This was published 8 years ago
A silver-lined Atlantic crossing
Sailing from the New World to the Old World in style.
By John Coleman
The Silver Whisper takes a relaxed approach to cruising.
We're on a 15-day transoceanic cruise to Southampton on Silversea's Silver Whisper – and it's a different kind of cruising. There are fewer ports visited with half the time spent in long, leisurely days at sea, but you don't have to leave the ship for the most memorable experiences: take an early morning arrival in New York Harbour, seeing the Statue of Liberty, towering in faded green, emerging through a fine mist.
And after a day in New York, robust and gritty as ever, the statue's torch casts dappled beams across the water while three helicopters, lights blinking, circle its head; President Barack Obama is in town. Besides the views, there are simple pleasures, like relaxing in the ship's Panorama Lounge, with the talented Filipino quartet deftly beats out the best of Gershwin and Porter.
As we leave Halifax, Nova Scotia, once the entry port for Canada's immigrants, Silver Whisper's master, Captain Luigi Rutigliano, warns of storms, fog and ice breaking away from icebergs after a late, bitter winter.
With waves reaching seven metres, the decision is made to divert further north – out of the path of the icebergs – and bypass the scheduled port of Newfoundland.
Still, we're all happy with the Silver Whisper as a destination in itself. There's a complement of 297 passengers from 11 nations in the 382 passenger-capacity ship. There is a sense of uncrowded intimacy. The suites are spacious, most with verandas, linen from the legendary Pratesi brand and bathrooms finished with Italian marble.
With more than one crew member per passenger on this cruise, there's always a staff member handy to meet a need. Our Filipino butler Rommel, in black tails, sets the table for in-suite dining, shines shoes, even spectacles and ensures the fridge is stocked with champagne and other beverages, with desired spirits on-call.
The restaurant's cuisine is superb, not surprising given Silver Seas' partnership with Relais & Chateaux, noted for its fine restaurants worldwide. As hotel director, Frenchman Fabien Leconte puts it (in all modesty): "If you're No. 1 you would want to be associated with No. 1."
With Silver Sea's transition from an initial customer base of 75 per cent American to one that's more diversified, with more Europeans and more Australians, he points to the challenge of meeting international expectations in culinary tastes and other areas, but concludes: "We've come to a mix which is pretty right."
World-class speakers lead the mental stimulation, like international barrister Dr Christopher Whelan, who practices in Britain, the US and Germany, is an Oxford law faculty member, professor of law at Washington and Lee University, Virginia and lecturer at Bucerius Law School, Hamburg.
He gives powerful talks on the role and effectiveness of the UN and on "economic superpower", the European Union, while there's a leavening from other speakers with topics like "Prince George – the boy who would be king" and "The art of heraldry".
The entertainers also have impressive credentials. Among them, Australian concert virtuoso violinist Ian Cooper who composed and performed a symphony at the Sydney 2000 Olympics opening ceremony and is a guest artist of jazz trumpeter James Morrison and wows audiences with a mix of classical, jazz, gypsy, Latin and Irish musical styles.
Opera lovers are entranced by soprano Francesca Copertino and tenor Giovanni Palminteri from Rome's Classical Music Conservatoire, there's the universal appeal of Broadway shows and recreation of 1960 hits from the Beatles, Lulu and Dusty Springfield.
We can choose language classes in Italian, Spanish or French, play mah-jong, poker, bridge or table tennis, join dance classes, take part in trivia quizzes, board games, learn how to mix cocktails, get fit under the direction of a trainer. Or simply contemplate, in silence, from the observation deck, the whistle of the wind and endless, circular sweep of the Atlantic.
After 10 days there's more rough weather, with the captain on the bridge all night. Another port, Foynes, on Ireland's west coast, is cancelled. But the weather moderates as we head to Cobh, on Ireland's south coast.
From the bridge, Captain Rutigliano, recalls the rough conditions, telling how the ship's radar was picking up icebergs and pieces from them. "All the time the ship was sailing in safe conditions," he said. He has served for some 10 years on the Silver Whisper, initially as second in command. "I feel at home," he says, "it is a beautiful ship."
At Cobh, we take the "Titantic Experience", a recreation of the liner's departure from its last port of call. As well as the Titanic, the Heritage Centre in the railway station adjacent to the port recreates the departure from Cobh of almost half of Ireland's 6 million migrants in the wake of the famine, 40,000 convicts transported to Australia, and the sinking of the Cunard liner Lusitania by a German submarine in 1915. Fewer than 800 of Lusitania's 2000 passengers survived, with many of the victims buried in Cobh.
We dodge cars and vans in the narrow streets of Fowey on the river of the same name, on Cornwall's south-western peninsula, where medieval and Georgian buildings merge. The tourist information centre has an exhibition of the town's most famous resident, novelist Daphne du Maurier, her life and works. She's also celebrated in an arts and literary festival here held in mid-May.
A cross below the cliffs at the river's entrance commemorates the visit, according to legend, of Jesus, with rich merchant Joseph of Arimathea who came to view local tin mines; Joseph later donating to Jesus the tomb he had prepared for himself.
This was doubtless a cruise with a difference. The warm and spontaneous reaction of a packed theatre of passengers at the captain's farewell, when the entire ship's company paraded before us, says, unmistakably, we'd do it all again.
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
CRUISING THERE
Silver Whisper runs on 17-day trans-Atlantic cruises between Southampton and Montreal, stopping at ports in Cornwall, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and Quebec. Per person, twin share, its 2016 cruise starts at $11,550 and 2017 $10,350.
GETTING THERE
Qantas has daily flights from Sydney and Melbourne to London; see Qantas.com. Silversea can arrange coach transfers to Southampton, a journey of a little more than an hour; there are also other coach services.
The writer was the guest of Silversea.
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