Live: Whisper across the pond to Montreal - 8th to 25th September

[Silver Spectre]

Plot lost?

[Silver Spectre]

Nice day in Qaqortoq, Greenland today. The sun almost came out and the temperature rose from 7 to 10.7c. Seal fur goodies available from the main store, a bit pricey though. Powerful rifles and ammo in the General Store and fresh Minke at the Fish Market. Only there for 4.5 hours and off to Newfoundland. Running into some rough weather this evening, even though we are 300 miles from the storm centre.

[mysty]

Hope you enjoy Newfoundland Silver Spectre! The province has a lot of character and "characters". Maybe you can even kiss the cod. The tradition involves a codfish as well as a type of rum referred to as "Screech". It is traditionally used to welcome newcomers to the island. This can be also referred to as a "Screech-in". The ceremony may be performed at pubs such as Trapper John's and Christopher's on George Street, St. John's or a travel guide or local family may perform the ceremony. Have fun!

[Silver Spectre]

Hope you enjoy Newfoundland Silver Spectre! The province has a lot of character and "characters". Maybe you can even kiss the cod. The tradition involves a codfish as well as a type of rum referred to as "Screech". It is traditionally used to welcome newcomers to the island. This can be also referred to as a "Screech-in". The ceremony may be performed at pubs such as Trapper John's and Christopher's on George Street, St. John's or a travel guide or local family may perform the ceremony. Have fun!

 

Thanks Mysty, we have been to St John's before but avoided the cod kiss!! This time we will be in l'Anse aux Meadows and Corner Brook.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hope you enjoy Newfoundland Silver Spectre! The province has a lot of character and "characters". Maybe you can even kiss the cod. The tradition involves a codfish as well as a type of rum referred to as "Screech". It is traditionally used to welcome newcomers to the island. This can be also referred to as a "Screech-in". The ceremony may be performed at pubs such as Trapper John's and Christopher's on George Street, St. John's or a travel guide or local family may perform the ceremony. Have fun!

 

You must be careful what you kiss!

 

The Irish love it when Americans (and Canadians) kiss the Blarney Stone for luck. Very few seem to appreciate what the stone actually is .......;)

 

Jeff

[Silver Spectre]

Mysty today in the Labrador sea.

[Wellseasoned]

Nice day in Qaqortoq, Greenland today. The sun almost came out and the temperature rose from 7 to 10.7c. Seal fur goodies available from the main store, a bit pricey though. Powerful rifles and ammo in the General Store and fresh Minke at the Fish Market. Only there for 4.5 hours and off to Newfoundland. Running into some rough weather this evening, even though we are 300 miles from the storm centre.

 

Spectre, on this cruise last September, we also left Qaqortoq early and ran into some rough weather at the "periphery" of a storm. It became a category 2 hurricane, with some damage and a few passenger injuries, though the Whisper handled it pretty well. We were then unable to make the l'Anse aux Meadows visit, which was to be a real highlight.

So, we hope that you managed to get past the storm safely and make your ports! Please tell us how it went.

[Silver Spectre]

Spectre, on this cruise last September, we also left Qaqortoq early and ran into some rough weather at the "periphery" of a storm. It became a category 2 hurricane, with some damage and a few passenger injuries, though the Whisper handled it pretty well. We were then unable to make the l'Anse aux Meadows visit, which was to be a real highlight.

So, we hope that you managed to get past the storm safely and make your ports! Please tell us how it went.

 

So far so good, we were moving away from the storm last night and have lost the 12' swells, currently on schedule to make L'Anse on time. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

[mysty]

Mysty today in the Labrador sea.

Well, Silver how are the waters there? :) I hope you enjoy Corner Brook and L'Anse aux Meadows. I'm a little ashamed to admit that our first trip to Newfoundland was only last year. We hit St. John's, Gander and Fogo Island. Would love to do L'Anse aux Meadows at some point. And Myster would love to see the Torngat Mountains in Labrador.

[Silver Spectre]

We were so lucky today, it was only the second sunny day in 6 weeks, temperature of 70c and only a little wind. By the time we left at 4pm it had turned foggy again and rained. Nice people and we loved the Viking village.

 

For 8$ Canadian we did a self guided tour that the ship charged 50$ US!!

 

The people who went on the SS boat trip came back pissed as they saw nothing, had a 40 minute drive to get there and the water was much less sheltered, small boat and lots of green faces.

[Silver Spectre]

Nice, picturesque sail out of Corner Brook this evening, sunny with clear skies. Met nice friendly people, but there was not an awful lot to do in the town. Its dominated by the paper mill and looks like local employment is generally waning with plenty of empty stores and restaurants.

