Silver Spirit Review
Another Excellent Silversea Cruise
Rating by category
Additional details
We are a retired couple in our late 50s and choose itineraries offering a mix of ports and sea days. With this in mind we tend to judge our cruise experience by whether the ship itself offers us the mix of food, facilities and comfort we seek rather than by ports visited.
On this cruise we were accompanied by my sister-in-law and her husband who are a couple of years older and had never cruised before. Silversea offered them a 5% Venetian saving as ''Friends of the Venetian Society'' - that is they were sailing with Venetian members (us!) and profited from the Venetian saving.
Having flown into Miami the previous day and stayed overnight at the Ritz-Carlton we boarded the Spirit around 1pm and, as usual, the procedure was quick and painless allowing us to take lunch in La Terrazza. This was our third cruise on the Spirit and it was gratifiying to be welcomed back on board by several crew members whom we knew from previous cruises.
Cabin Review
Vista Suite
Suite 411 is fine. As much space and the same facilities as a veranda suite but without a, er, veranda. We found the furnishings and facilities to be in very good condition and the suite was maintained impeccably by our room steward. The wardrobe area is easily large enough even for OH's clothing storage requirements. And the bathroom has a seperate bath and shower. Yippee. (And 2 basins but I've never found I've needed more than one at once although it does mean that you and your partner can get it on with a bit of stereo toothbrushing.)
Each suite has a butler but the butler serves several suites. Quite how he always managed to be available when we wanted him remains a mystery. From looking after the minibar to getting our tax-free smokes, making reservations, serving breakfest or whatever he never put a foot wrong. Best of all, he never called on us - on another line we had a room steward who would call every now and then to see if we needed anything. At my age I can ask and prefer to be left alone.
I find the TV screens in the mirrors quite fun and once you've learned that the remote control sensor is in the grill under the mirror there are no problems with the system. The in-laws couldn't get their's to work but that was because of all the stuff arranged on the shelf in front of the grill. Stuff moved, TV worked. QED. There is an extensive selection of on-demand films for a quiet night in.
Port Reviews
Cartagena (Colombia)
Heat. That's what I remember - Cartagena is hot. Good tour with very knowledgable tour guide. We particularly enjoyed visiting the old town and learning about the City's bloodthirsty history. Take water. It's hot.
Puntarenas (Puerto Caldera)
At first we were disappointed to find that it was a 1.5 hour journey to the rainforest - yet the trip was made so interesting by the tour guide who really should be on TV. His depth of knowledge, humour and candour made for a wonderful journey - he had been a journalist before becoming a tour guide but, even so, seemed quite normal!
The walk through the forest really was exceptionally interesting but not long enough both in terms of time and distance. The snack provided was just this side of inedible (although by b-i-l ate all his and most of mine too).
Were it not for the guide this would rate as 2 stars
Key West
Tourist trap - at least for the short time available to cruise ship passengers. We like Key West and were interested to come back from the sea rather than by road. But maybe, because we knew the place, we didn't feel excited to be there and scurried back tot he ship for lunch and a snooze.
Acapulco
If I don't see Acapulco again, it wouldn't be tragic. We quite liked some of the shops and s-i-l even managed to break into her purse and buy some going home gifts. But we started to stroll away from the ship along the promenade/sea front and it quickly became clear that this is not a place where a wealthy visitor is going to be greeted with love and harmony - at least if the Jeep-loads of really quite heavily-armed soldiers was any indicator. From the bay, though, I can see why this was so popular half a century ago - it really is a very beautiful setting.
Cabo San Lucas
Funnny, isn't it? This place was really popular with some of the ship's guests as a holiday destination. I have no idea why. It is a carbon copy of any seaside resort in the New World. We strolled around what must have been a lovely harbour before it was over-developed, forwent the need to buy any Viagra/antibiotics, rhino horn (I'm making that one up) in any of the many Pharmacia and couldn't be tempted by 2 for 1 shots of tequila. I suppose it is a victim of its past - a pretty place scarred by concrete.