LIVE FROM SILVERSEA SPIRIT- October 23, 2010- Lisbon to Barbados

Thursday, October 21, 2010

 

Well not really live from the ship but we are on our way with great expectations!!. We (Gayle and Dean) hope our detail daily reports will be helpful to fellow cruise critic cruisers and we will try to fill them with as many facts as possible, and keep the opinion to a minimum- latter quite a challenge for Dean J

 

Some background- How one views the enjoyment of what they see and are doing is often determined by one’s background. We are active Canadian Seniors from Toronto GTA, occupation- small family owned shopping centre developer (a difficult industry for small fish to survive in, one of high risk and hard knocks), who have travelled a lot but still have a big Bucket list to go. This is our first cruise with Silversea, having experienced 22 previous cruises, ranging from the lowest deck outside cabin (RCI Legend of the Seas) to Queen’s Grill (Queen Mary 2) and dress codes from casual (River Cruising) thru Country Club attire (Oceania) to being dressed to the nine (Cunard Queen Mary 2). We have been on ships where the dining room food was sometimes cold/ not very appetizing and sent back to the kitchen several times (HAL- Maasdam) to good/ very food (Princess- former Tahitian Princess to mention one) to gourmet (Cunard- Queens & Princess Grill; Crystal Symphony; and you will likely be surprised by this one Oceania- Insignia). We are always looking for value but from time to time splurge. We are trying to experience as many of the cruise lines as possible- Seaborne, Regent, Europa, RCI floating resort to go.

 

List of ships we have been on are, mostly verandah, some suites and a few window:

· Celebrity- Zenith, Constellation

· Crystal- Symphony

· Cunard- Queen Mary 2

· Disney (with our children & grand children)

· HAL- Maasdam,

· NCL- Norwegian Dream, Norwegian Pearl, Norway

· Oceania- Insignia

· Princess- Tahitian, Star, Island

· RCI- Legend of Seas

· Sheraton- Egyptian River cruise

· Uniworld- Russia & Europe

 

Air flight- Today was rather uneventful, drive to the Toronto Airport at 6:00 AM (since we missed our last flight due to some stupidity in the Security Lines- equipment broke down and the *#s in charge refusing to allow us to move to another line- we now arrive early where connecting flights are critical). Great check in with Air Canada and are now sitting in economy, after a good omelets breakfast served; and nowhere near a full flight. Staff are extremely pleasant and is comfortable flight for us (Dean is 6’2” and had good leg room), with sufficient room to be typing his on a Dell 17” laptop (just fits on the tray with the seat in front vacant. Left Toronto at 8:50 AM, arrived London at 8:50 PM (body time 3:50 PM, 7 hrs hr flight

 

Silversea ticket price incl air- Silversea provided excellent service in arranging airfare. Dean hates red eye flights, always flies the day flight from Toronto direct to London Heathrow, overnight Holiday Inn (based on comfort and value) and then on the next day to the port of departure; in this case Lisbon; for a meet and greet in the Marriot Hotel arranged by our hard working fellow cruiser Jennifer, an Aussie who spent some 35 hrs to get from Australia to Lisbon (She must love Silversea). Silversea, at no cost, picked up the cost of today’s AC flight (deviation fee of $100/ ticket) and the return flight from Barbados, the latter including transportation from ship to airport. We only had to arrange at our cost the airfare from LHR to Lisbon, on a flight with British Airways at a cost of £127 for two.

Great to hear that you're on your way. Hope you enjoy SS and the Silver Spirit. Captain Corsaro should be back aboard for your cruise. He's a really good captain and an exceptional seaman. Last Jan we had a lot of rain and rough seas Lisbon-Las Palmas on the maiden crossing, but you should be just ahead of the rainy weather at this time of year. We'll be aboard in Dec for the B2B FLL-FLL and will do the crossing next Oct/Nov LIS-FLL. Look forward to your reports and opinions and hope you have fair winds and following seas.

Dean & Gayle,

 

Thank you for your report. I will be following every installment as we are booked on this itinerary on the Spirit in October 2011.

 

Have a wonderful voyage.

Message # 2

Evening- correction to previous submission in red

Silversea ticket price incl air- Silversea provided excellent service in arranging airfare. Dean hates red eye flights, always flies the day flight from Toronto direct to London Heathrow, overnight Holiday Inn (based on comfort and value) and then on the next day to the port of departure; in this case Lisbon; for a meet and greet in the Marriot Hotel arranged by our hard working fellow cruiser Jennifer, an Aussie who spent some 35 hrs to get from Australia to Lisbon (She must love Silversea). Silversea, at no cost, picked up the cost of today’s AC flight (deviation fee of $100/ ticket) and the return flight from Barbados, the latter including transportation from ship to airport. We only had to arrange at our cost the airfare from LHR to Lisbon, on a flight with British Airways at a cost of £127 for two.

Heathrow Terminal - Only few minutes to clear customs and luggage was at the carousel when we arrived. Carts are free, unlike Toronto which charges $2.00/ cart (Cnd cash or credit card). Worker directed us to bus pick up location for hotels.

Transportation to Hotel. Heathrow transportation to hotels is called Hotel Hoopa. Cost is £4.00/ person (credit card or cash if machine working at bus pick up or on bus to driver cash £; our machine was broken). Other alternative is taxi which is approx £11, but taxi drivers have been known to refuse taking you to hotel since too short a ride). Holiday Inn web site has wrong bus directions and we missed the bus (should be H1). Busses run every 20 minutes, with 10-15 minute ride to hotel. Driver assisted us in getting luggage on and off the bus (already missing Oceania where less luggage is required since no formal nights.)

Holiday Inn Heathrow- Caveat there are two Holiday Inn hotels near the airport which are serviced by different buses. Holiday Inn Hotel Porter loaded up our luggage, quick check inn (we are priority club members) and swift move to our Room 116 since the Chinese restaurant where Gayle wanted to eat at the hotel closed at 10:30 PM. Restaurant was well/ comfortably furnished, pleasant décor, learning but pleasant staff, interesting meal (Gayle enjoyed) and back to room to bed.

Room 116 consisted of bathroom (combo shower), sink was the same type with same problems reported by others on the Silversea, plenty of shelf space to the right, and towel rack consisting of a warmer. Wall sockets will take only UK plugs which we overcame with loaner from front desk. Small closet for overnight stay (would be tight if longer stay where one would want to unpack) and room for our luggage spread out over the room. Good work station with what they refer to high speed (is good but certainly not high speed we are accustomed to). King Bed- comfortable with option of soft and harder pillows. Low quality sofa (but comfortable) next to window. Heat cool quiet system with room thermostat that worked. If you like to sleep in a cool room at night, thermostat will accommodate. Quiet room externally and internally. Clean room, everything worked, but could do with a paint job in a couple of areas.

