Silver Wind - liveish - March 24-March 31, 2019

[brimary]

5 hours ago, UpstateJan said:

Sorry for the delay in this info .... Roberto Gonzales!

Thanks....a new name to us.Enjoy your cruise as much as we are enjoying your updates.

[les37b]

7 hours ago, UpstateJan said:

Les, I can't promise you .... a girl has to keep herself hydrated ....🤣

 

We're limiting ourselves to a couple glasses of wine each day, and then Jeremy found Pomegranate Mojitos....  Too hot for me to drink very much except water.  With the seas as rough as they have been, balance has been an issue with out the extra added fun of inebriation.   

 

The Wind is a really cute ship, and you are correct about the Shadow being split up.  Our room last year was located that we had to go up one deck to get to the other side.   On the Wind, there is none of the "you can't get there from here" moments.  We'll warn the crew you are coming!😀

 

 

 

I expect they've already been warned in advance!  

[Daveywavey70]

Nice retort Jan 😂😂😂

[Lois R]

11 hours ago, UpstateJan said:

Thanks Lois, looking forward to your posts in 2 weeks!  Hope things are going a bit better for you.

 

Thanks..…..and thanks for the kind words too. I appreciate them very much.

[dusababy]

Still waiting for sign ups for April 30 M & M leaving FLL -- there are a few but I'm pretty certain we won't be the only souls on board ! 🙂

Dusababy

[nowornever]

Hi Jan, I hope your trip was fabulous & you came away with wonderful memories, a little sun to prove you were in the tropics & plans already made for another.  We will look forward to your post cruise thoughts.  Always enjoy your perspective.  

[TLCOhio]

5 minutes ago, nowornever said:

We will look forward to your post cruise thoughts.  Always enjoy your perspective.  

 

YES!!  Look forward to hearing more detailed thoughts from your cruise, the ship food/staff vibe, best port stop highlights, etc.  How full was this ship?   Keep it coming!!

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Amazon River-Caribbean 2015 adventure live/blog starting in Barbados. Many visuals from this amazing river and Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, San Juan, etc.).  Now at 63,433 views:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

[UpstateJan]

Sorry folks for the delay, too much excitement to keep posting (plus Hubby had some work to do, so he wasn't sharing the computer).

Let's see ... Antigua!  On Wednesday, we docked in Antigua and got off the ship early to walk around before our excursion.  We were greeted by two of the cutest, friendliest little dock dogs.   Even though we had no food for them (and nothing open to get them something), they hung out for head pats and ear scratches.   Soon, our boat arrived to carry us off to adventure.  There were two more pick ups at some of the exclusive resorts, where the boat pulled right up on the beach!   We were off, the sightseeing along the coast was beautiful, and some of the resorts and private homes were amazing.  We stopped out in a snorkel area, and an area that is protected for the turtle nesting sites.  Our next stop was at the Devils Gate - it is beautiful, and we had a choice of swimming/sitting in the natural jacuzzi, or a hike up thru the cave and over the bridge.  The amount of fish in the "jacuzzi" was very cool.  Highly recommend if you get this option when visiting.  

 

Next and final stop was Bird Island.  We had been there several years ago, and it's a great spot for a hike, beach, and snorkeling - and lunch!   Lunch was served upon beaching, and it was really great - bbq chicken, pasta salad, green salad, and fried plantains.  There was some fruit punch (no rum yet since there was swimming to come).   Here's where I hate to admit it, I got burnt!   SPF50 was not enough to keep me from becoming a piece of bacon!   I opted to splash around a bit, and walked along the beach playing hide & seek with Ghost crabs.  It was really peaceful, and I had some time to chat with two of the guys on the boat.  Very interesting and they are certainly engaged with the conservation effort - they clued me in that there was a slim possibility that we may see some whales, but they had been staying a little further off shore.   

