Trip Report: Silver Spirit Part 1

[patnlcc]

So surprised to hear that your vegetarian DH was not catered for. My husband is also vegetarian and on the Cloud in April he was thrilled to bits to be given a whole vegetarian menu to himself every single evening, and every evening it was different. Our fellow passengers began asking for the veggie menu too as they saw what delights were placed in front of him.

[ging466]

So surprised to hear that your vegetarian DH was not catered for. My husband is also vegetarian and on the Cloud in April he was thrilled to bits to be given a whole vegetarian menu to himself every single evening, and every evening it was different. Our fellow passengers began asking for the veggie menu too as they saw what delights were placed in front of him.

 

Yes I was surprised too. On my Whisper cruise, there was a separate menu for vegetarians which looked really yummy. Even though I'm not a vegetarian, I particularly like the food and was hoping the Spirit would have the same thing...obviously not.

 

I wonder why they do different things on different ships....why isn't everything fleet wide?

 

Cheers

Jennifer

[Northerncheapo]

Oh, he was given the vegetarian menu alright and his food arrived wrapped in ham one day and with fish row decorations another day and there was a third infraction that slips my mind right now.

 

I was STUNNED.

 

If he actually rec'd vegetarain meals FROM the vegetarian menu, he would have been pleased!

[chicagogal]

Dear friends:

 

If you every come to Madrid, I know someone who sells Vega Sicilia Único from 1981 for about 150 euros per bottle (it should sell for about 800 - 1,000 euros). He used to own a chain of upscale restaurants and had purchased the whole lot from that year.

 

Most everybody outside of Spain thinks of Spanish red wines being from La Rioja region.

 

Vega Sicilia and other similar wines we like are actually from the Ribera del Duero region -- so when you look at Spanish wines please don't overlook this region because it produces some outstanding wines.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

 

Thanks for the tip on Spanish wine!

 

Patty

[Silver Spectre]

CatServants....we were probably on the previous to yours Whisper voyage. I'm curious if you spoke with anyone worthy the title of Sommelier. We certainly did not. On our cruise, Rose would have been a better choice. F&B manager no better. After years of seamless sailings, I am finding people that are terribly underqualified in positions of power.

In reality, guess that is everyday life.

 

Oregon50 - Other than Lukas, the Head Sommelier (with whom I would not dispute his qualifications), I only spoke with one or two other sommeliers/bartenders/servers the entire cruise who even really liked wine and could convince me that they knew more than what was printed on the bottle labels. I believe Rose may have been one of these, and the other was Zack.

 

I was on the Whisper in September and thought that Lukas was not only knowledgeable but also extremely helpful in finding both white and red wines that I would like from the complimentary holding. Only on two or three ocaisions was the wine of the day to my taste, and there was a shortage of the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that I will drink as a default white. However, having a discussion always produced something that was worth trying. His main assistant, an Indian gentleman whose name I have now forgotten, was also pretty helpful. The others wine waiters, such as Rose and Zack, would always help to find something that one asked for, but their wine knowledge was very limited.

 

I have always found that it pays to speak to the head sommelier early in a voyage and as with most of SS's service, they will try their level best to keep you happy.

[CatServants]

Silver Spectre: Like you, I found Lukas extremely knowledgable, but also like you, I suspect, I often found his selections for the complementary wines to be a bit on the dry and acidic side for my tastes. I speak fondly of Zack because, on a night I wasn't enjoying their red wine, he took the time to ask me what I preferred in a wine, then went back into their storeroom and dug up an 05 St. Emillion Bordeaux. Sadly, it was the last bottle they had in stock.....

 

I don't remember any NZ whites being served during our cruise, which also disappointed me. There were some French SB's (again, often on the dry and acidic side), one from Australia that wasn't half bad, and an extremely acidic Alsace Riesling that no one at our table would touch. But, again, if you don't like what's being served, just ask them to bring something else and they will!

[Rally]

Silver Spectre: Like you, I found Lukas extremely knowledgable, but also like you, I suspect, I often found his selections for the complementary wines to be a bit on the dry and acidic side for my tastes. I speak fondly of Zack because, on a night I wasn't enjoying their red wine, he took the time to ask me what I preferred in a wine, then went back into their storeroom and dug up an 05 St. Emillion Bordeaux. Sadly, it was the last bottle they had in stock.....

 

I don't remember any NZ whites being served during our cruise, which also disappointed me. There were some French SB's (again, often on the dry and acidic side), one from Australia that wasn't half bad, and an extremely acidic Alsace Riesling that no one at our table would touch. But, again, if you don't like what's being served, just ask them to bring something else and they will!

 

We have enjoyed a few sommeliers on SS: Karolina on Shadow, Rudy (not the head sommelier) on Cloud come immediatley to mind. Now, we don't normally drink $60 - $100 bottles at home (as in practicallly never =) but do know what we like. We have never not been offered another choice when we did not care for the suggested wine of the evening. We have had a sommelier offer us a wine he thought we would enjoy (from our previous comments) and told us that there were not enough bottles left to offer it widely, so he put the bottle aside for us. We live in California and know that perfectly drinkable wines are aviallbe for under $10/bottle, and excellent wines in the $25 range. Not rare vintages, certainly, but wines in the 90 - 92 point range (WS) Are the complementary wines on SS great? No. Are they awful? No. Are they as good as they were when a voyage on SS cost twice what it does today? Probalby, but we don't really know. We didn't sail SS then

[Northerncheapo]

Rally; regarding that you never drink $60-$100 bottles of wine at home (I assume you were referring to my line in my op)...keep in mind that I live in Ontario, Canada where our alcohol is HEAVILY taxed to the tune of almost 50%. So, my wines are probably in the $30-$50 dollar range for my buddies in the USA.

 

I often believe that I am single handedly subsidising our health care system through my wine consumption. lol

[Rally]

Rally; regarding that you never drink $60-$100 bottles of wine at home (I assume you were referring to my line in my op)...keep in mind that I live in Ontario, Canada where our alcohol is HEAVILY taxed to the tune of almost 50%. So, my wines are probably in the $30-$50 dollar range for my buddies in the USA.

 

I often believe that I am single handedly subsidising our health care system through my wine consumption. lol

 

Well, yes, I did pick that price range from your post, but didn't mean anything negative. We do have friends who routinely serve wines in that price range and beyond, but we do not. I was raised with table wine, Italian style, which often meant lower alcohol levels, more food-friendly wines, and we didn't talk about all of this and that, but rather that the wine tasted good with the food. That is the type of wine we drink and it is not dearly priced. At least in California. We never order a special bottle in Italy, but order the local wine, which is always fairly priced, lower in alcohol, and goes great with the local food.

 

On our last SS voyage we had the privilege to be with Lynn Farmer, SS Wine Consultant and columnist for Wine Enthusiast Magazine, and talked with him about this. He compared it to truffles: there are those who want to know where and when their truffles where harvested, and there are those who simply enjoy the flavor of truffles in a risotto, or truffle scented olive oil.

 

I hate to think what you must pay for Dimple Scotch (it is an inside joke =)