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

[RachelG]

Yes, pepper is the correct answer to our trivia question! We needed you on the team.

Thanks for the other well wishes. Wish you all were here. Tom, you are right about the sleeping on land as compared to on the ship. I never sleep sounder than when on the ship in gentle rolling seas. The losing an hour every couple of days really sucks though, to be blunt.

Today the sea is much calmer, and we have sun with warmer temps and not much wind. Perfect for a morning walk about on the top deck. I walked an hour. George joined me for part of it, and there were lots of other people out and about. Pool and hot tubs are filled again, though I imagine the water in the pool would be quite cool.

Lunch in la terraza again. I am loving the salad and pizza concept for our lunch. We we next to David on one side and Wes and Ida on the other. Pretty soon our tables got combined.

Trivia was back to third today due to a transcription error because of my doctor's handwriting. I wrote lutefisk, and David thought I wrote indefisk. At any rate, we also missed the third largest city in South Africa, which we thought was Pretoria, but apparently is Durban, and the substance spilled on the table in the Last Supper painting in front of judas iscariot. We said pieces of silver, though we considered and rejected the correct answer.

Dinner with Wes, Ida, and Myra the beverage and bar manager was lots of fun. I had turbot which was absolutely delicious. George did not like his main course so much. He was trying to be healthy and eat vegetarian, but it was a miss. To make up for it, he had a gooey chocolate cake that looked amazing.

The Russian pianist gave a concert. She is very talented and played some very impressive pieces. Having myself given a recital or two back in the day though, she should have mixed it up some with some more modern show tunes or jazz, or even Gershwin. It was all classical, some was pretty obscure, and I think lost on most of the audience. That said, I enjoyed it.

[Stumblefoot]

He was trying to be healthy and eat vegetarian, but it was a miss. To make up for it, he had a gooey chocolate cake that looked amazing.

Bravo George! Well done. Great reward for trying to eat healthy.

[Delilah21]

Who is the Russian pianist? We were on Regent Mariner last October and they had Russian lady pianist performing wonder if it is the same person? She was very good.

[Mr Luxury]

 

John; the wine tasting had no cost, would have preferred to pay small fee (e.g.,$150) to have tasted half dozen of the top shelf connoisseur wines

 

 

Thanks Wes,that's why you got what you paid for.:D

[WesW]

Breaking news, Silversea just signed Cruise Critic contract today for official meet & greets (thanks for heads up Host Dan)...expect to see a sticky soon with SS/CC meet & greet details. As we often say in the Army with glee, HOOAH!

 

NewLondon, TotheSunset; Thanks you all for your service--GO Army, Navy and RAF!!

 

Delilah21; Pianist is Halida Dinova (pix below)

 

Mr. Luxury..precisely right..having Antinori Tignanello tonight in La Terraza pairing with braised veal shank and polenta.

 

Please enjoy some pix from last night. First shot was taken in the Panorama lounge (Seated, L toR, Rachel, Ida; standing LtoR, George, Wes, David) where we enjoyed pre dinner drinks.

 

 

For Wellseasoned, Dieter hope you enjoy this sunset shot from veranda of the Panorama. Will shoot more sunsets too.

 

 

This pix show us dining with our special Silversea crew leader, Mrya (Bar Manager). We really enjoyed sharing last night’s events with Rachel and George, including pre dinner drinks with David. David met up with Barb & Steve later for their dinner at Stars.

 

 

Pls enjoy pix of the Beef Tournedos wrapped in Prosciutto: (outstanding)

 

 

 

We capped our evening by listening again to the Classical Pianist Halida play in the Show lounge, pix here:

 

 

Believe Rachel, George and I all headed to our suites, Ida headed back to close the Panorama with her dancing shoes. She wanted to share with y'all that our dual tasked suite steward and Panorama DJ, Phraim (pix poster earlier on this thread) is doing an outstanding job as DJ--Ida said he played some mean salsa tunes she enjoyed dancing with one of the Dance hosts, Jay.

