Silversea Silver Spirit - Some Discussion of Design

On The Gold Standard Forum there is a bit of discussion about the conclusion by one member of the "press" (Anita Durham-Potter - expertcruiser.com) "From what I've seen -- when finished -- Spirit is a lot prettier and better planned than Seabourn Odyssey."

I have taken issue with that opinion because it is simply a bald statement unsupported by facts or examples. I am not saying it isn't true, but that I think the public is entitled to something more than hype or conclusions. This lead me to the following forum post which I want to share, with slight modification:

Noting that it is extraordinary for a cruise line to give the "press" access to sea trials and to allow them to photograph the various public spaces, a "red flag" most certainly has been hoisted. My question is "Why?" It is, alas, a question based upon a long history and many experiences where unfinished work (Anita Durham-Potter says 65%) does not accurately reflect the finished product (good or bad). Soft goods are very important.


Also, my concerns over everything being brown apparently are well-placed. Unless there are extraordinary soft goods, fabrics, and furniture this could be a real issue. Again the question is "Why?" A lack of contrasts and compliments tends to reflect immature (simplistic) interior design or a "offend no one" approach. Maybe some people will like it. But a monolithic approach to color usually is a warning that things are lacking in spatial design as well.

Most importantly, I don't need anyone "telling" me there is good design. I need someone to "show" me or "explain" it to me. Anita Durham-Potter has discussed suite amenities, but nothing of substance. (And, BTW, a butler cleaning my glasses? "Pretentious" is not a strong enough word to describe it. I do not think, even in the superyacht industry, asking a person to wipe anything personal to me is appropriate...for the person or myself.)

Now, as to substance, I can talk a bit about BAD design as I see it. I have taken one of Anita's photos to explain.

- The shower is small and I have concern for any larger and less mobile guests. Shaving legs??? And with the showerhead on the back wall, it means you are blessed with staring at the wall rather than having any feeling of openness. (Seabourn Odyssey, just as an example, has the showerhead on a side wall, so you can look out of the shower and feel a bit more open. Note: I have commented on its showers being a bit tight, too.)

- The storage shelves are too far from the vanity and look sufficiently close to the shower door to create a possible problem with being hit upon entry/exit and/or a drying towel knocking things off of them.

- The oversized vessel sinks are nice, but there is no real estate for toiletries.

- The faucets are quite utilitarian.

In another photo it looks like the access to the bathroom will be quite narrow as it conflicts with the bed. (As there are only two cots present and the one closest to the bathroom is sans mattress I must withhold judgment, but express my concern.)

I don't want to be seen as bashing the Silver Spirit, which is not yet complete, but I have an excellent source who is very critical of the furniture, fabrics and fittings, and the photos tell me a lot. Maybe that is why I am called "Iamboatman"...because it is more than being about "the cruise" and "selling it" to me.

Seabourn paid my way to go on the Inaugural of the Seabourn Odyssey, but I called it as I saw it...and Seabourn knew I would and I did. The fact that I was very impressed is not hype, I gave very detailed reasons why. I did the same as to the Celebrity Solstice/Celebrity Equinox. All I ask is that those that have access to the Silversea Silver Spirit give facts not hype.

Now, the reality of it is that "brown" is not going to horrifically offend and may well not be boring in the end and the bathroom is not going to make or break a ship or a cruise. Further, until the ship is further along, the ultimate overall design cannot be fully evaluated. My comments are not intended to "bash" the ship or Silversea, but rather to show how unsubstantiated comments are so easily dismissed or discounted.

Also, please keep in mind that I firmly believe the real "software" - the staff and crew - make the most difference and are the most critical factor when evaluating a ship. Cuisine is important too. That is why I am very much looking forward to my cruise on the Seabourn Spirit. If not for those things, it probably would be seen as nothing more than an older ship that is past its design prime.

So I will continue to provide facts, information and opinion on the Silver Spirit and I will not allow my ultimate desire for a having more luxury products to sell cause me to encourage you to book a particular ship because of some short term benefit to me...or even just wishful thinking.

