Live from Silver Spirit, November 19-28, Barcelona to Lisbon

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I'd say you need a third round of the wine as a tie-breaker.  Then you will have the aquarium in your bellies!

 

But seriously, that cod looks delicious.  Do you remember the name of the restaurant?

 

Sure, the name of the restaurant was Lumi. Right along the edge of the square. And it was very tasty. 😄

 

We only had two glasses. Since we weren't on SS any more, the refills weren't free!

Edited December 6, 2021 by jpalbny

[jpalbny]

Oops, sorry. The restaurant was not Lumi. It was Cafe Nicola.

 

Lumi was a place that we tried, but they were only serving Sunday brunch. Google's timeline somehow decided that we were there for longer than we were, and I believed it. 😉

[jpalbny]

Sunday, November 28th. Lisbon, after lunch

 

Lisbon Aquarium? Why not. We decided to go. They had a deal online, €26 for 2 tickets.

 

So while we were heading there on the Metro, I bought tickets on my phone. The process to download them was clunky but it eventually worked...once I found the email confirmation in my spam folder! 

 

The Metro stop was about 10 minutes walking from the Aquarium, but it was a nice gentle downhill. That won't be as much fun coming back!

 

A nice pedestrian street as we approached, with fountains. 

 

 

And more fountains, on the grounds of the Aquarium. 

 

 

The building itself is very nice, standing in the shallow water off the riverbank. 

 

 

Nice views all around. The bridge in the distance is the Vasco da Gama bridge, which we drove on 2 years ago.

 

 

Chris had a chance to pose before everyone else did.

 

 

And we were in. There was a bit of a line to buy tickets even though it was getting late. Glad we already had ours! No lines for us.

 

There was a temporary exhibit of freshwater habitats which was nicer than I expected. 

 

 

It was artistically done. And really pretty. But Chris's pictures were much better. Sorry!

 

But on to the main attractions. The Aquarium is set up with a large central two-story reef tank with many viewing windows on both levels. 

 

 

In each outside corner there are separate smaller exhibits, with marine life from many different areas of the world. So you start at the top level, circle around, then do the same on the lower level.

 

Lots to see, including some penguins. The video was better than the still shots.

 

 

https://jpalbny.smugmug.com/CC-Pix/n-rQNsBs/i-tZkxJhH

 

No idea what these fish were but they looked cool.

 

 

Sea dragons! What odd animals.

 

 

The otters were adorable, as always. Video too. I wish I had that much energy! 

 

 

https://jpalbny.smugmug.com/CC-Pix/n-rQNsBs/i-Wt7wFRQ

 

A big guy, lying on the bottom of the large center tank. He looks hungry.

 

 

Overall a very pleasant way to spend an hour or so. 

 

Now we headed out, around 6:00. It was already dark. Luckily, Google suggested a different way to the Metro, which looked much less hilly.

Edited December 6, 2021 by jpalbny

[jpalbny]

Sunday, November 28th. Good night, Lisbon. 

 

We took our leave from the aquarium after saying good night to this nice fellow. 

 

 

The aquarium is roughly equidistant between two metro stations so we followed Google to the other one, instead of slogging uphill to the one we'd used to get here. It was an easier walk, and we got to see the Vasco da Gama Mall along the way.

 

In fact the mall was connected to the train and metro station by an underground walkway, so it was very convenient. 

 

Back home at Rossio, we enjoyed the lights of the Christmas Market at night. Then back to the hotel to chill before dinner. On the way, the National Theater was decked out with nice lights.

 

 

We headed out a few minutes before our 8:00 reservation, to take pictures of the market. It was drizzling but still not too unpleasant. I must have had some mist on my lens though. 

 

 

Dinner tonight at Gambrinus restaurant. A bit fancy but the food smelled good. It was cool and rainy, a good night for comfort food.

 

We ordered a seafood "cataplana" which was a hearty stew served with potatoes. The broth had a bit of tomato but not so much that it was a tomato sauce. It came tableside in a huge pot.

 

 

The waiter divided it up for us. Very enjoyable. Chunks of fish, shrimp, lobster tail, scallops, and a few clams. Peppers and onions also simmered in the broth. 

