UpstateJan

Hello Coolers, just logged on to lurk, and noticed the call to action. Happy T-Day to our Canadians, we just got home at 10:45am from Toronto to visit my mother-in-law for the long weekend. It was the quickest drive back in 18 years of doing this, 6 hours 1 minute. Between leaving at 4am, and it being a national holiday, all the little Canadians were still tucked snuggly in their beds until we crossed the border. Now, it's laundry, grocery shopping, and food prep for the week before I head to the salt mines, errrr I mean work tomorrow. No interesting food pictures to post, as the cupboards are currently bare .... I have promised Mr. Wonderful that I will make fresh hummus for him for lunch for the week, so beans are soaking, not picture worthy at this point. Leaves are really starting to turn colors, but it's a damp dreary day. Hope JP & Chris enjoy Mindo, we loved it when we were there, Ecuador is a very special place. .... now off the swap loads, and make my list .....

Jan

Appreciate BOTH of these news story links and the follow-ups. Am seriously considering a Galápagos sailing in early 2020. That creates questions for whether it is best to consider the current Silversea ship for that area at a maybe lower, but still costly price . . . versus . . . waiting for the newer ship at a much higher premium costs. Or, consider the Celebrity ship operating in the Galápagos that will also be controlled by NCL? Other questions to consider?? Any insights, tips, guesses, etc.??

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Terry, we did the Celebrity Galapagos in 2011, and it was hands down the best cruise we've been on (sorry SilverSea). Ironically, it is smaller than any of the SS expedition ships, staff was outstanding - honestly, right up there with the treatment we received this spring on SS. The naturalists were great, and yes the food ..... I was up early one morning running around the deck watching the dolphins playing and got to see the fishing boats pull up to the Xpedition to sell that morning's catch. Don't discount Celebrity's offering just because its been with RCL for a long time, it was certainly a top notch run expedition and we most certainly got value.

Jan

Well, I guess this proves Jeremy's point, travel light, carry-on only. We made the 2 week SE Asia cruise with just carryon (thank you SilverSea for having laundry facilities). We were able to breeze thru security, on boarding, off boarding. We've used this "strategy" since our trip to the Amazon & Peru in 2016, and it works well.

Hope your bag surfaces with all your items as they should be.

Jan

Ok, I have a silly question - on our upcoming Caribbean 7 day cruise, the second night is showing "Formal - optional". What does that mean? Obviously, for 7 days, with carry-on only luggage, we're not packing suits & evening gowns, I am confused what the "optional" qualifier was for (obviously, every formal night is "optional" by booking The Grill, etc.

Thanks for any insight.

Jan

Hmmm, I am under 5' tall, I think I can fit into a carry-on if tempted. The other half is pushing 6', he can stay home, plus he travels plenty for work. Although, I am sure J & wifey would take far better pics, so I will give up my spot in the carry-on bag. That is wonderful that you've been able to do a WC before. Are these ports different from the first one? I looked at the list for 2019 and 2020 and was really surprised at how different they were - 2020 would be very challenging on the packing since it was hitting Antarctica as well as the warm ports. Some day .......

Jan

Mysty & Myster, congrats on a great adventure, some very nice ports. I have to ask, how would you begin to pack for something like this? Granted, free laundry helps, but 132 days .... Yay, you are going to Sandakan, we were there in April, had a great time, and perhaps one of the best tour guides ever. Very jealous that you are hitting 1 port in Madagascar too. Alas, it's hard enough to get two weeks off for vacation in a row, guess I'll have to wait until a fortunate lottery win or retirement (with a lottery win). Trip of a lifetime Mysty, well done.

Jan

Last time I was in the states I picked up a hitchhiker. He asked me how I knew he wasn't a psychopathic serial killer.

 

I told him: what are the chances of having 2 psychopathic serial killers in the same car at the same time?

OhMyGoodness, that's hysterical! I just took a big drink of iced tea and have baptized my laptop. This morning was dedicated to dealing with the office psychopath, so it's doubly funny. Just forwarded to the dear girl's officemate, and I can hear the laughter over here.

Jan

I'm on the hunt for a tour guide to take us to the Cloud Forest and the Volcanoes. I figure it will be a warmup for Chris's big South America trip in January, to make sure that the altitude still doesn't bother us.

