Silver Cloud (17 July- 4 Aug, London, Scotland, Iceland, Ireland, England

[ging466]

Loved seeing the Gullfoss waterfall again - Iceland's version of Niagara Falls!

 

and Wes, u have blue sky...lucky u...it was raining cats & dogs when I was there. The Golden Circle tour is one of the best tours I have ever done.

 

Now if only Iceland was closer to Oz :(

 

Cheers

Jennifer

[WesW]

Please enjoy more pix from our visually stunning visit to Iceland—the Land of Fire and Ice—words fail us, hopefully the pix below will speak volumes:

First Reykjavik pix:

Farbster/Lawrence and Ida enjoying a Reykjavik Hot Dog

Pix taken when taking my evening run along port:

Reykjavik Operahouse with the Cloud in the background:

 

 

Silversersea Silver Cloud Crew Member Profile:

 

Today, July 27th please meet the Cloud’s Sous Chef, Florante.

 

Florante hails from the Philippines (Manila), is married and has three children (two boys; 21, 17, one girl age 6). He has served with Silversea on board the Cloud for almost 13 years. Florante is responsible for the wonderfully tasty sauces we enjoy while dining. His biggest challenge? Florante relishes facing new challenges every day, especially meeting guests special dining requests. What he loves most working on Silversea is learning something new in the kitchen everday, and learning what are value buys from fellow crew members during visits to the world’s ports

[WesW]

Txladycruiser/Karen & Ida at Geyser /Stokker:

 

 

Icelandic Horse Pix:

 

 

 

Ida standing in front of the American plate in Thingvellar National Park:

 

 

Txladycruiser/Karen & Wayne & Ida standing in Thingvellar National Park with Iceland’s largest freshwater lake in the background:

 

 

Iceland's largest church (Protestant) with Leif Ericson monument in foreground:

 

[OrpingtonT]

Superb pictures. Thank you, Wes, and we are pleased to see that Ida has recovered.

[Herman The Cat]

Thanks for all the effort with posts and pics, Wes. I'm really enjoying tagging along on your trip. I hope nobody takes the time to participate in the flaming on the board re the Shadow. Lots of folks you never heard of posting comments. And then, of course, there's Travelcat! Have a great cruise!

 

Doug, DITTO and well-said! Col. Wes, looks like you won the Iceland weather lottery. We just got home last night from the Norwegian Fjords cruise on the Whisper and our flight connected in Iceland and the weather was fantastic there. We won the Norway weather lottery as well, not one spot of rain and crystal clear blue skies for a week. Hopefully, I will be able to figure out how to upload photos and will share some.

 

Thanks for all the great photos and commentary! When you have a chance, interested to hear how the Cloud compares to the Whisper and Spirit. We board the Cloud at the end of August. Talked to a number of crew members about it, and they all love the Cloud. They say it is a "very happy ship." :)

[rojaan19]

They say it is a "very happy ship." :)

 

 

Love the Cloud and the Explorer. And so enjoying Col Wes and Karens posts. We will be in Iceland next week before we join the Explorer, so love seeing Iceland.

 

thanks

 

Ann

[WesW]

Thanks all, but sincerely our pleasure to give back to Cruise Critic in general and the Silversea board in particular. Also, will try to do a better job answering some ? now that I've better mastered this slow internet posting process.

 

We’re on board the Silversea Silver Cloud now docked in Heimey, Iceland. Pls enjoy some general pix below. Will post a few more taken during our stunning walking excursion up the lava flow of the (Vestmannaeyagoes 1973) Volcano eruption.

 

 

 

Pix of our Silver Cloud docked in one of the most stunning backdrops we have yet to dock at in our cruise travels:

 

 

 

 

 

Please note the Glacier in the background taken on this pix:

 

[txladycruiser]

New blog post from Heimaey, Iceland:

 

http://www.travelpod.com/z/thewrens/5/1374944551

 

 

Karen & Wayne

[Silver Spectre]

Excellent photo's Wes, you are really capturing the feel of Iceland. Once again, thanks for taking us all along for the ride.

