Live from the Wind 3/24 Las Palmas - Barcelona

We joined the Wind on 3/24 ... For anyone who is interested we can provide info on a lovely hotel in Maspalomas. As mentioned elsewhere the chef is new... But looks familiar to me from another SS ship and I'll try to find out more.

After Lanzarote, we sailed to Madeira... But had very rough seas and many were cabin bound for formal night #1. Today, seas calmed before we arrived and Funchal was lovely!

Wind looks lovely... But I have to say that there is something a bit off. There has been a lot of recent turnover, and despite this being our fifth SS cruise, perhaps the chemistry is evolving? Certainly different from last time in 2012 on the Wind and 2013 on the Cloud.

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Good evening Beckaboo,

Thanks for your posting "Live from the Wind". We are joining the Wind on April 14th for 11 days. Really looking forward to this voyage.

Could you please find out who is holding the following positions:

Hotel Director

Cruise Consultant

Cruise Director

Maitre D

Executive Chef

CD Colin Brown is on vacation till May 5th. I heard a gentleman named Mike Witte has replaced him. I've never sailed with him before. I think he's new to Silversea.

Look forward to hearing your reports on food, and staffing. Are their many familiar faces onboard the ship?

Bon Voyage!

ScottToronto

Looking forward to following along your voyage beckaboo. Thx for sharing!

Apologies for the delay in responding... We had really high seas to Funchal, spent loads of time sightseeing there, and shuffled itineraries due to a gale warning (Agadir out, extra day in Casablanca). And a sea day stuck in as well. Captain's reception essentially cancelled due to the high seas so I'm still trying to figure out who's who.

Despite this being our 5th on SS, most of these folks are not familiar to me... But all seem nice enough.

Captain - Gennaro Arma

Cruise consultant - Asta Buckiunate

Exec Chef - Chris Albersdorfer ( just boarded in Las Palmas)

Hotel Dir - Flavio Gioia

CD - Mike Witte

Restaurant director - Hedi

Maître D- still trying to figure out but I believe it's Alves, who has been #2 on a few sailings.

Seeing more smiles and a few familiar faces among the crew... Seems like they may have been in transition mode (new artists, new chef, lots of new crew). And lots of concern about safety due to the sea conditions.

Quick notes... Service has been excellent in all public areas. Our butler is actually the best we have had. Mike the CD seems nice, but there's just a chemistry when Colin or David is the CD... Food great so far... We have had our hot rocks dinner, and La Champ last night - BBQ on deck tonight! We are sailing full and have a lot of people on board since Cape Town. Nice friendly group and more Americans than expected...

Please let me know what else I can help with!

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Thanks Rebecca for your live Cloud reporting, so refreshing to read an on board report. Fair Winds and Following seas for the remainder of your voyage.

Thank you, beckaboo. We were just with Flavio on the Spirit, please send my greetings. I look forward to sharing your trip. Have a great time.

Hello,

I took my first Silversea cruise on the Wind last November when we hit the Sardinian storm. Despite the bad weather l really enjoyed the voyage and board her again next week so it's good to read this live report, thank you.

Good morning Beckaboo,

Thanks for your postings and thanks for the list of crew. We've sailed with Alves about 10-12 times. We sailed with Asta on our last cruise in September 2013.

Would love to hear more about your dining experiences. We've never sailed with Chef Chris. Did you pre-reserve your specialty restaurant reservations on "My Silversea". Did you receive confirmation for all when you boarded?

Would love to hear about your experiences at La Champagne, La Terrazza and Hot Rocks.

Bon Voyage Beckaboo.

Enjoy your voyage to the max!!!!

Thanks again,

ScottToronto

When we first met Mike Witte several years ago, we were not impressed. He was the CD on our recent cruise and did an excellent job. I guess it just takes time to learn the Silversea way.

We had two segments in Nov/Dec. with Mike Witte as CD. We found him to

be gracious, friendly, attentive and visible. Personally, we would chose to sail with him over David. Have not had the pleasure of cruising with Colin. We also miss Susan Wood. She was delightful. It's all personal preference of personalities.