JP, we stayed at the San Jorge Eco resort prior to our Galapagos adventure in 2011. We had a few tours with them including to the cloud forest for bird watching, the Tandayapa resort was really beautiful, more hummingbirds than I knew existed, plus all the other cool dudes, and a side trip up the hill with the caretaker to find the wild orchids. You may want to check them out to see if they will do day tours. Oooohhhh, and the empanadas, yes we were served both breakfast and lunch there, amazing food including the dessert which was "jungle fruit, not something you buy in stores".

Enjoy, I'm very jealous! We're going to Montreal over Labor Day to visit brother-in-law, and over Columbus Day weekend to Toronto to visit mother-in-law. Otherwise, avoiding Saratoga tourists, and staying home until our March cruise.

Jan

It’s not a “full size bath”, unless you happen to be somewhat vertically challenged.

 

 

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lol vertically challenged. I always preferred "garden gnome size"

[emoji849] Have fun! And, enjoy those buffets with kids touching / sneezing / coughing on the buffets.

 

 

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lol... secret ingredients?

Davey, he's all yours, no take backs. It's like the hot potato game, see who you can pass him off to next (France was all kissy face with him this time last year, launch him thru the chunnel).

Mysty, I am so saddened by the rhetoric going on. My inlaws came down from Montreal & Toronto for the Canada Day/4th of July BBQathon last week, it's just awful. My BIL's passport was expiring on the 4th, and I made the crack that if they wouldn't let him back in to Canada with the expired passport, claim refugee status! I'm wondering how all this is going to effect all our friends from the north that come down for track season in Saratoga.

J, that fish looked really good. I had yummy leftovers for lunch today, so not as needy today.

Guess I better get back to work, finish up since I leave a little early to go to the airport and pick up Mr. Wonderful, before he leaves again on Monday morning for more work travel......

Jan

oh, those food pics are helping.... I have a bland lunch, and up to my eyeballs in trying to get the financials out.

So, I had my first Silversea cruise in April, and it was luxury, quality, and all that stuff they claim and then some. However .... in speaking to hardcore Silversea cruisers on our trip, they were a bit disappointed. I get it, and I feel for them. We went for the itinerary, and were absolutely not disappointed, although we did make private arrangements for more than half the stops because we wanted to see what we wanted to see, and the half day tours just didn't provide us with the depth of experience, not any different than our bigger line cruises we've also enjoyed. I would have totally hated the "cruise from hell", and I am saddened by the response of the company.

All this brings me to a point - I was listening to an audiobook the last couple of days on my commute, and I think we need to get a few copies in the hands of Silversea management and customer service. If you get a chance, take a look at "Hug Your Haters" by Jay Baer. He discusses some epic fails and epic successes in how businesses deal with customer service issues. The drama that has unfolded over the last few weeks sounds like a case study in what NOT to do. I think the author would be crying and beating his head against the wall. There were so many ways that the company seemed to have escalated the issue, and have now started to damage their reputation.

Well, guess I better get back to work and my sad little lunch. BTW Mr. J, those burgers look great - you had me a grilled onions, mushrooms and cheese! Bee, that noodle dish looks pretty, seriously pretty. Must get back to columns of numbers, it's all black & white this afternoon.....

Jan

J & Mrs. J, when would be a good time for me to stop by and chat about your internet provider, btw, do you have wine?

Jan - newly signed up "Income for Life" diva

Sorry, couldn't help myself, just kidding. Enjoy, and keep up with the food pics, it's almost lunchtime here.

Napri, try Kayak.com - use the multi-city option, and you can look at flights for Home-Nice, and Barcelona-home. We did something similar for our honeymoon 12 years ago, and I was surprised how inexpensive it ended up being. Actually, we just returned from our cruise, and we booked our flights from the Albany, NY (SmallBany) to Hong Kong, and Singapore to Albany, we paid $717 rt on United, booked about 6 months ahead. oh, and it was one stop only going out - Albany-Newark-Hong Kong, and Singapore-Tokyo-Newark-Albany. If you are flying out of Atlanta, you may get lucky with a direct flight, especially coming home from Barcelona.

Jan

Upstate Jan, I have been to Madagascar and I would not be excited to try it by cruise ship. The roads are atrocious and I'd hate to think how long it would take to get anywhere to see lemurs in their habitat on a short cruise ship tour.

 

True, a SS ship might provide better accommodations than a land trip, but IMO Madagascar would be best when you stay there. Even an expedition ship would be hard-pressed to hit the best spots in just a few stops. When we go back it will be another land trip.

