Gourmet Gal

Can’t resist…what a First World problem! 😱

We did a similar thing after a Residensea sailing using Rome in Limo. Visited a cute village - Ceri, had an awesome lunch there and a visit to Ostia. Our driver was amazing and so informative. He was a retired military jet pilot. Can’t remember what we paid.

Yes, The World is still sailing. Not sure of an apartment sale price these days but when we sailed her they were under $2 million for 1300 sf and the annual cost for fuel, food, maintenance, staff was at least 6 figures. I believe one is required to have a land-side residence so no one lives aboard year round. There are a lot of sea days if you’re onboard for an extended time but multiple overnights in major ports. I have access to a 2 BR apt anytime but have only sailed a few times because it’s hard to find easy ports to travel to for boarding and also hard to find 2 week or longer trips that don’t involve many boring sea days which I deplore. They still have to abide by cabotage laws.

This is so confusing. My husband and I each received an email from SS with links to Blacklane. Do we each need to book a transfer as there is no way to add passengers on their site other than to select the vehicle size. I have booked through the portal sent by SS just for myself but does DH need to do the same?

There are a few places on CC where you might find Hapag Lloyd comments. Other Cruise Lines, Luxury and Small Ship both under Specialty Cruising. Or just use the search function.

You very likely could have asked for an earlier flight once SSAir sent a flight itinerary. There is usually some flexibility but there may have been an extra air deviation charge. But you might not have minded in this case.

That’s so offal.

Yes. Check the RCL investor website under FAQ. Shareholder benefits. $100 6-13 days, etc….

Another query; how far in advance does SS send an email with instructions for booking Blacklane? I have a departure in less than a month.

Not all sailings are bridge sailings but there usually are at least a few players so all the more reason to keep it replenished. The Observation Bar is my favorite spot in the mornings, especially for sailing into port. Hopefully if there are enough complaints there will be more attention paid to this area. On other ships the Panorama bar also had coffee and pastries available even those with an Arts Cafe. You know, a lot of people are addicted to caffeine. SS needs to fix this.

Hmm. What about the Observation lounge? Isn’t there usually coffee all day and limited cocktails in the evening?

Similar here. We have a Med cruise next month and will cancel our 2026 Nova Japan booking if we’re not pleased with the experience. We’ll lose 15% but I’m not throwing more good money after bad.

Unfortunately, income strata does not deter boorish behavior nor a sense of entitlement.

I’ll be arranging private transportation upon disembarkation next month in Barcelona. The itinerary indicates a 7:00 AM arrival. Does anyone have an estimate of when would be the earliest and latest that I could plan to disembark?

Doubtful. There is no excuse for such poor behavior but passengers could also be frustrated with poor food, crowded excursions, nickel and diming, and the myriad of other issues that have arisen as of late.

Ovener, thanks for taking the time to give feedback. The situation with food is becoming very concerning as your observations are in line with many other recent comments from sailings across the fleet. I’m not sure how SS can justify the massive fare increases unless it’s to at least get back to its former food quality.

There is a Tour Program that is downloadable and printable in My Silversea. Go to your booking and then Shore Excursions. You can highlight or select your chosen excursions and create a new document that can be stored in your files accessible on your phone.

I think you may be underestimating women’s ability to multi-task. Why does setting a stellar customer service example have to come at the expense of executive responsibilities, otherwise? The CEO impacts the corporate culture by example not by dictating. Do you really personally know that BM was not disciplined and neglecting any of her other duties?

All this has me wondering if the excursion dept. has been folded into the greater RCL excursion sales/operations. Would make sense for the bean counters to do so and hopefully this disarray will diminish with time. Perhaps the same realignment has happened with the hotel bookings as well as there have been plenty of last-minute hotel changes.

There are multiple threads in this forum discussing the pros and cons. You can use the search function. People do seem to have a more positive experience when flying out of an airline hub. As with all things related to SS using their business class air is less cost effective than it used to be.

Almost seems like a demotion for Hernandez.

So that’s a bait and switch!

See my post #6

Prior to SS including excursions in the fare I rarely booked ship’s excursions and found my own private guides as needed in most ports - usually for less than the ship’s group tours. It almost seems not worth the trouble to book these crowded SS bus tours anymore except that we’ve already paid for them! The company is really just pushing me to only consider cruise lines that do not include excursions.

Interesting. On my “My Activities” page the total and unit prices are 0.00 for my excursions that were previously included but now they are select. Seems to be no consistency.