Greetings from New Zealand and the Spirit

[shefinch]

Hello from Wellington! We are well into the cruise round NZ now. Had pretty bad weather round the south island (force 10 gale) but weather has improved now we are on the north island. Somebody was asking way back who the officers were on the Spirit. At the moment we have Captain Rikard Lorentzen, Hotel Manager is the wonderful Gunter (Vitor is on leave), Cruise Director is Trevor Stephenson. We haven't been on Seabourn with him before but remember him from Seabourn Sun. We have passed on messages from those that requested so to Karl and Leanne who is now Assistant Maitre d' (well deserved). Sophie is now Food and Beverages Manager. Let us know if you want to know who else is on board. Service and food are as good as ever (we have Chef's Tasting Menu tonight - chef is Jochem Lambrechts), entertainment not so good - a magician so far!! Have seen late 2007/2008 itineraries which include lots of new ports in Croatia as well as in Libya, also a stop in Beirut. Don't appear to be coming back to NZ in 2008.

Regards to all,

Shelagh and Larry

[Martita B.]

Shelagh, so happy you are enjoying the Spirit! And thank you for posting!

Yes, pleeeze tell Cheffy Lambrechts I send him a big Texas hug! Also, please hug Mr. Karl and Missy Leanne for me! We've been great friends for several years. WHAT a team???? And Trevor is a "hoot!"

Have a continued wonderful sailing~~~~and thank you again for taking your precious time to post on the board!

Miss Martha B.

[juliedawg]

Thanks for the info.....Can you please slip a bit more info on the 2008 schedule? I was really planning on the Australia cruise.

Also, how about some menu details? I am currently dieting in anticipation of my Seabourn journey....reading about elegant food helps.

If you have time, a daily report is always so appreciated.

 

JulieDawg

[wripro]

hi shelagh and larry,

 

glad you are enjoying the spirit and thanx for passing along our regards to Karl and Leanne. You are right, Leanne very much deserves to be an asst. maitre d'.

Hope the better weather keeps up for you.

Enjoy,

henry

[cruiseyguy]

How does the ship look, post-drydock? Any problems?

[Chairsin]

Thanks for the info on the cruise -- I am very interested in your reports since we hope to consider it if Seabourn puts it back on the schedule for 2008. Do you know if the weather you encountered ( force ten gales???) are unusual for that area this time of year?

 

Thanks and lift a glass of bubbly to those of us high and dry!

[Daneite]

Hi Shelagh,

We have been thinking of you all week (jealously:D ) and hoping you were having a wonderful time. How did Larry cope with the force 10 gale???

Peter sent us a copy of the new itineraries as we thought the Spirit would be back in Australia again and it is somewhere we want to see more of. Oh well, I am sure we will not be at a loss to find a cruise!!

Give our love to Larry and hope you both continue to have a wonderful time.

Kathryn & Brian

[Host Dan]

Hi Shelagh and Larry!

Thanks for the update from your cruise!

Keep us "posted"!:p

 

Host Dan

[Bruther]

Thanks SHEFINCH, it was I, bruther, who was curious as to the crew onboard the Spirit.

It is nice to hear that Gunter and Trevor are onboard as they are both good friends from past Spirit trips.

Is Sophie that beautiful young British Girl who used to help out at the Skybar?

I was kind of hoping that Cpt. Pedersen was still on as we would have liked to hear more about the "incident", we have not had the pleasure of meeting Rikard Lorentzen.

Nearly forgot to ask but is Anita Ford, the cruise consultant, and Sharon Nogg, Shore Excursions, onboard?

 

Thanks very much for the crew update, we will be joining the ship in Auckland on the 5th of March for our trip to Singapore and it is always nice to know that the people who make this the No.1 cruise ship are still running things.

[shefinch]

Martita,

Will pass on your regards to Karl, Cheffy and Leanne.

Hi Kathryn,

Larry has been absolutely fine on the Stugeron and the weather is still appalling! Nobody slept last night due to the rock and rolling. If he has survived this he will survive anything.

Apparently Seabourn are not doing New Zealand "for the foreseeable future" for this very reason - bad seas - so I'm afraid anybody that wanted to come down here in 2008 will not be able to!!!

Having said that, being on Seabourn is still enjoyable regardless.

The food is great. We've had quite a lot of Australian fish (Barramundi, Red Emperor (That's wrong I know) which has made a nice change. Otherwise menu doesn't seem to have changed at all - lovely seafood souffle one night (haven't had the twice baked goat's cheese yet).

Nothing much to report post drydock. We now have magnifying makeup mirrors in the suites which is nice.

Yes Sophie is the beautiful English girl that was in the Sky Bar - still as efficient as ever.

Cruise Consultant is a New Zealander - Chris and the tour person is Kirsten (Scandinavian I think).

That's all for now from a dull and drizzly Gisborne!

[Bruther]

OH DEAR, I hope the weather clears for you. Have sailed the Tasman before in rough w4eather and it was not a pretty sight. Anyway, hate to sound selfish but here's hoping that all the bad weather is out of the way before we board in March

Thanks for all the news on staff changes. Will miss Liam in the Skybar and Christain as the bar manager.

Thanks again,

BOB

[Sea-hawk]

Nearly forgot to ask but is Anita Ford, the cruise consultant, and Sharon Nogg, Shore Excursions, onboard?.

 

Heard last summer that Anita has moved on. We loved her and will miss her dearly. Also gald to hear that Karl and Leanne are together, working that is. They are tops.

 

Sea-hawk

[shefinch]

Hello again from a warm and sunny Auckland! The weather and the seas have improved enormously and we are now hoping for plain sailing all the way!!! We have a lot of crew changes today - 25 left and presumably the same number coming on. There will also be a new chef from Fiji on (forget him name) joachim is going on holiday to finish his house in Maastricht! We had deck BBQ last night. It was poorly attended which is unusual but it must have been because we had just docked in Auckland. A shame for all the cooks though having put in all that work. Seabourn Experience was good yesterday. Waiheke is a beautiful island and I can see the benefit of living there and commuting to Auckland which an awful lot of people do (but you do need the odd million or so to actually buy a property!)

Hello henry - sorry I didn't acknowledge your post last time and thanks for your good wishes. Will e-mail later in holiday.

Passed on all other wishes to crew members. Have some photos to post when we get home (if we can manage to do it!!):o

Shelagh and Larry

[GrannyLorr]

Quote:

"Nothing much to report post drydock. We now have magnifying makeup mirrors in the suites which is nice."

 

*wanders up to the half packed luggage, and removes newly purchased magnifying make up mirror*....now I can fit ~something else~ in!

[wripro]

hi shelagh and larry,

 

glad your weather has improved and that you are enjoying the spirit. i agree it's a shame for the crew to put in all that work for the deck barbecue and have it sparsely attended. also means you had to eat more, right???

 

enjoy the rest of the cruise and your time with your daughter. best from steve too.