drron29

I walked around at the port as well. Unfortunately not a great sunset. And we sail away. From now on plenty of small fishing boats.

The shuttle takes you to the Hyundai Mall. Mostly high end shops but a few local businesses as well. A good place for Mall walking and I easily got to my step count. A name we have known on visits to the US. They build several apartment blocks at the same time,

Nothing in Tourism is the same as that before the pandemic. Airlines have been a mess. So I really don't think the changes we have seen at SS are a sign the sky is falling. It was interesting that B M stated during her talk that their targeted demographic were Boomers. That obviously will change. The younger generations are not going to have the same values as us Boomers. There has always been generational change. This year we have certainly noticed it with the average age falling and more children. For us it mainly has been the friendships we have made with staff and fellow cruisers. However we really appreciate the greater diversity in the crew, We have met crew from virtually every country. Great to see a much larger African crew number. Most of the new crew are from hospitality backgrounds. Nearly all report a positive experience on Silversea. Yes we miss the old days but for us they were on the Explorer. People now want more luxury. As well advancing age and health issues mean we couldn't do those cruises now. That doesn't mean we will accept every change and if there is something we don't like we will and have complained. We have always had feedback on our concerns. Probably because we make our complaints whilst still aboard. In the end our Silversea journey will continue.

Exciting excursion take 2. Our bus suddenly veered to the wrong side of the road. A minibus was coming. I thought oh no. The bus quickly returned to the right side of the road. The guide said did you see what happened. No one had. Well we just ran over a dog. Excursions are exciting in Vietnam.

One for our Yorkshire friends.

Plus the control of the TV in the mirror is often very slow and difficult.

Yes the whisper will still be sailing for the rest of the 20s. Have remembered a couple of more things. Muse TVs. They are well aware of the problems and funding has been approved for the TV in the mirrors to be removed and go back to a regular TV unit. Not known when it will happen. There was another problem with the TVs fleet wide. The switching on of Starlink caused some interference problems. Have finally worked out a fix to be carried out on all ships with the Muse last for the reason above. Which brings us to Starlink and the problems that have been reported. The blame is the US Defence department. In all hot areas where they want more satellite intelligence gathered they can and do turn off Starlink satellites so that Russia, North Korea, and China plus now the Middle East. This fits with my observations so far on this cruise. Service was very good around Japan. Slowed down markedly when we got to Korea and has come good since we arrived in Vietnam.

The next day we didn't want to spend an hour each way into Seoul for the all day tours. So a leisurely start with breakfast in Atlantide. Rojaan had a mushroom omelet and I eggs Benedict. Some new flowers. And back to Atlantide for lunch. The wines. Rojaan had the roasted leg of lamb and I the porcini stroganoff which was excellent. Then we both had the apple strudel. I decided to take the shuttle into town to do some mall walking instead of deck 11 laps as rain was threatening. However the shuttle didn't run over lunch so I had to wait until 2,30pm. So a couple of pics from the balcony. fresh water being delivered.

That evening it was Indochine. the menu. You are presented with some Naan and a hot and a mango chutney to start. As well a sample cocktail. The first 2 nights based on Midori. My red wine, Rojaan had the beef tataki ( no picture ) and I the exotic foie gras. Rojaan then had the ribs and I the lemongrass beef. Both excellent. Then desserts. Rojaan chose the rice pudding and I the creme brulee. After she had one mouthful of the rice pudding which was bland we swapped desserts.

So this afternoon we had a Q&A session with Barbara Muckermann and 6 other Execs including Mark Conroy and the managers in Australia and South Africa. The global expert advisory committee was also on board. It began with BM giving a 20 minute talk about the past, present and future Silversea plans. Future plans. Silver Ray to Begin cruising June 2024. An option for 2 further Nova class vessels. Decision to be made in the near future. Ships that may leave the fleet. Wind, Cloud and Whisper. New environmental regulations due in the next year or so. Will be hard for these 3 ships to comply but hopeful they will remain until 2030/32. River cruising. Not happening but there is a business plan which will be reactivated if conditions change. There were some general questions which were a waste such as when will Silversea return to St. Petersburg. Reiterated that Russia, the Black sea and the Eastern Mediterranean are no go areas at present. Silversea Air. As expected the answer for current problems is really due to lack of capacity and airlines raising prices especially in Business class. However an important decision made in the last 2 weeks. Silversea Air has been incorporated into the RCCL system which will mean more clout over the airlines plus a much better automated system for bookings. Explained that airlines require that bookings for 25 or more pax must be made 12 months out but then airlines change the flights. Silversea hotels. Pre Covid SS had an allocation of rooms from their preferred hotels at least 12 months out. Since Covid hotels could get a better price from walk in guests so cut the SS allocations. A particular problem was Iceland where they lost all their pre allocated rooms. Restaurant bookings. Apparently the system was that only 50% of seats could be booked before boarding and the rest saved for on board reservations. Many said it was not working particularly with Silver Note. She will look into it. Food. Was said that food costs have gone up 30% but they have received extra funding to cover that and there will be no reduction in the level of food. So I gave her the situation that on the last segment the lobster serve was a whole tail but on this sector was half a tail. She gave an unconvincing answer that a container was missing in Hong Kong. Others came up with other examples. Staff. most of us still feel one of the major reasons for returning is the crew. There are more instances of less than stellar service but there have been problems. Initially on post covid start up a lot of the Fillipino staff could not get visas to leave. nor could the Indian butlers. They have hired 1500 new staff who have had to learn on the job whereas pre covid they would receive some training before boarding. They are now up to full manning levels so hopefully things improve from here. I may have missed or forgooten some things so feel free to ask.

We actually saw Dick Emery in the Civic theatre in Newcastle, Australia in the late 70s. We were seated in the front row. For the only time in my career I got a call from the hospital just before he started. not urgent but I then had to wait for an appropriate time to do the walk of shame to my seat. He asked Rojaan if I was with her and she nodded. Ooh he's a big one isn't he. His comments went lower from then on. But it was great fun.

The issues were raised. Backed up by several of us. Will do a new thread tonight with my thoughts.

Nothing at all. I buy all our air fares myself and due to the nature of our travel they are virtually all booked as one way fares and I can have several PNRs for our trips. Never a problem. Occasionally a country will require proof of leaving so a copy of all flights on your phone is simple though we always have a printed copy as backup.

The last of the market. And more evidence of autumn. A long drive back to the ship. Rice harvest was still happening. And night lights of Incheon port.

Now to the outside market. How many chillies do you want? And I found out that I don't like black gingko.

Finally off to another market. Lots of large turnips. Lots of varieties of kimchi. As you can see they offered samples. who was I to refuse. I found out that this one was made with those turnips.

More of this unusual collection. I then walked around the surrounding streets before getting back to the bus.

I now went outside to view their quirky collection with some lovely flowers.

BM will be hosting a Q&A session in an hours time on the Muse. I intend to ask a couple of questions if i get the call.

Our next stop was for coffe. A very interesting coffee place with an art gallery. Some traditional items. And the actual coffee place done up as a movie studio. Absolutely jumping and the coffee wasn't bad. You could also get some bakery items, I wasn't brave enough to try the Horong sausage.

I’m with the Duchess. I like my eggs Benedict runny.

We were stationary and the other was speeding and just didn’t have enough time to stop. Talking to our neighbours at Indochine tonight they had a worse incident when their bus ran over a young boy on a bike. He was taken to hospital.