[joe_90]

Wes,Ida & all on the Silver Cloud

 

love the pictures so clear and colourful.

 

I have asked the weather gods to be kind on Tuesday for your visit to Belfast but as the old saying goes

 

if you cannot see the hills its raining

and if you can see the hills its going to rain.

 

As the ship is staying until 23.00 i suspect it might be barbie night would you know?

 

Any questions about Northern Ireland I will try to answer.

 

Smooth sailing

 

John & Joy

[Bramcruiser]

Wondeful pics and stories Wes. Love the one of Larry and Ida at the well-known Reykjavik hot dog stand.

 

The weather certainly did clear up more and more as the day went on but its too bad the ship didn't come in until Saturday. Today was a stunningly spectacular day in Reykjavik with 18 Celsius and no clouds in the sky.

 

We did stand at the shoreline last night watching the ship leave Reykjavik with a tinge of sadness as we thoroughly enjoyed our Silveasea experience. We also met some wonderful people whom we connected with during the voyage.

 

Looks like Heimay was another highlight for you all. Glad that the weather was good and that you enjoyed the day. Richard and I flew to Kulusuk, Greenland on a daytour which itself was an amazing bucket-list adventure but one I'll save for another place and time.

 

Waving a long goodbye to everyone on the Silver Cloud as it sails out of Icelandic waters. Safe journey to everyone. We're flying home Monday.

 

David

[RachelG]

Wes and Karen, have either of you tried the stinky preserved shark? Not my favorite but I did try it.

The Icelandic hotdogs are outstanding however, as is skyr.

[WesW]

Hi Bramcruiser/David & Richard, glad your Reykjavik land trip is working out well. Yes, the weather gods are smiling on us :). Yes, David, Heimey was another stunner excursion, in fact after every excursion on our voyage, Ida and I hand our suite cards in to security and can't believe the visual stimulation we have just experienced. London Tower Bridge thru to Heimey is our fav of 15 cruises--Silversea, the Cloud does this itinerary spectacularly well.

 

RachelG/Rachel & George; will let TxLadyCruiser/Wayne give a first hand account of the smelly shark (we passed) but Wayne tasted this delicacy (?).

 

Please enjoy some more pix from Heimey, Iceland:

 

LtoR; Ida, and Los Dubalatos/Bill, then Mike standing in front of the house that was memorizliazed during the 1973 volcanic eruption that had lava up to 8 feet (see black pole marked as such behind them)

 

 

Text of Building for Eldheimer (Pompeii of the North) exhibition, the area shows the lava flow as islanders in 2004 began digging out of the houses buried in the volcano eruption.

 

 

Historical notes of eruption:

 

[ging466]

Heimaey was shrouded in fog and it was 8C when I was there in June. Your weather looks amazing and the fact that u are in Tshirts...wow! I had such a different experience. :)

 

Wes, when u were up the volcano did u happen to see a big piece of lava that was on 'legs' - it was some kind of monument and I have a picture of it but can't remember what it was or its significance. :confused:

 

I found Heimaey to be a fascinating little island...that volcano erruption must have been terrifying.:eek:

 

Nice to see the Cloud docked...that's the great thing with the smaller ships. Crystal Symphony was way too big and we were anchored with about a 15 minute tender ride that was quite choppy.

