With frozen roads and frozen planes I wondered if I was ever going to arrive in Monte Carlo for the Silver Spirit inaugural trip on Sunday 20th December! I finally made it and jumped in a taxi from Nice airport, 100 EUROS later and a very pigeon French/English conversation I arrived at the port terminal to be greeted by a red carpet and attendants with white gloves who ushered me through check-in and took my suitcase all the way to my suite.
The Silver Spirit does not have cabins, only suites! And almost every one of them has an outside balcony. Every suite has a private butler service who will come and introduce himself when you arrive and tell you about the 24 hour room service and pillow menu.
As I was late arriving I quickly unpacked and got ready for dinner, I was due to meet the rest of the trade guests and Silversea team in the Observation Lounge for a drinks reception then onto the restaurant for dinner. I discovered that the restaurant is a formal affair with waiter service as you would expect on a Silversea ship and has a lovely a la carte menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 400 guests at a time. Unlike many ships this lovely restaurant is all on one level and features a'slow food' menu.
That evening we were treated by a caberet act from a singer called Lorraine Brown in the show lounge, the ships theatre, which is nicely decked out with 2-seater chairs and red decor. Lorraine was fabulous and her act included songs from the Supremes, Oleta Adams and the Beatles and ended with a sing-a-long 'You'll Never Walk Alone' which had all the Liverpool fans in the room (including me) doing our level best to recreate the fever of Anfield!
The following morning I attended a press briefing in the Panoramic Lounge which is a gorgeous room on deck 9 with a terrace overlooking the pool area. I found out that the ship has 6 dining options including two speciality restaurants for sushi and fine wine but with only 24 places available at each, early booking is recommended and customers should expect an intimate dining experience with excellent service. Silversea boast that the fine wine is some of the best in the world with very little mark-up which has been impressing guests, the cover charge for the sushi restaurant is $40 but to have a fine wine menu included there is an extra $200. However the standard wine menu is also impressive with 20 white and 20 red to choose from.
After the press briefing I took in a self-guided tour of the ship and visited the lovely internet cafe and library, pictured above, the poolside area with attractive deck furniture, the show lounge, the casino, the boutiques and the truly outstanding spa. Although rather high priced the spa offers treatments for men and women including wet-shaves (for the men), massage, hair & beauty treatments and even botox. There is also a steam room and a fitness centre.
The ship sailed to Barcelona early and the captain announced the seas were expected to get rough, the winds actually reached force 9 and I have to admit I hid in my cabin and ordered dinner service from my lovely butler and enjoyed the interactive TV menu with 56 blockbuster movies to choose from!
The following morning I caught the early transfer to the airport as I had heard about airport chaos in the UK causing many Easyjet flights to be cancelled, luckily my flight went ahead as scheduled unlike 178 others!
The Silver Spirit is certainly geared towards couples with no child facilities on board, the romantic two-seater theatre seats and truly luxurious cabins with possibly the comfiest mattress I've ever slept on. The dining arrangements are freestyle and passengers can dine in the main restaurant or the Italian 'La Terrezza' buffet between certain hours for breakfast, lunch and dinner and can sit with others or take a table for two. This offers the flexibility of sitting with whom you choose, whenever you like and with six dining options guests are not going to go hungry!
Happy Cruising and Merry Christmas!
Flo Powell
ACE Director
flo@psa-ace.org
Nice. silversea cruises offers high class accommodations and services. It's nice to cruise with them.
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