In the meantime, best of luck bringing the Silversea Silver Spirit to market as a first class luxury cruise ship!

Silversea Silver Spirit- Some Details About Dining and Design

As the Silver Spirit engages in its sea trials, the time has come to explore this ship.

First, Silversea has started a blog on its newest ship, which is scheduled to debut on December 23, 2009, the Silver Spirit. You can find the blog here: http://www.silverspiritblog.com/ .

The place to start, I guess, is the ship's focus on dining venues. It boasts it will have six dining venues, though others have said it will have up to ten. The venues include:

The Restaurant - The main dining room for breakfast, lunch and dinner with exclusive menus by Relais & Châteaux.

La Terrazza - An indoor/outdoor restaurant with buffet-style dining for breakfast and lunch. In the evenings it is transformed into an la carte for venue with Italian cuisine.

Stars Supper Club - I am interested to see how well this venue works out. It is, I understand, intended to be more "old school" but with a modern touch, designed for pre-dinner cocktails and post-dinner dancing and nightclub-style entertainment with live music. If Silversea does this right it can be a real winner.

Le Champagne - This is Silversea's extra cost six-course culinary experience where fine wines are paired with a set tasting menu.

Sehshin Restaurant - In a somewhat disturbing trend (at least for me), Silversea has added a second extra cost restaurant, this one focused on Asian cuisine ranging from Kobe beef to seafood.

Pool Grill - Casual poolside dining for lunch and dinner including food from the grill and freshly made pizza.

There is, of course, another venue for dining: Your Suite. This is a very popular option, as well.

Someone posted on The Gold Standard Forum that the Silver Spirit looks like it is better designed and prettier than the Seabourn Odyssey. I am not sure how one draws that conclusion, but it is a good springboard for some of my following comments.

First, I know the "photos" are computer generated, but I am disappointed by two things right off the bat: Everythings seems so brown; and, the chairs seem to lack any style. I am interested to see what Silversea actually does with the final finishes. Understanding it has a more limited budget than anticipated (due to the economic downturn and very slow bookings), this may well still be a work in progress.

Second, I am not in favor of extra costing dining venues on a luxury cruise line. I can appreciate and accept having to pay extra for fine wines, but not food. Therefore, with a set menu, La Champagne I guess makes some sense. Expanding it to the Asian restaurant is a bit troubling. If I dine in Sehshein one time and order some nice sushi and a Kobe beef steak, the cost to Silversea might be $75.00. How does that really compare to my ordering a bit of caviar each day? (Is that extra cost now?) By comparison, on the Celebrity Equinox I paid less than $150 per day, so a $30 charge for dining in Murano (or lesser amounts in the other specialty restaurants), just makes economic sense.
I also found the comment that the Silver Spirit was better designed than the Seabourn Odyssey of interest. So I took a look at the deck plans. I am not seeing anything in layout that is better; different, but not better. For example, the casino and shops are on Deck 8 with no other reason to be there, the spa is similarly segregated from the rest of the ship, there are three restaurants converging on the same entry, etc. On the other hand, the Panorama Lounge does look like it will be a very nice venue.

Also, a point I have not made before: Why did Silversea name it ship with the same name as a Seabourn one, the Seabourn Spirit? Imitation may be a sincere form of flattery, but then again, it may be designed to confuse the marketplace. In the "spirit" of hoping for a "whisper" of good faith and no desire to "cloud" the issues, I do not want to over"shadow" the fair "wind"s desired for this new ship. So let's opine about what we know and not turn things into a Silversea vs. Seabourn thing. They are two different products and, as noted in a prior blog entry, there is very little cross-over between the lines.

I hope to receive more details on the new ship soon.

You can join the discussion on the related thread on The Gold Standard Forum.

