Silver Spirit maiden

Happy holidays one and all!

Just curious if anyone has put a waitlist deposit on the Silver Spirit maiden voyage? I understand that the ship will go from Barcelona to Lisbon but the intermediate points and dates are TBA.

 

Anyone have any other news on the Silver Spirit?

Today I received a letter from Silversea regarding the SPIRIT.

 

They are opening reservations for Venetian Society Members a week in advance, from January 5-10. General reservations open on January 12.

 

Voyage 5901 - 11 days - December 23, 2009

"Holiday Spirit" - Barcelona to Lisbon

 

Voyage 5001 - 16 days - January 3, 2010

"Maiden Crossing" - Lisbon to Ft. Lauderdale

 

Naming Ceremony takes place in Ft. Lauderdale on January 20, 2010

Guests on the following voyage are invited to the naming ceremony.

 

Grand Inaugural Voyage - 70 days - January 21, 2010

Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles or back to Ft. Lauderdale or to NY

 

After the Grand Inaugural Voyage, SPIRIT sails from NY to Southampton to Summer in the Mediterranean then returns to the Caribbean for the year-end holidays.

 

SILVER SPIRIT Details:

540 guests

Largest suites in the fleet

95% feature private verandah

One of the highest space ratios of any vessel sailing today

1930's Art Deco inspired decor and ambiance

Resort Style Pool

Three whirlpools

7300 sq ft spa

Enriching performances in The Theatre

Six dining venues including a Japanese restaurant and "Stars", a modern-day supper club

 

 

Ernie

One of the highest space ratios of any vessel sailing today

That hints at recalculation of the newbuild's tonnage (as I have time and again suggested on this board). The Shadow/Whisper started at a claimed 25,000 tonnes and 388 passengers (space ration 64.4). Without making any changes, it was later claimed at 28,200 tonnes with 382 passengers (space ratio 73.8). Now the newbuild starts at a claimed 36,000 tonnes with 540 passengers (space ratio of only 66.6). For it to be among the highest space ratio, it needs to be recalculated at perhaps 39,800 tonnes (to be just under 40,000 for categorization purposes), and that will give a space ratio of 73.7, and therefore very close to the Shadow/Whisper's present claim!

 

Perhaps by 2011, at the tail end of the present economic tsunami, they will have some deeply discounted voyage cheap enough for us ordinary cats to climb aboard to make cabin measurements .. meow!

P.S. What is a "supper club", is it for buffet dinner as on Oceania?

Hi Meow; we just returned from a 15 day thru the panama canal which featured a "Supper Club" at La Terraza.nothing more than a singer with a 3 piece band that sang so softly you wouldn't even know they were there.

the night we were there no one was dancing. not a big deal.

Thank you kindly for your reply. I am thinking about the newbuild's six restaurants. Now on the Shadow/Whisper, they have main dining room, the Terrace, La Champagne, and the poolside grill (I guess they count that as four). On the newbuild, they are going to have an Oriental restaurant and the "supper club" which as per your description will be just a duplicate in reality.

On the newbuild, they are going to have an Oriental restaurant and the "supper club" which as per your description will be just a duplicate in reality.

 

 

It's quite possible on SPIRIT the Supper Club will be completely different from what they are doing on the existing ships. Deck plans should be out soon so we will know for certain shortly.

 

Ernie

I received the letter also. Sounds wonderful. Wish I had the 70 days & the $$$ to go with it. Was just on the Shadow 12/3 to 12/12, it was wonderful. I did overhear a conversation (not saying from who) that 2009 on board bookings and regular bookings are down. Seems like people are being very cautious due to the economy and with their investments down.

Hello Goldens4,

I just returned from 9 glorious days aboard the Silver Shadow. A wonderful vacation once again. Just reached my 109 days with Silverseas. The crew were wonderful. It's the crew that brings me back to the ship again and again. Really enjoyed chatting with the wait staff, they made this voyage a memorable one. Oliver in the bar on 5 was amazing! Bearly made it down the hall towards the bar and my Grey Goose/Tonic was waiting for me on the bar. Great service throughout the cruise.

 

Can't wait for my next voyage. Just have to decide where to?

 

Merry Christmas to all.

 

ScottToronto.

Hi, Scott and Merry Christmas! We were on the Shadow 12/3 till 12/12. We loved little HoneyBee on 5 and Joey at the Pool Bar. Joey knew I was an iced coffee freak and always had it ready even when I was at the pool at 9AM. We are looking forward to next year and are thinking about the Thanksgiving cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Ft. Lauderdale. We just love the Carribbean.

:Dcould not agree more on the folks that work on the shadow; oliver and his magic tricks;Joey at the pool bar who could not have been nicer and little Honeybee who has to be the sweetest thing since honey. these are the people we have to make sure that they get the recognition on your survey cards more tha the usual "little something !"

While taking Google's new Chrome web browser for a test drive (no cookies to start with, I guess), I stumbled on the still-incomplete re-do of Silversea's website! Many links still either don't work or direct you to existing pages (e.g., 2010 itineraries are not up yet), but there is quite a bit of information on the Spirit, including deck plans, ship images (artist renderings), and details on accommodations and dining venues. All of the new pages, by the way, include Silversea's new tag line - one aim, excellence.

