Live from Silver Spirit, Bridgetown to FLL, Dec 10 - 20

[Atomica]

Well, not quite "live" yet - but close. Sitting in YVR waiting for our red-eye, via-Toronto flight to beautiful, sunny Barbados and the Silver Spirit!

 

I might post some daily updates here (CruiseCritic can be slow-as-molasses at the best of times), but full updates, including pictures can be found on my blog at:

 

http://fromthedeckchair.blogspot.com/

 

I can't promise it'll be as good as Terry In Ohio's great Silver Cloud report, but I'll try my best!

 

After many mainstream cruises, this will be our first true "luxury" cruise - and we couldn't be more excited :)

[aussiechick7]

Have great trip Atomica :)

[dougburns]

I'll pick up posting here from Spirit as we continue on from Barbados-FLL. We'll look for you on board today Atomica. We're in 802 and the welcome ice breaker will be at 1700 in our suite on 14 Dec for all CC folks and a few others.

[nancygp]

Doug,

 

I believe you said all the b2b's had dinner together. My friends that I met on a Crystal cruise many years ago are on the back to back. Please tell Mary Ellen and Ed that Nancy says hi and hope they're having a great time.

 

Nancy

[dougburns]

It was a beautiful day in Barbados yesterday, but there was a bit of a hitch for the departing pax. The hotel that was to provide the hospitality suite for SS backed out and said they were fully booked, so the ship allowed those that were booked via SS air with later flights to remain onboard. The last of them didn't depart the ship until @ 1300. It was a nice touch, I thought as they got to have lunch onboard. The last of the new folks didn't arrive until just prior to sailing at 1900. The private dinner for the continuing pax was held in La Terrazza with cocktail prior to dinner on the verandah. There were @ 67 that showed up and it was a VERY nice meal with lots of socializing. I was surprised to see that the Panorama Lounge was fairly full with a younger than expected crowd when we came up from dinner. Maybe we're going to have a more active group dancing on this segment. The trip from Barbados-Grenada was smooth and we arrive here at @ 0700 to a clear and calm day if a bit warm. Christian had a schedule change, so he won't come aboard until St. Lucia. Nancy, I'm sorry to say that I haven't seen Mary Ellen, but I'll look for them and pass along your greetings. Tonight is formal night. Miss Lynn and I are having dinner with Salvatore, the Staff Captain, who is a great guy. An Italian couple that we've become friends with are also joining us. I suspect that most of the conversation will be in Italian. We don't leave here until 2230, so it will be a calm dinner for sure. More later. Have a great day!

[dougburns]

Sorry for the break. We're in St. Lucia today and the weather is wonderful once again, as it was in Bequia yesterday. We stayed in port in Bequia thru dinner last night instead of departing at 1700. Made it a very nice evening. We ate in le Champagne and it was delicious, as usual. Tonight is our suite party at 1700 and then dinner in Seishin. We're expecting @30 plus the ship's officers at the party. All continues to be superb aboard Silver Spirit and just about everybody seems to be a happy camper. Lots of first timers aboard. St. Lucia is a lovely island by the way.

[Atomica]

Sorry for the break. We're in St. Lucia today and the weather is wonderful once again, as it was in Bequia yesterday. We stayed in port in Bequia thru dinner last night instead of departing at 1700. Made it a very nice evening. We ate in le Champagne and it was delicious, as usual. Tonight is our suite party at 1700 and then dinner in Seishin. We're expecting @30 plus the ship's officers at the party. All continues to be superb aboard Silver Spirit and just about everybody seems to be a happy camper. Lots of first timers aboard. St. Lucia is a lovely island by the way.

 

I agree with everything Doug has said - everyone aboard seems to be having an excellent time. I don't think I've heard a single complaint so far - but then again, I'm coming from mainstream cruising, so this is like a little slice of heaven for me. And it's also problematic, because I fear I've developed a rather significant taste for "the finer things" in cruising - like Silversea!