Virtuoso Travel Consortium Votes Seabourn Best Small Ship Cruise Line

Virtuoso, one of the premier travel consortiums (I belong to another, Ensemble Travel Group), has voted Seabourn Cruise Lines as the best small ship cruise line. (A travel consortium is a group of affiliated, but independent, travel agencies.)

This "award" is far more relevant to me than, say, the Travel & Leisure/Conde Nast/Port Hole polls. The reason: It is voted on by generally high quality travel agents who have booked their clients on Seabourn and have to deal with Seabourn from a business perspective. And there is no ballot-stuffing possible.

I believe one of the keys to determining if a cruise line is good for the clients is how they respond to, and work with, travel agents.

I find Seabourn to simply be the best...without question.

Celebrity Equinox - What Happens When A Class Act Meets Highly Discounted Cruise Fares (It Isn't All Bad!)

As I am flying back to the United States after my 13 days on the Celebrity Equinox, I am watching a cute movie about a budget tour group in Greece, “My Life in Ruins”. I think it is appropriate movie when I write about what happens when a cruise line provides a truly extraordinary ship, with wonderful and knowledgeable staff, good to excellent food, a charming, incredibly proud and well communicating captain…and highly discounted fares.

With 2, 800 passengers there are bound to be a few of “them”, but as our cruise entered its second week it became clear that there were many people of various nationalities that lacked the manners and class that is normally found on a Celebrity cruise. Some made it a point that the cheap fares were the reason they took this particular cruise.

Now, I am not just talking about people cutting queues or being a bit too loud or teenagers taking over the whirlpools and the adult solarium. I am talking about packs of British children running wild; two women physically fighting in the dining room; a teenager systematically stealing cameras (like the idiot couldn’t figure out he was being taped); the seeming theft of a wallet from the basketball court – found in a teenager’s pocket (Excuse: Lost and Found was closed. Huh?); two families being involuntarily disembarked in two different ports, with the second family refusing to leave the ship in Alexandria so the Egyptian police had to come onboard to forcibly remove them. ..delaying the ship from departing for 2 hours. (Seriously how stupid can you be? Refusing to cooperate with the Egyptian authorities…and remember my comments about Egypt.)

Obviously the former “minor” issues existed in large part because the latter issues kept the security staff and officers very busy; too busy. And fortunately other than abandoning my usual regular use of the whirlpool and my DW’s concerns over finding a lounge in the sun, those events did not actually affect my holiday.


However, one thing did happen that really angered me...for a short time. We purchased a water pipe in Egypt. Security confiscated it when we returned to the ship. While this puzzled me, it didn’t really make a difference, so I went with the flow. I was told to contact Guest Relations on the last day to recover it. On the last day I dutifully went to Guest Relations and was told that I would not be able to retrieve it until I was walking off the ship (and, therefore, would not be able to properly pack it for the trip home.) I was not pleased and asked why. The reason: I could use it for drugs.

With that I went ballistic. For Celebrity Cruise Lines to essentially accuse me of having drugs onboard the ship was an insult I was not willing to accept. If there was a real concern about my having drugs my cabin would have been searched and, to be sure, I doubt I would have been invited to dine with the Captain, have a tour of the bridge, etc. Clearly, Celebrity really had absolutely no concern that I had drugs onboard and, like magic, about 5 minutes later the water pipe was delivered to my cabin with a very sincere apology and the offer of bubble wrap or anything else I needed. The reason for security’s over-reaction: The inability to differentiate among guests. (It is not that the talent isn’t there, it is that with so many problems it is not very practical. That, to me, however is not an excuse; only an observation.)

This brief event did not, in any substantive or emotional fashion, adversely affect my cruise. It was an error due to the circumstances created by others, the error was recognized and the situation quickly resolved. I give Celebrity credit for that, but not for the event happening. (How many times have you encountered bad decisions being made worse by a person’s refusal to admit his/her error? Kudos really are appropriate IMHO and makes me feel a whole lot better about the event.)

