Silver Spirit Blog is Now OnLine

[DebbieH103]

It plays great here, we are on Comcast Blast and getting about 30 mbps.

[DebbieH103]

It plays great here, we are on Comcast Blast and getting about 30 mbps. Any broadband connection out to be getting that small video window. Can you try some other You Tube video?

[Jaffa]

Did I understand the video correctly where towards the end, He announced that SS was yet to, but was about to start building a new pool resturant on deck 10 which would place it above the pool deck and bistro. He say's it will be a first for SS. He makes it sound like it will be a stand alone identity from the pool deck bistro.

 

I would assume this would be a different eating establishment that would compliment but be seperate from the pool bistro kitchen and eating area. He say's they are going to "build it in" whatever that means.

 

If this is true, this is something new that l have not seen announced before as it is not on the deck plans or in the explanation so far on dining venues and choices.

 

Or is he just refering to the fact they will just have tables and chairs in this deck 10 location and this is just a bit of PR calling it the pool resturant.

 

Does anyone have a comment or could clarify on this?

 

 

Cheers

[chicagogal]

check out the new youtube video posted today on the silver spirit blog!!

 

http://www.silverspiritblog.com/

 

bob.

 

nice!

[meow!]

DebbieH103: My broadband is only 3mb, one-tenth of yours. I wonder whether that is the problem.

 

Jaffa: I may be wrong, I am under the impression that the new poolside grill restaurant is just an upgraded version of the existing ones on the Shadow/Whisper, just that on the Spirit there will be facilities to let you enjoy "stone grill cooking". It is still not a separate and additional restaurant.

[ging466]

Did I understand the video correctly where towards the end, He announced that SS was yet to, but was about to start building a new pool resturant on deck 10 which would place it above the pool deck and bistro. He say's it will be a first for SS. He makes it sound like it will be a stand alone identity from the pool deck bistro.

 

I would assume this would be a different eating establishment that would compliment but be seperate from the pool bistro kitchen and eating area. He say's they are going to "build it in" whatever that means.

 

If this is true, this is something new that l have not seen announced before as it is not on the deck plans or in the explanation so far on dining venues and choices.

 

Or is he just refering to the fact they will just have tables and chairs in this deck 10 location and this is just a bit of PR calling it the pool resturant.

 

Does anyone have a comment or could clarify on this? Cheers

 

Hi Jaffa

 

I've just looked at the video and the guy definitely says he's on Deck 10 and it's going to be called the "Pool Restaurant", something the other ships don't have and it will be where the stone grill is.

 

Sounds great....this ship will be awesome!

 

Cheers

ging466

[lord of the seas]

Don't believe the Spirit Silver suites have a bidet. Believe they're only in the Owners and Grand suites.

 

Where will we wash our feet?

[DebbieH103]

meow, even when we let our cable modem get ancient and our speed was not too good, I could watch YouTube. Try messing over there in YouTube.

[meow!]

Thank you DebbieH103, we followed your advice and tried to find a video clip on u-tube to test whether our computer system can play it

We managed to play that interesting short video with only a couple of minor glitches, unlike when we play the video on the Silversea blog which simply "caked up" after less than a minute.

[ging466]

Check out the blog: http://www.silverspiritblog.com/, there is a new post all about the Spirit's spa. The hot tub looks great!

 

Cheers

ging466

[meow!]

For those interested in some more technical aspects of the newbuild Spirit, here is a link

http://www.ship-technology.com/projects/silver-spirit/

[meow!]

Based on what we have said earlier on this thread, one PLAUSIBILITY is that if the newbuild Spirit has the same total area of public space as the Shadow/Whisper (despite its larger number of passengers), then it could have the slightly larger cabins as claimed and yet fit into the reduced overall numbers as claimed. However, the public spaces will be more crowded with 540 instead of 382 passengers. Perhaps Silversea figures that a lot of space on the Shadow/Whisper now is hardly used. So they may as well arrange a bit differently to better spread out the passengers, such that there won't be bottlenecks. And as the cabins are large and comfortable, perhaps few will need much public space (as is the case now on the Shadow/Whisper) anyway.