 

Today’s highlights: Port Talk (Ponte Delgada, Portugal), Another Wine tasting of comp wines, Cooking Demonstration with Exec Chef Ricardo on the Pool Deck, Radio City Music Hall presentation by producer Steven Rivellino, Choc Tea Time, Team Trivia, Pre Dinner Showtime, “My NY State of Mind” presented by artists of Silversea. Karaoke in the Panorama.

 

Silversea Cruise Profile (SCP)

 

Today meet the ship’s purser/senior accountant Paula Negri.

 

 

Paula hails from Pula, Croatia and has been with Silversea for one year, tho she has a dozen years spent working on Celebrity and Carnival cruise lines. What Paula likes most about working for Silversea is seeing different/interesting places, also she enjoys meeting people of so many different nationalities. As she told me no day is routine or the same. She thanked me for breaking up her daily routine as she rarely gets to see passengers. Paula is responsible for the required ship clearance documentation at every port.

[OrpingtonT]

Many thanks, Wes, for those pictures. In the first one, don't Rachel and Ida look absolutely stunning? We'll pass over the hangers-on at the back.

 

The 4th pic has suddenly changed. I was going to comment that it looked like fish, but it has mysteriously changed to beef, as headed!

[Les Picantins]

Thank you for taking precious time from your vacation to keep us all informed back at home. We will be boarding the Spirit in a few weeks for our very first SS cruise, just received the silver box today. Loved the photo of the embossed toilet paper and can't wait to try a dark chocolat grappa!

[newlondon]

Hi Rachel, Now that you have fallen in with Wes and Ida you'll have to take a little heat also. Looks like a big martini glass in front of you in the group cocktail picture. Did Wes lead you down the road to perdition?

Congrats on being a concert pianist, can't imagine learning all the notes by heart, same as opera. Imagine learning Wagner's Ring Cycle.

Disagree though about selection. We had a wonderful British pianist on our Valpo-BA cruise in 2010. He stuck to classical and some were obscure; but we loved it. Did they have a video of her hands on Spirit?

[Wellseasoned]

Wes, keep having a great time, and thanks for the sunset photo! I see you photoshoped another drink into David's hand. Please make sure that they are stocking a lot of that Bottega Fior di Latte white chocolate grappa for the November crossing. We love it and you can't buy it in the U.S. Give Myra a hug for us.

 

Dieter

[newlondon]

So Wes, Your absolutely gorgeous better half isn't enough? Glad, however to at least meet Rachel in your wonderful posts.

Pleased to see the Atlanta military is no longer green:D

[Mr Luxury]

Well done Wes,all looking good in the pictures but I must ask you if David was a member of the Bee Gees that we didn't know about.;)

 

I have already priced up a Silver Suite for next years April 19th crossing.

[WesW]

OrpingtonT, Mr. Luxury, Les Picantins, NewLondon, Wellseasoned:

 

Thanks all for the thoughtful (xcept Bill’s comments :)) words.

 

Absolutely concur with your compliment Tom, Thank you.

 

Mr. Luxury/John; Curiously, David (Englishman by birth) is still in a London based rock band that played in 60’s, they still play once a year near London. If memory serves David knows and/or played with one of the beatles.

 

Les Piscantins—y’all will relish every moment of your first Silversea experience…careful tho, very addictive.

 

Bill, will ask if there is a vid available on board and ask Halida if she has one she can send a link too.

 

Dieter, we very much enjoyed Myra’s dinner companionship last night. Last night’s sunset pix would have even been better had I thought to get the group outside on the veranda for the shot—maybe in the next few nights.

 

Please enjoy some additional pix taken today on a sea day chock full of fun activities

Below pix show Ricardo, Exec Chief and Marcelo, Restaurant Mgr preparing a delicious bouillabaisse

 

 

 

After another wonderful lunch in La Terraza, we headed up to the Panorama for Ida’s second line dance class. The line dancers and their Captain (Madeline, Artistof Silversea, the Soprano) will get to showcase their line dance moves at the Deck BBQ tomorrow nite.

