Dolcevita Diva

16 minutes ago, mysty said:

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

On the topic of milk…😁

10 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Sorry -- we were discussing Celebrity who eliminated Butlers for Sky Suites (SS).  I shouldn't have used the same acronym

Ha - that's how scary rumors get started! 😁

11 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I was also curious about that.    I hear that is a problem on Cunard.   There are so many with high Status that it affect Suite Embarkation.   On Cunard they have a combined Suite and Upper Level all in the same line/area. 

Silversea does not have different arrangements for embarkation, etc. based on cabin/suite type, so that won't be an issue.  But a significant increase in passengers utilizing free laundry could make it difficult to maintain same-day turnaround - sure hope not for the sake of the crew who work in the laundry as well as long-time passengers. 

13 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I'm sure I could be lambasted but I believe the elimination of the SS Butlers was due to the fact that often the SS passengers were much more prone to get full use of their butler that it might have affected some of the upper cabins  

 

??? Not sure where you heard that Silversea has eliminated butlers, but that is not the case.  

22 hours ago, MJfromCA said:

We board the Silver Whisper in Barcelona tomorrow. I sure hope they've added laundry staff to accommodate all the new status-matching cruisers!

It will be interesting to see whether Silversea is able to maintain the current exemplary turnaround times.  That's one of my concerns about this status-matched perk, particularly since I still have to pay for laundry despite having sailed with Silversea for a number of years.  

11 hours ago, DavyWavey70 said:

I'm Happy to pay for an extra suitcase drron! Have you tried it?

The names of their other wines look intriguing as well (Penury, Das Sakrileg and Chagrin).  😁

@drron29 may need to try a few of these!

So looking forward to reading about your journey. What a fantastic itinerary on which to celebrate your anniversary!

JP, so sorry about your cousin, but glad that you were able to attend and spend some quality time, however brief, with extended family.

Hope that your upcoming travels go much more smoothly than that return home!

50 minutes ago, dawntrdr said:

I agree that something is amiss or changing with included excursions on classic voyages.  First, we started seeing very expensive SALT tours being added ($599+ pp for a lunch experience).  Next, it was free excursions being changed to pay excursions after they were booked.  Next, free excursions are being limited to one 2-3 hour "panoramic bus tour".  Now, I note that I have booked a Dublin - Copenhagen cruise in June 2025 that has no excursions at all listed for several ports. This is part of a Grand Voyage and the ports all have numerous interesting tours you can book directly online on one of the many tour booking sites, so it's not an issue of availability.

 

I suspect that SS will be dropping included excursions altogether soon.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.   Included and Select excursions were clearly shown for a cruise that I recently booked from Lisbon to Southampton next May. But when I went to book excursions in My Silversea, only Select excursions are shown with no Included excursions. Am giving them the benefit of the doubt for now that they just haven't had time to update the website (some of the times shown don't make sense for this voyage so they probably just copied and pasted from another ship's itinerary).   

I did take screenshots of the included excursions list on the day of booking "just in case", but am skeptical/concerned because I had originally booked the alternate direction itinerary for next September and almost all of the Included excursions have been changed to Select.  

14 hours ago, 2ws said:

We have used Chase Sapphire Reserve trip cancellation twice in the past 3 years. Both for eye emergencies for me, 2 days before sailing. It is a pain to use eclaims.com for this, but both times we finally got our money back, once 16000 usd and once 19800 usd.

Always good to hear about first-hand experiences with claims, so thanks for sharing this. 

15 hours ago, QueSeraSera said:

Hoping you enjoy this cruise!  I loved our Norway cruise last year, knockout scenery IMO, the expedition guides were so pleasant and informative (with one so-so exception in Bergen), have regretted not spending an extra day or 2 in Copenhagen.  

Thanks @QueSeraSera. So looking forward to this itinerary!  Glad that I was able to book this before the upcoming Norway emissions standards will curtail access to several fjords by cruise ships. 

What were your favorite excursions?

5 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Many, but not all, travel agents can get you the Amex benefits.  All of the ones I have used can do it.

3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

But do the math before concluding that the Amex benefits are worth it.  

 

Wise advice - review the benefits and determine what will be of the greatest value to you. 

On my upcoming cruise to Norway, I was taken aback when my TA told me that he could not apply the AmEx benefits, although he has on prior cruises. Apparently some other OBC provided by his consortium was not stackable with AmEx (this is a first, has never happened before).   I typically only receive $150 OBC from AmEx when traveling solo, but do enjoy the bottle of DP 🙂   

This voyage was pretty pricey since I had to pay a 75% solo supplement and as a result the cost of travel insurance is pretty steep.  So I skipped the AmEx benefits and made final payment with my Chase Sapphire Reserve. The CSR provides 3 times points on bookings (10 times if you book through them) and a $300 annual travel credit so the monetary value was higher - and there will be plenty of champagne onboard anyway....🥂 Equally important for this voyage, their included travel insurance coverage saved me a significant sum of money.  

4 hours ago, Lois R said:

Hi folks, just dropping in to say hello from the Embassy Suites in Elizabeth,,NJ.  They have a shuttle to the port where I will board Celebrity Eclipse later this morning.

I flew in yesterday and the weather has been lovely.

DW, will keep you updated on how things go🙂

Bon voyage!  Lois, will be interested to hear your thoughts on this cruise and ship after being spoiled by Silversea for so long 🙂

6 hours ago, tinaincc said:

That’s OK. Where can I find the list?

This was the list of items for purchase onboard the Nova last year.

1 hour ago, Port Power said:

Perhaps she didn’t like the way Silversea was heading under new owners and wanted out because she wasn’t being given the authority to maintain its level of luxury?  And jumped before she was pushed!

