Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Silver Wind Northern Europe & British Isles (Norway) July 14-31

WesW

By WesW,
in Silversea

 Share

Recommended Posts

les37b

les37b

Posted
Posted
And the Wind has just sailed past my brother's living room, so all is well there.

 

And at 16.10 she sailed under the Dartford Crossing Bridge and was filmed doing so! :D

 

What a palaver though. This is a new drone and Ive had less than an hour flying time with it. It comes with some great features - one called active Track.... which as it sounds, tracks movement and follows. Prior to the wind coming up, I had a quick trial with Active track and it seemed to do the job fine. (Im aware of an issue with it now to do with speed...)

- It looks impressive.

 

Then .... because I was having difficulty with viewing the screen on my iPad, I tried to adjust the brightness. Unfortunately, my finger pressed the home button as Id slide all the way negative and left with a blank screen. I thought Id be clever and reboot - but then had the problem of the pin on a screen that was blank!!! And yes, I managed to lock myself out.

 

I managed to finally unlock and get the screen back on with the Wind about 3 minutes away and sailing right towards me! A lucky escape. Anyway - it was here I noticed the speed problem with active Track - and the tracking got too close for comfort. I normally fly nowhere near even stationary - but evasive manoeuvres were needed as the Wind came straight at the drone as she sped forward turning the bend in the River. There is no doubt it was seen by many on the ship - including a lady on the Panarama you could see pointing up to the drone. Apologies for the jerky footage at this point.

 

Anyway - this is waffle in Wes's thread (apologies)..... but I did say I'd post the video....... and will do so again tomorrow for Wes to wave on his voyage out of the Mighty Thames! :)

 

Try watching in 4K (Once you tube has finished its processing.)

 

Thursday 13 July 2017 at approx 16.10 ...... Get the hankies out all you Brits!
Link to comment
Share on other sites
les37b

les37b

Posted
Posted
Excellent video Les, bet you gave Captain Arma a bit of a turn when you got that close!

 

 

I gave myself a bit of a turn!

 

If you watch, you can see just how sharply the Wind turns on that bend.

 

Luckily Its much easier videoing coming downstream and I wont put it in "active track" Until after she has passed under the Bridge and the drone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
WesW "Live from...." Rare

WesW

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Les, no worries, Ida and I really enjoyed watching the Wind sail in. Ida said, "oh my goodness," a treat to observe the SS ship sailing towards our embark port. Only other time I experienced this "kick" was watching the Spirit sail in to Funchal in the morning of our crossing that began that day.

 

Look forward to more of Director Les's film highlights.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
WesW "Live from...." Rare

WesW

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Absolutely will give the Wind JP and Chris's warm regards.

 

We are now on board our Virgin Atlantic non stop flight to London's Heathrow airport. Please enjoy a couple of snaps of us enjoying our traditional first glass of champers. After the flight attendant explained our dining options, we changed into our PJ's and headed to the bar (yes, for another glass of champagne). We're enjoying the exceptionally efficient service here on Virgin Atlantic.

 

We heard from the international hostess, Ana and most likely with meet up with her during the coveted life boat drill later today.

 

Am looking forward to viewing Les's Wind vid as we sail away from London.

 

 

Sent from XFINITY Connect Mobile App

 

8d09cbb4da255a6f8224e1fab595d81f.jpg

 

6f7f5986c68cf08156a9c47b9ed8b644.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
WesW "Live from...." Rare

WesW

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

Excuse this post sequence it should have preceded the previous post. Must be the altitude at 35000 ft.

 

You can begin to understand RachelG's post above with the context below.

 

tIda and I are now officially beginning our Norwegian adventure.

 

Our first Uber ride was turnkey (use of Uber app) selecting type of car (XL to handle our luggage (one suitcase has Ida's 23 pairs of shoes :)). Driver was precisely on time, courteous and best of all coin cost JUST a third of our regular car service cost ($18.91 with AMX discount)

 

We're now in Delta's international lounge (partner with our airline). We have a few hours before boarding our Virgin Atlantic non stop flight to London's Heathrow airport. As we checked in the nice Delta front desk folks let us know they were serving Jack Daniel smoothies (w/honey) on the patio.