 

 

While Ida line danced away, headed to Steve Rivellino’s Radio City Music Hall presentatio in the main show lounge. NancyGp/Nancy, Steve absolutely beamed when I told him Larry and you pass your warm regards along.

[RachelG]

Hi, newlondon, funny thing is that the martini glass belongs to Wes. We just arranged seating to get the photo. I pretty much stick to wine and champagne!

[nancygp]

Wes,

 

Thanks for passing regards to Steve.

 

I'm so enjoying your posts and so glad you and Ida are Abington a wonderful journey.

 

Best,

 

Nancy

[Keith1010]

Hi Wes, I am enjoying not only these posts but your posts on Facebook.

 

I really think it is wonderful how you are recognizing members of the crew.

 

And I really enjoy your photos.

 

Best to you and Ida.

 

Keith

[RachelG]

Another beautiful day. Sunny with a slight haze. Temp in the 70s. Not too much wind. Calm seas. Perfect for a morning walk around on deck. George accompanied me, and we did about 4 miles. Several others out walking this am. Lots of people out on the loungers in the sun and even some swimmers in the swimming pool.

There was a nice on deck cooking demo with the chef making a Italian version of bouillabaisse which was very tasty. Perfect day for an al fresco lunch. While we eating, the captain announced that we will arrive in horta at 9am rather than 1 pm, and we will still leave at 7 pm. Great news as it gives us an entire day to explore. I have hired a private driver/guide so have placed an email to him to see if he can pick us up earlier.

2nd in trivia today. The questions were significantly more difficult than previously. We missed 4. The winning team missed 3.

The singers presented a completely new show at 6:45--New York-- and it was great. The singing and dancing totally jelled. Over the top good.

Had dinner with Paul and Colleen. Really fun Time. Early to bed for our tour in horta in the am as we lose another hour which is kicking my butt.

[Rally]

Wes, if you get a chance, please ask Riccardo if he still has the caribou-handled carbon steel knife Mary & Mike gave him on his first Alaska voyage :)

[Herman The Cat]

So enjoying these posts and photos and voyaging vicariously. Great to so many familiar smiling faces. Happy to hear you are having a great time.

The line dancing classes are a blast so glad Ida is taking advantage of them. She'll have to let us know what she's learned--I assume the cupid shuffle, locomotion, watermelon crawl, electric slide and single ladies???

All the workouts are making this sound like cruise boot camp! :)

[Herman The Cat]

By the way, no mention of the CD. A friend on the Panama Canal voyage in mid-March rarely saw him. Is he staying under the radar?

[Sweetpea711423]

Sweetpea,you will be very near to some really good Indian restaurants.

 

www.benaresrestaurant.com Favourite, Chef Atul has two michelin stars (Walking distance)

 

 

www.amaya.biz Book early for this superb indian Grill (ten minute cab ride)

 

www.tamarindrestaurant.com Very smart restuarant in Mayfair

 

www.redfort.co.uk Well established food in Soho

 

 

Mr. Luxury,

 

This was so sweet of you! I can't thank you enough. They all look like great recommendations. Many thanks.

[Herman The Cat]

I think someone mentioned a Thai Poultice massage. If Wanida is still in the spa on the Spirit, try to schedule with her. She is fantastic.

[gf]

Wes and Rachel,

Loving all the reports and pix - thank you!

 

Wes, had lots of rain today, especially on the southside.

[Bramcruiser]

Thanks Wes for posting the highlights of your voyage. As a newbie to Silversea its fun getting to know the line and we look forward to meeting you and Ida and the rest of our roll call in July.

 

Ironic picture...the sunset one! For a few days we are likely not to see a sunset! The midnight sun is one of the highlights of going north in the summer.

 

Otherwise enjoy your crossing.

 

David

[RachelG]

Herman, the Thai poultice massage I had was indeed done by Wanida. She is a master at finding all the kinks and sore spots and working on them.

[RachelG]

Oh, and the CD is Don Fluke. He does trivia every day as well as the announcements. A very nice fellow.