Port Power

11 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Lunch at sea 

Someone was posting very recently complaining about SS cutbacks.  One particular gripe was the elimination of flowers on tables in the dining room.  It appears from this photo that you have not experienced that calamity. 🥀

On 4/25/2024 at 9:33 PM, highplanesdrifters said:

 

Was it knowing that "salties" now referred to both crocks and hippos? 😃

It was more the “friendly locals” and world class surfing conditions! 🏴‍☠️

1 minute ago, Sketty1616 said:

So the teams stay together for the entire trip?

Yes, usually.  Sometimes if people are absent due to a delayed shore excursion, there will be temporary members.  Like @drron29, my trivia group usually had a farewell lunch or dinner together because we all got on so well.

51 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

We will be there next year.  Was the skywalk a bust because of the weather, or did that even matter? 😃Thanks.  Temple looks awesome.

We did that same tour last year on Muse.  The temple was wonderful, as were the coastal views.  You seem to have a lovely day for your visit.  Ours was on a holy day and was extremely crowded with local families.
 

The “sky walk” is simply a thick glass platform jutting out over the water. Five minutes looking at the view.  A few people walked the stairs down to the rocks.  The rest of us stood around chatting in the shade of the building across the road for half an hour!  Or was it longer than that?

13 minutes ago, DavyWavey70 said:

I’m following along a bit perplexed. I Love to use Emirates BCChauffeur service which has never let me down. When not available, I’ve booked a car service through Emirates and have had always an impeccable service too. Can’t Silversea even be bothered ensuring that their contractual partners are even going to turn up? 

Absolutely agree.  They contracted with a good, reliable company in Australia. Why can’t they do that in the USA?

8 hours ago, BBGrace273 said:

True... but "should" and "will be" are often not the same.  😊  A lot of the threads on here are how different ships seem to be having way different prorocols/standards. Just trying to be proactive, to see if I need to lug a case of soda water on board for myself.  😆

Ships will always have soda water. It is required for mixing with whiskey!  It might be post soda water, but still acceptable.  Soda water is quite different to sparkling water or sparkling mineral water, though.

Anyway, let’s stop hijacking @flyers trip report.

5 hours ago, Travel2Learn said:

Blacklane does not operate in our area, and we are only 40 miles from the airport.  It would be nice to be able to use Blacklane between a hotel and the ship or ship and airport.  Has anyone been able to do this?  

Yes, previous posters have done this.  After all, it is up to you to supply two addresses of your choice.

Lea was on Wind when I did the Antarctic cruise in December / January just gone.  I first met her on Coral Expeditions in the Kimberley.  She is a marine biologist, but so knowledgeable over a wide area of nature.  Competent but also very engaging.

And I’ll now cross Sierra Leone off my bucket list. 😆 🦛

Why not use it at the spa?  A relaxing back massage after a long day out never goes astray, @mklions.  You can also buy overpriced but lovely lotions there, too.

8 hours ago, ropomo said:

I have a D2D cruise coming up and have my own air and therefore do not get the airport to hotel transfer included. My flight gets in at a time Silversea will be greeting passengers with included transfers. Will it be possible to purchase the transfer at the airport on arrival? I have a "boatload" of OBC and this would be an ideal way to use some of it. The flight is into KEF and private transfers to the city can be pricey.

I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to purchase the transfer at the airport, but could be wrong.  You should be able to book it in advance though. However, being pre-cruise, I doubt OBC can be applied.  A good idea is to ask the shore concierge as recommended above.

I agree that views of a first time cruiser will be very interesting.  Please do post.

I really enjoyed my Alaskan ports on Muse last year.  Look at the excursions to see what you might enjoy. There was a very good tour in Sitka to the Eagle sanctuary followed by the bear sanctuary.  We did a fantastic included tour in Ketchikan out to a fishing lodge, including a lovely but short temperate rainforest walk on a boarded walkway. Highly recommend if it is still included. (I usually never get my hands messy, but I dig into this delicious lunch!)

@Fletcher, you need to go higher up the food chain for some recompense.  Usually guest services can email reservations with a request for future OBC if they agree your cabin or cruise has been impacted.  Better yet, have your TA write to SS.  

11 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

Yikes! I better watch out, when we ever manage to sail together. You know I can't fit too many formal clothes in that carryon...

 

 

We've done seven expedition sailings on Silversea from 2009 to last year, and there has never been a "formal" night in the same sense as there is on board the classic fleet. Some passengers dress up more for the Captain's welcome and farewell (I usually bring a jacket and tie). Some don't. Take your choice, or take your chances (as per highplanesdrifter's post above) I guess?

 

We're sailing the Kimberley in June and we're not planning to dress up in formal attire. Our goal is to avoid being thrown overboard to the salties! I have to look at my lighter jackets to see what will work in that climate.

