Stickman1990

5 minutes ago, Port Power said:

The Japanese string duo are very good.  I really enjoyed their show.  After sailing a few Silversea cruises, you get to know the production shows off by heart.  It's refreshing when local talent comes aboard.

They’re on tonight and certainly looking forward to them

Last night it was the Motown show by the ensemble - we weren’t impressed with it but another couple we spoke to loved it so I guess it comes down to taste and what you’re comparing it with 

9 minutes ago, Silver Spectre said:

How’s the included wine and beer selection on the Muse.

 
So far so good - plenty of Champagne (Monopole & Pommeroy), Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and a couple of Sauvignon Blancs (France & Tiki) - not a red drinker so can’t comment on those

Haven't had any beer yet - had way too much of that in Tokyo over the last week 

Just now, Randy Z said:

we had a vista suite "guaranteed" cabin reserved and received our cabin assignment yesterday--upgraded to deluxe veranda.  

Yes we did the Vista guarantee as well and got a nice upgrade - as did 4-5 others we know on this leg 

Day 3 Chronicles - Sendai

Day 3 - 3 May Sendai.pdf

5 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

Todays Passages

Ooops - my mistake - it’s the Daily Chronicles of course 

Here’s yesterdays Daily Chronicles - the embarkation day edition 

Day 1 - 1 May Tokyo - Welcome.pdf

Todays Passages

Day 2 - 2 May Tokyo - day 2.pdf

Indochine menu 

We’re off to a great start!

We embarked at around 1.30pm and walked straight through the check in process, never having to wait at any point. We had thought Silversea were very rigid on boarding times and we wouldn’t get on until 2pm but that was not the case 

We were a little disappointed there was no champagne on offer as we stepped aboard but not a major disaster as we soon found some. Our lovely spacious suite was available immediately and our bags arrived soon after boarding. We’re very happy with our veranda suite on deck 7 forward

We decided on lunch up in Spaccanapoli - even though it was pouring with rain we sat outside under the heaters and enjoyed champagne and pizza - it really is the best pizza at sea - and such a wide selection of toppings 

Then after a brief exploration of the ship to reacquaint ourselves with the location of lounges etc we attended the safety muster briefing in Dolce Vita lounge - after that the bar opened and we snuck in a drink. Glory be they have Roku gin as one of the standard drinks - a great Japanese gin we enjoy. I pushed the boundary a little on changing from shorts to evening wear but there was no warning issued so perhaps they’re a little lenient on day one. After changing it was back to the lounge for pre dinner drinks and we met some fellow guests
 

I should explain our group is 4 couples (most of us met on Crystal back in 2017 and we’ve cruised together many times since then) so 8 in total so we know getting larger tables can be a challenge and it got even more challenging when we invited another couple to join us for dinner. No luck for a table for 10 at Atlantide but that was easily solved as they offered us a table for 10 in Indochine which is a restaurant we enjoy so we happily moved cross there. Everyone was very happy with the service and friendly staff as well as the variety of dishes we chose. We met the Maître d for the restaurant as well as Igor the ships Restaurant Manager who is ex Crystal (he was part of the opening team on Crystal Endeavor) and he recognised one of our party - my friend was quite surprised when he said he recognised him and though he’d caught him out when he said it was his first time on Silversea so he was mistaken - but Igor said no I recognise you from Crystal! What a great memory. As I say all the crew were friendly and very welcoming and the service was excellent

We missed the show which was at 9.45pm - it was a local drumming group (not Taiko drums) but after dinner some of us went onto the Panorama lounge and danced the night away - even my wife who is not usually out and about in the bars joined us and got into the dancing and the DJ was happy to oblige with all our requests. We closed the place down and eventually decided it was time to call it a night

We laughed as while in Tokyo we discovered the 2 hour drinks packages you could typically buy in restaurants to accompany your meal - we joked we were now on the 27 day drinks package! 

What a great start to the cruise!

12 hours ago, julmops said:

Do you know who's the captain ?

The Captain is Tomasz Kulas

Cruise Director is Roy Perez

31 minutes ago, drron29 said:

Lovely fried oysters in Miyako. Been there a few times and always enjoyed them.

Ticked that one off at Tsukiji outer markets yesterday - yum! 

(Can’t get the shot of the raw oyster to load but boy they’re huge) 

Hi everyone - we embark today for a 27 day back to back from Tokyo to Vancouver on Silver Muse and will try and post news and experiences from onboard 

It’s our second cruise on Silver Muse and first time to northern Japan & Alaska so we’re excited about visiting new ports 

If anyone else is onboard and wants to add to the story please feel free to post as well 

2 hours ago, no1talks said:

 

Given EJ's promotion of, "Multi-generational journeys," and "Family-friendly destination experiences," I don't think they plan on offering the long cruises seen on Regent, Seabourne, and the rest

 

There are some longer cruises offered by Explora - we’re doing a trans Atlantic crossing in 2025 - 16 days and then a 10 day through to Athens - so 26 days with no repeat elements - that works for us, Before someone chips in about dining - no we have zero concerns about the menus not changing during that time - there’s a ton of options on those menus and many items we’d want to repeat over a longer cruise 

Most lines do short cruises is the Med and Caribbean don’t they? Is that really unusual? Typically you can join up 2 or 3 7 day cruises without repeating ports 
 

Personally I’d like to see them offering a better coverage of the global destinations including Asia - I think that will come as more of the fleet comes online 

30 minutes ago, Whipsnade said:

Just what I want on a cruise, lots of kids in the pool and dining venues. I will stick with Crystal. 

