milepig

In my experience, Turkish is pretty hopeless on the ground, but world class in the air. The longer flight times hurt when there are so many options to Barcelona. A big reason we never book with WS, I want what I want, and am frequently booking coach and upgrading with miles. I did have a similar situation with Silversea, travel to Singapore they only offered a convoluted schedule in United when ANA had a significantly shorter route for half the price when compared to United. I would have taken that in a shot, as ANA is an amazing airline, but it wasn’t offered. Now also moot as that cruise was also cancelled. 
 

as an aside, LOT Polish is also a hidden treasure. Nice planes, amazing service, easy airport to transit. Half the price, I often use them for Europe. Awful on the ground, great in the air. 

2 hours ago, BklynBorn47 said:

I think you misunderstood my post.  I was NOT going to disembark in Sochi even when it was part of the itinerary.  By "flexible" I meant that I have no problem with whatever ports they substitute for Sochi. 

Sorry, I missed the word "not".

On 2/8/2022 at 1:00 AM, Stickman1990 said:

Just watch out the connections are actually both at the same airport - I’ve seen JAL flight connections that required movement between Narita and Haneda which could be very difficult in the present environment 

On 3/2/2022 at 6:49 AM, BklynBorn47 said:

We are booked on the Legend in Sept - Athens to Istanbul followed by round trip Ist-Ist Black Sea ports.
We called yesterday to book an additional leg before Athens (Barcelona- Athens) which obviously requires changing our flight & hotel reservations.  
I had already decided pre-invasion not to get off the ship in Sochi.  I was told that WS is working on an alternate itinerary.  I told them I was flexible and would accept whatever alternatives were provided.

It may all be moot - but does WS know of your plan to disembark at Sochi? Sometimes this is possible and sometimes it is not and the last I know WS wasn't allowing any deviations from the schedule. A few years ago we accomplished this in Mumbai, but it involved WS getting permission for the port agent and was by no means a slam dunk. Not all ports have immigration facilities that would even allow this.

5 hours ago, milepig said:

She’s scheduled to leave this afternoon for a RT

And she’s underway. I’m not sure what you’re point was. 

We stuck with it this November on the Legend. And had a great trip - no real hiccups. We did just skirt Onicron that was spreading just as we left Lisbon for home. But everything was great. 

15 minutes ago, marinaro44 said:

Saw Legend docked in St. Maarten today. Not in service.

She’s scheduled to leave this afternoon for a RT

On 2/20/2022 at 9:47 PM, honumaui said:

We've been on the Surf three times  ( two b to b ) and I never get tired of the sail away.  It is a treat you can not get on any of the big ships.  We were on our way departing from St Kitts once with our sails opening and the big Princess ship in port was taking photos of our sail away !

  Agree too on the deck barbecue..my hint - ''skip the salads and go for the lobster tails first."

Plan Candles for a day in port if possible..otherwise it can be a bit windy.

Check the entertainment times in the lounges..they are often duos that are quite good.  Also the entertainment before dinner in the main lounge.

And check out the yacht club for coffees and snacks. 

 

On the Legend in November the BBQ had no lobster tails, and the entire thing was downsized. The daily menus are now online through the portal. Especially if you're known to the crew there is no real limit on dining in the specialty restaurants except that there's room - I think in November we hit Candles and the Tapas place 3-4 times each. The reservations guy would be cruising around the deck bar area, see us, and ask if we wanted to do one that night since they weren't full.

We're allergic to port talks in general, but they'll also come around the Yacht Club and the bar with appetizers.

I forgot the most important tip - just RELAX - no worries - there is no WS police force to chide you.

We've done just about every option possible.

WS tours are convenient and indeed ensure you're back to the ship on time (in our experience they once held the ship and in another were waiting to pull up the gangplank as soon as we were all herded aboard). Of late, especially with the YC discount, I've found they're pricing to be more competitive. Of course, they're also a good way to eat up shipboard credit. We've had a couple guides who barely spoke any English and in one case a defective bus that had no suspension - WS made good on that one. We tend to avoid WS tours where a major part is food - lunch, dinner, local "snacks" etc. as we've tended to be herded into someplace like cattle and then herded back out. One exception was the including lunch on our Alhambra tour - amazing. Also one in Japan where the food and Sake just kept coming. We also had an amazing lunch in Malaysia - so very up and down. WS deliberately under fills either buses so there is always a lot of room, you're never stuffed in.