In the heat of the tropics, no one on Silver Explorer ever wore a jacket. Zilch!  Too hot.  Wear slacks/cargo pants and a cotton collared shirt on Captain’s night rather than a polo top, and polos the rest of the time.  For ladies, a simple cotton dress is fine, or pants and a cool top. My sleeveless cotton dresses were so cool, although not my usual restaurant standard. Passengers dressed for the weather.

10 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

If I recall correctly, SS has a shuttle bus to town in many ports.  We didn't utilize it on our last cruise.  Do you need to reserve a spot on it and how often do they run.  Particularly in Valancia as they have an old town walking tour, but we may just prefer to do old town it on our own.  Does anyone know if they run a shuttle to old town area.  

I did a tour out of the Valencia last November.  There were people walking out, but the shuttles were at the port. I agree that they were probably every 30 mins.  I have a photo of the beautiful warehouses by the port where oranges used to be stored prior to shipping, but nothing else. Crew walked out to find food shops.  I don't think the old town was within walking distance, but am not certain.  

I have just received an email from SS prior to the Silver Wind Arctic cruise late next month.  The dress code states no sports shoes after 6pm.  When I was on Wind in the Antarctic, that was all that most passengers wore most of the time!  With nice jeans or slacks, with polo shirts or button through shirts.  The occasional leather lace-up or slip on was seen, or me in open sandals nearly all the time. 

Many of us wore smart casual pants and tops at dinner, but on the Captain's night and one other some ladies wore a dress they would wear to a nice restaurant, or slacks and a pretty top.  Many still wore slacks and a jumper (pullover) though.   Expedition cruises are casual (but not daggy).

I have sailed both Silversea and Azamara, and like them both.  As a solo cruiser, I found that on Silversea it was easy to meet new people in the lounges as well as making up tables for dinner.  As a solo, I also like that shore excursions are included.  However, Silversea has now priced itself well outside my budget.

I went to SS because I enjoyed the size of Azamara ships.  Azamara still remains my favourite, even with smaller cabins and fewer lounge areas.  I’ll just budget in shore excursions in future, although many private excursions are booked with the CC roll call group.  I’ve always met people around the ship and at trivia, and enjoy the AZ ambience.  I do like to dress up sometimes, and feel quite comfortable wearing a cocktail dress some evenings on AZ.  I’m never the only one, either!

I compared my Silver Ray 2026 bookings with the current promotion.  I had booked under a suite upgrade promo in any case.  The price hikes from March were massive!  The 10 day Caribbean cruise is now $4,000 dearer and the 14 day transatlantic is $5,350 more expensive for the same cabin category.  I won't be changing or cancelling my cruises.

2 hours ago, commodoredave said:

There were no viable options.

At dinner, we asked our waiter about our order several times and he kept saying the kitchen was busy but our order would arrive soon. We also spoke with someone more senior 10 minutes before we left, and spoke with the Maître d on exit. Somehow our order got misplaced and staff didn’t figure it out on time. The couple sitting next to us couldn’t believe it and said so. They were more apologetic than our waiter. The Maître d did call our cabin 30 minutes later to apologize again, and offered to send anything from the menu to our cabin, which we appreciated but declined as we had picked up sweets from the Arts Cafe.

As for bath towels, they hang on a rack  at the end of the bath tub, and cannot easily be seen when the bathroom door is open. Had we noticed they were missing before we went to bed, we would have certainly called our butler and asked for then. But we didn’t notice they were missing until I got out of the shower soaking wet the next morning, at which time is was too late to call for them. 
So making excuses for very poor service by blaming the victim and saying there were other options is completely ridiculous.

Having said that, it was one night and morning out of 14 of them, and while we’d like to avoid a repeat, it did not ruin what was otherwise a very enjoyable cruise with a wonderful itinerary. 

 

Oh, dear!  My apologies for giving the wrong impression.  I was not blaming the victim, but wondering why these issues could not be addressed earlier.  

19 hours ago, commodoredave said:

Just got off the Muse in Yokohama. The best word to describe our cruise experience is “inconsistent.” Some days in some restaurants the food was really good, and other times it missed the mark. The same for service and entertainment.

The low points were our last night dinner in Atlantide, which never arrived (we left after 85 minutes). That was followed this morning by having to dry ourselves with hand towels after showering because the room steward forgot to leave us bath towels. 
In contrast, we had our best lunch today in 2 weeks at a local noodle shop in Tokyo for US$6!! Talk about good value proposition!!

 

Did you speak to the Maitre d' about the missed meal?  I would not have wait near so long before heading over to the desk to ask where the meal is!

When you arrived back to your cabin that last evening and presumably brushed your teeth, didn't you notice bath towels were missing?  It has happened to me a couple of times, so I just ring reception or housekeeping and towels are delivered immediately.  Even on the last morning you could have called for towels.

I am really sorry that you ended on sour notes, but there were options.