Based on the link posted immediately above, it says that the Spirit's theatre has only 330 seats for 540 passengers (versus the Shadow/Whisper's 356 seats for 382 passengers), so what are they going to do if a particular show is going to be popular? Are they going to have two-shift seatings (as for Crystal), or are they going to require prebooking (as in La Terrazza)? Does anybody know how many can be seated in the Spirit's La Terrazza? (That figure was not mentioned in the article, in comparison, the Shadow/Whisper's can seat 170 indoors and 48 outdoors).

[meow!]

delete - duplicate post

[WesW]

Eco Friendly innovations on the Spirit...new Spirit blog entry today:

 

http://www.silverspiritblog.com/

[DebbieH103]

Meow, on the same website, I found an entry for Whisper, and that lounge seats 356, according to that website. Does anyone know the capacity of Stars Supper Club, and does everyone think most guests that dine there will spend the evening, or will some just use it as an alternate dining room to try?

 

I have not ever seen any of the ships with a full show lounge, though I have seen it close to full for the fire drill and for some production shows.

 

I have seen SRO at shows on mass market even with two shows, but those don't come close to accomodating all guests.

[meow!]

Thank you kindly Colonel for your update. This is very interesting, and we do appreciate the cruise line's sharing with all of us such technical data.

 

Hopefully, in a future blog, they will answer our two main questions, in regard to the capacities of La Terrazza and the theatre, whether the reduced capacities of these two public facilities may result in bottlenecks. That will be helpful.

[meow!]

DebbieH103: Thank you for your posting. When you get on the ship, would you be so kind as to pay particular attention to La Terrazza (especially for breakfast/lunch on a windy rainy day when everyone has to sit inside) and the theatre (especially for the drill when everyone will be present)? This will be the acid test for bottlenecks on the newbuild when the ship is full. We are longing for such information!

 

P.S. For the fire drill, if they send passengers on the lower decks to the theatre and those on the higher decks to the Panorama Louge, that will be a bad sign of a true bottleneck not found in existing Silversea ships.

[DebbieH103]

Meow, I just looked up Regent Voyager's capacity, and for their 700 passengers, they have a 578 seat theatre. I know at Christmas last year on Voyager, we did our fire drill in the new Prime 7, but I have not had an issue getting a seat in the theatre on Voyager. Some people are not into the shows, and lectures are never full.

 

I hope there won't be a windy, rainy day, but it is going to be 50 or 60 degrees a lot of the time, if not all.

 

I am going to report on everything I possibly can. This cruise has 7 ports in 11 days, and all of them are new for me. However, 3 are overnights.

[meow!]

Thank you kindly, Debbie, quite a few posters are depending on your reports. By the way, 578 seats for 700 passengers is 83%, while 330 seats for 540 passengers is only 61%, which is worse. There is no information on the number of inside seats in La Terraza of the newbuild yet?!

[meow!]

Before we get to the aesthetic benefits, let's start with the purely technical side of the eco-friendly advances. Possibly the most important is Silver Spirit's diesel-electric propulsion system, comprised of four Wartsila 9L38 (6,750-Kw) diesel engines, two 8,500-Kw electrical propulsion motors, one auxiliary 800-Kw diesel engine and two 1,000-Kw bow thrusters.

 

From Watsila website:

 

The Wärtsilä 38 was developed in response to a need in the market for an engine in the 400 mm cylinder bore class. The Wärtsilä 38 is a technologically advanced engine – a product that sets standards.

 

The intelligent design makes the Wärtsilä 38 the lightest and most compact heavy duty engine on the market. The high level of technology incorporated in this engine, its design, and the power plant that is built around it, are all focused on achieving the lowest possible kWh production cost.

