Lifesgreat

3 hours ago, mysty said:

Shanghai...Water Town of Zhujiajiao.....

 

 

 

 

This was a real highlight for us M. We loved that place and could have spent more time there. Thanks for the memory!

12 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

Thank you so much for the reply Mysty. I really want to see everything we can while we still can take full advantage of excursions off the ship. I plan to do as much as possible in the next few years. I just need to convince my other half that we're permitted to do it.

Agree with Mysty. If you put your life on hold because someone might die whilst you are away, you might as well resign yourself to the fact that your travel days are over, as you are getting older and that scenario is getting worse. My best friend died whilst I was on a cruise and we could not get back for the celebration of his life. Everyone understood that, so I recorded a speech, emailed it to my friends wife, and they played it at his service. I have two children, 5 grandchildren and a lot of friends and we will not schedule our lives around the thought that they may die whilst we are away. We just completed the Tale of Tales 2019 World Cruise where we made friends with Mysty, Mr and over 300 wonderful people. Fancy missing out on what was the best holiday we have ever had in our lives. Celebrate life, live it and cope with events as they occur.

8 hours ago, DCCruiser57 said:

WC 2019 was our 4th WC (one with Seabourn in 2014 and 2016 & 2018 with SS).  It was by far the best of the 4.  As I reflect back on the 132 days, the best part of the trip was all of the wonderful people we met throughout the journey.  The crew was outstanding and the food was excellent.  The SS complimentary wine list is very extensive and includes some very good wines.  In addition, SS's purchases of local wines (New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, etc.) is great. There was good entertainment, and some great speakers. I think at the end, mostly everyone was probably tired of lobster, caviar, and seafood lunches.  In addition, there the following amazing WC events:

 

1.  Gala Dinner at Four Seasons San Francisco

2.  3 day/2 night overland to Nara/Kyoto including a bullet train ride from Kyoto to Tokyo (never been to Nara or Kyoto)

3.  Sydney Opera to see La Boheme 

4.  Champagne and Caviar Breakfast in the MDR

5.   Greeting the Tahitian Gods - Papeete

6.  Cocktails and show at the Kingsbury - Sri Lanka

7.  Refurbished train ride in Capetown with lunch at KWV Cathedral

8.  Tour of Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent about 18 years in prison

9.  Goree Island in Senegal with cocktails, dinner & a show

10.  Feria de Abril Festival in Sevilla, and lastly

11.  Farewell event - cocktails, dinner, and a show at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao

 

In addition, we did three overland journeys to places we had never been to before

 

1.  Chengdu, China to see the pandas & Dujiangyan, China
2.  Amboselli & Kilamanjaro National Park

3.  Kruger National Park, South Africa

 

Lastly, we visited another 17 places that we had never visited before

 

Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
Maldives & Praslin
Zanzibar, Tanzania
Nosy Be, Madagascar
Maputo, Mozambique
Cape Town, South Africa
Richards Bay, South Africa
Walvis Bay, Namibia
Takoradi, Ghana
Tema, Ghana
Banjul, The Gambia
Dakar, Senegal
Sevilla, Spain
Lisbon, Portugal
Bilbao, Spain
Bordeaux, France
St. Malo, France

 

We are looking forward to Whispering Around the World 2020, but it probably won't be the same.  Will keep you posted.

Well put DCC. A fantastic trip made even better by the wonderful people we met like you.

I think the Darwin Frangipani is one of the nicest there is with deep green shiny leaves. Lovely!

1 hour ago, mysty said:

Lifesgreat....It took you long enough!  🙂  Thanks for chiming in!  It was a pleasure to sail with you and Mrs. Lifesgreat!

Back at ya Musty. I do hope we can catch up again as we really enjoyed your company. I clearly remember a number of get togethers but especially the night with Pat and Mona in The Restaurant (OR Terazza, Remember the company but hazy on the venue)

On 6/5/2019 at 3:55 PM, NYadgal said:

Hello to all who have shared so much wonderful information in this 'thread'.