Now, clearly these things are not luxury experiences. And when you hear many people, in different accents, say that this cruise was the most expensive they have ever taken (and it was deeply discounted) you cannot help but conclude that it was “price” not “product” that attracted the majority of the passengers. I will not go into figures, but it was obvious to even the most untrained eye that most people were not spending money. The shops sales were very slow, most of the bars were very quiet in the evenings, wine sales were clearly way off, the slots were very quiet, most of the casino dealers were bored frequently and even bingo was pathetic.

Ironically, the events of which I have spoken really didn’t affect me because I took advantage of Cellar Masters for after dinner drinks (wine and otherwise), Murano, Silk Harvest and Tuscan Grille for many dinners, enjoyed my double balcony, partook in the extra cost wine courses, had two 2 day private overnight tours, etc. So it is, in fact, because I “luxed” up my cruise that I was hardly touched by the problems which plagued this cruise.

To put it in perspective, my children stated that on a scale of 1 to 10, the cruise was a 12. My DW said it was an 8, but solely because of the crowds fighting for and hogging lounge chairs and some pretty poor passenger conduct; not because of anything Celebrity did. For me it was a truly outstanding cruise for which I really could not ask Celebrity to do more (other than the one short and quickly rectified slip up). It wasn't a Seabourn cruise, but to expect same would be both unrealistic and unfair.

While the highly discounted prices caused some issues on this cruise, the fact remains that I still firmly believe that Celebrity provides "The Best Bang For The Buck In The Business".

What I would recommend is that I would avoid the month of August (when all of Europe is on holiday); especially if the cruise fares are so highly discounted…unless, of course, those discounts are so significant that it allows you to overlook the potential for similar problems or, like me, you are traveling with children and don't have much of an option.

Do I recommend Celebrity? Absolutely. The Celebrity Equinox? Absolutely. This cruise? Absolutely. We had an incredible time,met some very nice people, had wonderful dining and enrichment and travel experiences.

My Next Vacation Experience - NOT!

You have to see this to believe it:

What To Do In Norway 

Enjoy!

Celebrity Equinox - The Last Dinner (Tuscan Grille) and Disembarkation

On the last evening of our cruise we had a family dinner at Tuscan Grille, the steakhouse on the Celebrity Equinox. It was not planned that Tuscan Grille would be the best place for a family to dine together, but it was.


We were seated at the best table in the house, overlooking the ship’s wash. Beautiful. Everything from the overflowing choices of breads, antipasti that was fantastic,etc. was spot on. Lots of comfort foods and very good to excellent steaks. Fried calamari, crostini with various toppings (tapenade, sundried tomatoes, cheese, etc.), steak tartar, etc., then rib eye, filet mignon, mixed grill all were prepared and presented deliciously. (My rib eye was a bit fattier than I would have liked, but as I was not paying by the ounce or some outrageous ala carte price, simply cutting away that portion was an easy solution.)

Our waiter insisted we at least try the pasta, which I did. It was well prepared in a light tomato sauce; tasting of high quality ingredients. (I must admit we kind of skipped desserts as the meal was so big.) And the wine list was paired very well with the menu. 

Once again the décor was wonderful. Big leather wingback chairs with beautiful dark wood tables and even unique silverware.

My only disappointment is that we did not dine here earlier. I am usually not a fan of steakhouse cuisine, but the menu variety and preparation was so good and the feel of the restaurant so comfortable that to me calling it a steakhouse is “unfair”.

After packing and a nightcap at the Martini Bar (with its very cool ice bar…pun intended) it was off to our last night’s sleep and a very civilized disembarkation.

The Celebrity Equinox has a new, improved, disembarkation system. Rather than being forced out of your cabin at early hours to huddle in the public areas, you are given a time to meet in a certain area and are disembarked within 5 minutes of getting there. You are also given tags with numbers rather than colors, so when you get to the hall you simply look for your number and your bags are there.