 

Cheers

Jennifer

[WesW]

Good Morning from the Silver Cloud, we’re at sea en route to Stornoway Isle, Scotland. Since we now enjoying a relaxing sea day, we also have two lectures by Dr. Crimes; “Dublin’s Fair City,” and Cobh, Cork, Blarney, Kinsale and Killarney.” Also, there will be a Cooking Introduction with Chef Edgar, and for this segment, there is another Traditional English Pub Lunch. Enjoyed Dr. Crimes Dublin lecture which confirmed to us, that CCr’s; Wellseasoned and NJBelle ‘s recommendation to DDY (Do Dubline Yourself). We are scheduled to arrive in Scotlond (Stornoway Isle) tomorrow at 8am. TxLadyCruiser and we plan to take the Panoramic Lewis excursion. We are looking forward to another Asia special dinner (tomorrow night) prepared by the Restaurant team and organized by fellow CCr Farbster/Lawrence & Tacey. We also have dinners reserved again for Le Champagne (Weds nite), and La Terraza on Tuesday nite when the menu changes again.

 

We enjoyed another outstanding dinner with TxLadyCruiser/Karen & Wayne in the Main Dining Room last night. We all had either fresh salmon or the Chef’s cut (delish white fish from the region)—we paired with a delightful NZ Sauvignon Blanc (Cloudy Bay). Yesterday at lunch Ida loved her comp red wine so much, she asked it to be sent to our suite. Cline’s Cashmere is a very nice red blend.

 

We (Txladycruiser/Wayne & Karen, us) usually head to the Panorama Lounge for cocktails before dinner (about 7:15pm). Gio (outstanding bartender) quickly has our martini's (gin w/blue cheese stuffed olives (tasty tip given by greygypsy many cruises ago), Ida's Kir Royale and Karen's white wine. Intuitively (without us asking) Gio, goes above & beyond and sends a cocktail glass filled to the brim with Ice chock full of toothpicks brimming with blue cheese stuffed olives to munch as horse dervies.

 

At lunch yesterday,talked to Jorge, who did his port run up to the top of the Crater. Thus, took his recommendation and did a late afternoon run p the lava mountain at Vestmannaeyjar and down through the picturesque town. Pls enjoy some more pix taken during our port stop at lovely, “visually expressive” Heimey, Iceland:

 

Ten things to do in Vestmannaeyjar:

 

Houses in Vestamannaeyjar built next to lave flow from the 1973 eruption:

 

Late afternoon ferry entering the small harbor (180m since 73 eruption, was over 800m wide):

 

 

Silversea Silver Cloud Crew Profile:

 

Let’s meet Wilfredo, known as “Uno” to the Restaurant team and Gally crew.

 

 

Wilfredo serves on board the Silver Cloud as the #1 Gally Supervisor, responsible for the cleanliness of the galley, ensuring all the Cloud’s dishes/silverware are cleaned daily. Table settings sparkle due to the exceptional diligence of the Galley Crew under astute leadership of “Uno.” Wilfredo who hails from Kapalopg Daveo Del Norte, Philippines, is married. He is working on his seventh contract with Silversea and has worked on the Cloud for almost seven years. Wilfredo relishes meeting different Galley challenges every day ensuring each challenge is met/resolved by the Galley Team. What he likes most about working for Silversea on the Silver Cloud is the ability to Travel the World, while getting a good salary, meeting people of many different nationalities and then making friends of these folks.

[Mr Luxury]

Great photos Wes.

Regarding the crew profiles,are there any other nationalities behind the scenes apart from hard working smiling faces from the Phillippines.

 

Any talk on the Cloud about the poor performance of the Shadow CDC report?

[jpalbny]

Cline Cashmere - yum. We are big fans of Cline - belong to their wine club, and get shipments from them every few months. They do really nice things with Rhone varietals and Zinfandel. Worth a visit if you're ever in Sonoma; we got back there last year and they are one of the few wineries left in the area that still offer free wine tastings!

 

And, their wine isn't exactly cheap - the Cashmere retails for ~$20 a bottle; if SS is offering this on the complimentary pour list, that says something about quality.

 

Great pictures, and great blog. Thanks to both of you for making us mad that we have to wait until next year to do this trip...:mad:

[Mr Luxury]

 

And, their wine isn't exactly cheap - the Cashmere retails for ~$20 a bottle;

 

 

The wine is good for the price but it is a cheap wine.

