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

[WesW]

Ponte Delgada tour pix of City Market (fruits, veggies, fish, roosters, et. Al)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WesW]

More Ponte Delgada tour pix:

 

 

 

 

 

Silversea Cruise Profile (SCP)

 

Today, let’s also meet one of the outstanding Reception team members, Lilia Batalova.

 

 

Lilia hails from the Ukraine and has been with Silversea for about half a year. More than likely when you first board, Lilia or one of her reception mates will take your picture and issue you your coveted suite key card. What Lilia likes most about working for Silversea is she gets to meet interesting people from all around the world. She also very much enjoys assisting guests solve on board problems. Finally, she enjoys daily discovering this wonderful World, port by port.

[duct tape]

Thanx, Wes and Rachel!

[Mr Luxury]

Mr. Luxury, if you cannot get Nespresso on board, the Pixie model, in it's carrying case (sold separately), can be easily packed in your luggage. Two weeks of capsules fit in the water reservoir.

 

Thank you for the suggestion but the wife says that the Nespresso machine will take up valuable room for shoes.:rolleyes:

[Paulchili]

Wes,

I am (very) late to this party but I want to thank you for the great live reports and pictures, esp. those of Ponta Delgada. We will be there in November on the Riviera TA from Barcelona to Miami.

Please say "hi" from us (Paul and Marsha) to Orange County Murphy (Paul & Colleen) - they were on the trivia team with us on the Marina March '11 TA. Also a belated Happy Birthday wish to Paul (April 7th).

Enjoy the remainder of your trip.

Thanks,

Paul

[wripro]

Wes,

 

You are truly a great ambassador for SS and make us all wish we were onboard with you. Thanks.

[Paulchili]

Wes,

 

You are truly a great ambassador for SS and make us all wish we were onboard with you. Thanks.

 

Henry,

As a matter of fact, you were on that trivia team on the Marina with us as well - we did have a good time (except for the seating in the theater).

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thank you for the suggestion but the wife says that the Nespresso machine will take up valuable room for shoes.:rolleyes:

 

 

These must be one of the best inventions .....

 

We use to roast and blend our own from green and I bought a Nespresso just to see what it was all about. They give a shot pretty close to anything else.

 

We now have 3 Gaggia Syncrony machines in a garage if someone wants a job lot .... and willing to collect from Hampshire ...

 

 

Great photographs Wes ........:)

[dusababy]

And another thanks from me too Wes -- fabulous pictures -- great travelogue.

I know impossible to predict, but can you give me an idea of what kind of weather (temps primarily) we can expect for the crossing leaving next weekend?

Remember when we did the inaugural in January - weather - after we got out of the hurricane - was wonderful.

Can hardly wait to get underway -- been off the water tooooooo long.

Mary Ann

[jpalbny]

More Ponte Delgada tour pix:

 

 

Really enjoying the live blog! And, very glad that you all finally got a chance to rest your livers by going on a land tour. I do hope that RachelG isn't offering to test anyone's LFTs... :p

 

For some reason this picture really reminds me of Lisbon. Some of the streets there have the beautiful mosaic patterns like this, and the archways up against the red tile roofed buildings makes me think of the beautiful public squares there, like Praca do Comercio... This looks like a charming place to visit - are the black stone blocks that make up the archway cut from volcanic rock? The carvings look Maneuline.

[Sunviking]

Wes, I've really enjoyed reading about your latest cruise. The pictures you've been posting have been great. Al & I send our best wishes to you and Ida.

[WesW]

All, thanks for your very kind/gracious words.

 

PaulChilli, will absolutely pass on to Paul & Colleen your warm regards,

 

Wripro/Henry..thank you for your very special sentiments--our passion for Silversea shines through. btw, OrangeCountyMurphy are using Jorge Bras for a full day Lisbon tour Tues, April 16th. We have invited Jorge to have lunch on board the Spirit on MOnday and will give him a tour of the Spirit.

 

UKCruiseJeff, you win a dinner with us on any Silversea cruise you are also on along with sharing a bottle of Shafer's Relentless. :) with Ida and I.