 

When everyone came back from the hike and cool off, we set sail just around the corner to a perfect snorkeling site.  There were so many fish, big ones and small ones, and turtles.   One of the snorkelers had fish beaking her goggles, so we told her that they thought she was a mermaid.  Everyone had a great time and it was a nice way to spend a return trip to Antigua.  We got back to the dock and made our way to the Wind - the catamaran circled, and the remaining passengers and crew were all yelling and waving.

 

After making it back on the ship, we showered, applied lotion like crazy and decided to take it very easy.  We enjoyed the High Tea, and headed back to the room for a rest.   Unfortunately, I started not feeling so great, too much sun, etc, so we had a light dinner in the Restaurant (no shared table this time), and were back in the room crashed at 8pm.   Honestly, I think we both needed a rest, and a good night sleep.

 

T

[UpstateJan]

Thursday morning, we arrived in St. Kitts, it was a little overcast, lots of clouds obscuring the mountains.   After a beautiful breakfast at La Terazza, we headed for the shore.  St. Kitts had also been hit with the 2017 hurricanes, but you wouldn't notice.  The port is bustling and honestly one of the most tourist friendly I've seen in the Caribbean.  Lots of shops were just opening, tour guides out for business, and men with poor little monkeys dressed up for photo ops.  We found our guide, a local tour operator for a shared tour of the island with all the key spots.  We sat back in the shade for a little while, people watching - as there were two monster ships in port that day (and MSC and a Celebrity) and a Seabourn.   Shortly, we were gathered up and brought over to an open air van, which was perfect as the weather was clearing quickly, and it was going to be HOT!   

 

After a quirky city tour, we headed up the coast towards the north.  All the little villages and settlements along the route were busy and getting about their day.  We stopped to see the petroglyphs, where the caretaker has an adorable baby green vervet monkey (diaper and all) - he bought this poor little fellow from a hunter, and was afraid what would happen to him.  This little guy is certainly people friendly, and bounced up in the truck to hold my finger.  He slowly creeped up on my lap like "is this ok?", but it was time to go on for our next adventure, so he went back to his family.   

 

We headed up to the Romney Manor/Caribelle Batik and the botanical gardens.  The first stop was the old rum ruins, and an adventure park.  We walked around a bit and headed on to Romney Manor.  The botanical garden was really nice, and there was a lot of wildlife/birds around.  We floated thru the Caribelle Batik shopping area, the work was really great.  After a brief break, we were back on our way.  During the break we had some time to chat with our fellow travellers - one couple from the Celebrity ship, and two couples from the MSC.  Very nice folks!

 

We got to see many historical areas, unfortunately with sad back stories.  You can still see where the French came in versus where the British came.  All of the native population had been massacred, so no Arawak culture exists today.  We also had some beautiful views of the UNESCO fortress  - what a spectacular view from there.  On up to a photo stop of Black Rocks.   Have to say, I was a bit underwhelmed by Black Rocks, but ... I got to see it!  

 

Our last area was to the southwest of the island - Timothy Hill, Frigate Bay with an optional beach stop.  The photos from Timothy Hill are postcard quality.  The view from here is Caribbean sea to the left and Atlantic Ocean to the right, and if you look straight ahead - that white house on the hill - yeah, that's Robert Redford's place!   Seriously, it had to be one of the prettiest spots in St. Kitts, and there are a lot of pretty places in St. Kitts.   We did not opt for the beach stop, so our four members from MSC departed, and we headed back to Basseterre and our ship.

 

Still being bright red from the previous day, and a tad bit sore, we grabbed a late lunch at La Terazza (just before closing), and headed back to the room for a rest.  We walked around a bit, and joined a team for Trivia - we won!  Then settled back for pre dinner drinks at the Bar.  We had a shared table with two other couples for dinner in the Restaurant.  We got to enjoy the entertainment that evening as well.  My Keegan was in fine form, and greeted us after the show as old friends - we made plans for dinner one night.   When we returned to our room that evening, we received word that our butler had secured dinner reservations on Friday night for La Terazza (YAY!!!)

