The Dawn of a NEW Era!! (or, Monica Finally Retires!)

Not surprisingly, the Captain was correct and Friday found us anchored off St Bart’s. Since we had been there several times and seen and done all there was to see and do, our day had a rather lazy start. Until we decided to check e-mail………….


On opening Monica’s e-mail, the first thing we found was one from the accountant telling us that Paul and his accountant were disputing some issues. To us, it looked like there “was trouble ahead”. Something we really thought had been put behind us last Friday! While responding to that e-mail, one arrived from the lawyer; “Paul wants to close today. Please call me ASAP!” Okay, so now we are totally confused by these apparently contradictory e-mails, but we had brought a cell phone with us ”just in case”. Problem is that apparently St Bart’s is the only island in the Caribbean with a cell system that is incompatible with most of North America! No signal! Guess we have to go ashore. Unfortunately St Bart’s is a “tender” port (no dock), so “ashore” is a 20 minute boat ride away! After finally getting into town and searching high and low for a phone, we made the call and were advised that all was well and the closing of the deal was set for that afternoon. After a brief stroll around town, we headed back to the ship and spent a rather relaxing afternoon by the pool with our new friends Larry and Mary. All the while wondering what was happening back home!

Our dinner reservation at Stars, the jazz supper club, was at 9:15, so after a very late lunch we headed back to the cabin, opened up e-mail and found “Promark - Closed” in the subject line of the e-mail from our lawyer. We think the huge sighs of relief actually generated a wind warning in the harbour at St Bart’s!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, the celebration of Monica’s birthday started right there and then!!!!!!!!

We returned to our cabin after dinner to find Evelyn, our Butler, had decorated it with balloons, a birthday cake and cards from herself and the Captain wishing Monica a Happy Birthday. Seems like everyone wanted to start the celebration early!

Saturday morning in St John’s, Antigua. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONICA!!!!!!!!!

Monica’s day started with a bang! (No, not that! Get your minds out of the gutter!) When we first met Hyperion Knight (at dinner on Monday) and he found out Monica played, he offered to give her a private lesson. When we bumped into him at dinner Friday evening he reminded her of his promise, so Monica’s birthday started with a private lesson from an international concert pianist! On a baby grand piano, no less! How does one top that?? One doesn’t, so the rest of the day was spent lazing about the ship and spending two hours in the whirlpool chatting with Larry the Lecturer and solving all the problems of the cruise industry in particular (he used to be a Cruise Director) and the world in general.

Monica’s birthday dinner was in the French restaurant, where they serve a different themed “Table D’Hotel” meal every evening, that is, a complete six-course meal, from appetizers to dessert, with no ordering required. Monica decided to pass on the six matching wines!!!! The tables were situated fairly close together and we were beside an older couple from the Ft Lauderdale area. You can’t help but chat in that situation and it came out that the husband was a real “(well-done) meat and potatoes” man who was not a fan of anything exotic. The theme for dinner was “The Best of Burgundy” and included veal tartar, which is minced raw veal, escargot in mushroom caps and VERY rare filet. The conversation went something like this:

(The veal)

What is this?
It’s veal.
But what is it?
Just eat it dear.
Why was it served cold?
It was raw, dear.
(Silence)

(The escargot)

What is this?
It’s mushrooms.
Yes, but what’s in the mushrooms?
Butter. Just eat it dear.
What did I just eat?
Snails, dear.
(Silence)

(With the VERY RARE beef)

What is this, ham????????


Actually he was pretty good-natured about it all and we had a very pleasant evening. By the way, he DID eat everything on each of his various plates, including dessert.  Here's what that looked like:

We finished dinner just in time to get to the theatre for Hyperion’s second and last show, which was great - and even better since Monica could see how he incorporates the tips he gave her in his playing. We ended up with two of his CDs, both autographed.

All in all, a pleasant day made better by the Birthday e-mails from home - even the ones that included the pictures of the snow in Burlington and descriptions of the weather up north. Huntsville even made ‘The Canadian’, the shipboard news sheet, talking about the amount of snow and the dangerous driving conditions. Amazing how much warmer the weather felt knowing it was cold and windy back home!!!

The Freedom 51 Tour!

Although this cruise was booked long ago, with the Promark deal (finally) getting done last Friday, what better way to describe the first cruise of Monica’s “retirement”!