For hotel services (gym, swimming, several restaurants, etc) refer to web site. This a not a Marriott quality hotel but more than adequate for a good night’s sleep. Cost per room incl breakfast £63 (booked thru BA) plus £6.00 for a continuous hour internet (must use at same time, not traditional in and out with max of 60 minutes). Only complaint was dingy narrow hallways.

Friday, October 22, 2010

BA to Lisbon, departure 2:50 PM, arrive 5:30 PM. Wake up call precisely as requested (9:30 AM as breakfast restaurant closes at 10:30 AM). Clean, nice décor, comfortable restaurant with full hot buffet breakfast with many choices of food and all were very good. Was impressed.

Luggage- as with Air Canada airline only permits one free luggage check in / person. We had one additional, costing AC Cnd $50 and BA £28; getting a discount by checking in on line

Departed Hotel at 11:40 AM on Hoopa bus (another £4/ person) with driver loading and unloading the luggage for us. Terminal 3- No line up at the BA ticket kiosk, but had to wait for check in (only commences 2 hrs before flight departure). Accordingly, the 12:00 noon bus would have been a better decision. Check in went smoothly as did security. Behind the security line is a humongous duty free shop and further on many stores including Harrods. Caveat- unlike the normal boarding, BA puts you into a holding lounge and you are picked up by a bus (no assistance with carry on) and driven out to the airplane having to walk up the portable stair ramp to board the airplane= unless you are very fit, keep your carry on weight as light as possible (We always travel with a hand scale, which measures the weight of each luggage piece to avoid the any problems at check in- recommended)

BA Flight- Airbus A320. Has less pitch than AC (Dean’s knees were touching the seat in front) and narrower seat, resulting in the need of having an empty middle seat to allow use of the computer mouse, which we were lucky to negotiate. Very poor lunch consisting of a hot dog shaped sandwich with tuna, lettuce and cucumbers . Otherwise smooth flight. Arrival in Lisbon was a long walk to Baggage Claim. Checked with information on expected taxi cost (Recommend) and took taxi to Marriott Lisbon Hotel. Meter read €6.80 plus extra baggage. Driver asked for €15 and Marriott Porter spoke to him in Portuguese, with Taxi fare ending up at €10 and with a comment from Marriott Porter- “Welcome to Lisbon”.

Marriott Lisbon Hotel- Quick check into Room 1620. We decided to splurge and booked an executive room with access to Marriott Executive Lounge (Recommend). Wide well decorated hallways (unlike the narrow, dingy hallways of the Holiday Inn- our only disappointment with the hotel). Off to relax in the nicely furnished/ comfortable Executive Lounge on the 17th floor with free red & white wines, beer, juices, hot and cold appetizers, special coffees, etc. After leisurely half hour, with a glass of wine, on to the Meet and Greet organized by Jennifer at the Marriott Bar. Good turnout and enjoyable conversations with our fellow Silversea Cruisers. After a coffee latte in the bar off to bed still suffering from time change

Room 1620- Standard Marriot room on the 16th floor with small balcony and view of the city. Unlike the Holiday Inn which had double sound proof windows, slight but not troublesome noise from the highway traffic. Bathroom- combo large shower tub, large counter with single sink, and European Bidet. Main room consisted of good size work desk, hard wired high speed internet (not really high speed we are accustomed to) at a cost of €6 for continuous hour, nice/ comfortable sofa chair, comfortable king size bed, heating/ air conditioning system with thermostat that worked allowing for cool evening sleep. Typical high quality furnishing, paintings (prints) that are throughout the Marriott chain. Nice Start to a luxury cruise onboard the Silversea Spirit

 

Red not intended on new message. Can't figure out how to correct

Don't mean to be rude, but the bus is the Hotel Hoppa - it hops from one hotel to the next (not hoopa, just a typo)

Caveat- unlike the normal boarding, BA puts you into a holding lounge and you are picked up by a bus (no assistance with carry on) and driven out to the airplane having to walk up the portable stair ramp to board the airplane= unless you are very fit, keep your carry on weight as light as possible

This is unfortunate. One would usually expect this kind of arrangement at local airports in Third World countries or terminals built long long ago. In bad weather, you have to walk in pouring rain, howling wind and slippery ice (albeit over perhaps only 100 ft) between the plane and the bus, then the bus and the terminal. With queueing, the waiting time in the elements can easily be five minutes. And since they don't allow umbrellas for security reasons, you can get soaked and weaker passengers can get sick. It is awful that even the newly built terminal 4 has similar arrangement for many flights, such a defective design. This is unbecoming for a capital airport and a major hub!

This is unfortunate. One would usually expect this kind of arrangement at local airports in Third World countries or terminals built long long ago. In bad weather, you have to walk in pouring rain, howling wind and slippery ice (albeit over perhaps only 100 ft) between the plane and the bus, then the bus and the terminal. With queueing, the waiting time in the elements can easily be five minutes. And since they don't allow umbrellas for security reasons, you can get soaked and weaker passengers can get sick. It is awful that even the newly built terminal 4 has similar arrangement for many flights, such a defective design. This is unbecoming for a capital airport and a major hub!

 

This arrangement is true of a minority of BA flights at LHR T5. Most flights have gates. Nonetheless, I agree that this is very unsatisfactory arrangement. Especially galling is the fact that First and Business passengers are squeezed into the same crowded busses as economy passengers.

Don't mean to be rude, but the bus is the Hotel Hoppa - it hops from one hotel to the next (not hoopa, just a typo)

 

You are 100% correct. Sorry for the typo and thanks for you correcting

 

DAN

Jennifer, Dean & Gayle, Charlie, et.al., ya'll must be having a blast and have no time for on board reports....hope u have a few moments and we hear first hand, about the Spirit crossisng soon.

BA puts you into a holding lounge and you are picked up by a bus (no assistance with carry on) and driven out to the airplane having to walk up the portable stair ramp to board the airplane= unless you are very fit, keep your carry on weight as light as possible.

I am sorry, I was under the impression "carry on" is "carry on", for you to do!!:):)

Yes, there is a difference in what British folk say and what Americans say !! We call 'checked bags' hold baggage, and what you folks call 'carry-ons' we call cabin baggage!! We say 'baggage' or luggage' more than we say 'bags'. Interesting!!

Jennifer, Dean & Gayle, Charlie, et.al., ya'll must be having a blast and have no time for on board reports....hope u have a few moments and we hear first hand, about the Spirit crossisng soon.

