RyanJCanada

Tomorrow’s Chronicles:

Today’s Chronicles:

Good point - we'll keep an eye on that, though I don't think the numbers will work out for us, unfortunately. We were very lucky to get the Royal Suite for the price that we did, and I doubt lightning will strike twice anytime soon.

Day 8 Update: No, I have not spent the past 83 minutes googling "home lava stones" - why do you ask? The tail end of Day 7 was a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, we had a lovely dinner at the Grill (aka Hot Stones). On the other hand, the sea turned choppy as we made our way into the North Atlantic, and both of our kids struggled with it. Thankfully - after a bit of a false start - they crashed out hard and slept through the rest of the night. I had a bit of a tough time trying to fall asleep, particularly as we're right at the front of the ship and - on an air mattress - and it felt as though I was trying to sleep on a trampoline while someone was slowly bouncing next to me. But sleep finally won out, and we enjoyed a nice lie-in after some very busy days. Kids even made it past 7:30 am, which is close to a record for us. We'd initially though that clocks had turned back an hour, and that we'd have to wait an extra hour before heading off to breakfast. But we were pleasantly surprised to find out that would happen tonight, instead. So we might get two lie-ins in a row. Unthinkable luxury on an expedition! With nothing but time on our hands, we went to the Restaurant for breakfast this morning and very much enjoyed ordering off the menu. The kids and I ordered waffles and various varieties of eggs, along with crispy bacon and home fries. All very tasty, though sadly unphotographed. We headed off to the observation lounge for a bit, and then my son and I once more joined our group for trivia and... we won! It was a tremendous thrill for both of us, though I doubt we'll be able to repeat it another time this cruise. But, always nice to have a reason to come back... To make the victory all the sweeter, our group has very kindly donated their points to my son. So we've gone from 8 points to some 268 points. We've been joking that if my son is able to buy the ship, he'll have to give us a ride on it. Seriously, though, we are now very hopeful that he'll be able to pick up a t-shirt, if nothing else. After trivia, we got changed and went for a trip to the "wave pool" (or the "pool", as we'd call it on regular days - though it's gotten quite wavy now that we're fully underway). The kids really enjoyed that, and even the regular pool was warm enough to stand up to a cool Atlantic wind. We went back and forth between the pool and the hot tub twice, and by then it was time to head for lunch. We sadly skipped the seafood buffet, opting instead to have a look at the buffet at La Terraza. Tempted though I was by the sushi, we elected for the Restaurant instead. My wife and I had clam chowder followed by arctic char and risotto, while the kids had pizza - everyone very happy with their choices. I went back to the room for another glorious power nap, and then back to the panorama lounge for the 'handicraft' meetup. I'm currently knitting a scarf, so I was curious to see if anyone else would show up - and a guest from Tasmania joined me for a bit as she worked on a lovely pair of socks. Second round of trivia started at 4:30 pm. We weren't as lucky as last time, but it was hard to be disappointed after the prior generosity of our team members. Nor was there much time, as we needed to dash downstairs to the Explorers' Lounge for a lecture on Arctic cold weather animal adaptation at 5 pm. Very informative, and well suited for kids and adults alike. My wife and daughter headed down to Dolce Vita to find a quiet corner where they could hang out and play with some of her toy animals. They'd called in to request a cheese plate and some bread to fill in the gaps until our dinner at La Dame tonight but unfortunately the food still hadn't arrived by the time the lecture started, about 50 minutes after they ordered. A rare miss by Silversea, though it was waiting for us in our room after the lecture wrapped up - so, could've been worse. And that catches us up - off to La Dame tonight, then Iceland bright and early tomorrow morning.

Congratulations on your work on the movie industry - not an easy field to break into. I’d love to do a screenplay or TV series at some point, but I think that’s a ways off for now. Thanks for the tip on how to find your past trip report - I’d checked out your profile but couldn’t find it there. That would make good reading for our at-sea day today.

That’s what I’d feared… oh well, good incentive to book more cruises. I ran a few numbers last night, and it’s almost worthwhile to book one of the less expensive repositioning cruises from Alaska to Japan just to get that much closer to free laundry and the extra discount… but only if I do that solo, which I don’t think is going to fly with the rest of the family.

