Silver Spirit Blog is Now OnLine

[meow!]

Pardon my ignorance, what is a "stidky"?

[ging466]

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

 

Yes, Host Dan....can we have one like the "Odyssey - Questions, Musings and Trip Reports" on the Seabourn board?

 

Cheers

ging466

[meow!]

Perhaps "stidky" is a misprint for "sticky", referring to a new thread that is put at the top of this column for a while while a given event lasts. If that is the case, we understand and agree with.

[ging466]

Perhaps "stidky" is a misprint for "sticky", referring to a new thread that is put at the top of this column for a while while a given event lasts. If that is the case, we understand and agree with.

 

Exactly!:)

[Wellseasoned]

Dougburns, only three months to go indeed! Just left the Shadow, and am now salivating over the upcoming maiden crossing. The Shadow crew was very excited about the new ship, and this certainly carried over to us! See you on deck ten.

[meow!]

The newbuild Spirit has deck 11, which is a half deck, so let us say 10.5 decks in all for approximation. It is 642 ft long and 86 ft wide. It claims 36,000 gross tonnes (volume) and its maximum speed is 20.3 knots.

 

Just for physical proportionality, let us look at the other end, a large newbuild, the RCCL Oasis. It has deck 18, no deck 13, and its decks 17 and 18 are partial, let us say 16 decks in all for approximation. It is 1184 ft long and 154 ft wide. It claims to be 220,000 gross tonnes (volume) and its maximum speed is 22 knots.

 

So, if we assume that they are similar in shape, and their decks are similar in height, 220,000x(10.5x642x86)/(16x1184x154) = 43,700 roughly, which is 21% higher than Silversea's claim, or alterantively, 36,000x(16x1184x154)/(10.5x642x86) = 181,000 for the Oasis. So can some expert in ships enlighten all of us on such discrepancy? Is it because of the larger fraction of space taken up by the higher crew ratio on the Spirit, resulting in 20% less "sellable spce"?

 

Then the length to width ratio for the Spirit is 7.47, while that for the Oasis is 7.68, close enough, so the numbers in each case are self-consistent. The height to width ratio is 10.5/86 = 0.12 decks/ft for the Spirit and 16/154 = 0.10 for the Oasis. Does that imply that the Spirit may be less steady (roll more) than the Oasis due to its "tallness", despite the use of stabilizers? If so, those esteemed guests in Silver suites on the top of the ship will need to be seasick resistant!

 

The Oasis, being so much larger, can still sail faster than the Spirit, and in fact many Celebrity ships in the close to 100,000 tonne range can sail at 24 knots. Why is the newbuild Spirit only confined to 20.3 knots (slower than the Shadow/Whisper's 21 knots)?

 

A difference of 10% in speed can cut an overnight sea leg by 1.5 hours and allow more time in ports, or alternatively, it can cover the distance between ports with one sea day instead of deliberately slowing down and stretching it into two sea days. We know that sea days are nice, but won't it be better to have the option of being able to speed up or slow down at will rather than be limited by the ship? If cheaper, larger ships can easily achieve that, why not Silversea?

[CASHIPman]

Hi Meow...

I can't tell whether or not you're a fan of Silversea? Either is fine, we all have our opinions.

[meow!]

We are just ordinary cats who happen to be ship enthusiasts. We have no rewards to expect and no axes to grind for any cruise line, just objectively observing and analysing things as we can see them (albeit in a limited way). Hopefully, we can be helpful to ordinary individual consumers and ship enthusiasts.

 

P.S. All ships have some positives and some limitations, and many points which are neither positives nor limitations, we try to point out as many as possible.