Live From Silver Spirit - January 7, 2016 Sailing

[Keith1010]

Emtssam thank you for your very nice comments and for the suggestion for Key West.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Well, the weather yesterday was a bit different but good news no snow. LOL.

 

The good news is that the rain showers quickly passed so no rain other than early morning. It did become very windy though making it a bit more difficult to walk. For those who wanted the beach it was not a beach day. I am assuming that the cruise ships were being pushed around a bit.

 

We did see some couples with Silversea tags leaving the hotel around the time one would be heading over to Port Everglades and that was because the Whisper was boarding yesterday. I believe Silversea uses this hotel as a pre-cruise hotel.

 

Since we were meeting friends for a very long lunch and we were going to eat close by to the hotel the weather was no problem for us.

 

We will see what today has in store for us in terms of the weather but as I said from the start unlike on previous visits to Florida we really didn't have much planned so we just take each day one day at a time.

 

We might have a special visitor for a very early dinner tonight so that will be nice. Will report more on that in the blog and here.

 

Keith

[BeginTheBeguine]

Keith and Anne Marie,

 

I'm enjoying your blog and posts very much. As you say, enjoy life while you can. This past December we had to cancel a December cruise on the Spirit because my husband was diagnosed with cancer and he had to start immediate treatment. You never know what life will hand you. He's doing well now, so we are holding our breaths planning that we can enjoy our next cruise scheduled in March on Regent going to the far east.

 

Enjoy the beautiful warm weather, the ship and the lovely crew !

Edited January 6, 2016 by BeginTheBeguine

[spinnaker2]

Keith,

its raining!!!! and grey and chilly...while we do get cold spells, we don't usually get much rain at this time of year.

if you have a chance, there is a nice place nearby for lunch or dinner, il molino. its on sunrise blvd near the big circle, and not too far from the galleria.

its not pretentious, they make their own pasta and sauce. soups are excellent too.

the area surrounding is known as victoria park, some lovely old florida type homes that are fun to see.

enjoy the day!

[apuleius]

We're also joining this cruise and not too amused at the rainy weather in FL coming from the UK where we have left an unseasonably mild and wet winter not unlike the weather here today!

[Keith1010]

Keith and Anne Marie,

 

I'm enjoying your blog and posts very much. As you say, enjoy life while you can. This past December we had to cancel a December cruise on the Spirit because my husband was diagnosed with cancer and he had to start immediate treatment. You never know what life will hand you. He's doing well now, so we are holding our breaths planning that we can enjoy our next cruise scheduled in March on Regent going to the far east.

 

Enjoy the beautiful warm weather, the ship and the lovely crew !

 

Thank you so very much for your comments and good wishes.

 

I am so sorry that you husband was diagnosed with Cancer, but glad that he is doing well and that hopefully you both can enjoy your upcoming cruise in March.

 

All of this is a reminder about what is important and what is not and to me why we try to focus on all that is good and enjoy each day.

 

We have experienced the loss of family members including my wife's sister who was only two years older than her 10+ years ago. And my wife has been diagnosed with two different rare diseases and while treatable right now we don't know what the future will be like. This is why we do the traveling that we've done and why we don't sweat the little things.

 

Sending you and your husband positive thoughts.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Keith,

its raining!!!! and grey and chilly...while we do get cold spells, we don't usually get much rain at this time of year.

if you have a chance, there is a nice place nearby for lunch or dinner, il molino. its on sunrise blvd near the big circle, and not too far from the galleria.

its not pretentious, they make their own pasta and sauce. soups are excellent too.

the area surrounding is known as victoria park, some lovely old florida type homes that are fun to see.

enjoy the day!

 

Thank you so very much for the suggestion. I don't think we can visit Molino today but I have written it down and for sure we will go there on our next visit.

 

Best to you.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

We're also joining this cruise and not too amused at the rainy weather in FL coming from the UK where we have left an unseasonably mild and wet winter not unlike the weather here today!

 

Welcome to Florida.

 

The weather is a reminder that you just never know what weather will be including when we visit the UK. We were in London late July of 2014 and the UK was having unseasonably cool and rainy weather and on only a 14 day cruise we missed four ports of call. A reminder that "Mother Nature" is in charge.

 

The good news is that we are in Florida and although rainy today and cooler than normal, it sure is better than cold weather and snow.

 

And, the good news is that without rain, there would be no Oceans for ships to sail so no cruises and no water to support the survival of humans.

 

So, we won't let the weather dampen our spirits and we look forward to a wonderful cruise, starting tomorrow. :)

 

Keith

[josephone]

Hi

We are also waiting for the Spirit! We are staying at The Atlantic hotel and love it.

[spinnaker2]

The sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar there'll be sun.

It's only a day away.

:-)

[yogagal47]

Enjoy your cruise! I look forward to hearing about onboard entertainment, sea day activities, etc. as we will be on a 10 day cruise with three sea days beginning next week. Cheers and bon voyage!

[BeginTheBeguine]

Thank you so very much for your comments and good wishes.

 

I am so sorry that you husband was diagnosed with Cancer, but glad that he is doing well and that hopefully you both can enjoy your upcoming cruise in March.

 

All of this is a reminder about what is important and what is not and to me why we try to focus on all that is good and enjoy each day.

 

We have experienced the loss of family members including my wife's sister who was only two years older than her 10+ years ago. And my wife has been diagnosed with two different rare diseases and while treatable right now we don't know what the future will be like. This is why we do the traveling that we've done and why we don't sweat the little things.