 

These smoothies are delish, fighting the urge to get seconds.

 

We arrive in London about 8:30 a.m. Friday and will be transferred by our cruise line (Silversea) to London Tower Bridge (Vic HMS Belfast). Our ship the Silver Wind will be docked right next to the HMs Belfast We should be boarding about noon Friday.

 

Ida and I look forward to experiencing the stunning beauty of the majestic Norwegian fjords and friendliness of the Norwegian people. We also are eager to see Silversea crew friends who we have sailed with multiple times previously. Shout out to Ana Menor, David Bilsland, Daniel Ilias (well for just a few hours before he goes on vacation) and Clive Jellicoe.

 

27b4e76a9327ba571e3ac2a13b77b967.jpg

Edited by WesW
Link to comment
Share on other sites
les37b

les37b

Posted
Posted
Holy crap! How close were you to the ship? I assumed it used a telephoto lens, but it felt like you were just a few yards away.

 

 

She was moving much faster and bend tighter than anticipated and the mode I was flying in made the craft (and need to check why) less responsive than I would have liked. It was my intention to video while flying backwards with the wind coming towards me. The drone is capable of flying at about 40mph so easily outrun the Wind. However I think I had some setting enabled that slows down to 2mph called "tripod mode" which is as it sounds .... slow but steady - I will investigate to be certain. Upwards movement isn't affected so it's now problem to zip upwards which I did. Still far too close though and not intended.

 

I will only use these modes following in future.

 

Glad your flight was on time Wes .... hope it was a good crossing. I was surprised to see 3 VA flights from Atlanta so unsure which one you were on to check progress.. I expect you've landed now already.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
WesW "Live from...." Rare

WesW

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks so much rpfarris for your kind blogging words--we just like to share our joy of traveling especially when on Silversea.

 

Pam, we arrived at Heathrow at 8:10a.m but waited on the tarmac for 25 min for an available parking stand. Still we arrived before our scheduled arrival of 8:45 a.m. We collected our luggage and entered the Arrivals Hall (about 9 a.m.)and immediately recognized the Silversea Host holding is SS notebook. He very courteously welcomed us & quickly paired us with our driver and we left Heathrow for the St. James Conrad Hotel in London. SS arranged for a very nice continental breakfast as we await 8 other SS guests who were on flights arriving today. We will leave for the Tower pier about noon.

 

Les, we enjoyed our non stop Virgin Atlantic flight--very efficient tho we prefer Virgin's partner (Delta).

 

Surprised (tho nice to freshen up at the Conrad and have some delish coffee) that we did not transfer directly from Heathrow to Tower pier. In retrospect, this was a very nice arrangement made by SS.

 

Please note the Conrad's reception desk decorated for this year's Wimbledon. And Ida pointing at the beautiful flower (hydranga's, gladiola's, orchids) & tennis display in the Conrad Lounge. Rooting for the Americans; Venus Williams and Sam Querry. Tho, believe Roger will win in the final as well as Venus in her final today.

 

53bb3621e66e85d377209be627f9acce.jpg

 

2197a52179b2adb0e4121f532f439b55.jpg

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
WesW "Live from...." Rare

WesW

Posted
  • Author
Posted

To the sunset, thanks for your courageous assessment, but I did have to put on socks with my hiking shoes while at the Conrad :).

 

Wonderful embark today @ the truly special Tower Pier, then tendering from the the pier to the HMS Belfast before boarding the beautiful Silver Wind. Ida and enjoyed seeing some familiar Wind crew we last sailed with in November.

 

After our traditional welcome glass of Champers we headed to La Terraza for lunch. As we sat down at a two top facing the majestic & iconic London Tower Bridge (first snap below), a SS guest came up to me, and said do I know you? Do you post photos and blog about your Silversea cruises...long story short Yoon, much too enthusiastically (helps make posting here so rewarding) spent too many minutes thanking us for sharing our SS experiences in words & pix. Second pix below shows (L2R, Ida, Yoon, moi, and Yoon's french friend Martanu (they arranged to have lunch today on the Wind, as Yoon lives a short distance from London.)

