RLK33853

The decision by room service to refuse to supply the second btb cruise mini-bar has only occurred to us once. It was easily rectified by us speaking with the Captain Circle/Loyalty person after being told by room service this wasn't a benefit.

Santorini - Not sure of your thoughts or abilities when it comes to hiking, but the Caldera walk/hike from Fira to Oia is spectacular. It is 10 km (6.5 miles) but the views are outstanding. The first part is through the town of Fira and then out past the resort hotels and restaurants. The last part is out in the open overlooking the Caldera (the extinct volcano where the ship is at anchor). The hike isn't demanding elevation wise, but take water and start as early as you can to beat the heat. Have lunch in Oia overlooking the Caldera, then take a cab back to Fira and the ship.

Thanks for the informative review. Like yourself, we are trying some different lines after being loyal Princess cruisers (30 years and 46 cruises). This is due to a lot of things, most specifically the Princess cutbacks regarding food quality and loyalty benefits. In the next year we have 4 Princess, a Paul Gauguin, a Viking Ocean, and a Silversea. We may find a new "home", or maybe not. Again, thanks for letting everyone know your experiences.

Great review. We are on the Jupiter next May, and it is nice to see that you liked the ship.

Great to see you made it back on board. Your reviews have always been insightful and helpful. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip. Ray

Totally up to the individual and has nothing to do with the type of cabin you are in. We have cruised with Princess for over 30 years and over time we have tipped less and less - due to the automatic gratuities, but also since the overall personal touch/service has not warranted it. Don't get me wrong, the service is certainly adequate, just for the most part not extraordinary. There are lots of reasons for this but in many cases it is the staff are overworked and can't spend the time getting to know you like they used to. Do we still tip - yes: - usually our cabin steward (we ask for extra towels, the bed made with two top sheets, etc) - favorite bartenders who bring in bottles of wine from Vines for us - waiters that will get a special dish made You get the picture - we tip for extra service. Hope this helps. Enjoy your cruise.

Hello Everyone - we have a couple of questions about Silversea. We are currently booked on Silversea next May in the Mediterranean. We are experienced mainstream cruisers (50 + cruises on Princess, plus other lines) who have decided to try various upscale lines hoping to find a new home. Mainstream lines are now nickel and diming worse than ever, loyalty perks are being taken away, plus service and food quality continue to deteriorate. Just a bit of background about ourselves - mid sixties, very active, usually stay in mini-suites or full suites, enjoy good food and the dining experience, like exploring new places, spend two to three months a year travelling (usually on cruises but have also done extensive land trips in Africa, South America and Australia), and have made life long friends around the world doing so. We have used these boards extensively and value the advice we have received over the years. Hopefully you can assist over the next while with our Silversea questions. Our first question is about the Silversea's evening dress codes. I have read a lot of this forum's topics but am confused about "informal" dining - specifically jackets in the evening. This is not a question that needs to be debated, it's just a question. We already dress up and enjoy doing so on formal nights - full length evening gowns for my wife, and suit and tie on formal nights for me, but we are confused about Silversea's "informal" dress code. My wife will still be wearing a cocktail dress on these evenings, but I usually just wear nice pants and open collared shirt. Our question arises from whether a jacket is also expected. Some places it gives the impression that you need a jacket, other places not. What is the reality? Second question concerns the included wines. My wife enjoys crisp clean whites in the afternoon, and nice full bodies reds in the evening, preferably Australian. Our question is, are the included wines of decent quality or should we expect to purchase optional ones? Thank you in advance. Silversea looks to be a good fit for us in the future. We have almost a year before we board and want to be as informed as we can be. We are also booked on Paul Gauguin (Ponant), and Viking Ocean - hopefully we will find a new cruise line that meets our expectations. Any other advice, or tips and tricks will be appreciated. Thank you Ray and Ann

Same here - we are also booked in November and only a morning tour was offered. Who knows the reasoning - seasonal, equipment/boat availability, shortage of personnel???

Thanks very much for providing the menus and beverage menu. Just what we had been looking for! Cheers Ray and Ann

A private car service basically costs the same or is more economical than the Princess transfer - as long as you have more than one person.

dd57 - Totally agree about Princess. 50 cruises with them, Royal Caribbean, etc, and while we will still cruise with Princess, even their quality of service is starting to slide mainly due to the reasons you mention - overworked staff. We decided to look at the various upscale options and booked our first Viking and our first Paul Gauguin. Like you, we found that they are not as expensive as you may think. If we like these two, great, if not, there are still lots of others to try.

Excellent info - Thank you very much!

