Silver Spirit now cruising......in Saudi Arabia

[MBP&O2/O]

 

 

Good update at

 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2020/09/articles/disease/silver-spirit-red-sea-cruise-cut-short-due-to-covid-19/

 

 

As an aside, we visited Jeddah once and were confined to the ship. Not pleasant but much better than being ashore taking into account why we were confined ..[emoji55]

[TLCOhio]

29 minutes ago, MBP&O2/O said:

Good update at

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2020/09/articles/disease/silver-spirit-red-sea-cruise-cut-short-due-to-covid-19/

As an aside, we visited Jeddah once and were confined to the ship. Not pleasant but much better than being ashore taking into account why we were confined ..

 

Appreciate your follow-up and the sharing of this link/story.  Very interesting and good details.  From my reading, the most surprising part was: "The cruise line then informed all of the passengers of the existence of a suspected coronavirus case and asked the guests to stay in their rooms. Fourteen crew members were also suspected of coronavirus and were quarantined in cabins on the ship, and later taken ashore with the DJ for testing."

 

While I can understand the why medically to confine passengers to their rooms,  BUT, that potential loss of "FREEDOM" on a cruise ship does not fit well in my mind.  As a reason to be cruising again under these new rules and requirements, it is another reason to say "WAIT, WAIT!!"    Part of what we have enjoyed from cruising in the past has been meeting and interacting with varied passengers and crew.  Plus, being able to explore around on the ship, visiting interesting ports, etc., etc.  Besides health concerns, the potential types of "new experiences" sailing in the future is a huge question and uncertainty.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise from Copenhagen, July 2010, to the top of Europe. Scenic visuals with key tips. Live/blog at 240,380 views.

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

[philipb]

It looks like the Red Sea charter cruises may be underway again. Silver Spirit left King Abdullah Port at 19.27 on 17 September since when she has been to somewhere up the coast called Ar Rayis. The ship is now southbound again and due back at King Abdullah at 06.00 Sunday (source: Marine Traffic). It is stinking hot in the Red Sea at this time of year with temperatures relentlessly in the high 30s. I feel so sorry for the poor crew. It must be ghastly.

[cruiseej]

9 hours ago, philipb said:

It looks like the Red Sea charter cruises may be underway again.

 

They completed a cruise with no incidents; all crew and guests were fine. The trip was 4 days, with 300 guests. The third cruise is the one that's wrapping up tomorrow. The next trip starting on the 20th is a special voyage for the Saudis, as it will encompass celebration of their National Day on September 23rd. Let's hope the safety protocols they've put in place results in a series of uneventful cruises.

[Cruise Wonderland]

All the Saudi Arabia charter cruises have completed. Silver Spirit just made a transit through the Suez Canal and is now back to the Mediterranean.

[cruiseej]

2 hours ago, Cruise Wonderland said:

Silver Spirit just made a transit through the Suez Canal and is now back to the Mediterranean.

 

…with its next cruise not scheduled until January from Hong Kong. Silver Spirit is scheduled to resume cruising January 4 with several cruises in southeast Asia from January through March, when it heads to India and thru the Suez Canal near the end of March, for a spring season of cruises in the Mediterranean.

 

I guess we'll get some good early indication if they really think those January-March cruises will sail if the Spirit leaves the Mediterranean bound for Hong Kong in the next month. If not, they won't send the ship around the world just to return to the Mediterranean within a few months. 

[spinnaker2]

Spirit in Malta now

[Cruise Wonderland]

8 hours ago, spinnaker2 said:

Spirit in Malta now

And Moon is going to Malta as well. The two Silversea ships are likely to meet each other for the first time.

[cruiseej]

Malta has some large shipyards. I was wondering if they're sending Spirit in for any work during the downtime. Any retrofits to be better prepared for cruising while COVID remains with us? Or just going there to park for awhile?

[Silver Spectre]

The Voices have flown home to the UK, so that’s it for 2020.

[spinnaker2]

[Randyk47]

12 hours ago, cruiseej said:

Malta has some large shipyards. I was wondering if they're sending Spirit in for any work during the downtime. Any retrofits to be better prepared for cruising while COVID remains with us? Or just going there to park for awhile?

Hard to say unless the Spirit developed some issue during the small series of cruises it did.   It really hasn’t been all that long since it went through the stretch and “Musification” dry dock not to mention is sat basically unused for a few months until it did the Saudi Arabia cruises.   Could be they were just simply able to send unneeded crew and staff home from Malta easier than say France with its curfews and shutdowns.    

Edited November 6, 2020 by Randyk47

[cruiseej]

2 hours ago, Randyk47 said:

Hard to say unless the Spirit developed some issue during the small series of cruises it did.   It really hasn’t been all that long since it went through the stretch and “Musification” dry dock

 

I was thinking more of possible "COVIDization" modifications. Such possible things as…

• changes in public areas for greater separation/spacing in dining rooms, theater, etc.
• modifications to ventilation systems to better separate the outflow of air from suites and public spaces
• modifications to wastewater systems which can carry the virus
• modifications to the medical area to create more/separate exam and quarantine areas, and or to build space for a testing lab

That's all speculation on my part; I was just wondering if any such changes might be getting made to make some ships better equipped for cruising in a COVID world.

[Randyk47]

13 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

 

I was thinking more of possible "COVIDization" modifications. Such possible things as…

• changes in public areas for greater separation/spacing in dining rooms, theater, etc.
• modifications to ventilation systems to better separate the outflow of air from suites and public spaces
• modifications to wastewater systems which can carry the virus
• modifications to the medical area to create more/separate exam and quarantine areas, and or to build space for a testing lab

That's all speculation on my part; I was just wondering if any such changes might be getting made to make some ships better equipped for cruising in a COVID world.

All good guesses and appropriate change choices!   I had been thinking that the lines were holding off hoping the pandemic would pass of its own accord but obviously that hasn’t and isn’t happening.   Could cost a few hundred thousands of dollars but better than floating around empty.   A disadvantage for Silversea is they have no interior passenger cabins to convert to expanded lab and medical space.  Can’t cram the crew much more than they already are sardined so maybe a low deck exterior cabin or two are going to be converted.  ?????

[jollyjones]

If they needed to encroach on pax cabin space, it'd be deck 4. Only a dozen cabins down there on the Spirit, all Vista.

Nothing wrong with Vista suites of course, (but I'd certainly need to have a verandah in case pax all ended up isolated in their cabins for an outbreak) - it's the logical deck to expand into for something non-passenger.

Edited November 8, 2020 by jollyjones

[MBP&O2/O]

I see that Viking have installed a fully functional testing lab on one of their ships.

May be a similar thing planned for this. Having said that you would have expected some major publicity from SS, mailing list updates etc.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2020 by MBP&O2/O

[Cruise Wonderland]

Moon & Spirit in Valletta Grand Harbour.

Picture from the Facebook page of Valletta Cruise Port.