Moon across the pond, Lisbon to Ft Lauderdale

[Silver Spectre]

Currently sat in the Intercontinental Hotel basement suite waiting for lunch and our transfer to the Moon. A nice flight from Heathrow, left slightly early and arrived half an hour early at Lisbon.

 

Lovely moon setting over Windsor this morning.

 

[WesW]

Fair Winds and Following Seas for Mrs. Silver and your crossing!

[Silver Spectre]

3 minutes ago, WesW said:

Fair Winds and Following Seas for Mrs. Silver and your crossing!

Thanks Wes, looking forward to bumping into EnglishUSA later today.

[WesW]

Please give David and Civan regards when you see David and Civan pours you wine.  

[Lois R]

Big Bon Voyage🙂. Hope you have a wonderful crossing!

[spinnaker2]

Bon voyage!!

Enjoy it all!!

[lincslady]

Another set of reports to look forward to,   I hope.  Just what is needed as we continue to be in the grip of the dreaded bug.

 

Have a  great time - lots of sea days with no doubt many activities and of course lovely food.

 

Lola

[Lois R]

46 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Another set of reports to look forward to,   I hope.  Just what is needed as we continue to be in the grip of the dreaded bug.

 

Have a  great time - lots of sea days with no doubt many activities and of course lovely food.

 

Lola

Hi Lola🙂.......of course, the food👍

[Stumblefoot]

Looking forward to your reports, Mr. Silver! 

It's great to see the Atlantic continues to remain free of tropical activity with no organized features of note for the start of your crossing.  Hopefully, the strong vertical wind shear that is in place in the basin continues throughout your crossing.

[Silver Spectre]

Initial observations.

 

There is no Card Room, although the onboard deck plans show it as part of the Observation Lounge on deck 11, it doesn’t exist.

We woke up this morning and finally noticed that there is no clock in the suite, so no way of playing music from a Bluetoothed device.

The shaver socket in the bathroom, used for an electric toothbrush socket, is positioned next to the loo, is wonky, and that means that it’s impossible to use without clashing with your elbow or shoulder, hence ours is plugged in, in the suite.

There are two USB sockets on only one side of the bed, mine as it turns out.

There is no night light in the bathroom, as has been added to the Shadow after it’s refit.

[Silver Spectre]

Initial observations 2.

 

This is not meant to be all negative, the ship itself is lovely.

The SALT bar is a great, intimate addition.

The outside section of the Connoisseurs Corner, with the ‘warm effect, non heat’ fireplace and overhead heaters is an excellent social gathering spot for smokers and partners.

The caviar serving in Atlantide last night was minuscule, had to order a second one, but both together only came to about half of a Shadow serving.

The main bar, now in the centre of the large space on deck 5, is way better than the corner sitting of the Muse.

The wifi is glacial, surprise surprise.

[Silver Spectre]

Initial observations 3.

 

The use of the term ‘Library’ in the Observation Lounge would fail the Trades Description Act, there are the smallest, meanest, miserable selection of books that I have seen on SS in 18 years of sailing with them, and no travel books at all!

 

Finally a comment on social distancing. This was highlighted, correctly IMHO, in the muster commentary yesterday. When we went Atlantide last night, at about 8:45, we were initially told that there were no tables for 4 available, although I could see at least 6-8 empty in the room. I assumed this was an attempt to create some social space. We were then shown to a table for 6, in itself slightly weird. What I found strange was that SS are trying to do the right things here with mask wearing and social distancing onboard, but the complete lack of spacing and control that was part of the appalling embarkation process yesterday, where we queued for an hour with other guests inches away from each other, some not wearing masks would have guaranteed multiple infections if anyone was positive.

[Silver Spectre]

I was overjoyed to find that Dara was back onboard and to be greeted by her and her smiling face last night.

[applefan75]

I believe some of the embarkation crowding was caused by the port of Lisbon staff rather than Silversea themselves. Onboard has been very pleasant with most guests minding mask and distancing guidelines. 
 

I will say it’s been quite the change from Crystal Debussy Rhine river cruise that I just came from. Only staff were required to wear masks, guests were free to mask less anywhere onboard and were only required while on the coach buses during tours. 

[spinnaker2]

5 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Initial observations.

 

There is no Card Room, although the onboard deck plans show it as part of the Observation Lounge on deck 11, it doesn’t exist.

We woke up this morning and finally noticed that there is no clock in the suite, so no way of playing music from a Bluetoothed device.

The shaver socket in the bathroom, used for an electric toothbrush socket, is positioned next to the loo, is wonky, and that means that it’s impossible to use without clashing with your elbow or shoulder, hence ours is plugged in, in the suite.

