pavementends

I am recently returned from a trip on Moon. For what it's worth, this is only my second Silversea cruise. Kaiseki dinner was uninspired and very disappointing, particularly since all the included restaurants were very good and enjoyable. The bright spot at Kaiseki was the steak, but the accompanying lobster was much over-salted. (Details: first course was strange although at least pretty. Subsequent courses seemed to be served on a bed of the same cabbage-carrot-onion stir fry. A course called "tempura" wasn't very good tempura. If I remember right the promised ice cream on the menu wasn't available??) My advice is to give this restaurant a pass until some changes are made.

I never HAD formal attire. I haven't owned a suit since my first job interview in 1980. In my profession (teaching) jeans were acceptable attire. I usually went the extra mile and wore a sports coat, that I removed once I got warmed up. Look- all you have to do is bring a sports coat and a tie. I went the extra mile again and bought a pair of black travel slacks, and got the old black shoes out of storage. This kept the packing down to the point where I could go carry-on only. For novelty value I brought (and wore) a tie. Haven't worn a tie in ages. I don't recall actually seeing ANY guests in tuxedos. The only tuxedos I saw were on butlers. I've never wanted to look like a butler.

My reading is that P2P is available only on less fully booked cruises (and maybe only for some cabin classes??). With david63, I agree that the savings can be substantial although the cancellation terms are much stricter.

1. The (minimum) floor area of Vista and Panorama suites are virtually the same. It appears that some of the Vista suites are larger and intended for handicapped use. 2. From my experience cabin assignment is less than 12 days out. Ask me tomorrow and I can say whether it's less than 11 days out.

Yeah, it's been downhill ever since Trimalchio's dinner party.

Well that's what we have left. The reality is that vaccines work best when most of the population gets them. But (appropriately for this board) that ship has sailed.

Yeah, got the email yesterday. Not crazy about this change. This was, I think, inevitable and (as they say) Viking has been slower to remove this requirement than many other lines. Think about it this way. There was Covid on the ships before this. I was on an expedition cruise (not Viking) where there were about 5% Covid cases by the end of the cruise. This was WITH a vaccine requirement AND a PCR test requirement. If you are concerned (and you should be, not least because of the potential loss of some of your vacation experience) there are things to do. Mask in risky areas (can you say airport, bus, and airplane? Elevators?). Get the boosters you are entitled to and time to get the most protection when you need it. Avoid crowded bars and discos (probably not a problem with the Viking crowd). And maybe there is a degree of protection in using the "better" cruise lines, where the customers managed to accrue enough bucks to afford the cruise, which is not usually done by being stupid.

Looks like a neat itinerary with visits to many of the smaller islands. You get to peer across the water into Russia, for now inaccessible to most of us. Have a great time. Be sure to do a walk around the harbor and stop in the old market building.

On the Moon, arriving about 7 AM. I have not found any offers for this on the web. Any advice or recommendations? I understand the cruise terminal is a bit out of town. Most of the offerings seem to leave from the BSI bus station. Looking for a moderately priced option.

Maybe you could start here https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2398 Although I have a feeling the article is a bit old and there might be some things that have changed.

I intend to pay only the "recommended" gratuity until I am convinced that not paying additional tips is grossly unfair. Two reasons: (1) I want to make purchasing decisions based on a good idea of what something is going to cost and (2) the need to make many decisions about when and how to tip turns a vacation into something less than a vacation. There are services I don't use almost entirely because of the complication and annoyance of tipping (take out delivery? No thanks).

1.5 hours to Buenos Aires is extremely conservative in my experience. Although the consequences of getting it wrong on the way back are severe. If at all possible stay in BA because it's worth it. And the blue dollar thing is very weird. Bring crisp new 100s. This is a case where 5 twenties does not equal a hundred.

If you think you might want masks at some point definitely bring KN95s. Easy to get these days. Most places I don't bother but I definitely wear a mask during the scrum for boarding planes, waiting for immigration, etc. And on general principles I don't use elevators on the ship.

I was able to drop off luggage a couple hours ahead in Seward. My guess it "it depends."

You do you. But I wouldn't want to take 6 hours on a bus to get to Paris only to get on another bus. Consider going to ONE site (Eiffel Tower?) and walking around and maybe sitting in a cafe. Actually, for sure sitting in a cafe. That way you'll always have Paris, or at least a couple hours of Paris.

Gutsy move, flying in the day of the cruise. Two options. Take the airport bus to the BSI station and check bags there. (But verify!). Walk around town, get a meal or a museum, get sunlight (if any) and then go the the ship. OR go immediately to the Blue Lagoon and then to the ship at your leisure. (I think the Blue Lagoon also checks bags). Reykjavik has one of the more unusual specialty museums in the world.

I spoke too soon. It's on the coffee table now.

Hey- that means you can use it as a coffee table book. Bit of a story here. You can insert photographs effectively or ineffectively. There are settings for compression and if you choose them wrong you can have a one-page flyer that is 10 MB or so. I know, I get them by email sometimes. By the way, I didn't get one. Maybe it depends on how expensive the cabins are that you buy.

Too late, but now you know what to give in place of tips.

In fact I think there are now FOUR different kinds of artificial sweetener. Personally I don't partake, I like the real stuff. Smaller molecules.

Maybe the same guy runs the metal detector for Carnival, etc. Did the port have a metallic taste when you tried it?

Both pizza and hamburgers can be made to a very high standard. I remember some NYC restaurant with a hundred dollar burger with foie gras and wagyu beef and stuff like that. And even when made with more ordinary materials these can be well worth ordering if carefully executed. Having said that- I do prefer ordering things that are difficult to make, or too complicated, or too messy.

Well the US State Department rates Ecuador in general as level 2 advisory, with some areas higher. Having said that a great many countries have level 2 advisories, including both Spain and Argentina, both of which I have visited recently without finding them particularly alarming. AND earlier this year there were trip interruptions for people visiting Machu Picchu. However for a Galapagos cruise I think you could be pretty well isolated from the turbulent bits.

While there may be benefits to using a travel agent they are pretty thin on the ground these days, especially if you are after an agent that does many cruises AND with a particular cruise line. I have not used an agent for any travel, personal or business, since the nineties. If you can't identify an agent easily, you may want to go ahead anyway with direct booking rather than miss the cruise. I have booked my second SS cruise directly. I may have lost some benefits, but maybe I make it up by arranging my own flights. As far as the sports coat is concerned- I plan to have a look at what others do and maybe go to one of the other restaurants if the sports coat and tie isn't enough. Personally I have not owned a dark suit since...actually I can't remember ever owning a dark suit. I've heard about things called tuxedos but have never actually experienced one.

If you go a bit farther in the booking process on the web (without actually finishing the booking!) you will see a choice between different options if they are available. As far as I know the posted price is always D2D. You may see: D2D, D2D no flights, and P2P.