 

 

We had it as we've done elsewhere in Portugal, with a light red wine. A great match.

 

 

No late night out on the town for us tonight! Our flight unfortunately leaves at 5:30. We had booked a nice leisurely nonstop from Lisbon to JFK originally, but that flight got canceled. 

 

Now we had a 5:30 flight to CDG, a 1h20 layover, and then back to JFK. The only saving grace was that we'd get to NY earlier than we were originally scheduled, so we might get home before dark. But the 5:30 AM departure wasn't looking fun.

 

Hope it's on time, as CDG can be fun to negotiate when changing terminals from 2F to 2E. And that tight layover made me wonder about our checked bags. With a pricey bottle of Dom. But we were optimistic. 

 

We arranged a taxi for 3:45, and a wake-up call for 3:00. Let's try to get a little sleep.

[QueSeraSera]

Seafood cataplana looks delicious, had not heard of that dish before.  Safe travels home.

[jpalbny]

Monday, November 29th. Going East to go West - and home.

 

2:55 AM - up and at it. As usual, we slept fitfully, woke up every hour to check the time, and were up for good well before our wakeup call. We were ready and in the lobby by 3:40, and our cab was waiting. A quick ride through empty streets to the airport, where we arrived a little before 4:00. Total cost was €11.50, well less than SS's estimated €45-50 for a cab from the cruise ship pier to the airport.

 

It took a minute to find the check-in gates, which were one floor up from where we expected. The line was staggeringly long. Luckily we were Sky Priority so there were about two people in that line. Of course I had neglected to complete the CDC attestation form online yesterday, so they gave me a paper version to complete before boarding our connecting flight at CDG. How archaic. 

 

Security was fast. No lounge as the Priority Pass lounge didn't open until 6AM, but we weren't there for very long before boarding. We boarded on time but there was a delay pushing back and we didn't take off until 6:00. Still should be OK. A little breakfast and coffee to try and wake up, and to be fortified for the sprint between terminals if need be.

 

We landed at CDG on time but there was a small delay to the gate, so we got there about 9:15. That left an hour to get to 2E. Our ticket said our gate was in Hall M, but it was changed to Hall K. We were first off the plane and set off at a good clip.

 

Fortunately we didn't have to take one of the navettes (very slow crowded buses) between terminals, and could walk. There were a ton of checkpoints along the way, and most of them didn't know about the gate change, so I had to keep telling them I really wanted K, when our tickets said M.

 

Passport control was fast and no additional security to enter Hall K (not yet, I had the SSSS on my ticket, so I was expecting fun at the gate). All told, it only took 20 minutes to get to the gate but our flight was already boarding.

 

A bit of a process now, where we lined up to answer the silly questions about whether we packed our luggage, then lined up at the next table to show our vaccine cards, then another table to have our CDC attestations validated, then we could finally board. They held Chris from boarding while they checked me for explosives. Finding none, naturally, we were finally able to board - via a bus, where we waited seemingly forever to be driven to the plane.

 

And then we waited another 30 minutes on board. We had Champagne to pass the time. And we were happy that the extra delay gave our luggage a better chance of making the connection. Some passengers didn't make the flight so their luggage had to be removed. Finally we pushed back, and took off around 11:00 (original departure was 10:20).

 

A nice flight with good wine selections, and we had pre-ordered a special duck leg confit as our entrée, which was delicious. A movie and some blogging passed the time, then I napped a bit in anticipation of the 3h drive home (or was it the 3 glasses of French wine)?

 

Awoke for a snack then we landed only about 25 minutes late, about 1:40. Unfortunately, JFK was uncharacteristically chaotic and very disorganized. Our gate was very close to passport control but there was a 15 minute wait to clear Global Entry! We got our receipts from the machine quickly but the line to show the receipt to a Customs Officer was massive. I've never seen anything like it. We weren't out of Passport Control until after 2:00!

 

Luggage was a bit delayed but we were out quickly enough to the Air Train, and to the car by 2:40. Traffic was the usual mess until we were into Westchester County but the rest of the drive flew by. Chris's RS5 can really move when you ask it to, and we got home in 3 hours without stopping. I drove and Chris kept an eye on Waze.