We've just walked around towns on our own - perfect when you're docked right in the center of town or there's a shuttle into town. Especially by the time we his the middle of a cruise it is so liberating to just walk around on our own for awhile. Very often the WS tour guide can be persuaded to drop you off in town on the way back to the ship, we do that to same some walking time in town, making sure we know what time the last shuttle leave. Perfect after a morning tour, just get off and have lunch at a local restaurant.

We've recently begun to explore the Hop on Hop off buses. in many places they have a stop right at the cruise port - we tend to do the loop twice, one to mark on the map where we want to go and then the second time to get on and off. The stops tend to be close to the major attractions. Probably your cheapest option other than walking.

We've also done full day private tours, included several in Ireland and Scotland that were amazing, great local guides who were willing to "go with the flow" we'd say beforehand "we're interested in history, nature, local crafts and food" and they'd plan the day for us. More expensive if there's just 2 of you, but we can often find another couple on board to join us. In most cases, the guide is waiting on the dock for us, as close as they can get, and then drops us back at the same spot at the end, although in some cases they've been more than willing to drop us in town for some shopping before we return to the ship on our own.

We have a similar situation - doing ATH-IST (8 days) and then 3 days on land in IST. Packaged as the cruise, so not really an "add on". As an aside - this must be a new WS thing, I haven't seen this before. 8 days onboard and then I assume this ship starts the next itin while we have three nights in a very nice IST hotel, along with 2.5 days of included tours and transfer to the airport the last day.

We were billed $79pp for the 8 days we're onboard.  BTW - the cost is $89 on board and possibly plus VAT so the prepurchase is a better deal. It's just a cherry on top that you can just walk onboard and be having a glass of wine with like immediately, with no paperwork to do on board.

They've also redone the WiFi access - you go to a portal and logon with your cabin number and name and you're good to go - a bit to figure out at first and I helped a bunch of appreciative fellow passengers.  I did have to log in several times a day but that was a minor hiccup. We automatically got 2 device access and we could both be online at the same time.  It is, sadly, still tortoise speed.

Our TA completed a booking yesterday and when I log in to the cruise, my Yacht Club summary is messed up. It says that we've cruised for 144 days, but have zero credits and that our status will be ZERO stars until our next cruise.

But, the emailed invoice has us listed as the correct 4 star status, and when I looked to book excursions I'm seeing the reduced rates.

I assume this is just some odd display issue? Has anyone else seen this?

2 hours ago, cruisr said:

Singapore to HKG on Shadow cancelled as it was to continue on to Japan.  SS computers and been down and up and down since yesterday.  

And then on to Alaska. I’m guessing that was cancelled as well. 

58 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Interesting.  Both Muse and Shadow sailings are showing right now.

 

And yes - I cleared all of my browser cache, so it's current info.

Odd. This afternoon they were not there. 

1 minute ago, FauxNom said:

Sorry, what's the WS page?

 

Oops = SS as in Silversea!

The Asia departures have now been removed from the SS page.

22 minutes ago, FauxNom said:

I'm on the Shadow May 6 voyage. Even as we speak, my cruise consultant is trying to sell me airfare since Japan Airlines cancelled the award tickets I booked last July.

 

@silkismomI know what you mean - nothing like booking something years in advance to make you wonder...

We canceled the Shadow May 6 on the 18th, which I think was the last day - or almost the last. Now WS cancels, I wonder how many they got back in cancellation penalties!

3 hours ago, safari111 said:

Singapore to Yokahama? I havent seen that as even an active cruise for 2022!

Yokohama https://www.silversea.com/destinations/asia-cruise/singapore-to-yokohama-tokyo-ss220506018.html

We canceled Singapore-Yokahama this week - on like the last day. Our TA did the deed. It was actually for a cluster of reasons and not just covid uncertainty.

