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21 minutes ago, david63 said:

I would contend that that is somewhat meaningless - unless it is perfectly acceptable for a "gentleman" on an informal evening to just wear a jacket, and optionally a tie!

Good job the tie is optional as I’d imagine a polo shirt or Hawaiian shirt combo would like quite ridiculous, But whatever I guess! 😀

20 hours ago, Lookingtocruise42 said:

Oooo, someone is feeling testy.

I never said it met silver sea formal dress code, I simply said it qualifies as a collared shirt when a location requires collared shirts.

You appear to be making it up as you go, since that most certainly wasn’t what you said. 
 

It’s Silversea BTW.

6 hours ago, Lookingtocruise42 said:

Did I say it was Silversea 🙂? My last cruise that had a restaurant with collared shirts required.

My mistake. I thought this thread was about the Silversea dress code. Not sure the relevance if you were comparing a random cruise without a reference to it. Particularly since you said it met the requirements on a cruise taken on Silversea on a formal night in 2016, where a Hawaiian shirt was an oddity and only allowed because the wearer was a friend of the owner.

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1 minute ago, Lookingtocruise42 said:

Hawaiian shirt meets the requirements. I used Hawaiian shirts on my last cruise for the collared shirt requirement.

Not then it didn’t. Jacket and tie or you didn’t get in. Unless you were a friend of the owner, as in this case. Given 50% were in Tuxedos and the rest in suits and with tie. If he was playing “where’s wally”, he made it rather easy.

On 12/22/2023 at 12:57 PM, greg1969 said:

Looking forward to my next cruise on The Sillver dawn leaving Fort Lauderdale 5th January.  I think there is a male only sauna onboard, can anyone clarify this?

From memory, yes there is.

3 hours ago, Tothesunset said:

Maybe, but it's still the shirt used by polo players. 

 

People wear soccer shirts when not playing Association Football or running shoes while riding the bus. Still sports kit. 

It’s football not soccer. 🙂

I’ve a few of them… but won’t be wearing to dinner… even the ones with collars! 
 

By the sound of things, that big guy in the bright green Hawaiian shirt for his formal outfit back in 2016 might now be considered overdressed!

May I ask who the CD is (and if you know, who the GS manager is)

Glad you're having a good time.

5 hours ago, Will Work for Tiramisu said:

FWIW, I looked at the website for the train, it says the "Coastal Classic" starts running May 10, 2024.  The SS train isn't the same thing (SS is chartered), but at least the June 6 date appears to be "in season".  It may be that if they don't have enough pax to transfer back and forth they claim logistics and you get to take the old school bus with the squeaky brakes and near sighted driver.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get the choo choo both ways, which we will have paid $840 for.  Harrumpf! 

Yes, in our instance, our charter was scheduled for 15 May 2023 and the timetable started on the 18th. Despite pointing this out, SS insisted our transfer was by train. They even kept with that line despite issuing a ticket 2 weeks before departure which appeared to dash my hopes, but they continued with the "you are definitely on the train." They waited until after we had literally just boarded before dropping the bombshell. GS on the Muse were embarrassed at what had happened but every effort to find out what these "logistic" problems were, was similarly ignored.

12 minutes ago, drron29 said:

Having not long ago sailed on the Muse I totally agree. Even the stairs from the Panorama lounge to deck 8 became a vital part of my air conditioned walking track in the tropics.

Yes I do remember going to Panarama and thinking those stairs don’t appear on the moon and dawn. Probably cuts into dance floor a bit.

How did you enjoy? I spotted you mention your Shinkensen ride.I intend to return in 2025 for an extended overland trip. Absolutely loved Japan and the people. So much to see, though annoyingly the JR pass has just doubled in price,  which I’d intended to make good use of.

Nothing new to add but agree that the differences are insignificant. Personally prefer Muse because of Indochine - though miss the improvement made to dolce vita with the central bar. In reality the cruise chosen would be for the itinerary and would be zero influence over picking or avoiding any of these 3 ships (4 including Spirit.) I’d chose not to cruise on Nova or Ray.