There are two USB sockets on only one side of the bed, mine as it turns out.

There is no night light in the bathroom, as has been added to the Shadow after it’s refit.

We had a charging pad on the desk when we were on the Moon. I placed my phone there which served as the clock. But you are right, no cube radio with a port.

Agree about the “library” and lack of books. I thought it was because we were on the first cruise. 

I did find a lot of ports and plugs at the vanity/desk area. And I did have 2 USB ports at my side of the bed! Since DH did not bring anything that needed charging I guess we did not realize only one of us was the USB headquarters.

I also missed the lovely assortment of towels. But the towels provided were soft and fluffy and new!

One thing I don't like is the table top in the closet which has a propensity to snag clothing. 

 

[Silver Spectre]

6 minutes ago, spinnaker2 said:

We had a charging pad on the desk when we were on the Moon. I placed my phone there which served as the clock. But you are right, no cube radio with a port.

Agree about the “library” and lack of books. I thought it was because we were on the first cruise. 

I did find a lot of ports and plugs at the vanity/desk area. And I did have 2 USB ports at my side of the bed! Since DH did not bring anything that needed charging I guess we did not realize only one of us was the USB headquarters.

I also missed the lovely assortment of towels. But the towels provided were soft and fluffy and new!

One thing I don't like is the table top in the closet which has a propensity to snag clothing. 

 

Agree there are plenty of charging points on the desk.

One of our friends not only snagged a dress on that table top in the closet but also snagged her hand. It needs capping.

[Silver Spectre]

It’s a lovely day out there

[Silver Spectre]

I spoke to the Restaurant Manager about the table situation in Atlantide and apparently it is restricted to half capacity as a Covid measure, I.e. 120 guests not 240, and the SALT kitchen to 80 instead of 160. That’s ok when the ship is 30% full but becomes more of an issue with anything like 50%.

[zqtchas]

8 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Initial observations.

 

There is no Card Room, although the onboard deck plans show it as part of the Observation Lounge on deck 11, it doesn’t exist.

We woke up this morning and finally noticed that there is no clock in the suite, so no way of playing music from a Bluetoothed device.

The shaver socket in the bathroom, used for an electric toothbrush socket, is positioned next to the loo, is wonky, and that means that it’s impossible to use without clashing with your elbow or shoulder, hence ours is plugged in, in the suite.

There are two USB sockets on only one side of the bed, mine as it turns out.

There is no night light in the bathroom, as has been added to the Shadow after it’s refit.

Could you get a clock if you asked the butler?

[SSCAF001]

1 hour ago, Silver Spectre said:

That’s ok when the ship is 30% full but becomes more of an issue with anything like 50%

How full is your ship?

[fdnycruiser]

The ship is absolutely stunningly beautiful!  As nice if not nicer than earlier cruisers have described her. There are a few tiny things mentioned that could’ve been better,but overall almost perfection. I do believe that the hand sanitizer stations could be more conspicuous. However, they do give you your own small bottle.We even had a full moon with an partial eclipse last night.

Silver Spectre, you’re absolutely correct about the embarkation procedure. Definitely no social distancing. I believe as someone else mentioned, that it was the port of Lisbon that dropped the ball on that one .The waiting area was minuscule with very few chairs.

Yes, Dara !  We haven’t been on Silversea in 5 years but amazingly, she remembered us! 
Hmmmm,…. Is that good,or bad ? Lol ! Very nice and efficient young woman

 I asked a butler about the occupancy. Officially it was 313, but some didn’t make the cruise. Whether that was because of the COVID test or not, he didn’t say.

[mofrances]

Hello all! Lovely to hear that Dara and Vicki Van Tassel are aboard - love them both!

 

By any chance have any of you attended a show with the Voices of Silversea yet? We are sailing on the Moon in December and would love to know who the singers are. Thanks! And enjoy!!

Edited November 20, 2021 by mofrances

[Silver Spectre]

9 minutes ago, mofrances said:

Hello all! Lovely to hear that Dara and Vicki Van Tassel are aboard - love them both!

 

By any chance have any of you attended a show with the Voices of Silversea yet? We are sailing on the Moon in December and would love to know who the singers are. Thanks! And enjoy!!

First show tonight. They are Holly Gibson, Olivia Wyler, Elizabeth Snooks, Vitalii Ivanov, Jack Marshall and Daniel *****.

[Silver Spectre]

1 hour ago, zqtchas said:

Could you get a clock if you asked the butler?

Apparently none onboard.

[spinnaker2]

3 minutes ago, Silver Spectre said:

Apparently none onboard.

Time less