 

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JP, thanks for the input. Did you do a package or on your own? We looked at Madagascar a few years ago, but the tour provider pulled it, political instability, etc. BTW, I just realized you are in ALB ... I'm sitting in my office right now, overlooking the Capitol. We're in Saratoga County.

Jan

Said you’d enjoy! :-)

 

Highlights? Anything that disappointed?

 

I see you’ve booked for the Wind next March.... we have also for the month after (though it was already booked before the Shadow cruise.

 

It’s the little things that make life on a small ship more enjoyable. Many (not all) that I see posting here have the wind as their favourite.... I’m in that category. You know what to expect now... and I’m certain the Wind and crew will deliver.

Yes Les, you are indeed correct! Not sure we could afford this type vacation every year, but .... :D:D:D

We chatted with several people that said the Shadow was their favorite, but the Wind was "exceedingly pleasant". Highlights - I have to say "Size matters", this is our first time on a small-big ship (Galapagos was 92, Amazon was 32), and I was surprised that nothing ever seemed crowded. We had a Vista (no balcony), and to be honest, we didn't miss it. Could we get a spot at the rail to watch sail in/sail outs - you bet! We found a lot of little quiet places to sit and enjoy the views (including the deck surrounding the Observation lounge). Did we ever wander looking for seating on the pool deck, no sir. Oh, and the people were so civilized!!! Well, there was that one guest at The Grill who had a bad case of "head up the butt-itis", his poor wife....

The food was very good! It was the first time I didn't cringe going to the buffet. The nice thing we found was that sometimes there was something offered in the Restaurant for lunch, but we opted for La Terrazza instead and ... presto it was there too! The Grill was excellent, and the staff was super. In fact, the beverage guys at the Pool Deck were incredible! I made sure to call a few of them out on the survey, such nice, friendly and considerate guys. If I was hanging out there, and Jeremy was elsewhere, they would check on me, ask if I wanted a seat in the shade, needed something to snack on (because eating 6 times a day just isn't enough!) Honestly, it was one of our best cruise experiences for being "on board".

As far as disappointments, pretty much the same ones we experience with other lines. The Shore Excursions tended to be basic, and not cover some of the key things were really wanted to see/do, or they had them split up so you couldn't do everything you wanted. After our first few cruises, and travel confidence grew, I started looking at "other options", which is what I did for this cruise. We took half ship tours, half private tours. Unfortunately, due to the extremely quiet roll call, our private tours were indeed private, just the two of us. One of the couples that we did meet from the roll call was disappointed when they heard about some of the tours we had booked (and it was too late to add 2 more). BTW, I just realized that we never had the Meet & Mingle party! We met only 1 couple of the 5 groups that were on the roll call.

We did opt to book a future cruise - it's a very nice one in the caribbean, including air. So, the reason? Someone filled Jeremy's head with dreams of Madagascar, but alas, their Fall 2019 schedule was not available. So, if the perfect Lemur cruise appears in September-November 2019, we may switch from a March 2019 Caribbean to that, keeping the discounts. If not, we will be extremely happy with the plans currently in place.

And Les, you were correct, Ryan the guitarist was really excellent. Enjoyed him tremendously....

Jan

Now that you mention it Les, the pool was roped off when we were eating lunch on embarkation day, but it was certainly being used later that evening. Early mornings were the best time at the pool & hot tubs, no one around.....

Jan

We just got home from a perfect 2 weeks on the Shadow (Hong Kong to Singapore). This is our first time on SilverSea, so we headed to the port a little early, just to check things out. Needless to say, everything was perfect, including little to no traffic to get from the hotel to the port. We arrived just before noon (we were aiming for just before 1pm), and were greeted like old friends, and swept into the check-in area, and were told "registration isn't open yet, it shouldn't be long" - about 5 minutes later, registration was open. We and about 6 of our new best friends proceed thru the fasted registration and were onboard before we knew what happened. On ship, we went thru the wine, picture taking, etc and were told "sorry, your rooms are not ready, please go enjoy lunch". Being a compliant couple, we did as requested. Big difference from checking in on a 2800+ passenger ship.

Jan

Just as a note, for the most part, the difference between Formal and Informal is a tie for men. We booked La Terrassa on the first formal night, and The Grill for the second night - my hubby still needed a jacket for La Terrassa, but they kindly said "sir, your jacket" at the Grill, with a big smile - meaning "take that thing off".

