Silver Spirit Spring Crossing April 3-April 16th (Ft. Lauderdale to Lisbon)

[ansjefitnes]

Hi Wes and Ida,

 

 

Looks like a great cruise, nice pictures remember Wil and Craig from the Maiden TA 2010.

 

We are of on a cruise in 2 days (almost had to cancel due to medical problems with Nick) and looking forward to it.

 

Have super time

 

Warm regards

 

Nick and Maria

[Mr Luxury]

Wes,thanks for the wine selection.

Good to hear that guests are dressing well especially you at the Hot Rocks, the only Gentleman with a jacket on for dinner.

I suppose that when cooking your own food that it might splash fat onto you as is evident in the photo of your other dinner guests wrapping themselves up in napkins.

Will the kitchen cook the food for you and then have it served to you at your table?

 

Wes do you think that the Silver suites would be the best choice due to poor design faults in the regular suites.I prefer the Silver suites on Shadow and Whisper.

 

Keep the reports coming and the great photos.

[englishusa]

Wes must be good at "Photoshop". He has put a glass in my hand on every photo posted!

[ScottToronto]

Good morning,

You made my day. Just read through the postings and although I'm not onboard, you've shared some of your highlights. Makes me feel like I am onboard, even for a few minutes.

 

Thanks Wes for posting the pics of staff. Love it! Looks like you've got some of my favourites on board.

Myra

Rommel

Paolo

Marcello (maître D) which one....Italian or Brazilian?

 

Keep those pics coming. Thanks again for sharing.

 

Enjoy the crossing!

 

ScottToronto

[Nigella]

. And, the White Domaine de Chevalier is about as good as it gets anywhere in the world. A blend of 80 percent Sauvignon Blanc and 20 percent Sémillon from the Pessac-Leognan of Bordeaux, Chevalier's whites are legendary and readily available as they usually produce about 1,500 cases annually. I particularly like it's typical racy start that is coupled to a backbone of acidity that produces a long, long finish. I didn't see it available on our Nov. Whisper voyage, so I'll be sure to seek it out on the Cloud this summer.

 

 

Stumblefoot knows of what he (?) speaks.

I'm a fan of the great whites of the Cote d'Or, but this is up there with them as far as I'm concerned. And I speak as someone who has a very odd palate when it comes to SB, most just don't taste good to me. That 20% Semillon makes all the difference.

You can get some truly heinous Pessac Leognan (especially in UK supermarkets. I'm looking at you, Waitrose!) But this one is utterly outstanding. I would advise anyone who enjoys white wines to give this one a try. And I wish SS had it when we were last on Spirit.

[Nigella]

Wes, very much enjoying your thread. It's wonderful to see the happy faces and the lovely Spirit too. Great memories.

Please keep the posts coming as and when you're able.

[WesW]

Stumblefoot, ansjefitnes, Mr. Luxury, Englishusa, ScottTornoto, Nigella; Thanks for your very gracious words.

 

 

Stumblefoot, tonight it is back to La Terraza (we are dining with RachelG/Rachel and George) will get one of the nice Toscana's. We arranged with our Butler to have a special Indian dinner tomorrow night in the Main Dining Room. Marcelo (Brazilian) already asked me this morning how we want our curry prepared (as hot/spicy as your chef can make it). We will pair our Indian meal with the 2003 DOM we received from our AMX-platinum card bennies. Marcelo also checked on the coffee set up in the main bar for the early morning--had a nice/steaming cup at 4:45 a.m this morning before my hamster (picture a hamster on one of those turning wheels) workout (in fitness facility--as it was pouring rain) got 80 minutes in split between the elliptical and left (thanks for the tip Wellseasoned) recumbent bike. Then in the rain got 25 minutes/of lap swimming in the warm pool. Reward was french toast (ladeled with too much syrup) along w/corned beef hash at breakfast served with outstanding service by Boyke from Bali (who even offered to mail us poop coffee) On our way out told Donato (maitre'd of LT) what an outstanding, friendly server Boyke was. LT is hitting home run after home, whether it is breakfast (best eggs Benedict in 15 cruises yesterday), lunch (Sushi and cheese board are superb daily) or dinner (really grand slam our first dinner). WE have had Weslesly our buter fix one of Ida's shoes when the sole became detached, he brings us fresh berries (all types Wayne) every evening, coordinated with the tailor on board for a very fine needle Ida wanted to fix sequens on one of her dresses. We are enjoying our butler this cruise--like we have not before.

 

Nick & Maria, so wonderful to hear from our Dutch maiden crossers...pls enjoy your short cruise.

 

mm8811/Mary..love jogging on your beautiful Island--ran by a fab nursery yesterday. Thanks for keeping your island so clean

 

John, recommend a silver suite--Wellseasoned stays in both veranda and SS--hopefully he can post about the SSuite.

