irvington

I just finished a cruise on Silversea and wanted to write a review. I’ve usually cruised on Celebrity and HAL and was pleasantly surprised about what a step up it was. I’m excited to travel on Silversea again. Transpacific Itinerary. I had wanted to take a transoceanic cruise and this worked well in my time off from work and my interests. We left from Vancouver, up the inside passage and 5 ports in Alaska, 2 in Japan and ended in Yokohama. We had spectacularly good weather (much better than the Alaska cruise I took many Junes ago). I thought the stops in Dutch Harbor and Kodiak were especially interesting since I’m not sure when I will ever get back. Entertainment on Board. I never went to the evening shows, but the solo or duo entertainers they had in various venues were all outstanding: Shane and Felicity, Andre, Mark, Ioannis. I went to multiple sets every night. People seemed like they had fun with the team trivia. I went to almost all the lectures, and they were on a real variety of topics (Ports, English history, technology and science, true crime, better health) and uniformly good. Crew. They were amazingly good, and due to the length of the cruise, the sea days, etc. I felt I got to know them well. The fact that they hire widely around the world probably creates management challenges but it was fun for the guests. Other guests. I was traveling as a solo and wondered how that would work. There were over 40 of us on a ship that maybe had 400 passengers, so there were lively cocktail hours and dinners arranged for those who wanted to participate. Silversea also seems to attract a well-educated and friendly crowd and I had many good conversations with the couples on board as well. Food. I thought it was outstanding and really no complaints. There were so many choices of venues that you couldn’t get tired of what’s on offer. Tips I learned (some of which I didn’t use): order berries early, raspberries and then strawberries decline first; get mango through room service; use the laundry facilities on the upper floors since they are rarely used; join team trivia and go to the solo gatherings if you are worried about meeting someone to talk to. La Dame prices are going up so visit before then if you can. Coffee is available all hours in the Observation Lounge. The seasickness pills they hand out are good for sleeping pills. Gluten free pizza, pasta are available. They will cut up the meat for you on the Rocks if you are worried you can’t cook it enough on the rock they provide, or you can ask for a second rock. This is probably obvious, but the cruises where the single supplement at 25% have large groups of solo travelers. Happy to answer questions! Emily

One observation for any night owls: I spent the day in Stockholm and thought I might be ready for bed, but I'm not. Various places on the planner say "late" for their closing time but everything I've found from 12:30 am is conspicuously closing, with lots of vacuuming and cleaning the bar area. I don't have enough nerve to ask the staff to tell me if anyplace is still serving (and honestly, I don't need another drink; I have already had one) but it is interesting. The Retreat Lounge is empty when I have gone there from 10 pm on. This was all true during the pandemic exit 2 years ago, but I'm surprised I can't get a glass of wine at midnight now.

Some positive observations: - Not sure I commented on Oceanview, but it is great. Philip eats there all the time and says there is a lot more choice than there was 2 years ago. The times I have accompanied him I have been positively impressed for lunch and dinner. I think breakfast is not the best. - The Retreat has a really nice continental breakfast that I wouldn't have known about except for Jim and other posters here. - The Wifi has been great. I've twice had Teams calls with the office and the folks on the other line have said "this is like you were down the hall". Of course, we are never far from land in the Baltic, so this may not be a true test of Starlink but I'm impressed.

That's really interesting, I too feel like the food in Luminae is not as special as I remembered. Perhaps I'm not losing my mind!

yes, seem to be.