At last…. A dress code bun fight! Whatever next.

Whilst I always believe if codes are in place, you should abide by them or book something else. I was shown something from the site from someone complaining a guest was in La Terazza in shorts for dinner. My first thoughts were Carnival dress code has come to SS, but then it was revealed the person in question arrived without their lost luggage. I guess it’s all about context.Hardly his fault and I suspect some would have made him most uncomfortable.

RCL bought a successful CL. Genuinely feels to me like they are hell bent on ruining a winning formula but the dress code is the tip of the iceberg it’s minor in the scheme of things. Outside of a bargain deal, my Dawn sailing in 2 weeks will be my last SS cruise. It says a lot that when I ask myself what I will miss the most, my answer is free laundry. That really isn’t enough to keep the loyalty.  It’s been fun and thanks for all the fish.

There is clearly different marketing and inclusions going on depending from which country your booking is made. 
 

Certainly from the UK the post above is accurate in that if you have D2D you will be booked on the train. If you have booked P2P interestingly, you are still given the transfer but on the bus. We did a Seward arrival 6 months ago but we had Americans in the roll call who were D2D and had to pay extra to get on the charter.

In the event, the train got cancelled and we were forced to take the coach… which while pleasant, is no match for the train route, which I agree takes a similar path, is a fair bit different and of course you miss the ability to take photos as you are seated and the results would be poor and ability to video go out the window.

We also missed 3 ports on our voyage and then the train. Anyone who paid extra for the train excursion were “generously” offered a refund for the fare that was cancelled. Everyone else got zilch. Yet another reason I dislike D2D. We certainly didn’t get what we paid for.

On a side note. The charter pulls in right next to the ships berth and is a simple 100 yard walk from train to ship through the security building. The train does not appear on the AR timetable and the AR scheduled journey is from Seward station, not the port which the charter uses. It’s a very nice touch and resonates with the D2D concept.

i made 100% sure before our voyage that what was shown in my.silversea would happen and was on the train. I noticed the AR timetable didn’t start until 3 days after our arrival… but was reassured it’s a charter and nothing to worry about … we were definitely on the train. When out ticketing was issued 2 weeks before departure, it didn’t mention the train but said it was dealt with locally via Alaskan tours. I phoned them and they confirmed they only dealt with coaches. Armed with this, SS still insisted we were 100% on the train. On the day of boarding, an email was sent out (to TA) that the train had been cancelled due to “logistic” reasons.  So after all the assurances, I suspect this train wasn’t even booked because the lines didn’t reopen for 3 days after our schedule. It was meant to be a highlight, but ended being our biggest disappointment and despite pressing, we never did get the answer to what logistical reasons actually really meant which in itself was very telling.

5 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I'm thinking of booking a 2016 cruise when I'm on Whisper in January, using the D2D rate.  If I later switch to P2P will I lose the on board 5% discount?

 

[Why would I plan this?  The Silversea cruise would be a side-to-side following a cruise with a different vendor who hasn't posted their 2016 dates yet.  I can't be sure they will line up with the Silversea start date.  That's why I need the D2D cancellation policy.  Once I know the other cruise lines up, I will be sure of taking the Silversea and can switch to the P2P and save thousands.]

I would think only SS head office / GS would be able to answer this specifically. If its positive, I'd make 100% sure you get it in writing. I've had a couple of verbal assurances get kicked into touch, so insist now. Personally, I think they will tell you your change would remove the discount if it wasn't available at the time of booking.

PS can I borrow your time machine! prices were so much cheaper back then! lol

18 hours ago, MacMadame said:

Yikes!

 

I finally got Covid in Sept and the guidelines these days are much looser. I could have left the house after 5 days even though I still had symptoms!