I was amazed at how little Silversea seems to have cared. The booking is just gone from My Silversea, we haven't received any confirmation from them (my TA may have?) the first refund already hit my CC, the second hasn't.  I have no idea if the FCC originally used has been returned to my account - no correspondence on that and you can't see anything online.  Sort of like "no long, don't slam the door when you leave."

2 hours ago, silkismom said:

Just for kicks, I checked my United flts DEN/NRT and NOTHING shows being held or ticketed. It was there Feb 1, this is for the Mar 25 sailing. But My Silversea still shows it.

My TA explained that those My Silversea flights are just "hold" bookings.  The ones I'm looking for have never appeared on my UA record, but I wouldn't expect them to as SS doesnt have my UA numbers.

5 hours ago, Pudgesmom said:

They did remove the library but the tvs have on-demand movies now. I won’t miss the scratched DVDs with a fantastic selection from the 1980’s! We have however, also watched many of them in downtimes and enjoyed with room service popcorn.

All of the above aree correct. The TV on-demand list is, um, unimpressive, but there are also now more satellite channels available.  Also gone are the playing cards, although the puzzles remain. All sort of random.

On 2/12/2022 at 10:57 AM, cherdon said:

We just got off the Breeze on February 10th and love Windstar. I do agree that between 4 & 7 there should be something besides room service or Yacht club. Maybe in the veranda front cold section or one side of the Star Grill. Cheese, hummus, veggies just some little snack items. 
Sometimes when you get back on board 

you need a little something besides peanuts to go with your cocktail.

Yes, we could go to the yacht club

( and we did) but prefer to be on deck.

Otherwise we think the dining options are great, loved Amphora & Cuadro 44, did not try Candles this trip.

We stop at the Yacht Club get some nosh and take it on deck - it's all of 20 steps away, so really not a burden. We've also found that when there are late tours they keep the burger bar open - not the full buffer, but they're making burgers, etc.

Feel free to put your ideas on the post-cruise evaluation form. Personally, I run from any dinner buffet that ever existed and think that a 7 pm start time for dinner is perfectly fine. If you require something earlier there are plenty of other cruise lines to select, as you suggest. WS, in over 20 cruises has always been seated dinner starting at 7pm and it seems to work for them.

8 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

Just watch out the connections are actually both at the same airport - I’ve seen JAL flight connections that required movement between Narita and Haneda which could be very difficult in the present environment 

Difficult and time-consuming under the best of circumstances. I was caught in this once (my stupid mistake) but after calling the booking carrier (UA) I was able to change the connection to all Haneda on ANA.

20 hours ago, caymancouple said:

That is the one we want, but is not shown for our cruise.  If it were sold out would it not show?

 

It may be sold out, but people cancel. What I would do is book something else now. When you get on board see if you can change. This is especially useful if you have more shipboard credit than you think you'll use. The one you cancel will be refunded with a credit on your account, and the replacement you book onboard will be charged to your shipboard credit.

For some, including me, the silence was caused by an extended period of time of inability to reliably log in and post. It seems to Be better now. 

25 minutes ago, FauxNom said:

 

This is what shows up if you click "cancellation policies" on the page for that cruise (Other reason basically means other than COVID) 

 

Thanks. I found it on the page for the cruise and it shows as above  I also found it on the T&Cs linked from My Windstar with the languge:

“Silver Door-to-Door All-Inclusive Fares” penalty schedule, for all cruises sailing
between March 10th, 2022 and June 30th, 2022 and for both current bookings as well as new
bookings done within February 28th , 2022:
 From the date of deposit to 76 days prior to the initial sailing date: USD 250 / CAD 300 per
person (admin fee); this admin fee will be automatically converted to a future cruise credit
(FCC) and sent to you within 15 days from the cancellation date - please see detailed FCC
terms below in the dedicated paragraph;
 75 – 61 days prior to the initial sailing date: 50% of the total cruise fare per person;
 60 – 31 days prior to the initial sailing date: 75% of the total cruise fare per person;
 30 – 0 days prior to the initial sailing date or nonappearance at the time of sailing: 100% of
the total cruise fare per person.