Basically the same thing happened to us. A couple of months ago we had looked at booking a Viking Ocean cruise with our travel agent. Unfortunately she didn't have the actual hardcopy brochure, but said she would get one and send it to us. I told her no worries, I would just order one on-line. Several days after requesting the brochure, a Viking salesperson called me asking if I had any questions or was there anything she could help me with. I told her thanks, but we were booking through our own travel agent. She went on to tell me how she as a Viking agent would do a better job, and that once the booking was completed by her, she would transfer it to our regular agent. Again I said thanks, but no. A week or so later the Viking agent called back and wanted us to book with her. I informed her that we had already booked with our regular travel agent. She went on to tell me that we should have booked with her, then transferred the booking to our travel agent. When I asked why, she told me that she was the expert on Viking and that regular travel agents are not as versed in the Viking product. At that point I told her to lose our number, and that I was very disappointed that she would run down our travel agent in an attempt to make a sale. Viking agents are obviously on commission. I'm guessing that they are not employees, just sales agents.

This offer is the virtual black hole. Right after it was announced, I found that my Plus package had automatically been upgraded to Premier on my Personalizer - this was for a Honolulu to Sydney cruise. Several days later though, the Premier disappeared and is now back to Plus. We have also taken two, and booked two additional Princess Plus cruises since this all started, and none have been upgraded.

Hopefully it works out for you Mermaid. An option would be to see if you could disembark the day prior in Moorea and take the ferry over to Papeete, but then you would have to stay in a hotel on the Friday night. We considered this, but since we aren't on a schedule, just decided to stay in Papeete the extra days until the Tuesday flight.

Thanks LeeAnne We decided that it may be tight making that 0830 flight, so we are staying a couple of days in Papeete before flying to Auckland. I'll stop by the Roll Call in the next couple of days. Looking forward to checking out Paul Gauguin!!! Ray and Ann

We will be disembarking in Papeete on November 18th. Looking at booking a 8:25 flight to Auckland as the next flight is 2 days later. How early can you get off the ship, as well as is there transportation available at such an early time (guessing we would have to get off by 6 am)? thanks

Excellent review!!! I was wondering how this was going to play out and now we know. Thank you

Just got off the Enchanted and stayed in 409 - one of the biggest extended balconies on the Enchanted (they are different sizes if you look at the deck plans - 409/410/424/425 are the biggest). We pick them because we like spending time on our balcony. On the Royal class ships balconies are narrow in depth - but the biggest extended ones like we had are 4 feet deep on the one side and angled to 6 feet deep on the other side. Makes it quite nice and to us worth the additional dollars. Other larger balconies for mini-suites are in the front, as well as aft.

Our opinion If you like Italian, you will love Sabatini's new menu. For years we didn't go to Sabatini's as we felt the menu was lacking - but we tried their new menu the last two cruises on the Enchanted and it is fantastic. Conversely, we have always loved the Crown Grill but it appears that Princess has lowered the quality of meat purchased for this venue. In the past year we have tried it twice on the Enchanted, once on the Sky, and once on the Ruby, and were disappointed in the quality of the meat. The Head Waiter of the Crown Grill on the Enchanted admitted he gets numerous complaints an evening due to tough Filets and New Yorks (wishes that Princess would go back to supplying higher grade meat). To be clear though - it is the quality of meat that has become the issue, not the service or other sides which continue to be fantastic.

If you have any, we often use On Board Credit to purchase duty free. As an aside, if you are on a Princess cruise (you didn't mention the cruise line) you don't pay a corkage fee to bring alcohol on board, just wine. Instead, they'll tell you to stop by the alcohol table upon return to the ship and surrender any alcohol purchased on shore for "safekeeping". You get it back at the end of the cruise to take home. Although that is their policy, we have seen many people bypass the table, especially if it is busy.

On past Princess cruises we have done exactly what your question asks - purchased USD On Board Credit in Canadian dollars. Princess usually has pretty attractive exchange rates (current bank rate is around 1.39).

Two completely different things. There is a Platinum/Elite lounge on all ships, and anyone can go if they are Platinum or Elite. You purchase your drinks/use your drink package. The Concierge Lounge is only for full suite guests (only on the Royal Class ships). Drinks and appys are complimentary.

We love the Concierge lounge. Everything as above, but one thing no one has mentioned - if you like a specific brand of say beer, or a different type of wine and they don't have it in the lounge, they will have it for you the next day. And no, their happy hour has nothing to do with the drink package.

My wife goes by a name other than her given name (which is just the initial E). It has been our experience that Princess will not entertain changing the name prior to boarding. After we explain the situation each cruise to Passenger Services, it's a crapshoot when they make her a new Medallion. Sometimes they make her new Medallion with the Preferred name AND they change it on the Medallion system. Other times they don't change the system and she is continually greeted with "what can we do for you Mrs E". Regular servers and your cabin steward quickly learn your preferred name either way - but staff you don't know are in a tough spot if the system doesn't get changed. Basically it can be done, and if you explain your unique situation they should do it properly. Good luck.