I definitely do a lot of 'novelist'-type work, but it also extends to story writing for video games and other kinds of interactive fiction (like video games and game books). Got into that field largely by accident but it's turned out to be more lucrative than traditional novel writing. Glad you're enjoying the thread! Any particular highlights from the cruise from Muscat to Athens?

Day 7 Update: How is it day 7? Where has the time gone? Why didn’t we book the extension to Greenland? Are there any panels here that will hold a family of 4 attempting to stowaway? So many questions, so little time. Up bright and early again to take in St. Kilda. Some of our fellow guests here have attempted to land twice before but have been successful due to the weather, but it’s been unseasonably warm here so we’re hoping that it will work out. 6:45 am breakfast at La Terrazza and then off to the Explorer’s Lounge for our briefing. The ranger was quick and informative and – other than getting the name of the island wrong once – had us ready to go in short order. We’d lucked out on an earlier departure with Zodiac group 6, but it was our turn to get the short end of the straw – we’d be last to shore, heading out around 8:30 am. Last zodiac back would be at 11:30 am. There are two options available for those who want to explore the island – either an easy walk through the historic village (now largely abandoned, except for workers from the National Trust for Scotland), or climb up the hill through the ‘saddle’ to get a view over one of the tallest cliffsides in Britain. Easy decision for us, particularly with two very active kids to entertain – we’d be climbing up the cliffside. Back to the room for the usual sunscreening, and playing how-much-do-we-pack. We’ve done rather poorly at that game for the last few days, bringing far more than what we’ve actually needed. I was determined not to repeat the same mistake, so I left behind a layer for each of us. We’ll see if that’s a wise decision – winds at St. Kilda are apparently quite high, which is one of the reasons why we’re being asked to stay close to the paths and back from the cliffs lest we be lost in the midst and / or blown off the edge. There’s also been a tremendous amount of avian flu, in addition to a very large colony of feral sheep. Given these existential threats, one might wonder why anyone would actually want to visit St. Kilda. The short answer is that it’s incredible. The combination church / one room schoolhouse The exterior of one of the 'modernized' homes. 1800s houses and much older animal pens. The ruins of a house that held a family of four. You can never have too many feral sheep. The longer answer is that St. Kilda is one of very few places that has been recognized as a world heritage site for both natural beauty and history. Not only are there vast colonies of sea birds, but the village also dates back to the bronze age, through the Celtics, Picts, Vikings, and into ‘modern’ Scotland in the 1800s and early 1900s. However, life on St. Kilda was very difficult due to the hand-to-mouth existence led by those involved with the crofting and hunting and gathering of seabirds and their eggs. In 1930s there were very few able-bodied adults available to support the colony, and so the difficult decision was made to relocate the villagers to other parts of Scotland. Examples of this hard-scrabble life are evident throughout St. Kilda, from the low stone animal fences to the many cleits that were used to preserve and store food throughout the island. In the 1830s, Rev. Neil Mackenzie brought an intense form of religion to the island, pushing out many of the existing forms of dance, music and celebration in exchange for new buildings, a church, a school - and strict adherence to the gospel. Not long afterward, tourism began to impact St. Kilda in the 1870s after steam ships began to regularly include it on their routes. Local residents were horrified by the appearance of the first steam ship, which they believed to be on fire. Tourism proved to be a decidedly mixed blessing, as the visitors both brought an economic boom alongside an intense awareness of how different life was like off of St. Kilda. Soon the local residents were devoting their time to making handicrafts and souvenirs, and their economy became deeply dependant on others. Residents then began to emigrate – particularly to Australia – and by 1930 there were only 36 islanders remaining. They were evacuated to the mainland at their own request. A bit of trivia for you – there is actually no person named St. Kilda, and the name of the island is believed to a corruption of Skildir, the Norse word for shield. After a very brief tour of the village, we hiked up the ‘saddle’ to reach the cliffside. These are the tallest cliffs in Britain at over 400 metres high, and we were warned to keep back from both the side of the mountains and the cliff edge as winds can gust and mist can roll in unexpectedly. Thankfully, we ended up with crystal clear skies and the views were absolutely spectacular. We never did see two of the species particular to this area - St. Kilda fieldmouse, which is about twice the size