Twigalina

I'm visiting friends in South Africa in January and I've been persuaded to take a 3-night mini-cruise from Cape Town to Durban on MSC Orchestra.  I made the booking using the MSC website and have been trying to make some special requests (twin beds instead of a double, reservation for the speciality restaurant on a specific date) via the Manage My Booking pages but I can find no way of doing so, and the only 'phone number on the web page is in Johannesburg.  My only previous cruise was with Silversea and their website is brilliant; by contrast MSC's seems to be really basic or am I just being thick?

The Arts Cafe is open from 06:30... I go there every morning for a take-away cafe latte (well two actually because the Dixie cups they use are on the small size) then trek the entire length of the ship to enjoy them in Tors Observation Library, thus combining morning caffeine fix with exercise 😉

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies. Mudhen, looking forward to seeing you at the "M & M" :)

I'm very much looking forward to my first Silversea experience on the Spirit next week but have a question about the arrival in New York on the 25th. Bearing in mind that (I assume) immigration and customs formalities will have been completed at the first US landfall, can anybody give an indication of how long after the ETA of 10:00 we can expect to be through the terminal with our baggage? Or does baggage still have to be cleared in NYC? My previous experience of arriving on the QM2 involved a wait of around two hours just to get off the ship and then another hour or so in the queue for immigration in the customs shed. I'm asking because we wish to arrange for an SUV type vehicle (too much stuff for a cab :o) to pick us up but have no idea what time to book it for. Thanks.

Got mine too. I think someone has got Sydney, Australia mixed up with Sydney, Nova Scotia on page 6...

Thanks for your reassurances Unibok... I better get myself a lump of salt too!

I'm due on my first Silversea, and first proper cruise in September and I have to say that the negative things I'm hearing on this board are beginning to concern me. Surely in a situation like that which Daveywavey70 experienced, where no warning about the state of the vessel was given, there should be a more appropriate form of redress than a discount on the (very expensive) fare for another cruise... once bitten, twice shy is an expression that many people recognise and live by. I'm assuming that the OP is based in the UK because the initial complaint was to the London office so is it not possible to a calculate a sum that would offer fair recompense for the shortcomings of the voyage and then make a claim via the Small Claims Court?

Kynance is spot on re: the library. When I did the crossing last year, it was nice to grab a coffee from Kings Court at breakfast time and retire to the tranquility of the library, where it was nearly always possible to find a comfortable seat with a wonderful view of whatever was ahead of the ship.

And, unless you will be travelling in one of the Grill suites, I would recommend that you take your own baggage off the ship at Brooklyn to avoid a lot of hanging around for disembarkation and then lengthy taxi queues on the forecourt of the terminal. Having said that, I know that people with mobility issues are given priority regardless of the type of accommodation occupied.

GeezerCouple/hallasm

Many thanks for the info. I was pleasantly surprised... in the rather limited threads on the Hurtigruten board, nobody mentions drinks apart from the one person who said that it was necessary to ask for two pitchers of water at the beginning of dinner, hence my doubts about the availability of alcohol. The prices in hallasm's reply are on a par with those on the Cunard crossing we undertook last year and we survived that (just!) without having to take out a second mortgage.

I'm considering a Northern Lights cruise with Hurtigruten and I'm aware that life on board the ships that ply the northern Norwegian coastal waters probably isn't anything like that on the vessels of mainstream cruise lines but is it possible (literally and/or financially) to buy a bottle of wine with dinner? I know that in Norway, prices in general and for alcohol in particular, are much higher than in the rest of Europe but is it prohibitively expensive? And, are passengers allowed to take their own supplies on board?

This "compensation" offer is absurd. Can you imagine if you'd gone to John Lewis or Walmart and bought say, a vacuum cleaner and when you got the box home, found half the tools were missing, and then when you complained were offered 25% discount off another cleaner?

In the UK, companies can (and do) put what they like in the Terms & Conditions but if Trading Standards deem something to be unfair, it will be over-ridden and a customer will be able to claim compensation.

If you use T&Cs as a benchmark, the ship wouldn't have to visit any of the advertised ports of call and there would still be no comeback for the customer.

I have some chums who are currently on the Regatta and they are disappointed that they missed two ports in the Hawaiian Islands. They are on a round the world tour which only incorporated the Oceania cruise because it happened to take in several of the places they wished to visit en route and this enabled them to combine transportation and accommodation in one package. While missed ports because of weather conditions, strikes or even civil unrest can be put down to bad luck, the breakdown of the vessel was wholly within the control of the cruise line... even if the fuel was contaminated as previous posters have suggested, it is still the company's responsibility to have procedures in place to monitor the quality of the diesel being pumped into the vessel's tanks. So, returning to the subject of the compensation being offered, only if one books another trip with a line that has demonstrably questionable standards of maintenance will there be any recompense for missing two stops on the itinerary. If, like my friends, you have no intention of taking another Oceania cruise, there is nothing.