 

Bob and Victoria......where art thou?

Really anxious to hear about this much maligned vessel! I know you'll tell us like it is!!!!

Did you get your Dimple???:eek:

M and M

Maybe the internet is down. We had fantastic coverage during our entire crossing in Jan, but those things happen.

Maybe the internet is down. We had fantastic coverage during our entire crossing in Jan, but those things happen.

 

No, just having too much fun

 

DEAN:)

Jennifer, Dean & Gayle, Charlie, et.al., ya'll must be having a blast and have no time for on board reports....hope u have a few moments and we hear first hand, about the Spirit crossisng soon.

 

We actually are having too much fun. Jennifer arranged a meet and greet which was attended by more than 25 CC'ers, and our precruise meeting started out just with Jennifer and myself and then grew to 19!

 

Spirit and her crew are absolutely fantastic. Very easy for me to get around even with my litle oxygen machine. Love my suite - 522.

 

Well that is enough for now - have to check my stocks!

Message # 3

Sorry for the break in the daily reports. Having too much fun on a tight schedule

Saturday October 23, 2010

This is being typed live from the Silversea Spirit. We made it!!

Marriott Hotel- Wake up call at 9:30 AM as requested and off to breakfast in the Executive Lounge. Unlike the Hilton Executive lounge (our last experience in Quito, Ecuador) where we had service/ buffet combo the Marriott had no service with buffet hot and cold breakfast menu (bacon, eggs, sausage- none left when we arrived, limited cereal selection, pastries, bread, tea, coffee, milk, fruit, cold meat cuts). We also had a choice of eating in the main restaurant which we will try out the next time as selection of meal items is likely greater and it is nice to be served. Cost €154 for the room, executive, lounge and free breakfast, €13.90 for internet (a charge that always annoys Dean in higher priced hotels vs. being free in the lower priced American chains) and two coffee lattes at the bar €6.30 with tip; all taxes in €174.20 for the night stay. A good stay and we have no hesitation in recommending the Marriott with Executive lounge and brakfast

Transit to pier- Departed from the hotel at 12:30 PM by taxi arranged by the bellhop, arriving at the pier 1:00 PM or shortly thereafter. This taxi had a “safety feature” card recommending the use of credit cards, which we did. Metered taxi with supplemental for luggage came to approx €13.00 plus tip.

Embarkation- Was the typical well organized short embarkation procedure we have experienced on all small ships (30-35,000 tons), and with a few exceptions on the larger ships (Star Princess, in Venice, where we arrived from our Palazzo by private wooden launch (Memorable experience). Our worst embarkation was in Ft Lauderdale , Queen Mary 2 with long waits and lines and the captain apologizing throughout the cruise. Silversea staff met the taxi, took the luggage, no wait check in, up the gangplank (steps), greeted by staff with champagne (our first cruise to experience such offering), no photographers requesting pictures (also our first cruise to experience), directed to Reception with completion of check in with photo, left passports with them, on principle asked receptionist to remove charity charge from our bill (see many Cruise Critic threads on this policy) and directed to pool area for lunch. Normal embarkation procedure with exception of not being take to cabin/ state room as done on Queen Marry 2. Dropped off our carry on in our cabin and had lunch (white fish and salad with free flow of champagne and drinks; a first class introduction to a cruise ship).

Luggage arrived between 2:00- 2:30 PM in tact

After lunch, as recommended by Colonel Wes (we thank you for your advice), to the cabin to check the Silversea Chronicles (their name for their daily news and information for all on board events) for the formal nights where we had pre-cruise decided to eat in the main dining room (“The Restaurant”), and off to each specialty restaurant to make our bookings for the cruise, spreading two nights per restaurant- La Terrazza (Italian, indoor outdoor restaurant with spectacular ocean views), Le Champagne (a six course culinary experienced with different menus each night, where we picked our nights based on the menu), Seishin Restaurant (Kobe beef, sushi, and Asian seafood), Stars Supper Club (small samples of various food with entertainment starting at 8:00 PM, meal at 9:00 PM) and Pool Grill (Hot Rock cook your own meat, prawns, etc). Will have more information on each restaurant as we dine and time permits

Spent the rest of the day arranging for e-mail for laptop, unpacking, reading literature. Set up the laptop (Colonel Wes we thank you for recommending we bring along a small electrical outlet bar which is mandatory due to the lack of electrical outlets in the cabin); and relaxing, still feeling the time zone difference from Toronto. Met our Butler, Andung at 7:30 PM, who introduced Dean (Gayle relaxing in the soaker tub) to operating the many features of the cabin and the various shampoo/conditioner/lotions/soap options all on a tray (Our first cruise experience). He may as well be talking in foreign language on the latter as Dean knows zip on such mattersJ. Will provide detail nuts and bolts info on the cabin in latter submissions while at sea.

Off to dinner in The Restaurant, requested Table of six (we were first to arrive) which was provided, and had a delightful time with our new found dinner friends- Herb & Barbara from San Antonio, John & Gillian from London, England. We thank you all for a great night of interesting discussions, and as we all noted accompanied by very very good food and impeccable service . We had such a wonderful time we were one of the last two tables to leave.

After Dinner, Gayle headed for Sterns- Dean quietly thought this could be troubleK- and in one of the shops heard disco music and stumping on the ceiling. Went to the disco above to investigate and found our fellow Cruise Critic cruisers Jennifer, Mike Conway and Katie dancing up a storm. We did not join them, but headed to bed to catch up on e-mails and sleep. Dean must keep in touch with the office, and Gayle was anxious to know how her brother who was in the hospital was doing and her sister who had taken a fall and also in hospital. Good news on both accounts

Email reception- has good ship e-mail in cabin (not as fast as the web service on the Queen Mary 2, but much faster than the majority of the other cruise lines. Side note: Dean always wonders why the cruise ships when in port do not provide hard wired web service which would be true high speed)

Sunday, October, 24- Tangier

First some back ground. Wherever possible we arrange private tours on the internet, using Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor web sites to locate recommended guides. We are not fans of bus tours, like to stop when we want to stop to take pictures, go where the locals go, and get a better “flavour” of each port. We find that this normally provides us with a better experience with the added advantage sometimes of higher quality visits as much lower costs. On our 20 some cruises we have hit only one dud and unfortunately tomorrow will be our second dud (more on that one later)

Unfortunately the ship changed its arrival time to 1:00 PM from 12:00 noon and the Morocco officials did not board the ships as is the normal custom prior to the ship entering the harbor= another 45 minute delay. Quick disembarkation and our guide- Aziz Saint Laurent, e-mail achraf_a@yahoo.com; facebook- aziz saint laurent; met us at the gangplank. We have no hesitation in recommending Aziz as a tour guide. We have decided to return to Morocco; and he has kindly agreed to put together a 10 day tour for us. He has excellent English and a love for his city and country; and known/ well respected by many as we found out on our tour

