Gourmet Gal

That’s odd. On my sailing reservations were not required for SALT. We were able to book Silver Note, La Terrazza, La Dame, Hot Rocks and Kaiseki in advance online. Both SALT and Atlantide did not require reservations.

Even premium WiFi was slowwww last month on Silver Moon. Let’s hope the new satellite system works better.

Post Covid?

I have friends on the inaugural sailing and they are quite pleased. There are a few technical, mechanical glitches but it seems the consensus among the passengers that it was a success. I’ll try to glean more details. They are not CC’ers.

Still a push button machine. On my previous cruises there was someone serving coffee. But now on the Moon there is The Arts Cafe which starts serving just as early.

You have a great attitude despite your terrible loss. Good luck and have fun.

I do know you’ll never see a separate bill for alcohol on Tauck or Uniworld. Assume that applies to Scenic as well. On my recent Tauck cruise I saw Bloody Mary’s at breakfast and lunch while under way.

There’s a coffee/tea machine in the morning beginning at least by 6:00 AM. It’s my favorite spot when coming into port early morning. The evening bar service is nice but quite often the space can be commandeered by charter groups and can become quite crowded and noisy.

FWIW the boarding process on my recent Moon cruise was stellar, except for the elimination of the welcome champagne. The process was super efficient.

CA Cruise Lovers, which staff are you referring to? I felt the staff was the highlight of my recent Moon cruise. I never encountered anything but courtesy, friendliness and warm hospitality from every single staff member.

On my recent Moon cruise masks were only required in Venetian Lounge and on busses. Enforcement was hit or miss but when I asked staff to remind pax they complied. A minority of pax wore them as often as possible such as in the hallways, at buffets, elevators, while not actively eating, gym, etc. Canderson, nothing is 100% so whether a mask is “properly” fitted or not it will help to mitigate. That’s the best the general population can do along with vaccines and boosters.

I noticed no welcome champagne, too. I never accepted it as I don’t like walking about and drinking anything but I did notice it wasn’t offered.

I live in CA and it’s actually rare for me to see someone wearing a mask that isn’t KN95 or N95. Far less often do I see surgical type masks. On my recent cruise on Silver Moon all the crew were wearing what looked like high quality KN95’s. In fact they gave me one in La Terrazza and it was a very well fitting mask.

Not sure if they’ve lost their luster but the excursions left somewhat of a black mark for me on the most recent cruise. If a great itinerary popped up, I would look to see if another line offered the same before booking with SS. I’m hoping to eventually try RC and 4S and would be interested in Seabourn as well.

I prefer longer cruises, too. Scenic is not the only line to offer longer cruises. Tauck and Uniworld offer them as well.

The recommendation is to wear a kn95 or n95, properly fitting mask. There is plenty of actual scientific data to support that recommendation as a very strong mitigating factor against Covid. Good luck TT.

I believe Tauck is all-inclusive as well. There are no additional charges. If you book a suite you receive a $100 credit but I’ve never used it. If you book within a certain timeframe you will also receive a pre or post hotel night.

Anyone working with the public is at risk so I think it’s great the crew is protected from pax who bring Covid on board. I just wish pax who are clearly sick with something would wear masks to protect others. From the first day of my recent SS cruise there were pax with very congested sounding coughs.

One of our tours was in a double-decker bus with well over 60 people in it. Not my idea of luxury.

From my recent experience on Silver Moon there were usually several excursions to choose from in each port included in the cruise fare. Then there were other more premium tours offered for an upcharge including the very expensive SALT excursions. You may choose one per day from the included list and if time permits you can choose a second tour from the same list but there will be a charge. On my cruise the included excursions were under-staffed, crowded and pretty basic. In some ports we opted for private arrangements.

I see. Just for reference, Tauck offers choices, too and when groups are subdivided one can choose which pace. I would be interested to try Scenic but we think we’ve cruised all the rivers we’re interested in.

Carla Carita at My Way Tours. She is a private guide and outstanding. If you just need transportation to those sites there are very easy train connections to both or I can recommend an excellent driver Antonio info@mychauffeur.pt

I’m talking about the size of excursion groups which is a reflection of the number of local tour guides available. The excursion groups were quite large on the two cruises I just finished. There are some staffing shortages on ships still. On SS, no manicurist so my pedi was cancelled. Of course he or she could have had Covid, too.

Just a thought but I wonder if staffing shortages are still a problem, especially tour guides. That could explain the large groups we’ve all experienced lately.

Tauck and Uniworld are definitely in the same league at the top of the heap. Tauck is a tour company known for their excellent excursions and logistics and they’ve taken that expertise to the rivers. Service is excellent on both lines. In my experience food on Tauck is superior to Uniworld but neither is what I would call gourmet. They both serve wines of the region but Tauck does a slightly better job. Onboard entertainment is also superior on Tauck and I prefer their more modern decor to Uniworld’s British tea room or French parlour style. I just completed Tauck’s Douro cruise and their new ship Andorinha is the most beautiful river ship I’ve ever seen. You may also consider Scenic and Ama. They might be close to the same level of luxury as Uniworld and Tauck but others will have to chime in because I’ve never sailed with either.