Live Silver Spirit Maiden Holiday Voyage Barcelona to Lisbon

[duct tape]

Muse Cruiser, no PJ???

[DebbieH103]

Hi, all. Are you guys going to start a new thread for the TA? I think it would be helpful.

 

We JUST got home at 3:18 a.m. Houston time (9:18 a.m. Jan 4 on the ship). We had a 26 hour journey home. We got a nice Mercedes taxi ride with an English speaking driver and personal attention with all our luggage all the way inside for us for 40 Euros. We found out our flight to Newark was delayed for over two hours.

 

The trip over was alright, we both watched video on demand movies. I watched 3.

 

We were supposed to get in at 1:35 p.m. to Newark, I think, but it was about 3:30 when we got our stuff. We went to recheck our bags for our 4:25 flight, but they told us it was too late. We knew we were already confirmed on the 6:45 flight, so we waited there while the woman seemed to have some issue.

 

We ended up in middle seats, and we stopped at the kiosk upstairs to buy drink coupons and to see if there was anything better. Interestingly, it offered us $300 each to give up our seats. We did not take it, and then it offered us the flight they said we could not make. We did not do that, either.

 

Our 6:45 flight was delayed until 7:35, so we sat around for a while. We boarded to a half full flight, and they did not close the door but whispered there was a security issue and they would update us soon.

 

Minutes later, we were forced to deplane, and there were uniformed officers everywhere. They told me I was not allowed to wait for Todd (5 rows back in an exit row) and that I had to meet up with him later. Well, I walked very slowly about 6 steps till they left me alone.

 

By then, two other planes had unloaded and herds of people were mass walking out past security. Here came handfuls more of emptied flights, and eventually, hundreds of us were forced down to baggage claim, out into every cranny on 3 different floors, in fact. No info was given, and they just kept pushing back every flight over and over. Eventually, things began to move, and we took the elevator up right to the Elite Access line and were only about 200 people back. Eventually, they let people from our original 4:25 flight come on to our flight, and we departed about 11:30 with 46 people onboard. They said lots of planes had sat on the runway full of people for 3 or 4 hours and we had to get out and just leave people. Two more planes were sitting there supposed to go to Houston at the same time, so maybe they left and some people got on. Some did not travel with their bags or anything else. You can check this out on cnn.com if you have not heard about it.

[MuseCruiser]

Here’s the caviar menu:

 

Petrossian Beluga “Royal”

1 ¾ ounces (50 grams) $500

 

Petrossian Oescetra “Imperial Persicus”

1 ¾ ounces (50 grams) $450

 

Petrossian Aloerta

(from N. California)

1 ¾ ounces (50 grams) $135

 

Petrossian Chatalaga “Prestige”

(paddlefish)

1 ounce (28 grams)

$50

[lord of the seas]

Why don't Silversea just put the price of the cruise up so that they can include Caviar and the alternative restaurants.I would prefer not having to pay extra for things once onboard,except spa treatments,tours and fine wine.

[DebbieH103]

There is also a caviar night at Le Champagne, but I did not get that menu. Fiona and Jeff, a couple that we played trivia with went to it. It was on the last night or two of the cruise.

[BILLP1]

I agree with lord of the seas. Price it to be truly all inclusive.

[Hambagahle]

When you are paying a reasonable amount for a cruise "nickel and diming" as you call it in the US, it just not on. Silversea projects an image of "class". Is asking people to pay an additional $200 per person for a dinner "class" ? I don't think so.

 

We are booked on the Silver Spirit for a cruise next year and I am having serious thoughts about switching to another line like Seaborn, or Regent which we know and love, where I won't have these unnessary hassles... I do hope that between now and then someone (Ken Watson??) sees the light!!

[irishteddybear]

When you are paying a reasonable amount for a cruise "nickel and diming" as you call it in the US, it just not on. Silversea projects an image of "class". Is asking people to pay an additional $200 per person for a dinner "class" ? I don't think so.!!

 

I have sailed many times, including twice on Regent, but never on Silversea, so the following is only my opinion, based on what I hear from those who have traveled on Silversea many times including my own Mother and my uncle who in on The Spirt for the TA now, and also from reading their World Atlas every year, The $200 you mention is NOT for food, but for having very expensive vintage wines with your dinner, if you eat in the main dining room and order vintage wines you have to pay extra.