 

Doug, thanks very much for the suite cocktail invite; I'm afraid I won't be able to make it this evening but I'll be sure to look for you around!

[ging466]

I've developed a rather significant taste for "the finer things" in cruising - like Silversea!

 

Yes this happened to me also.:D

 

If u happen to bump into Paolo (HD), pls say hi from Jennifer/CruiseCritic.

 

Continue to have a great time.

 

Cheers

Jennifer

[dougburns]

Everything was fantastic at our party last evening. I think everyone had a great time and met a lot of other nice folks. The Captain, Staff Captain, Paolo, Fabien(F&B), and several other officers showed up and stayed longer than usual. Had dinner in Seishin afterward and it was excellent. Three had the Tasting 1 menu and the other two of us had the full menu. Smooth trip overnight from St. Lucia-St. Maarten. Unfortunately, there are 5 other large ships here with us- QM2,one MSC, one Royal Caribbean, one Princess, and one Carnival. Needless to say, we're staying aboard; TMP( too many people ). The 2012 itinerary and pricing info for all of the ships was released today. The Cruise Consultant will only give the pricing for what you're interested in booking, because it would take too much paper to print up more. Don't know how long it will take to get the info on the SS website. Suggest you contact your TA for further info re any particular cruise. More later.

[meow!]

Unfortunately, there are 5 other large ships here with us- QM2,one MSC, one Royal Caribbean, one Princess, and one Carnival..

On our voyage just a couple of weeks ago, there was hardly any other ship than ourselves anywhere .. we must be lucky!

[AllisonJames]

Aaron, I just wanted to tell you how much I have been enjoying your blog. Thanks so much for all the great info. I will be cruising on Silversea for the first time in March (previously sailed on Seabourn and the mainstream lines) so your opinion is very useful. Keep up the wonderful photos and review!

[ging466]

Hi Atomica

 

I just love your photos, they are outstanding and so much better than mine:(

 

Thoroughly enjoying your blog too - it's like reliving my own Silver Spirit adventure.

 

Cheers

Jennifer

[HappyInVan]

Hi Guys,

 

Tell us more about the excursions. Did you enjoy any? Any thoughts about what to do?

 

Thanks.

[dougburns]

Sorry for not posting the last couple of days, but one things has led to another and there just hasn't been time. We've been blessed with great weather all the way, even though it was windy in St. Thomas and a bit bumpy for a couple of hours after leaving there. Other than that it has been a smooth ride with sunny skies, warm weather and following seas all the way. Last night was the pool barbeque and it was once again very well done. We spent the day yesterday cruising by Hispanola and today we're cruising by Cuba. Looks as if we might have a bit of rain later on, but we're hoping for good weather in Key West tomorrow. The ship and crew continue to be absolutely superb. Tonight we'll be going up to the bridge for a wedding vow renewal for Bill and Susan Powell. Since it's formal night, we'll all be dressed to the nines for the ceremony. Miss Lynn and I feel honored to have been asked to be part of the party. The ship had to pick up some flowers in St. Thomas for the ceremony, as they had none aboard. Don't look forward to getting off on Monday, but all good things must come to an end eventually. Lots of folks are rushing around trying to get their onboard bookings done now that the 2012 info is out. Some of the cruises, such as the first two legs of the 2012 Whisper WC, are already almost completely booked.

[dougburns]

It's Sunday, packing day, and we've just docked at Old Navy pier in Key West. I thought we would be at the Mallory pier, but I guess we may be the only ship here today. We did get rain yesterday, but it held off until dark, so outside activities weren't affected. It was a bit windy and bumpy last night with the frontal passage, but it's clear today and it should be a nice day in Key West. The vow renewal last evening was very nice for Bill and Susan and the ship did a nice job, as usual. It will be difficult to say goodbye to everyone tomorrow; we've had such a wonderful cruise AGAIN!

