sea bright

We did a cruise from Amsterdam to England and Ireland shortly after the Cloud was made an expedition ship. It was an odd cruise. Almost none of the ports required an expedition ship. Indeed, we had been to several on prior Cloud or Wind voyages when they were classic Silversea ships. By visiting these ports via an expedition ship, we experienced long zodiac rides in unpredictable weather to piers in small cities or large towns and then were put on buses for shore excursions. If you dressed appropriately for the zodiac, you were too warmly dressed for the shore excursions. We enjoyed several ports, especially Clare Island in Mayo, but probably could have done them more comfortably from the Shadow or Whisper. Also, the announcements (which are non-stop at times) could be heard in the cabin and the volume could not be adjusted. This trip was some years pre-pandemic so presumably, at least some of these issues have been resolved. Our takeaway was that we would only do future expedition cruises to ports that really couldn't be seen any other way.

Generally, by 2pm lunch options are the pool grill, the pizza place, or perhaps the buffet in La Terrazza (if the hours are extended). Most restaurants (except Silver Note) open at 7 pm. Thus, you would probably have time for a nice dinner.

There was a prior thread about the re-furbishment of the Whisper and people posted notifications from Silversea of a cruise cancellation and dry dock scheduled for late April to early May 2024. The posts were from February (# 3 and 4 of the thread titled Silver Whisper Drydock....) Not sure if anything has changed - did you look at the April/May schedule?

Pre-covid we joined the ship mid- cruise in NY a couple of times. Once it shortened the cruise - Silversea reduced the cost by exactly the per diem amount. I think we also joined in NY toward the end of a first leg and sailed all of the next leg. As I recall, that was a better deal - perhaps because the partial leg wasn't very full? In both cases they were very accommodating.

On our upcoming Nova cruise we booked an aft Medallion suite and waitlisted for a Silver Suite, but did not get the Silver Suite. First time we have ot cleared a waitlist for Silver Suite. I suspect it is because our cruise is a leg of a Grand Voyage.

A vey different configuration than the Muse class ships, where the living area has both balcony sliders and thus is bigger and brighter and the bedroom is internal and thus darker. When we saw the new configuration on the Nova we hesitantly booked an aft Medallion for our January cruise. Nice to hear you like the new Silver Suites! I'm worried we will miss the extra space, but we have enjoyed aft suites on other lines

Pre- covid we used the same procedure as Jolly Jones pre-cruise to arrange to have our cousins (parents and 3 school age children) on board (mid- cruise)in Donegal for lunch and drinks. Then once onboard guest relations contacted us to arrange a table in the Restaurant, any special requests, etc. We had a lovely day. I think it was $60 pp.

Thanks for your report! Very interesting as we're getting on the Nova in January in Lima.

This is why good insurance is necessary. If the worst case happens, the cruiseline's obligations are limited. Insurance may help with your out of pocket expenses (depending on your policy, which you will obviously read well).

Does the abbreviated La T menu change every few days?

Silversea says that on the Nova La Dame has higher end ingredients and better included wines. Reviews so far haven't consistently backed that up. We're on the Nova in January and plan to give it a try. We haven't been to La Dame on the other ships in years (unless a complimentary dinner was included in our suite category) as we felt the ingredients and wine were no better than those available in Atlantide.

There is a fee for La Dame, 60 pp. No fee for LaTerraza or The Grill.

Bowties just showed up for our Jan Nova cruise - 2 in 20 days. We were expecting at least one more. Although it's not really a big deal on the Nova with its relaxed dress code However, in our 9 cruises since the re-start (on Moon, Dawn and Muse), the bowties in My Silversea have been missing entirely, failed to mark all of the formal nights, or marked the dates incorrectly almost half the time.

Tully (and I suspect others) give a rebate- much better than OBC on Silversea.

I had no problem getting into My Silversea with Google Chrome just now. However, the booking system has been down since at least Saturday.

There is no charge for Salt Kitchen on any of the ships. The Nova has a Salt Chef's Table, which has a hefty up charge. I think the OP was referring to the Salt Kitchen as there is no Salt Chef's Table on the Moon or Dawn.

