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Live From Silver Spirit - January 7, 2016 Sailing

Keith1010

By Keith1010,
in Silversea

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Keith1010 "Live from...." Rare

Keith1010

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Keith, thanks for your continued/robust and fun Spirit reports. Also, thanks for well written blog with excellent photos.

 

Safe travels home for Anne Marie and you.

 

WesW, than you so ver much for your very nice comments and good wishes.

 

Best to you.

 

Keith

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Kilroyshere

Kilroyshere

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”…The thread seems to have remained almost unhijacked by the anti-SS members - that's something of a coup in itself…”

This is a ‘live from the Spirit thread.’

 

 

When cruiser on the Spirit posts live, who is not satisfied or expresses dissatisfaction, that is not hijacking of a Cruise Critic thread. The operative word here is ‘critic’ and any readers who dismiss legitimate concerns as have been expressed as just a 'hijack,' have no intelligent rebuttal.

 

 

As has been mentioned; discussion of subjective parts of a cruise such as cuisine taste are very subjective issues and debating them is not IMO worthwhile.

 

 

 

But issues of fact and/or failure to deliver of what other similarly price point small ship cruise lines offer, is valuable information and very much why this CC forum exists.

 

 

CC opinions, observations live from sea and information help others make informed decisions about what cruise lines and itineraries to choose.

 

 

We are very experienced cruisers having gone on most of the currently operating small ship lines. And in our opinion, SS failed to deliver value or quality even close to their competition. They do not understand, know nor care that other cruise lines are offering far more, for the same dollar.

 

 

There’s no excuse for there being a ship devoid of flowers. No better hotel, resort or other cruise line does that.This ship was devoid of flowers and floral arrangements.

 

 

 

There’s no excuse for ship buffets at Breakfast and Lunch to be nearly identical day after day after day without variety. This ship's were mostly unchanged.

 

 

There’s no excuse for not having a single guest entertainer…not a comedian, guest artist, no magician, dance duo/trio, ventriloquist…nada, nothing. This ship offered none.

 

 

 

So many other details are missing on SS e.g.; the deck BBQ’s, special events like private shore parties, ‘spa’ health conscious menus with nutritional information, a extensive Espresso bar, an ice cream bar, omelet station with your eggs made to order, butter served without having to request it (only olive oil is on tables), cloth beach/shopping bags (every cruise line gives out cloth shore bags logo’d with the line’s name)…

 

 

SS does not come even close to the competition they purport to be in league with while charging very similarly priced per day cruises.

 

 

For anyone herein this thread who’s not been on Crystal, Regent, Seabourn, Azamara or Seadream to have seen firsthand the comparison themselves, they might try those other lines before blindly defending and touting SS with cheerleader pom poms as some are here.

 

 

We feel cheated and have been supremely disappointed. We work hard all year to afford luxury small ship cruising. We look forward to these times at sea. And this cruise was nothing even close to the quality we expect and receive from SS’s competition.

 

 

We will not sail with SS ever again.

 

 

This is not a thread hijack.

 

 

 

This is how we truly feel…live from the SS Spirit.

Edited by Kilroyshere
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Keith1010 "Live from...." Rare

Keith1010

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Good morning from Silver Spirit. We enjoyed our final night on the ship. As I mentioned, we decided to just relax and have dinner in our room. Our butler was wonderful and we really appreciated his efforts throughout the cruise. He served us course by course and was just so very professional.

 

I remember the time when Silversea only had butlers for the larger suites and then they announced that butlers would be in all suites. Some at the time said this was just "marketing stuff",and would just be a room steward in a butler's outfit.

 

I have had butlers on a few cruise lines. One was someone who really was a butler but just in butler clothes and that was I think in 1998 when Princess tried to have butlers for their suites and I thought it was a waste and within a year the position was eliminated.

 

The butler we have had has been wonderful and has performed the functions and done it in a manner that I would expect from a butler. I know. Some people don't care for butlers and say they don't use them for anything. Then I find out in conversation that they do but that is beside the point. What I like about a butler is that they become familiar with you. So, if like us you have breakfast in your room each day they know how you like it versus say room service who might have a different person come each day. I also like that they are an easy point of contact for questions you might have and if they don't know the answer they can run it down for you. Anyway, the butler has been great and even did some pro-active things that we were very impressed with. We have been fortunate to have a very efficient suite steward.

 

As I write this we are making our way into Fort Lauderdale. I will update our blog in a little while beyond my post from last night.

 

I will post a review in a few days.

 

All in all it's been a very nice cruise. I said from the start that it was a get away cruise. If the ports were the driver we would not have booked the cruise. It was to get away for a short period of time that worked for our schedule and itineraries on the cruise line we sail regularly didn't work for us due to family commitments and this one did. It also allows us to try sail a ship we hadn't sailed before.

 

I do think that you'll find my review to be balanced,

 

Thanks again to those of you who gave us suggestions as we prepared for the cruise and thanks for those of you who have been following along.

 

In the end, when it comes to anything the only opinion that counts is your very own.

 

Keith

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Keith1010 "Live from...." Rare

Keith1010

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I for one, have enjoyed your posts and blog Keith. What was your cabin #? We board this afternoon. At least I know not to expect flowers- LOL😍 I have allergies so I prefer less. Safe travels home and enjoy those grandkids!

 

Glad you enjoyed the thread.

 

We were in 718

 

My wife is allergic to flowers so we would have the stewardess remove them

 

In our room though there was a live plant that gives off a flower

 

We actually thought that was nice and the flower didn't bother my wife.

