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@Dolcevita Diva Thank you for the information. We will be on Spirit. I imagine that open seating is the same across ships. I am surprised that the first reservation time is 7 pm. I thought it would start at 6p and end around 9p. I like the idea of dessert and drinks at Silver Note. That is mainly what we were thinking and why another reservation would have been proposed. At 120 days out, it’s hard to imagine what our schedule will detail and deciding dinner reservations. But from following these boards, you snooze, you lose, as reservations can be hard to obtain. We always cancel our reservations ahead of time as warranted. Especially if we eat a large lunch off the ship or decide to eat dinner in town.

agree. Regent use to have great promotions but I haven’t seen many lately. I think we are going to try O this fall. I have heard good things.

We are not going until June on our first SS so I am trying to research the different restaurants and times to prepare for the 120 day reservation date. When a restaurant is open seating, should one go ahead and make reservations on another restaurant just in case there is a long wait while on board. I hope that made sense. Also can you reserve two restaurants in one night. We are thinking on a sea day to make a very early dining room and a very late Silver Note reservation. Just having small meals at both. Even at home we only go to restaurants I can make reservations at, as I have no patience for waiting. It is a personality flaw. Also is La Dame worth the 120.00? We plan to go once as I want to try every restaurant at least once. But trying to decide if we should go twice. I know this is an individual preference but I would like to hear your opinion.

@ak1004 Have you ever sailed with Regent? I would love to hear your comparison of the three (O, RSSC, and SS). We are taking our first SS in June on Spirit and an O itinerary is very interesting to us and may try in the fall. Close to the same itinerary with R but O’s price is a lot lower. We have sailed with RCCS twice so we know what to expect with them. Thank you for sharing your honest opinion.

I am looking forward to reading your honest reviews. That cruise was on our radar but the timing didn’t work out. Maybe next year.

The decision was made to go for it, tenders and all. Hopefully Poseidon will be in a good mood and keep the waters calm. Thank you to everyone for all the information and advice. It was much appreciated. Now it’s time to get a hotel for a couple nights near Waterloo station. The planning is half the fun.

I wrote the name down and we will try it. I like the name with Oyster Bar in it.

Absolutely a pub lunch. That would be included in most our stops. 🍻

I know this is an unknown question but what normally are the weather and ocean conditions in June for this area? We don’t mind tendering but I am not much of a gambler. Ports and dates are very important when it comes to us making a vacation decision.

@Mayflower1 @jollyjones Thank you for the tender information. I thought a couple of them would be tenders but not so many. We took a RSSC cruise that had many tenders and it worked out. We are tied to the sea conditions. With the ports closer together if the seas are bad at one port odds are high it will be bad at the next. I am going to have to rethink our choice. We almost decided on the New England itinerary as it fit our timeframe for vacation time. Much to think about.

@Tothesunset Thank you very much for the information. I think that is a great plan and we enjoy walking so it will be much nicer to stretch our legs then sit in a bus for hours. We will definitely go to see the Royal Yacht. We thought it was a great itinerary and can not wait to see the beautiful countryside especially Belfast.

@pavementends Thank you. We were thinking of going on our own. That sounds like the best thing to do.

Finally decided this cruise (Spirit Southampton to Southampton 6/11/23) was going to be our best option and deposit was made last Monday. Now time to plan excursions and start thinking about restaurant reservations. The question for my experts: Edinburgh is giving me some thought for excursions. The only included is a panoramic drive. Doesn’t sound very interesting. I am thinking of paying for the City of Edinburgh and It’s Castle tour. I would love to hear your thoughts. We have been to Ireland and England but never Scotland so we want to take it all in. Any other information on this cruise will be helpful.

@PaulMCO Excellent information thank you. We are traveling in June. @Waltershipman We have only been on Voyager, twice. We enjoyed the ship. Shadow is the one we are looking at. I had it on a 7 day hold and let it go to make sure this is the itinerary we want. We usually go to Europe and was thinking South American route this year but we may need to be closer to home by flight.

@wristbandI have only been on the Voyager (twice) and it was lovely. I hate to hear that about Regent but you aren’t the first one to convey all of their recent issues. Regent was our first all-inclusive ocean line. We swore off ocean cruises when they became jungle gyms for kids. Our TA steered us to Regent Mediterranean. We enjoyed it and booked another cruise before we got off the ship. Because we want to be closer to home the Canada/New England itinerary ticked all the boxes. And SilverSea has good reviews. I have gained a lot of information about Silversea from the above mentioned topic post. I found Cruise critic and its posters to be a good source of help with the decision making. Thank you for taking time to post.

