Live from the Spirit: Barcelona to Bridgetown - Nov. 5

Hello All,

My husband and I are going to embark on the Spirit tomorrow here in Barcelona. We have been here for several days, enjoying the beautiful city and the perfect (to us) weather. We have been here before so have focused on food and wine, but also had a wonderful tour of the Barri Gotic by an art historian yesterday. Now we are relaxing and awaiting our cruise.

I plan to post as often as I can, so do let me know if you have specific questions that I can answer about the Spirit. We have 8 port days and then 7 sea days. We like sea days best of all, but look forward to some interesting land adventures as well.

Any other CCers on this cruise, please feel free to comment as well!

Janice

Fantastic! I will be on the Silver Spirit for the Bridgetown to Bridgetown 7 day cruise from Dec. 22-29. This will be my first time on the Spirit, first Silversea cruise, and actually first cruise ever. Looking forward to you reports!

Thank you, Janice. We too are going to be first time Silversea passengers and sail Spirit in August. Looking forward to your posts!

Janice, Fair Winds and Following Seas for your Spirit crossing..we will wave to you from the Wind in a week+ on our fall crossing.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Have the BEST time![emoji568][emoji4]

Subscribed..... Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and reading your review.

Just about to head for the ship now - awaiting the bellman. We just met some lovely people in the lounge who had disembarked the Spirit this morning. They had had wonderful back-to-back voyages and had nothing but good things to say about the ship and Silversea. Bodes well for our cruise!

Next stop, the Spirit!

Have a terrific time.

We have done the TA for several years on the Spirit. This year we are on the Wind and as Wes says, just behind you.

Enjoy!

I look forward to your posts.

We are onboard now! Sitting in the pool deck...oops, too windy and had to depart to La Terraza for lunch. So happy to feel pampered by the wonderful crew!! Virginia

Had a wonderful lunch at La Terraza...there was a yummy paella!! Rest of the afternoon was settling down in our V2 midship suite in deck 5, until muster (you all know about that) and then sail away party. Dinner was casual, so we had made reservations for The Grill (sort of cold and quite windy, but, hey, we live near Syracuse NY and it was ok for us). Dinner was so-so. I asked for my filet to be medium and came rare; DH asked for the Ocean Perch and was not very good. Service, however, was wonderful and we didn't send food back because we just wanted to be done with it. I am writing now and debating whether to do the movie at the theater or not. I have to say that we learned that there are around 500 passengers for this crossing, but only a handful turned out for the sail away party. I guess all must be very tired...:)

Hi all, so far, so great.... nice weather for the sailaway party and great food so far. We ate in the Dining Room for lunch and then again for dinner and were blown away by the choices. In addition to the menu, our waiter explained that the All Around Dining (room service) menu was available as well as the basics of steak, chicken and salmon. Nice to know, but we loved the other choices. Portions for apps, salad and second courses are small (in NYC, you would say $15 for that??) But really just the right size for a meal of many during 16 days.

Our Meet and Mingle is tomorrow night at 6:30. We have a 7:00 Stars Rez, but can still stop by and say hello to all.

Tomorrow is Valencia. We are doing Cava and Caves.

So far, just a bit of motion on the ocean - feels good to me!

I was on the Spirit in July 2015 and will be on again in July 2017.

Can you tell me if John, the young ang great pool deck waiter, is still part of the crew?

Lovely Valencia! We arrived to the Old Quarter by mid-morning and the streets were so quiet on a Sunday that it was possible to contemplate sights and monuments with gusto. By early afternoon the streets came alive with well dressed locals enjoying a special fiesta, which included two giant paella cookers using firewood in the middle of the street. The ambiance was amazing, but we were rather tired and wanted to get back. I'm sure to regret not eating the paella...