Things did not get off to a flying start for us. Air Canada couldn’t find our reservation in their system!!!! After a couple of phone calls and a bit of computer black magic, we did finally get checked in and at 10:05 we were comfortably seated on the plane. Which is when the problems started! Flight time was 10:35 and at 11:00, as we were still sitting at the gate, the pilot finally told us we were waiting for the last wheelchairs to be loaded. This actually wasn’t much of a surprise, as we were the youngest people on the plane. By at least two or three decades!!!!! Finally we pushed back. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. After almost 20 minutes, the pilot announced we had “computer problems” and would have to return to the gate. The problem was fixed fairly quickly, but by then the pilot was out of flying hours for the day and had to be replaced. So we waited. And waited. And waited some more! Our 10:35 flight finally left the ground at 12:45! Fortunately the ship’s sailing was also delayed (see a pattern here?) by the various inspections a ship has to go through on its first US port stop, so no harm done in the end.

This is our first sailing with Silversea and it is different. First off, the ship, at 36,000GRT, is smaller that anything we have sailed on since our third cruise on RCI 15 years ago. It is also laid out in a rather unusual way, with all of the cabins in the front half of the ship and all of the facilities (Dining Room, bars, show lounge) in the back half of the ship. We have gotten “lost” a couple of times, but we are learning. Our cabin is bigger than we are used to on Crystal, but it is long and narrow, meaning we occasionally get in each other’s way. Again, we are learning.



Silver Spirit at Grand Turk

 One thing that is definitely different is the “make up” of the passengers. The luxury lines, almost by definition, attract an older crowd and we are used to being among the “younger set”, but this one is a little more extreme. It used to be said of Holland America that their passengers were ‘the newly wed and nearly dead”, well this may not be Holland, but we certainly have a very large contingent of the “nearly dead”!!! The ship carries 540 guest and we are close to, if not, full. Of those, we would guess about 400 would be in the 75+ range, with the rest spread out across the spectrum all the way down to the ONE child we have seen at the pool. We’re inclined think Silversea should rename this ship “God’s Waiting Room”!!!


The biggest difference so far has been the food and the service in the main dining room. First, it is open seating, meaning no set time, table or dining companions. The portions are on the “trendy small size”, meaning you almost have to order two of everything, and the selection is much more limited than we are used to, which strikes us as unusual for a luxury line. What has really struck us, though, is the really, really poor service! We had a three and a half hour meal on Monday, and it wasn’t by choice! Fortunately we had a great table, with one of the lecturers and his wife and the concert pianist, Hyperion Knight. Conversation was lively and a lot of fun. Good thing, given how long we were there. We would like to report things were better the second night, but our Moms taught us to never tell a lie! Larry had an opportunity this morning to talk to the Hotel Manager (who’s door is always open) about our impressions. He was very thankful for the feedback, so we shall see what happens.

The first formal night - and Larry's chocolate dessert, complete with Chocolate 'Mouse'!

The cruise itself has been pleasant so far. The weather has been a mix of sun, clouds and showers with enough sun that we are both just a bit sunburned. Yesterday was our first port stop, in Grand Turk. Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 and her 3000 guests were also there, making it a very busy day! As we had been there before, and there isn’t a lot there, we spent most of the day at the pool on the ship. (Hence the sunburn!).

On the Panorama Lounge deck - lots of space and some really big lounges!

One of the things we like to do onboard is “people watch” and the age demographic has made for some interesting observations. For instance, the main bar, which is called, oddly enough, “The Bar”, is closest to the main Dining Room and as a result is packed with “seniors” every night until the Dining Room opens at 7:00 at which point it quite literally empties. At one of the lectures on Tuesday an older gentleman “whispered” to his wife “my new hearing aids work really well”. We know this because he “whispered” it loud enough, twice, for everyone in the theatre to hear it! Which brings us to yesterday on the dock at Grand Turk. Every ship has a “bull nose”, the rounded snout at the front which is there to lessen water resistance and smooth out the ride. As we were walking back to the ship a gentleman going the other way, in answer to his wife’s question we assume, announced in a loud, very authoritative voice, “That’s the ice breaker!”.

The 'ice breaker' with the Queen Mary 2 in the background

Last night we had a very nice dinner at Hot Rocks, one of five reservations-required restaurants onboard. This is something new on a ship (although we have experienced it in the Stone Grill Restaurant in Toronto) in that it is located outside, on the Sun Deck above the pool, and you “cook your own entrée”. You order from a selection of meat and fish and it is brought to you raw, on a slab of lava rock heated to 1800F that you cook it on!!! It’s actually a lot of fun and as you can see from the pictures, you don’t go hungry! This is one of the most popular restaurants on the ship and we may try it again if we can get a reservation.

Dinner at 'Hot Rocks'

Today we are at sea on our way to we know not where. The itinerary says Antigua, one of the lecturers said Antigua, but at his Noon update, the Captain said St Barts. Since he is “driving the bus” as it were, we have to assume the Captain is right. Guess we’ll find out when we get there in the morning!