Live Silver Spirit Maiden TA Crossing

[cechase]

Hve a great time duct tape and I am with you on letting a ship mature. Maybe the end of 2010????? Who knows?

 

I agree with duct tape's and Goldens4's comments about allowing the crew and service on a brand new ship mature. That is why I held off booking a cruise on Spirit until this coming October. Really don't know what the attraction is to be the first to experience something new, when you know or should know that there will be growing pains with all new personnel working together for the first time.

 

The size of the Spirit should not be a problem, because my late wife and I had cruised on much much larger ships on Celebrity. We did not know what we were missing until we took our first cruise on Shadow. I am hoping that the service and ambiance on Spirit will be similar to Shadow when I board her.

[Maineac]

Greetings Wes,

We're so pleased to hear that you and Ida are enjoying the crossing.

It sounds like you have a lively group accompanying you. We wish you much merrriment.

 

Cheers,

Judy

[TheFerret]

I grabbed a table napkin, folded it over my arm and delivered the Navy's cocktail of choice to Doug--SHIRLEY TEMPLE

 

Now that's funny!!! :p

 

I just have to ask:my husband flew a desk in the Air Force -- what would his drink be?

[Guest largo162]

To Wellseasoned:

Hi Dieter. Your description of a Silver Suite was very helpful. Could you please elaborate on where the bedroom TV is located if it is not in the mirror. If its like the one in the living room, would it not block the view of the bedroom mirror? Thanks and hope you are enjoying your cruise.

[WesW]

A glorious day on the Spirit maiden crossing yesterday in sunnry (70 degrees) tenerife, Canary Islands. As Garrison Keillor yesterday in his column ("A Floating Village") this voyage is not only exceptionally special

due to this brand spanking new ship but most importantly warm smiles, pos attitude of the staff/crew/pax--the Spirit Village if you will. Not only

is the crew & staff passionate, welcoming and gracious our fellow pax are equally so.

 

Well Seasoned (Dieter) and Debbie gave Ida and I a tour or their Silver suite before lunch yesterday--absolutely gorgeous..thanks Well Seasoned.

 

Got an afternoon six mile run in along the coast right near the port...at about the 3 mile point saw the most stunning, iconic

Opera house I have ever seen (have only seen the Sydney Opera house in photos). Btw, the pool is heated (first lux line

ship pool I have used for lap swimming that is heated---kudos to SS)

 

Dieter the gals and I had dinner last night in the Silversea Grill Room under the stars--superb in absolutely every way. Alfresco

dining, telepathic service (wine, water, bread, bernaise sauce) magically appeared/refreshed w/o asking once. Ship's Captain

came over to chat and say hello (Captain Corsaro--saw him earlier in the day walking by Ida and I on the upper/sheltered pool deck

and he was carrying a nice shopping bag..Ida asked if he enjoyed his shopping--he laughed. He explained when a new ship arrives at a port

for the very first time, the port bestows on the Captain a beautiful plaque--this is what was in the bag...He will then have Paolo (HD) place it

on the wall with other new plaques. Our waiter Alves let me have the attractively printed Grill Room menu, here is what it says:

 

Here at Silversea we installed the Black Rock Grill as a convival dining concept that enables stone grilling by cooking on heated

lava rocks. It is our own Silversea "Grill Room under the Stars." Your orders will be served rare from the galley but the unique feature

of the rocks will allow you to cook the meats to your desired level of doneness. We hope you enjoy this concept and please do not

hesitate to ask your waiter for any assistance, explanation you might need" signed Head Sommelier,Executive Chef and Restaurant

Manager.

 

Ecstatic we made two Grill room reservations on boarding and have another night to dine (with Doug and Lynn Burns) the evening

we reach St. Barts. The Grill room is now our fav Spirit dining venue and we have only been to 5/6 dining venues Wholeheartedly agree with Muse Cruiser--grill room is the bomb, altho, we have been to La Terraza (twice), Restaurant, Seishin, Pool Grill but we do not have our Journey Through Italy and Spanish Sun dinners in Le Champagne until 14, 16 Jan respectfully. Look forward to posting about these. In sum, the dining is exquisite, tasty and and u get wonderful variety.