Continue to enjoy your cruise. Wishing you calm seas and sunny skies :)

We had two segments in Nov/Dec. with Mike Witte as CD. We found him to

be gracious, friendly, attentive and visible. Personally, we would chose to sail with him over David. Have not had the pleasure of cruising with Colin. We also miss Susan Wood. She was delightful. It's all personal preference of personalities.

 

Continue to enjoy your cruise. Wishing you calm seas and sunny skies :)

Back on board we see! Leaving the Ritz on Singer Island tomorrow ,after a month out of the miserable Boston weather! We also liked Mike . Tell him the Jets and Mets still stink !... Hope to see you soon on anther cruise ...keep dancing!

Back on board we see! Leaving the Ritz on Singer Island tomorrow ,after a month out of the miserable Boston weather! We also liked Mike . Tell him the Jets and Mets still stink !... Hope to see you soon on anther cruise ...keep dancing!

Hey billcrooz - been wondering where you've been. Glad it was someplace nice. Keep posting.....;)

Busy days in Morocco so let me catch up....

The new chef has only been on board since last week but everything has been excellent. He is out and about so I will try to speak with him to learn more.

We made reservations online... On embarkation day they just recommend that you reconfirm and have a desk set up in La Champagne with one of the restaurant guys, and we adjusted a few.

Dinner in La Terraza last night was lovely... Not rushed. They are flipping between a couple of menus every few days (I confess to be a menu checker!) We usually do Hot Rocks first night but did on the night we were docked in Funchal... Biggest prawns ever! We dined at La Champ with two other couples so it was a record breaker... Almost three hours. Christopher, the chef for LC, came out to chat and is a young guy from the UK... Refers to LC as "his baby." Really nice meal from all aspects.

The BBQ was fun as always - moved to our docked night in Casa - right when the dancing started the skies opened up (we joked that evidently it was a rain dance!) so the whole performing and dancing part went to The Bar on 5 and was quite lively!

The one dining glitch was on the first night when we were still jet lagged and definitely wanted to dine alone - upon arrival at the MDR, we were told we would have to dine with others as the ship was sailing full. I truly was surprised and stood my ground... We were seated at a four top and told they would "try" to keep us alone. Two minutes later they moved us to a table for two.... Little stuff but the dining room wasn't full and usually the answer isn't a flat NO. Ugh...

Another interesting note... Crew keep asking if this is our first time sailing SS (it's our 5th)... Maybe it's because we are in a younger demographic ( usually I thought this was posted with the photos and all the other stuff they profile us with?)

Anyway, Gibraltar awaits. Venetian Society tonight ;)

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Back on board we see! Leaving the Ritz on Singer Island tomorrow ,after a month out of the miserable Boston weather! We also liked Mike . Tell him the Jets and Mets still stink !... Hope to see you soon on anther cruise ...keep dancing!

Bill,

not for 5 more weeks. Then Whisper for two segments. Join us? Good decision to stay on the east coast this year. It was a wild ride over here!

We dined at La Champ with two other couples so it was a record breaker... Almost three hours. Christopher, the chef for LC, came out to chat and is a young guy from the UK... Refers to LC as "his baby." Really nice meal from all aspects.

 

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Thanks for you updates 'beckaboo', they are really appreciated. We met Christofer on the Spirit last year and found him a very nice young man. He was always prepared to do that little extra that is so much appreciated. Looks like he has had a well deserved promotion.

Enjoy the rest of your voyage.

We just returned from our first Silver Sea trip on the Wind. We are "free laundry" on Regent but found that doing laundry was not a problem as long as we used later laundry times. We both loved every minute of our cruise from the lovely attention of the staff, great lectures, terrific CD Mike (who was terrific especially with Trivia and Ann Marie's fabulous food. Our only problem was that the cooks left the calories in the food which was a big problem because the daily home made pasta was just like being in Italy. Also, Nikki in the bar was super fast with the drinks and always remembered my husband's special martini requests. We met wonderful guests and hope to cruise with them again in the future.

thanks for your outstanding Wind synopsis Regent Traveller.