@ronrick1943 I totally agree about the crew. One terrible experience can total change one’s feeling about a line. My “versus” was not stated correctly. I thank all on Cruisecritic that reply. I am more of a reader than poster so I appreciate all that take the time to reply. We decided to try Silversea and I am sure it will be fantastic. I was just talking to my travel agent that we started with Eastern Star Cruise Line in 87, interior cabin to the dilemma of which luxury line we should choose. Crazy perspective.

I agree but I am not so brand loyal as to not think there are other great brands available. I did not except anyone to tell me which is better but if they had been on both lines what for someone to expect. The “Comparing…” tread was very informative. Isn’t that why everyone is on Cruise Critic, to get or give opinions and information? What the reader takes from that is up to them.

@mchell810 Thank you

I am not the best at searching on CC, but I am trying to decide between the two lines. We have been on Regent twice and loved it but Silversea has a price and itinerary we like (Canada and New England). We don’t care about the dress code as we go with whatever is expected. Anything else I should be aware of with Silversea versus a Regent cruise or will it be about the same. As many suggest on CC, just trying to do my research before booking.

The service was the talk last night with many passengers. And the first day it was mentioned this was the first full ship this year. We do believe they are under staffed and over worked. We sat with passengers that were on many Ama cruises and hated that this was many of our first impression. This is the paris-paris. And maybe other lines are feeling the same staffing problems. I just do not feel like this is a premium line at this point. I do not regret trying Ama, just not impressed. As for the last comment, it has nothing to do with tipping.. I just hate signing for a drink every time. Last night listening to the singers, we had a table full of small pieces of paper (drink tickets), all over the table. We were sitting with a group, not all our tickets lol. We started a few years ago going on all inclusive ocean and river cruises. It is usually not much more or even cheaper in the end. Just a preference. Tauck was tendered with us and we walked through. We will have to try them sometime. I think next year we will try Scenic. The weather has been lovely.

This is our first Ama but many river cruises. We usually sail with Uniworld so I will compare the two. This is same itinerary that I sailed 2 years ago so that makes it easier to compare. Pros: The cruise director is the best we have ever had. The tours have been nice and the tour guides have been great. Cons: (I can only give my opinion so I am sorry to those that love Ama) This will probably be our last Ama. The staff have been slow and at times rude. Especially the bar servers. Many times I went all lunch without anything but water. I have seen passengers have to go up to the server stating they have been waiting 30mins for a drink. Today for Normandy we had to make our box lunch. I thought that was a nice idea, no condiments so the sandwich was very dry. Had to eat in the bus because no lunch time was built in. We came back at 6p and social hour was cut by 30mins. Which is funny since no one was here to drink with lunch so it saved them money. I know these are little things but I was afraid of not having all-inclusive was going to make a difference and it does. I hate signing a little piece of paper and having to make sure they get it. For some this makes no difference which is why there are choices.

Another option that cruise lines give if the port is not walking distance to the town, are bus pick drop off and pick ups with a variety of times. The biggest reason river cruising is my favorite vacation is that most ports have been in towns were we can hop off and on to shop, grab a beer at a local pub, run into a grocery store to pick up a needed item or just enjoy walking around and seeing the town in the evening. Agree with everyone else, check itinerary and research the towns you are porting with times. Rhine Castle and Southern France cruises had a lot of middle of town ports for us.

This was one reason I was wondering about the gratuities since it doesn’t seem like a lot to pay at the end. At least the tips will take half the amount and we do drink and we will use laundry. I guess I will be shopping on board. Very kind of them for the gift but lesson learned about watch what I say.

To answer my own question, I spoke with a lovely agent and she stated yes gratuity can be paid with the OBC and we would get a refund of any money left. Warning to me to watch what I say to my children as I stated when I first booked Ama, my only concern is it not being all-inclusive for convenience reasons only. (The accountant in me was showing)

I read past posts on this subject but it didn’t specifically answer my question. My children called Ama directly and using a credit card put money on a ship board credit so not through our travel agent. Because it was a gift for our anniversary I didn’t want to let it be known that there isn’t a lot we will need to pay on board. Can we pay crew and manager gratuity out of the ship board credit? On the invoice they gave us, Ama listed it under other charges, ship board credit $250.00 each.