of a regular field mouse, and the St. Kilda wren, which is slightly larger than a typical wren. But we did see plenty of the local feral sheep – the Soay sheep – which are being studied to determine what happens when you let sheep go feral. Isn’t science wonderful? The sheep are quite interesting to look at, as they appear more like goats than sheep. They are also very well aware of the fact that they are the dominant form of life on St. Kilda, and they move – in small groups and in herds – with impunity. The little ones are quite cute, but we were strongly warned not to get between any mothers and their young. Sage advice in any setting, really. After a brief stop at the museum – which should win an award for most informative museum per square foot – we went on to the combined church / schoolroom. It was eye-opening for the kids to see the one-room, one-bench schoolhouse along with the slates the students would have used for their studies. We then took in the local ‘honesty shop’ – for which I had brought exactly zero pounds – and the kids were very grateful when one of the Cloud’s guests bought each of them a small puffin pin. It was a very kind and thoughtful gesture, for which I am quite grateful. By around 10:30 am we were ready to head back to the Cloud, and so once more boarded the zodiac for the return trip. Winds were gusty at the docking point, leading us to wonder whether that afternoon’s planned zodiac cruise would be cancelled. We wouldn’t find out about the cruise for a while, so we went up to the Grill to relax and wait for lunch to start. I sampled my fourth burger of the cruise, and I am pleased to report that the quality remains high. However, my wife had a borderline inedible Caesar salad that seemed to lack both dressing and seasoning – but rather than send it back, she sampled the Phillipines buffet that was on offer, and quite enjoyed that. So all’s well that ends well. I also ordered a Silver Negroni, which was about 3 drinks in one – a trend that’s held since the first gin and tonic I ordered aboard the Cloud. Not that I’m complaining. Easy enough to order champagne instead if one wants to order something with a more moderate alcohol level. A few minutes after we returned to the suite, we received the long-awaited announcement regarding the zodiac cruise – and were delighted to learn that they would indeed be launching in just a few minutes time. Sunscreen, coats, lifejackets and then back down to Deck 3 to await the launch – stepping down the stairs just as our group number was being called. We were very lucky to have Colin hosting our zodiac tour, as he heads up the expedition team and is extremely knowledgeable. We mostly explored the isle of Dun, which is south to the main isle of Hilda. There are plenty of small caverns and narrow passages that are accessible only via zodiac, and we explored most of them. We were also briefly shadowed by a grey seal who looked very much like a sea-bound Labrador puppy looking to play. And they are quite playful – Colin shared a story of a dive off of Cornwall where one of them got hold of his flipper and just slowly pulled him back for the fun of it. Another one of the guests had a seal snatch her mask off while scuba diving. She thankfully kept her wits and surfaced without incident. Quite the tricksters, those seals. Back to the room, power nap, and then up to the observation lounge to watch the Boureray island cruising. Some great commentary from the crew as the Cloud itself swung near the islands, which are known for their vast colonies of sea birds. Quick dash down to Deck 6, and we managed to book our next cruise – or at least a placeholder equivalent for our next cruise. We’re hoping to take a 40 day cruise from South America to Antarctica and then on to South Africa. This would include 2 rounds of visits both to the Falkland Islands and to South Georgia – while also setting us up for a safari in Botswana. But it’s not available yet, so we’ve booked another Antarctica cruise with the intention of cancelling and rebooking when the new cruise is announced. Fingers are firmly crossed that these complicated plans work as intended. I’d meant to post something here before buying in case there’s some sort of trick where – if you turn around three times and say the magic words – they give you free laundry for your next cruise. So instead we flew by the seat of our pants. But if you do have any tricks for making the most of an onboard cruise booking, please do share them so that I can keep them in mind for next time. (Or, let’s be honest, so I can reneg on my current deal for slightly better terms.) Then it was back up to the room to collect my son so that we could take in another round of trivia. Tough batch today, but there are two rounds being held tomorrow during the sea day so we’re hopeful that one of them will go in our favour. We’re still with the same group that we joined on Day 2 and it’s worked out very well. Just about time to head for a very windy dinner at the Grill – which I really do intend to photograph, hand on heart – so time to upload pictures and get this online before I run out of either time or champagne. More soon!