Our Tangier tour- We unfortunately lost close to two hours of planned tour and accordingly had to move at faster pace than desired and did not cover everything. We had planned to visit the following sites:

· Tour car (Mercedes Taxi but turned out to be a comfortable eight seat van with Mohamed as driver) and Aziz as guide

· Lighthouse of Cap Spartel

· Hercules Caves

· Tour of Tangier

· Medina/Kasbah

· Beach Promenade

· Place el Oumame (new Square)

But accomplished the following

· French District

· Berber Market

· Stopping off at a park crowded by locals, enjoying a soup with bread and kebab meat courtesy of Aziz

· Cap Spartel

· And spent considerable time walking the Medina/ Kasbah stopping into several shops- carpets (most interesting one was Bazar Pheniciens, e-mail pheniciens2001@yahoo.fr where we saw some very interesting hand loomed carpets and handicraft items; bakery; spice shop; tailor; silk thread; and multitude of others. A memorable experience

And walked back to the ship with Aziz around 6:00PM. Cost of private tour €70 Euros plus trip. Good day with planned future follow up

Relax on board sampling the cocktail of the day (excellent) and listening to the very good entertainment around the pool

Dinner- La Terrazza, 7:30 PM. Asked for a table of six and had another enjoyable dinner with our newly met friends-Andrew and Audrey from England, and June & David from Sydney, Australia. We thank you all for a great night of interesting discussions, and as we all noted accompanied by very very good food and impeccable service . We had such a wonderful time gain we were one of the last two tables to leave. There are certainly many interesting passengers on board of board this ship!!

For those who would like to see the menus, feel free to contact us at deangayle@rogers.com and will send to you the menus we collected while on board at the end of the trip

Entertainment- Gayle headed off to the Cabin while Dean attended a very good show in the theatre called- The Silver Spirit Singers and Dancers in “Rocketman” This ship as does some others has the policy of the entertainers being at the exit doors to the theatre meeting the passengers. A nice touch

 

Apologies for formating and typos. Internet keeps losing connection to Cruise Critic. Hope you can follow

 

DEAN

Hi Dean, thanks so much for the detailed Spirit seamail..You're very welcome for the Spirit tips--this is one aspect I love about cruisecritic--sharing cruise information with fellow cruisers to enhance cruise experiences. If Franciso is the Hot Rocks M'D, Diraj--Le Champagne M'd & Marcelo LC Sommelier; please pass on our warm regards,

Hi Dean, thanks so much for the detailed Spirit seamail..You're very welcome for the Spirit tips--this is one aspect I love about cruisecritic--sharing cruise information with fellow cruisers to enhance cruise experiences. If Franciso is the Hot Rocks M'D, Diraj--Le Champagne M'd & Marcelo LC Sommelier; please pass on our warm regards,

 

Will check and if so will certainly do

 

DEAN

Thanks for the fabulous report. Glad you are enjoying yourself.:)

Keep your reports coming - they are very enjoyable!

Message # 4

Starting to have problems with the internet on board the ship, which has moved from good to inconsistent and keeps dropping our submissions.

Monday, October 26- Casablanca

Of the 21 previous cruises, we only encountered one problem by booking with local tour guides, using mainly Cruise Critics and Trip Advisor as reference points. Today, unfortunately became our second dud.

Breakfast in the cabin, good menu choice, delivered on time, all in order and of high quality. Unlike the majority of other cruise lines where one has to eat from a small table, spreading the dishes onto the bed, Silversea butler brings in a table top to place on the coffee table in front of the sofa yielding a full size breakfast table- another class act

Private tour- Arrangements had been made with Hamid, e-mail s.hafida@hotmail.com to meet us at the ship with driver 9:00 AM, carrying a sign with our name on it and tour the following sites, returning to the ship around 2:00 PM, all at a cost of €80:

• Hassan II Mosque
  
• Central Market
  
• Mahakma Court of Islamic Law
  
• New Medina (Habous)- Stroll through the historic part of City, along alleys lined with souks and shops, pass by the King’s Palace
  
• Anfa- drive through the elegant residential district
  
• Mohammed V Square
  
• Ain Diab- stroll along the beachfront boulevard de la Corniche (1 ¾ miles long)
  

On leaving the ship, no Hamid K. As a policy we always get the cell number of the guides, and one of the other guides at the gangplank kindly called him as to where he was. He directed us to meet his driver at the end of the pier which we did. We met Mohamed Moussaqui, who was a pleasant taxi driver but certainly not a guide.

The car was a very old Mercedes, without window handles in the rear seat and doors which were difficult to close. He dropped us off at a café adjacent to the Hassan II Mosque (a must see attraction) and pointed us towards the Mosque. By following the crowd we were able to find the admission entrance, took part in an English speaking tour (240 MAD for two) and enjoyed visiting the Mosque. We then followed the itinerary (with the exception of New Medina where he only took us into carpet and jewelry shop) with limited information being provided on the other sites (Mohamed was always on the cell phone, likely running a second business). The stroll along the beach front boulevard was the same approach as the Mosque, dropped us off at a café and we were on our own.

When we returned to the dock at 2:00 PM, we have a “discussion” where Mohamed unsuccessfully attempted to increase the agreed upon tour cost.

Correct itinerary, wrong tour guide

Some of our fellow passengers took the ships Grand Mosque & Rabat tour, reporting an enjoyable and excellent tour

Returned to the ship, had lunch around the pool, relaxed, and went for an enjoyable afternoon tea in the La Terrazza (very good but not up to Cunard standards who to date have set the bar), and Dean headed off to the gym for a work out. The gym is reasonably equipped, undersized for a ship of this size; but at 5:00 PM there were only two people using so he had no problems in using the desired equipment. For those who like walking/ jogging on an outside track, the ship suffers from having no promenade circling the total ship and a small deck track located aft, on Deck 10, 10 times around equals a mile

The Grill Diner- Tonight we had a most enjoyable dinner on deck 10, overlooking the pool and listening to an excellent singer with backup music. The lava rock stone is reportedly heated all day to 700F (?), the waiter puts a bib on you, and you cook your desired meat/ fish on the hot rock which is placed on a special wooden board in the middle of the table. We both had Fillet Mignon with Gayle adding prawns. Again thanks to those who wrote on Cruise Critics about difficulties in getting the meal cooked to your liking. We overcame the problem by cutting up the meat, cooking to our desired liking and then removing from the grill. A most interesting and enjoyable first on a cruise ship for us. Only disappointment was the inability of sitting at a table of four meeting new fellow passengers.