Not sure what your point is as Crystal has two dedicated kids rooms (designed for different age groups) and they promote generational family holidays particularly during the holidays when they have junior activities directors on board. You’ll experience well behaved and misbehaved children on all lines 

Explora has multiple pools - of which at least one is reserved for adults - Crystal have one pool that’s open to all 

You just did….

Bon Voyage and looking forward to hearing about your cruise

13 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

Exactly how much longer were we supposed to wait before discussing it?  I think at that point it's fair game to discuss with all of the qualifiers that we added because we were working with only one side of the story.

 

That said, I find it VERY odd that the issue got as far as it did and got through multiple calls with the agency, including a call with the consortium, and somehow Crystal forgot to explain this detail during any of those discussions?  This is SUCH a standard term that it seems like something that could/should have been explained to Rob's agent before any of the subsequent elevations happened.

The terms and conditions of each offer were there to read from the day they were released - if those involved, including the TA, had read them then it would have been Crystal clear 

My point is none of us could really advise or  make an informed comment without knowing that in this case there was an Exceptional Initiative benefit involved already 

On 4/26/2024 at 5:17 AM, BWIVince said:

What a bizarre backpedal...  It repeatedly says "As you wish credit OR Cruise fare savings" over and over again all over the doc -- that intent couldn't be clearer.  

So it turns out no backpedal by Crystal or other unscrupulous behaviour - more a case of not all the facts being put on the table

The EI reduction trumps the Crystal Society benefit and there’s no double dipping on discounting. Hardly an unusual clause from a merchant 

So in this case Crystal is just doing what most vendors do (although the EI programme is a very special concession that few companies would provide)

A lesson learnt that all the background info needs to be tabled to avoid people leaping to conclusions 

1 hour ago, ClefsDor said:

Terry, what you say makes sense and now I'm wondering if I am at number 10 when I sail again or if I am number 11 with old crystal

Have a look at your last booking confirmation (from old Crystal) it will tell you how many cruises you had achieved at the time of booking - it’s up near the top of the booking

16 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

I'm trying to get a $300 on board credit and my travel agent will be going into week 3 of getting an answer on it. All agree that I had 45 cruises with the old Crystal, the 45th being the LAST Symphony cruise with old Crystal. After 45 you are entitled to a $300 on board credit.

I thi k you’re going to be disappointed. Given you qualified for the 45th under old Crystal I can see why you won’t get it under new Crystal

That’s consistent with everything they’ve said about the loyalty recognition as they don’t know if you claimed that 45th award onboard the 45th cruise on old Crystal)

41 minutes ago, ryndam said:

Not necessarily so. But here’s the proof required. If this will be your 11th cruise on Crystal, and you haven’t sailed on any Crystal voyages since the A&K acquisition, then this milestone upgrade should be applicable.

Are you sure? I don’t think k you are correct

I may be wrong but I believe milestones are earnt once you sail - not once you book the cruise

If they haven’t sailed on new Crystal then they cannot have any milestone award sitting to be used. The only awards available are those that to lover by earning a credit on new Crystal. Yes the historic number on old Crystal will contribute to the level of milestone that will be earnt but sadly any milestones earnt on old Crystal are lost and cannot be claimed 

Yes - I suggest you Google the Silversea dress code 

Look under packing for your cruise 

https://www.silversea.com/travel-informations/general-information.html

1 hour ago, Noggins said:

But what do we think about our TA's earning 20%? (and I assume Crystal pays similarly).

I feel fine with it - as many of us benefit from rebates of part of that commission. I think the UK may be a bit different as you have some interesting consumer protection laws that need to be considered against the costs of doing business

I also believe TAs need to earn a living and receive fair compensation for the value they add. I also believe a TA offers a wider range of services and options than just booking a cruise - a good one can save you dollars, time and heartache in other ways with access to deals and rates than say the cruise line or booking directly might do. They can and do go into bat for you when things go wrong 

The reality is when one books directly with Crystal you don’t receive any rebate so the margin from that booking is considerably higher to the cruise line

39 minutes ago, sullaRaffaello said:

It's interesting that it says milestone redemption must be requested at the time of booking. This is a change. I used to go to the Society Hostess when I was on board to see if I was entitled to anything

I suspect they’re referring to cases where someone want to use a milestone for a category upgrade or use the credit to pay towards the fare as opposed to using a few hundred as OBC 

1 hour ago, vino100 said:

Thanks everyone for the info

 
Like I said you can’t actually reserve tables in Waterside

You can reserve tables in Umi Uma, OdO and Tastes

4 hours ago, Whipsnade said:

Yes. There are larger tables available. Best to try and reserve one. 

You can’t reserve tables in Waterside

What you can do is let the Restaurant Manager know that you have a large group and what time you’d like to dine so he’s aware of your plans

11 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

IIRC, that's the address for Serenity.  For Symphony, it's "syweb01" rather than "seweb01"

Yes it was the one I used last month on Serenity - no great surprise they’d use a unique address for each ship 

Its unlikely people would be typing the address in - more likely they’ll use the QR code and embedded link 

If you received the 2.5% discount then it’s already included with your reservation

Is there a reason you want to have it shown in your online account?

If you want to resolve it once onboard just stop by the Crystal,Society/Future Cruises desk and ask them to confirm it’s in the system