 

Sending you and your husband positive thoughts.

 

Keith

 

Thank you for the positive thoughts. Our positive thoughts go out to you !

[digtexas]

Keith,

Bon voyage to you and Anne Marie. Have a wonderful cruise and we will be thinking of you while on the Symphony from the bottom of the world.

[Keith1010]

yougal47, thank you for the good wishes.

 

Danny, thank you too for the good wishes and Anne Marie and I wish you and Nancy a wonderful cruise as well.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

The weather yesterday morning was not conducive for us to do anything outside so we just made use of the hotel facilities. Their Fitness Room is just terrific so we spent part of the morning working out and the other part packing in preparation for checking out and boarding today.

 

The weather actually cleared up a bit in the afternoon. Either no rain or just a little mist and not as windy as the morning or the day before.

 

Our son is in Miami on business, and he called us Tuesday night to let us know that his schedule would allow him to see us yesterday afternoon. He arrived around 1:00 PM and we enjoyed lunch with him back at the H20 Cafe where we had just had lunch the day before with friends, and then after lunch we returned to the hotel, showed him around our room and then went to the Club Floor to enjoyed a couple of additional hours of conversation with him.

 

We finished up most of the remaining packing after dinner and will take care of the final touches after breakfast this morning.

 

Weather is always a variable and nothing we can do will change that. While if the weather was sunny with less wind with no rain we would have spent more time exploring the area, we still have enjoyed our pre-criuse stay in Fort Lauderdale. We have been to Southern Florida for eight of the last nine years for a pre-cruise stay either arriving around 12/20 or later in December and like most places the weather can just range from being warm or even hot to one time where with each passing day it became colder and colder.

 

In a few hours, we will enjoy our final breakfast at the Hotel and later in the morning we will make our way over to Port Everglades to meet up with Silver Spirit for our eight day get-away cruise. We look forward to the cruise and with the cooperation of the Internet I will post here daily and update the Blog each day.

 

Looking forward to meeting others from CC who will be on board and seeing the Spirit first hand.

 

Keith

[patnlcc]

Keith, we have sailed on the Cloud, the Wind and the Shadow. Had read on these boards that some people didn't care for the Spirit. We sailed her transatlantic last April. Loved her, thought she was a beautiful ship. Am sure you will enjoy.

[Keith1010]

patnicc, thank you for the good wishes.

 

Keith

[apuleius]

Stuck with a rainy morning in FL we went to an excellent museum Bonnet House the former home of the American painter Frederic Clay Bartlett.

[specialcruisegirl]

Keith, l love the Spirit and also love your very positive attitude to your voyage....which will ensure you have a fabulous time on board. My late DH always used to say..."it's only a problem if you make it one" and there will always be folk who create such.

 

Sophia [emoji4]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[spinnaker2]

A little grey and chilly this am, in my neck of the woods in south Florida it's 59 degrees Fahrenheit.DH out running with the dog, DH wearing a sweatshirt to ward off the chill.

But hopefully the sun will burn off the clouds and the weather will be perfect for your sail away. Enjoy it all.

Bon voyage!

[goldengatecruisers]

Keith and Anne Marie - we hope you enjoy Silver Spirit as much as we did. We are looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the ship and the overall Silversea experience. Anne Marie, I know how much you like walking the promenade on Crystal. As do I. You will have to make do with walking around the funnel a million times but its a small price to pay for being on this very intimate and friendly ship :). Silver Spirit has a great feel and for us it was the perfect size.

 

Danny, we hope that you and Nancy have a fabulous Antarctica cruise and we are envious you will be with Jeff & Al.

 

Safe travels to all.

 

Ashley

Edited January 7, 2016 by goldengatecruisers

[Keith1010]

A little grey and chilly this am, in my neck of the woods in south Florida it's 59 degrees Fahrenheit.DH out running with the dog, DH wearing a sweatshirt to ward off the chill.

But hopefully the sun will burn off the clouds and the weather will be perfect for your sail away. Enjoy it all.

Bon voyage!

 

Weather is looking nice.

 

Only 10% chance of rain in the forecast and a high of 79 and doesn't seem to be the wind that we had the past couple of days.

 

Hopefully will make for a nice embarkation.

 

Thank you for the nice comments.

 

We really enjoy South Florida this time of the year and we know that mother nature is the boss when it comes to the weather.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Ashley, thank you so much for the good wishes.

 

We are sorry that you two couldn't be on this voyage but looking forward to sailing with you both in a few months.

 

Looking forward to the cruise and yes we will alter our patterns. We also know that the fitness center has limited machines but we will find alternatives. Hopefully some nice walks in ports such as Key West. And maybe even a run for me in port.

 

Keith

[spinnaker2]

The sun is shining and the sky is blue.

The weather is perfect!

Enjoy all.

[Keith1010]

We are sitting in the port Evergales terminal. we arrived at 11:00 AM.

 

Interesting how security is so much tighter entering this port than Miami. Not sure why the ports operate differently.

 

After dropping off luggage and going though security and filling in the medical paperwork we took a seat but a couple of minutes on of the Silversea Representatives (we know her from checking in at Miami for Crystal voyages as they are contractors) came up to those of us already there and said while we will not board till noon that they wanted to check us on mist to keep things orderly. So we did that. One of the key card folders also included our restaurant reservations with the dining times. Very happy that not only were the reservations correct but that we got the earlier time for each one we booked which for us is perfect.

 

Hopefully we will board in 30 minutes.

 

Sorry for any typos as I am writing this on my iPad.

 

Keith