Thank you, Lois! Feels like I’m still figuring out the format but it’s been a fun challenge so far. Great to hear that you’re enjoying it!

It’s a bit strange how they organized this portion of the trip - we did the long haul out to Shetland and then backtracked to the Orkney islands on our way to St. Kilda. You’d think we’d work our way to Shetland before heading to Iceland. Wonder if it has something to do with provisioning? We enjoy riding the zodiacs but I would have loved an extra hour for lunch and a beer. I imagine you were berthed there, rather than having to tender in?

Very helpful - I’ll be sure to bookmark this for our own reference. Thanks for posting!

Hello, St. Kilda!

Thanks, Jim - kind of you to say! I’m a commercial fiction writer so I write a lot, and by this point I’m fairly quick at it. I often have sizeable quotas (5,000 to 7,000 words a week) so I need to get my thoughts down quickly. As a point of comparison, it took me about 40 minutes to write yesterday’s update. We’re also not getting a tremendous amount of sleep - though that’s more due to the short nights at this time of year!

Glad to ask - we are going around Iceland on this trip but not to the north, so entirely possible that makes a difference. We’re at sea tomorrow so I won’t be taking in the briefing today but I’ll be there tomorrow.

The sun sets on the Silver Cloud (and the Isle of Lewis):

Today’s Chronicles:

I checked with the Expedition staff - red jackets are now solely used for polar expeditions.

Appreciate that - thanks very much! I think we'll end up going with all of the above, just to be thorough - excellent point about the many crew that work so hard but who aren't seen by passengers on a day-to-day basis.

Day 6 Update: No real surprises during the expedition briefing - we'd be using the zodiacs to get to the old harbour in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, then heading off for our Treasures of the Orkney Islands tour which would focus on archaeological sites in the area, including the stone age village of Skara Brae (roughly 5,000 years old) and the standing stones at Brodgar (a relative newcomer at 4,500 years). We were looking at an 8:30 am departure and a 4 hour tour, with the last zodiac heading back to the ship at 1:45 pm. I've been hoping to get a pint in one of these lovely Scottish towns that we've been visiting, but thus far have been thwarted. We'll see if tomorrow offers any better odds. Dinner went well enough - with the early departure, main dining room was slammed and service was a bit slower than usual. We had the porcini soup, the salmon special, and some sort of chocolate blueberry pastry concoction for dessert. (Great with names, aren't I? This is what happens when I forget to take pictures of the menu...) Not entirely surprising that service was a touch slow as everyone was trying to eat early, and I suspect it would be quicker if we were at either the Grill or La Terrazza. We've got another plan in the works for tomorrow night. But we were still in and out in about 90 minutes, which is not bad considering that we'd eaten 3 courses. Off to bed, then up bright and early. Off to La Terrazza for breakfast. Kids ordered some waffles and pancakes a la carte and we made full use of the breakfast buffet. Back to the room, then down to the Restaurant to wait for our zodiac, which was called on time as usual. Zodiacs have been quite close to all the expected timings - in fact, it was the one day we were berthed that was slower than expected. We were one of the first zodiacs to the docks - but not the first which had to double back to find the narrow harbour entrance that was tucked around to the right. Beautiful little spot there, and we once more touched down without issue then boarded the bus heading for Skara Brae. Skara Brae is a neolithic (stone age) village that was discovered in the 1800s. It's still largely intact, and offers some fascinating insight into one of Europe's earliest civilizations, and one of the first instances of farming in Europe. It dates to well before both Stonehenge and the pyramids, and there are plenty of details such as hearths, altar-dressers, doors, sleeping locations, and so on. I won't go into the full details but you can find out more about it here - Overview (historicenvironment.scot) A replica of what one of the houses would have looked like in Neolithic times. At the same site, we took in Skaill house - Skaill House | Orkney.com - which is the house of the local Laird who owns the land upon which Skara Brae was found. It's a beautiful house from the 1600s containing some beautiful details from the family's own personal history. One of the elements I found quite interesting was that the current Laird's peerage apparently came as something of a surprise after the death of the previous Laird - it transferred to a distant branch of the family, which is shown in the picture below. Gardens of Skaill House The main staircase Quick stop for a scone and a coffee, then off to Brodgar - Ring of Brodgar: History | Historic Environment Scotland | HES - where we took in one of the oldest and largest henges in Europe. While the exact purpose of the site is not known, it's location facing east suggests that it might have been used either for rituals involving to sun or as a means of tracking seasons. It's also amazing to think of the time and effort that went into digging the massive trench (henge) with Neolithic tools, which they believe were made of bone. We had only about 40 minutes to take in a site that could have taken 4 hours or more, but our guide did a wonderful job of explaining the context while giving us some time to take in the majesty of this site in silence. We then looped back around through the Bay of Scapa Flow - learning some of its history, and the role it played in both World Wars 1 and 2 - before ending up back in Kirkwall about 30 minutes before our zodiac was due to depart. But I still reckoned I had time for that beer, so I ducked into the St Ola Hotel where I grabbed a Scapa Special ale and chatted with some of the ferry workers before being unceremoniously rammed by a drunk Scot on a mobility scooter. But this is why we travel, isn't it? For the stories? A too-quick 15 minutes later, and we were back aboard the zodiac heading for the Cloud. Anchors up a few minutes earlier, and we went poolside so that the kids could have a swim and grab some lunch. Seems a bit strange, but Silversea really doesn't seem to expect people to want to each lunch by the pool - we had to ask 3 times before a server came our way. But understandable given that everyone was just back from excursions and the Grill was slammed, and it still took perhaps 20 minutes before our food arrived (and drinks came much faster than that). Power nap, then off to trivia - there was a three-way tie for second and third paced, which I then botched by tragically underestimating the top speed of the Bugatti Cheron. We'll get them next time... No time for regrets, though, as I had to move quickly to take in the next expedition briefing. Off to St. Kilda tomorrow which promises to be another adventure-filled day, then we'll get the chance to slow down a bit for our day at sea. As for our revised dinner plans, we elected to take All Around Dining in Dolce Vita at 6 pm so the kids could get to bed a bit earlier, and that worked out quite well. Our room steward very kindly made up our room a bit earlier, and we had a tasty meal of pizza, hot dogs, and chargrilled chicken breast followed by creme brulee and New York cheesecake. Very tasty. Off to bed soon so that we're ready for our trip to St. Kilda tomorrow.

