Live from the Spirit, September 10th to 25th, Tilbury to New York City

[Silver Spectre]

Arts Cafe is larger but it’s Starboard, not Port as on the Muse; the larger Silver Note is where the Arts is on the Muse. One could be confused.

 

Have bumped into an exhausted Spins, the sun (by British definition) has almost shone, the wind is bloody cold, and Tilbury as we suspected is a dump.

 

Millions, well, over 20, solos at the get together which I opted not to join.

 

Dinner in Terrazza shortly, hoping to avoid the tasteless and oversalted duck ragout that others rave about, can’t imagine why.

 

But oh so glad to be aboard - can’t beat cruising!

 

 

 

Have a great trip.

 

 

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[Stumblefoot]

Arts Cafe is larger but it’s Starboard, not Port as on the Muse; the larger Silver Note is where the Arts is on the Muse. One could be confused.

Have bumped into an exhausted Spins.

 

 

Dinner in Terrazza shortly, hoping to avoid the tasteless and oversalted duck ragout that others rave about, can’t imagine why.

Thx for update Jolly! Tell Spins to rest up as she's got to be ready for ski season at the Beav this winter. :)

 

And, good luck finding a suitable dish at La Terrazza! Shouldn't be too hard. ;)

[NJBelle]

We have been onboard for about 10 hours now and have expienced day and night, lunch and dinner, and lots of new things to see on the Spirit. We were on the Spirit inaugural cruise from Barcelona to Lisbon back many years ago and again two years ago for the fall crossing. We have been very happy to see the new changes and so far, approve of all of them. We are staying in the very same Silver Suite that we stayed in 2 years ago and are very happy to see it refurbished (we loved the space and layout, but it was quite “tired” back in November 2016).

Interesting to us is the Atlantide/Indochine split. Food was great in Atlantide tonight and it felt a bit cozier (in a good way) than in most cruise ship dining rooms (we sail on SS, Seabourn, Regent and Crystal). We look a look in Indochine and it was well - attended (and someone leaving said how fantastic the food was since she though we might have been thinking about dinner there). The menu looks interesting so we may well go there tomorrow night.

We got off the Seabourn Ovation (28 days) in June and it is very similar. I am thinking about doing a comparison of these two ships since they have so much in common.

[Stumblefoot]

We got off the Seabourn Ovation (28 days) in June and it is very similar. I am thinking about doing a comparison of these two ships since they have so much in common.

As someone who has not sailed with Seabourn before, I would enjoy reading your comparison / contrast very much.

 

 

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[jollyjones]

After a relaxing day at sea yesterday, we are now docked at Falmouth under overcast grey skies - a shame because this attractive town is not being seen to it's best advantage. However, I am still looking forward to a stroll around town to feel the local flavour.

 

On our trip down the English Channel, the ship occasionally had a strange jumping/juddering feeling - just for a few minutes at a time - and at dinner last night Moss explained that it's been happening since the stretch whenever she's motoring at about 10 - 10.5 knots (which we were) and she hits the seas just so. It seems to set up some resonant frequency causing the jumping - it feel a bit like being on a trampoline - and the speed and course are changed slightly as soon as it happens so it goes away. Hmmmm, sure hope the glue holds as we cross the pond ....

 

Our M&M is at 6pm tonight and, true to form, it has been set exactly clashing with another event I'd like to attend - David Bilsland doing a cheese tasting. Since I very much enjoy British cheeses I will be torn, although since both events are scheduled for the Dolce Vita which, even enlarged is not that big a room, I may be able to attend both simultaneously.

[Stumblefoot]

...since both events are scheduled for the Dolce Vita which, even enlarged is not that big a room, I may be able to attend both simultaneously.

Sounds like a winner!

 

Let Moss know we hope SS continues to let him perform his one man show (he wouldn’t remember the three of us from Adam) as we really enjoyed it during our New Years Caribbean voyage a few years ago.