 

With fewer parts, lower maintenance requirements, low fuel consumption, lower emission levels and the ability to run reliably on a variety of fuels, the Wärtsilä 38 is unquestionably the state-of-the- art in power generation.

 

 

Wärtsilä 38 core values:

Outstanding total economy

Low fuel consumption

Lower maintenance requirements and fewer parts

Low emissions

Ability to run reliably on a variety of fuels

Light weight and compact design

Application Examples:

Bulk carriers

Cargo vessels

Container vessels

Cruise

Defence

Ferries

Fishing

[meow!]

As Silversea's own offical blog highlighted and drew interest to technical data on the newbuild Spirit's power/propulsion system (see first paragraph of the last posting), the following announcement from the engine builder, Watsila's website should also be interesting:

 

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

Wärtsilä Corporation, Trade & Technical Press release, 12 December 2007

Wärtsilä has been awarded the contract for approx EUR 30 million for the manufacture and supply of the main diesel generating sets and their auxiliary and support systems for the Royal Navy’s Future Aircraft Carriers (CVF) by Thales Naval Division on behalf of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance. The contract award was marked by a ceremony held on HMS Victory in Portsmouth Naval Base, UK, on 30 November 2007.

 

The Wärtsilä engines were selected for their durability, reliability, economy, long periods between maintenance and full compliance with today’s and foreseen emissions regulations. For survivability the main diesel generating sets will be installed in two separate machinery spaces.

 

Four Wärtsilä engines for each ship

 

The main diesel generating sets will form part of the Integrated Electric Propulsion (IEP) system. The selected prime movers of the generating sets are two 12-cylinder and two 16-cylinder Wärtsilä 38 engines for each ship and will supply 40 MW of the total installed power of over 100 MW, the remainder coming from two gas turbine alternators. They will be the largest diesel engines ever supplied to the Royal Navy. The first ship set of diesel generators will be delivered in 2009, with the equipment for the second ship following in 2011.

 

Each carrier will support 40 aircrafts

 

The CVF carriers, HMS “Queen Elizabeth” and HMS “Prince of Wales”, will have a displacement of around 65,000 tonnes and length of 284 metres. They will be the largest and most powerful warships ever built in the United Kingdom. The hulls are being planned for a 50-year service life and the ships will be built in modules by selected naval shipbuilding yards around the UK with final assembly in Rosyth. Each ship will have a complement of typically 1450 including aircrew, and will support around 40 aircrafts including the Joint Strike Fighter and Airborne Early Warning aircraft.

 

This is the latest of a series of highly significant contracts for Wärtsilä for equipment supply and support to the Royal Navy. Earlier contracts include the main generator engines for the IEP system of the Albion-class landing platform dock vessels (LPD) and the diesel generating sets in the IEP installation of the Type 45 destroyers, which will provide the air defence support to the Future Aircraft Carriers and their carrier task groups.

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

 

It must be reassuring that the newbuild cruise ship has the same engine as the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers now being built. Presumably, the carriers' 12 and 16 cylinder type 38 engines are larger than the 9L38 on the Spirit. The carriers will be much larger, at 65,000 displacement tonnes versus the Spirit's 36,000 gross (volume) tonnes. And presumably, aircraft carriers should sail up to 30+ knots, versus the Spirit's claimed 20.3 knots. The four on the aircraft carrier total 40MW (plus gas turbines to 100MW) while the four on the Spirit total only 27MW. That being the case, the 4:1 power ratio looks reasonable. Perhaps Navy Captain Doug Burns will like to comment on this.

[billcrooz]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggghhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!

[wripro]

Ditto, Billcrooz!!!!!!

[dougburns]

It's interesting that SS has chosen to go back to the standard shaft driven propulsion system, vice the pod system that has given numerous lines so much trouble over the past few years. As long as they don't have shaft bearing problems as time goes on, it should be a nice riding ship. Christian is really teasing us with the pictures on the blog as the ship takes shape. Only 3 months to go!

[duct tape]

Host Dan, how about a stidky on the Spirit?????????????