We're enroute to Napier after enjoying a most interesting day at Rotorua.
Our captain is Cataldo Destefano, who has also served on the Silver Wind. Staff Captain is Tomasz Kulas from Poland – he's pretty new to Silversea. Our hotel director reminds me of Engelbert – he's Hubert Buelacher from Austria. He was standing in the foyer and greeted all of us heartily upon embarkation. He went out of his way to make Brian and June, our visitors, quite welcome. Cruise Director is Sam Perry from Australia. Those of you who are Diamond fans may remember when he was her Cruise Director. Our 'magnificent' Natalya of Panorama Lounge fame on our CAMEL sailing is onboard, a butler for the forward 7 deck. She sends everyone her best regards. Finally, our cabin stewardess Linda from South Africa on CAMEL is now the executive housekeeper. Good for her!!
We had a delightful send off with Brian and June,, who graciously joined in our toast to Wes, Ida, Doug and Lynn on the Silver Spirit. In addition to typical embarkation procedures, we filled out a brief health questionnaire and got our temperature recorded, using one of those ear thermometers. We were pronounced 'normal' by the ship's doctor. Gary and Brian both asked if that opinion could apply to all their body parts. The doctor burst out laughing, spilling a whole stack of disposable ear molds. The two of them were grinning from ear to ear afterwards. Our suite was ready at 1:30 pm, so we took our various hand luggage direct to our suite (guided by the Magnificent Natalya, of course!) . No champagne was proffered upon embarkation; but we found a chilled bottle quickly in our suite. I must remember to ask for a Mumm's at the bar tomorrow to see if they still carry it as a complimentary choice.
Silver Whisper is in good shape. They've changed the housekeeping arrangement to provide butlers for each cabin. We have Bobby Boy from the Phillipines as our cabin steward, but we are to run all of our requests through Sallie, our butler. It is a lot of work for the butlers from what I can see.
Speaking of special requests, I put in a standing order for blueberries as we ran out of them after half of the Black Sea cruise. Good thing I did – no blueberries in sight on the buffet this morning. It took a minute, but my blueberries appeared along with other mixed berries. This set off quite the conversation in our corner of La Terrazes. For you fans of “When Harry Met Sallyâ€, we quite literally had the “I'll have what SHE'S having†requests from nearby guests. Of course, the father and son from the Texas area offered “Blueberries are good in pancakes but they stain your teethâ€. The neighbor rejoined, “Yes, and so does red wine. I like them BOTH!â€
Rotorua has the boiling mud pools as well as the geysers. It's a center for the Maori people and their descendants. Drive time was about 1-1/2 hours each way from the ship. We started at the Rotorua Museum, located in the former South Seas Bath House. Did I mention it stinks of hydrogen sulfide? It's a gorgeous building from the 1900's, modeled on Elizabethan architecture but modified for the spa patient needs. I inwardly groaned at the thought of 1-1/2 hours in a museum. The time actually flew by, and our docent Peggy was a delightful Kiwi of English descent. You've got to see the 20 minute film about the history of the building – no wonder New Zealand is rapidly becoming a film capital. Amazingly, NO time was allocated for the museum gift shop.
We rejoined the bus, back in the careful, friendly care of our driver Ward. He reminded me of Big George on the Newman's coach tour to Queenstown. Following the museum, we went to the local Maori culture center. Our guide Damien (one eighth Maori who takes after his Scottish ancestry) went to great lengths to keep us interested and on schedule. A carving and weaving school are on site. A highlight was seeing two Kiwi birds hopping around in the half light. They were a little bigger than pictured by my mind's eye. The mud pools and geysers were amazing. I shot a little video footage of the geysers building up to full force. Once again, we were encouraged to proceed directly to the coaches for our lunch stop – do not pass go, do not stop in the gift shop.
Lunch was at the Princes Gate hotel, Rotorua's self-advertised most exclusive boutique hotel. All that, and a proud mom and dad proprietor who are boosting their professional singer daughter's career. Lunch was freshly grilled steak or chicken right off the barbeque, plus side dishes and sweets. We all snoozed on the ride back to the ship. All in all, a well executed shore excursion. We boarded at 3:30 and prepared to set sail at 4 pm. Umm .. the winds were high and rising, blowing the ship back into the pier. Not so good. It took an extra 45 minutes plus a few tugboat maneuvers to get us safely away from the pier and headed out to sea.
Our captain warned we will should expect 30 to 35 knot winds and a bouncy ride. I'll be riding my high heels carefully at the formal welcome aboard dinner and reception this evening.
Cheers, Anne
