scseas

Coming from the States, it's a long distance to travel with a bottle of wine and subject it to altitude and temperature changes. Plus, we're stopping elsewhere in Europe beforehand, so I don't want to lug it around.

I wonder if it matters when you pay the bill, versus when you order it. At the bar, you often pay immediately. At dinner, you pay at the end when perhaps the ship has actually sailed far enough away from shore to be in international waters.

You’re thinking of the Schengen area but I think it’s just the EU. The Schengen area is a little broader and focuses on passport requirements. If a cruise is only visiting EU ports, all alcohol is subject to VAT. In my case, the boat also stops in Turkey, which is outside the EU. I’m wondering if anyone knows what the Turkish tax would be for alcohol consumption on cruises. I was reading that some alcohol taxes in Turkey are as high as 20%.

Heading to the Mediterranean early this summer and will be eating in the Wake about 15 minutes before leaving Bordum. We were planning on ordering a very expensive bottle of wine. Does anyone know what/if there will be tax on the wine? I’m assuming if we order it while docked we’d get hit with taxes. If we waited a little, would it be 12 miles from shore which would probably be awhile to avoid the taxes?

Both. My TA tried and I thought I could be more persuasive after she got a “no.”

I was within the free cancellation period as I had booked D2D. However, I asked Silverseas to waive the $500 admin fee/ FCC. They simply ignored me which has left a very bad taste in my mouth. We rebooked on Virgin Voyages which we find a lot more fun at 1/4 the price, especially for a Greek island cruise. The voyage also has an overnight stop which our Silverseas cruise lost with the schedule change. We will also visit Egypt and Israel on our own before the cruise, providing the situation has improved as that was the motivating factor of the original trip. I also had a really bad experience trying to book custom biz class flights months ago before the itinerary switch via Silverseas. I ultimately decided to book my own biz class flights because Silverseas was too difficult to deal with. Overall, I was very disappointed by these customer issues, especially given the price of the voyage. I’m not sure I’ll be back to Silverseas after how I felt treated by them…which is to say, largely ignored.

That’s great to know about luggage fitting into a taxi. In the US, we need an Uber XL to fit two full size suitcases. One (hopefully last) question. Is there an all aboard time listed on the tickets? Some of the travel bloggers say show up 30 minutes before. I found one website for a ferry we might use that says show up an hour before. This is the 9am departure (or was this past summer). There was an 8:45 with no such verbiage on their website. Showing up an hour early for the 9am will be hard especially if there is a customs line. But we’d prefer the 9 be 8:45 departure for more wiggle room if there was no such hour pre-arrival. I emailed the ferry company a few weeks ago but did not get an answer.

VV comes into Cruise Terminal C, which looks like it is the most remote terminal. We are heading to Naxos, which I believe departs from gates 6-8. This looks like a 2.5km distance. I have read conflicting information about how early to arrive. My question is it like airplane boarding where the gate might close, and they won't let you on unless you show up XX minutes before boarding? And to confirm, in peak summer travel, there will be plenty of taxis right when the ship allows disembarkation around 7:30am. Also, do you know what kind of luggage can fit in taxis? We have two large checked bags. We are only two people.

It was the 10 year on the Moon last year. However, the bartender had a new single malt in that was really good but I don’t remember the name, unfortunately.

I wonder if these are new voyages or if they are going to shorten their existing voyages on the Resilient Lady? It looks like they just removed the overnight in Mykonos and the sea day from the seven day voyage. Maybe they are trying to get to a lower price point to stimulate demand. If so, that would be disappointing because I think the overnight in Mykonos and the sea day are very attractive parts of this voyage

Arriving at 6:30 with a 7:30am disembarkation into Piraeus on Virgin Voyages. I would like to catch an 8:45 or 9:00 am ferry. Is this doable? The distance is too far to walk with luggage, especially with a tight schedule. It appears the only option is a taxi. Is this correct? I am worried that taxis might be hard to come by and that a driver might not be willing to take us such a short distance. Any advice?

Alexandria in the launching point to see the pyramids so this is a big disappointment for me.

My cruise is at the end of June, yet these ports were cancelled for the voyage. Makes no sense.

It’s crazy to think that one deranged person, acting in isolation, would cause Silverseas to cancel this port. I refunded my trip yesterday as without Israel and Egypt, and any overnight ports now, this voyage turned into an island hopping boat. We’re going to pick up another line to check out Greece and then do Egypt and possibly Israel on our own afterwards. I understand that traveling to these countries independently gives us more flexibility because we’re only planning for ourselves. However, I’m still surprised SS cancelled these ports so early. Interestingly, it looks like this April voyage is still planning on Egypt and Israel, so I wonder what’s really going on: https://www.silversea.com/destinations/mediterranean-cruise/rhodes-to-athens-piraeus-sl240401s10.html

I'm not sure why Egypt is out. Alexandria is no where near Gaza. Also, while the situation in Israel is really bad now, I would've waited another month to see how things unfold. This region is always prone to conflict and there will be much bigger problems if the situation is not dramatically improved by this summer. The June 20 Moon voyage looks pretty full now, so I would think Silversea would wait a little longer to cancel the marquee ports of Ashdod, Haifa and Alexandria which were overnight ports and replace theme with a hodgepodge of more Greek islands.