 

Only niggles I have since boarding; the veranda suites are just to narrow (not enough room for you to pass your wife as she

uses the vanity--thus u crawl over the bed to help yourself to your fav libation...and the gym, free unisex spa/sauna and unisex

locker room are too small and not appropriate for the scale/size of this ship vis-a-vis those areas on the Shadow and Whisper.

 

 

more to follow

[meow!]

Only niggles I have since boarding; the veranda suites are just to narrow (not enough room for you to pass your wife as she

uses the vanity--thus u crawl over the bed to help yourself to your fav libation

Thank you, Colonel, glad that you are having a great time.

 

The following is what we wrote about the Shadow in December, 2004

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=112477

The clearance from this make-up module counter to the end of the bed was 25", and from the wall to the bed was a generous 37", ample to walk by when nobody was sitting on the stool. However, it so attracted the female cat that she spent more than half an hour there each day, and the male cat had to squeeze past her to get from one end of the cabin to the other. Or worse, he had to climb over the bed when she was doing her delicate eyelashes .. meow!

[dougburns]

Wes has covered most of the stuff, so I'll just add a few comments. Had dinner with the Chief Engineer, who has been with the ship since the day the keel was laid. Given the circumstances, the engineering folks aboard have accomplished a herculean task and continue to do so. I thought the butlers would be just glorified stewards- NOT SO! For instance, our butler is a college graduate; had a year at the Oberoi in Sri Lanka and 3 years at Burg el Arab in Dubai and is starting his first job at sea. He is outstanding and is typical of the new butlers. The crew is just having to get used to the new ship, since it's completely different than the other ships in the SS fleet in ways that we, the pax don't see. Lynn and I are completely happy campers and believe that 95% of the other pax are as well. At least everyone is smiling and friendly.

[ging466]

I'm so glad I don't have to share my suite:D:D:D

 

Cheers

Jennifer (ging466)

[DebbieH103]

Wes, when you say the gym is too small, do you mean the aerobics room or the room w/ the machines? I never saw more than two people at a time in either. If more than 4 came to an aerobics class, I think that room would not work too well at all.

 

We did not have issues with the pathway being too narrow, but I used the bathroom or the living room (hence why I would like that TV to be invisible, too). Overall, we found the suite so comfortable.

 

I also thought the silver suites were quite beautiful, and I am sure my pics did not do them justice, but we were worried the people were going to show up since we did not get up there till 2:30.

 

From that description of the Journey of Italy on the menu I got from Le Champagne, it truly looks yummy. Let me know how the veal dish is.

 

I'd love to hear more about Canary Islands.

[WesW]

debbie, my guess (Ida concurs and has used the aerobics room on the Spirit and

on the Shadow/Whisper) is the Spirit aerobics room is about 1/2-1/3 as large as the S/W ones..the Spirit also does not have a separate dance class room like on the Shadow/Whisper. Ida was in the Total Body Conditioning workshop last

night at 5 along with 8 other women and (seriously) they looked like sardines in

a can. As you well posted the unisex spa/sauna has multiple "maiden" problems that can

be fixed soon (no hooks for robes in unisex spa/saunda, no soap in dishes (when I asked for a bar Monday night, the spa attendant handed me a "used bar" so now I bring my own from the suite..no hot water in span/sauna shower or unisex locker room (Domingo, spa manager knows this and they are working to fix..he offered to turn it to hot a half hour before I use the spa to get it luke warm tho) Altho, love the jumbo rain shower heads..too bad the water is not hot. There are also no hooks (for your robe) in men's unisex locker room. Frankly, the unisex spa/sauna is not user friendly. However, absolutely love the state of the art lifefitness elipticals/treadmills/one recumbant bike and the lifefitness anerobic equipment, along with dumbells up to 50 lbs..(can almost replicate my wt lifting routine on land on board.