 

We were exhausted but found enough energy to pick up some groceries, and some take-out for dinner, before calling it a night before going to work tomorrow. I did check the Dom, which was intact, and put it in our wine cellar.

 

Thus ended another great vacation on SS. We don't have another cruise booked yet but I'm sure that will happen before long. Will follow up with some thoughts about this cruise, the COVID precautions/protocols, and what we thought of Silver Spirit, as this was our first time on a SS ship bigger than Silver Cloud/Wind.

Edited December 8, 2021 by jpalbny

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thank God the suspense is over and we know you are home safe!  🤣 

 

We fly Delta by preference, but have avoided any flights through CDG because of the issues you experienced.  Was the second flight on an Air France plane?  And was the food/wine worth the hassle vs. staying with Delta?  [We like to go through LHR, to get Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy.]

[FauxNom]

It's been such fun following your adventure, JP! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the large ship experience vs. the littles.

[highplanesdrifters]

Thanks for taking the time to share your fun journey! Really enjoyed it.

[Emtbsam]

It was wonderful to see JP and Chris in Lisbon.  We marvel that they can see more in one afternoon than we saw in 6 days.  Thank you JP and Chris for the great blog and the motivation to do more!

[Catlover54]

I have enjoyed your posts every step of the way, and look forward to your final comments about this cruise (no pressure), plus any future cruises you do!

[jpalbny]

A new class of ship for us!

 

So after 13 cruises and 134 nights on Silversea, we still had only set sail on the smallest ships of the fleet – Silver Explorer, Silver Cloud, and Silver Wind. We decided that we needed to try one of the larger ships for #14. This cruise had been a long time coming; we’d booked it in January 2020 while on board Silver Cloud in Antarctica, at a time when Covid was an abstract thing happening in one corner of the world far away. We were supposed to also try Silver Shadow in May 2021, booked at the same time, but that one got canceled as SS didn’t resume sailings until a few weeks after that cruise was scheduled.

 

We were a little worried prior to the cruise about the Covid protocols and all of the testing. The requirements didn’t seem too onerous on Ponant in September but they were a little more evident here. We (Chris especially) were a little annoyed that SS formally informed us about all of the testing requirements at day T-29 before the cruise. The mid-cruise testing really bothered her, and then as it turns out, SS never even did the mid-cruise test! Wish that they just hadn’t told us about it, as it caused her a great deal of angst.

 

The ship itself was beautiful. It seemed simultaneously familiar and very different from Cloud and Wind, and we found ourselves getting lost on occasion. While the general layout was familiar there were subtle differences that kept us on our toes until the very last day. We sometimes took the wrong stairs and often turned the wrong way. And I have a confession to make; there were a lot of floors! Sometimes after a busy day touring we took the elevators from the gangway on deck 3, to our suite on deck 7!

 

We found the service to be up to SS’s usual level of excellence. Staff didn’t miss a beat in our experience. Some old favorites on board like Monteza and Jason made it feel like old times. We really enjoyed the music trio, which had a great repertoire, and the international hostess Yessy was a gem. Our captain was not familiar to us but he was often at the gangway when we came back from our adventures and he’d always smile at our Silversea expedition jackets and say, “Nice jacket!”

 

We suspect that Covid limited the staff interactions to a significant degree. As others have mentioned there were no hosted tables and we didn’t see crew dining with passengers. The voices of SS were out and about a fair amount and interacting with passengers, as were the international host/hostess but not too much other interaction. Roy Perez was enthusiastic and pleasant we thought and his assistant CD Katerina was out late in Panorama keeping the dancers company.

 

Now on to more important subjects...

Edited December 10, 2021 by jpalbny

[jpalbny]

Silver Spirit Food.

 

The food was great but I will admit there was a bit of a learning curve for us, because your strategy has to differ on the larger ships. We’re used to the smaller ships where the only choices are MDR, LT, grill, or La Dame. And, the menu varies every night in MDR, often substantially. On the larger ships the menus vary much less frequently so you have to learn to vary your choices by going to different restaurants every night. That was a totally new concept to us and it took us a few days to figure out, though it was obvious in retrospect.

