Live from the Moon

[TheRampantSnail]

Joined the Moon in Barbados yesterday. Boarding was very slow but once on board all good. There are a few staff still on from our September cruise who it is good to see again 

Ate in SALT last night. Caribbean menu is very interesting and was well executed. Service good in the restaurant and the bars. After dinner everywhere was sparsely populated. We had drinks in Dolce Vita and there were only four other couples in there.

We are in Martinique today docked right next to a Royal Caribbean ship - the noise from their public address system and "music" is very intrusive.

Tonight is formal night and we are booked into La Dame.

I won't post every day as we will be too busy enjoying ourselves..

I'm off to Panorama to watch the England game.

[claudiaYVR]

Thank you for posting! We’ll be boarding in Barbados on the 5th so very interested in your impressions. 

[TheRampantSnail]

Dinner in la Dame last night was excellent. Everything was well prepared and presented. Service and the pacing of courses was spot on. If only the football yesterday had been as good!

I forgot to mention that masking is no longer mandatory for staff.

[drron29]

9 hours ago, TheRampantSnail said:

Dinner in la Dame last night was excellent. Everything was well prepared and presented. Service and the pacing of courses was spot on. If only the football yesterday had been as good!

I forgot to mention that masking is no longer mandatory for staff.

The football was fantastic,Australia won.

[TheRampantSnail]

Everything on board continues to be very good.

However, this morning we docked at San Juan. We then lost practically the whole morning getting through US immigration. First, waiting to be called and the almost 2 hours queueing to be processed. Rather took the gloss off the day 

[TheRampantSnail]

10 hours ago, TheRampantSnail said:

Everything on board continues to be very good.

However, this morning we docked at San Juan. We then lost practically the whole morning getting through US immigration. First, waiting to be called and the almost 2 hours queueing to be processed. Rather took the gloss off the day 

Apart from the above, we think that everything is to Silversea standards. Service is excellent and food very good. SALT kitchen's interpretation of local foods is outstanding.

Wine is good. You can't expect fine wine but we are having very good wines and can easily order and get wines that are other than the day's offer. Today at lunch we had a very good Muscat from Alsace. We asked for it at dinner tonight and it was provided with no problem. I also asked for a Minervois from the included list and it was brought and the bottle left on the table. In general I have no problem in asking for and getting a particular Type of wine.

[TheRampantSnail]

Dinner in SALT again last night. Same wine waiter as in my previous post who immediately brought the two wines we requested previously. Excellent service, which is typical of this whole cruise 

Everything continues to be very good.

SALT has been excellent. Their take of local Caribbean food has been really good.

[TheRampantSnail]

Last evening and SALT delivers again. It has been a great cruise 

I will reflect and comment further in a couple of days after we get home.

[TheRampantSnail]

No longer "live from" but "reflections on".

Overall, it was a great cruise. Service was excellent throughout, both attentive and intuitive. I have mentioned one aspect of this in an earlier post. As another example, as we were in the Caribbean we wanted to sit outside at breakfast and lunch. Staff facilitated this for us every time - not queue jumping I hasten to add. Having dinner outside at La Terazza was excellent.

Food in all areas and restaurants (we ate everywhere except Kaiseki and Spaccanapoli) was very good, but S.A.L.T. was excellent. I did wonder beforehand how they would deal with Caribbean cuisine, but they did it brilliantly. There was a good selection of perfectly acceptable wines available and alternatives always available and willingly found and delivered. We felt very well looked after.

Excellent cruise director, Rico

As far as I am aware, there were no Covid cases on the cruise.

 

There were a few areas where things could have been better.

Our pre-cruise hotel, Barbados Hilton Resort, was not up to Silversea standard. It was shabby and run-down.

Although the food and service in La Dame were both very good, they were not a huge improvement on other restaurants (because they were so good). The $60 pp surcharge did not therefore feel like good value for money.

Although good, we felt the Atlantide menu needs updating.

The US immigration issue I mentioned above was a problem but the Finance Officer did tell me that they were looking into ways of avoiding this issue in future - they are listening and learning.

Entertainment is never, in our opinion, a strong point on Silversea. Some local Caribbean entertainment would have been welcome, but I suspect the Covid risk precluded that. The entertainment offered was repetitive and tired - Broadway, Queen and a bit of opera, again - and certainly needs updating and broadening. The pianist, guitarist and trio were all good and much better entertainment than the shows.

But, as I said at the beginning, overall a really enjoyable cruise.

[Lois R]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and sounds like you had a good cruise😀

[ronrick1943]

Happy to here your cruise was enjoyable, thanks for the post and taking the time.

[CruisinPashmina]

I will be boarding the wonderful Moon in Lima on December 21st, assuming that the political situation has been resolved peacefully. Could you please tell me who are the Captain, Hotel Director, and head Maître d’ ? I was on the Moon in September and the experience was terrific in every way.
I am sorry to hear that the SS hotel in Barbados was disappointing. We are booked into The Westin in Lima…hope it’s nice as having a good experience at the beginning really does set the tone. The last time we started a SS cruise in Lima we stayed at the 5 Star Mille Flores. Lovely setting, nice rooms, but the smoking policy of NO policy was horrible. The bar and restaurant were smoke filled so we had to order room service. Just what good does it do to have non smoking rooms if you have to run thru the lobby to avoid breathing thick smoke? I see that SS still uses this hotel…for those staying there I hope there have been changes. And I sure hope The Westin management lis enlightened!

.

 

[TheRampantSnail]

I'm sorry but I can't help with officers' names - it is not anything we really take any note of. I do know the Captain was Italian. We only knew the Cruise Director's name because of trivia.

Our September cruise on the Moon  was excellent too.

[Silver Spectre]

At the end of October Alessandro Zanello was Captain and Daniele Franco was HD. Julian (cannot remember his surname) was the MD and he got on in Lisbon on the 18th when Gilbert went home for a holiday, so he should still be there.

[Emtbsam]

Captain Zanello got off on December 5.  Rico du Breil will get off on the 21st.  Sorry can’t help with any names of the new crew.  We were on the Moon TA and the next two Caribbean cruises and thought the ship and crew were lovely.  Our opinion of the wines differs from that of the OP.  We were disappointed that the menus in La Terrazza and Atlantide haven’t changed in ages, however, the food is quite good.  We greatly enjoyed the SALT Lab.

[CruisinPashmina]

Thanks for the information. I hope Gilbert has a wonderful holiday. I will miss him!

 

i leave for Miami tomorrow to spend a night before flying to Lima on Tuesday.

I think I and my 2 companions may be nuts to fly into a “complicated” situation. Even though I have spent a few days in Lima about ten years ago, I can’t remember very much about the city’s layout. I wonder if the Westin hotel is located in or near the area most likely to draw the protesters. The films I have seen look like the protests are heating up. It will be interesting to see how SS handles getting in and out of Calleo. I’ll report back.

[jpalbny]

Stay safe, @CruisinPashmina. Looking forward to hearing that you are on board and that all is well.

[crusinbanjo]

@CruisinPashmina I agree, stay safe.  When outside, keep your eyes sharp and be aware of happenings around you.  Like @jpalbny, looking forward to reading your reports