drron29

I think either the Restaurant manager or the HD was leaving in Yokohama when we got off on April 17th but not completely sure.

Very interesting @dawntrdr. Why would they have needed a bargain purchase of the Whisper?

I think a ll the ships have a limited range of OTC stuff. It certainly was that way on the old Silver Explorer. But again very expensive. A shampoo I use was $US15 on the Muse last month. When in Bangkok I bought 2 50% larger bottles for just under $US6.

Hey Le Bernadin was the best before 11 Madison Park even existed. The year 11Madison opened Eric Ripert was aclaimed the best chef in New York. Our son worked in NYC for 7 years and between 2002 and 2018 we went to Le Bernadin nearly 20 times. Not bad for an Australian.

Well apart from the Ray SS has 7 other classic fleet ships. Their total crew is 2792. The Ray will have 544 crew so if they have 80% experienced crew that will be 435 of them. That is 16% of the total. Which means if an even distribution that would be 48 from the Whisper. However I believe it will be less as we talked to quite a few of the Experienced staff on the Muse and many told us that their next contract is longer. So when the Ray commences there will be less experienced crew between contracts than usual so more available than usual.

And some more hotel views in Sydney. This time from the Club Intercontinental. First at night then in the morning. It was a very wet weekend in Sydney.

The crew might all be starting new contracts but for most it is unlikely to be their first contract therefore not inexperienced crew.

Though for this Muse cruise the Maitre'D of Atlantide said you have to ask the restaurant manager the first time we asked. The change came from higher up. As well although the Maitre'D in Indochine kept a table for us he did say it wasn't a reservation. I was told by both the HD and restaurant manager that as Atlantide and Indochine were listed as no reservation required tables could not be reserved. I replied that not required doesn't mean can't be done. They didn't agree saying that if someone turned up and requested the table we may have reserved before we arrived they would have to seat them there. Absolute rubbish.

The last of Hirosaki Castle. The sakura festival had started and there were quite a few food stalls on the way out. Then we walked back down the road to the museum and our bus. Before I got back on the bus I bought myself an extra spice curry bun. Delicious.

Great views of Mt.Iwate from the castle. Locally it is known as Fuji san Iwate.

Then we walked to Hirosaki Castle. We passed through a little shopping precinct. Some interesting food places. We came to Hirosaki Castle in 2016 but 2 weeks later at the end of April and it was peak Sakura time and still the best display we have seen. So I was not expecting much this time but it was a little more advanced than I thought it might be. Hirosaki is one of the 12 Japanese castles that remain from before the Mieji Restoration.

I’m not going to like your post because I am very jealous.

It’s certainly a problem on the Muse at present but wasn’t on our cruise on her last October. Both the Restaurant Manager and the Maitre’D last month insisted that Atlantide and Indochine are no booking restaurants so you can’t book for 8 which is the maximum table size in Atlantide. The Maitre’D in Indochine however if you told him the night before would say we will keep an area aside for you although he would say it is not a booking. We always got a table for 8 not the big table. In October if you asked the Restaurant Manager by about 4 pm you would get one of the tables for 8 in Atlantide. Though you couldn’t do that on formal nights as those tables were used for hosted tables. So it seems to be a particular manager problem. So mention it in the mid cruise and final surveys as I did. I also complained to the HD with no result other than no invitation to a hosted table for the first time ever.

After going through the museum shop there were a few craftsmen doing their thing. Then it was out into their garden.