Herman The Cat

The very interesting thing to me, since we cruise so much on SS, is how similar the website is to the Silversea website…and how similar the new decor is in terms of color and style. It’s almost a Silversea knock-off. Same interior designers? I heard from a former Crystal executive that they are going to overlay a lot of Silversea amenities (i.e., butler service) but keep Crystal enrichment/entertainment, etc. Let’s hope they don’t do what they did with the shopping on Silversea to the shopping on Crystal!

As stated, they realize they have some work to do with clients and TAs to regain goodwill. In regard to 5) is there a discount on these fares for crystal society ? I thought crystal advertised that crystal society members would get a discount. The word from my TA is that instead of the 2.5% Crystal Society discount, they are going to double it to 5%.

I never had a problem with getting the full name on the EMed account. When you set up the account you need your full name. Not sure what happened with your mother. But yes, you will need your full name on the test results. Where and when are you cruising?

We’re on Silversea out of Venice/Fusina. We’re thinking of shipping our bags with one of the non-Silversea services (cheaper!). Has anyone shipped their luggage to Fusina? Do you ship it to Fusina or Marittima in Venice? I know all luggage you take/carry on with you is tagged in Marittima and then transferred to Fusina on the coach. And for those who have shipped luggage in the past, do you let the ship know??? Any advice would be appreciated!

No, not necessary. I ended up doing all the sign-in stuff for NAVICA and it was a waste of time. It just made it more complicated and it was of no use. Just got the test results emailed to me from EMed and it had all the required info.

You cruise ticket (which you will get 2 weeks before your trip) will also contain the exact address.

It’s personal choice and personal taste. Some people love Kaiseki. And some love the dessert there. Lone daddy — SALT Kitchen menus change with every port to reflect the local cuisine. Even in Greece, it changed with each Greek port to reflect the cuisine on each Island (i.e., different in Rhodes, Crete, etc.). If I remember correctly, there’s also a menu in SALT for the region/cruise, but also the local menu each day as I describe above. So it really depends where you are cruising to…. I think I have seen mussels onboard…or muscles on the pool deck! 😂

Well, was expecting a deck plan and info on Silver Endeavour mid-August but nothing yet and no other announcements on the Endeavour. I assume the Silver Suite is the cabin formerly known on the Endeavour as a penthouse suite. It will be interesting to see how they “map” the cabins.

I would stay way from the older Regent ships due to vibration issues with a few of them, which we experienced directly. There is nothing like a new ship and the Dawn is beautiful (was on it earlier this year). Agreed, find yourself a great TA who specializes in Silversea, can answer all these questions for you and can work on an “end-to-end” trip.

It’s a fantastic itinerary. 2024 is sold-out so seems like 2025 will also. Should be great with the addition of SALT kitchen. Unfortunately, just such a long wait.

Yes, the cruise ticket is more of a formality. Though it does include some info such as exact embarkation pier, which is useful if you are traveling independently. You’ve already printed out your voyage confirmation so take that with you. They have a list of incoming passengers at the pier that they check when you arrive and drop your luggage and tag it, and most times they don’t even look at the cruise ticket.

TAs actually do not earn commission on everything. No commission on airfare; they get paid on the cruise fare, less port fees and taxes. VIKING pays TAs commission on everything, even shore excursions, port fees and taxes, and that is why a lot of TAs push Viking. And the more Viking they sell, the higher their commission percentage. Also, not sure if people know this…but airlines do not pay a penny of commission on airfare. And that is why there are many “cruise only” travel agents out there who do not want to have anything to do with airfare. So people may think they are giving a TA a big piece of business when they ask them to do business class airfare that costs thousands of dollars, but they are not earning a penny. Or they may wonder why a TA doesn’t do airfare and that is why — it is complicated, takes a lot of time and energy and they don’t get a cent for doing it. However, a good full-service TA will do it all as a service to their client in building an end-to-end trip.

It’s a good one to check out, but IMO I don’t think it’s as unique as other Doris Duke properties, such as in Hawaii. It is in a nice location and a 5 minute walk from Belcourt Castle (see below) The majority of mansions are on Bellevue Avenue. Belcourt Castle might be worth checking out. It was purchased and renovated by the owner of Alex & Ani jewelry and she put a lot of money into it. It is across the street and about a 10 minute stroll from Marble House on Bellevue Avenue.

And the non-refundable deposit part was not good. For those who don’t like door-to-door, remember you can always opt out of the air portion and do your own. The air credit depends on the routing. And the transfer service is $100. Airfares have gone up so much that I am not surprised they have dropped the biz class upgrade.They can’t project fares that far ahead.

Thank you, Wes!

Expedition ships…i.e., Silver Cloud,Silver Wind…no jacket required in the evenings for men?

Mansions will be busy on weekends, less busy on weekdays. I recommend RoseCliff, which is not mentioned above for some reason. The Great Gatsby (with Robert Redford) was filmed there, as well as a number of other movies. Architect was Stanford White and it was modeled after the Grand Trianon at Versailles. Marble House is interesting because of all the marble, but not as beautiful as Rosecliff. The Breakers is fascinating due to its sheer size. You can do the mansions on your own. You can try Uber to get you around or use the local trolley. You will tender in Newport. It does take some time to get ashore. Also, sometimes the ships end up skipping Newport due to bad weather if they won’t be able to tender, so you might just want to wing it when you get there.

Agreed, but wonder if for some reason the helicopter or submarine were sold off. It will be difficult to “map” each cabin category on Explorer to the Endeavour, especially the suites. One would think there would be some sort of rate adjustment where there are significant differences...up or down. New deck plan is scheduled for mid to late August so we’ll just have to wait a few weeks.