Aboard Whisper Southampton to Boston

Aboard the Whisper! After uneventful flights to Heathrow, our Smith's Taxi (highly regarded on CC) driver met us. We had a pleasant drive to Southampton, with a two hour prearranged detour to Stonehenge. Stonhenge was a wonderful experience, but less awesome for my wife, who had visited a few decades ago, when you could still crawl around amongst the stones. (I guess Pres. Obama had a special dispensation the other day.) Pleasant walk and pub dinner in Southampton, then a twelve hour sleep.

During the short cab ride to the Whisper, our cabbie announced that his polls of customers over the years had never been wrong on a major political vote, and that Scotland would vote for independence. Right or wrong, you heard it here.

Boarding about noon, immediately encountered two separate couples who are old friends from prior cruises. Nice to be home!

The Captain is Corsaro, a favorite. CD is Moss Hills, who was on the Shadow for our Hong Kong to Tokyo segment in April. HD is Norm Rafelson, who addicted us to white chocolate grappa four years ago. Jorge left today, but the Maitre'D is Valentina, who was the same on the Shadow in the Spring. The Head Sommelier is Karolina, who was also on the Shadow cruise. Cruise Consultant and Venetian Rep is another familiar friend, Allesandra Reggi. Chef David Bilsland is aboard doing the cooking demos and lessons.

Only downer on boarding day, a warm, sunny day, was much noise from renovation work going on in the boutique. Sailing was delayed for an hour, presumably to finish the drilling and pounding.

Excellent first night dinner with friends in La Terrazza. Wes, the pappardelle with duck ragout was possibly the best we've had, and that's high praise. And the veal liver was also excellent.

Today, a lovely, sunny day anchored at Fowey, Cornwall. We did a tour in the countryside, visiting a lovely old estate Pencarrow House, estate of the Molesworth-St. Albans family. First formal tonight. Seems to be a very pleasant group of passengers.

Have a wonderful cruise. The duck description is making my mouth water--love that dish.

Have a great cruise and hope that the weather is kind to you.

Has the boutique been renovated for the new franchisee, and if so, has the merchandise changed much.

Thanx for the initial report. Have a great trip. In 2 weeks we will be having dinner in LaTerrazza on the Shadow. Guess what Joe will be eating?!?!

Dieter and Debbie,

Glad you enjoyed your time on the Old World. Be kind to the ship because we board her in November. Looking forward to another of your excellent travelogues.

J & K

Hi Wellseasoned

We have overcome the problems and will be onboard for dinner on Saturday night so if you see four strangers will yellow badges in the bar stop by.

The weather forecast is excellent i.e. its not raining so please enjoy Belfast.

best wishes

John & Joy

So glad to hear everything is going well so far. It sounds like you have a wonderful crew. Say hi to Allesandra for us.

wellseasoned, really good comments and commentary, noted that Karolina is on board. She is a real favorite. First sailed with her on the Explorer, would you give her a big embrace from Fred and Van from Boston. She is sterling silver.

Dieter and Debbie,

Didn't realise you were visiting Belfast. My home town. Make sure you take a trip round the areas affected by ''The Troubles'' if you get the chance - makes you realise that almost anywhere else is a better place to live! If you end up in those mean little streets of terraced houses just off the Shankill Road, well, that was ''home''. Makes me shudder even now.

Seems like the unpredictable early autumn weather is being kind to you. Doesn't look too shabby in the sunshine over here, does it?

Bon Voyage.

J & K.

Dieter and Debbie,

 

Didn't realise you were visiting Belfast. My home town. Make sure you take a trip round the areas affected by ''The Troubles'' if you get the chance - makes you realise that almost anywhere else is a better place to live! If you end up in those mean little streets of terraced houses just off the Shankill Road, well, that was ''home''. Makes me shudder even now.

 

Seems like the unpredictable early autumn weather is being kind to you. Doesn't look too shabby in the sunshine over here, does it?

 

Bon Voyage.

 

J & K.

