Silversea Cruise Review: Silver Spirit

As with all Silversea ships, all accommodation enjoys a butler who will oversee all your needs, help with reservations and generally make your life on board as easy as possible. Everyone loves a bit of storytelling, and around the ship I heard so many guests recounting the extra-special attention their butlers had given them, with unexpected treats and welcomes.

It was touching at the deck party, when the butlers were called up for extra service during the lavish chocolate dessert buffet, to see so many faces light up with delight at the sight of their butler in a new environment.

Dining on Silver Spirit

Again, in true Silversea style, there are a range of dining options including Indochine (reservations not required) with a wide-ranging menu focussed on Indian and Oriental cuisine; Atlantide with a classic grill-style menu; two premium speciality restaurants, Seishin, a Japanese restaurant with Omakase menu (or a la carte if you prefer) and La Dame, the stylish French gourmet option.

Elsewhere on the ship, La Terrazza offers buffet-style breakfast and lunch with an Italian menu in the evenings, whilst the Grill, on the pool deck, features casual lunchtime dining and an excellent yet simple meat and fish menu in the evening with the option to prepare your own food on hot rocks. The Neapolitan Spaccanapoli prepares genuine Italian pizza options for lunch or dinner.

We loved the low-key Arts Café for a light breakfast or lunch, afternoon tea and snacks throughout the day.

On the newest ships the Arts Café has become the focal point of the ship, but we do like the quieter style of this location, aft on deck 8 with lots of outside space, alongside the charming dinner and dance venue Silver Note.

Activities on Silver Spirit

With plenty of sea days a full daily programme of entertainment was essential, and included some excellent speakers (up to four lectures per day), as well as games, quizzes (a particularly high-powered team trivia at 4.45pm every day was extremely well attended), sports, fitness, wellness and more.

The intimate show lounge was packed out every night with shows created by a slick entertainment team, all overseen by the extremely visible and personable cruise director Adam.

A final word on the style and atmosphere of the ship. We loved the multinational guest profile, which of course will change from region to region, but on this cruise was a core mix of British, Australians and Americans, with plenty of other Europeans, South Americans and more.

As for the crew, also a very eclectic mix including ever-charming Filipinos, a pleasing number of attentive Africans from all across the continent, and of course plenty of Europeans and South Americans. Service was charming and attentive throughout.