canderson

3 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

I will try the Vista Smoking lounge but have a feeling, it will just be a place to smoke and not a traditional Cigar Lounge.  For me, that is half the enjoyment.  Leather Chairs, dark would, humidor, drink service.  For me, cigars are like a really nice drink.  Where you have it, the glass you use, the music or lack there of, the experience is as important as the item. Just my two cents and we will see.

Just came off the Silversea Dawn and was pleasantly surprised at their facilities.  Conveniently located mid-ship.  Combination of indoor, partially enclosed outdoor, and outdoor, all nicely appointed, with someone coming through frequently for bar service.  Decent cigars and higher end drinks displayed in the indoor area.

22 minutes ago, yovinny said:

Also, this is a 2025 cruise, does Silversea tend to add excursions as we get closer to the sailing?

 

And yes.  Excursions should be considered very 'fluid' this far out from a 2025 sail date.

I've found the 'stars' and descriptions of what will be required to be fairly accurate, so plan accordingly.  The descriptions re mobility for each excursion are some of the best I've seen published by a cruise company and more helpful even than the 'star' ratings, usually describing in detail what is expected.  Grab the 'Tour Programme' brochure for the cruise you're considering, and look at each excursion's last paragraph. 

Examples:

LPA-J / Wine & History of Gran Canaria Difficulty OO
...
Please note:This tour involves moderate physical activity. Participants must walk a total of 2 km (2200 yards), sometimes over cobblestones and steep areas in the vineyard, stand for some time and negotiate steps at two venues as well as getting on/off the coach.It is not suitable for wheelchair users or guests with very limited mobility.

and

STC-M / Best of La Palma Island (Wheelchair Accessible) Difficulty OO
Price: $149 - Duration: 5.00 hr(s)

...

This tour involves a moderate amount of walking and is specially designed for guests who utilise a wheelchair or a scooter.
Discover the highlights of lovely La Palma Island during this panoramic, half-day coach excursion that is suitable for guests with limited mobility and guests who utilise a wheelchair.

Please note: This tour is specially designed for guests who utilise a wheelchair or a scooter. Full time wheelchair users, are kindly requested to contact shoreconcierge@silversea.comin order to provide further details and determine if the tour is suitable for them.This tour involves a moderate amount of walking for approximately 0.6 miles-0.93 miles (about one-1.5 kilometres), at times over uneven, natural, and cobblestone surfaces, with a few steps to negotiate to get on/off the adapted coach and at the sites visited. An adapted coach is utilised on this tour, which makes it is suitable for guests with limited mobility and guests who utilise a wheelchair.

Ditto for the WB TA on Dawn last month.  They were held in the S.A.L.T. restaurant on Dawn, with a 'showing' at the end of the cruise.

1 hour ago, nav1027 said:

Video poker machines are there, but the touchscreen was flaky. 

9/6 (one could wish) 7/5 or some other payout for J or Better?

24 minutes ago, Brad1185 said:

$480 for 2 meals for 2 people in the 2 extra charge restaurants on the Nova is a bit much when SS over uses the words all inclusive on their advertising and website. 

Moving back to the topic - Dawn ...  it's only 1/2 that price.  Wonder how the turn-out has been on Nova at 2x the price?

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

And the previous poster said it the best: to me, the food is better on O (not by a large margin but still better), rest of the areas comparable, some slightly better on SS, but not enough to justify the ~50% difference in price. 

Guess it depends upon the suite.  For the cruises I've looked at, I don't see a lot of difference in pricing between O and SS for anything in the Silver Suite range and above, though O only has a few ships with something close to cabins of that exact size (a few ships with 700+ sq ft Vista).  Seems most of O's ships take a big jump between a 'standard' size cabin and the larger ones (400+ sq ft to 1000+ sq ft).

11 minutes ago, Carolfay said:

Way back when, at my college commencement exercises, the requested dress code for women was listed as "heels and hose."  Some of us thought it might be interesting to show up wearing only those items.  We'd be complying, right?

Perfect ensemble for a 'Bliss' cruise!  But I don't think SS accepts those charters. 😏

9 hours ago, Lookingtocruise42 said:

Exactly!