I know some folks want to know about the ship. It has been interesting since Philip and I were on Apex 2 summers ago to Greece and of course it is a different scene now with more people. Observations: 1. Like before, I am now at 11:15 pm the only person in the Retreat Lounge, but it is a nice place to "work" on my computer. 2. We are enjoying Craft Social a lot, but we like sports bars at home, and we are getting into Premier League and Championship League football. 3. Luminae was bumpy the first night, but Pearce and I have continued to go. We think the coffee is the best on the ship and it has a great breakfast. We think the food is great most of the time. Philip sort of insists on going to Oceanview; he likes getting Indian food for 3 meals a day (or more, I think he eats like 6 meals a day) and being able to jet in and out. My sons really like the burgers and chicken sandwiches at the Retreat Pool Bar (whatever it is called). We miss our server at Luminae Indu - apparently he is now on the Beyond (we are social media friends). 4. This might be more with retreat/Luminae, but I'm struck this time how hovering and deferential the service is. It seems kind of over the top - we are always super nice to everyone - but it makes me think that other folks may demand more fawning service than we do. 5. My sons have tried all the pools. I know there was some controversy about the Solarium family hours for younger children (may be on a different ship). The family hours are 4 to 7pm I think, keep meaning to get a picture. 6. I think I like the ship with more people. I don't think we have ever had to wait for anything. We found the Eden decor really freaky before (we had not long before seen Annihilation) but now it seems diluted with all the people watching.

I meant to post earlier. This was such a kind offer. We had preexisting plans to go to Berlin. Of course, I'm now going out of order, but I wished in hindsight we had done things locally and left Berlin for another trip. Just in case this helps someone else, I had asked my sons long in advance (when I tend to plan things) if it was important to them if we went to Berlin and they said yes. Part of this is I know how much we spent on this, and it certainly wasn't one of those splurges that felt worth it to any of us. Just in case this helps anyone else: - We are all big history fans, sons have read/watched a lot on WWII - but none of us fully realized how little visible history is left. Their dad has vivid memories of visiting in 1982, but of course the drama of the wall and Checkpoint Charlie is largely gone. I realize "DUH!" but somehow, we didn't fully get it before we got there. Pearce had read the Christopher Isherwood books that were the basis of Cabaret, I had seen Erik Larson talk about In the Garden of Beasts, but again, those physical places are mostly gone. - The trip there is long, I splurged on a driver but it is a long day and you don't see much even in the 6 hours we had there. I think I would have a totally different hit on Berlin if we stayed there, went to what seem to be wonderful museums and experienced some of the street scene/ neighborhood life. - The best part for my sons was having our driver drive 200 kph on the Autobahn. Go figure.

Based on Jim's recommendation, I signed us up for Eden tonight (around 6 pm I was able to get a reservation for 3 at 8:30) and we had a blast. We didn't get along as a family yesterday in Berlin, but we were all on our best behavior and had a delicious dinner. I will post some pictures, but despite having been in the Eden bar last cruise and this one I hadn't been down in the restaurant itself. Without asking, they moved us to a windowside table with a view of the wake when it became available, our food was the best we've had (we all had either the mulligatawny soup or the crab cake appetizer, and the filet/wellington or lobster casserole as a main, wonderful desserts) and the service was nice but not so intrusive we couldn't talk. The lighting and live music was special too.

I went on the Celebrity excursion 2 years ago and if it is the same you will be perfectly fine. It is described well above. There is some walking on uneven ground and a small incline into the ruined town. We had a quite frail looking elderly couple who seemed to handle it just fine. The "challenging" part of it was really the boat ride over. The seas were rough that day. I was perfectly fine but some folks were queasy. I'm sure that's just luck of the draw.

The Rijksmuseum was great for all of us. Pearce went by himself to the Rembrandt Huis since he has a particular interest in printmaking. Philip is interested in city life, enjoyed people watching in the cafes and parks, and was impressed by the diversity. Pearce and I went to the Kroller Museum which lots of folks love, but was kind of a miss for him even though he was an art major and loved modern art.

One of the best things we did in Amsterdam was to hire a private guide, Henk Hartogh, on a recommendation from a friend. If anyone wants his info, email me at Emily.karr@stoel.com and I can send you his email and so on. He took us on a tour of the Rijksmuseum and a walking tour of the city, historical spots plus red light district and Chinatown. Really a delightful guy.

Great! We are in Eden bar right now. I loved this place last trip. The same guitarist Ge Luz is on who I really liked both 2 years ago and now. It isn’t really Pearce’s type of music (he plays guitar, but more 80s alternative) but he agrees he has a great voice.

