En route to Osaka, Japan. Arrive on 27-Feb.
It got a bit chilly recently, so I went for tea. I acknowledge it goes against my earlier “I don’t like hot drinks” statement, but there you go. Teatime is 4:00pm every day on the Silver Whisper at the Panorama Lounge on deck 8, which is the highest point at the stern of the ship. There, you choose the flavor of tea you want.
There are other tea types not in their sample “book” (for a total of around 20), and I choose Tangy Lemon. They come with the teapot with loose tea leaves in a removable filter, a handle-less cup (for holding the filter once you remove it from the pot) and a 3 minute timer.
As opposed to other hour-glass-type timers I’ve seen, this uses small plastic “bubbles” that flow up rather than sand that flows down. I like my tea strong, so I allowed it to brew for six minutes.
The focus of teatime, for me, is not the tea, but the snacks.
After teatime I seldom have room left for dinner. Maybe that’s the real reason I don’t drink tea often.
Question: Overall, do you like the cruise so far?
I certainly like small ship cruising compared to large ship. The food has been amazing. Silversea treats you very well. I recommend such a cruise to anyone, but it certainly is not cheap – and you must have 4 1/2 months available for it.
I don’t know if I’ll take another world cruise, but I will keep an eye out for shorter cruises around South America. I’ll probably take the week long Galapagos cruise in the next year or two, and I’d like to visit India.
Question: People on the Cruise
There are around 300 guests from two dozen countries on this cruise, with a large percentage older than 70. So is a wide range of personal shapes and sizes. There are 80-year-old women with better flexibility than I have. There are 75-year-old men with lower BMI than I have. But there are those that don’t.
The crew are far younger than the guests. Whenever I see someone new who are less than 40 years old, I assume they are new performers who I will see in the theater soon. I’ve been right 90% of the time. I’ve seen two younger guest couples who just traveled for a single leg of the cruise.
There is the expected range of attractiveness and health. Last time I checked at least three guests have left the cruise due to a broken hip (1) or strokes (2).
One of my students is fascinated with the food and specifically loved the tea set up. HE (he asked to be called Joe) saw the table set up for tea and commented that you seemed lonely on your cruise. Also he commented on the really great looking snacks for tea. 🙂
Then there were comments on the types of girlfriends (they are teenage boys so just work with me here) you should look for and why….I have no way to appropriately translate THAT conversation that took place in my classroom thus I am leaving it out of this posting.
I will say that everyday (and I mean everyday) one or more of my students walk into class and the first thing they ask is “did we here from the cruise guy?”. I am always amazed at what strikes their interest. Even more I am amazed at how I can turn your postings into learning moment on many different topics. THANK YOU!
Hey, I’m fascinated by the food, too. I’ve enjoyed learning new things on this cruise. Silversea is not cheap, but they set up “new things” without me needing any concern for “what if something happens?”
Are you sure this is a math class?