The Theatre- We closed off the evening with an excellent performance by Mark Donoghue, a talented multi- instrumentalist. Some personal comments on the theatre, if we might:

· Ceiling & Stage- The theatre has an usually low ceiling for a cruise ship theatre and the size of the stage appears to be much smaller than our previous cruise experiences

· The seating is comfortable two seat sofas, which must create some interesting moments for persons who are cruising as a single and theatre is full, which it was not this evening

· Notwithstanding the above, the theatre works well from an acoustical and lighting point of view. We set at the isle in the fifth row which we were told were the best seats in the house

Tuesday, October 27- At Sea- First Formal Night

Time to skip breakfast and sleep in which we did!

A Silversea day at sea turned out to be a flood of interesting events in which to participate/ partake. If you would be interested in receiving the daily schedules, feel free to send us an e-mail at deangayle@rogers.com and we can forward on to you

In the morning we attended an excellent lecture by Dr. Herb Keyser on “The Life and Music of Gene Kelly”. Herb, by the way, is a semi retired doctor/ pediatrician who, as a hobby, has taken up writing books and doing lectures on the people in show business

Another excellent buffet lunch at La Terrazza, sitting out on deck enjoying the ocean breeze and warm temperatures! WOW- this is one the many reasons we love cruising J. A note on Terrazza. As with Crystal Cruises, staff is waiting at the entrance from the buffet ready to take your plate and follow you to the table, adjusting your chair for you, and placing the napkin on your lap. A class act

This afternoon Dean attended a Fitness Seminar “Secretes to a Flatter Stomach” by personal trainer Kieren. Was held in the fitness room with the few of us in attendance sitting on rubber inflated large balls. Unfortunately, the seminar could have been more informative with hand out materials and a better setting

Cabin Angelo A. Corsaro held a welcome reception, which unfortunately the Silversea Spirit cannot do justice, due to the limitation of common area sizes- one held at 7:00 AM in the Bar which was overflowing and 7:15 PM in the Panorama Lounge, the latter where staff had to bring in additional chairs for the guests to be seated. We ended up on bar stools in the Panorama Lounge, which had the advantage of being next to the food trays!

On to another outstanding dinner with impeccable service, eating at a table of six with Herb and Barbara Keyser, Aileen & Arnold in The Restaurant (main dining room)

Gayle off to the Theatre with a show entitled Silver Spirit Singers and Dancers in Euro 2010, which Gayle and her new friends found disappointing. Dean retired to the cabin to plan the next day on Lanzarote, where we had decided to rent a car.

Wednesday, October 28- Lanzarote (Arrecife), Canary Islands

Another excellent breakfast in the cabin and then off to pick up our car from Cicar info@cicar.com, located in a building right on the dock. BookedOpel Astra 5 doors, €45.50/ day, all inclusive with insurance. Only responsible for gas. Received very good road maps and Cicar representative marked up the map showing directions to the desired sites:

· Timanfaya Volcana Park- Admission €8.00 per person. A rather barren volcanic park where the entrance fee includes a 40 minute drive on a bus with closed windows thru the crater. If we had known then what we know now we would have skipped this site.

· Jameos Del Agua- Admission €8.00 per person. When the volcano erupted it created a 7 k long lava tube. Part of the tube collapsed at the north end of the island close to Punta Mujeres. This space has been transformed into a stunning, subterranean auditorium reportedly seating 500 persons. Tropical gardens, bars and a restaurant surround an underground lagoon. After walking along side the lagoon, you then walk up a staircase in the rock with a beautifully planted garden to be met with the sight of a blinding white pool area, reportedly the swimming pool is reserved only for the King of SpainL. Climbing another spiral stone stair case brings you to a large white building which houses a permanent exhibition about volcanic activity on the Canary Islands. A memorable experience and we recommend if you can only visit one site on the island, it be this one

· Fundacion Cesar Manrique- Admission €8.00 per person. This is the former home of the island’s artist Cesar Manrique which is built around five volcanic vacuums in the surrounding lava flow. If you have time, is worth seeing

· Cactus Garden- Admission €2.50 per person. Gayle is a gardener and member of the Board of the Thornhill Horticultural Society. According she is always interested in visiting gardens. The garden is built in a former quarry, giving the garden an amphitheatre feel, containing over 10,000 plants and 1,400 different species. The cactus were not in bloom when we were their but still was a very impressive garden and must be spectacular when in bloom

We ran out of time and energy and never made it to the following sites:

· Valley of Thousand Palms

· Mirador del Rio- reportedly offers breathtaking views across to the small neighboring island of La Graciosa.

Returned the car around 5:00 PM with ship departure 6:00 PM. Car representative provided us with a map of our next destination- Tenerife and location map of where we would pick up the car.

Excellent service, but a rather hectic day covering all of the desired sites except for two. Caveat- they do not provide you with a car with a tank full of gas. Our car had approx ¼ tank and we were expected to return the car with the same amount of gas. Dean erred in filling up the car, not realizing the short distances and returned the car ¾ full

An enjoyable day and would recommend to those who like to drive. Roads are good and not crowded

This evening we had made reservations at the Stars Restaurant, best described as a supper club. We arrived around 8:00 PM and were advised that the restaurant had been reserved for a private party. Went back to our cabin to see how we made such a mistake and discovered we did not- had a written reservation. We quickly retreated to The Restaurant (ships main dining room), asked for and received a table for two as we were running late for the show in the Theatre, as we did not want to miss Mark Donoghue’s second performance. We enjoyed another excellent performance and then back to the cabin to plan our car rental tour on Tenerife with our fellow Critic member, Phillip Baldwin joining us

Thursday, October 29- Tenerife (Santa Cruz), Canary Islands

Another excellent breakfast in the cabin and then off to meet Phillip on the dock at the Gangway, and pick up our car from Cicar info@cicar.com, following the map provided to us by the Lanzarote car rep to the Fred Olsen terminal building. BookOpel Astra 5 doors, €45.50/ day, all inclusive with insurance. Only responsible for gas.

At this point the similarities with our previous experience with Cicar ceased.

