Sunday, April 10: At Sea

Where once Silver Sea seemed the epitome of luxury, there are now small but sadly apparent signs of the line's efforts at economy: only one bar of soap for both bathroom sink and shower, no doorbells at suite doors, no welcoming fruit basket in my suite, no shower curtain. These things are only small inconveniences - I asked for and received another bar of soap - but the line's new policy about the internet is a real pain. In order to conserve precious and expensive computer time, I have always previously composed my blog on Word, before signing onto the internet, then copy and paste what I've already written onto my blog. But this is no longer possible; one has to log on to do anything. So the few so poorly composed paragraphs from yesterday cost me over $25 to post. Now I'll have to write my composition out in longhand and then retype it on my blog. This is not only inconvenient but also difficult. My handwriting has so badly deteriorated that I can hardly read it. This will unfortunately limit my comments (and correct spelling) and when the current block of time I've booked runs out, there will be no more posts. Sorry about that.

The weather is lovely - a cool 55-60 degrees but it's nice to have a sweater over a T-shirt in the wind. The sea is calm with crests of 2 to 3 feet but with stabilizers, the ship runs a true and straightforward course; no need to hang onto the railing in the passageways. And although our suites (Slver Sea never alls them "cabins") are very far forward, and way beyond the fulcrum point, navigating around the bathroom has been easy. So far, so good. Although I was up at 5:00 AM for my traditional photograph of the sunrise, it didn't burst into flame until 7:24. I spent a lot of time on the wet deck with only the deck washing crew for company. And then the sunrise was pretty ordinary. Pretty but ordinary.

We attended a much touted lecture on Zihuatenejo and Acapulco, spiced up with pictures of Elvis making a movie there but much of what was said I alreay knew. And the lecturer's attempts at humor fell sadly flat. After that, a guest chief tried to teach us how to make chou pasty - no mean feat; I don't know why he chose something so difficult for beginners - but it sadly nearly defeated him. He kept stirring and stirring and calling for more and more eggs, the chou falling out of the bowl in little missles that he picked up and put back into the bowl, saying, "not to worry; the tablecloth is clean." He had trouble finding his vanilla beans and totally misplaced his (apparently much needed) notes. Ted and Bill and I finally left him in a miasma of pots and pans. I won the Silver Quiz - it was all about numbers, i.e. 3= BM (SHTR) - I guess I've had a few - and also a couple of games of Bingo. Points for all this may ultimately get me a Silver Sea T-shirt or a corkscrew. The food is as good as I remember it and you can still get room service 24 hours a day. But the smallest amount of caviar, once free, is not $25.00. Oh, and Jorge, the Portuguese head waiter on two of my previous curises, is on the ship as maitre d'hotel. He remembered me, or so he said. His hair is now a becoming grey. He asked to be remembered, fondly, to Rhea. Formal night - Captain's reception - clothes, jewels, hair. Lovely. Ketel 1 with olives, please, blinis with sour cream and caviar, champagne sorbet, lobster, Bed.

Stay tuned.