 

Best restaurant is apparently KFC. Most popular is the $ stores. We saw one nice clothes boutique, a flower shop with flowers just in from Nova Scotia and a rather tame sex shop!

 

Have been much more impressed with the Voices on this voyage, the current sextet are very much together as a group and way better than their predecessors. The three guys will all be going onto the Shadow for their next contract later this year.

[mysty]

Thanks for the update Silver Spectre! Hope the next port has more interesting things to see and do. :)

[CruisinPashmina]

Wonderful to hear that an excellent group of singers will be moving on to The Shadow. We will be on for almost a month in December/January. I'll look forward to hearing this new, to us, ensemble. Will the marvelous Vicky be staying on for the Holiday Cruises?

 

Ever seen her slide down the bannister into the theater? I'll never forget seeing her sliding, singing, yelling down the bannister...hilarious! But, she now has a very big job, and perhaps has to be more restrained and dignified...pity...if that's the case!

 

I've been enjoying your reportage..brings back good memories...wonderful itinerary.

 

Please say hi to Norman from John and Deborah. We miss him!

[Silver Spectre]

Wonderful to hear that an excellent group of singers will be moving on to The Shadow. We will be on for almost a month in December/January. I'll look forward to hearing this new, to us, ensemble. Will the marvelous Vicky be staying on for the Holiday Cruises?

 

Ever seen her slide down the bannister into the theater? I'll never forget seeing her sliding, singing, yelling down the bannister...hilarious! But, she now has a very big job, and perhaps has to be more restrained and dignified...pity...if that's the case!

 

I've been enjoying your reportage..brings back good memories...wonderful itinerary.

 

Please say hi to Norman from John and Deborah. We miss him!

 

Not sure where Vicky is going next and there is the whole issue of whether Fernando will be fit enough to be on board here for the 2016 World Cruise, and yes she did the bannister slide in her solo show....awesome!!!

[englishusa]

We were so lucky today, it was only the second sunny day in 6 weeks, temperature of 70c and only a little wind.

 

Boy that's hot!

[Silver Spectre]

Nice quiet day heading along the St. Lawrence on our way to Quebec, where we overnight.

 

Good day and nice weather again in Havre-st-Pierre yesterday, no local fish available though, looks like the March-September season finished already.

 

Captains farewell last night, straight after the Voices English pop show, and we enjoyed a lovely dinner with Begonia. Its always nice to see the departmental parade and show some applause!

[jpalbny]

Enjoy Québec - we found it charming. Even though we were there in January during a particularly frigid weekend, with wind chills 40 below, we had fun! Your weather should be nicer.

[duct tape]

I miss the Crew March on the Spirit.

[Silver Spectre]

Another nice sunny day, we have been so so lucky with the weather. Walked all the way across the city to see the Wolfe memorial, which is on its 5th derivation. Changed once and then destroyed 3 times. Unlike the losers statue which is a large bronze with an angel bearing the Hero of France to 'heaven?'.

 

Last night, packing done and time for a final meal with friends on the pool grill.

 

Love Vicky and Begonia!!

[Observer]

I miss the Crew March on the Spirit.

 

What happened to this lovely occasion? Was it eliminated just on Spirit? Or throughout the fleet?

[Wellseasoned]

What happened to this lovely occasion? Was it eliminated just on Spirit? Or throughout the fleet?

 

The Spirit show lounge is not large enough to seat all of the passengers.

[Observer]

The Spirit show lounge is not large enough to seat all of the passengers.

 

Understood. But I don't see that that is reason not to hold it. I do not attend this reception/presentation on every cruise, and I imagine that others do not appear. Moreover, the fact that the show lounge is not large enough does not prevent SS from holding single-performance evening shows in it. I get the sense that the crew enjoy this event and appreciate this further sign of the passengers' appreciation. But don't forget the Crew Welfare Fund for another way of demonstrating appreciation. :)

[Silver Spectre]

What happened to this lovely occasion? Was it eliminated just on Spirit? Or throughout the fleet?

 

The main issue with the theatre on the Spirit is that it only has one entrance/exit, on the other 4 classic ships there are two other entrances, one at each side of the bar. So the crew parade comes in the main entrance, down the stairs and at the end they exit via the side doors. This just cannot be done on the Spirit.

 

In addition there is no one space where all the guests can sit together.

[Silver Spectre]

Arrived in Montreal at 7am this morning and finally we have lost the good weather, its overcast and a little chilly. The dockside looks almost derelict, and at the least could do with more than a lick of paint.

 

There are 40 odd in transits and the ship is almost full for the run down to New York.

 

Marina is on as GRM so Begonia can finally go home today, she is all smiles!

[duct tape]

We will board in NYC but not until Oct. 26.