$20 is not a lot to pay for a bottle of wine.

[WesW]

Joe 90: Like your Belfast ditty—we’re hoping for periods of no rain anyway. Will ask Jorge (Restaurant Manager) tonight at Dinner about a Barbie for this segment, but since this seggie is a reverse of the previous one (London Tower to Reykjavik) and we had no BBQ on that seggie, doubt we will have one on this seggie (there are over 50% UK Guests, about 25% American, a few Germans, Italians, et. Al). Believe the Cloud Restaurant team is gearing their special offerings (e.g., today's pub lunch) towards the majority of passengers on this segment.

 

Mr. Luxury/John, Yes, Meghan (Asst 2nd Cook) hails from Virginia, Beach, Virginia..pls see post #194. We enjoy many of the Cloud’s comp wines, then splurge occasionally in the evening (e.g., Shafer, Masi Amarone, Caymus Special Select, Penfolds Shiraz), few pix below. Ida and I follow a simple/but fundamental wine drinking rule, “drink what you like, regardless of the price.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ging466/Jennifer; Discussed the weather for this Cloud voyage at this time of year with Dr. Crimes on the jogging track a few days ago, he has been on 5-6 successive Cloud/Iceland voyages as the featured lecturer. Dr. Crimes told me, “all previous Cloud voyages to Iceland” have had similar weather. Alas, during our morning excursion up the Lava flow and also during later afternoon run yesterday pm, do not recall observing any lava with legs. Did get this monument pix with Ida at the top of our morning lava walk excursion tho:

 

 

[txladycruiser]

Wes and Karen, have either of you tried the stinky preserved shark? Not my favorite but I did try it.

The Icelandic hotdogs are outstanding however, as is skyr.

 

Oh, yes, Wayne did try the shark. He said it was disgusting!! And, he really likes most everything! He said he could still taste it for a couple of hours.

 

Anyone have any good recommendations for an Irish pub in either Belfast or Dublin (or both)?

 

Karen

[Mr Luxury]

Thanks Wes,i am exactly the same,I buy and drink wine to my taste, unfortunately that sometimes hits the pocket harder.Good to find something that you like from the inclusive pour.

There must be Eastern Europeans working hard somewhere on the ship.

What nationalities are the wait staff mostly from.

[Mr Luxury]

Oh, yes, Wayne did try the shark. He said it was disgusting!! And, he really likes most everything! He said he could still taste it for a couple of hours.

 

Anyone have any good recommendations for an Irish pub in either Belfast or Dublin (or both)?

 

Karen

 

Karen,try the Stags Head in Dublin at 1 Dame Court

[rosepark]

Oh, yes, Wayne did try the shark. He said it was disgusting!! And, he really likes most everything! He said he could still taste it for a couple of hours.

 

Anyone have any good recommendations for an Irish pub in either Belfast or Dublin (or both)?

 

Karen

 

Try the Crown Bar in Belfast, opposite the Opera House in the city centre, owned by the National Trust, I suspect you might call it a heritage property but it is a fully operational pub. Or if you are going on the ship's tour down the Ards Peninsula, try Grace Neil's Bar in Donaghadee.

Rp

[OrpingtonT]

Enjoyed Dr. Crimes Dublin lecture which confirmed to us, that CCr’s; Wellseasoned and NJBelle ‘s recommendation to DDY (Do Dubline Yourself).

 

If you have time in Dublin and enjoy a pint of Guinness, do go to the Guinness brewery and take the tour. Well worth it.

[jpalbny]

The wine is good for the price but it is a cheap wine.

$20 is not a lot to pay for a bottle of wine.

 

Yes, agree. The point that I was making, too obtusely I guess, related to a discussion several months ago bemoaning the quality of the included wines. The discussants concluded that they probably retailed for about $10. While many may be at that price point, this one isn't, and I was happy about it. Of course, Wes will probably drink all of it long before we're back on the Cloud...:(

 

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