Live Spirit Cape Town to Mahe Feb 11 to 26

[Silver Spectre]

British Pub Lunch on the Pool Deck, with a strange Antipodean flag

[Mayflower1]

I hope the Sea Days have offered the opportunity of some Bridge and you are having some success.

[drron29]

When was the Spirit last in New Zealand?

[MrsWaldo]

Ahhh but Drron.  NZ was terra nullius until Waitangi..🤣

[Silver Spectre]

4 hours ago, Mayflower1 said:

I hope the Sea Days have offered the opportunity of some Bridge and you are having some success.

Have not played bridge at all for almost a year. There is bridge on here but I believe only one or two tables at the most.

[Silver Spectre]

So, what is it with all the idiots who refuse to adhere to the dress code and turn up in a bar or restaurant on an informal night without a jacket. It defies my understanding. This also includes those who come, underdressed to the Venetian Lounge.

[Silver Spectre]

And tonight at 11pm we are on tune 3 of the same 9 that the so called DJ plays every single night, yawn.

[FlyerTalker]

On 2/19/2024 at 5:23 AM, Silver Spectre said:

Have not played bridge at all for almost a year. There is bridge on here but I believe only one or two tables at the most.

 

Maybe use the "Bridge Sailings" filter under Theme Cruises for your next adventure.

 

 

[GonzoWCS]

Hear there might be an issue with a Tropical Cyclone your way @Silver Spectre?  You (the ship) going to hunker down or run away from it?

 

Cheers

[Silver Spectre]

12 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Maybe use the "Bridge Sailings" filter under Theme Cruises for your next adventure.

 

 

Why? The reason I haven’t played is because my partner died.

[Silver Spectre]

10 hours ago, GonzoWCS said:

Hear there might be an issue with a Tropical Cyclone your way @Silver Spectre?  You (the ship) going to hunker down or run away from it?

 

Cheers

We are running away, instead of overnighting in Mauritius and leaving at 6pm tomorrow we are now leaving at 8pm tonight! So tomorrow becomes another sea day. We had to cancel today’s tour after getting a stomach bug from the poor lunch on the useless tour in Reunion yesterday. The service on the ship is very up and down. Although we were having dinner with the CD last night it took over 30 minutes to get any wine and despite asking for a hot plate for the main, hot food came on a cold plate. Plus yesterday morning and for the first time in 20 years on SS, I got dissed by a member of the wait staff in La Terrazza at breakfast.

[beaujolais]

2 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Although we were having dinner with the CD last night it took over 30 minutes to get any wine and despite asking for a hot plate for the main, hot food came on a cold plate.

 

Do you now have to ask for a hot plate when dinning

 

[FlyerTalker]

5 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Why? The reason I haven’t played is because my partner died.

 

Had not known that.  My deepest sympathies and condolences..

 

 

[fudge]

Sorry, slightly off topic, can anyone please tell me how far is it from the Airport to the cruise terminal? We are sailing Cape Town to Cape Town in December this year. We may stay at a hotel at the airport the day before we sail, thank you.

[PaulaJK]

we remain docked in Mauritius at midnight…no announcement of reason. Funny, we were in such a  hurry to beat out this storm that we had to miss tomorrow’s tours in Mauritius. This cruise is seriously disappointing. 
 

Considered lunch in the dining room but very slim menu and not interesting. Tonite’s menu was identical to that 1O days ago. The alternate restaurants are a fine feature but the menus are very limited  ..and eventually many items appear in la Terrazza so it is a bit of a marketing ploy. Had meat in Silver Note that could not be cut, same elsewhere.

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, fudge said:

Sorry, slightly off topic, can anyone please tell me how far is it from the Airport to the cruise terminal? We are sailing Cape Town to Cape Town in December this year. We may stay at a hotel at the airport the day before we sail, thank you.

 

It's about 13 miles - usually between 25 and 40 minute drive.  Most recently, it took about 22 minutes.

