Silver Spirit Restaurant Advice sought

[keytoyz]

We are booked on the June 26th Istanbul to Athens 7 night cruise on the Spirit. We were on the Silver Shadow 5 years ago and loved it. I have been reading the posts but would like some clarifications on the dining options.

1. Are there certain nights that you would say The Restaurant is a "must" to eat at. We are comfortable with being in formal attire so not looking to avoid formal night.

2.The Stone Grill is not listed on the Silverseas website as an option, is it a permanent dining venue, or was it a venue they were testing

3. Is Stars a dinner venue or just a place for drinks and apps. If it is a dinner choice do you need reservations.

4. Will they do any special meals on the pool deck and if so is that info something that I will have to get from our butler once we board the ship.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer, I like to make my dinner reservations immediately after I get settled on the ship

[dougburns]

I would do the Restaurant on formal night. They usually have something special that night. The Stone Grill is a permanent fixture on Spirit, as far as I know. Try to eat there at least once if it's a nice evening. They were talking about expanding it on to the covered area forward on the Pool deck as well. Reservations are required. Stars, as it was on the T/A was not much of a place for dinner. It was more of a place for snacks and entertainment after dinner. La Terrazza in the evening has very good Italian food, if you like that. Reservations are required. Seshin is a nice dining experience, but I don't think they should be charging $40 for it. Le Champagne is also a nice dining experience. At $30 it's reasonable. I would not get the wine pairing unless you really like premium wine. That ups the price to $200. They had a special dinner on the pool deck 1 night during the 16 day T/A. It was very well done. Don't know if they'll do that on a 7 night cruise; especially one that's port intensive.

[keytoyz]

Thanks Doug for the perfect reply to my question. I have printed it out and placed it in my travel binder. Now I can move on to port research! We really like sushi so I probably will spring for the $40 PP charge.

[WesW]

Recommend you go visit the Mairtre'D of the Stone Grill (located on the pool deck)

within a couple of hours of embarcation to book you SG rsvns, believe the SG will

book out completely by the end of day two (esp because of the nice early summer

weather outside deck 10) of your cruise.

[keytoyz]

Your reply brings up another question. Can we rely on our butler to take of reservations or should we visit the Maitre'D on our own

[WesW]

Forgot about using your Butler, absolutely you can do that for all of your restaurant

rsvns...am I stickler myself for confirming the rsvns we want, so as soon as we get

registered for our suite card..I make a beeline for each restaurant to make rsvns (La

Terraza, Seishin, LC, Stone Grill)...gives me a chance to meet/talk to the respective

Maitre'D once we confirm our rsvns (and for LC find out what the menus/day are before

we make rsvn..agree 100% with Doug, $30pp is the way to go).

[PebmarshPete]

...agree 100% with Doug, $30pp is the way to go).

Just wondering if it's your view that the premium wine offered is not worth the price generally or just not for you (and Doug) personally please Colonel Wes? I had been thinking of a meal or two in LC with premium wine but not if it's not good value, otherwise I might raid my cellar and pay corkage - assuming that can be done in LC?

[WesW]

Pete, we enjoyed two meals in LC on the Spirit in Jan; A taste through Italy and

a Spanish menu. Both wine pairings were good deals when you priced out the cost

of the wine (far more than $150 or $200 pp) and generous pourings (generally two glassses per course (just ask if u would like more)...for us, the cost really was not the factor, instead it was the genuine abililty to taste and enjoy the premium wine after 3-4 glasses, and knowing we had another 4-6 to go (including desert wine paired with desert). Thus, I prefer the $30 pp cover and either selecting a very nice red or white wine to accompany our meal. Some LC couples ordered both a red & white with their meal. Also, pls remember with the $30 pp charge, they will pour you a glass or two of the courtesy house champagne (pommery) to start your

wonderful LC meal with. Thus, for us the courtesy champagne along with a nice conossieur list red or white selection is just right to enjoy every course in LC.

If you have not had a full degustation meal in LC on SS yet, I recommend trying it at least once. If so, pls remember you can save 25% of the cost

by going to the SS website and ordering (at least 14 days prior to your sailing) a bon voyage gift to yourself (your cc card will be charged at the time you place the order). In this case, LC cost is not $200 pp but $150 pp.

[Wellseasoned]

Pete, the premium wines in LC are definitely worth the price, as pointed out by Wes (although I understand that his wine palate was slightly damaged by the Army). We have done LC multiple times on different SS ships and now tend to do the $30 choice rather than the full degustation because, as Wes said, there is just so much wine that it can be difficult to appreciate it all, and can be very filling with all the wonderful food courses. We now prefer to purchase a fine premium wine (or two, if dining with another couple) and save some taste and room for the great food. But if you haven't tried it, do the degustation once, as Wes said, and then form your own opinion. You really can't go wrong in LC, no matter which option you choose.

 

Dieter

[WesW]

Pete, please remember, Dieter (in good old Navy tradition) spoke with Marcello,

Le Champagne Mairtre'D and coordinated LC's first ever Spam degustation menu..he paired his roasted, baked, and boiled spam with two buck Chuck.