Some of the cruisers seem to think the way I dress impacts them for some bizarre reason :).

You find the differing visual sensitivities of others to be 'bizarre'.  I certainly don't find your position to be so, even though I don't react the same to the same visual stimulus.  I wouldn't be rude enough to call it that, even if that was how I felt.

The fact that you find it 'bizarre' rather emphasizes my original point.  For some others, it clearly is not, and that's the reason that these threads will go on forever. 

1 hour ago, Lookingtocruise42 said:

...and don’t seem to understand that the way others dress won’t impact them.

That.  Right there.  That lack of understanding of what does and doesn't "impact" others is why these threads will persist. 

4 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I recall reports that they will happily lend you a jacket to carry over your arm and then put in the back of your chair...

On Dawn/Atlantide, that fellow I mentioned probably would have required a 52R.  They tried on what they had by the closet at the entrance, but didn't have anything that big to fit him, and that's when he left in a huff.  They really did expect him to at least wear it into the dining room.

3 hours ago, Salbags58 said:

We are in the Uk and booked with TA and we had to pay 5 months in advance on final payment

We've heard that about some UK TAs on other line boards as well.  When you get your credit card statement, is it the TA or Silversea that shows up?  With my TA in the US, it's Silversea and at 120 days.  Seems some UK TAs bank the float for 30 days?

1 hour ago, claudiaYVR said:

Generally speaking, can anyone comment on whether there are any/many men in tuxedos on formal nights? thanks!

On the recent WB Dawn TA, I'd estimate 10-15% of us were in tuxedos on the first 2 formal nights.  Higher on the last of the 3 nights.

33 minutes ago, tinaincc said:

I see this as a good thing! You can find space in the more formal ships and I can find space on the ships that don’t require a tie. Win win!!

Agree, but as noted, we still see complaints about an overly strict dress code, so win-win for you and me isn't making everyone happy enough.  Since certain SS ships serve some specific itineraries each season, this will always be an issue for some.

Recently off Dawn, and the MD was holding the line in Atlantide.  Day 6 (at sea) of the cruise and a fellow was unhappy to 'discover' that a jacket was required for dinner?  So assume no change on Dawn for the time being.

2 hours ago, tinaincc said:

I gravitate to the ships on this line, Nova and Ray, that have the dress code that I can live with.

No one is begrudging anyone for their preferences that I can see except for the formal loyalists that are upset with those “optional”/more relaxed codes.

If that were true, we wouldn't be seeing the many complaints about the current dress code that some find too strict.  Your 'gravitation' is the right approach, but still hold out hope that SS leaves "the former loyalists" (not accurate in our case, as we just completed our first SS cruise) somewhere to gravitate to.  In my attempts to book future cruises, I certainly don't find that SS is having any trouble with bookings on Muse class ships .. at least not for the cabin/itinerary combos I've been trying to find, even at the substantially higher prices vs 2023.

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

That's all well and good – but then they try to force me to abide by their personal code of conduct.  Shouldn't it be a two-way street?

Not if the rules say otherwise, no.  People gravitate to where they like the rules.  It's why people leave some states and move to others.  But please don't expect every state to bend to the will of those with different preferences.  If Silversea decides to leave the Muse class rules the way they are, please don't expect us to apologize because we've lobbied for that to occur.  Your preferences for rules can be found on the vast majority of cruise ships.  Why continue to begrudge the rest of us a refuge - in Muse class, for example?  That would be a legitimate "two-way street".

4 hours ago, tinaincc said:

Not at all. Focusing on what one can control is the key to happiness in my opinion. Far better than worrying about what other people are wearing.

Seems a bit of a stretch.  I understand what you're trying to say in that first sentence, but truly wonder if you really believe it, or are unintentionally applying it selectively here.

Is there nothing that anyone could do over which you would have no control that would annoy you in a dining room, reducing your "happiness"?  I think we can agree that every one of us has limits, though regarding different things and to different degrees.