Another Belfast girl here though long since escaped "across the water". I love the idea of visiting Belfast on the Whisper, better than the Larne Stranraer ferry.

Rp

Another Belfast girl here though long since escaped "across the water". I love the idea of visiting Belfast on the Whisper, better than the Larne Stranraer ferry.

Rp

:):):)

Too true!

Joe 90, we'll look for you. Emtbsam, derbylane, your greetings will be passed along. Tothesunset, well try to find your old neighborhood.

We did have a fine first formal night at HD Norman's table, with some old and new friends. Skipped the ABBA show since we've seen it often. The current entertainers will be finished in November, when SS begins using a different company with different shows. They will be doing about five special shows this cruise to intersperse with their standard ones. Tonight is “Life is a Cabaret”. Several guest musicians and a magician will also perform in coming days.

Today we are docked in Cobh, Ireland. This morning we were in a small group who accompanied Chef David Bilsland to Cork by train and walked to the English Market. We ate fresh oysters, learned a lot about cheese, fish, etc., and helped carry David's purchases back. There is a tasting later this afternoon.

Regarding internet: The new internet purchasing options on the Shadow and Cloud have not yet been begun on the Whisper. The Whisper still uses the longtime choice of various numbers of minutes for purchase. But the IT officer told me that the new system of buying various numbers of 24 hour days will be instituted on all the ships eventually.

The boutique renovations will continue until the 27th, I am told, which is another 16 days, with hammering, drilling, and other construction noises during the day, most noticeable to those of us on deck six midship, just above the boutique. It varies between faint and very, very loud. We can pretty much forget about daytime naps or comfortable daytime use of our suite. This type of project should be done at drydock, NOT during a cruise! The decision to do this was made by the home office and the onboard staff is stuck dealing with it. Funny, we booked long ago but received no warning of what was in store. The ship is full, so what to do?

Dieter,

I am really sorry to hear that you are being subjected to the ongoing boutique renovations during your voyage. I agree entirely that this should have been done in a dry dock. Whilst I appreciate that the ship's staff are in a very difficult position, I hope that Norman is taking up the case with Head Office on your behalf.

Hi there Wellseasoned

Glad to hear your trip has started well. We disembarked the Whisper a couple of weeks ago after the ten day Copenhagen to Stockholm trip - aka "the wall to wall rain" cruise!! We have now dried out and the rust is fading!

Would be very interested to hear how Starboard Cruise Services have remodelled the shops, and how and if the merchandise on board has improved from the same old same old of Harding Brothers? From what we understood before we left the Whisper, the shops would be shut for "some days". Looks like they started on the back foot?

It seems as if they have brought this forward, as we were led to believe that the work would be carried out concurrent with the short dry dock and before the sailing from Montreal on the 26th September.

We were also told that this company will take over all the SS shops from Harding Brothers.

Enjoy your cruise

Kindest regards

Master Echo

Sorry to hear about the construction. Annoying. I assume people will tell poor Norman how unhappy they are about it and include it on their evaluations. Have a terrific trip, otherwise. Keep posting. I really enjoy it.

Tothesunset, we'll try to find your old neighborhood.

You'll find the pubs a little rougher round the edges than the Salty Dawg! Homer may be a frontier town but the Shankill is like the Wild West.

Sorry to hear of the disruption during the shop's refit. I should hope that SS will mollify the effect with some form or goodwill gesture?

Hi Dieter & Debbie, thanks for keeping us timely informed while on board. Your Duck Ragout sounded outstanding, but tonight Ida and I had the best tasting pesto lasagna w/tomato filets potato delis ever here in the Italian Dolomites. Hard to keep up with your CC SS thread but will try...warm regards to debbie and Angelo Corsaro!

Sent from my iPad mini using Tapatalk

Enjoying your 'live' report.

It's been busy the past few days. Every port has been mostly sunny and warm, not a drop of rain so far. After the day in Cobh we had a lovely afternoon sailaway. Dinner again in Terrazza, where I had some more wonderful pappardelle with duck ragout, then an excellent fresh Hake, great flavor despite the really ugly appearance of that fish in the English Market.