 

 

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[jpalbny]

Sounds like a good time is being had by all! Enjoying following along from Silver Wind.

 

We were supposed to have a meet and mingle but no news so far. Have not yet run into Pashmina yet but surely we will at some point.

 

Lucky you, sailing with David. We had a great cruise with him on Explorer last year.

 

Antwerp today. Grey skies and cool temps. Hope for nice weather and calm seas for your crossing!

 

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[jollyjones]

Pretty much everyone arrived at the M&M with a plateful of cheese so all worked out OK.

Charmaine Waters, the Cruise Consultant, seems to be on the ball, as well as being a pleasant person to chat to, and already knows she's going to be inundated next week once the 2020 itineraries come out.

For us solo cruisers, she was reassuring and said she has a long list of the future voyage solo supps which she will deliver to us, and just because they have disappeared from the website, the low solo supps still exist.

She also says that she believes and as yet has no evidence to the contrary, that RCI intend to keep the SS product largely unchanged.

Talking to Moss, he feels that most of the changes won't be directly visible but will be beneficial - such things as improvements in marketing, internet bandwidth, procurement and delivery of supplies that come with a huge company with clout in dealing with suppliers.

 

Enjoyed a pizza in Spaccanapoli after the M&M with Spins and her DH, good pizzas as usual but also helped by not having to look at the hideous red jogging track a la Muse - the deck is just regular color.

 

This morning in Cobh under sunny skies with a cool but pleasant temperature (60 ish) - pleasant to me anyway after spending the summer dying in the heat at home in Bermuda - it's currently 80 degrees there at 5am!

[Archipelago]

So far the very best cruise that I've had. Best food, crew, guests. I've been on Crystal, Seabourn, and Seadream and this is hands down so far the best. My0 is butler saw an empty bottle of water I had gotten from the gym and he brought me 4 more and the Server in Atlantic's knew my name at lunch. I also won some money in the casino.;p:D:D:D:D:D

[Stumblefoot]

This morning in Cobh under sunny skies with a cool but pleasant temperature (60 ish)

Love that little harbor town. We’ve only been there on land, but oh the history of the place. Kept us busy for 2-days during our Ireland tour during the summer of 2016.

 

 

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[eastwoodboy]

Good to see that all is well on board and hope the crossing stays calm for you all.

 

We were nearly on board as we saw a very good offer from a TA we knew but had not used for a number of years. This was a couple of months ago and they offered a guarantee veranda cabin which we declined as there are some areas of the ship we would not wish to be in. A couple of days later they came up with a cabin number but this was not suitable so we again declined and for a number of reason looked elsewhere.

 

What I am getting round to is how any passengers are on board as it appeared to be almost sold out a couple of months ago yet in the last couple of weeks I have seen availability in a number of grade cabins. I always thought the TA cruises were only about 2/3rds full which is one of the reasons we considered it apart from the good itinerary.

[jollyjones]

According to Moss, we’re pretty full - unusual indeed for a crossing.

 

 

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[jollyjones]

We're afloatin' on the ocean, second of four sea days from Cobh to St John's, Newfie.

 

Captain Mino's noontime update yesterday was lengthy and not easy to understand, he sounded unsure of what he was saying. What I understood - and I may be wrong - is that yesterday would be rough (it was) today would be smoother (it is), also tomorrow (we hope) but we are going full steam ahead at 20knots to 'get some miles under our belt' because we may be meeting a low pressure system near Newfoundland and have to slow down to ride the seas.

Hmmmm ... I hope the glue holds. The ships sure creaks, and the doors on the forward elevators bang rather disconcertingly in the rough.

On current forecast, we'll be somewhere near the remnant low that is Florence but not till next Wednesday when we should be in St Pierre & Michelon so I'm not sure what lies ahead for us. Not to belittle the disaster the poor souls in the Carolinas are facing, but I hate it when we bounce around too much, I can never sleep.