 

Dusababy, this crossing weather has been consistently the most rocking/rolling swells we have encountered in near half dozen crossings. We will only take

westerly crossings from now on (the 23 hour days vs 25 hour days are a big factor in our decision). Hoping for fairer winds and following seas for your Cloud cross.

 

JPalbany, outstanding eye for architectural detail--yes the builings here in PD use volcanic rock.

 

Sunviking, hi Al and Ann, great to see u posting here and thank you.

 

We (RachelG/Rachel &George), bsrkent/(Steve & Barb), Englishusa (David), Ida and I had an absolutely outstanding dinner tonight in the main dining room. We never laughed so much with George regaleing us of his pre marital stories w/Rachel, David’s daily phone/skype calls with his wife back in Alabama and his dog listening to his voice wondering where David is, Steve & Barb letting us now the CC writers trivia team wins again (4th time). We only had four bottles of wine tonight (first two courtesy of our Travel agent, next two thanks to George/Rachel) followed by Dark Choc Grappa for all of us except David who had his fourth Shirley temple. Enjoy the pix from this joyous dinner on board:

 

First pix is all of us toasting with Caymus Special Select (thanks to our top-shelf Travel Agent for two bottles of this fine vintage)

 

 

 

In short order we finished our Caymus Cab and then George and Rachel sprung for two delish bottles of antinori Italian Sangiovese:

 

 

Some pix of our main courses:

 

 

[WesW]

more pix from our joyous dinner tonight...we are all relishing our dark Choc grappa as a prelude to delishe deserts. We all then adjourned to the show lounge

for the CD, Don Fluke's show (except moi, who is composing these posts)...one last sea day tomorrow and our 2nd formal night. Ida and I have special ordered

dover sole in The Restaurant, paired with the French Sauvignon Blan that Muse Cruiser introduced us to last week. Then Monday we have to pack :(

 

 

[RachelG]

No LFT tests here, thank you very much. Our livers are working quite well. As stated, we won again at trivia. Then had a wonderful dinner with David, Steve, Barbara, Wes, and Ida. Wonderful company, and George is still in trouble about taking another girl out in my car!

[Stumblefoot]

I was closest. What do I win?

Excuse me? I nailed the number on the head! Oh wait a minute, I see where Cruise Critic inadvertently dropped one the of the zeros from my guess. :p

[Stumblefoot]

Don't see these pics at Walmart everyday Wes.

 

[Stumblefoot]

Lucky Dog!!!!

first pix is all of us toasting with caymus special select (thanks to our top-shelf travel agent for two bottles of this fine vintage)

 

[palamoh]

Stumblefoot, of course I was just pulling your leg about the Relentless, of course we will leave you a bottle or two, but it has long been one of my favorites. One of my favorite Whites has long been a House Wine on all SS ships. CONUNDRUM, one doesn't always have to pay a heavy price to get a fine Wine and this Wine is a good example of this. Belive it is bottled by Caymas. Give me your thoughts on some other of your favorites.

 

Wes, outstanding job on all counts, you have now taken Deiters job away from him as photographer elite. Don't know how you find the time to keep us all posted so well. Sounds like everyone has made the best of it in spite of the Weather. I know you and Ida did a private Trip w/Jorge, last time you were in Lisbon, anything in particular that we should not miss while there? Yes there always is a bit of a let down for me on packing day, to help w/this problem I just stay out of the way and let Sheila do the packing. By the way how did the Lobster taste baked on "Hot Rocks"

 

Thanks again for you and yes for Rachel, as well for taking the time to enlighten all of us, it only makes us look forward more to our next SS adventure.

[Orange County Murphy]

We certainly enjoyed our crossing on Marina with you, and hope one day to reunite our trivia team. BTW, the Spirit's Panorama lounge is a very comfortable trivia venue.

 

Best to all,

 

Colleen

[englishusa]

No LFT tests here, thank you very much. Our livers are working quite well. As stated, we won again at trivia. Then had a wonderful dinner with David, Steve, Barbara, Wes, and Ida. Wonderful company, and George is still in trouble about taking another girl out in my car!