 

Ida has now switched doing her make up to the bathroom, but since there is not a recepticle for her curling iron or hair dryer (only one for an electric shaver) she hasto go out to the space between bed and mirror (meow's precise details above help

describe the current situation)..however, as told I learned from a fellow pax, the veranda suite is one foot narrower than the S/W and a foot longer.

 

Will ask Gary and Carol the post about the Canary Islands since they did excursions

on both Las Palmas and Tenerife and I only did six mile runs on each. Carol just walked in to computer room and will relay to me her thoughts about the canary islands; they did a full day tour in Tenerife, they went to a volcano (long drive to get to the volcano, weather was overcast in a.m. making it

tough to see anything on the drive up)...she says Tenerife is very clean/lush lots of beautiful botantical gardens (tour included a native lunch--but carol forgot to ask tourguide what they were eating). Carol relates both tenerife and las palmas tour guides were very good and tour sizes were reasonably small 19/25). Las Palmas is also a beautiful island, incredible sand dunes, huge 4-5 star hotels ring the coast, on their las palmas 1/2 day tour they were able to shop.

 

btw, thanks to Doug & Lynn for offering Gary and Carol and Ida access to their grand suite balcony during the Tenerife sailaway (they had dinner with the chief engineer at 8pm and had to go)...just to echo Doug's comments about the excellence of their butler..he soon brought fresh champagne for us and canapes (with cavier, foi gras (sp) (doug did not ask him to do this)..tho, as u know Debbie we are still training our butler/Nick.

 

Eric (lord of seas) will check the connoseir (sp) wine list and get back to you..we are having our AMX-Platinum "Dom" served to begin our special

Indian Dinner then will get a Brut Rose to finish off the list. Will try to post general selections tomorrow am

[meow!]

, as told I learned from a fellow pax, the veranda suite is one foot narrower than the S/W and a foot longer.

That sounds unlikely as the total space has been increased. To make the cabin a foot narrower and a foot longer will decrease the total space. The Shadow/Whisper's standard cabin is 9' 8.5" wide. Can someone somehow measure the width (from wall to wall) of the Spirit's standard cabin? Thank you.

[palamoh]

Wes, be careful of Dieter's Debbie, she'll steal your heart away. I sailed with the both of:) them on the Shadow in Sept. They are first class people. So Glad to hear everyone is enjoying themselfs. No doubt the weather adds to the cheer of everyone and of course calm seas. Keep up with your postings I look forward to reading them each day.:)

[DebbieH103]

Thanks, Gary and Carol for relaying the info on the tours thru Wes. Wes, thanks for the meaty post.

 

I find it hard to believe the cabins are narrower, too since the balcony is bigger, but it is hard to tell with the way the cabinetry is so different. I think a lot of the issues are really due to the shortness of plug-ins vs. the size of anything. Bringing a European converter for Americans and/or a strip would solve a number of issues but would not solve the need for chronic device users who have to drape the cord across the bed or the living room to use them. The cabins are so much nicer than on so many ships and truly were a lot of comfort to us since each of us were ill on opposite halves of the cruise. I am sure Nickel and our steward were amazed at how much time we spent in the cabin.

 

It makes sense that the gym is more widely used on a TA cruise. Since ours was so port-intensive with a lot of long days in port and 3 overnights, these areas were not widely used.

 

The robe hooks in the steam/sauna would be easy to do and very much appreciated since the whole area is not well-laid out. One thing that has not been mentioned is that when you actually try to find the locker area/steam area, etc., the areas are not well labeled. For instance, when you come into that locker area, the door reads "Shower", and I was really afraid of what I was walking into for fear I might be intruding on someone. It was not obvious this was a group area. Yes, I had been taken in there on the way in, but the escort already had opened the door by the time I walked up. It was upon my return from the steam and sauna where I was confused.

 

I also agree that the equipment room is nice. Is the satellite working on the machines yet?

[cruzemaven]

Thanks, Gary and Carol for relaying the info on the tours thru Wes. Wes, thanks for the meaty post.