 

Spent some time with Monteza (head sommelier for La Terraza) and reviewed some of the nicely priced Italian wines (Tignanello, Summus, Guido de Sasso, Sassacaia (I wish)we most //likely will have for our LT dinners (7/17 nites).

 

Now off to our suite to unpack (read Ida tells me what I can do to assist her). Immediately, assist by making sure she has a full glass of champagne :)

 

21a0e8ea9cc6b3c9f8446f45898ec9bf.jpg

 

3f20a4636fdc319c54e89e66204c7a6f.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dougburns

dougburns

Posted
Posted

Wes; You and Ida are having way too much fun! Wish we were there, but, as you know, Miss Lynn has to have her CA mountain vacation with her sister for 5 weeks. Here I sit sweltering in the AZ summer heat baching it. Oh well, now she owes me. Have a great cruise. I'll enjoy following along.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pamela1

Pamela1

Posted
Posted
To the sunset, thanks for your courageous assessment, but I did have to put on socks with my hiking shoes while at the Conrad :).

 

Wonderful embark today @ the truly special Tower Pier, then tendering from the the pier to the HMS Belfast before boarding the beautiful Silver Wind. Ida and enjoyed seeing some familiar Wind crew we last sailed with in November.

 

After our traditional welcome glass of Champers we headed to La Terraza for lunch. As we sat down at a two top facing the majestic & iconic London Tower Bridge (first snap below), a SS guest came up to me, and said do I know you? Do you post photos and blog about your Silversea cruises...long story short Yoon, much too enthusiastically (helps make posting here so rewarding) spent too many minutes thanking us for sharing our SS experiences in words & pix. Second pix below shows (L2R, Ida, Yoon, moi, and Yoon's french friend Martanu (they arranged to have lunch today on the Wind, as Yoon lives a short distance from London.)

 

Spent some time with Monteza (head sommelier for La Terraza) and reviewed some of the nicely priced Italian wines (Tignanello, Summus, Guido de Sasso, Sassacaia (I wish)we most //likely will have for our LT dinners (7/17 nites).

 

Now off to our suite to unpack (read Ida tells me what I can do to assist her). Immediately, assist by making sure she has a full glass of champagne :)

 

21a0e8ea9cc6b3c9f8446f45898ec9bf.jpg

 

3f20a4636fdc319c54e89e66204c7a6f.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Wow!!! you have had quite a day already!

A wonderful backdrop too and glad to see that Ida and Yoon got the elegant dresscode, you all look fabulous!

I will be waiting with much eagerness to hear all about it.

 

Pam.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jpalbny "Live from...." Rare

jpalbny

Posted
Posted

 

Spent some time with Monteza (head sommelier for La Terraza) and reviewed some of the nicely priced Italian wines (Tignanello, Summus, Guido de Sasso, Sassacaia (I wish)we most //likely will have for our LT dinners (7/17 nites).

 

Now that's the best post I've seen in a while. We adore Monteza and it's great to hear that she has this new position. It makes my day!

 

We first met her back in 2009 on Silver Explorer (then PAII) to Antarctica. She's been on many subsequent cruises with us, and she has poured many glasses of wine for us. Please post a picture of our new favorite sommelière extraordinaire if you have a chance, and wish her the best!

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites
les37b

les37b

Posted
Posted
Wonderful embark today @ the truly special Tower Pier, then tendering from the the pier to the HMS Belfast before boarding the beautiful Silver Wind. Ida and enjoyed seeing some familiar Wind crew we last sailed with in November.

 

Brings back such fond memories..... and the anticipation from meeting the SS reps outside the Tower to pass on luggage, to walking down the ramp and customs clearance........ So so nice! BTW - did you manage to find David Ilias or already left? I'm not in the beige building in front of you today - but will be at Dartford. May be problems today as it seems a bit windy.

 

 

beaujolais - Are you sailing or just a lunch visit too? I'm waiting to hear back. From what I was told when I applied in January, no decision had been made as to whether guests can come on board for lunch and would let me know. So I suspect you must be sailing (and I'm envious!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail Beyond the Ordinary with Oceania Cruises
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: The Widest View in the Whole Wide World
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...