The sun sets on a different side of the Cloud - taken around 11 pm

Tomorrow’s Chronicles:

Day 5 Update: The expedition briefing yesterday was relatively straightforward – we would be berthing this time, so we could just walk off via deck 5 rather than using Zodiacs. (Though I must admit I was a bit disappointed by that, as we’ve come to quite enjoy our Zodiac trips.) Our excursion would be leaving at 8 am the following day so it was another early wakeup for us, though they had moved the opening of La Terrazza to 6:30 which would mean we could dine in the restaurant rather than order room service. We then went off for dinner at the Grill, which we cooked ourselves on the hot lava rocks. That was a really fun experience, and the kids had a blast – though we were the ones who flipped their steaks when the time was right. Our 7 year old daughter managed to demolish a 6 oz. Filet mignon, while I had both the filet and the prawns. These were the same prawns as they used in the previous night’s curry, though I enjoyed them much more when they were cooked on the lava rocks, as they were immensely tender when cooked this way. The meals were served with our choice of sauce and side – fries and ketchup for the kids and baked potatoes and peppercorn sauce for the adults. No pictures, unfortunately, as I completely forgot to take any until after the meal had been demolished. Clearly we need to go back for a second time… Breakfast the next morning was lovely – they had fresh cheese omelettes on the buffet, so I got one of those rather than the usual spoonful of scrambled eggs. I also made sure to load up on yoghurt and berries as I tend to neglect my veggies while dining at the restaurants. Back to the room to sunscreen and pack up – it was about 15C in Shetland today so we didn’t need to dress too warmly, but it was still cooler than it had been for much of our trip. They had a small spot of trouble getting the gangway set up initially so the first trip to the Isle of Moussa was delayed by a few minutes, but ours was ready on time – and indeed they caught up so quickly that we had to dash to catch up, though we ended up having loads of time for the ferry. Still, we’ll be better prepared for next time. The ferry across was just a small boat capable of taking perhaps 7 or 8 cars at a time. Bressay is just across from Lerwick, and the ferry takes perhaps 5 to 10 minutes to make the trip. Most of the traffic was heading into town, where most of the inhabitants of Bressay work and attend school. The Bressay island hike was led by Chris Dyer, a local archaeologist and crofter (small scale farmer). We started off with a walk across from the Isle of Noss, where we took in some abandoned ruins. It’s amazing how much history is just lying around – such as the ancient stone roofing tile that Chris pulled out of a nearby stone fence. The Isle of Noss is uninhabited except for a pair of seasonal researchers who also run people back and forth via Zodiac. They weren’t making the run that morning, though there was plenty to see on the other side. Beyond taking in “Norther house” and “southern house” (the stone ruins shown in earlier pictures) we also took in the ruins of an ancient Viking broch that dates back several thousand years – and which was likely cannibalized to build the stone houses. The remains of an ancient Viking broch - you can see one of the interior walls from the top of the mound (sadly, didn't get a picture of it). Chris mentioned that many of the brochs were visible from each other, which raised the question as to whether they would use some form of signal or semaphore to communicate with each other. I’ll have to do some more research into this at some point. After Nos, we went to see the ruins of an early Christian chapel dating back to the 1200s. A stone containing Pictish inscriptions had been found there, but now only a replica remains. That raised further questions as to whether artifacts from Shetland should remain in Shetland, rather than being taken back to Edinburgh. I’d be inclined to have them remain in Shetland, personally, as I think they otherwise risk being “lost in the rush” in a larger museum. Curious to hear if any of you have thoughts on the matter? We then went on to the local community centre (once a local elementary school) for some delicious scones and soup – my wife had the lentil soup, while I had the curried squash coconut soup which was quite delicious. They also gave the kids some cakes, which was very kind of them. Apparently they’re some of the first kids to have done that tour, despite it being run for several years… The wee ferry that took us too and from Bressay. After that we went back to Lerwick. We checked in at the highly-rated restaurant Dowry, but they were overwhelmed with other guests – not surprisingly, given the size of Shetland and the number of guests touring the town. So instead we found a playground where the kids could let off some steam, and we called C’est la Vie café via Skype (using our eSim plans) and booked a reservation for 2:30 pm. Once we were done at the park, we walked around until we found Detective Perez’s house from the show Shetland (again, as pictured earlier) and then headed over to C’est la Vie for lunch. It’s a small café, so good that we made our reservation. Kids had macarons and Viennese hot chocolate while my wife and I both had the Croque Monsieur. Really delicious, and glad we stopped in. We then made our way to the tourist centre where we were able to hop aboard the shuttle moments before it took off. The shuttle was being run every half hour – departing on the quarter hour and quarter to – so we were very glad that we didn’t have to wait a full 30 minutes before the next shuttle. Another power nap, and then we were off to trivia. We rejoined the same group as last time and this time – we took 3rd! My son was absolutely thrilled, and we look forward to discovering what the points will be worth. We have 8 points at present – curious as to if anyone knows what the exchange rate is between points and prizes? I’m trying to temper my son’s expectations that he might – at best – get a hat or a T-shirt, but it would be great to have some sort of frame of reference, if anyone can provide one. Now back at the observation lounge where I am sipping a Paris coffee that seems to be 93% cognac and 7% whipped cream. Soon off to our expedition briefing, and then off to dinner.

Question that came up today - While gratuities are included on Silversea, sometimes staff go above and beyond (as our butler did for my Father's Day celebration) - do you tip in those instances? And in what other ways can we show our appreciation? We typically write a letter to the Hotel Director at the end of a cruise to identify those staff who worked particularly hard to make our trip memorable, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were other additional steps we should take on a Silversea cruise.

The Italian influence still seems quite strong, particularly at La Terrazza. My wife has dined at a range of upscale Italian restaurants and had nothing but good things to say. I think it would be her top choice given the option, though it looks like we'll be spending more time at the Restaurant and the Grill as we try and find options that will work well for everyone. But we should be back there at least once more this trip.

Appreciate the suggestion, thank you! I definitely need to read up more on the history of the area - I very much enjoyed your trip report from your time there, but we discovered earlier today that my son seems to have much greater knowledge of the Shacklton expedition than I do. May have to see if there are any books on that topic in the Observation Lounge...