I'm new to these message boards, have sailed with SS before - and will be sailing again (Baltic) this July.

However, the reason that I read through all 48 pages of this topic is because I'm confirmed for the 2020 World Cruise - and am beside myself with excitement.

Reading all of your 'tips' for organizing, packing and getting a sense of the social atmosphere onboard has been extraordinarily helpful.  (And, yes, I realize each cruise is different, but I think the major themes that were discussed here can be applied broadly).

Thanks to all for the enjoyable read.  It sounds like you all had a wonderful time, and I can't wait for my departure in 2020!

 

(ps - grateful for any advice anyone would like to share!)

 

Best,

"NYadgal"   (Call me 'Addy')  

Hi Addy, we had never sailed Silversea or been on a  World Cruise before completing the 2019 Tale of Tales cruise. All I can say is that you are in for a treat above anything you can imagine. Unbelievable crew, passengers, excursions, special events, food and drink and it seems to get better and better. Loved Musty and Mister and all the CC Team. We aren't cruises as such but would do this again in a heartbeat.

Mysty will faint when she sees I have made a contribution. Well done Mysty.

Have a great time!

22 hours ago, mysty said:

Glorious evening at the Grill tonight with the Wellseasoneds and the Emtbsams.  Wonderful folk on this cruise!

 

And Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. Lifesgreat!  

Thanks M, a wonderful night was had, Thanks to the wonderful Lady WhisperTeam. No one could do it better.

Great photos DC and M. I could actually get them up this time and wasn't giddy from watching that rotating wheel.

4 hours ago, mysty said:

Lady Whisper is docked in Singapore.  Beautiful morning here!

 

 

Looking forward to welcoming new voyagers!  Meet & Mingle is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday March 19 at 7:00 pm, in the Panorama lounge Deck 8.

Got the invite this morning. Think I missed one. Hope we can get an area away from the piano this time. Good shots again Mysty!

5 hours ago, mysty said:

We're heading north to Osaka and the heat has disappeared.  We're into "winter" wear here.  Pool deck is deserted and the Restaurant at lunch was busier than we've seen it so far.

Great night tonight Mysty and Mister. We can't believe how wonderful sailing with Silversea is. We are now spoiled forever. Thanks for helping to spoil us.

Channel 7, drone and spectacular site but we didn't order good weather. Great event anyway.

Thanks for starting this string Mysty. We are CC virgins but have found the communications very helpful. Met T1 and T2 a few times whose names I will not Whisper. Love the understated refirb with some really lovely people on board. So many return world trippers that we almost felt out of it on the first night with all the hugging and kissing going on. I wanted to ask could a Silversea and World Cruise Virgin join in without the "been here before" qualification. There are some really lovely friendly people on board. It was a shame that the old gent had his fall. At 95 it is hard to avoid an injury with a fall like that. The reassuring thing to know is that if we have an accident, the crew will make sure we are safe, even if it means they have to turn the ship around. Well done SS!

Maybe we are a bad omen as the last cruise we went on we had to turn round halfway between Melbourne and NZ for a really ill passenger. The shame with that trip was it meant Celebrity Solstice could not meet the schedule to sail into Milford and Dusky Sounds, which was the highlight of the trip. Once again comforting to know the lengths they went to, to save someone's life.  

Well Mysty you remain a mystery as do all except James Bond and T2, however all will soon be revealed. C U on the 9th.   

Thanks for your wishes mysty and what a lovely thought. What a way to start a year; one of the lucky .000? % of the population.

To all CC's, all the best for a fantastic year.

Look for big, and look for the smile but the tan and the hair disappeared years ago. Looking forward to saying "giday!" 

Thanks mysty! Hope you had a lovely day. WE had a great family Christmas Dinner at about 23 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, overlooking the water. A really beautiful day..........how lucky are we! See you next week!