 

In the past we had serious FOMO and would not want to miss the MDR too many nights. The menus were great and they often didn’t last for more than a day. No worries here; Atlantide and its fixed menu isn’t going anywhere. So we figured out that we should check menus and just go to the restaurant whose menu we preferred on any given night. That worked relatively well on a half-full ship, where it was easy to find a table. It may have been a challenge, had the ship been full.

 

Dinner spots:

 

Altantide – nice but not an MDR equivalent. Menu was more extensive on Cloud and Wind. We always found tasty food here but the fixed menu of steaks and chops was not a highlight for us. I preferred the daily specials over the fixed entrees. As I mentioned above, problem solved by jumping around to different restaurants; lots of great options below.

 

Indochine – we really enjoyed both meals here. The food could have been more spicy but the concept was quite good. Menu varied a lot and if you’re a picky eater or not adventurous, you may end up hungry. Not a problem here.

 

Seishin – lunch was OK but fairly light. Didn’t try dinner; menu looked pretty good though.

 

La Dame – didn’t feel the need to try it. Spent our OBC on Dom instead!

 

La Terazza – excellent as usual. I always find it interesting how they have a huge menu selection of appetizers and pastas, but a fairly limited selection of mains. No danger of starving though and we always found plenty to eat. Luckily we only had to roll down the hallway from here to our suite.

 

Silver Note – cute concept. Limited menu so make sure you check before you go. The music complemented the space nicely and they had a dance floor so the venue was perfect for us.

 

The Grill – menu has become more extensive for dinner but we still always order the ribeye. We still enjoy the concept very much and are happy to cook our own steak. It seems that the stone wasn’t quite as hot as it had been in the past because my usual 1 minute per side wasn’t quite enough to keep the steak from mooing at me. So a short secondary cooking before eating was in order.

 

Lunch spaces:

 

LT – buffet was always nice. The hand-washing stations and staff serving you might slow things down if at full capacity. Selection and quality was good.

 

Grill – tasty burgers and nice setting. More sheltered than on Cloud/Wind.

 

Spaccanapoli – pizzas were outstanding. The crust was delicious and if I had to split hairs it could have been a tiny bit thinner, but that’s such a minor issue. I couldn’t stop eating the pizzas and if the crust were thinner I probably wouldn’t feel so full after eating there… Just kidding! If the crust were thinner I’d probably order a second one for dessert. Open for dinner but after a few lunches here we didn’t need to eat dinner here too.

 

Finally, the Arts Café – loved this spot. Great coffee. Nice selection of light breakfast items which was our go-to every day. I thought I was happy with a limited selection of pastries and fruit plates in Panorama while on Wind or Cloud. It will be really hard to go without this space the next time we’re on the small ships.

 

And they serve cakes and other assorted sweets in the afternoon. With more coffee, of course.

[jpalbny]

Overall – we really liked Spirit. The ship looks new and refreshed compared to Cloud and Wind, but the Silversea style and character seem familiar to us. The décor is lighter except in the bathrooms, which are very similar to the smaller ships. The suite felt more spacious and there were a lot more outlets which was very handy for charging things. I didn’t have to get out my power strip at all.

 

The interactive TV was OK but a bit slow. When the web-based interface (mycruise.com) worked, it was way faster than the interactive TV. I finally figured out that Norton VPN was interfering with the web-based interface, it worked very reliably and was my go-to for checking menus, making reservations, etc.

 

Even though Explorer and the other small ships will always hold a special place in our hearts, and we hope to have many more great cruises on board them still, we’re looking forward to sailing on Spirit again, or Dawn, Muse, Moon, whatever. I hope the experience is as good on the larger ships when they are sailing at closer to full capacity.

[cruiseej]

13 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Spent our OBC on Dom instead!

 

So if you have leftover OBC, you can use it to order an un-opened bottle from the reserve wine list to take home with you? Why has this idea never occurred to me?! 

 

Of course, I have two problems with executing this concept: (1) our checked luggage is often to within 0.5 pounds of the weight limit and (2) we usually use up our OBC on a few excursions and spa and don't have it left over. But there have been a few times where we've lucked into more OBC than usual and I've found myself in the gift shop on the last night looking to buy something to use up remaining OBC -- and you've given me a much better way to do so!

[Catlover54]

Can you use leftover OBC for a crew fund, or for designated individual crew gratuities?