[UpstateJan]

Friday brings us to St. Barts.   We were up early, bright eyed and bushytailed, awaiting to take St. Barts by storm.   When Jeremy headed out to the gym, he brought in the "mail" - we had a dinner invite from one of the officers.   😀Our first EVER officer invite, any cruiseline.   😥But ... our La Terazza reservation.   We opted to dine with the officer (and Gentleman!) and sadly cancelled our reservation.  

 

St. Barts is well .....lots of high end shopping.   We walked around the town, tried finding a cab for an island tour, and gave up.   We went back on the ship, and decided what we were going to have for lunch.  We opted for the Pool Grill and it was perfect!  It was a perfect relaxing day on the ship, we chatted with some dining companions from earlier in the trip.  Then .... we said "what about vacation 2020?".   We chatted with the future tour rep, Cara, who is delightful.   2020 is Jeremy's pick, and he's got three target areas (Alaska, Hawaii, or South Pacific) - we have some itineraries and pricing, but nothing booked.

 

Before we knew it, it was time to find our way to the Bar for music and predinner drinks.  If you are on the Wind, look for either Kevin or Gladia, they are just fantastic!  Gladia also worked the Panorama and is a delight to chat with.   Kevin is a sweetheart, and always greeted us by name when we arrived each evening.   So, I decided to try something different than the Pomegranate Mojito - there was a Dark Chocolate Martini!   Yup, that's really good too!   Before they could talk me into a second one, we got out of there, as we had a dinner date with an officer.

 

At the Restaurant, we were greeted by Roberto and our dinner date, Joseph!   What a nice man.  Joseph is the manager in charge of all the butlers, attendants, and laundry!   We had a great dinner with him, and he's an interesting man (seek him out!).  The best part was, he knew our butler from last year very well, so we were able to catch up on RJ.  Apparently, we also barely missed our room attendant "Big Mark" from last year - he was leaving the ship the day we boarded.   And this is why SilverSeas is so special.   We had a great discussion about Silverseas and what is planned in the near future.   I asked Joseph about the climbing wall and water slide - he laughed and suggested that perhaps they could toss a rope ladder over the side of the ship while in port for the climbing wall, he'd work out something for the water slide.....  Fantastic sense of humor, and gave me a really great feel for the people Silversea has.  He has worked cruise ships for 20 years, and is currently in his second contract with Silversea.   He came from another line that we had been considering but .... well, I don't think we'll be trying that line anytime soon (between other pax that had gone with them, and Joseph's stories - yikes!).  We also had great service (it's always great, but it was a bit "extra" since we were dining with an officer), and lots of different people stopping by to say hi.  As the night was drawing to an end, we walked out with Joseph, and had an opportunity to meet the chef and express our appreciation for all the great food and the different types of dishes.   It was a great evening, and I feel so lucky to have been invited to dine with him.

[Tothesunset]

Reading your reports is really uplifting. I love your joyful, carpe diem attitude. 

[UpstateJan]

Ok,... this brings us to Saturday - last stop Jost Van Dyke.   We had a ship excursion, so we had a little extra time in the morning.  While Jeremy went to workout before breakfast, I started the sad task of packing.  By the time he returned, the deed was done, and the only clothes remaining were what he was wearing for the day, our dinner clothes, and the traveling home clothes (including our coats).   We headed up for breakfast, and to start our final day of vacation.

 

Jost Van Dyke is a tiny island.  And the port we were tendered to was smaller than a few docks on the lake just north of where we live!   Our excursion was boat cruise around the island, thru the channel between Tortola, etc.   The ship & crew was great, really funny, lively guys.  It was a nice relaxing couple of hours and makes me appreciate the British Virgin Islands all the more.   We needed to go back to the ship to deal with the ugly process of returning home (boarding passes, etc), but considered going back to Jost Van Dyke for a painkiller.   Once we had lunch on board, got our flights confirmed, and rested a bit, we decided to enjoy our remaining hours on the Wind.   There may have been a nap, and some more 2020 vacation discussions, but it's all a blur now.