 

As George explained, he was saying goodbye to an old friend, and anyway the seats had plastic covers on them!

[Mr Luxury]

Wes,Great photos as ever.

 

The dress code looks a little wayward,I have not seen any Gentlemen wearing a tie in your photos and as for taking your jacket off at the dinner table.:rolleyes:

 

Can you give us an idea of how many Formal/Informal/Casual

 

I know that on Seabourn crossings guests do dress up more.

[Mr Luxury]

These must be one of the best inventions .....

 

We use to roast and blend our own from green and I bought a Nespresso just to see what it was all about. They give a shot pretty close to anything else.

 

We now have 3 Gaggia Syncrony machines in a garage if someone wants a job lot .... and willing to collect from Hampshire ...

 

 

Jeff,I will be going to the New Forest this afternoon down the M3

 

Do you do part exchange as I have a 1960's Singer sewing machine that I want to get rid of.:D

[WesW]

Stumblefoot, Palamoh, RachelG, Englishusa, OrangeCountyMurphy, Mr. Luxury, all;

 

Thanks again for you kind words, also glad you like our pix.

 

Stumblefoot; yes the Ponte Delgada city market provided a visual feast for the eye (camera). Everyone enjoyed the Caymus (Cab)—tho, I felt it was a little young.

 

Mitch, am going to send an email to Jorge now to try to get him on board the Spirit tomorrow in Lisbon at noon vs 2pm (we can then have lunch in La Terraza vs the pool grill) More later on Lisbon to do’s but for sure in Sinitra get a few egg custard pies.

 

Rachel, David; the back story on George’s use of your car when engaged was one of the most hilarious we’ve heard at any cruise dinner table. Thanks for sharing.

Mr. Luxury/John; on this voyage; if I counted correctly; 2 Formal nites, six informal nites, and five casual nites. The Restaurant last nite for David, other male diners and I, was uncomfortably hot, so a number of us took our jackets off.

 

Today, our last sea day for this spring crossing is spectacular, glorious sunshine, gentle seas and the Spirit is making good time. We will arrive in Lisbon six hours early (8a.m tomorrow versus 2pm).

 

Highlights for today include enrichment lectures (Port talk; Lisbon, Where the Atlantic meets Europe, and We love Lucy by TV Comedy pro Lowell Fox. This afternoon Ida will enjoy another Line Dancing class taught by the effervescent and engaging Madison. Tonight is our second formal night and Showtime Silversea presents their last production show featuring Motown hits, Signed, Sealed, Delivered. Ida and I are having Dover sole along with Tiger prawns in the Restaurant tonight.

 

Silverse Crew Member Profile;

 

Today meet Edward Sangalang, Crew Galley Chef on the Silver Spirit.

 

 

Edward is from the Philippine’s, is married, has two children a ten year old Girl and a three year old boy. He has worked on Silversea now for two years. Edward and the four Galley crew members he supervises are responsible for preparing the meals for the Crew mess, Staff mess and Officer mess.

 

The Crew Galley teams prepares mostly Asian (Adobe, curries, stews) and European (Beef/Pork Roast/Scaloppini) food. The Crew Galley team is critical for Silver Spirit guests enjoying their voyages. Edward and his team keep the crew happy with the delicious, outstanding variety of foods they prepare. Thank you Crew Galley team! What Edward likes most about working on Silversea are the good benefits and team/family atmosphere on board.

 

Please join us again as we continue Silver Spirit Crew member profiles in November for the Fall Crossing (Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale; Nov 9-25) and Cloud crew member profiles in July (July 18-Aug5)

[Mr Luxury]

Thanks Wes,

 

Looking forward to pictures of the formal evening showing guests dressed in their finest.

[dougburns]

Wes; We have done 3 Spring crossings and 3 Fall crossings. Normally, the Spring crossings are much smoother with temps in the low to mid 70s. The Fall crossings are normally a bit rocky, especially the first couple of days out of Funchal. Temps are generally @ the same as the Spring crossings. I think you just hit an unlucky streak of weather on this cruise. Enjoying your great reports, as usual!