[jpalbny]

4 hours ago, cruiseej said:

So if you have leftover OBC, you can use it to order an un-opened bottle from the reserve wine list to take home with you? Why has this idea never occurred to me?! 

 

We learned that trick a while ago. 

 

The best use of that was when we disembarked in Reykjavik and had 4 nights planned in Iceland. We got two bottles from the list and sipped on them for the duration of our trip. Sure beat paying the exorbitant prices for wine in Iceland!

 

15 minutes ago, Catlover54 said:

Can you use leftover OBC for a crew fund, or for designated individual crew gratuities?

 

It depends, I think. 

 

IIRC, non-refundable OBC (such as from AMEX) can't be used that way, but refundable OBC can? Someone else probably knows better but I think it's been discussed here before.

[mchell810]

@jpalbny Thanks for sharing your trip with us and giving the final thoughts.  It is clear you and Chris has a lovely time; and adds to the anticipation of my upcoming Silversea cruises.

[jpalbny]

On 12/7/2021 at 11:44 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

Thank God the suspense is over and we know you are home safe!  🤣 

 

We fly Delta by preference, but have avoided any flights through CDG because of the issues you experienced.  Was the second flight on an Air France plane?  And was the food/wine worth the hassle vs. staying with Delta?  [We like to go through LHR, to get Virgin Atlantic Premium Economy.]

 

Yes, we made it home safely. Sorry to have kept you waiting! 😉

 

The second flight was DL, not AF. We've done plenty of changes in CDG - probably more so than any other European airport - so we've gotten pretty facile with the process. The 1h20 layover didn't bother me much. Once it got to 1h, I felt the need to walk a little faster, but all good. The only downside was that we didn't get any lounge time but no big loss.

 

I have a general preference for the food on AF vs DL, but the duck confit on DL this time was one of the better airplane meals I've had in years. The wine on AF does tend to be somewhat better (assuming you also like French wine) but IME the DL attendants are more generous with their pours than the AF ones. The AF attendants tend to disappear after meal service and don't come back to refill. They need to go to Silversea's training program I think!

 

VA is great too; we've flown their Upper Class and really enjoyed. I have only made one connection through LHR though and it was a real pain. Admittedly, that was 20 years ago. But I'd rather fly to LHR and end my trip there.

 

Next month's TA flights (to Helsinki) are DL over and KLM back. Wonder if they are still giving out the houses? I have to make sure my list is updated so we don't add duplicates to the collection.

 

On 12/5/2021 at 12:15 PM, FlyingScotSailors said:

JP and Chris,

 

We enjoyed your extremely detailed travel report.  It certainly made our dreary winter days a bit brighter as we are looking forward to our next trip the end of January to the Panama Canal.

It appears from your latest hotel photos that you stayed at the Hotel Avenida Palace in Lisbon. We have stayed there on two separate visits to Lisbon and love the history and opulence of the "palace".  We also were offered breakfast before check in last time we were there.   The hotel is a real gem.

 

Ann & Peter

 

Yes, your identification is spot on! We really liked Avenida Palace and would certainly stay there again. They were super nice and accommodated our weird schedule with early check-in and departure. It helped that they weren't full, I'm sure, but still they weren't under any obligation to give us the room at 9AM.

 

Enjoy the canal! It will be nice to escape the dreary Upstate NY winter by the end of January, for sure. Why are we going to Finland again?

 

On 11/22/2021 at 6:39 AM, brimary said:

Thanks for the wonderful photos and reports from the Spirit. We have not yet matched your bravery in resuming our SS cruising yet .How does the experience now compare with the good old days on the four small ships in the fleet we enjoyed restriction free for 20+ years prior to the Pandemic interruption Can’t wait for those days to return. Enjoy the rest of your cruise     and we look forward to following your reports and photos.

 

 

Hi Brimary! I meant to answer this question much earlier but lost track while we were cruising. 

 

I have to say that I did not notice much of a difference between the experience now, vs in the past. Admittedly the ship was half full so the service may have been better than the norm, but once we walked onto the ship it really felt like we were home again. The crew had all of the enthusiasm of any we've met on the small ships, but also the resources (food, restaurants, variety) on the larger ship were just more extensive.