 

We had early drinks, and headed to the show.  After the show, it was time for our final dinner on the Wind, with my beloved Keegan and Jade (who is a darling!).   We were greeted by Roberto and our dinner companions, and seated in the back.  It was another great meal, great companionship, great discussion, it was a night that I wish was the norm.   Keegan has such a natural report with people, and we fell in like very old friends.  In fact, Jade asked "how long have you known each other" - Keegan, with his arm around me "Oh, almost a year now!" - yes, we met him last year on the cruise!    I do wish him every happiness and success, he is a treasure and has an amazing voice.   When we parted at the end of the evening, I said "Will you introduce me as your auntie next time?"   He laughed, and said "Oh, no, you are my sister, my love, I will keep you in my heart".   I made Jade promise to keep him out of trouble and we departed.    Its hard to explain what an experience it is to have staff remember you (happily) and are excited to see you a year later.   

[UpstateJan]

It's now Sunday ... we're back in Old San Juan, and it's time to depart.   Since we travel light, we don't bother with the luggage outside our room, we just grab & go.  We were the second couple in line to depart.  The first was ..... well, a seasoned SilverSea patron, as we had been told several times.  I will write it off as her having a bad day .... high maintenance doesn't even begin to describe what was going on in front of us.  The staff was beyond professional and accomodating, and genuinely jumping thru every flaming hoop she was tossing at them.   The poor husband just stood there, eight shades of red, not saying a word.  It was awful.

 

After they proceeded down the stairs with all their bags, suitacases, etc being ported by every available person on board, we were the next to go.  I grabbed my carryon, and one of the servers said "oh, no Mrs Jan, I'll take it for you, in would honestly be my pleasure" - and I think he meant it (probably was grateful that he missed the first group).   We got to the end of the pier, and grabbed a cab to the airport.  The driver loaded our carryons and then asked "where is your luggage?"   When we explained that he had loaded it, he laughed and said "Ok, my kind of people".   We were delivered to the airport in record time .... and that's when it started going downhill.

 

To make a long story short - flight delays.  We were a bit delayed getting out of Puerto Rico, no problem as we had a 3 hour layover in Fort Lauderdale.   Well, after 7 hours of hanging out in Fort Lauderdale, not sure if the flight was actually going to happen. ... we headed home.   Instead of pulling into our driveway at 10:15pm on Sunday night, we made it at 1:45am Monday morning ... and yup, needed to be at work for 7am.

 

This was not the first time we've done the Caribbean via cruiseship, but it was by far the most relaxing, calm, and grown-up experience.   The food on board was great - I enjoyed everything I had, Jeremy had a couple misses but not because of the quality.   If I had to make a complaint of any sort (which I did point out in the survey) is the entertainment options - the Voices of Silverseas are great, some of the shows are not to my taste, but I can't fault them for that.  Where the issue came was the other entertainers - the Trio was great, and a lot of fun (especially when the Bar staff started dancing and crooning - hilarious), but they had 2 piano soloists ... I guess if you didn't like one, you could hold out for the other 🙄.    Last year , on the Shadow, we had the Voices, the Trio, a piano soloist, and an acoustic guitarist (my preferred entertainment) - but two pianists?   And add to that, the phenom that is the CD Colin - his parts of the entertainment were by far superior to the two other folks.   It was just odd.   Oh, not sure if this falls under entertainment, but the guest speaker was incredible!   He did four lectures (we made 3 of them), and although they were not topics of interest, he made them interesting.   I think he could read the phonebook and I would be at the edge of my seat.   We agree that he was the BEST guest lecturer in all of our 10 cruises over 4 lines.

