sea bright

Gourmet Gal - we enjoyed Kaiseki on the Nova (went once in 20 days), but it is not a traditional Kaiseki dinner. If you think of it as a Japanese themed menu you will be less likely to be disappointed.

We had no issues with the thrusters on our 20 day Nova cruise.

At least in the US, Blacklane has not contacted us the day before to confirm. The ride is listed as confirmed in the app once you book it. Generally, an hour or 2 before pick up, we get a text giving us the name of the driver and his number.

We were in 8072 on the Nova - aft center suite, a Medallion. The view was great and the balcony was large -and very deep. Standing at or close to the railing you had 180 degree view, no obstructions. As the balcony was very deep, in the room your view was narrower (see below)

Since covid they are not always mailed. Tags were mailed to us for our Jan cruise on the Nova, but not for our upcoming May 1 cruise on the Muse (or any of our other post-covid cruises). We were told to get them at the pier (or the Silversea hotel if staying there). I'm not aware of any option to print them.

The Sapphire Suites are about 250 square feet smaller than the Silver Suites and are still more per person per day than a Silver Suite.

I compared a couple of 2025 itineraries on Silversea in a Silver Suite (our usual choice) to the Cystal Symphony Junior Penthouse (which seems to be comparable, although smaller). Despite thd SS price increases, the Crystal Junior Penthouse is about $500 more per person per night- if you pay in full at booking - otherwise about $700 more pp per night.

On our Nova cruise we were told by the HD that they do not stock Pellegrino, Perrier, etc. for environmental reasons. I said I thought that should be made clear, in advance, to long time cruisers who expect it. He repeated the policy. However, the next day our butler told us she had "permission" to give us Pellegrino in the room. She kept our fridge stocked for the rest of the cruise, in part by "hiding" extra bottles in our bar cabinet. When we asked for Pellegrino in the dining rooms or bars we were told the house made sparkling water was the only option. Hopefully, on our upcoming Muse cruise Pellegrino will be available.

Silversea has and uses both of our email addresses. The single email had a link that included only 2 rides total. Maybe because we live in the US? Or perhaps because our upcoming cruise leaves from Tokyo?

We are in the US and have always booked just a single vehicle, using 1 Blacklane link, to travel from our home address to the airport and a second link for the reverse trip. The pricing varied by type of vehicle and number of miles, not passenger. However, we have always received a single email (it comes to me, but not my husband).

Much speculation on the thread "Has Barbara Resigned".

I was assuming that you aren't carrying off your luggage. If you are, you could probably book something for 8 or even a little earlier.

I wouldn't book anything before 8 or 8:30. We usually do 9 or 9:30 when we make our own arrangements.

The email is usually a month ahead - we got it April 1 for our May 1 cruise. For all of our cruises my husband and I have received a total of 2 free rides - one from home to the airport and one from the airport to home. Recently others have reported receiving multiple free rides. I'm not sure if this is based on the country in which the passenger lives or whether the passengers have different addresses or a change in procedure. In our 8 or so DtD cruises, Blacklane has never been used to transport us from the airport to the ship or a Silversea hotel or from the ship to the airport/hotel. Even when our transfers were not on a bus, they were organized by Silversea's local land/tour agent, not Blacklane. That said, enough people have reported receiving multiple vouchers perhaps the procedure is changing.

Yes, unlike the other ships, on the Nova no indoor bars are open in the morning so all coffee seekers are forced to the overwhelmed Arts Cafe. The Observation was overrun by the bridge players and only sporadically replenished. The only other options were room service or outdoors- the Marquee and pool bars - and even bundled up and with the heaters they were uncomfortable for most of our time in Patagonia. The Panorama does have a large outdoor area, which looks lovely, but was generally unused on our cruise due to cold/wind at night (and being closed during the day). We will not sail the Nova again.