 

Some highlights -

The ship's images are impressive, to say the least. I am not sure if I would be breaking some rule by posting the IP address - perhaps someone can advise. The pages I have viewed, though, are not protected or encrypted in any way (and any browser, not just Chrome, can display them).

 

Happy New Year!

Great find Batecher, thx for sharing..r/wes

Some highlights -

Suite sq footage (compared with figures for the Shadow/Whisper)

Vista - 312 sq ft vs 287 sq ft

Veranda - 376 sq ft vs 345 sq ft

Silver - 742 sq ft vs 653-701 sq ft

Grand - 990-1302 sq ft (1-2 bdrm) vs 1286-1435 sq ft (1-2 bdrm)

Owner's - 1292-1668 sq ft (1-2 bdrm) vs 1264 sq ft

 

Deck 4 - Seishin Japanese restaurant and Le Champagne, along with The Restaurant

Deck 5 - The Show Lounge and The Bar (perhaps renamed "Annabelle"?)

Deck 7 - Stars Supper Club and La Terrazza

Deck 9 - Pool/Pool Grill/Pool Bar/Panorama Lounge

Deck 10 - 12 Silver Suites

Deck 11 - 14 Silver Suites and the Observation Lounge

Quite a few months ago, based on the architectural rendition posted by Host Dan, this cat made some postulations:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=16312713#post16312713 posting #21

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Decks 1 to 3, for crew and storage, etc.

 

Deck 4 ... front 2x6=12 vista suites

mid The Restaurant

back galley (kitchen) etc

 

Deck 5 ... front 2x14=28 verandah suites

mid shops, reception etc

 

Deck 6 ... front 2x16=32 verandah suites

mid 2x12=24 (midship) verandah suites

2 small life rafts (1 on each side)

2 life boats (ditto)

2 tenders (ditto)

 

2-storeyed theatre at back of decks 5 & 6. The above same as Shadow/Whisper

 

Deck 7 ... front 2x1=2 grand suites, 2x17=34 verandah suites

mid 2x12=24 (midship) verandah suites

back 2 specialty restaurants one each side, both with inside/outside sections (perhaps Asian and Italian)

 

Deck 8 ... front 2x1=2 grand suites, 2x16=32 verandah suites

mid 2x7=14 (midship) verandah suites, 2x1=2 owner's suites

back unknown, perhaps bar/lounge/library/gymnasium

 

Deck 9 ... front 2x1=2 grand suites, 2x15=30 verandah suites

mid pool

back Terrace buffet with inside/outside sections

 

Deck 10 ... front Bridge, 2x6=12 silver suites, officers' suites or spa

mid walking track

back like deck 9 on Shadow/Whisper

 

Deck 11 ... front Observation lounge (with inside/outside space) 2x7=14 silver suites

back chimney

 

All six grand suites are at the very front (just like Shadow/Whisper) in the front corners of decks 7, 8 and 9. All silver suites are on the top two decks 10 and 11, and in the front of the ship, unlike the Shadow/Whisper. (I hope their occupants are seasickness resistant!) The two owner's suites are still right in the middle of the ship (for the particularly rich). All the verandah suites add up to 218, four shy of the claimed 222, though it is plausible that these are hidden as second bedrooms inside those grand/owner's suites.

 

The silver suites remain double the size of the verandah suites, and unlike RSSC, you will have a fairly simple complement of suite types (floor plans) and categories. I would think the deck plans will be very similar too (and with all guest rooms in front to midship, and all function rooms at the back and midship). The newbuild looks just like an enlarged version of the Shadow/Whisper. It appears that the Italian marine architect can just take the blue print of Yran & Storbraaten and just make rather systematic modifications (which is very wise of them, because the Shadow/Whisper are close to ideal as they are!)

---------------------

 

It will be interesting to see how much of that is correct and how much isn't .. meow!

 

By the way, the suites sizes as newly revealed by batecher seem to be larger than we expected, that is nice. Hopefully some years down the road, there will be a deeply discounted voyage cheap enough for us to climb on board to make cabin measurements. In the foreseeable future, we will content ourselves with cyber discussions.

P.S. We also made some predictions on cabin sizes

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=733105 posting #10

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Only a cat's guess:

 

Looking at the picture and the bits and pieces of information on the newbuild, the deck plan will likely remain single aisle, with one cabin on each (port and starboard) side. As the new ship's beam will be about 5 ft wider, the new cabins are likely 2'6" longer. In order not to increase the standard cabins footage and carry a maximum number of passengers without sacrificing cabin comfort, the new cabin will likely be 6" narrower.

 

This should still offer a full 3' of clearance between the end of the bed and the wall, ample for walking around the bed, with the "make-up module" moved to the wall between the side of the bed and the walk-in closet (we preciously expected this to shrink by 5 inches). That being the case, the side of the bed facing this module will naturally be for the ladies, no matter which side she sleeps on in her own home, that should still be tolerable, I guess!