 

Scott, thanks for your too kind words. Marcelo is the Brazilian restaurant manager--friendly, customer oriented, detailed.

 

Nigella, we agree the French SB is tip top. Your welcome--sincerely our pleasure to post.

 

 

Please enjoy the pix of Silversea's emblem put on every roll of toilet paper in public spaces (amazing attention to lux detail)

 

RACHEL..if you read this you can buy 8 hours of wifi connection here in Hamilton for $5.

 

 

Am leaving in a few minutes to link up with the Food & Bev Mgr, Stephan (already told me Rangpur gin will be available for the Cloud in July) at 11 a.m to interview take photos of some deserving crew.

[dougburns]

Dieter and Debbie are Wellseasoned. What can I say about Wes with his arm around Myra; that's just Wes and his Army ways. Sorry that frontal system caught up with you guys. Hope it's ahead of you on the crossing, so you don't have miserable weather during the crossing. Great pics, Wes. Thanks!

[Keith1010]

Wes, I am really enjoying your posts including the photos such as the dinner photos. Everyone looks very happy and the food looks great too. Continue to enjoy the cruise with Ida and your fellow travelers.

 

Keith

[Tothesunset]

Really enjoying this ''ship's log''.

 

We thought Marcello (M d' in MDR) was outstanding during our Pacific Voyage. We tended to go to dinner with either a rowdy group of drunken Brits or an equally rowdy but more abstemious group of North Americans. He made sure that the waiting staff and tables were fit for our needs!

 

We found the Gym area somewhat hot - pounding away on the treadmill with no breeze caused a certain clamminess that a bit more AC would have dispelled. Maybe it's just us - coming from the tundral wastes of Eastern Britain and all that.

 

One small point: the table you were sitting at in the Hot Rocks picture - you do know that is our table, don't you? I sincerely trust you are maintaining the newly established tradition of putting that table to its full alcoholic use!

 

Good to hear you are all having such a wonderful time. She's a grand Lady, the Silver Spirit.

[WesW]

Silversea Crew Profile (SCP)

 

Please meet one of the behind the scenes/key Spirit crew members instrumental for us enjoying our cruise.

 

First, as fellow galley crew members refer to him "uno," Marvin Ynot. Marvin has been with Silversea for 11 years. He is from the Philippines, is married with three children (ages 15, 11, and 3). He stays in touch with his family via skype.

 

Marvin is in charge of the Sanitation team (dishwasing, cleaning in the galley, pool grill). His team just earned their second in a row (Spirit has two of these major inspections per year) 100% USPH inspection when we were docked at Ft. Lauderdale. Bravo!

 

What Marvin likes most about working on Silversea is the nice pay, working with fellow gally team members, and Silversea treats you like a member of the family.

 

 

Below is a pix of Stephan the F&B mgr, Marvin and one his sanitation crew, Romeo. More on Romeo next post.

 

 

Mr. Luxury, here are some of the top French bordeaux selections on board; Chateau Margaux, Chateau La Tour, Cas d'Estounel Grand Cru, Chateau Lynch-Bages Grand Cru, Chateau Beychevelle, Chateau Leoville Barton Grand Cru.

 

Speaking of wine, our Tvl Agent's owner emailed me last night saying how he read my posts (both here and on Facebook) and noted how we enjoyed wine. He said buy any bottle you like for the guests he booked (ten folks) and he will pay for it. Believe we will have the Caymus Special Select at our next Hot Rocks meal (April 12th)

[txladycruiser]

I'll have to try Rangpur and compare it to my beloved Sapphire.

[Conte Di Savoia]

I’m really enjoying your postings on your spring TA on the Spirit and seeing some of the folks who traveled with us on the Fall 2011 reverse voyage. A big “Howdy” to Steve and Barb from Carl and Dale. Sorry we didn’t join you on this one but we will be right behind you on the Cloud. We leave from Barbados on the 22nd.

 

By any chance is Angela Clark singing in Stars? She was a highlight of our trip that November. If she is, say hi for us and tell her we are still awaiting her arrival on Broadway.

 

I thought I was the only one who took pictures of toilet paper. I hope you don’t have the necessity of using too much of it. That would be a shame. The best toilet paper presentation I ever saw was at the Governor’s House Inn in Charleston where the paper was folded into a beautiful rose. Let me know if you want the JPEG for your collection!