 

For the cameras, since they weren't attached to your balcony, weren't you afraid someone would steal them?

No. They were in a prominent position and visible by all - including the ships cameras. Besides, this was a SS ship and only had 220 passengers on board. That said, Ive done this on an Azamara ship through the Kiel canal. Generally on any port arrival or departure that sounds interesting, I do the same.

Arriving at Ho Chi Minn City and Hong Kong below. Those were actually interval shot, but these days I just capture the whole thing. And that in itself is a problem. Ive got far too many 256 / 512 and 1GB cards that I still havent gone through from years ago. I enjoy taking.... editing not so much! Ive just resubscribed to adobe cloud so will probably get cracking on them soon.

My usual passion is with my drone, but RCI and SS have just banned the carrying on board of drones, so it makes things impossible. My next sailing on SS in January will be my last. Thats their loss but I will miss the free laundry each day from my sailing status.

3 hours ago, turtlemichael said:

We are booked on Spirit which has an overnight in Monaco during the Grand Prix in 2024. Sadly, we are very likely to cancel. Today we received some details of what is on offer from Silversea to see the race. Prices range from AUD2599 per person for a seat in K grandstand, across the Saturday and Sunday, to a boggling AUD15,149 per person for the works. "The works" includes breakfasts, two Michelin star lunches and unlimited refreshments on the Belvedere Terrace in the pit lane. I'm sure you'll have the same information. 

For $15K Id expect to be taking part in the race! lol

I can remember being there in 2016 a good month before the race and the grandstands were already up. Must cause chaos for  the residents for 2 months!

20 hours ago, MacMadame said:

Oh, I meant where did you put them to capture the 3 different perspectives of the Panama Canal crossing. 

haha . I was going to answer that but guessed the position of the video would give the game away.

Was on Silver Dawn. Front was simply attached to the railing at front and rear on deck 10/11 and deck 10 on the starboard side. I use an articulating arm to attach and get the angle I want. Got mine from aliexpress or ebay I think for about $8 each, but they are on sale on Amazon for much more.

This is on the UK site.

PS - hope you have better luck than we did. My wife tested positive for covid 36 hours after the transit and spent the next 10 days in the "red zone" isolation with no contact with anyone and real secured area where you had to wear a hazmat anywhere nearby! She had to leave in a hazmat and get changed in a "lesser" quarantine zone before being allowed back in circulation. 

19 hours ago, MacMadame said:

Where did you put the cameras? I have been thinking about what direction I should aim my camera.

 

Though I got laid off today so our trip may be off. 😢

My canon gear was in the front reception room near the door in a rucksack. I had a tracker in the rucksack - but the just took the camera and 2 lenses.

Fingers crossed for your trip!

On 11/27/2023 at 8:11 AM, Mayflower1 said:

An interesting comment david63 relating to the Airlines - I am not sure this also applies to The Blacklane Transfers as the Terms seem to indicate that Silversea are not responsible for any consequences relating to Blacklane failures. Hopefully I am incorrect.

That was my take on it as well and was a cause for concern when I booked my LHR transfers for flights to Tokyo. I do always aim to arrive at least 3 hours prior to flight, so there is a small amount of leeway. It was especially heightened when those idiots were blocking motorways. I expect lots of people missed holidays because of these people.

On 10/27/2023 at 12:13 PM, scubacruiserx2 said:

My current bag for long reach 70 - 300 and a wide angle crosses the body and looks like a man purse .

 

 

That's the L series lens I had and took everywhere with me, along with my Canon 6D and 24 to 105mm L series lens ...... Until some ****** stole it from my house about 3 months ago by someone I must have let in. Gutted! Decided not to replace, but have treated myself to an Insta360 X3.

OP, when I did the voyage last year, I used 3 DJI action cams to film in 4K the entire 10 hour transit captured on 3 1gb memory cards and with power bank attached to each to keep the batteries working. Worth considering. Below are them converted to timelapse. I did capture the entire transit at 30FPS - just in case there was something of note so it wasn't missed. I should have spent more time in post production with them.