This is not fair. I have advised them to contact Oceania in the UK as soon as they have disembarked in Papeete and if there is no better offer, take the matter up with the UK Trading Standards Office.

Rummblestrip, I feel your pain. I was lured into reserving my September '18 trip in October '16 by, among other things, the promise of an early booking discount of 10%, so when I see that the company is making the same offer a year later, it does tend to stick in the craw. However, Silversea was offering an itinerary that appealed to me, I was able to book the cabin I wanted, and having paid in full up front, am hopefully protected from whatever currency upheavals Brexit may produce over the coming months. I understand why you are thinking about taking your business elsewhere but where will you go (unless money is no object)? I have been looking for a trans-Pacific voyage that takes in Tahiti, for 2019 (USA/South America to OZ/New Zealand) and I cannot find a line that doesn't charge a 100% single supplement other than Silversea. On principle I will not pay a double fare when only one mouth is being fed... what do other board members suggest?

Most hotel chains, airlines, shipping and railway companies now seem to use similar inventory/pricing algorithms to match supply and demand but knowing that doesn't make it any less irritating when you find that you've paid more than you need to have done for a particular service.

I live just along the river from Greenwich and its proposed cruise terminal, and one of the reasons I was attracted to this trip was the idea of hopping on to the Thames Clipper outside my flat and then hopping off again five minutes later to board the Spirit. Despite having all the permissions from the local authority to build the terminal, work has yet to commence and there is no sign that it will anytime soon, so I'd take the advertised Greenwich departures in the 2019 programme with an enormous pinch of salt too...

It's tempting Bill but I think I'd better make sure I really do enjoy solo cruising on Silversea before I commit myself to a second voyage!

BTW, I booked and paid in full for my TA departing September 2018, last October, attracted by the 10% early booking discount and the advertised departure point of Greenwich, which is close to where I live, and guess what... they are still offering a 10% early booking discount a year later. And to rub salt into the wound, the departure point has moved downriver to Tilbury (can't really blame Silversea for this because the cruise terminal promised by developers in 2015 has failed to materialize) so I will now have a pricey taxi ride to catch the ship :mad:.

There was nothing re: OBC mentioned on my confirmation. I have Cruise Critic (or rather it's members on the Silversea board) to thank for discussing and awakening me to the subject.

And Bill, that's a very interesting itinerary - I hadn't heard of half the islands you'll be visiting.

I'm in the same boat (no pun intended) as you... 10% early booker discount and 25% single occupancy surcharge. Being new to this game, I didn't know about OBC and how it works until I asked the question in another thread and the replies I received suggested I call Silversea to see what they would do. To my great surprise I was granted USD250.00 OBC without me suggesting any figure so I wonder if this is the going rate for sole occupancy?

Keith/WesW

A line to thank you for your prompt replies and to report a result... USD250.00 OBC!

I've also added myself to the Meet & Mingle for the voyage.

I'm also new to Silversea, having booked and paid in full for a Silver Spirit TA next September, direct with Silversea (so no agent's commission involved) and before I came across this thread, had assumed that OBC was a reward for frequent cruisers but the OP states that this is their first voyage with Silversea. So what do you have to do to get OBC?

I had simply assumed that the fee on the lengthened and refitted Silver Spirit would rise to match that of the Silver Muse. The title of the thread should of course have begun "Le Champagne/La Dame etc."... embarrassed that I used the wrong definite article :o

Gosh, looks incredible, can't wait!

Thanks very much for the information Keith. Can I just clarify if the wine is the same as that served in what would have been the main restaurant or is it an enhanced offering?

I've just booked my first ever cruise... it's with Silversea and it departs next September. I'm single and wouldn't normally wish to holiday alone but during a hugely enjoyable TA crossing with a friend on the QM2 last year, discovered the wonderful sociability of shipboard life and now have no worries about going solo. At least once during my trip, I would like to experience La Champagne/Dame and it seems from what I've read here that it's essential to make reservations on-line as soon as bookings open, 120 days before departure. I'm pretty sure that I'll meet up with a like-minded person on board so was planning to make a table reservation for two people, maybe towards the end of the 15 day cruise. So, two questions...

First, is the $60 simply a cover charge (for an enhanced menu I realise) or does it also provide superior wine pairings?

Second, I'm guessing I have to pay up front 120 days out. If I find I'm Jimmy Nae Pals :o, can I get my money back if I decide to cancel one or both seats during the voyage?

I've trawled about 20 pages of the board and couldn't find info about either of these issues so any advice from an experienced "Silverseaer" will be appreciated.