 

I find it hard to believe the cabins are narrower, too since the balcony is bigger, but it is hard to tell with the way the cabinetry is so different. I think a lot of the issues are really due to the shortness of plug-ins vs. the size of anything. Bringing a European converter for Americans and/or a strip would solve a number of issues but would not solve the need for chronic device users who have to drape the cord across the bed or the living room to use them. The cabins are so much nicer than on so many ships and truly were a lot of comfort to us since each of us were ill on opposite halves of the cruise. I am sure Nickel and our steward were amazed at how much time we spent in the cabin.

 

It makes sense that the gym is more widely used on a TA cruise. Since ours was so port-intensive with a lot of long days in port and 3 overnights, these areas were not widely used.

 

The robe hooks in the steam/sauna would be easy to do and very much appreciated since the whole area is not well-laid out. One thing that has not been mentioned is that when you actually try to find the locker area/steam area, etc., the areas are not well labeled. For instance, when you come into that locker area, the door reads "Shower", and I was really afraid of what I was walking into for fear I might be intruding on someone. It was not obvious this was a group area. Yes, I had been taken in there on the way in, but the escort already had opened the door by the time I walked up. It was upon my return from the steam and sauna where I was confused.

 

I also agree that the equipment room is nice. Is the satellite working on the machines yet?

 

You mention bringing a European converter...are there sockets for American electronics?

[DebbieH103]

Yes, I mentioned this in the live maiden thread after Craig said they were doing OK with their stuff because Craig brought his converter.

 

There is one European and one American at each of the two cabinets and then the bathroom shaver plug. I am just saying if you bring either the converter or a strip, you can increase the plugs available to you.

[MuseCruiser]

Incredible dinner in the restaurant, and I do mean incredible. Last night, I asked them if they'd prepare for me a dover sole for the main course for tonight (I saw someone else having one and it looked great). They did, and I must say, it was spectacular. Beautifully sauteed, filleted at the table, and was as good as I've had on land, anywhere. Last night, as well, I saw on the cheese trolly an Epoisses (from Burgundy), my favourite cheese and not often found on ships. Instead of dessert, I had the Epoisses tonight after the sole; fabulous.

 

You're going to hear about a great dinner that Col. Wes and Ida had tonight....I know they were really looking forward to it and word on the street was it didn't disappoint.

 

Made yet again my apparently daily contribution via the casino. Man!

[CASHIPman]

Just to follow on...so far all the food venues I've tried have had excellent food. ( I haven't tried Seishin as I'm not a fan of seafood)

Nice sized portions*, excellently prepared. Kudos to the cooking staff!

 

* No, I will not weigh the beef, measure the circumference of the torts or calculate the density of the pasta.

[BILLP1]

I admire your will power . I would have had both. Just can not pass up dessert or the cheese.

[Wellseasoned]

Largo 162, The Silver suite LCD tv's are atop cabinets, There are no mirrors near the tv's. The bedroom dressing table and mirror are in their own alcove at the back of the bedroom, beyond the bed and bathroom door. There is also a full length mirror in the closet. The closet is huge and has three separate doors from bedroom and hallway. I'll try to send a photo or two soon, bandwidth willing.

 

Palamoh, thanks for the compliments, but now Debbie is getting a swelled head. Your Sheila is quite a prize too!

 

Echoing Doug and Wes, things have really settled down nicely, service is great, the crew is outstanding as usual. The pool stone grill is a major hit. The butler concept took a small amount of getting used to since it adds a layer of communication, but it seems to be working well. As I said before, our butler is very pleasant and competent and has handled our few requests promptly and well.

 

And now that I know about that dover sole...

 

Dieter

[WesW]

Gorgeous seaday for our first of six on this crossing. Sunny temps in high 60's, pool deck was near full (about 200 folks) enjoying the sun, beautiful sea views, exceptional SS pool deck service (I get asked at least hourly, If I would like a beverage and as soon

as I sit in these wonderful high back chairs, that I prefer to lounger. There were two enrichment lectures (Origins of Madiera Wine, and Henry the Navigator (from Lisbon)), Dance classes, language classes (many more activities) and an exceptional classical pianist was featured in the show lounge last night.