Getting off the Dawn tomorrow, Copenhagen rt. Enjoyed the cruise, but very disappointed in the included excursions and the excursions overall. The included excursions were much bigger groups than prior Dawn/Moon cruises. Buses were full or almost full. Did one hike - 30+ people with 2 guides. No fast and slow group. Had to wait for everyone (10 minutes +) multiple times in the pouring rain. Paid excursions were often not much better. A full day paid tour in Flam - Complete Sognefjord Experience - was much, much too crowded - around 40 people. Initial Flam train was full to capacity so many seats with poor view. Train to Voss was better after we spread out, despite guide's initial insistence to pack us into 1 car. Bus was just about 100% full and lunch, at a beautiful spot, was a ridiculous buffet that squeezed us all into one long table with only one entrance/exit, despite an otherwise empty dining room. That said, 2 other paid excursions - to a salmon farm and crab fishing were good, especially the latter. The crab fishing excursion was a small group (8 guests) and was excellent - great host, great concept and a small group. Made me miss the old days when excursions were not included!

How late does breakfast go? If you are not doing an early tour can you sleep.in a bit and still have breakfast?

I just checked. The only actual SALT tour on my cruise is in Bergen - Island Fjord taste for $909. I think it was canceled, but I can't find the email. In any event, it's no longer an option in My Silversea. I thought the salmon farming ($129) and crab fishing ($299) tours I booked were also SALT tours, but they are not. We were booked on a similar itinerary last year, but couldn't travel because we got Covid. I'm fairly certain we had the SALT tour in Bergen booked for a lower price (I want to say about $700?). The price increase made me hesitate to book it this year.

I did two SALT paid excursions on the Moon inaugural in Greece. The one in Crete was really a magical day. I think it was $500 a person. A cooking class, tour and incredible lunch at a spectacular organic farm up in the hills. It was conducted in an outdoor kitchen on a terrace over looking the sea by a local chef committed to preserving old Cretan ingredients and recipes. It was attended by the Silver Sea executive chef and some of the SALT staff as well as a camera crew (making SALT promotional videos). There were only 4 guests (and two of them turned out to be plants selected by the camera crew for interviews). Silversea wound up comping me and the other paying guest, saying they were worried the film crew might have been intrusive. Food and wine were fabulous, as was the hands on cooking class. I would have been content to pay $500. However, I went without my DH as he (who doesn't love to cook) couldn't see spending $500 on a cooking class. The second was a wine tasting and winery tour. I think it was $300. Again attended by many involved with SALT from the ship as well as the camera crew. It was well done and the wines were good, but I thought it was overpriced. On Silversea cruises prior to included excursions, we did similar excursions to much better wineries (in Australia, Europe and Chile) for about $150 to $200 per person. Subsequently, on 3 other Moon/Dawn cruises (including the Dawn inaugural) all of the SALT excursions I booked that cost more than about $200 were canceled for lack of interest. Thus, I'm surprised to hear that they are raising prices. I've booked a couple of SALT tours on a Dawn cruise in Norway later this month. I'll let you know if they are canceled and, if not, how they are.

Has anyone stayed in a Medallion Suite on the Shadow since the re-fit? How did you like it? In particular, how was the shower and how was the balcony? Was the shower bigger than a regular Veranda shower? How does it compare to a Silver Suite shower? Does the balcony fit a lounge chair? We love Silver Suites on the Muse class ships, but have only been in Verandas on the Shadow. We are considering a Medallion or a Silver Suite for a cruise on the Shadow from LA to Tahiti. Thoughts of those who have been in a Medallion and/or a Silver Suite on the Shadow are appreciated!

Sounds like you're having a blast! Loving your posts. We're not onboard til January. Is there a walking/jogging loop on the Nova deck? Hard to tell from the deck plans. Enjoy the rest of your voyage.

Our late September Dawn and January Nova itineraries don't appear to have been changed.

Clearly the roll out by Silversea has not been good and provided little to no description of the new concept. I really hope it is similar to the $120 pp pairing dinners they had in Le Champagne circa 2007: multiple menus from different wine regions in which premium wines were thoughtfully paired with each course. We loved those wine dinners and often went more than once per cruise (always on nights we could sleep in the next day...) As we have found La Dame underwhelming since before the pandemic, we've been on a comment card campaign (since at least 2019) suggesting they return to the Le Champagne wine pairing dinner model. If the new $160 offering is a similar experience we would go. However, even with OBC we won't go to La Dame as it is now whether it's $60 or $160.

On classic cruises a back pack and white tote were provided with an Owners Suite, but were never provided with our Silver Suites. We got a slightly different back pack in a Verandah on an expedition cruise on the Cloud.