[rosepark]

One of the foreword lifts was often out of order in May/June in anything other than glassy seas. I hope you reach safe harbour before you meet more heavy weather.

Rp

[jollyjones]

A few notes about onboard activities:

So far, Charmaine, the Cruise Consultant, has proved to be as efficient as she is pleasant. She's giving a talk today about 2018, 2019, and 2020 highlights. Having just received the email from SS about 2020 and not having had time to look at it, I may go along to the talk and see what's on offer.

The internet hasn't been too bad - offline yesterday for an hour or so and a bit slow today, but we're in the North Atlantic so should be grateful we're in satellite range at all, I suppose.

Guest lecturers:

Corey Sandler (Destination Consultant) - I went to his first talk but found he jumped around from topic to topic too much that if I hadn't read it all in Wikipedia ahead of time I might have had trouble following him. He's obviously very knowledgable but not so good at getting it across, he even sounded like the Wikipedia entries.

Herb Keyser - seems to be talking about music. His first talk was about George Gershwin but he had technical difficulties which were unfortunate, and he talked little and played a lot of music so I left, not my thing but others seemed to be enjoying it. Today's talk is about Lloyd Webber.

John Bridcut, an independent filmmaker. An odd selection of topics - yesterday was about the films he's made of the Royal Family, today is about Roald Dahl, one of the future ones is about filming along the Greenwich Meridian from Lincolnshire to Senegal. Again a lot of film, not so much talking, but may be worth another look altho' I wasn't keen on his sales pitch for his DVDs.

And, of course, Chef David. Two cooking demos so far, both up to his usual standard. And something slightly different for the next three days - 'Lunch and Learn' 'watch and enjoy as your lunch is prepared before your eyes'. In Indochine, I'm going to it today, hope it's fun.

[spinnaker2]

I am so happy other posters have posted on the thread! I have tried to post photos but no luck.

[Silver Spectre]

Thanks for continuing to report Jolly. It so much fun to have David onboard, we love his ‘Lunch and Learn’ events. Herb is rather dry and he does tend to play rather too much music in his lectures, he’s a nifty bridge player if you participate.

 

Hope the ocean stays kind to you for the remainder of your crossing.

 

 

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[NJBelle]

I thought I would also join in and say what a pleasant cruise this has been so far. We’ve met Jolly and Spins, but unfortunately had to miss the M&M the other night. Spins said it was well attended and I was happy to hear that. I hope to meet some of the other CCers at some point!

 

We’ve now eaten at Atlantide a couple of times for dinner, Indochine and Silver Note. Tonight is La Terrazza. We really like the idea of two different open venues for dinner and we really wanted to like the food of Indochine. For us, we found it a bit bland. I understand that they need to anticipate the palates of the majority of passengers, but for us, just adding some crushed red pepper to the dish is not the best way to add kick. Anyway, that is just us. Others have said how much they liked it, so people should check for themselves. We really like Silver Note - Food is interesting and we loved the duo there. Our vote on Atlantide is split. My husband does not like that there is not a fresh menu each night. He understands the concept that each of the ship’s venues are “restaurants” but just prefers that the open seating restaurant be more traditional with different choices each night. I have found that for the main course, there is a ton of variety if you like proteins with different sauces, etc. On the other hand, more variety in starters would be nice. Perhaps they could have “specials” like on land restaurants do.

 

I have to say that we have not seen much of the CD. I know he is getting off soon and is tired, and I have seen him dining with some passengers and he leads Trivia, but there has not been a real presence felt. Maybe because our last cruise was on Seabourn and we had (I think) the world’s best CD (Handre), anyone else would pale in comparison, but there is just not a liveliness on the ship that an energetic CD provides. That’s too bad but we generally make our own fun.