 

There's really not much in the airport area, just head downtown from the airport and stay there.  Then a cab to the cruise terminal which is close to the V&A.  And I recommend staying more than just the one night.

 

An excellent shuttle company in CPT is EZ Shuttle.  https://www.ezshuttle.co.za/

 

 

[DavyWavey70]

19 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Why? The reason I haven’t played is because my partner died.

I’m so sorry to hear that Silver. 

[fudge]

7 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

It's about 13 miles - usually between 25 and 40 minute drive.  Most recently, it took about 22 minutes.

 

There's really not much in the airport area, just head downtown from the airport and stay there.  Then a cab to the cruise terminal which is close to the V&A.  And I recommend staying more than just the one night.

 

An excellent shuttle company in CPT is EZ Shuttle.  https://www.ezshuttle.co.za/

 

 

Thanks for the advise, very much appreciated.

[Silver Spectre]

Slightly weird dinner at the Grill last night. My ribeye was almost twice the size of the one I had last week and the prawns had been shrunk down to big shrimp size. Wine service was good, although the Pouilly Fume has completely run out. Interestingly we have loads of Tiki whilst my neighbours on the Whisper are about to go cold turkey as they only have 2 bottles left.

[MrsWaldo]

23 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Why? The reason I haven’t played is because my partner died.

Totally get you.   It’s why I no longer dive 

 

Hopefully cruise picks up 

[Silver Spectre]

Just to recap, very poor service on the first two days, suite bathroom flooded twice by backwater from the bath, not fixed the first time! Missing items in the suite but available from the butler when asked. Still no LP pink fizz. TV requires remote to be pressed twice for any response. Awful WiFi in suite, at the third time of asking and after 36 hours the router was changed. Wine and food supply issues. Missing ports (weather related). Poor communication regarding weather related changes. Grumpy staff (not surprising when being sent home without pay for 4 weeks). Warm food served on cold plates.

IMHO SS needs a real kick in the proverbial because this is a 4* service at 6* prices.

[les37b]

Wished I could think its a case you've been unlucky, but many of the things you've suggested, we've experienced ourselves in our last 3 sailings over the past 14 months. For the first time since 2015, I've no longer got a sailing or two to look forward to. Having seen the recent promotions with £3000 off booking prices, I can only think that relates to poor sales through either people less than satisfied with their experiences, price hikes gone too far or a change of pricing mentality akin to RCI, MSC and Carnival, where selling all rooms to the way to go and balls to anyone not impressed that the guy in the next room paying half of what you did! It really saddens me, 

[jpalbny]

Silver and Les - I'm wondering how things will be on our June expedition cruise, and then on the upcoming WC segment that we have planned for early next year. Our two post-COVID cruises have been very nice, but it does seem that there's a lot more room for improvement lately.

 

But, if there's a real deterioration it does not bode well for them. Ponant has some fantastic itineraries and we've got two more of them booked. The 2025 itineraries on offer through Ponant are definitely giving them the edge; we'll need to be retired in order to do all the ones that Chris has found! And since Ponant matched our Silversea status, it's a very viable option for us to jump ship.

 

Time will tell, I guess. Safe travels home, Silver!

[Silver Spectre]

Back to reality and on topic on this thread. A return to Madagascar today and a tour that was completely different from that advertised. Our small bus voted for an early return as it was so bad. The ship has now run out of PF,  Tiki, Vouvrey and the better French Rose.

[spinnaker2]

OMG Mr Silver!

I had heard Paolo was aboard trying to sort things out for the Spirit. She was the first vessel we sailed on, many years ago and prestretch. We have a place in our hearts for her. I am sorry to learn of the issues you are experiencing. Is Paolo aboard? IMO he’s probably one of the few who can work miracles, all other things being equal.

 

After our last Cloud voyage we thought we would not cruise Silversea again. Now we have signed up for the Dawn crossing. Fingers and toes crossed.