Gourmet Gal

Read and heard many warnings to not drink the water but is it due to bacteria or bad taste or just what? Do people get sick from the water?

It is so easy to go to TripAdvisor, type in your perameters, regarding budget, location and Stars then just read the reviews and make a choice. I have been doing that for years and have never been disappointed. It's nice to see my choice verified here on CC but the reviews tend to not be as thorough as TripAdvisor. We'll be staying at Palazzo Stern before our next cruise. It is so easy to get around in Venice so proximity to the cruise port is our least consideration.

Two full weeks wasn't enough for us. It's a lovely area especially off-season.

Has anyone done this with SS? Is it grossly over-priced or a decent value? Is it possible to arrange a similar detour with another tour company and still meet the ship in Istanbul?

I am taking this same cruise in September and will be interested in following this thread..

Would also be interested to know which nights are formal nights so we can either dine ashore if possible or stay in. Just not interested in packing and lugging formal attire for a non-event like dinner on a ship (unless it is a gala fundraiser).

For a special occasion I second the Four Seasons Sultanahmet. You absolutely cannot go wrong. FS does such a good job of creating hotels that reflect the history and culture of the location.

Only a very small percentage of cruisers have even heard of Cruise Critic and many of them may not research their cruise in great detail other than to compare prices, itinerary. The "All-Inclusiveness" could be an easy sell for many of those cruisers. I have friends who will only cruise with Regent because of the all-inclusive aspect...they like the convenience of air, transfers and excursions being included and are happy to book it and not have to think about the details. That's the target customer, not CC'ers.

Randy, thanks for the directive to the tour prices. It looks like the few included tours tend to be the least expensive ones and if you have to be herded on and off big busses then I am glad I am in a position to not pay the upcharge this time. We just booked this cruise last week! Turns out it was good timing and the upcharge would be $600 PP for Venice to Istanbul in Sept.. I am sure we will end up spending more on a few tours, probably booked outside of SS but they will be just what we want. If this scheme goes fleet-wide then our next cruise will probably be with Seabourn or The World.

I wonder if there were any focus groups to support this decision by SS.

Where can one see what the excursion fees are?

So excursions are not really "included" as there is a significant upcharge to pay for them. It's a Prix Fixe instead of A La Carte. I just don't understand if there is a value there....probably not. Would love to hear some examples of what SS has charged for Med. excursions lately.

Just checked for an upcoming 10 day cruise that I recently booked and it will be an extra $570 PP. With tours of Ephesus and the potential for excursions in every port included is that a bad value? I just don't know the cost of booking excursions on my own nor the charge that SS incurred in the past for Med. excursions.

Wow, just booked last week...what are my options? Cancel and rebook? Why not just extend to everyone....

I thought this was the Silversea forum....so much negativity. I just booked another cruise on Spirit....I am beginning to worry that I made a mistake.

Thanks! We have actually decided to stay at Four Seasons in Sultanahmet instead but will certainly cross the river for some night life.

As I am contemplating an Alaska cruise this summer on either SS Shadow or the Regal Navigator, I found the comparison very interesting. However, I found the term "wine barbarians" insulting. My wife and I drink whatever we like but usually go by the white with this and red with that theme. We first glance at the menu and decide. But if the red being offered is very good, then I choose the red. My wife usually prefers a chardonnay but will go with a red if she wants a steak or something.

Bravo! Works for me. Wonder what method the OP (AKA "Call me a Snob") employs when ordering his French Fries?

We usually stay in apartments or fairly high end hotels...usually Four Seasons, Trump, Ritz Carlton and in a locale without those types of properties we really like small but high end boutique hotels with excellent service. We like the idea of being close to all the major attractions but hope we don't have to go too far to find less touristy restaurants.

Spending 3 nights post cruise in September. We are leaning towards FS Sultanahmet but would we be missing out if we didn't stay at the Bosphorus property? We are also noticing a huge difference in the nightly rate of FS and many other Trip Advisor highly rated hotels. We do enjoy a bit of luxury while traveling but are there other truly comparable hotels for less?

We are considering renting an apartment in the Beyoglu area after a cruise. How far is it to the old city sites by foot and tram? We are staying 4 days so it is not imperative that we stay in the old city. We are interested in more nightlife and good dining so prefer a less touristy area for accommodations but don't want to spend too much time "commuting" to see the sites.

Regarding the dog...if the owner can get a doctor's note verifying the need for a therapy/assistance dog to help mitigate anxiety then the law requires the dog be permitted to go wherever the owner goes. The scam is that many (not all) people are just paying doctors to provide the documentation just so they can take there pet everywhere. It's causing quite a problem on airlines because the dogs are not required to be in a kennel under the seat and the owners are not always able to control them. Quite often these dogs are just pets and have not been highly trained as most true service dogs are. Most service dogs cause no problems and should certainly be accommodated for the wellbeing of the owner.

This will be our first Seabourn cruise Oct. 2015. We haven't booked air yet but are open to suggestions for convenient cities to visit before and after. We've been to Italy but not Venice and we've never been to Spain. We are open to taking the train and to flying into and out of cities other than Venice and Barcelona. Wouldn't mind at least a week of additional travel. Any suggestions?

This will be our first Seabourn cruise Oct. 2015. We haven't booked air yet but are open to suggestions for convenient cities to visit before and after. We've been to Italy but not Venice and we've never been to Spain. We are open to taking the train and to flying into and out of cities other than Venice and Barcelona. Wouldn't mind at least a week of additional travel. Any suggestions?

I was referring to the fish and seafood portions being small. The quality is generally mediocre to poor for the seafood selections but my husband enjoyed several very good meat courses and as large as those portions he still managed to clean his plate most nights!

I am also a pescatarian but on a recent Uniworld cruise I found some of the fish selections to be very small portions and some rather odd tasting fish I'd never heard of. The one night I opted for salmon I found it to be very muddy tasting - probably farmed. The vegetarian dishes were pretty good.

Any idea on when we might expect second half 2016 itineraries? We are very interested in a Venice to Istanbul Sept. sailing and we are hoping for fewer Greek islands than the Sept. 2015 itinerary.