 

I know Jolly has mentioned David Bilsland. The reason he is on is that this is designed as a Food and Wine Cruise. He has a whole program of activities including Cooking Demos, Cheese Tastings, Market Visits, Lunch and Learns and the like. Some spaces are very limited, like the Market Visits and the Lunches, but we were lucky enough to get a spot on the Cork English Market Vist. It was fun to see David and the locals interact. We had some delicious oysters and watched David buy about 20 pounds of local cheese (hint: another Cheese Tasting in the future). We also have a spot for tomorrow’s Lunch and Learn. But all can attend many of his events and I have to say he does a great job with Cooking Demos. I guess there is a reason why he has the position he does!

 

Just went to Karolina’s Wine Tasting and she was very knowledgeable. Now it is time for lunch; not sure where we will go. We generally like the Dining Room on sea days, which here would be Atlantide. But we have already done that a couple of times (and my husband likes that there is more variety at lunch). But we may try something different - perhaps the Pizza place or the Grill if it is not too windy.

[Lois R]

Quote

 

"I know Jolly has mentioned David Bilsland. The reason he is on is that this is designed as a Food and Wine Cruise. He has a whole program of activities including Cooking Demos, Cheese Tastings, Market Visits, Lunch and Learns and the like. Some spaces are very limited, like the Market Visits and the Lunches, but we were lucky enough to get a spot on the Cork English Market Vist. It was fun to see David and the locals interact. We had some delicious oysters and watched David buy about 20 pounds of local cheese (hint: another Cheese Tasting in the future). We also have a spot for tomorrow’s Lunch and Learn. But all can attend many of his events and I have to say he does a great job with Cooking Demos."

 

This sounds FANTASTIC to me...……:D…...I always LOVE Culinary excursions on cruises.....so this cruise sounds like something I would book in a heartbeat!:)

[jollyjones]

Culinarywise, the lunch and learn was hugely enjoyable (it's fully booked or I'd go again).

Menu:

Seared scallops with Clonakilty black pudding

Tenderloin of beef with oxtail gravy and tiny Brussel sprouts

Sticky toffee pudding

All prepared in front of our eyes (in a group of 26) by David in his inimitable style - of course, we actually ate 'here's some I prepared earlier' but it all tasted delicious. And helped along by wines chosen by Karolina who also 'helped' the cooking (tried to pour wine in everything!!).

 

This morning, the third sea day and third 25 hour day (I love them!) we awake not to a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness - instead there's plenty of mists but there's nothing mellow about the grey sea, the heavy dense low grey clouds, and the rain. According to Captain Mino yesterday at noon, we have been sailing 400 miles further north than the planned route to avoid Hurricane Helene - the remains of which are heading loosely towards 'ertford, 'ereford & 'ampshire where 'urricanes 'ardly ever 'appen - but now we have turned more southwesterly towards St John. Stepping on to my verandah, I think it may be fractionally warmer than yesterday which was the first day I didn't see a single soul out on the pool deck. For good reason.

 

Today will be a first for me - a twenty four and a half hour day - don't suppose it'll feel much different. And it's the second formal night, and the Venetian night. I've been invited to dine on the HD's table - Lester Woodfall - haven't ever met him so that's another new experience.

 

To occupy us till dinner time there's the usual round of destination and excursion talks, spa seminars, bridge games, boutique specials (been a lot of them), dance classes, Spanish and German lessons (on a cruise from London to New York), golf putting, table tennis tournament (seas a bit rough for that), music talk about Sondheim, film talk entitled 'If Love be the Food of Music...' hmmmm ...

 

I'll be looking at Karolina talking about Prosecco v Champagne, and David's Irish cheese tasting.

 

And yes, of course Moss is doing trivia every day - popular, a lot of teams - we haven't covered ourselves in glory; two firsts, two thirds, and one result to be ever consigned to oblivion.

 

PS Lois - if you look at the Silversea website search engine, on the right is a tab marked 'more' - under that you can select 'Ecole des chefs/gourmet cruises' to find some of the cruises most likely to have interesting culinary offerings.