 

The ship was near full capacity, yet it never felt crowded or full.   There had been a little "incident" on the ship with a broken pipe and a few rooms were flooded.  We spoke to three different people affected, and know that at least one of them were relocated, everyone else was told there was no rooms available.  We did not notice any issues, but there was one afternoon that we had a hot water outage for an hour or so while they did "maintenance".   Other than that, I did not hear complaints from other passengers about anything.    The Wind is a nice ship, and the size really makes it attractive to us.  We're torn as to whether the Wind or the Shadow is our favorite - there's a lot to like with both of them.   Hopefully, we'll get to experience other ships in the line soon.

 

Thank you all for reading along.   I know I missed a few things, but we were busy (and busy relaxing), and returned home to crazy busy life.  This is the first chance I've even had to get back into CruiseCritic.  Later today, we'll be uploading our photos which we cleaned and purged each day back on the ship.  I'm almost thru "Laundrapolooza", and need to do some grocery shopping yet.   Hope all has a great day, and looking forward to following along with your future vacations.

[UpstateJan]

38 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

Reading your reports is really uplifting. I love your joyful, carpe diem attitude. 

Thank you TTS, my mom always told me "how your day goes is up to you, choose wisely".   She was pretty smart!  

[brimary]

Upstate Jan,thanks for taking us with you on your Silver Wind  cruise and for your excellent reports on all aspects which were most helpful as we have 50+ days on our favourite Wind coming up May/June.If the only slight downside was the entertainment that suits us particularly as the entertainment on SS is a last resort for us because the format remains the same as 1999 when we started our annual cruising on SS (Mainly the Wind and Shadow )which coincidentally we have always considered the best two ships in the fleet.Do not understand SS employing two pianists while a supreme professional pianist ,Colin Brown is on board as Cruise Director.Thanks for pressing the excitement button for us having received all the final documentation yesterday.

[Observer]

Many thanks for your witty, informative, highly literate posts, Upstate Jan.  You are a splendid writer and obviously an observant person.  Your posts were a joy to read. 

[les37b]

2 hours ago, UpstateJan said:

 If I had to make a complaint of any sort (which I did point out in the survey) is the entertainment options - the Voices of Silverseas are great, some of the shows are not to my taste, but I can't fault them for that.  Where the issue came was the other entertainers - the Trio was great, and a lot of fun (especially when the Bar staff started dancing and crooning - hilarious), but they had 2 piano soloists ... I guess if you didn't like one, you could hold out for the other 🙄.    Last year , on the Shadow, we had the Voices, the Trio, a piano soloist, and an acoustic guitarist (my preferred entertainment) - but two pianists?   And add to that, the phenom that is the CD Colin - his parts of the entertainment were by far superior to the two other folks.   It was just odd.   Oh, not sure if this falls under entertainment, but the guest speaker was incredible!   He did four lectures (we made 3 of them), and although they were not topics of interest, he made them interesting. 

 

All good things come to an end I guess....... and brings our embarkation that little bit closer. Unfortunate about the precious guest who whinged about everything. There are plenty of that type about unfortunately. Glad you were able to give a well balanced live review and summary which has been enjoyable to read.

 

I've left the passage above to echo my agreement with you regarding the shadow acoustic guitarist. I was really hoping he or someone like him would be on the Wind in two weeks. I did predict you'd enjoy him! (Hopefully SS pick up on this for the future!) Like you, I'm not a fan of the stage entertainment. I think I've only sat through 2 or 3 shows on any of the cruises I've been on, much preferring not to rush dinner and spending a leisurely evening in the bar chatting. Each to their own in this respect.

 

I'm wondering if the guest speaker was the same guy we had 2 years ago in the Caribbean. He was very good and humorous. Soon find out I guess! 

 

Thanks for posting Jan.... appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2019 by les37b

[TLCOhio]

2 hours ago, UpstateJan said:

Later today, we'll be uploading our photos which we cleaned and purged each day back on the ship.  Hope all has a great day, and looking forward to following along with your future vacations.