In Dublin we did the "fabulous food tour," a walking tour to sample the food of small local shops and a historic bar. After the the tour we returned to the cheese shop to buy some great cheeses to enjoy for the rest of the cruise.

In Belfast the new "Titanic Belfast" is a spectacular, modern museum and exhibition center centering on the Titanic and located where the Titanic was built and launched. Last evening the BBC British Proms held a nightime concert outdoors there.

Tothesunset, we did tour the area of "The Troubles" major violence, drove along the wall and Peace Fence, and on Shankill Road. Learned a lot.

Lovely dinner at Hot Rocks before sailing from Belfast, could hear some of the Proms music in the distance across the river.

Today is our first sea day as we sail toward Iceland. Fairly calm, sun and clouds, still warm. Several lectures today, cooking demo, pianist, singers, etc.

The reconstruction work below us in the Boutique continues but has been quieter today. This first sea day they began late, around 9 A.M. They had previously begun about 7:45 A.M., continued as late as 6 P.M. Very loud yesterday afternoon, thought a drill was about to plunge up through our floor. They say it will not be as loud from now on, so I'm hopeful. Many complaints of ours and others have been forwarded to the head office , and I will also contact Frank Sansone. We'll see how it goes. We intend to enjoy the rest of the cruise as much as possible and not let the noise get in the way.

Other than that, the cruise has been great so far, and the crew is wonderful as always. The food has been outstanding .

Fowey, Cornwall

Fish at English Market, Cork (the Hake are purple)

Titanic Belfast

Titanic Belfast at night from ship, Proms concert

Chef Bilsland and Somelier Karolina, making Irish sausage

hi Wellseasoned

So glad you enjoyed Titanic ( it has been a super tourist attraction

and visitor numbers are double the estimates) and Belfast.

L?

We arrived @ 5.30 and as soon as we went to security the seaman Peter put his arms around Joy and said welcome home. We had drinks in both Panorama and main bar before going to have pasta.

Everyone of the crew from Norman down remembered our names and it was a superb evening in the best restaurant in town. Sorry so say the time flew and at 9.pm we were asked to leave :( so it was down the steps and off home.

now where did I put that brochure?

Thanks for the photo's and updates Dieter. Great to see that David Bilsland is aboard, his cooking demo's are always fun.

The second sea day before Iceland was again nice weather, though the sea was rougher in the evening. Yesterday, Reykyavik was lovely, warm and sunny. Docked farther from downtown than the last time we were here, and R.C. Legend of the Seas was also at the dock. We did a pleasant short tour since we had done the wonderful but long Golden Circle tour last time. It was a fine day for the crew. The ship organized a visit to soak at the Blue Lagoon for about 40 of them, and last evening after we sailed, they had a big dinner for the crew in La Terrazza. We had a lovely dinner in Le Champagne. The gold leaf risotto, lobster bisque, rack of lamb, lobster thermidor, Grand Marnier souffles, and service were excellent.

The seas have been calm since leaving Iceland and today it is again sunny and lovely, but cooler, on our way to Greenland. No rain whatever so far on this cruise. Fine lectures again today. We had lunch at David Bilsland's "lunch and learn" held in Le Champagne, and his creations were delicious. Tonight is the Venetian reception and the second formal night. Tomorrow we cruise the Prince Christian Sound, which is supposed to be beautiful. Time does fly when you're having fun!

View of Reykyavik

Musician sculpture in Reykyavik

Wellseasoned: Enjoying your posts and pictures. If you run into Ed and Gloria from Virginia, please tell them Taylor and Jaci say hello. We will see them on the Spirit in December.

Jaci

Beautiful weather in Reykjavik! Saw some of the photos from the Blue Lagoon. Looks like they had a great time! Enjoying your commentary and pix.

Would you mind asking Norman if he is aware of the schedule for changing the boutiques on the other ships, and in particular when the Shadow is scheduled.