Caveat- In the morning the representative’s service was less than satisfactory- i) he was not very helpful in providing assistance on how to find the sites we wished to visit, and ii) more important we encountered the following Scam- They accepted the Visa credit card for payment of the car rental in €, and without asking converted the expenditure over to Cnd at an inflated rate and charged a service charge on top without any discussion. Later, we noted this problem when reading the receipt which at the bottom states “I accept I will be offered a choice of currencies for payment. I accept the conversion rate amount and the final selected transaction currency is Dollar Canadiense.” When we returned the car, a different representative refused to correct the matter, refused to call head office for direction, and told Dean to contact his credit card company to resolve; which he has had his office staff immediately do. Dean has contacted the company HO and to date they are refusing to budge

Our planned tour

• Unesco city of La Laguna
  
• Drive thru the forest to Teide, National Park and Volcano
  
• Town of La Oratava and the botanical garden
  

However, one of the ship guests who was also booking a car, recommended that we immediately drive to Teide as it is been known to cloud up in the afternoon

According we had a delightful day with Philip driving from Santa Cruz to the outskirts of La Laguna to pick up the mountainous TF24 highway, driving thru the forest, stopping off at several scenic observation points to El Portillo de la Villa where we connected to TF21 to Tiede. Seems many of the visitors had the same idea and there was a long line up for the cable car to just below the top of the mountain (€25/ person). While waiting in line picked up a snack from the snack bar and then up the mountain. Dean and Phillip walked a volcanic scenic trail (Caveat- is tricky walking and one needs a good walking shoes/ running shoes). Recommend this site to be visited

We then returned on the highway F21 to La Ortava and Puerto De La Cruz, stopped off at a small café in Ortava and never did find the botanical gardens. Decided to return to the historical town of La Laguna to visit. However, the traffic was heavier than expected and Phillip suggested that we play it safe and return to Santa Cruz (He was correct as we returned the car around 5:30 PM with ship boarding at 6:30 PM)

An enjoyable day with Phillip. We thank you for navigational skills and great company.

We have added this island to our Bucket List for a weeks return to the Canary Island

This evening we had booked the Seishin Restaurant. We had three meal options- Sishin Teaser 1, Seishin 2, and the full meal with wine pairing at $40/ person. We elected the second. Service was impeccable, but a different meal to say the least. Dean found it a onetime dining experience and Gayle found the raw fish not to her liking. We elected to cancel our second booking and try to replace it with the Stone Grill. The intended system to make such an arrangement is to call 80400 but it has a problem- the person answering the telephone has to first phone Seishin to cancel and then call The Grill to make a booking. Surprising given today’s technology. Still do not know whether our request for replacement booking has been accomplished. Next time, will use the Butler

Decided to skip The Marriage Game in the theatre and catch up on sleep, sleeping into close to noon

In next message will start by providing details on Cabin 624

Have spent 20 minutes trying to download and provide you with a correct report. Cruise Critic web site has a 20 minute bar and has left the previous report with many errors

 

Will try tommorrow, hopefully with better results

Dean, sincerely appreciate you taking the time to post such an extraordinarily detailed on board Spirit post--Thank You. Agree with you 100% the Spirit fitness area is inadequate for thesize of the Spirit and the jogging track is too small as well. Loved your rich detail on your excusion adventures---even those that don't meet your standard. Hope your voyage continuse to be fair winds & following seas. Pls Tell Angelo (Capt Corsaro)Ciao from Ida and the (retired) Colonel...thanks

Message # 4

 

Starting to have problems with the internet on board the ship, which has moved from good to inconsistent to lousy and not helped by Cruise Critic procedures and loss of formatting.

 

Monday, October 26- Casablanca

 

Of the 21 previous cruises, we only encountered one problem by booking with local tour guides, using mainly Cruise Critics and Trip Advisor as reference points. Today, unfortunately became our second dud.

 

Breakfast in the cabin, good menu choice, delivered on time, all in order and of high quality. Unlike the majority of other cruise lines where one has to eat from a small table, spreading the dishes onto the bed, Silversea butler brings in a table top to place on the coffee table in front of the sofa yielding a full size breakfast table- another class act

 

Private tour- Arrangements had been made with Hamid, e-mail s.hafida@hotmail.com to meet us at the ship with driver 9:00 AM, carrying a sign with our name on it and tour the following sites, returning to the ship around 2:00 PM, all at a cost of €80 for two:

 

• Hassan II Mosque
  
• Central Market
  
• Mahakma Court of Islamic Law
  
• New Medina (Habous)- Stroll through the historic part of City, along alleys lined with souks and shops, pass by the King’s Palace
  
• Anfa- drive through the elegant residential district
  
• Mohammed V Square
  
• Ain Diab- stroll along the beachfront boulevard de la Corniche (1 ¾ miles long)
  

On leaving the ship, no Hamid K. As a policy we always get the cell number of the guides, and one of the other guides at the gangplank kindly called him as to where he was. He directed us to meet his driver at the end of the pier which we did. We met Mohamed Moussaqui, who was a gracious taxi driver but certainly not a guide.

 

The car was a very old Mercedes, without window handles in the rear seat and doors which were difficult to close. He dropped us off at a café adjacent to the Hassan II Mosque (a must see attraction) and pointed us towards the Mosque. By following the crowd we were able to find the admission entrance, took part in an English speaking tour (240 MAD for two) and enjoyed visiting the Mosque. We then followed the itinerary (with the exception of New Medina where he only took us into carpet and jewelry shop) but with limited information being provided on the other sites (Mohamed was always on the cell phone, likely running a second business). The stroll along the beach front boulevard was the same approach as the Mosque, dropped us off at a café and we were on our own.

 

When we returned to the dock at 2:00 PM, we have a “discussion” where Mohamed unsuccessfully attempted to increase the agreed upon tour cost.

 

Correct itinerary, wrong tour guide

 

Some of our fellow passengers took the ships Grand Mosque & Rabat tour, reporting an enjoyable and excellent tour

 

Returned to the ship, had lunch around the pool, relaxed, and went for an enjoyable afternoon tea in the La Terrazza (very very good but from our experiences, Cunard is still the standard to beat). Dean headed off to the gym for a work out. The gym is reasonably equipped, undersized for a ship of this size; but at 5:00 PM there were only two people using so he had no problems in using the desired equipment. For those who like walking/ jogging on an outside track in the sea breeze, the ship suffers from having no promenade circling the total ship and a small deck track located aft, on Deck 10, 10 times around equals a mile

 

The Grill Diner- Tonight we had a most enjoyable dinner on deck 10, overlooking the pool and listening to an excellent singer with backup music on deck 9. No extra service charge. Although one may wish to sit at the railing, you may find it too chilly. To overcome the cool night air, Silversea has installed ceiling radiant heaters and we elected to sit close by the heaters rather than at the railing. The dining procedure is our first on any cruise. Once you have chosen your meal, served your drinks, etc, the waiter brings to your table a lava rock stone, which he advised is heated all day to reach approx. 700F (?), puts a bib on you, and you then cook your desired meat/ fish on the hot rock, which is located on a wooden board in the middle of the table. We both had Fillet Mignon with Gayle adding prawns. Again we thank those who wrote on Cruise Critics about difficulties in getting the meal cooked to one’s taste. We overcame the problem by cutting up the meat, cooking to our desired liking and then removing from the hot rock. A most interesting and enjoyable time for us. Only disappointment was the inability of sitting at a table of four meeting new fellow passengers. Reservations were mandatory as demand exceeded supply of tables tonight

 

The Theatre- We closed off the evening with an excellent performance by Mark Donoghue, a talented multi- instrumentalist. Some personal comments on the theatre, if we might:

· Ceiling & Stage- The theatre has an unusually low ceiling for a cruise ship theatre and the size of the stage appears to be smaller than our previous cruise experiences. However it does have small side stages on which dancers can perform or be used to provide a close up view of the central performer on a screen.

