Live from the Dawn Crossing March 19 - April 2

[QueSeraSera]

4 hours ago, spinnaker2 said:

No rose, no Macon, no Italian white, no french white, no Cab, no California chard except Neilson, or Chilean Morande, no Pouilly Fume. And no restock

Lois, I almost hesitate to ask, but is Tiki sauvignon blanc available?  (you can accurately say you are asking for a friend)

And Silversea, if you're listening, I've been reading many complaints lately (Kaisecki a wrecki etc), but this may represent a bridge too far.  Please rectify for our beloved Spins.  We will be watching this April on Dawn!

[spinnaker2]

38 minutes ago, machotspur said:

 

Hello spinnaker2

My wife and I were on the cruise preceding yours - Bridgetown to Bridgetown. We were in 1009 and were looked after by the same butler & suite attendant as yourselves. 

Please pass on our best regards to Mark, who is an oustanding suite attendant and a really lovely guy. (We are Mr & Mrs Mac..... from England).

 

We've been enjoying following you on your TA cruise and are pleased that our recollections of our cruise are not dissimilar to yours - good and not so good.

 

We'd be really interested to learn if the very controversial 'gratuities letter' lands on your bed one evening towards the end of your cruise !! 

 

Best wishes for the rest of your cruise.

 

 

 

Thanks so much. I will pass along your regards. The letter on our bed tonight was to cancel Funchal due to weather. 

I will let you know if the controversial letter arrives.

We are disappointed in the loss of the Silversea lustre. 

[spinnaker2]

Not sure about tiki.

13 degrees available.

Probably not for long.

[Fortunate2]

If we're lucky the butler is Anu who we met in 2019 on the Silver Spirit.  It was our first Silversea cruise and we couldn't have had a better introduction.  Maybe he'll be on the Dawn when we cruise in July.  Fingers crossed.

[canderson]

On 3/27/2024 at 9:55 AM, spinnaker2 said:

Earl:

The gentleman who is our butler has never been aboard Celebrity. Not the same Anu, sorry.

Alas -

Attempt greatly appreciated. We'll keep looking for him.

[spinnaker2]

El molino in Puerto del Rosario. 

Our tour took us to cheese tasting, grain mill and a salt field. 4.5 hours. 

The island is very dry, brown and volcanic appearing.  Maybe 5 days of rainfall per year. 

Islanders who farmed agave and other drought resistant crops have moved to the coast. 

Golf courses and condos are springing up on the coastline for vacationers, many of whom come from the EU. The flight is 4 hours.

Tourism is booming.

 

 

 

Edited March 29 by spinnaker2

[spinnaker2]

Most of the water in the Canary Islands is reclaimed or from desalinization plants. 

The landscape is starkly beautiful.

[spinnaker2]

Sunset leaving Arrecife.

Now to Tenerife. The substitute for Funchal.

 

 

Tonight asked for shrimp cocktail from room service. Was told that's a special order and must give 24 hours notice.

 

Silver Dawn has run out of many food and beverage items. How is this possible on a luxury cruise for which we pay dearly?

 

The crew still strives to please.

 

 

 

 

[lincslady]

It is, IMO. a shame you had Tenerife instead of Madeira.  Much less attractive and interesting.  Presumably something to do with weather?

[DavyWavey70]

Tenner-reefy isn’t any consolation for Funchal Spinns. It really saddens me that you can’t even get a shrimp cocktail. Personally I’ve not been able to find a SS cruise that fits in with my schedule but doesn’t punish me for leaving my beloved at home. Maybe 26/27 might have more options but from what I’m seeing I don’t think I’ll bother anyway. SS seams to have really lost their way. Doubling the price whilst halving the quality isn’t sustainable. I Hope that you and Mr Dr Spinns are able to find some enjoyment in this current storm. 

[les37b]

สวัสดี From Bangkok….. Apologies for the late greeting. It’s a great pity the trimming down of menu choices, missing flowers, no welcome drink, shortage of drink supplies etc seem to be echoed by ours and many recent posts. Our Viking cruise ended 4 days ago and happy to say we never experienced any of these issues or cutbacks. Wished it wasn’t the case, but what I’d hinted a while back, I’m certain will be the case that we have taken our final sailing as an “esteemed” guest.
 

Hope the weather at least continues to be favourable (albeit your missed port!). Fingers crossed for the distressed passenger.
 

All the best Spins….   

[Ross4356]

spinnaker2  Enjoying your post on the Silver Dawn. We sailed on two other luxury cruises from Barbados.... in January.    Both lacked food and drink.    No shrimp cocktail, fish of the day, salmon, Diet Coke and certain wines and champagnes.    We were told they were waiting to get back to Miami to properly restock and replenish the ship.   This happened to us before.....when sailing out of Barbados.    I'm not saying this is the same issue you're experiencing with Silversea, but seems very similar to our Cruises.

[spinnaker2]

Morning from Tenerife.

Thanks all for the thoughtful and insightful comments.

 

Frankly I am at a loss as to the state of Silversea.

 

They can do it because we, who are aboard, are a captive audience.