What you still don't appear to have ever appreciated in this discussion is that different people have different 'awareness thresholds' for different aspects of the dining experience.  Yours does not include "what other people are wearing".  That's OK.  We understand that's not on your list.  Others do pay more mind to this.  Please allow them that.

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

I think it’s unacceptable and misleading. But at least the prospective guests know what to expect.

...

On the Spirit they had an excuse of a very small venue that needs capacity control. What’s the excuse on the Dawn?

That first paragraph has me scratching my head.  SS is clear in their online description of their tiered service, so I don't see how it is "misleading".  Starlink provided me with better service than the previous at-sea providers apart from the bandwidth.  All customers get those benefits.

I covered the question of capacity control in an earlier post.  Dawn isn't an exception.  If you install the same Starlink Maritime system on a rowboat or a cruise ship, you have the same total bandwidth available.  Any explanation that a smaller ship like Spirit, with less passengers, will have a bigger issue of demand control makes no sense unless they've installed a lesser system of some sort.  To the contrary, bandwidth per pax should be less of an issue!

Ah...

Perhaps what's missing from the discussion is that a given Starlink Maratime ("Mobile Priority") package isn't all you can eat at a fixed monthly rate.  The price per month is also based upon usage.  You buy a monthly plan from a tiered list, each with a maximum data cap.  More $ for.more data.  If you exceed your cap, either your speed is cut back to the much slower "Mobile Land" bandwidth or you pay an additional $2/Gb for the overage.  So there's another reason for trying to control pax usage through a tiered pricing structure.

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Wait.  So if it isn't a matter of what you can do, what is it?  Entitlement?  I don't get it.

I think I get what he was saying in that sentence.  It's not that he can't do things, it just takes longer than he'd like to do them.

34 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

No, free laundry is different. They don’t advertise that free laundry is included in the cruise price, but they do advertise that Dawn switched to StarLink and the internet is included. But if if you have to pay to get the StarLink quality internet, then it’s not included.

Silversea's 'Standard' service is more than adequate for all but streaming services.

The service provided at the 'Standard' tier service level is still much better than what we had pre-Starlink.  The drop-out issues, slower speed, and latency issues are apparently quickly forgotten. 

They're clear about the two tier system:

https://www.silversea.com/travel-informations/wifi-packages.html

Bandwidth availability shipboard is likely a large factor.  By not automatically providing 10Mb/sec access to all guests, the anticipated resistance to purchasing the extra bandwidth limits demand on the system.  Land based, and with a special antenna system, Starlink offers 'Starlink Premium' with up to 500 Mbps service.  That's enough to support a 10Mbps stream to 50 concurrent passengers.  However, I don't know if there is a special Starlink Maritime package for cruise ships that provides service at that level.  The standard maritime package is only "up to" 220Mbps.

It would be interesting to know what bandwidth the ships are actually seeing.

3 hours ago, ak1004 said:

I agree, and this is how this should be with StarLink. But why it’s included only with certain level of suite? It should be standard.

Along with free laundry and dry cleaning?

FWIW, on the 'premium' plan (came with the suite) I was getting a consistent DL speed of right around 10Mbps right across the Atlantic on our TA, and with worst case of only about 65ms latency -- which is fantastic, when you consider the number of inter-satellite hand-offs required to reach a Starlink ground station from the middle of the Atlantic.

4 hours ago, Winemaker_1 said:

This came up in a thread a while back.  Under the OpenVPN(UDP) or  (TCP) option, have you tried selected the Obfuscated Servers?  These should evade the VPN block.  It may take a few tries to find an appropriate country's server but this should work.  I'm curious to know.

No, having had luck with the UDP (not TCP, which didn't want to play nice) option, I didn't continue.  Didn't take time to play hunt and peck with various servers to see which of them might cooperate.  For my purposes, anything 'foreign' might have proved problematic anyway, since I needed a U.S. based server to get certain servers to cooperate (e.g., Comcast/Xfinity).  I stuck with Denver with no issues.

2 minutes ago, david63 said:

Some people like to live dangerously 🤣🤣😇

Yeah, I was looking for a 'duck and cover' emoji, but didn't spot one!