 

The food was just as good as we remembered, and expected. The included wines seemed perhaps more repetitive than in the past, but on the other hand, every different restaurant seemed to pour different bottles, so maybe that was the way to ensure variety. As usual, we were very disappointed when we had to leave the ship.

 

We felt as safe as we possibly could while on board. The crew is masked and distancing is the norm. Passengers were good about complying as well. Masks have become such a part of life now, between work and everything else, that it didn't bother us at all. Sometimes we'd forget to take them off until we tried to drink our wine.

 

Other thoughts on bigger vs smaller ships are outlined above. Overall we were very happy with the bigger ship, and glad that we finally tried one. I do have some lingering trepidation about trying the big ships when they are at full capacity. It's nice to be flexible enough to plan dinner on the fly and it would be annoying to be constantly shut out of many venues if they are filled with those who can plan dinner months in advance. 

 

I do hope you get back on a SS cruise soon, as I am sure that you are missing it greatly. We were very glad to have taken this cruise. All the best!

[Host Jazzbeau]

37 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

It will be nice to escape the dreary Upstate NY winter by the end of January, for sure. Why are we going to Finland again?

Because coming home the Upstate winter won't seem so bad?  Kind of like cowboy boots:  they feel so good when you take them off...

[les37b]

Great commentary JP. I was really confident you'd enjoy this monster sized ship! I expect in truth after boarding and initial adjustment it didn't feel too different to Wind or Cloud.

 

I feel the same re Atlantide but pleased you liked Indochine. You can probably now understand my own promotion for it and disappointment at its replacement. We'll see if I still think that in 2 weeks! (I actually doubt we'll be sailing. If it isn't the the UK blocking travel, I can see other countries viewing our entry as undesirable. So annoying after giving up, then seemingly going to happen and now just waiting for the pear. lol

 

Anyway, have you booked or intend to book another on these "mega" ships,?

 

 

 

 

 

[Silver Spectre]

On 12/10/2021 at 8:55 PM, jpalbny said:

 

We learned that trick a while ago. 

 

The best use of that was when we disembarked in Reykjavik and had 4 nights planned in Iceland. We got two bottles from the list and sipped on them for the duration of our trip. Sure beat paying the exorbitant prices for wine in Iceland!

 

 

It depends, I think. 

 

IIRC, non-refundable OBC (such as from AMEX) can't be used that way, but refundable OBC can? Someone else probably knows better but I think it's been discussed here before.

From the Greek Shadow cruise we brought home their remaining 4 bottles of Tignanello and our Butler shrink wrapped them all for us. We have never dared to put fizz in a suitcase.

As an alternative to using Non refundable OBC for wine or in the Boutique to bring home, you could consider buying something such as watches or popular perfume and donating the items to the next crew raffle. The raffle money then gets into the crew welfare fund. If you wish to go down this route it is best to arrange it with the  GRM or better still, with the onboard HR Manager. The Boutique Manager usually knows what items are popular with the crew.

[Silver Spectre]

JP, I am impressed with the time and effort you have dedicated to providing a superb running commentary and your excellent Spirit summary. You put most of the rest of us to shame. Once again I offer our heartfelt thanks.

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, Silver Spectre said:

You put most of the rest of us to shame.

Totally agree.

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, les37b said:

Anyway, have you booked or intend to book another on these "mega" ships,?

 

No future bookings yet. But would be very happy to sail on one of these big ships again. Just not sure where, and with all the uncertainty around travel, can't wrap my head around anything more than a few months out right now.

 

1 hour ago, Silver Spectre said:

JP, I am impressed with the time and effort you have dedicated to providing a superb running commentary and your excellent Spirit summary. You put most of the rest of us to shame. Once again I offer our heartfelt thanks.

 

Thanks Silver, and glad that you enjoyed it. We enjoyed this cruise a lot despite the covid protocols and the itinerary changes, and we're really glad that we had the chance to go.

 

It seemed that on this trip, we took it somewhat easier than we often do, in that we didn't always stay in port until the last minute. So there actually was some down time where I could try to post and not get too far behind. Always easier to blog when the memories are fresh. And easier to upload pictures when connected to a land-based cellular network. One advantage of being in port every day!