Or she may have relished the opportunity of this new role with Kempinski.   

At Silversea before RCCL, Barbara was a "big fish in a small pond".  Under RCCL, she was brand president of the smallest brand in a firm with numerous senior HQ executives in a publicly traded company.  In the past few years with Silversea, she successfully oversaw the planning and launch of several new ships which have more than doubled the size of the brand in a short period of time and spearheaded development of new programs/experiences such as S.A.L.T. 

But there are no other new ships commissioned at this point in time and likely fewer opportunities for innovation in the guest or brand experience.  For a leader who appears to thrive on being engaged in innovation and strategic growth initiatives, the future may have looked rather boring. 

This new role is CEO in a prestigious privately held company in the luxury segment and Kempinski has announced aggressive growth plans for 34 additional hotels and residences.

Sounds like an excellent fit and an exciting opportunity.

Kempinski Hotels Appoints Barbara Muckermann as Group Chief Executive Officer

1 minute ago, gnome12 said:

Love this self-directed instant karma!  😁😅

One change that I’ve certainly noticed is they no longer invest the time and effort into proofreading! 
 

From this morning’s promotional email about the Silver Ray. 🤔😁

28 minutes ago, QueSeraSera said:

 Anyway, if I'm reading this right, someone was on a Silversea cruise where the only wine on board was Chardonnay.  This is so far off from our experiences; I can hardly believe it.  No, that's an understatement - I don't believe it without further evidence.  But if true, I think we need to hear from Silversea how the hell that ever happened.  And they can't blame me, I swear I wasn't on this unknown cruise.  

 

 Both @spinnaker2 and @Silver Spectre have reported recent experiences with several varietals of wine running out onboard.  

21 hours ago, tgh said:

Just off Nova , shared tables were always offered in Atlantide….
 

14 hours ago, drron29 said:

On our last 2 Muse cruises we were asked if we wanted to share a table in Atlantide.

 

Glad to hear that this practice has returned.   In light of the recent comments in this thread about lengthy waits for a table, this should be helpful in optimizing seating capacity to minimize those situations.  

8 minutes ago, Observer said:

 

Perhaps you were fortunate.  I called reception late one afternoon to ask that my reservation for that evening be canceled. I had decided to go to one of the no-reservation-required restaurants.  I discovered that reception had canceled all of my reservations for the remaining couple of weeks of my cruise.  

🫤🤦‍♀️☹️

31 minutes ago, Observer said:

 

This raises the issue about the difficulty of canceling restaurant reservations once on board. One can make new reservations on the TV. But one cannot cancel existing reservations without the assistance of a maître d' or having a hard-working butler take responsibility.  

Correct. this is definitely a problem that should be addressed.  On my last voyage which was on the Nova, both my butler and the reception team were asked to change or cancel reservations but that never happened.   It's quite odd that there isn't an easier option to cancel a reservation, particularly on the Nova with its emphasis on technology.   

13 hours ago, Observer said:

 

Recently, I have found this to be caused partly by understaffing on the ship or by the presence of many newly hired crew whose service is not as smooth or prompt as that of veterans.  An HD on a Muse class ship recently acknowledged as much to me.  

That makes sense and I've also heard that passengers who don't cancel dining reservations in the restaurants that require a reservation amplify the problem by taking reserved but unused tables "out of commission" resulting in more passengers being funneled to the open seating restaurants.    

I also wonder whether the shift away from "social" tables has exacerbated the problem.   For many years, when you entered the dining room, the Maitre 'D would ask if your party wished their own table or to join a social table. We'd often join/form a table of 6 or 8 and always really enjoyed that aspect of Silversea - met so many interesting people that way.   

That option went away during the pandemic and I was chagrined to find on my last two voyages on Silversea that it really hasn't returned. When I asked to join a social/shared table on the Spirit and the Nova, the Maitres' D each said they don't really do this anymore.    

Pragmatically, this shift also has the effect of reducing the number of parties that can be served in the dining room at a given time if 2 or 3 couples who might previously have dined at a shared table now dine as parties of two or joining one other couple. 

14 hours ago, Port Power said:

 

I have also found booking a very long time in advance (18-24 months), the solo supplement is often 25%.  Soon after I have booked, that discount disappears.  I have booked Silver Ray for March 2026.  The transatlantic has a 25% solo supplement, but the Caribbean cruise is 50%.  Caribbean cruises always book well, so no incentive for SS to reduce the supplement.  Transoceanic cruise do not book out, hence a better incentive.

 

My TA did pass on that email from SS with the list of low solo supplement cruises.  Not that many of them are this year.

I'm delighted to see that after a long spell with very limited offerings at lower levels (had to pay 75% single supplement for my cruise this August -ouch), the revenue management/promotions team is starting to use or test these as another avenue to drive bookings. Just booked a voyage for next May and am scanning the rest of the list for other itineraries that appeal. 

9 minutes ago, LoisRJax said:

Thank you for the tip. I will have to check out the website.

For some reason when I did a normal search for the Lower Solo Supplement offer using the drop-down on the website, only 54 voyages show up.  Here's the link that brings up the larger list of 0% solo supplement voyages:     Enjoy our Exclusive Solo Travellers Offer | Silversea

Yum!  Note to self - do not ever log into the Cooler when it's almost time for dinner and you didn't eat lunch! 🙂 

Separate note to @LoisRJax  @Daveywavey70 and @jollyjones

Silversea released a list today of 78 voyages with 0% single supplement.  I just learned of this from a friend (neither Silversea nor my TA notified me) so wanted to let you know in case you had not received this info either.