15 hours ago, dawntrdr said:

Kirk is back home in Marion, Ohio managing the Marion Palace Theatre, a grand old theatre in the class luxe style:

 

https://isp.page/news/aces-of-trades-kirk-detweiler-likes-have-a-place-to-call-home/#gsc.tab=0

 

 

Good for him. He and Vicki are definitely our 2 favourite CD on any ship we've sailed.

47 minutes ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

When I was on the Nova in Sept/Oct and mentioned how disappointed that I was that Ship Happens wouldn't, well, happen, she said that she was too, but mgmt. had told her that her show "wasn't in keeping with the direction they wished to go with entertainment on the Silver Nova."    While undoubtedly paraphrased, it sounds as if they were less than diplomatic about this edict.  

 

Shame. I think the same happened with Kirk didn't it? Anyone know if he is still in the industry on called it a day?

11 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

The business lounge is very nice (shown in the video) , but it is before security for the gates that  have most planes going to the U.S., and at that time there was no separate business security line and it was extremely unpleasant and long (an hour plus) to get through in the summer heat because the U.S. flights almost all left in a big cluster, thus creating a cluster . . . 😞  .  . Despite arriving very early we almost  missed the plane because they did not post the gate with enough time to get through security, given their staffing limitations, and other tech didn't work.

 

Or, just go Icelandic the full way, without flying back to LHR,  if you don't mind risking *potential* (not certain)  return airport chaos.

 

Must people don't recommend Icelandic economy flights.

They fell foul of the Schengen terminal in the airport. All "International" flights - ie that are foreign flights outside of the EU, go from Terminal D (I think that's the correct one from memory.) And yes, there is a queue to get through immigration at that point. I think it took us about 30 mins. Security to that point was a breeze. But once through into that terminal, you can walk freely and your gate is easily found once announced. This isn't that obvious and no one told us - I just worked it out looking at the flight board to see the pattern and then asked someone.

We flew 3 months ago - out with BA back with Icelandair - economy both ways - on flights booked by Viking. Thought the Icelandair was better than BA - but to be fair, that's not meant as high praise! It was fine though.

If the next expected "new volcano" erupts and is a "safe" one like the last 3 new ones in the last 3 years, then I could be making another visit as long as planes can land. Its getting a bit closer to Keflavik now - and Blue Lagoon and the nearby power station are currently closed I believe. I did have a visit last time on the day of embarkation, but the eruption stopped 2 days before (it had been erupting for 6 weeks) - so I missed out!

I didn’t notice any undue noise from our Muse voyage a few months ago, but maybe we had considerate neighbours or that final glass of wine before bedtime was a great sedative eliminating this problem! 🤪

Port Power, I certainly share your views on the fish markets. We had 2 tours featuring them. One thing of note apart from the eye watering prices - the smell - or moreover the lack of it. Without opening your eyes, you wouldn’t have known you were in a fish market! Quite incredible.

One annoying thing from our voyage. The one thing I was looking forward to, was Japanese beer, which I was assured would be plentiful. Asahi is the only beer I’ve bought back home for a number of years, so was significant. When we boarded in Osaka, it was available in all bars. By the time we reached Tokyo 2 days later there was none left apart from in Kaiseki. Ordinarily, I’d just take that on the chin, but considering where we were and the news they’d ran out and not getting any more, despite being in Japan was a huge let down. Did you notice if Sapporo or Asahi was being served?

What hotel locations would you recommend or to avoid in Bangkok? My last visit was in 1985 so a little out of touch! lol No sky train or MTS back then. 

We have a cruise booked in March 2024 from Bali to Bangkok. Had intended on 3 nights pre cruise in Bali, but turns out on our chosen arrival date, Bali is closed for their “day of silence”. So now arriving with just one night and having 4 nights in Bangkok at the end.