For us, we were given a disembarkation time of 8:45 a.m. and an invitation to a VIP lounge (actually Cellar Masters) where continental breakfast was served. We arrived at 8:20 a.m. for a quick breakfast and Celebrity was so efficient, that we were called to disembark at 8:30 a.m. As we were independent and our car was not to pick us up until 9:00 a.m. we were allowed to stay longer. Very civilized.

A word of caution: Even though Celebrity was very efficient in its disembarkation, the port was very inefficient in getting vans and busses to the pickup area. There was actually a delay of almost an hour so some people were left wandering and wondering where there private transfers were. (And I highly recommend private transfers in Civitavecchia because it is so unfriendly to taxis and so far from any real source of taxis.)

Ramses Tours and Egypt - Some Additional Thoughts

As you know I write exactly what I think and am honest with the good and the bad.  Well, today I received an email from Ramses Tours very upset with my last entry both as it relates to my impressions of my tour and of Egypt. I write with integrity and those that read my blog know that I stand by what I say and will correct any error and will readily amend what I say if it add content or context.

What I think is very good news is that Ramses Tours has been extremely responsive to me and what impressed me is that the first email expressed concern and requested I let them know what I liked and what I didn't like.    It did not use the "You should have told me sooner when I could have done something" excuse or, frankly, any other excuse.  Then we had a bit of an email discussion and came to a quick and fair resolution. This is a refreshing approach and I give Ramses Tours a lot of credit for being responsible for what happened.

I think it is important to remember when traveling that there are so many variables and that sometimes an operator or hotel or travel agent normally provides a wonderful experience fails to provide that though the intentions are otherwise.  A luxury hotel can have a miss with the front desk, a guide can be less than what is expected because of a personal problem or whatever, a bus can break down, a site can be unexpectedly closed.  You may recall my recent post about "The List". The key is not to focus on what went wrong or who dropped the ball, but on enjoying every moment you can. 

I cannot tell you my tour with Ramses Tours was perfect.  What I can tell you is that the most important aspect of the tour for us - seeing the ancient sites - was overall a great experience.  While I can complain about the van or my desire for a guide that went the extra for me, I can't complain that we had two adjoining rooms at the best hotel for our trip.  I can compliment that arranging for us to be at the Giza pyramids first thing in the morning was huge and greatly enriched our experience from just being there in solitude to experience quiet awe, to photos, to visiting the interior of the Cheops pyramid to our extended camel ride.  These things were arranged with Ramses and not another tour operator...and if the other tour operators had arranged these things I guess I would not have been there first, would I?

I do not want anyone to think I am endorsing or not endorsing Ramses Tours.  What I am telling you is that a decision as to which tour operator to use should be based upon many factors.  My personal experience was far more good than it was bad.  My guide was there when he was supposed to be (unlike my driver in Kusadasi), I went to the sites I wanted to go to (no sorry, we can't do that because of X or Y), I was protected from a major baksheesh incident when the tourist police wanted me to have protection for the day and Ramses made sure that didn't happen and, without limitation, I got back to the ship on time.

One thing you might want to keep in mind (and something I most certainly will).  Because of Ramses Tours quick response to me and its fair treatment of me, I am pretty confident that the experience let downs I had will not be so quick to recur. I have seen hard evidence that it has a concern over the quality of its product...possibly moreso because of what I previously wrote, but nonetheless it is there and it clearly is at the fore of its present concerns.

Another thing I want to mention, along those same lines, is that while my overall impression of Egypt is one of huge cultural differences and lots of pollution, they are not a reason to avoid visiting the country.  Seeing the Cairo Museum was definitely a great thing and visiting all of the ancient ruins was truly awe inspiring.  Remember that experiencing travel is not always the most comfortable and the ones that are challenging may well hold the greatest highlights.  (Read my comments about the Jerusalem Hotel - which I just recommended to a very experienced travel client of mine today - and you will understand what I mean.)

So don't start a "List" and don't say I won't use or won't see.  Remember what we really want (I hope) is to travel.