 

Perhaps most Venetians stay “loyal” because they get free laundry, they like formal nights (soon gone), they want the “ free” cruise at certain night levels, they want the 10% onboard booking, and they know the crew. They remember the old Silversea and hope it will come back. 

 

New pax haven’t a clue what is gone. And gone it is.

 

I think that if Crystal would offer a matching program many Venetians would leave Silversea. Manfredi are you listening?

 

I also think many of the old guard crew have gone elsewhere. 

 

This cruise is almost at an end. 

 

I wonder if Silversea will give us Easter baskets as they have in the past, with a large Venchi chocolate bunny and other goodies. We will see. 

 

 

 

[drron29]

This is the Easter Basket on the Muse tonight.

[spinnaker2]

And today we also got

 

[spinnaker2]

Sunset

[Pies4u]

Just a word for Tenerife - it is a spectacular island, with the highest peak in Spain, Mount Teide. The national park is amazing, the entire north coast offers plenty of interesting and inspiring experiences and Santa Cruz is more than just a commercial cruise port and industrial capital city. There are dozens of quaint villages and fascinating places to see on Tenerife, it isn’t just “sun & sangria” in Playa de las Americas.

 

Whilst Madeira is certainly a great place to visit, and Funchal is easy to get around, I would rather spend a month on Tenerife tbh. There is plenty to see and do there too.

[spinnaker2]

1 hour ago, Pies4u said:

Just a word for Tenerife - it is a spectacular island, with the highest peak in Spain, Mount Teide. The national park is amazing, the entire north coast offers plenty of interesting and inspiring experiences and Santa Cruz is more than just a commercial cruise port and industrial capital city. There are dozens of quaint villages and fascinating places to see on Tenerife, it isn’t just “sun & sangria” in Playa de las Americas.

 

Whilst Madeira is certainly a great place to visit, and Funchal is easy to get around, I would rather spend a month on Tenerife tbh. There is plenty to see and do there too.

Wish we had more time here to explore the national park and other places. If we had known we were coming here ( we are here due to Funchal bad weather), I might have rented a car to see some of what you described. I thought the sail in was quite lovely with the dramatic craggy cliffs and the houses hugging the mountains.

I cannot in good conscience, book a 5 hour bus tour for my 6 foot three husband who uses a cane, and who's knees will suffer after 20 minutes in a tiny bus seat.

[spinnaker2]

Easter Sunday

 

The Dawn slipped out of the harbor at Tenerife long before we rolled ourselves out of our warm cocoon of soft, fluffy quilts and sumptuous sheets. The linens are still lovely.  

 

We lost another hour last night. Really tough on the crew who remain outstanding, smiling and attentive. 

 

Breakfast was waiting at the table in our suite. As we enjoyed the meal, we looked out to the grey blue sea with rolling waves from the SSE;  we meandered forward at 14 knots. I will miss the sound of the ocean, the gentle rocking, the vistas where water and sky have endless edges. 

 

Lisbon is but a few days away, and the end of the cruise.

 

The pool deck is rapidly filling with the worshippers of el sol.

 

Tonight is formal night # 3. 

 

The Venchi bunny is a nice touch. Restore faith? Not even close. 

[jpalbny]

Spins - lots to catch up with here and sorry that not much of it is good. We're more and more happy with Ponant these days, as their itineraries are very good and the onboard experience is comparable enough to Silversea in our book.

 

Ponant also offers a status match (or they were, a few months ago) and they valued Venetian Society status very highly. We matched at their second-highest level which includes free laundry and 10% off all future bookings. Their ships are newer and quite nice. And their expedition crew is comparable to those we've encountered on Silversea. So we have 3 more booked with them in the next year.

 

Sorry that we will miss you in Lisbon - back to work tomorrow!

[spinnaker2]

Sunday afternoon became rough and squally, blowing wind and rain. In the midst of the rain there was a rainbow( apologies for taking the photo through the glass door, but the force of the wind and rain would not allow us to open the doors).

 

Many pax were seasick, according to our butler. 

 

As the decks were moving a lot, we chose to have room service for dinner, instead of trying to maneuver to la T.  We missed the crew parade and the Motown show as well.

 

The en-suite food was actually quite good. 

 

Thanks JP for the input.

 

Invited

We may have been snookered for the last time by Royal Caribbean. Fool me once…

 

 

Edited April 1 by spinnaker2

[Emtbsam]

It makes me so very sad to hear that things continue to change for the worse.  While provisioning wasn’t a problem on our Med and TA last year on the Nova, it was the poor training of some of the staff that was the issue.  It was the first time I couldn’t wait to get off a ship at the end!

[spinnaker2]

We have arrived in Lisbon. The Grimaldi's are here too.

[lincslady]

I'm guessing you mean their shipping line, rather than the Monegasque royal yacht?

[vistaman]

7 hours ago, lincslady said:

I'm guessing you mean their shipping line, rather than the Monegasque royal yacht?

i am not aware now, but before Covid those ships " ro ro" were taking up to 12 passengers!

as from 13 a medical doctor is compulsory !