2 hours ago, chrism23 said:

An article appeared yesterday-

 

https://crystalcruises.com/story/meet-the-crew:-introducing-vicki-van-tassel,-crystal's-new-cruise-director?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=CTA_image&utm_campaign=Vicki_15Apr24_PRUS

 

a long  interview,  with Vikki saying she has become Cruise Director for Crystal-I think not for one particular ship but for the whole fleet-all the ships Crystal has left of which I have no idea, the only one I can name is the Symphony.  For me, she was a great, the best Cruise Director in the SS fleet,  I have no idea what the story is with Crystal.  With Manfredi Lebebrvre now running Crystal it seems like some cherry picking has begun.  Has anyone been on Crystal since the sale.  What I had understood was that its ships are worn, its cabin's too small, and definitely not a 5* experience.  I haven't looked at their web site, ships where they are sailing.  Should I. I imagine Manfredi is spending some of the cash he got from the sale of SS to invest in Crystal.  Oh PS.  I haven't seen her in a couple of years, she is a blond now looking quite attractive .

 

 

I was on Crystal Serenity two weeks ago.  Gorgeous!  6 stars.  Some (relatively) smaller cabins, but many large ones.  Beautiful decor that screamed Manfredi!  Completely refurbished.  Some cabins have kept their traditional decor, but have still been refurbished.  LOTS of outdoor and entertainment spaces.  Fabulous food. Wonderful, attentive staff.  I was impressed.  Evidently most of the crew were returned staff.

3 hours ago, Ovener said:

it would have been nice to have stayed on board (albeit out of the cabin) a few hours longer. It was too far ago to visit Rome en route to the airport, but there are other attractions on the way to the airport that could have been taken in. Viking arranged a tour, Seabourn and Hapag Lloyd either a day room or conference room at a hotel. I guess a flight at 15.30 isn’t a great time. Had it been later we could at least have bought a tour. 

Your flight was at an awkward time.  You need to be at the airport 3 hours prior.  The bus also takes guests who probably have 12pm and 1pm flights.  There are usually transfers for flights before xxx and after xxx. The ship also needs to be ready for incoming guests.  I think your flight time was just in between everything else.  So your choice was take the included transfer or arrange your own as @drron29 did.  His flight seems to have been later the. 3:30pm though.  

2 hours ago, jmmiva said:

 

Don’t understand if you took the blacklane credit and booked your own trans, why is that on SS?

Being dropped at FCO was after the cruise and not related to Blacklane.  Both  comments being in one sentence I realise is confusing. The OP is unhappy with SS dropping them off so early.  Perhaps they hoped for individual transfers rather than a group transfer that would have to serve many flight times?

There was discussion on another thread not long ago about delayed arrival into port.  I usually fly home in the afternoon of the day the ship docks.  Voyager’s dilemma is another warning to book a hotel for disembarkation day and fly home the following day.  Never hurts to have a day’s buffer.

4 hours ago, Invited On-board said:

Tbf I think the 'My Cruise' page of My Silversea  disappears as soon as disembarkation occurs and cannot say as to whether there is a follow up e mail.

 It is disappointing when aspects haven't been as they should, still onwards and upwards there is always your next SB itinerary to look forward to and enjoy.

There is no email to passengers of the post cruise survey. It has to be done on the ship. 

3 hours ago, irvington said:

I've been reading all these concerns and I'm wondering how they will affect me, the cruise I have planned for this fall and the one I'm about to pull the trigger on for next year. I've only been on Silversea once, last fall, but felt I had finally found a good way for me to travel solo and had the best vacation I could remember.

 

I found the ship and crew lovely, the itinerary interesting, and I really liked the other passengers, who seemed positive, curious, and educated. The tours were fairly large but good, and I liked the onboard lectures a lot. 

 

As a solo, it seemed like a decent price, interesting people I could talk to when I wanted to, and time by myself if that was what I preferred, and someone else figuring out how we were going to get from point A to B. All of those are either hard to find traveling truly solo, or if on a tour type trip you have to pray that the other folks won't drive you crazy since you can't escape them.

 

I live in a very "foodie" part of the world, which may make me picky but also means I don't travel primarily to experience food. I thought the food was generally quite good Fall 2023 on the Muse and the few things I didn't care for, I didn't finish. I never went hungry; kind of the opposite problem. Has the food declined a lot since last fall? It sounds like there are fewer items on the menu for sure, so I may have to plan where I eat a bit more. 

 

Curious if there are any thoughts about what I am "there for" that would cause you to skip booking a trip for next year? I realize it is totally my decision. 

I also enjoyed Muse last year, and Dawn and Wind to follow.  Yes, there were a few issues with meals, but not enough to ruin the cruises.  Any disappointments were made up by mostly wonderful crew and other excellent experiences. (Particularly Drew in SALT Lab.)  I felt special on many occasions as Maître d’s and waiters called my by name and knew my preferences. Your comments as a solo passenger align with mine.

Based on my experiences during 114 days of SS cruising last year, I’ll be back. I have a booking on Wind in June and on Silver Ray in 2026.  However, it is the price that will stop me rebooking.  Fares are just too high now, especially as a solo.  We have to book 18-24 months in advance usually to find 25% solo supplements.