It is what it is!

Tuesday - 8 January 2013 – N17, W126

Our position is roughly in the middle of the ocean, well about 1100 miles north of the Equator, 500 miles west of Mexico. It is the third day of our almost eight days of sailing at 18 knots on a 206 degree heading to our first stop in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. The Marquesas Islands are roughly also in the middle of the ocean as well as they are almost 600 miles north of the more well known Tahitian Islands which are also in the middle of the ocean. It's a big ocean.

We boarded the Silver Whisper, the fourth ship of Silversea Cruises but now almost 15 years old, before noon on Saturday. Our luggage came up many hours later since the Los Angeles Port baggage handlers enjoy watching piles of bags more than they like to load them on the conveyor belt, and the port security people enjoy staring at the bags more than inspecting them. The ship's personnel enjoy blaming any delay on someone else or more often saying things like, "It's coming", meaning, "It ain't my worry." It is what it is, and as usual all works out just fine. It just takes getting used to it again. All is well.

We sailed out of the LA Harbor in San Pedro about 6 pm in the dark, an hour later than originally scheduled as I confirmed via the AIS plot on my iPhone app that we (the blue dot) were actually on the Silver Whisper (the ship icon thingy). The delay was so that all on board could observe the last ceremonial bag of onions being loaded into the ship's hold by the ever deliberate Los Angeles Port onion loaders.  We used the time before sailing to enjoy meeting the other guests and the ship's crew, as I realized that the staff and crew on this first leg of the "2013 Silversea World Cruise" were the A TEAM. That is, pretty much all the department heads from  the Captain down were the most senior and dare I say best that Silversea has to offer. Likewise, despite my worries that the 120 or so guests were are booked on the full 120 day World Cruise from LA or even Fort Lauderdale to Fort Lauderdale (the long way around) were not the old grumps we saw on our recent Fort Lauderdale to Fort Laderdale cruise (the short way around in the Caribbean) but many familiar faces and a remarkable number of first timers to Silversea who are already saying that this ship is the, "best I've ever been on". I assume they mean cruise ship and not, say, the Staten Island ferry.

In the couple of full days on Whisper so far, we have discovered that the rumored increased financial contribution to the already excellent food budget appears to be true. We have enjoyed spectacular fresh seafood including impromptu freshly carved tuna and pink groper grilled by the pool at lunch, a fantastic paella for lunch on Sunday, and such items as ribeye steaks and veal scaloppini available every day just in case one doesn't like one of the half dozen or so specialty items on the dinner menu each evening.  Amazing what Silversea can do when they unbundled the fares and raised the per diem a bit. They really will be number one again if they can keep it up (both the revenue and the food).

Of course, there still are a number of low level service personnel who are well trained in the motions of good service but not the situational awareness of why they are to do something. It takes a few days each cruise for me to learn again that an attendant feels he needs to position himself in my way when I try to fill my coffee cup at the self service early bird coffee so that he can do it. And the butler, a sweet young Sri Lankan, is so intent on bringing us our shined shoes that he barged into our suite while Barbara was showering. I've never seen a Sri Lankan blush before, now that I think of it. He tried to redeem himself the next day by responding to my request for a bottle of "Tawny Port" by delivering bottles of White Port, Ruby Port, and Founders Reserve Port, and a port briefing sheet. It is what it is.

My next post will most likely not be until next week after we start actually visiting places, although I will update this blog if anything particularly amusing thing occurs, or if the sun actually comes out and my mood and sky brighten. At least the days are getting longer and it is warming up outside. 70s today, probably 80s tomorrow, and hotter than the Marquesas when we get to the, uh, the Marquesas.

Meanwhile, check out Barbara's more detailed and perhaps more factual blog at http://barbara-spacific.blogspot.com later today.