[MuseCruiser]

Irish, you should get with the program. We should be able to "raid the humidor" of expensive Davidoff and Cuban cigars whenever we want them, Dom Perignon flowing, and vintage wines....just raise the cost of everyone's ticket accordingly. Yeh, makes a lot of sense. <not>

[meow!]

... switching to another line like Seaborn, or Regent

Is free flowing caviar still served on Seabourn and Regent?

[SanFranCruizer]

Not on Regent. Can't speak for Seabourn.

[Host Dan]

Is free flowing caviar still served on Seabourn and Regent?

Still free flowing on Seabourn-

 

Host Dan

[avalon1025]

it was free flowing in the Queens Grill on QM2.

[meow!]

Thank you Host Dan, SanFranCruizer and Avalon1025. It is interesting to know what different lines are doing.

[Emtbsam]

Irish, you should get with the program. We should be able to "raid the humidor" of expensive Davidoff and Cuban cigars whenever we want them, Dom Perignon flowing, and vintage wines....just raise the cost of everyone's ticket accordingly. Yeh, makes a lot of sense. <not>

I agree with MuseCruiser. I do not want to pay an even higher price for something that I might not even do. If Le Champagne were "free", then there would not be enough room in that venue for everyone wanting to take advantage of it. Let's keep it special and go for the upcharge if you want to dine there.

[ging466]

We are booked on the Silver Spirit for a cruise next year and I am having serious thoughts about switching to another line like Seaborn, or Regent which we know and love, where I won't have these unnessary hassles... I do hope that between now and then someone (Ken Watson??) sees the light!!

 

From my point of view, I couldn't care less. I don't drink wine so don't need to pay heaps extra, however I don't mind paying $30 for a special meal in a special venue.

 

If you want free flowing caviar, sail on Seabourn. I don't mind the odd bit of caviar every now & then, but free flowing...it just encourages people to be greedy.

 

This all-inclusive stuff has been done to death, move on please.:eek:

 

Cheers

ging466

[meow!]

. If Le Champagne were "free", then there would not be enough room in that venue for everyone wanting to take advantage of it..

That is so true, and probably also true for Seisin.

[Goldens4]

Ditto, ging466;).

[wripro]

On the other hand, on what is supposedly an all inclusive line, if they feel they have to charge for a dining venue in order to keep it operational, perhaps they should just eliminate it. For what Silversea is now charging to cruise per diem, imo it's just plain wrong to charge extra for any restaurant.

[DebbieH103]

My issue with Seishin is the lack of a la carte (which it sounds like might be coming but who knows when) since we are only interested in the cooked parts of the meal.

[meow!]

we are only interested in the cooked parts of the meal.

same here .. meow!

[NJBelle]

Now that I have free Internet (at home). I tip my hat to Craig, Wil and Debbie for carrying the reporting freight on this cruise. We had my husband's Blackberry (international for work) and kept up with our e-mail and his office that way, so didn't buy the Internet packages available. So, I was mute during the cruise, but happy to see what a great job that C, W, and D did on letting you all know about the Spirit.

 

Overall, I agree with the opinions they have shared. The Spirit is a beautiful ship and my family and I had a great time - and a wonderful holiday with lots of fun people. (Not a dull voyage at all - far from it!) So, it was tremendously successful and well worth taking the chance of a "first voyage". Anyone who would think that there would not be bugs and glitches is a bit naive, in my opinion, so we went knowing that there would be things that we might be mildly annoyed about, but hoped that the big picture would be a great vacation. And that we had. There were grumbles from many passengers, but it seemed like some were just looking to find things wrong. My view is that people are about as happy as they decide to be (I am not the first to say that, of course) and there were some on the trip who wanted to be able to complain. And of course, there were those looking for free shipboard credits for all their "trouble". (That kind of got to be a joke among some of us - like, ooh - my coffee is a little cold, wonder if I can get some SBC?)

 

So, we thought the ship was beautiful, lots of new touches and updates - more on that in a moment. The one thing that they have to work on is the efficiency of service. They have the staff, they are all so nice and eager to please, but they just have not had time to form their team approach to service. Also, some of the servers seem not to have had as much training as one would have liked, but again, I think with time, that will come. Many of us shared that concern in our comment cards, so I think they are aware and will be working on it. That is my one major ding, I would have to say.