 

Super nice details as you finished your trip postings, details for St. Barts, etc.   Brings back nice memories.  YES, look forward to seeing the visual "evidence" as to the fun, food, etc., that you enjoyed.  Keep up the great sharing!!

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise from Copenhagen, July 2010, to the top of Europe. Wonderful scenic visuals with key tips. Live/blog at 234,586 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[UpstateJan]

47 minutes ago, les37b said:

I've left the passage above to echo my agreement with you regarding the shadow acoustic guitarist. I was really hoping he or someone like him would be on the Wind in two weeks. I did predict you'd enjoy him! (Hopefully SS pick up on this for the future!) Like you, I'm not a fan of the stage entertainment. I think I've only sat through 2 or 3 shows on any of the cruises I've been on, much preferring not to rush dinner and spending a leisurely evening in the bar chatting. Each to their own in this respect.

 

I'm wondering if the guest speaker was the same guy we had 2 years ago in the Caribbean. He was very good and humorous. Soon find out I guess! 

 

Thanks for posting Jan.... appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

Les, you did in fact tell me about last year's guitarist, and were correct!    Here's hoping they swap out a spare pianist for a guitarist for your trip.  Make sure to give Kevin a warm greeting from me.

 

Our lecturer was John Penycate, which is mostlikely a known entity to those of you across the pond.  He did four very different talks, and they were a good respite from the sun.  One was on population and resources, which he started out with a quote from another UK treasure, and personal crush of mine, Sir David Attenborough.  He just made us a few IQ points higher after spending an hour listening to him.

 

Enjoy your trip, what ship are you sailing next year and when, so I can plan accordingly 😀  It seems like we are cross paths regularly.

[les37b]

1 minute ago, UpstateJan said:

Les, you did in fact tell me about last year's guitarist, and were correct!    Here's hoping they swap out a spare pianist for a guitarist for your trip.  Make sure to give Kevin a warm greeting from me.

 

Our lecturer was John Penycate, which is mostlikely a known entity to those of you across the pond.  He did four very different talks, and they were a good respite from the sun.  One was on population and resources, which he started out with a quote from another UK treasure, and personal crush of mine, Sir David Attenborough.  He just made us a few IQ points higher after spending an hour listening to him.

 

Enjoy your trip, what ship are you sailing next year and when, so I can plan accordingly 😀  It seems like we are cross paths regularly.

 

OK, I had a quick search and he isn't the guy I was thinking. (I assume this is your lecturer?)   

 

Next years booking is the Winds last classic cruise - 1st August from Copenhagen, ending at Tower Bridge and a 16 minute train journey home! lol I wont be needing the free flights on this one! Not sure what (or if) we will book another while abroad. I will probably leave a deposit for when the 2021 brochure comes out.

[nowornever]

Thank you Jan.  It's been such a pleasure to travel along with you.  Your comments are greatly appreciated!  Have fun planning the next one.

[Stumblefoot]

I echo so many of the sentiments expressed here.  Thank you Jan for your reports!

[UpstateJan]

Thank you everyone for the kind comments.  I wanted to share a couple of pics from Dominica:

 

The two most handsome men in Dominica - Kurt (the most awesome tour guide and general good guy), and my hubby Jeremy

[UpstateJan]

Here is the pic from in Morne Trois that Kurt took of us:

[Observer]

2 hours ago, UpstateJan said:

Thank you everyone for the kind comments.  I wanted to share a couple of pics from Dominica:

 

The two most handsome men in Dominica - Kurt (the most awesome tour guide and general good guy), and my hubby Jeremy

 

I was touched by your passage about Kurt and disappointed (as I have no doubt he would be had he known) that you were not able to engage him for the afternoon.  There are so many such wonderful people desperately trying to make ends meet as we sail into their worlds on luxury ships.  If I thought too much about all of this I would quit cruising in the Caribbean.