A small break in transmission with a few observations.
First US officialdom.The turn around day in San Diego was horrendous for the staff.We were fine as we went out for a walk,some shopping and a nice seafood lunch.Reboarded ~ 1.30pm and the dining room was still closed as the US authorities had not finished their galley inspection.Those who returned to the ship for lunch had to wait until after 2.30pm for lunch.Those boarding for the cruise to Vancouver had to wait until about 2pm to be able to board.again due to US officialdom/arrogance.
Next on the 3 days to San Francisco virtually no fruit,certainly no berries.Also no grilled tomatoes for breakfast.Last night found out that it was due to the US quarantine officials making the ship throw out fruit and some vegetables that had been loaded in Mexico.
Next is the subtle reduction in services.At night instead of having petit fours with one of each for every guest at the table it is now only 1 piece for each guest.At lunch most dishes are very simple-a daily version of a Shepherd's pie and 2-3 stir fries with little animal protein.We are often amongst the last few for breakfast.I am cutting down on the amount of food so generally a small plate of fruit followed by a small plate of cold cuts.,The last 3 days the smoked salmon has been removed before I get back to the buffet.
Next is a problem not entirely due to Silverseas.talking to a few onboard who have done several SS Expedition cruises.We all think that the organisation of the various activities is not of the former standard.A lot is due to the explosion of expedition cruising.We are told that at least 24 new builds of expedition ships coming on line in the next 2-3 years.SS is losing experienced staff to these new entrants to this field.Kara Weller for example has now gone to Scenic for their expedition ship Eclipse which is due to launch in August this year.She was of great value and has been followed by other SS staff.
We are lucky on this cruise to have Robin Aiello as one of the expedition team along with Travis who has just rejoined and Chris Habard the birder who is great value.But you do notice little things such as errors in the chronicles which didn;'t happen nearly as often in the past.
The most recent problem has been the near complete loss of internet access over nearly 3 days.Began in San Francisco and I suspect it may be because we observed boxes being loaded on to Deck 7 then construction noises such as drilling above us-we are on deck 7 and above us is the main communication equipment.
So there it is off my chest.However still enjoying the experience and we are looking forward to September when we do B2B cruises on the Explorer.But cant help thinking that the loss of experienced staff is likely to continue.