Thanks a lot HunEBear! CVU Soon!

Hi Mysty and others,

As yet, we have not seen anything at all on the Sydney Event (?). My travel advisor doesn't know of anything and Silversea Australia also said they knew nothing about this possible excursion. We have been waiting for a response from SS but we have found their follow up to be lacking. Can anyone shed some light for me........hate to miss out!!!! 

39 minutes ago, mysty said:

Sing it loud and strong HunE!  🙂 By any chance did you get any kind of acknowledgement if you indicated that you were interested in the Sydney event?  We haven't heard anything more.  Nothing that said our intention to attend was noted.

39 minutes ago, mysty said:

Sing it loud and strong HunE!  🙂 By any chance did you get any kind of acknowledgement if you indicated that you were interested in the Sydney event?  We haven't heard anything more.  Nothing that said our intention to attend was noted.

 

On 12/15/2018 at 11:05 AM, turtlemichael said:

The SS hotel for world cruisers is Four Seasons not Four Points by Sheraton. They are very different hotels. If you've both paid the AUD919 then you are probably in the right hotel for all nights but I'd double check. PS I am from Melbourne, just visiting Perth at the moment.

Thanks heaps Turtle. I just looked up the The Four Seasons and yes! they are a very different hotels. I must say I was disappointed at Four Points for the start of a cruise of the quality of T of T. IU will ask for clarification. C U soon. 

Turtle and 2, have a great Christmas. Those SCC's are scary. Glad you found it now. Can't  wait to see the James Bond scar. Safe travels and have a great Christmas.

PS   Tell #2 to bring his scalpel and stitches as I may have another small  SCC to go.

Thanks Turtle. I zapped an email off to him at about 6am. We are new to Cruise Critic but can see why it has such a big membership. This group has been very helpful. Thanks!

We haven't even heard a Whisper about this event yet, let alone transport!

Hi Mysty.....Solved the mystery and dissatisfaction this afternoon. In his haste our agent automatically populated our statement on the computer and accidentally loaded Four Points rather than Four Seasons. I went through my Communication Planners and found our conversation in August where he had confirmed Seasons not Points. He got on to it straight away (Saturday at his Christmas breakup at one of our top wineries) and confirmed his mistake. We thought he must have made a mistake because of what SS charged us pn for the extra nights.

Thanks very much for your input.

Mysty, can you clarif

Just now, turtlemichael said:

No, we plead innocence. Was there someone else badly dressed??? lol  We did a few Celebrity cruises but the last one was 12 years ago.

Just now, turtlemichael said:

No, we plead innocence. Was there someone else badly dressed??? lol  We did a few Celebrity cruises but the last one was 12 years ago.

Thanks for the reply. We knew there was at least one Aussie on T of T that was on that cruise and we thought they were from Perth. Just an outside chance.

Can U clarify something for me.

SS booked us into Four Points SF Bay for a night. Our travel guide threw in a night and we added a night  so arrive in SF on the 3/01/2019. I was told we had to go to that hotel for the transfers and the function was being held there so we said OK, made sense.

I happened to look up the tariffs which amounted to about $205 AUD pn. My agent and I both paid $919pn. It doesn't sound right to me. What r your thoughts?   

14 hours ago, turtlemichael said:

Our box hasn't arrived yet even at out TAs but we have another week.  The good news is our labels for shipping the suitcases did arrive and so passport copies are produced and the other requirements done.  We are relieved at that. They arrived 6.00pm Friday and the luggage is to be collected Monday morning. Phew!

10 hours ago, turtlemichael said:

My approach is to grab it off the hanger or out of the drawer and throw it in!  The negatives of this approach will be revealed when you see what we wear!

Turtle, did you travel on Celebrity Solstice departing from Freemantle this year?

Being "down under", gravity helps deliveries. "THE BOX" has arrived!!!! DA DAR!