Silver Spirit

It is like the other Silver ships but it is also different. The same excellent food and service. Still generous supplies of Bulgari toiletries. Everything is slightly bigger and the distances to walk are slightly longer. More tables and chairs round the pool and a bigger buffet area in La Terrazza.

The suite is pretty much the same. Only one wash-basin and a smaller shower area but a bigger bath. There is no longer an additional lower level hanging rail in the walk-in wardrobe which is more convenient for longer items but reduces the amount of hanging space by a lot – not great for such a long voyage.

The Observation Lounge at the top at the front seems to have been changed into an evenings-only bar. So the best spot on the ship for looking out in all directions and being able to be easily indoors or outdoors has been made unavailable.

Reception are not great. On check-in, they took Diva’s and TSH’s passports and asked for the Brazil visas. They did not have them. It turns out that US citizens (and other nationalities) need them but EU citizens do not. TSH found this out from the internet but there was another conversation with reception where they seemed to have no appreciation that there were people on board other than from North America. (Extra note: will Brits need Brazil visas after Brexit?)

TSH and Diva skipped the Captain’s welcome and went to dinner with an Australian couple who are also doing the full circle. Rumour has it that 99 people are doing the full voyage, including a number who have done it up to 10 times before.

Still holding the line on few or no desserts but sticky toffee pudding is not in the column marked 'resistable'.

Stats: Silver Spirit has 540 guests, Silver Shadow and Silver Whisper 382 each. Silver Wind has 296.