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Published: July 28th 2018
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This morning was spent getting organised to check out of my hotel by 12pm. After checking out, I went for a wander around town and looked out some tourist shops, as I wanted to buy a neck-gator that would double as a variety of things. I found a cute one with Raindeer/mooses on it.
I had been advised via email that my cruise ship would now depart from the other port in Tromsø, which was a shame as I am staying next to the main one where the Silver Cloud was originally going to depart from. I checked out different ways to get to this other port and eventually I found a shuttle bus that left from the main port. Yay - all good. I went back to the hotel to get my bags, as my boarding time was between 2pm and 3pm. It was only a 15 minute bus ride to the other port so everything flowed really well.
Checking-in was relatively easy and the staff on board the Silver Cloud are friendly and very helpful. I headed to my suite, Number 421, which is fantastic! It is the lowest on the rung as far as price but
apart from having windows that don't open, it is really lovely. And huge! I have a separate lounge area, a king size bed, a walk in wardrobe and very fancy bathroom. I then met my butler Sonal (from India) and she is lovely. Sonal showed me around the suite and explained everything. The bathroom has Bulgari products but she also offered me other options.
The minibar in the room in complimentary and you can have anything in it that you want. I asked if I could have some Champagne and she asked if I would like Prosecco or Champagne. I asked which Champagne they had and she advised Monopole (from Reims!) so of course I chose that!
After unpacking my suitcase into my walk-in wardrobe (which Sonal offered to do for me!) it was time to head to the mandatory lifeboat drill at 5pm. This was the first time I got to see all my fellow passengers. I am feel as if I am the only person who is travelling on their own.
At 6pm the Silver Cloud set sail for our first stop - Bear Island - which will reach tomorrow afternoon. Then at 6:15 we
all met in the Explorer Lounge to meet the Expedition crew (the leaders name is Skulk!) as well as all the main crew members. We got an overview of "A Taste of Things to Come" as well as a mandatory briefing Zodiac and AECO briefing. Sounds all very exciting! The only slight downer is, thanks to global warming, the ice has not come very far south of the pole so we may not see polar bears on this trip. They showed a picture of where the ice shelf was this time last year and it almost surrounded Svalbard but this year, it doesn't even come anywhere near it. Damn!
After this I walked all around the ship, checking out all the different rooms, bars and restaurants, pool (yep, a pool and someone was swimming!) and places I can walk some laps of the ship.
I decided to head to the main restaurant for dinner at 8pm and had a table for one ☹️ but the staff really looked after me. I had a seafood cervice to start and then for the main I had a NZ lamb dish. Delicious. All this was accompanied by nice wine. My waiter
convinced me to have one scoop of pistachio gelato (go on then, twist my arm) and I had an espresso to finish. I was very tired after my lack of sleep the previous night so was happy to retire to my suite and unwind from the day.
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