Not sure why that is upside down. Ugh. Still getting the hang of this. We are very interested in history, art, culture so we loved the museums in Amsterdam. The first one we went to was the Van Gogh, and the permanent collection and the temporary exhibition were great. We bought tickets in advance. Random pictures:

We really loved Amsterdam. I was given a ton of restaurant recommendations but we ended up gravitating to less formal places. The weather was great so we generally ate outside. Highlights were Pllek, beachy, young, hip vibe, plant focused; cafe Luxembourg; ponte acari, eating canalside and great Italian. Here we are eating at Pllek:

The Van Stapele cookies disappeared so quickly I didn’t get a picture! They only have one kind but I highly recommended.

Despite the delays, we had a great first day in Amsterdam. We had scheduled a private street food tour with Hungry Birds, and they were willing to adjust the start time to when we could get there. we liked the Surinamese sandwiches at Tjin’s the automat was cool but the food was so so I liked the fries and sauce Pearce was the only one willing to try the herring and it was one and done. we all loved the Japanese sandwiches at Ranchi in the Albert de Cuyp market We loved the Apple tarts from Waldo.

Fun at AMS passport control.

I thought I would try a live report from the Apex since I have really enjoyed reading others’ live reports since my last cruise – which was 2 years ago, also on Apex. Some of this ground was covered better than I will accomplish, in a report Not So Baltic in the Baltic last summer, and some other ones earlier this summer, but that also encouraged me to think about writing one too! Background: I’m Emily, mom/estate planning lawyer in my 50s, traveling with my sons Pearce (24) and Philip (21). My husband is off on a lengthy bicycle trip in Nova Scotia but I hope to lure him into cruising with us next summer if I induce enough FOMO. We’re from Portland, Oregon. Summer 2021 Phil and I were on the Apex in one of the restart cruises in Greece, and I’m excited to be back on board – and frankly a bit curious what it is like with a fuller passenger load. While we were spoiled by having so much of the ship to ourselves (maybe I will see if I can do some contrast photos), there were fewer activities. We loved the live music on board – but sometimes were a bit self-conscious to be the only ones in the audience, like we had to be superfans to make up for it. Phil was so worried about a bored bartender one night he ordered a cocktail even though he doesn’t drink! We’re so excited to be traveling that this usually propels us through changes of plans – and often find that the missteps are where the trip magic really happens. This trip we had to switch timing so that Pearce could join us (August instead of July), St. Petersburg dropped from the itinerary (but that allowed us to move to a suite and have overnights in Copenhagen and Stockholm) and departing now from Rotterdam (but we will see someplace new). All good so far! Maybe I should hope for more changes. Phil and I took a direct flight to Amsterdam from PDX, which if you live in a smaller city you know how awesome it is not to have 3 flights to get to anywhere interesting! Pearce met us there from his job in DC. We had a long flight delay and a bit of a cluster getting through passport control at AMS so I was glad we had a direct flight. I’m hoping other people who are on this cruise will jump in and post.

I'll be on Muse next month and can report back. I'm really hoping I will be able to use the internet for work.

Love your reviews! Your review for last summer inspired me for the Baltic trip I'm taking with my sons this summer, similar age to your daughters. Always good to know what will be fun for that demographic! This review brought back happy memories of a similar itinerary we did on NCL when my oldest graduated high school (down to the extreme heat)!

I really don't mean this to stir the pot, but what's the appeal of the Solarium? Whenever I have walked through it is like an indoor pool area, kind of hot and humid, and reminds me of taking my kids to swim lessons, which I would never have done for fun. I had no idea it was a desirable place until I read it here. (I have no dog in the hunt, my kids are grown. Just curious.)

I'm joking, sorry I didn't make that clearer. I had a difficult night (was woken up midsleep by a friend who found a neighbor cat who had been hit by a car 😞 ) and when I woke up, I was a bit disoriented. I had a number of Twitter alerts (from the new X) and thought they were from Celebrity. I am leaving in a couple of weeks for my trip - that's my only excuse - the 2 logos are very different. Still seems strange to me that Twitter is leaving their brand but that's a different story.

I got so confused about why I had so many alerts from Celebrity!

Looking forward to reading this since we will be on Apex in a few weeks. Thanks!