Just off the Spirit ... A few thoughts ...

See you on board. We're on the same cruise! It's going to be a great one!

Neilio

Frank from the Netherlands is the head Sommelier. He will get you whatever you want! Great, friendly (really tall) guy!

J

Neilio

 

Frank from the Netherlands is the head Sommelier. He will get you whatever you want! Great, friendly (really tall) guy!

 

J

Thanks so much for this info. I really appreciate it. We're not picky, It's just we have our restaurants for the week lined up and if I see the pours that are available we don't have to waste anyone's time.

Happy Sailing

Neilio

A nice LIVE WEBCAM view of the Spirit today in Gerainger Fjord, Norway.

Lovely! Thank you for posting!

Beautiful Posting. We board in Copenhagen on Friday. We leave Dulles later today. Can’t wait. Hopefully my wife is done packing.

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Hi Neilio, I hope you and your wife are snug in Copenhagen (and with all your luggage!) and looking forward to boarding tomorrow. If you are so inclined, it would be GREAT if you would start a new thread of LIVE from the Spirit: Copenhagen to Stockholm (or to London if you are continuing on). There are a few of us following this thread who will be embarking in London and your posts would be most welcome as we anticipate our cruise. But whatever you do, please have a wonderful cruise!

We were on the same cruise and it was interesting to see the changes to the Spirit as she was the first SS ship we sailed on. Still cannot beleive the weather on this itinerary (which we loved) and also the lack of mosquitos having packed everything we coluld to avoid getting bitten by them (we have Swedish and Finnish friends who had warned us about them). Hopefully the places we visited have had some rain now, they certainly needed it.

 

With regards to your review, La Dame is actually not a new speciality restaurant, it is a renamed La Champagne and from what we could see the menu has stayed pretty much the same since we started saiing with SS in May 2012. We no longer eat here as have had some bad meals (lamb that couldnt be cut and the lobster in a pea soup in May on the Muse which had replaces the lobster thermadore I think).

 

The menu on the grill, both and lunch and dinner, has been expanded from previous sailings and now reflects that of the Muse, more choices and at lunch along with a daily fish special there is also a spit roast special. There evening menu has been expanded to mirror that of the Muse and also now inludes a Butchers Special which offers items not elsewhere on the menu.

 

It was also nice to see to have a some buffet lunches offerings on this cruise on the pool deck.

 

Seishin on the spirit is not the same as Kaseiki on the Muse. Seishin does not offer the teppanyaki in the evening that Kaseiki offers in the evening (they couldnt retro fit the extractors apparently). The lunch and dinner menus are different offerings and having eaten in both in the last 4 months we personally feel they were worth the additional cost.

 

You also forgot to mention the Arts Cafe, where the range of lighter alternatives has been expanded over that on the Muse. Great to get a healthy start to the day with a yogurt and granola pot (at least you can start off the day feeling that you are eating well before it all going downhill).

 

In our opinion Breakfast/Lunch at La Terrazza has taken a turn for the worse and is a shambles. The area where items are servied seems to be smaller and gone were the central serving areas where fruits, meats etc used to be and now everybody lines up to get to get items from the serving positions. The queue was always snaking into the resteraunt and after the first day having breakfast there we quickly learnt to order items from our waiter

(omelettes, toast etc.). In the evening as it is table service it is back to its normal high standard.

 

Agree with the offering in Spaccanapoli, lovely pizza but no sides at all offered. Pizza can be ordered if you are on the pool grill so is another option for lunch there.

 

And finally the ice cream station located next to Spaccanapoli on deck 10 is well worth a visit if you like ice cream or sorbets.

 

We have mixed feelings on the refurbishment, the new lighter wood down the hallways reminded us of the stick on false bricks that used to be put on houes here in the UK and although making the corridors lighter as soon as you went to the forward elevators you were back to the dark wood again. We also thought the 'beach' area (SS terminology not ours) where they have expanded the pool section but not the pool iteself would be great if you had a toddler who wanted to spalsh about in water but couldnt see the attraction for the normal demographic SS attracts.

 

We are booked on the Whisper for her first cruise after her dry dock it will be interesting to see if they has Musified her as well. Fingers crossed it all goes well with the dry dock and we have a trouble free sailing.

Hi

Do they have a formal breakfast option at all? When we did the Muse last year we didn't have many sea days and to be honest I don't recall doing breakfast much, apart from not enjoying the La Terrazza option at all. We've also been on Shadow and Whisper and we love the breakfast in the main restaurant on a sea day (and any other day we can do it before we head out on tour too!) we join Spirit in London soon and will have a lot of sea days so were hoping there would be a formal breakfast somewhere since the refit. Is there??? Thanks Hilary

See you on board. We're on the same cruise! It's going to be a great one!

Do you know who the main people are? Tour Director? Cruise Director etc. If you've time would be interested in a quick call out of senior crew? So looking forwards to this cruise! Thank you

Back on Topic, SS Reviewers, one reviewer a long way up this thread said "Seishin on the spirit is not the same as Kaseiki on the Muse. Seishin does not offer the teppanyaki in the evening that Kaseiki offers in the evening" what is available in the Seishin? We love Japanese food, but not a fan of teppanyaki, so the note that its' not available is good news for us, so what can we get instead, as we have a booking on upcoming 10 Sept Cruise! Thank you

Is there???

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Do you know who the main people are? Tour Director? Cruise Director etc.

From what I understand, several of the Muse crew are in the process of transferring to the Spirit as we speak.

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Back on Topic, SS Reviewers, one reviewer a long way up this thread said "Seishin on the spirit is not the same as Kaseiki on the Muse. Seishin does not offer the teppanyaki in the evening that Kaseiki offers in the evening" what is available in the Seishin? We love Japanese food, but not a fan of teppanyaki, so the note that its' not available is good news for us, so what can we get instead, as we have a booking on upcoming 10 Sept Cruise! Thank you

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Hi Neilio, I hope you and your wife are snug in Copenhagen (and with all your luggage!) and looking forward to boarding tomorrow. If you are so inclined, it would be GREAT if you would start a new thread of LIVE from the Spirit: Copenhagen to Stockholm (or to London if you are continuing on). There are a few of us following this thread who will be embarking in London and your posts would be most welcome as we anticipate our cruise. But whatever you do, please have a wonderful cruise!

I will be on Stockholm to London so will do a live from as it will be my first time on the Spirit since the stretch ... really looking forward to next week now :):)

Zenblue 100, look forward to your posts! We have been on the Spirit twice, but also not since the stretch, so we are looking forward to the TA with even greater than usual excitement.

I will be on Stockholm to London so will do a live from as it will be my first time on the Spirit since the stretch ... really looking forward to next week now :):)

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