Had a wonderful lunch at La Terraza...there was a yummy paella!! Rest of the afternoon was settling down in our V2 midship suite in deck 5, until muster (you all know about that) and then sail away party. Dinner was casual, so we had made reservations for The Grill (sort of cold and quite windy, but, hey, we live near Syracuse NY and it was ok for us). Dinner was so-so. I asked for my filet to be medium and came rare; DH asked for the Ocean Perch and was not very good. Service, however, was wonderful and we didn't send food back because we just wanted to be done with it. I am writing now and debating whether to do the movie at the theater or not. I have to say that we learned that there are around 500 passengers for this crossing, but only a handful turned out for the sail away party. I guess all must be very tired...:)

I thought you cooked your own steak on a hot stone at the Grill? So why was yours not done to your liking?

Something new - internet is free and unlimited for everyone. It's even a reasonable speed if you have a good signal in your cabin - which I don't, I can use my laptop but not my iPad. I've told the internet officer, it'll be interesting to see if he can boost my signal or if I'm stuck with it.

Trivia was popular today, Panorama lounge was jammed full, and all the teams scored high marks. Moss is threatening harder questions tomorrow.

I thought you cooked your own steak on a hot stone at the Grill? So why was yours not done to your liking?

That's what I thought too.

I have found that I get the best results with steak at Hot Rocks if I actually time the cooking by my watch. And I don't think it's a good way to cook fish fillets, it's too harsh, but the huge prawns are good, I usually do surf and turf.

Is Fernando still the CD on the Spirit?

Hi jolly

Have a great trip!

Be ready for obscure airport abbreviations or the chemical name for ******👹

I believe Moss is from Zimbabwe, so learn the airport codes for that country! If I remember correctly, he asked a bunch of them last year.

Moss is a great CD. Don't miss his show -- it's one of the best at sea. Also, if you don't know his history, google him and you will be happy to be on the same ship with him.

I thought you cooked your own steak on a hot stone at the Grill? So why was yours not done to your liking?

You can ask to have it cooked. Don't know why you would though since half the 'fun' is cremating your very own piece of beef.

Cut it into pieces and cook each morsel individually.

Thanks Spins - do I hear that you might be on the Spirit next March / April doing this crossing in reverse? In which case, see you then.

David's tee shirt today was:

Ban shredded cheese. Make America grate again.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Moss is a great CD. Don't miss his show -- it's one of the best at sea. Also, if you don't know his history, google him and you will be happy to be on the same ship with him.

Indeed. A fine musician and true hero.

Hi all, so far, so great.... nice weather for the sailaway party and great food so far. We ate in the Dining Room for lunch and then again for dinner and were blown away by the choices. In addition to the menu, our waiter explained that the All Around Dining (room service) menu was available as well as the basics of steak, chicken and salmon. Nice to know, but we loved the other choices. Portions for apps, salad and second courses are small (in NYC, you would say $15 for that??) But really just the right size for a meal of many during 16 days.

 

Our Meet and Mingle is tomorrow night at 6:30. We have a 7:00 Stars Rez, but can still stop by and say hello to all.

 

Tomorrow is Valencia. We are doing Cava and Caves.

 

So far, just a bit of motion on the ocean - feels good to me!

If you bump into Jeff and Ric from Cubbies Land, please say hello from Mr & Mrs Silver.

I thought you cooked your own steak on a hot stone at the Grill? So why was yours not done to your liking?

Actually, I asked the waiter to bring it cooked and plated. There was no indication that it would be a problem.

We had a great Mix and Mingle tonight. We estimated there were 15 of us so a great turnout since only 12 signed up! The Cruse Consultant Barrie was with us the whole time and we mostly hung out from 6:30 to 8:00, since many of us had reservations. Was great to meet the CC crowd and my husband and I look forward to seeing folks during the rest of the cruise.

We had dinner at Stars. Nice venue and something different than other ships. The staff was great and the food really good. Entertainment was excellent and we stayed past our dinner just to enjoy Helene and Andre.

Today we did a tour that in included a trip to Requena where we went to a high end winery and then to a cute little town where there were underground caves. A decent excursion on a beautiful day. A little cold in the mountains, so the Excursions group should warn people next time about the lower temps on this excursion. Nevertheless, a nice day. And we had a great lunch at the Pool Grill. There are seats upstairs that people don't think about so everyone can really enjoy lunch outdoors on a nice day.