[palamoh]

Wes, Sheila and I will be on the April 22nd (Cloud) Transatlantic to Lisbon, so have been following your Wine Suggestions with great interest. Keep them coming, always interested in a new find. Glad I'm not following you on the next Spirit Cruise after you leave, the Gym equipment will all be worn out. When you leave the ship, please give our regards to Jose, believe he will be your guest for lunch. We have booked a 2 day Tour of the Lisbon area with him, and asked for one of the days strictly to visit the Winelands and Wine Tasting. Always favored a good strong Port w/Cheese. Again keep us posted on your Wine Ventures

[Stumblefoot]

Stumblefoot, tonight it is back to La Terraza (we are dining with RachelG/Rachel and George) will get one of the nice Toscana's. We arranged with our Butler to have a special Indian dinner tomorrow night in the Main Dining Room. Marcelo (Brazilian) already asked me this morning how we want our curry prepared (as hot/spicy as your chef can make it). We will pair our Indian meal with the 2003 DOM we received from our AMX-platinum card bennies.

Wes,

 

You're inspiring us to experiment and seek new adventures in food & beverage. My DW and I know absolutely nothing about Indian food and wouldn't even know where to start. But your trust in the chefs of SS gives us confidence to maybe make our first attempt whilst aboard the Cloud in June. Also, I don't know much about gin, other than it was in the first alcoholic drink I ever had many, many years ago; Tom Collins. How should I enjoy your Rangpur if it's available in June?

 

Have a great time with your friends Rachel and George in La Terrazza tonight and hunting for your favorite Tuscans! I can share with you if you see the '07 Antinori Bolgheri Superiore Tenuta Guado as Tasso for $75, it's a good deal at 25% below retail. On the Whisper in November we found it full-bodied with a chewy long finish. Tannins were still be a bit ripe, but a good hour of decanting will make this serious wine tone down for sure.

 

Thanks for letting all of us enjoy your & Ida's voyage Wes.

[RachelG]

It totally poured rain last night while we were at Hot Rocks. Like a monsoon! We had to change tables 3 times before we found one where we were only slightly damp. But the food was quite good, and the concept is fairly unique. Wes and his party showed up as we were finishing off. Word to the wise-- I saw a lady who was sitting at the table next to us, and she showed me her blistered finger as she had touched the lava rock. Yes, it really is hot!

This am, very overcast as it had poured all night. Steve, Barb, George and I went to church at Wesley Methodist church. Very nice service with lots of friendly people who were happy to have visitors. The choir and organist did an outstanding job.

Lunch in the dining room, then we took a nice short hike up to fort Hamilton and poked around. On the way back for all aboard at 3:30, we walked by the AME church and were invited to a funeral. I think they seriously would have welcomed us in, but no time.

Great walk about during sail away followed by trivia. We are again in 3rd, which seems to be our usual spot. Not sure how to break ahead of that.

Now having some more mobile seas. George is loving that. Tonight is La terraza with Wes and Ida.*

 

 

Agree with poster above about the exercise room. It is way hot and stuffy. I have to have a fan turned on if I exercise indoors, and there is none. I soldiered on the other day and was able to do 45 min, but thought I was going to die.

[WesW]

TxLadyCruiser/Karen & Wayne, Conte/Carl & Dave, Palamoh/Mitch, Stumblefoot;

 

We are now about an hour out of Hamilton, and rocking and rolling pretty good, whitecaps are visible everywhere you look. Even banging noses from the Spirit as we plow through these tubulent seas. Hope these sea conditions are not what we are facing multiple sea days until we arrive in Horta, Azores on April 12th. Glad we popped our meclizine/bonine at 3:30pm.

 

Karen, our preference is Rangpur with Gin & Tonics. We use Tanqueray for our Gin (stirred not shaken) Martini’s w/3 blue cheese stuffed olives.

 

Carl/Dave; You lounges on deck 8 aft are calling your names for the Fall crossings. We have many maiden crossers doing this fall crossing (Nov 9-25) join us?

 

Stumblefoot, thanks for the wine tip—will get it if available tonight (and the La Terraza menu has changed from when we dined there last Wednesday. Absolutely place yourselves in the comfortable hands of the Silversea culinary team and enjoy a fab Indian Dinner (we had our last Indian dinner celebrating our 25th Anniversary on board the Maiden crossing back in Jan 2010. We may make one more special order (steak diane) to pair with our next wine package (California Reds; includes Shafer’s Relentless, Sbragia’s Zin and another CA Red that I can’t recall right now.

 

Ida did power yoga today and hit the elliptical for an hour. I got 50 minutes jogging in/around beautiful Hamilton just before last call at 3:30pm. Prep for our Italian feast tonight 

 

Let’s also do another Silversea Crew Profile (SCP)

 

SIlversea Crew Profile

Today we introduce Romeo Celon Jr, another proud member of the Silversea Spirit Sanitation Team whose work goes on behind the scenes but is critical to guests enjoying a clean, healthy ship.