Only issue is that on a Formal night, men will still need a tie & jacket to get into The Bar, and jacket to get into the Panorama lounge. So, the night we had Grill reservations, we strolled around and attempted to enter the Panorama - hubby looking dapper in his dress pants and collared shirt. Poor door man said "sorry sir, you'll need a jacket to enter, it is formal night" - to be fair, it was posted in the daily newsletter, we just didn't pay attention. No big deal, we'd just hit the other bar .... wrong answer, they said "Sorry sir, you will need a jacket and tie, it is formal night". Ok, our room was on the 4th floor, we're currently on the 5th .... an hour before our reservation. We laughingly went downstairs, grabbed his dark suit jacket and a tie (um, since he rarely wears a tie, it's a zipper tie!) - walking down the hall, he's putting his jacket on. We get to the door of the Bar, and the young lady says "Oh, sorry sir, you need a tie - it's ....", at that point, HoneyBunny whips out the zipper tie from his pocket! She tried not to laugh and said "Welcome sir, you are looking dashing tonight", the three young gentlemen behind the bar were hysterical. Needless to say, each time we entered the BAR, someone asked "Sir, do you have your tie" with a big smile.

We had such a nice time with the staff, super great people with an excellent sense of humor. We heard from other staff member that the servers at the bars/lounges really dislike having to enforce the dress code policy on formal night, so we provided some levity to their day. When we arrived for our reservation at the Grill, our server offered to take his jacket, and put his hand out for the tie. When HoneyBunny unzipped his tie, several servers were laughing. Needless to say, it was an excellent evening.

Jan

We just left the Shadow on Saturday, and honestly she looked good. Granted, the decor may not have been my taste, but she was in fine shape, and they were doing all the maintenance while we were there. We were on a Princess ship last year that had been out of drydock for 2 weeks - and needless to say, I think the discharge came a tad too early......

Just got off the Shadow, and made the 24+ hour trip home. To expand on your answer regarding the clothesline (for those of us that are doing our own wash) - there is a string line over the bathtub. However, I found that there was a better, more efficient way of drying clothes - the walk-in closet. There is a multi-rung rack in the closet, mounted to the wall, which was just begging for clothes to be draped over or on hangers - best part, there was air ventilation in there, so things dried pretty quickly. Ironically, they dried quicker in the closet than in the dryers on board in the laundry! Not sure if it was the butler or room steward, but apparently they were monitoring the progress on my laundry, and took the time to move the dry stuff off the rack and hang it back up on the rod, and reposit the remaining clothes to give them a bit more room. When nothing was on the rack, my dress shoes were delightfully brushed and displayed as though they were climbing up the wall - hilarious.

Jan (jetlagged, confused, but need to pull it together to go to work this morning)

We're on the Shadow now, and made the donation to the crew fund (Thank you all who posted). So last night we waddled into the Panorama lounge, and Kirk ran up to us, called us by name and thanked us. It was a bit surreal, he indicated that they did in fact have our picture up - it's our first Silverseas.

Jan

Les, thank you so much for all your postings. We so appreciate all the information and tips you have provided. My hubby got home from his business trip at 1am this morning .... we fly out tomorrow morning at 11am. It's finally here (and no snowstorms on the horizon), we're ready for our first time on SilverSeas. Glad to hear that the acoustic guitarist is excellent, that is my favorite type of entertainment on board. Safe travels, my friend, and hopefully we will be on a ship together in the future.

Jan

Trivia is serious business! Did you have an international team? They always seem to do better than "all American" or "all Brit". Atleast with Jeremy & myself, you get Canadian & American, not worldly international, but Canada still counts as a foreign country. Plus, I am known to be the repository of useless information, works well in Accounting, even better in trivia.

Good luck with uploading your file for taxes. We had ours submitted a couple weeks ago. Just finishing the last few client ones before I depart. Must go feed the printer some paper, enjoy your evening!

Jan

We're on Shadow - right across from one of the laundry rooms. This is our first time on SilverSeas, so starting from the bottom is hard. We have all kinds of perks with Celebrity, but alas they don't go to Borneo (nor would I want to invade the shores with 3000 of my closest friends). We are thinking of Canaries and/or Azores for 2019 - same thing, smaller ship seems more appealing for that locale. Our options would be Windstar for the that I suppose.

Guess I should get back to work, reports running.....

Jan