Edited September 16, 2018 by jollyjones

[spinnaker2]

We are in total agreement with Jolly regarding Chef David. He does add much to the crossing! We have participated in several of the market visits with him on past cruises and every one of them was such fun.

Tonight is the Venetian Society party and then dinner in La Terrazza. We will learn how many pax have a gazillion days. It is

a formal night, the second of three.

The weather is a little grim, but many pax are attired as if we are in Hawaii.

BRRRRRR. It does seem a bit warmer than yesterday, when the high was 51 F.

Towel report for those who requested same, quite soft and fluffy, not exfoliatingly scratchy.

I was able to stream the Miami Hurricane football game yesterday by purchasing the high speed day pass. The reception was still iffy, but we were in the middle of the North Atlantic.

Happy Sunday all.

[TLCOhio]

I am so happy other posters have posted on the thread! I have tried to post photos but no luck.

 

Appreciate these interesting posts from Spins, jollyjones, etc. Keep up the great sharing. Have offered to help Candy in sharing pictures on this thread, but I have been having challenges with my MacBook Pro laptop. Funky lack of proper performance. Have it in the hands of Apple to get fixed. Hope to get it back in a week or so. Otherwise, you could e-mail pictures to me and I would be happy to post on this thread.

 

Nice and sunny weather in Central Ohio now, but rain coming later tonight and tomorrow as a post-hurricane impact from what has hit and damaged the Carolina so severely.

 

THANKS! Keep enjoying and sharing! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 212,059 views for this posting.

[TLCOhio]

The weather is a little grim, but many pax are attired as if we are in Hawaii. BRRRRRR. It does seem a bit warmer than yesterday, when the high was 51 F. I was able to stream the Miami Hurricane football game yesterday by purchasing the high speed day pass. The reception was still iffy, but we were in the middle of the North Atlantic. Happy Sunday all.

 

Sorry to hear on your weather and cold challenges. Glad you were able to tune in for some of the game highlights from your Miami Hurricanes winning yesterday. Lots of exciting games in college football yesterday. Good luck for better weather.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 230,859 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[jollyjones]

Day four of four sea days and we haven't had a pub lunch yet so, yes, it's today. It'll be in Dolce Vita, just as well, it's very grey and cold outside again (50 degrees, that's seriously cold to me). We are now back on our planned course, we've dropped down all of four degrees latitude to 47N, last night at the Venetian party Captain Mino said that in all the crossings he's done in the Spirit, he's never done one at such a high latitude as this one. We're grateful that he's taken so much care to skirt around a number of storms and lows that could have made it much rougher.

Most cruised cruiser announced at the Venetian party was two thousand and something days ... I wish! However, I did get my certificate for 250 days, not too shabby since I only started with SS six years ago.

Dolce Vita is the most used space on the ship for this voyage, possibly because we've bounced around a bit and Panorama isn't so pleasant just to sit and read if your drink keeps jumping. After my complaints about the inadequate 'library' in Tors, they are planning on putting out a selection of books each morning in Dolce Vita, an excellent response IMO, hope it works out in practice.

St John's tomorrow and apparently we will be in with the Cloud and will be able to visit her just taking our key cards, sounds like a plan. This info came last evening while I was enjoying dinner at Lester Woodfall's table, the HD - see my comment on the Wind makeover thread for another bit of info.

Now back to studying the new 2020 itineraries!

[TLCOhio]

St John's tomorrow and apparently we will be in with the Cloud and will be able to visit her just taking our key cards, sounds like a plan.

 

Appreciate these continued wonderful updates and details. Hopefully when visiting the Silver Cloud, some snap and share some pictures from this ship on which we did four different, fun cruises. Keep up the great sharing. Hopefully, you will be getting warmer weather soon.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean adventure that started in Barbados, here is the link for that live/blog. Many visuals from this amazing river and Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, etc.):

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 59,818 views for these postings.