 

 

Romeo has been with Silversea almost two years, hails from the Phillipines. He is married and keeps in touch with his wife via email and Skype. Romeo’s work day centers around meal times; he works from 9 am to noon, 2pm until 5pm, then again from 8pm until midnight. And once per week as a member of the Sanitation team they perform a deep cleaning (disassemble and clean the galley’s dishwashers.

What Romeo likes most about working with Silversea on the Silver Spirit is he is well paid, the work atmosphere on board is very conducive/respectful to team work, he feels he is a member of the big Silversea family.

[englishusa]

A little "choppy" tonight. 4th. Trivia in a row that we came in 3rd. My fault, changed 2 correct answers at the last minute! We need a more stable scribe.

[bsrkent]

I’m really enjoying your postings on your spring TA on the Spirit and seeing some of the folks who traveled with us on the Fall 2011 reverse voyage. A big “Howdy” to Steve and Barb from Carl and Dale. Sorry we didn’t join you on this one but we will be right behind you on the Cloud. We leave from Barbados on the 22nd.

 

By any chance is Angela Clark singing in Stars? She was a highlight of our trip that November. If she is, say hi for us and tell her we are still awaiting her arrival on Broadway.

 

I thought I was the only one who took pictures of toilet paper. I hope you don’t have the necessity of using too much of it. That would be a shame. The best toilet paper presentation I ever saw was at the Governor’s House Inn in Charleston where the paper was folded into a beautiful rose. Let me know if you want the JPEG for your collection!

 

Hi to Carl & Dale and all of you following this great cruise from the delightful postings from both Wes & Rachel. We (Steve & Barb) didn’t think y’all needed a third source for the same quite accurate account... well except maybe EnglishUSA’s thought that the trivia team needed a new scribe... we’re doing fine and having fun as a team...

Best to all

[Wellseasoned]

Wes, you asked me to comment about the Silver Suites. Overall, we prefer the layout on the smaller ships. But, the Silvers on the Spirit are huge and very comfortable. The verandas are great, large and furnished well. The closet is immense, with three separate entrances, which is really overkill. The bedroom can be separated from the living area by two heavy wooden sliding doors. The vanity is strange, occupying a triangular area between bed and bathroom with the mirror rather far away. (but it does not require a vault over the bed to clear if someone is using it as in the veranda suites.) I prefer the shower in the veranda suites. In the Silver, the shower is wide side to side but narrow front to back, which makes it seem smaller. Still only two electrical outlets, so bring your multiplug. The TV's are not built into the mirrors as in the verandas. But it is huge, and you can have some nice parties! Remember, the Silvers on the Spirit are all forward on decks 10 and 11, so you will feel the sea a lot more than in a lovely veranda on a lower midship deck. This is fine for us Navy folk, but it might cause a problem for some of the landlubber Army guys like Wes!

[Wellseasoned]

Wes, Debbie and I are really enjoying your posts, and it is as if we hadn't really disembarked a month ago! You and Ida should keep having a great time, and thank you for including all of us in it! May your weather improve, and I want to see a nice sunset photo!

 

Dieter

[Ravenscroft]

Wes, thanks so much for a great thread. I'm so enjoying your mini interviews aka 'crew profile' with crew members. I've seen you do that on a thread on the Regent board last year and found it very interesting.

 

Great reading, thank you!

[Mr Luxury]

Wes, you asked me to comment about the Silver Suites. Overall, we prefer the layout on the smaller ships. But, the Silvers on the Spirit are huge and very comfortable. The verandas are great, large and furnished well. The closet is immense, with three separate entrances, which is really overkill. The bedroom can be separated from the living area by two heavy wooden sliding doors. The vanity is strange, occupying a triangular area between bed and bathroom with the mirror rather far away. (but it does not require a vault over the bed to clear if someone is using it as in the veranda suites.) I prefer the shower in the veranda suites. In the Silver, the shower is wide side to side but narrow front to back, which makes it seem smaller. Still only two electrical outlets, so bring your multiplug. The TV's are not built into the mirrors as in the verandas. But it is huge, and you can have some nice parties! Remember, the Silvers on the Spirit are all forward on decks 10 and 11, so you will feel the sea a lot more than in a lovely veranda on a lower midship deck. This is fine for us Navy folk, but it might cause a problem for some of the landlubber Army guys like Wes!

Wellseasoned,

Thank you for your description of the Silver suites on the Spirit.

The only thing is their position,high up and forward which my wife will not like.

I do get the feeling that the Shadow and Whisper are a much better designed ship,all things considered.

Are there better suites that are more central and not so high up?

[Mr Luxury]

Wes,

Thank you for the wine selection.

No matter how much wine I try from around the world my palate always comes back to French wines for when it really matters.

[ansjefitnes]

Hi Wes thanks again for your reports.

 

Tomorrow its our turn to cruise again and its not a short 2 day but a 18 day cruise with hopefully some warm weather.

 

Have fun

 

 

Maria