[Goldens4]

Glad you had a great time. I loved Key West and especially the Mel Fisher museum. Have a safe trip home and Merry Christmas!:)

[Atomica]

Aaron, I just wanted to tell you how much I have been enjoying your blog. Thanks so much for all the great info. I will be cruising on Silversea for the first time in March (previously sailed on Seabourn and the mainstream lines) so your opinion is very useful. Keep up the wonderful photos and review!

 

Thank you very much - I appreciate the kind words!

 

I've never sailed Seabourn (always wanted to, though), but I've sailed numerous mainstream lines. I knew Silversea was going to be a jump up, but I didn't realize just how good it would be. And I loved that it was excellent without being stuffy. I think I've met more fascinating people on this single voyage than the rest of my cruises combined!

 

The problem now is planning where to sail next!

[Atomica]

Hi Atomica

 

I just love your photos, they are outstanding and so much better than mine:(

 

Thoroughly enjoying your blog too - it's like reliving my own Silver Spirit adventure.

 

Cheers

Jennifer

 

Thanks very much, Jennifer! I'm glad you're enjoying the photos; I get more nice comments on them than anything else.

 

I should have a full photo-tour of the ship and ports up, hopefully before Christmas. I'll be sure to post the link here when I'm done sorting through them to find the best ones; I took almost nine hundred pictures in total, a surprising amount of which are of the Silver Spirit!

[meow!]

http://fromthedeckchair.blogspot.com/

Thank you kindly for your interesting narrative and the lovely pictures. Having been on that ship just a few weeks ago, we can appreciate your feelings, and especially the effort you have put into compiling such a report.

[wripro]

Atomica,

 

Thank you for your great blog. So glad you enjoyed your Spirit cruise so much.

[dougburns]

We're home and almost fully recovered from the depression of having to leave Silver Spirit. Just a couple of notes that I thought might be of interest. First, the TSA will not allow you to check luggage until 3 hours prior to departure. We had a flight leaving FLL at 1700 and the ship got us to the airport at @ 1030 with 4 large bags. The choice was to either shlep the things around for a few hours or take an earlier flight at an additional charge. Needless to say, we elected the earlier flight, but that's another story. Second, Paolo, Mauro Mazzola(Chief Engineer), the Chief Electrician, and the Salvatore, the Staff Captain all left for vacation in FLL. They were planning to start the new smoking policy with the departure from FLL on the Christmas cruise. Paolo will go to the Shadow in March for the refurb in Singapore( 2 weeks ). Captain Corsaro will stay with Silver Spirit until Aukland and will then go on a short vacation. He'll be back aboard in late April. He will then leave in late July again for vacation and be back aboard in mid-Oct until Dec. It's a pretty sure thing that he will move to Silver Whisper for the WC in Jan. Mauro Mazzola will go to Whisper in late Dec. If you have any questions, fire away. Merry Christmas to all.

[LOVE@CRUISE]

welcome home! Probably to lots of rain? Nothing like a flood out here in sunny southern california! Glad to hear you had such a great time and hope to hear that you will continue to sail with SS. Once you are "recovered" , check out the smoking thread for grins and giggles. It has gone completely out of control! :rolleyes:

[WesW]

Hi Doug & Lynn, welcome home...Thanks again for keeping us well informed over the last 18 days about your Spirit adventures.

[taxprofessor]

Everything was fantastic at our party last evening. I think everyone had a great time and met a lot of other nice folks. The Captain, Staff Captain, Paolo, Fabien(F&B), and several other officers showed up and stayed longer than usual.

 

We are going to be in 702 on the 1104 Silver Cloud trip from Barbados to FL on 1/29-2/7. So we have room for a CC cocktail party. How did you manage to get the officers to attend?

 

Great bog, by the way.

 

Chris

[dougburns]

We gave the Hotel Director a list of names and stateroom #s so that invitations could be sent. Also told him that we'd like the officers to attend. Since we knew all of them from the Jan T/A they elected to come. Just invite them thru the Hotel Director or the F&B Manager.