 

Keith

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Suite Travels

Suite Travels

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Keith started this thread saying from the get go he was going to focus on the positives and not make comparisons to Crystal IMHO is a good idea. I am certain Keith will give a more detailed review when he returns home.

 

I love reading blogs and enjoyed reading TC2 on her recent Regent cruise and others who were sailing with her. Her thread stayed on course and focus was not so much the ship but she and her DH did on a safari and other ports it was a fun read.

 

Again I am positive Keith will give a balanced review.

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RachelG "Live from...." Rare

RachelG

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Have enjoyed reading your posts here and your blog very much, Keith.

 

Kilroyshere, I do have to take issue with one thing. No issues with opinions regarding food, as that is personal preference, and I do think they could have more variety at the lunch buffet. But the statement that every luxury cruise line give out a shore bag with the cruise line's logo on it is absolutely false. I have been on upward of 25 cruises, mostly on Regent and Silversea, but also Oceania and Celebrity. I have never received one of these.

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WesW "Live from...." Rare

WesW

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Am confident Emtbsam and Wellseasoned along with an occasional post by English USA will soon begin posting live where Keith left off (thanks again Keith). Methinks u can look for a new live thread Ft Lauderdale to Buenos Aires soon.

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wripro

wripro

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Keith,

 

Thank you so much for these posts. I am just catching up on them as I was in NY the past ten days. Your reports are making me look forward to my upcoming cruise on the Shadow more than I was previously. I hope things will go as well on that ship as on the Spirit. Travel home safely.

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TLCOhio "Live from...." Rare

TLCOhio

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Just catching up on Keith's excellent posts, pictures, details, etc. Sorry that your "adventure" is concluding, but it seems that things have gone well. Nice idea to dine in your room/suite on the last evening, chat with Butler during that time, etc.

 

Super loved the picture of Keith at Hooters. Sound interesting? Of course, the rest of the story was that Keith was only outside Hooters, not inside. At least that is what Keith is claiming! We can always speculate otherwise.

 

Look forward to seeing your full review.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo sailing over 26 days that started in Barbados, here is the link below to that live/blog. Lots of great visuals from this amazing Brazil river and these various Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, etc.) that we experienced. Check it out at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 34,647 views for these postings.

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Travelcat2

Travelcat2

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Kilroyshere, you really do bring up some good points! As I posted earlier, there are many people with allergy to flowers (as indicated on two posts above), however, there are flowers that Silversea can use in public areas that generally do have affect passengers. Regent has the most interesting "flowers" on their tables and no one has complained. They look like a spear of asparagus (really) and the flowers slowly grow from the top to the bottom. They last several days.

 

Agree that the daily buffet should change and butter should automatically be put on the table. Also, there should be a "spa healthy" menu, and omelet bar and definitely some entertainment. It is nice to have an ice cream bar but we do not find it a necessity.

 

As far as beach/shopping bags - Regent only gives them in their upper suites. IMO, it is a bit like nice luggage tags that used to be given to passengers for every cruise -- it is a bit of a waste of money. After taking two of them home (beach bags), we started giving them away to other passengers because we didn't need them. On the other hand, giving them to first time passengers would be nice - especially if they were light so they did not add weight to your luggage (the same for luggage tags). The Silversea luggage tags were so nice that we still use them on our luggage when we cruise on Regent!

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liptastic

liptastic

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Keith than you very much for the great cruise blog and daily posts. We have not sailed with Silversea and it's been great to read your views of the cruise and see the lovely photos you have posted. It felt as though we were part of your adventure. Thank you, Jean.

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Kilroyshere

Kilroyshere

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Travelcat2;

 

In the "ultra luxury" cruise category (SS calls themselves "ultra luxury" on their website), we could nit-pick each line for what they do or don't do.

 

We find on Seabourn, Regent, Crystal, Seadream and Azamara, each excels in somethings the others may not. And no one cruise line does everything great...but in totality, that group of lines mentioned here, can stand on their own with head held high.

 

All the above cruise lines have flowers and floral arrangements. We find they give a really lovely ambiance and softness to cruise ships which tend to be made of metal and plastics for safety and fire prevention. Allergy to flowers doesn't seem to be an insurmountable problem on those ships.

 

The beach bag is but one small item. We've received them on every cruise line, Regent included. We didn't consider that our suite level may be why others didn't get them on the same ship as we did. SS did not offer them. They're a small item and not a deal killer. We've a supply of them sitting in our car trunks for shopping sorties to the grocery store to do our small part saving a tree instead of taking a disposable paper bag or, saving an oil well instead of those t-shirt style plastic bags. ;)

 

The totality of what SS did not do (e.g.; premium coffee spot, flowers, buffet variety, omelet station, spa healthy menu, deck BBQ, private beach shore party, juice/ice cream/smoothie bar...) or, what SS did poorly in our opinion, left us greatly disappointed as we've expressed.

 

We did post some kudos herein to SS as well, for those points we found they did well.

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Keith1010 "Live from...." Rare

Keith1010

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For those of us who can sail a luxury line aren't we lucky that we have choice.

 

Funny how we all have different opinions but so glad we do because if we all had the same opinion this would be a boring world.

 

To me the ship has the ambience of a luxury ship and is actually one of the most luxurious ships we have sailed on and some of the venues are as beautiful as most that we have experienced on land or at sea.

 

If someone doesn't care for the ship or the cruise line there are certainly lots of other options out there.

 

Keith

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