Rothko1

I was on a recent cruise where they gave everyone $300 OBC. Some of the folks were trying to figure out how to spend it. They wound up buying ship hats, shirts, etc. as gifts.

I applaud and respect you for dressing up for a nice dinner. Not everyone does that these days; in fact, fewer and fewer do. In my town, very few men wear ties for a dinner, unless at a club where it is required, but that's cause I live in a resort town. But a blue blazer is almost a uniform requirement. I've always been a believer that it is better to be overdressed than underdressed for an event or dinner or party. If overdressed, you can always "dress down" by taking off the tie, or the jacket, or rolling up sleeves or whatever. But if you are underdressed, there's almost no way to upgrade your look.

I did a transatlantic on Cunard (QM2) three years ago. Stayed in a Queens Grill Suite, it was lovely and well-appointed. Larger than the Princess Grill suites. The Princess Grill suites that you've stayed on seem very similar to a Veranda suite of Silversea. And those do have balconies. As mentioned, butlers are included in all suites on Silversea. As far as loudspeaker games, I've never seen anything like that on Silversea. The closest thing I saw to that was a putting game that they did on the 5th deck one day. But you won't hear loudspeakers, or hourly announcements, or anything like that. As far as crowds, the last Silversea cruise I did was nearly completely booked, and all I could think as I was on the ship was "Where is everybody? Is there something going on I'm not aware of?" There are people onboard, of course, but there's almost never a crowd. The main dining room was half full (the specialty restaurants that require reservations were all booked up), the bars and lounges were 1/3 full or even sometimes almost empty, and there was never a line or crowd for anything. Heck, when I went on the Silver Origin in the Galapagos last September (66% of passenger capacity), it felt like I was on a private yacht. You will have opportunities to meet people, but you will certainly never feel overcrowded. If you are looking for a transatlantic, have you considered the Queen Mary 2? It's much larger, but being in the Grills class has its advantages, and it's a much larger ship (with lots of venues and activities) to be on for 5 days without seeing land.

I knew what he meant and didn't want to correct him. Not a fan of Bellinis. Nor Kir Royale. Love champagne with caviar, but I am afraid I am a self-admitted champagne snob, so it's got to be really good stuff. So usually I just stick to ice cold vodka. I am a bit bummed that they don't carry my go-to, Tito's, on SS. But the Ketel One seemed to do just fine last time.

I would argue that this supports the "adhere to dress codes" folks on this thread. Do you think that 7 world leaders all decided to show up in suits, white shirts, no ties for a photo-op by coincidence? Someone came up with a Dress Code for that event, and each of these leaders strictly adhered to it. So should cruisers.

They do serve the caviar with blinis. Usually two or three. Not toast. But toast would certainly be available, I am sure, if you asked. The problem I find is that not just ordinary toast will do. It is too thick; it has to be lightly toasted. When I use toast, I buy Pepperidge Farm's thin white bread, and then very lightly toast it and cut it into triangles. I doubt they would do that onboard.

We all know that this is a losing battle, but it is a battle which should be fought. I know many clubs over the years that have relaxed their dress codes. Only a few bastions remain firm. Onboard, formal nights aren't what they used to be. But as it was said, everyone knows the SS dress code. That's part of the package that people buy. If you want something more casual, there are other lines, even luxury lines, that allow more flexibility. It's really a matter of the restaurant managers and/or staff enforcing the rules.

Touché. A point to the Englishman. Look, it's easy; buy a nice blue blazer if you don't have one. Wear it every night except formal night (which is dinner jacket). The end. 🙂

I was just on Silversea (Shadow) and that's where I saw crew members eating together as a group but not with passengers. I know there was a solo cruiser meet up on the ship, but I don't know if it was hosted or not. In almost all interactions with the crew, they still wore masks (butler, bartenders, wait staff, etc.)

Third times a nasty look from the wife. 🙂

Do any cruise lines still do the "dining at the Captain's table" or other officer tables? I always recall that from the old Love Boat show, and movies like Titanic. Is that still a thing (or was it ever)? The last couple of cruises, I've seen ships officers eating in the main dining room, but in their own group, not with guests. I think it might actually be a fun thing to be invited to dine with the Captain or other senior officer.

Yeah, I was about to say the same. If it is a rainy day, they put a big bin of the same umbrellas near the gangway to take. These are the large, full size umbrellas. Not the ones that collapse into a small size you could put into a backpack or large purse.

I took the QM2 across the Pond in 2019 and they also encouraged us to challenge them. It was actually a lot of fun trying to think of some really gourmet foods. And no matter what we came up with, they did it.

Our suite had an umbrella but no binoculars.

Just got off Silver Shadow. Caviar was available through room service, as a first course at La Dame, and they had a huge tin of it at the La Terrazza seafood lunch on the last day. The in-room caviar was nice. They give you about a half ounce to an ounce. I solved that problem by ordering caviar for both myself and my wife, who doesn't like caviar, and I promptly ate her portion also. The caviar was good. I eat it only with blinis and creme, so I avoid all the egg, onions, capers, etc. I ordered it several different days on the cruise. It is especially nice to have in the cabin when getting dressed for formal night. I didn't have the caviar at La Dame, since I figured I could just order it whenever I wanted so why use the premium charge for what I can get for free? The caviar service did look very nice at La Dame, and someone did say they thought it was better than the room service caviar. But who knows. At the seafood buffet, I took a plate up to the caviar station, asked for and received a heaping pile of caviar, took a ton of blinis and creme, and went to town. Delicious. I went up a second time and got another huge helping. I would have gone up a third time but thought that might be inappropriate.

Just got off a 7 night (well 6, but that's a different story) Alaska cruise. Formal night there were maybe less than a dozen men I saw in tuxes - I was one of them. Most wore either suits or sport coats. The cruise director actually made a comment seeing me in my tux with a martini glass, so I suspect that seeing lots of men in dinner jackets is fairly uncommon for Alaska. Informal nights were sport coats for most, a few with ties, and some just wearing oxford shirts - no coat. Trousers. Casual was oxfords or polos, a few men in sport coats. Trousers. I didn't see anyone in jeans that I can recall.

We were on this trip on Silver Shadow also. We were flying to Vancouver on the 15th when we got word that the ship wasn't going to depart on June 16th but rather on June 17th. Silversea changed our hotel to a different one in order to ensure we had 2 nights reserved instead of one. They comped us two breakfasts, two lunches and a dinner at the hotel restaurant, gave us tickets to the Hop On/Off bus. They paid for everyone to get new Covid tests at the hotel if their Covid test expired - like ours did. They changed the Alaska itinerary, eliminating the stops in Juneau and Skagway, but added a stop in Wrangell. They gave us $300 each in ship credit, and a 30% credit based on how much you paid for the cruise portion of the Alaska trip, to be used within 2 years on a future trip. The word we got was that the Silver Shadow had suffered an electrical failure, and limped into Vancouver a day late. I would hate to think what they had to do to re-book everyone's flights home. I give credit to Silversea for trying their best to make amends. But it was still a big hassle and stressful. Having to make last minute decisions about new excursions in Wrangell before they got booked up. Losing the excursions planned for in Juneau and Skagway, which we had really been looking forward to. Losing a day on the ship - of course Vancouver isn't exactly a bad town to be trapped in for an extra day. (This is my first post on CC, so go easy on me!)