Alexandria is the port where you can do the pyramids, so that is a big disappointment. Here are the original ports (new ones are below). This is a very different trip now. hu, Jun 20, 2024 ATHENS (PIRAEUS) -- 7:00 pm Fri, Jun 21, 2024 AGHIOS NIKOLAOS, CRETE 9:00 am 6:00 pm Sat, Jun 22, 2024 BODRUM 8:00 am 11:00 pm Sun, Jun 23, 2024 RHODES 8:00 am 5:00 pm Mon, Jun 24, 2024 PAPHOS 9:00 am 6:00 pm Tue, Jun 25, 2024 HAIFA (NAZARETH) 7:00 am 11:00 pm Wed, Jun 26, 2024 ASHDOD (JERUSALEM) 8:00 am -- Thu, Jun 27, 2024 ASHDOD (JERUSALEM) -- 2:00 pm Fri, Jun 28, 2024 ALEXANDRIA 8:00 am -- Sat, Jun 29, 2024 ALEXANDRIA -- 6:00 pm Sun, Jun 30, 2024 DAY AT SEA -- -- Mon, Jul 01, 2024 ATHENS (PIRAEUS) Here are the new ones: 20-Jun-24 Thu PIRAEUS (Athens) Greece 19:00 21-Jun-24 Fri Monemvasia Greece 8:00 18:00 22-Jun-24 Sat Aghios Nikolaos, Crete Greece 8:00 18:00 23-Jun-24 Sun Rhodes Greece 8:00 23:00 24-Jun-24 Mon Patmos Greece 8:00 23:00 25-Jun-24 Tue Bodrum Turkey 8:00 19:00 26-Jun-24 Wed Kusadasi Turkey 8:00 23:00 27-Jun-24 Thu Day at Sea At sea 28-Jun-24 Fri Souda Bay, Crete Greece 8:00 19:00 29-Jun-24 Sat Santorini Greece 8:00 22:00 30-Jun-24 Sun Syros Greece 8:00 18:00 1-Jul-24 Mon PIRAEUS (Athens) Greece 7:00

The June 20 Moon to Israel and Egypt stops were cancelled. Of course, this is understandable given the circumstances. However, I am surprised they made this call so early. The four nights in these countries out of 11 nights total for the voyage were by far the highlight. I am imagining that a lot of people will cancel the trip. I am considering it as well. I am guessing that silversea does not do any type of compensation for substituting these attractive ports, even if they were the highlight of the trip. They did add Santorini. However, we are spending four nights in Santorini post cruise as that is an island that you really can’t visit in eight hours.

The best service is the have the butler pack and unpack. It makes arriving and departing so much better. We’ve also had the butler draw a bath with scents and serve a special dinner in our room.

I see that for our summer 2024 voyage, the business class supplement when up by 1k per person. Fortunately, we booked earlier in the year and have locked in our price. However, we were going to ask for different flights through the air program to come in a week earlier ( we need to wait another 6 weeks before the window to do so opens). Does anyone know if the change in the supplement fee corresponds to the additional fee we will have to pay to silver air for the changes, beyond the $150 deviation fee? Also, we are flying into Athens, but if the price is around the same, we would prefer to go directly to Santorini. I’m not sure if this would trigger a huge charge. Of course, we can just fly to Athens and take a very inexpensive flight from there to the islands. But it would certainly be more convenient to have our final destination under the same ticket number.

Not sure if you made air arrangements on your own, but if you did, hopefully your insurance in whatever form can make you whole. I would personally try to bargain for a much bigger concession. 10 percent off is tiny. However, I agree that no matter how large the concession is, it will not overcome the disappointment that you must be feeling. Sorry.

Thank you! Correct, the later flight would not meet MCT and cannot be ticketed.

That's what my research suggested too -- all the better reason to get out of there early and on our way. We'll enjoy Athens itself pre-cruise. I assume we'll need to carry our own luggage off to make things go quicker? Google Maps predicts a Monday morning drive from the port can take 90 minutes, so we're cutting it close. Do you know if Athens has a dedicated security line for biz class customers for Turkish Airways? I know it's an option on Aegean.

We’ll have a layover in IST which has a great lounge. What’s the best lounge in Athens?

Heading on the Silver Moon which is scheduled to arrive on a Monday in June into Athens. The Silversea's website says we arrive in Athens at 7:00am. Does anyone know who long until disembarking begins? I would like to make a 10:50 AM flight from Athens, connecting into IST, on way to USA. I will be in biz class, but Athens traffic can be very bad at that time. Am I cutting it too close? Thanks!

Cool. Can someone explain how the free laundry works then. I know the bag is huge but I'm more worried about timing. We're on a five night cruise, but then traveling afterwards so it would be great to have our laundry done when we disembark. When should we get it in? Also, what is the one special item mean? We have a 1:45 port arrival time, but I guess we can now board at 1:30.