 

As Dieter posted above SS did a remarkable job helping Ida and I celebrate our Silver (anniversary) on Silversea. Antonio (Restaurant Manager) and Alves (Asst Mgr) clearly saw to every detail...It begin after a delicious lunch in La Terrazza, where I approached Antonio asking where I should bring our bottle of Dom we got from AMX-Plat cruise benefits...he said, don't bother bringing it now, we will just serve you a chilled bottle in the Restaurant (2000). Later, I just brought our 2004 Dom and gave it to Antionio at 8pm. Our Indian feast included; curry prawns, tandori chicken, basmiti rice, nah, lady fingers, and three other dishes I cannot pronounce/remember..they are providing Ida the recipes. For desert SS brought a chocolate anniversary cake (best I have ever had) as they sat it down at our table, about half-dozen SS servers and (Doug, Lynn, Emmy, Maria, Nick, Gary, Carol--came over and ambushed us) as they all sang Happy Anniversary. I sent the cake over to their table, Carol took a bite and immediately said, OMG how delicious. Doug (the true romantic)then arranged for the lobby bar pianist to play the anniversary song as we danced (ida choked up) to cap a wonderfully, romantic evening--special thanks to SS and our very special CC Silversea freinds. SS was not done, Ida and I retired early and walked in our suite, surprised with two towel swans facing each other, surrounded by over a 100 rose petals on our bed and suite table, the rest our our chocolate masterpiece cake..and personal handwritten Happy Anniversary card from Captain Corsaro.

 

Also, SS placed very nice SS engraved, "inaugural season" tote bag with two blue SS baseball caps in each suite Thursday.

 

Thanks Dieter for the Doversole recommnedation will put that in my dining ruck sack for a future Restaurant meal.

 

Lord of Seas/Eric..here are a few of the Connoiseur Wine list featured selections:

 

Dom 2000

Cristal 2000

Dom Rose 1998

 

Domaine De Chevallie blanc de chateau (sb) 2006

Gaja Rossj Bass, C &SB 2007

 

New World: Beringer Chard Priv Rsv 2007

Cloudy Bay SB 2006

 

Red

 

Chateau Pichon Lalande Deuxieme Grand Cru Classe 2003

Gaja Barbesco 2005

Tenuta Sassicaia, 2005

Antinoti Ornellaia, 2005

Mediterranean reds (some nice spanish riojas)

 

New World (e.g Opus One, Phelps Insignia, Caymus Sp Select CAB, Duckhorn merlot

[ging466]

Colonel Wes

 

You sure sound like u had a wow of a time at dinner last night, it all sounds wonderful.

 

Happy Anniversary to u and Ida. What a truly spectacular way of celebrating your special day.:)

 

Thankx for spending so much time reporting back to us all.

 

Best wishes

Jennifer (ging466)

[Guest largo162]

Wellseasoned, thanks for your description of the Silver Suite bedroom and TV setup. I look forward to any pictures you may kindly post.

[irishteddybear]

Just to follow on...so far all the food venues I've tried have had excellent food. ( I haven't tried Seishin as I'm not a fan of seafood)

Nice sized portions*, excellently prepared. Kudos to the cooking staff!

 

* No, I will not weigh the beef, measure the circumference of the torts or calculate the density of the pasta.

 

 

Well said, Mind you I am sure there will be some very upset people out there now contemplating cancelling an upcoming cruise if the Linguini is not the right size for there liking!!:):):):):)

 

Delighted all the eating venues are providing excellent food, nothing less then you would expect from SS!!

 

Hope you have a nice smooth TA crossing!!!

[duct tape]

Col Wes & Ida...Happy Anniversary! MuseCruiser...epoisse is my FAV also!

[DebbieH103]

I'm glad the anniversary and all the other meals for everyone are going great, lots of special ordering.

 

That is great that Amadeo played for a dance.

 

It really is great to meet other CCers on board the ships.