 

So the present Shadow/Whisper standard cabin is 35.5'x9.7' (including balcony) for 345 sq.ft., the newbuild's standard cabin will likely be 38'x9.2' (including balcony) for roughly 350 sq.ft. It will likely still have separate tub and shower, double sink, walk-in closet, and an arguably more conveniently placed make-up module. It may look a bit more longish, they will likely keep the elegant and space efficient curved and veneered furnishings. Perhaps the sofa will look a bit more modern to save on "protruding" space in the sitting area, which will share with the sleeping area in the overall 2.5' increase in length of the cabin. Perhaps Host Dan can tell whether this cat is right!

-------------

If the newbuild's standard verandah suite is going to be 376 sq.ft., given the ship's beam width and its remaining single aisle, and therefore the rectangular cabin being 38 ft. long, the cabin width will be 9.9 ft wide, practically the same as the existing Shadow/Whisper (which is nicer than what we previously expected). The increase of 2.5 ft in cabin length will likely see the make-up module moved to the wall next to the walk-in closet, leaving more clearance room to walk around the end of the bed.

 

While a larger ship may allow more efficient use of space, and therefore larger cabins with the same "space ratio", we still expect, just like in the case of the Shadow/Whisper before, Silversea to recalculate the tonnage of the new ship upwards to perhaps 39,800 tonnes!

Deck 10 - 12 Silver Suites

Deck 11 - 14 Silver Suites and the Observation Lounge

[/indent]

Unless there has been changes since Host Dan's posted picture more than half a year ago, there should be no deck 12, 13 or 14. Deck 11 is the highest. In any case, it is unlikely for a ship below 40,000 tonnes to have that many decks!

More details for meow!

 

Single aisle layout; 8 passenger decks (4 through 11)

Length 642 ft

Width 86 ft

Tonnage 36,000

2 elevators forward/midship; 4 elevators midship/aft

 

Deck 4: 12 Vista Suites forward

The Restaurant, Seishin Restaurant and Le Champagne midship

 

Decks 4/5: Show Lounge aft

 

Deck 5: 32 Veranda Suites (4 Handicap)

The Bar, Reception, Tour Desk, Cruise Consultant midship

 

Deck 6: 56 Veranda Suites forward/midship

Beauty Salon, Spa, Fitness Center aft

 

Deck 7: 2 Grand Suites with connecting bedrooms forward

56 Veranda Suites forward/midship

La Terrazza and Stars Supper Club aft

 

Deck 8: 2 Grand Suites with connecting bedrooms forward

44 Veranda Suites

Boutiques, The Humidor, Casino aft

 

Deck 9: 2 Grand Suites with connecting bedrooms forward

28 Veranda Suites

Pool, Pool Grill, Pool Bar midship

Indoor/outdoor Panorama Lounge aft

 

Deck 10: Bridge

12 Silver Suites

 

Deck 11: Observation Lounge w/ outdoor viewing

14 Silver Suites

 

Summary: Vista 12 x 2 = 24

Veranda 216 x 2 = 432

Silver 26 x 2 = 52

Grand/Owner's 8 x 4 = 32 (incl connecting bedrooms)

Total passengers 540

Thank you kindly for your information. Presumably, drawings, pictures and deck plans should be on the Silversea website in a week's time?!

For those who are interested, here is Silversea's link to the Spirit's deck plans.

 

http://www.silversea.com/uploadedFiles/Spirit_DeckPlans.pdf

Thank you kindly, batecher, for posting the link to the newbuild's deck plan. I tried to get the other pages of that e-brochure (pages 1-33, besides the pages 34-35 shown on that link) but failed. It will be nice to be able to read the earlier pages (perhaps detailed descriptions) too.

 

We made some measurements with a ruler on the printed out deck plans, and found the "column lengths" (as in measuring a newspaper article) ratios of public to cabin areas on the newbuild to be 0.87, and on the Shadow/Whisper to be 0.94, so the newbuild has somewhat less public area per cabin area. However, other than moving some areas (e.g. the casino, humidor, silver suites and the spa/fitness centre) up and down different decks, the general lay out (single aisle, cabins front and functions rear) of the newbuild remains the same.

 

We still don't know what "supper club" means. The newbuild has more variety of restaurants, which will be good for long voyages (you do get tired of the same menu over and over no matter how good it is). Also, being a larger ship, hopefully steadier, the newbuild may have some partial "saving grace" (everything else being equal, normally, going to a larger ship is step down.)

P.S. It will be nice to know whether the newbuild's main restaurant, theatre and poolside area can each by itself cater to all 540 passengers in "one sitting" (as required in special occasions such as safety drill, galley brunch and poolside barbeque), as in the case of the Shadow/Whisper. These characteristics are factors in deciding whether a ship is in the true luxury category.

For those who are interested, here is Silversea's link to the Spirit's deck plans. http://www.silversea.com/uploadedFiles/Spirit_DeckPlans.pdf

Mmm. No running / jogging / walking track?

Would be a deal breaker for us if correct...:(

I am sure there is a running track on Deck 10. They won't do it without one.

The whole year's voyages for Spirit are up on the website today.