First day at sea

The weather ended up being quite nice Sunday with a high of 80.  Seas were smooth so decks were busy with everyone enjoying it.  I have a cold I'm trying to get rid of so decided to use the spa area and try to sweat it out in the steam room.  They also have the heated ceramic chairs where I read and may have dozed off for a bit.  Not sure if it helped the cold but it was definitely relaxing.

Before dinner I was chatting with two couples from Phoenix.  Turns out the men were partners in the narcotics division in the NYPD for many years.  They had some great stories.  Bill also just walked the entire Camino de Santiago so we had lots to talk about.  So much that we all went for dinner to their table.  It's not typical to have your own table here, nor is it typical for the wait staff to pour some of their better wines.  But they sure did for these folks.  Peter told me, in his new York accent, "they say you don't need to tip on Seabourn but I tip them before and I tip them after.  What's a few hundred dollars when they treat you like this !"  It was a hilarious evening.

Seabourn has an association with Thomas Keller, the famous chef.  Last night they had his items on the menu.  The hand rolled agnolotti were amazing but the mushroom dish wasn't impressive.  Glad I didn't pay any more for it.

Back in the cabin there were some Easter treats.

It's Monday morning now and I was woken by the ship loudly shuddering as it hit a swell.  Seas are getting a bit choppy and could be rough tomorrow.  I tried walking for half an hour to try to clear my head.  The head cold isn't getting any better but at least no worse.  

Embarking on Seabourn Odyssey

After a couple hours on the beach I packed up and got a taxi to the port.  The ship is very small by today's standards but is large next to the ship we were docked next to: seadream.  It too is sailing the Atlantic. After seeing it, I can't imagine how confined it would be for 10 days. Wow!

Within 10 minutes I was on board and sitting outside for lunch.  The staff greeted me with a offer for Perrier and or wine.  I took both to which I was offered a selection of wine which is all included. The only other all inclusive line i sailed was crystal 4 years ago.  It makes a huge difference when there is no pressure to sell you drinks.  You might think the service would suffer but quite the opposite.  Service was fantastic which meant drinks were flowing.  As I was unpacking in the afternoon doesn't the stewardess knock offering a glass of champagne....just before I was to crack the bottle that was sitting on ice in my room when I arrived!

It continued through the beautiful sail away from Barbados.  A couple of glasses of wine and I thought I better slow down and drink some water if I want to make it through dinner!  For dinner I was invited to a hosted table where two of the singers hosted 9 guests. Apparently seabourn does this every night and invites a variety of guests.  It could be regulars or those who are travelling solo such as myself. It was a fun dinner.  Besides Ryan and Beth, the two singers, there were two couples from the Uk, a Canadian, German, Dutch and an American travelling solo.  Food was fantastic.  The highlight for me was the homemade porcini ravioli, as good as I could imagine anywhere.

Unfortunately we pushed the clocks forward and hour last night.  As I went to bed the ship was really moving.  My cabin is near the front so that is part of the reason.  But I really didn't think the seas were rough.  The ship is not an ocean liner in any sense so I fear there could be motion for the entire trip,  especially when we hit the low pressure system in a couple of days that the captain warned us about. Could be interesting. 

It's Sunday: Happy Easter !  It was overcast when I got up but the sun is breaking through now.  It's nice and warm and the chairs around the pool are starting to fill up.  Still it doesn't fell crowded.  I think the space to passenger ratio is quite high.  This afternoon there is an Easter egg hunt!

Another crossing?

It's been a couple of years so some thought I had got it out of my system after 5 transatlantic crossings. but after a busy and nasty winter in Ottawa I got the itch. In the past I thought I booked last minute but this time I think I pretty much literally did just that. It was a mere 14 days ago that I took the plunge and booked a crossing from Barbados to Barcelona. Today I flew to Bridgetown and checked in to the Hilton hotel.  It's quite a mix of poeople here, from families to surfers to those that I'm sure are cruising tomorrow on one of two cruise to Europe tomorrow, the small Seadream ship or, the Seabourn odyssey that I'm taking.

As I had a glass of wine before dinner, 3 of my predictions were confirmed as I overheard a gentleman and a couple talk about boarding the two ships tomorrow.  A German couple sat next to me at dinner and I suspect I will see them on board tomorrow.  They weren't terribly impressed with the service at dinner. I'm starting to conclude that if the country produces rum, then expect to have "relaxed" service.  Everything I've experienced so far in Barbados has been very slow. But hey, it's 30 degrees and surrounded by white sand and turquoise water so what's the rush? I will try to take it slow Saturday by spending some time at the beach before heading to the ship.

videos!

Well the last thing to do was to edit the video I took and create a couple of short compilations of the trip.  The first was the stunning sail out of New York.  I've been lucky enough to do it twice now and been very lucky with the weather both times.

Sail out of New York on Queen Victoria

To get the view from someone not on the ship, there is a really good video taken from across the river.  I subscribe to his/her channel on youtube and love the backdrop of the New York skyline as ships sail in and out of port.

Queen Victoria departing Manhattan

Finally, here is the video of the crossing.  Hope you like watching the ocean!  Also a bit of a ship tour.

Crossing Video

Enjoy.  Until the next crossing!

Rob

Pictures

Uploaded my pictures from the trip.  The sail out of new york was as amazing as it looks.  The rest of the pictures give a pretty good sense of the ship and the different weather through the journey.

Queen Victoria Transatlantic photos

Saturday - nearly there

It ended up being a mainly cloudy day, but was still able to spend time outside enjoying the sea air. I also went to Terry Waite's second lecture.  We talked more about his time in captivity and some of the different challenges he faced.  Now he spends much of his time lecturing and writing.  He just finished a novel that he was signing on board.

It was the final formal night last night.  I met up with the usual crowd at the commodore club bar before dinner. Funny how you get to know a group of people during a voyage like this.  But most likely, will never see them again. Many people go to this bar because or the piano player I mentioned earlier.  He's a young man named Carlo Nuschi and is a seriously talented musician and singer.  He goes from Sinatra to billy Joel to Gershwin.  After dinner i went to the show but didn't stay as I realized I would much rather go listen to Carlo.

It's Saturday morning and as we get close to our destination, the weather is providing a preview of what we can expect .  Cooler and rain.

We have just moved clocks forward for the last time.  In the noon update, the commodore took the time to announce the new royal baby and say he had sent a note of congratulations to the royal family.  I was in the lobby and there were sounds of delight around this news.  I guess it is good news these days with all the bad news we are hearing and seeing on TV.

It is packing day.  Hoping it isn't too somber around the ship tonight. I bumped into one lady from our table who said she wouldn't be coming to dinner be as she thought it was too late for the last night.  Personally I think it's better to stretch out the day as much as possible.

Here is the busy coffee shop.  A great place to get a good cup of coffee and watch the seas.

Friday -sea day 6

It was a great day At sea yesterday.  I went to two lectures, the first was about hostage taking given by the special operations inspector which included a description of one incident at Stansted airport.  Th next talk was really a q&a with the commodore. There were good questions from the audience too.  He did let us know what the issue was that caused us to stop a few days ago.  It was a burst hose for coolant.  We definitely wouldn't want to overheat!

Most of the afternoon was spent out poolside.  It was warm and sunny for the most part.

There was a magician who performed before dinner.  He did mainly slight of hand tricks that were ok but nothing too dazzling.  Then I went to the Verandah for dinner as I had a free dinner there as part of the promotion when I booked. The food was very good.  I had a gnocchi dish that rivalled the gnocchi I had in nyc.  In fact, it was probably better as it wasn't over salted. The strangest thing was that the staff kept telling me how slow the service was because everything was made to order, yet I was out in one hour 15 mins.  Odd.

It's Friday morning, 15 degrees with a bit of sun.  Seas are calmest they have been for a few days.  It is a really nice day at sea.  I was able to east breakfast outside with views of the ocean. So relaxing.

I'm thinking of this as my extra day.  On qm2, the crossings have all been 7 nights but this one is 8. So on qm2 I would have to start thinking about packing today, but I can relax at least for another 24 hours.