 

The staterooms are great. Lots of room for the 3 of us (me, my husband and 15 year old daughter). There were cabinets and shelves that we never even used! The TVs were cool as already mentioned. The Rain shower is fabulous (you have to push the metal knob - it was the second day before we discovered it) and the bathroom is just lovely with teak wood floors and dark grey and light grey marble. Beds are very comfortable and the butler will bring you your choice of pillows (if you needed other kinds) right away. We didn't have any trouble with getting supplies to our minibar and found the room service to be fine. Anytime more than two people (or if you requested) they would set up the table and use the cloth and do the full set up. Our butler always served our meals - although we didn't order but a few times. Overall, we didn't need the butler for that much. With 3 people, we prefer to do our own packing since we have lots of varied stuff and know where we want things to go, but others had success with that as you have heard. One cute thing - I suspect since our butler wanted to do something special for us, and we really hadn't asked for anything, he was really fired up to do a rose petal and candle bath for my husband and me. My daughter told him that we weren't the sort to take a double bath, but still one night towards the end of the cruise, we came back to the suite and found flickering candles (the fake kind, but very attractive) and rose petals along the bathtub and on the floor mat (in the shape of a heart). He was very proud of his handiwork and we were touched, so I didn't mention that we didn't actually use the bath, but we did admire it and I thanked him very sincerely for such a nice gesture.

 

Okay, back to the ship. We loved what they did with La Terrazza. It is still the breakfast and lunch buffet venue, but the food lines and area is all in a separate room, so that in the evening, those doors are closed and the room truly is like a very nice restaurant. And the food at LT in the evening is just fabulous - the duck parpadelle is wonderful. (Food in all venues was excellent and I saw no signs of any lack of food provisioning, etc). Also, we went to Seshchin one night and were just blown away. I think the charge ($40 pp) is totally justified due to the room, the service and the food. I also like that they do allow you to partake of the complimentary wines with the meal if you choose. Also offered are sake pairing ($40 pp) and the wine matching (maybe $200 total pp, but might not be accurate since I don't really remember since we didn't do that). My husband did the sake and very much enjoyed that, while they did match the complimentary wines relatively well and I was quite happy with that. The room is very intimate but still spacious, and the service here was spot on. No complaints at all about the service here! This was on the level of a high-end New York City restaurant and we enjoyed that meal as much as any we have ever had on Crystal, Regent or Silversea.

 

Oh, a comment about the complimentary wines. As someone has already noted there are several kinds of champagne to choose from and they are poured freely. The other complimentary wines are very well chosen and I was impressed with the quality. Many of them were $25-30 bottle wines and if you didn't like one, another would be offered to suit you. I heard that someone on the ship had said they quality had gone down, but that is just absurd. Another of those who look to find something to complain about!

 

The library is nice. The room is essentially the computer area and the library combined, but that allows a larger space and one with several windows. There were all new and recent novels, non-fiction and reference books. Great selection. I got a couple right at first, but each time I would go back, it still looked like the shelves were full. Also there were books up in the Observation Lounge (more like travel books). There are several card tables and chairs set up in the library, and I never saw all the chairs filled up - even on days where no one was out at the pool due to rain.

 

One person asked about the spa and fitness center. My prediction is that they will need to do a refit at the next dry dock. It is stunning to look at but I think they did not ask real people to actually go through the motions of getting a treatment. Here was the drill I went through:

Check in, get taken to a waiting room, fill out form (all the while wearing my street clothes), sip water, when someone comes and says my therapist will be along shortly, I ask should I not be in a robe for my facial, and they act surprised but then they take me to a small room which appears to be a unisex locker room with two interior doors. One door is a room with a shower and sink for women and one is the same for men. I had to wait for her to open the locker (she had to go to the desk with my key card and then return) and then I had to go into the room and change and then bring all my stuff back into the locker. At that point, I thought I would use the toilet, but wasn't sure where it was. I found someone who could show me - we wound back around the whole spa area. Then I went back to the unisex waiting room (in the skimpy robe - again, one size fits all and the material is not thick) and then my therapist came and we went to the treatment room. Now if I had wanted to incorporate a steam bath or sauna into this whole thing, I would have had to go to an entirely different place in the spa for that (and again, unisex, so you must wear your bathing suit). The part that they rent out ($25/day or $150/cruise) was lovely but those stone recliners are not sized for anyone over about 5'2. We were given a tour and almost laughed as we watched this one man try to get comfortable. He was jamming towels under his back and trying all sorts of contortions to find a position he could lie in on the thing. So, my prediction is that they will be able to re-model once they get more data since they do have a lovely space and plenty of room to do something different (but obviously won't happen for a while). The salon is beautiful and they have little rooms for the services - that is, the manicurist has her own little partition room for manicures and pedicures, which was quite nice for that service.

