or hate him, may affect our future onboard wifi-contentment.

 

As I said, it was formal night in the MDR. Saw one man in black jeans and a polo shirt.  I suppose that as much as they want to uphold the policy, the reality of causing a scene by refusing someone entry (especially if it’s someone with considerable Seabourn legacy) would be pretty difficult.  I also noticed a gentleman as he left, in khakis and a Hawaiian shirt. Now, we live in Hawaii and I have my share of aloha shirts, but….anyway, as he left, he appeared to give something to the young lady at the entrance, she stashed it below her podium.  Looked like a black jacket - is it possible they are doing the old “we’ll provide you with a jacket if you are not wearing one”?   I have to think I saw it wrong, I’ve never seen that before.  Takes me back to our visiting the “Windows on the World” at the top of the World Trade Center in New York ages ago - I’m normally a rule-follower about such things but I didn't know a jacket was required for lunch.  And so I suffered the indignity of having the young lady bring out 3-4 black jackets for me to try on.  I’m sure the fit was comical, but the main memory these days is….years later all that went down on Sept 11.  

 

I started this post saying “lovely dinner”….a week or so ago, the First Mate happened to casually mention to a senior restaurant staffer on our way out of the MDR that she was a little disappointed that so far, after almost two months, there was no foie gras.   Tonight, voila!  I obviously am inferring no cause and effect here, but we had a fun happy moment with the same staffer, on our way out…..and the foie gras was REALLY good.  (And I have a serious liver-rating-phobia  - love foie gras and sweetbreads and the like, but when it gets *too* liver-y…I’m out.   🤮)

 

There may be other nuggets I can think of that were mentioned, I’ll try to remember, but right now…..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[tv24]

On 3/11/2023 at 3:15 AM, lincslady said:

What a delightful evening; Indian dinner sitting at the 'best' table outside looking at the wake.  I am only a bit envious!

 

I think I would probably enjoy that more than most Michelin star dinners.  

That really is one of the sweetest spots on the Seabourn ships.