[Rally]

Pete, please remember, Dieter (in good old Navy tradition) spoke with Marcello,

Le Champagne Mairtre'D and coordinated LC's first ever Spam degustation menu..he paired his roasted, baked, and boiled spam with two buck Chuck.

 

Two Buck Chuck Chardonnay won the Gold Medal at the California State Fair two years ago, which eaither speaks volumes for Two Buck Chuck . . . or California =) It is our house wine.

[PebmarshPete]

Colonel & Wellseasoned

 

Thank you both for your replies - exactly the info I was hoping for! In (onshore) restaurants with degustation menus I usually find myself in a bit of a quandary - torn between the temptation to go with the matching wines option in the hope that it might lead to an interesting discovery or two (which it has done occasionally) and the lesson of experience that, by about the 4th or 5th course, the palate is pretty much shot to ribbons anyway - particularly as DW does not always keep up and requires reinforcements! Still it's not a bad quandary to be in, as quandaries go!

 

As regards your respective services - respect to both!

 

As to Spam, well being true Brits, we eat it most days at most meals - when we we are not having fish & chips, of course ;)

 

Thanks again.

[DebbieH103]

Regarding STARS, many just get a couple of the tastings, but you can do the whole thing with 18 tastings (3 at a time). The people that do it really enjoy it. They sort of encourage you to order one or two like it isn't real dining, but it can be. You can look at the menus for the various restaurants after boarding.

[cechase]

Pete, please remember, Dieter (in good old Navy tradition) spoke with Marcello,

Le Champagne Mairtre'D and coordinated LC's first ever Spam degustation menu..he paired his roasted, baked, and boiled spam with two buck Chuck.

 

Colonel, you gave me a really good chuckle! It made me think of 1957 when I attended the Naval Officer's Candidate School in Newport RI and for breakfast they served cream chipped beef on toast. The polite naval acronym for this delicious dish was SOS! I still like it to this day, although my late wife would not even sit with me when I had SOS courtesy of Stoufers. She thought it was disgusting.

[WesW]

Charlie...absolutely concur about enjoying SOS (even in the Army), when I was single Stoufers SOS was a staple alongwith Soufers spinach souffle..

[loulani]

If so, pls remember you can save 25% of the cost

by going to the SS website and ordering (at least 14 days prior to your sailing) a bon voyage gift to yourself (your cc card will be charged at the time you place the order). In this case, LC cost is not $200 pp but $150 pp.

__________________

Colonel, I am a bit confused. So by giving yourself a bon voyage gift you can save 25%. Will SS automatically take off 25% if others give you a money gift or is it just from yourself? Will this be done at the end of the cruise? Thank you. Linda

[WesW]

Linda,

 

Pls go to this SS website link for Bon Voyage gift:

 

http://www.silversea.com/uploadedFiles/Silversea_Content/www.silversea.com/Gifts/DO9403_BonVoyage.pdf

 

You just simply fill out the form and fax to SS with your Credit Card info, when you

board you will have an envelop containing your Le Champagne Gift dinner that costs

you $150pp ahead of time vs $200 pp while on board. What we did on board the Spirit

in January, upon embarkation and after retrieving my gift card from my suite, I went

to Le Champagne to talk with the MaitreD and determine which nite (based on 10 different menu's) we wanted to reserve,

then showed Marcello the gift card, he just asked me to bring it with me on the night

of our LC reservation.

 

Hope this helps

 

r/wes

[MuseCruiser]

They have changed the menu in STARS and also changed it to an earlier seating time if people want it--to 8pm (from 9pm opening).

 

They have also changed Seishin--in addition to the regular tasting, they now have a 4 course seafood and a 4 course largely meat dinner.

[WesW]

Wil, thx for sharing the Seishin news and good to hear, we would dine again in Seishin with these changes.

[loulani]

Thank you Colonel for that info. So the 25% discount isn't just for Society Members. Do you know if the discount applies only to LC or can we just give ourselves a bon boyage money gift and apply it to The Spa or other things? Linda

[WesW]

Linda, u/r welcome, bon voyage gift can be used for the Bathrobe, chocalates, binoculars, Spa, wine and Champagne, and on board spending certificate ($50, $100, etc) but LC is the only 25% discount offered if you prepay at least 14 days prior to sailing.

[loulani]

Thank you again Colonal. I'm sure I will have more questions as our cruise grows closer. Linda

[PebmarshPete]

Spirit blog now features Sakes paired with food in Seishin - enjoy!

[loulani]

OK. This might sound like a really silly question but here goes....my husband and I do not eat raw fish, therefore making a reservation to eat in the Seishin restaurant never appealed to us. However, we really would like to try all the eating venues open to us and especially try the sake. Do you think they would cook our portions if asked? Linda

[WesW]

Yes, Linda...Ida had some of her courses cooked (as much as Doug Burns cringed

when she told him)..when u make your rsvns with the Seishin MaitreD just ask

her about cooking options for your husband.