· The seating is comfortable two seat sofas, which must create some interesting moments for persons who are cruising as a single and theatre is full, which it was not this evening

· Notwithstanding the above, the theatre works well from an acoustical and lighting point of view. We set at the aisle in the fifth row which we were told were the best seats in the house

 

If you wish to have drinks none are served in the theatre and you will have to bring them with you. Please note the wooden drink holder next to the two seat sofa are small, especially if both of the guests sitting in the sofas both use.

 

Tuesday, October 27- At Sea- First Formal Night

 

Time to skip breakfast and sleep in which we did!

 

A Silversea day at sea turned out to be a flood of interesting events in which to participate/ partake. If you would be interested in receiving the daily schedules, feel free to send us an e-mail at deangayle@rogers.com and we can forward on to you

 

In the morning we attended an excellent lecture by Dr. Herb Keyser on “The Life and Music of Gene Kelly”. Herb, by the way, is a semi retired doctor/ pediatrician who, as a hobby, has taken up writing books and doing lectures on the people in show business. He provided us with an entertaining presentation

 

Another excellent buffet lunch at La Terrazza, sitting out on deck enjoying the ocean breeze and warm temperatures! WOW- this is one of the many reasons we love cruisingJ. A note on Terrazza. As with Crystal Cruises, staff is waiting at the exit from the buffet ready to take your plate and follow you to the table, adjusting your chair for you, and placing the napkin on your lap. A class act. The selection of food is some of the best we have experienced in buffets on land and on cruise ships. Dean looks with envy at the outstanding dessert options which his dietitian says “don’t touch” due to their sugar content.

 

This afternoon, Dean attended a Fitness Seminar “Secretes to a Flatter Stomach” by personal trainer Kieren. Was held in the fitness room with the few of us in attendance sitting on rubber inflated large balls. Unfortunately, the seminar could have been more informative with hand out materials and a better setting. Frankly a disappointment noted by several in attendance.

 

Captain Angelo A. Corsaro held a welcome reception, which unfortunately the Silversea Spirit ship cannot do justice, due to the limitation of common area sizes- one held at 7:00 AM in the main Bar which was overflowing and 7:15 PM in the Panorama Lounge, the latter where staff had to bring in additional chairs for the guests to be seated. We ended up on bar stools in the Panorama Lounge, which had the advantage for Dean of being next to the food trays!

 

On to another outstanding dinner with impeccable service, eating at a table of six with Herb and Barbara Keyser, Aileen & Arnold in The Restaurant (main dining room)

 

Gayle off to the Theatre with a show entitled Silver Spirit Singers and Dancers in Euro 2010, which Gayle and her new friends found disappointing. Dean retired to the cabin to plan the next day on Lanzarote, where we had decided to rent a car.

 

Wednesday, October 28- Lanzarote (Arrecife), Canary Islands

 

Another excellent breakfast in the cabin and then off to pick up our car from Cicar info@cicar.com, located in a building right on the dock. BookedOpel Astra 5 doors, €45.50/ day, all inclusive with limited insurance (i.e. no coverage for damage to undercarriage of car). As normal practice one is responsible for gas. Received very good road maps and Cicar representative marked up the map showing directions to the desired sites:

 

· Timanfaya Volcano Park- Admission €8.00 per person. A rather barren volcanic park where the entrance fee includes a 40 minute drive on a bus with closed windows thru the crater. If we had known then what we know now we would have skipped this site as the volcano on Tenerife is much more scenic.

 

· Jameos Del Agua- Admission €8.00 per person. When the volcano erupted it created a 7 k long lava tube. Part of the tube collapsed at the north end of the island. This space has been transformed into a stunning, subterranean auditorium reportedly seating 500 persons. Tropical gardens, bars and a restaurant surround an underground lagoon. After walking along side the lagoon, you then walk up a staircase in the rock with a beautifully planted garden to be met with the sight of a blinding white pool area in the open sun light. Reportedly the swimming pool is reserved only for the King of Spain if he should ever visit? Climbing another spiral stone stair case brings you to a large white building which houses a permanent exhibition about volcanic activity on the Canary Islands. A memorable experience and we recommend if you can only visit one site on the island, it be this one

 

· Fundacion Cesar Manrique- Admission €8.00 per person. This is the former home of the island’s artist Cesar Manrique which is built around five volcanic vacuums in the surrounding lava flow. If you have time, is worth seeing. You will find his “works of art” on many of the islands round-abouts.

 

· Cactus Garden- Admission €2.50 per person. Gayle is a gardener and member of the Board of the Thornhill Horticultural Society. According she is always interested in visiting gardens. The Cactus garden is built in a former quarry, giving the garden an amphitheatre feel, containing over 10,000 plants and 1,400 different species and a small restaurant overlooking the garden. The cactus were not in bloom when we were there, but still was a very impressive garden and must be spectacular when in bloom

 

We ran out of time and energy and never made it to the following sites:

 

· Valley of Thousand Palms

· Mirador del Rio- reportedly offers breathtaking views across to the small neighboring island of La Graciosa.

 

We would also have like to visit some of the shopping areas and beaches, but time did not permit.

 

An excellent Tourist Guide is available entitled Lanzarote Guide Book which we downloaded from the internet and recommend to you. It is pacted with information on the island- www.lanzaroteguidebook.com

 

Returned the car around 5:00 PM with ship departure 6:00 PM. Car representative provided us with a map of our next destination- Tenerife and location map of where we would pick up the car.

 

Excellent service, but a rather hectic day covering all of the desired sites except for two. Caveat- Cicar does not provide you with a car with a tank full of gas. Our car had approx ¼ tank and we were expected to return the car with the same amount of gas. Dean erred in filling up the car, not realizing the short distances and returned the car ¾ full

 

An enjoyable day and would recommend to those who like to drive. Roads are good and not crowded.