So glad to hear you had such a great trip. Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Beckaboo, it was nice to meet you on those shore excursions we shared and at our neighbors private birthday party. You missed our cruise director “Mike” closing the Motown show wearing Bruce’s (our next door neighbors) “loudmouth” clothing line. Hope your finding your way home OK. We toke the high speed train to Madrid and are staying in the hotel Hospes. Silversea set this up as a post cruise stay. It has a perfect location but it is a two story room with very contemporary furniture. The upstairs bedroom has two clear glass skylights and I guess we will not be sleeping in... Also the cooling is not working but the staff is very friendly.

I'm off the cruise too. Very enjoyable and some of the best cruise food I've experienced. I've made my way to Winchester in England. All up, I look forward to our next Silversea cruise though I don't know when that will be. There are 34 days on Seabourn lined up next. ps Bruce's outfits were unique!

We have just returned from the Wind - Las Palmas to Barcelona and generally echo the thoughts of others on this Cruise. The Ship is in a fine state and the Crew are, as always, superb and very smiley. The Food was excellent overall and the Entertainment from the new Choosi Group that embarked in Las Palmas is the best we have seen for years - the same Production Shows but they performed as a Group so well very quickly.

For our money, Mike Witte was OK but not memorable and certainly not like Colin, David or indeed Jimmy - he was not very visable around the ship but its all a matter of personal taste.

The Weather was on the whole not too bad but as already stated we had a number of very rough patches and the Crew where superb in carrying on as normal.

We look forward to returning to The Wind in May, when Colin is said to be returning.

So glad everyone enjoyed the trip. Sorry we had to cancel. Would have been nice to meet up with Mayflower1.

Beckaboo, it was nice to meet you on those shore excursions we shared and at our neighbors private birthday party. You missed our cruise director “Mike” closing the Motown show wearing Bruce’s (our next door neighbors) “loudmouth” clothing line. Hope your finding your way home OK. We toke the high speed train to Madrid and are staying in the hotel Hospes. Silversea set this up as a post cruise stay. It has a perfect location but it is a two story room with very contemporary furniture. The upstairs bedroom has two clear glass skylights and I guess we will not be sleeping in... Also the cooling is not working but the staff is very friendly.

Carefree, sounds like fun - we have made it home and are back at work :( ... but at least it's a warm 80 degrees here! Pleasure meeting you both as well.

We actually snuck into the Motown show right at the start (India had told us that the CD had a surprise) and saw him in the suit - I think my DH Mike has pictures ...

All in all we really enjoyed - was a different experience to not be on a warm weather cruise - and it's probably only 2nd overall to last year on the Cloud... we are hoping to be on the Cloud in December (fingers crossed!)

We were on this trip too. Annoyingly, London temperatures were higher than where we were! The rough seas didn't trouble us and Captain Arma (as always) put safety first and did what he could to shelter us from the storms, changing course and increasing speed.

The Wind was in good shape, and if there was an unhappy crew member, we didn't meet him/her. Our butler was the best we have experienced. Some preferences expressed on previous cruises showed up without being requested: very impressive.

We thought the food was particularly good: not easy immediately after a change of Executive Chef. The entertainers weren't visible in the early part of the trip, but we soon realised that they were new to the ship (and one another) in LPA and therefore rehearsals took priority.

Flavio, just switched from Spirit, was highly visible, always a good sign in an HD.

We weren't impressed with Mike Witte as CD. I think I only saw him three times in 12 days. From other posts, clearly there are mixed reviews: not unusual with CDs.

A minor change we noticed: those staying on from the previous cruise were "strongly recommended" to attend the safety drill again, but not forced to do so.

A minor change we noticed: those staying on from the previous cruise were "strongly recommended" to attend the safety drill again, but not forced to do so.

In my opinion, this is a most welcome change. People on back-to-backs can surely remember instructions given when they boarded the ship. Often departures are late in the evening, and the requirement that in transit passengers attend each drill means that they have to hurry back to the ship for the ~6 pm drill rather than, say, staying in town and having a leisurely dinner before the ship departs at 10.