 

I also wanted to concur about the night life. Never have we had so much fun on a cruise. Lots of action late at night - unheard of on my other SS cruises.....Stars is a lot of fun (Alfreda is great), and definitely don't miss Mark Ferris in the Panorama Lounge. I do like the new lobby bar, and we saw lots of people there at all times of the day. Great meeting place. We didn't hang there much since we liked Mark (in Panorama) more than Amadeo (in Lobby). They had tea in both places each day and also evening snacks so you had a choice. And I think that is one thing that they did very well on the Spirit - give more choices. Lots of places to eat (and I agree the Black Rock outside dining is to die for - just wonderful) and places to listen to music, etc. Also, the shows were snazzier than ever - they seemed to have kicked those up a notch as well.

 

As I went through this 11- page thread, I jotted down a few things to mention and I think I have covered all of those. But let me know if you have additional questions. You now have a totally new crop of folks to hear opinions from and I look forward to those as well.

 

Craig and Wil, please tell Mark and Alfreda I said hello. And Debbie, please let me know your e-mail so I can send you the pictures of you at the cooking class.

 

Best, Janice

[DebbieH103]

I put up 34 more pics of Lisbon on the luxurycruiseandland.com blog. I still don't have the pics in the right category. It is only 8 p.m. here at home, and I am feeling like I need to go to bed. I didn't get to bed until 8 a.m. this morning, and I only slept about 3.5 hours. I am also uploading the Seishin menu right now.

[ging466]

Thankx for sharing your experiences NJBelle. It really sounds wonderful.

 

Sure there were some little problems (expected on a maiden voyage) but everyone seems to have had a great time.

 

Cheers

Jennifer (ging466)

[DebbieH103]

Janice, thanks for posting your insights. It is nice to read them. It was great to meet the 3 of you and hang out a few times. I would love to have got to chat with Katherine more, too.

 

I agree about the oddness of the water areas and locker part of the spa, and having to jet past the aerobics room in bathing suit and robe is a little awkward. Also, the sauna and the steam room are a bit small to be unisex (though never once did I encounter a man. Even me and the two Japanese ladies that were under 5 ft. tall quite filled up the steam room one day, and then the girl that went in the sauna because the 3 of us were in the steam room decided to lay down on the bottom seat in the sauna, so I just did not go in there since I did not want to bother her to get on the top. There really is nowhere to put your stuff when you get down there. I saw no hook, so I stuck my robe up with the towels, something others might not have appreciated.

 

I would also like to second how nice the staterooms are. One thing that Todd and I really think is an improvement is the drapes between the sitting area and the sleeping area. We separate ourselves a lot for an hour or two in the morning or night when we don't always wake up at the same time or go to bed. On the other ships, you tie back the drapes and then try to get them together to close totally so the light doesn't wake you. Well, on Spirit, they are on a nice sliding track, and they close completely. They tuck all the way back totally out of the way, too.

 

It has already been mentioned how nice the sliding doors are out to the balcony, but several of the stewards were not closing them after cleaning. I mentioned that this happened to us, and it happened to others we talked to on more than one occasion. Also, the balconies are bigger than the other ships on the standard verandahs, and the chairs are much nicer, as is the table, and there are footstools.

 

We were the first to use our binoculars, and we really thought they were nice ones. We could see a lot of detail when we were in Lisbon looking at the forts and monuments along the river.

 

Service was definitely an issue but improved each day, and it was never something we thought was a staff to guest ratio. Often, there were just people not knowing what to do. Like in the main bar, sometimes the people with the appetizers (I went there every single night since I stayed around after trivia) would stand at the back and not serve them while people were sitting down waiting. They will just never have a perfect experience in there until they serve proper hot appetizers no matter low wonderfully exotic Helmut's people make those appetizers.

 

I enjoyed lively music and dancing a number of times, and only on Regent on a couple of cruises have I encountered similar experiences.

 

A couple of better wines we have been able to get in the past complimentary just were not onboard, but we have a number of others and were just fine. Much of the time we did not like the featured whites since so many were savignon blancs, but we just asked for something else. When I get the menus up, you can see some of those, but I only have the restaurant menus from the 26th onward, as they did not start printing menus until the 26th.

 

Janice, you can email me @ debbieh@luxurycruiseandland.com or at debbieh103@aol.com. I appreciate you and Eric taking those pics.

 

What were your thoughts on the tours?