 

This evening we had made reservations at the Stars Restaurant, a supper club. We arrived around 8:00 PM and were advised that the restaurant had been reserved for a private party. Went back to our cabin to see how we made such a mistake and discovered we did not- had a written confirmed reservation. We quickly retreated to The Restaurant (ships main dining room), asked for and received a table for two as we were running late for the show in the Theatre, as we did not want to miss Mark Donoghue’s second performance. We enjoyed another excellent performance and then back to the cabin to plan our car rental tour on Tenerife with our fellow Cruise Critic member, Phillip Baldwin joining us

 

Thursday, October 29- Tenerife (Santa Cruz), Canary Islands

 

Another excellent breakfast in the cabin and then off to meet Phillip on the dock at the Gangway, and pick up our car from Cicar info@cicar.com, a short walk, following the map provided to us by the Lanzarote car rep to the Fred Olsen terminal building. BookOpel Astra 5 doors, €45.50/ day, all inclusive with insurance. Only responsible for gas.

 

At this point the similarities with our previous experience with Cicar ceased.

 

Caveat- In the morning the representative’s service was less than satisfactory- i) he was not very helpful in providing assistance on how to find the sites we wished to visit, perhaps due to the fact he was alone and ii) more important we encountered the following Scam- They accepted the Visa credit card for payment of the car rental in €, and without asking converted the expenditure over to Cnd at an inflated rate and charged a service charge on top without any discussion. Later, we noted this problem when reading the receipt which at the bottom states “I accept I will be offered a choice of currencies for payment. I accept the conversion rate amount and the final selected transaction currency is Dollar Canadiense.” When we returned the car, a different representative refused to correct the matter, refused to call head office for direction, and told Dean to contact his credit card company to resolve; which he has had his office staff immediately do. Dean has contacted the car rental company HO and to date they are refusing to budge. Will deal with *#* on our return.

 

Our planned tour

 

• Unesco city of La Laguna
  
• Drive thru the forest to Teide National Park and Volcano
  
• Town of La Orotava and the botanical garden
  

However, one of the ship guests who was also booking a car, recommended that we immediately drive to Teide as it is been known to cloud up in the afternoon. Unfortunately that turned out to be the wrong decision for today. Sun was bright and sky clear all day.

 

According we headed out, driving from Santa Cruz to the outskirts of La Laguna to pick up the mountainous TF24 highway (highway is narrow with lots of curves and no shoulders requiring the driver’s full attention), driving thru the forest, stopping off at several scenic observation points, to El Portillo de la Villa where we connected to TF21 to Teide. Seems many of the visitors had the same idea and there was a long line up for the cable car which took us to just below the top of the mountain (€25/ person). While waiting in line picked up a snack from the snack bar and then up the mountain. Dean and Phillip walked a volcanic scenic trail (Caveat- is a tricky/ difficult walk and one needs good walking shoes/ running shoes and always be careful to prevent tripping). To climb to the top of the mountain/crater, prior arrangement had to be made, and taken with a park guide. Steam was rising from the mountain crater top, caused by previous rain seeping through the lava rock and due to heat being converted into steam. There is a small restaurant at the bottom of the cable car for stop if one wanted. Recommend this site to be visited.

 

We then returned on the highway F21 to La Orotava and Puerto De La Cruz, stopped off at a small café in Orotava and never did find the botanical gardens. Decided to return to the historical town of La Laguna to visit. However, the traffic was heavier than expected and Phillip suggested that we play it safe and return to Santa Cruz (He was correct as we returned the car around 5:30 PM with ship boarding at 6:30 PM)

 

An enjoyable day. Phillip, we thank you for your navigational skills and great company!

 

We have added this island to our Bucket List for a week plus return to the Canary Island, using the island as a base to explore the many Canary Islands by ferry. However, the next time we will hire a guide/ driver as Dean found the roads needed his full attention and accordingly not the best way to see/ enjoy the sites

 

This evening we had booked the Seishin Restaurant. We had three meal options- Seishin Teaser 1, Seishin Teaser 2, and the full meal with wine pairing at $40/ person. We elected the third option- full meal with wine pairing. Service was impeccable, but a different meal to say the least. Dean found it a onetime dining experience and Gayle found the raw fish not to her liking. We elected to cancel our second booking and try to replace it with the Stone Grill. The intended system to make such an arrangement is to call 80400 but it has a problem- always busy and then the person answering the telephone has to first phone Seishin to cancel and then call The Grill to make a booking. Surprising, given today’s technology. Still do not know whether our request for replacement booking has been accomplished. Next time, will use the Butler

 

Decided to skip The Marriage Game in the theatre and catch up on sleep, sleeping into close to noon

 

Friday, October 30, 2010, start of six days at sea

 

Slept in late and had another enjoyable lunch at La Terrazza. Gayle spent the afternoon participating in the many scheduled events while Dean spent the afternoon at the computer doing business and writing the basis for a report to a travel magazine and report for cruise critics

 

Had dinner at Le Champagne Restaurant (special charge of $30/ person which includes full meal but only unlimited supply of champagne; no wine. There is a wine pairing option for another $170 dollars/ person or if you order on line prior to embarkation will be reduced by $25/ person. There are several comments on Cruise Critic threads on the pros and cons of this option, some advising that after the fourth wine glass you lose the taste/ enjoyment of wine pairing and recommend buying a good bottle of wine to go with the dinner while others enjoying the wine pairing. We elected to stick with the champagne.

 

We noted that there were only seven other couples in the restaurant with one couple leaving when they discovered there was charge for wine

 

We found the service to be impeccable, the presentation of each course outstanding, and the meal most enjoyable. We plan to keep our second reservation and return

 

In our next message we will start with a detail review of Cabin 624

Dear friends:

 

What a wonderful review. Thanks for dedicating the time (and money) to keeping us informed.

 

When Uta and I last went to Casablanca on a Silversea Cruise, the shore excursion desk booked us a private tour -- guide, car and driver.

 

Tour was mediocre to say the least. Very old car. Driver met us outside the pier and drove us to the middle of town to meet the guide. But what was most disturbing was the fact that, although we appeared to be following the same route and sights as the Silversea shore excursion (bus tour), we were not allowed into half the sights they let the bus visit.

 

We were later told that the larger bus tours have special privileges as to where they can take you, that the private cars and guides (even if registered guide) are not allowed.

 

The Silversea shore excursion manager was a gentleman in following up our complaint -- and ended up refunding the cost of the tour.

 

So our advice for fellow passengers visiting Casablanca would be to take the Silversea shore excursion and not waste your money on a private tour.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta