The Journey to the ship and life aboard

As Business Class on the flights to Miami and back from Guayaquil were outrageously expensive, I booked Premium Economy on Iberia. Chris' verdict was "Not bad". Seats were reasonably spacious, and the cabin was certainly better than Economy. The food however was just as bad as Iberia always serve in Economy although it was billed as better. And the cabin attendants were arguably even worse that one normally gets in Iberia.

Iberia lost one of our bags which failed to arrive at Miami. It was then put on a later flight: Iberia were less than helpful at organising its return to us, but Silversea took over the responsibility of re-uniting bag to us - it turned up at our hotel room door at 2 a.m. Silversea arranged a private transfer from Miami Airport to the Fort Lauderdale Hotel, which they also funded.

The Conrad, a Hilton Hotel, in Fort Lauderdale, was very comfortable, but very American. I suppose it would be, being in America.The Conrad is sort of sideways on to the beach, so very few rooms have a full ocean view, the majority are side view. There is a large new building being constructed right next door. While it is being built the noise will inconvenience/annoy guests in the 50% of hotel rooms that face the building site. And when completed, the new building will blot out further a lot of the "side ocean" views that do exist

We had an issue with the pool man reserving chairs round the pool for guests who were not present at the pool and he refused to let us sit there. I went to reception, who informed me that said pool man was not allowed to do that. But he did, and was aggressive - I assume he did it for illicit tips

Another issue was at breakfast, although breakfast was included in our room rate: I was told by the server that if I wanted an espresso coffee (rather than the pre-prepared stuff that they served from a flask) , that I would have to pay extra, This is not a cheap hotel, and I have no idea why they want to charge for a drinkable cup of coffee. We got our own back by stuffing ourselves with their expensive and delicious prawns!!

I thought that the hotel was money grasping, and I do not think that I would stay there again. For what you pay , it does not represent good value for money

From the delights of the Conrad, we were taken by bus to the Explorer. Somehow these bus transfers are never well organised. The bus is invariably late setting off, and so it proved here. The explanation was that they were waiting for two more guests to arrive - they never did - and the bus set off 45 minutes late. The check in at the ship was reasonably efficient and we soon had ourselves installed on the aft deck for lunch and cocktails. Followed by the inevitable safety briefings and crew introductions.

Silversea food is good, but not gourmet - although they would like to think that it was. Actually the quality does vary from voyage to voyage, depending on the Head Chef and who he is allocated as sous chefs. I was not over impressed by Christian, and the food lacked sharpness. For example the cheese was cut into small cubes which turned to rubber and were not worth eating: the desserts looked very good, but they did not deliver the taste: plates for main courses at lunch were cold. Mind you it probably was as well that I was not too tempted by desserts as I put on 2 kilos even though I ate few desserts or cakes- well, not that many!!

			We seemed to get on better with Nicki on this expedition than we have done on the other expeditions we have done with her. By the end we were all quite good friends
		Even the Captains are starting so seem a bit too young. Eric was the best Captain that we have sailed with. He had an interesting life captaining all sorts of ship from the big to the small. And he had his Canadian wife with him for the time we were on board.
			The set piece introductions really do not vary that much. But interestingly the right people do seem to get the right crew awards
	Joy had a good voice and sang farewell songs on both legs of the cruise
		Arnie became our butler by default. Our original allocated butler was a Kirgi called Ulan. We never actually asked for him to be replaced, but the Head Butler suggested that to me one day. Arnie was ever so much what a butler should be - a sort of Jeeves on the High Sea
Somehow the Boys seem to get into most of these photos. They get mobbed by the crew all wanting photos with them, and the Boys usually graciously oblige.

Oh Dear, somehow the Boys got onto the Bridge, and took over driving the ship for a while. Eventually the Captain found them there when he returned from his afternoon tea. When he reminded the Boys that they were missing Afternoon Tea, they decided to abandon the Bridge and retire to the tea room.


Thanks to the boys we dined with all the important people on board, starting with Expedition Leader Nicki			...then Assistant Expedition Leader Daryn

..the Hotel Director Djamel	..the Captain and his wife	..the Staff Captain	.. and the new Assistant Expedition Leader Peter


		Various ad hoc Bridge groups functioned nearly every day, and the sort of internecine strife that appears to me, as an outsider, to engulf all Bridge Clubs, in the course of time, engulfed the groups on the Explorer


A group of dancers who had been ferried all the way across Costa Rica to perform. I guess I have seen too many "traditional" dances to be impressed.
	A Halloween party ..on Halloween

		Crossing the Equator ceremony - a bit of a chest as we did not actually cross the line until 24 hours later It was more subdued that the last crossing we had on the Explorer 3 years ago

A bespoke Indian meal organised by Val. First time curry has crossed my lips for about 50 years. We enjoyed the evening and the Goan chef came out to have his photo taken with the Boys