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My Review of Silver Sea Cloud Antarctica Cruise - February 18-28, 2018


Carol From California
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Carol (and Bruce in support), terrifically well done Cloud Expedition cruise review--thank you for sharing. Your word descriptions of the Antarctica wildlife, ship conditions from cleaning your boots to fine dining are outstanding.

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Thank you for your report, Carol. We have 3 cruises booked on Cloud, which is a leap of faith since we have never been on her. But it sounds wonderful. We have been on both Explorer several times and Galapagos once. This sounds like a step up, even though we loved both those ships. Kara is our favorite expedition leader.

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Glad to see you posting again Rachel. We have a B2B booked on the Cloud starting in Capetown in mid March 2019 to Tema, Ghana and then the next cruise from there to Lisbon. Have been to Capetown and Lisbon before, but nothing in between. We haven’t been on the Cloud before either, but after it’s refurbishment I here that it is fantastic.

 

Which trips do you have booked on the Cloud?

 

Rich

 

 

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We are doing this cruise next Jan. also with business class air. Since you went thru Houston, was it on UA? Did you have business class all the way? How about the charter, meal on board? Did they give you any meals in Santiago? We did the Celebrity Xpedition for the Galapagos last year and were impressed by the care given from the time we got off the plane in Quito. Thank you

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We are doing this cruise next Jan. also with business class air. Since you went thru Houston, was it on UA? Did you have business class all the way? How about the charter, meal on board? Did they give you any meals in Santiago? We did the Celebrity Xpedition for the Galapagos last year and were impressed by the care given from the time we got off the plane in Quito. Thank you

 

Yes it was United. The flights between LAX and Houston are business class but they are not the same as the flights between Santiago and Houston which have the fully flat beds. Those flights were actually pretty good....better than I expected. They have improved since we last flew with them. Meals were decent too, and crew were very good. On the way down we had the new seat configuration and on the way back we had the older type. Apparently they are converting them all to the new type. The only disadvantage is with the new configuration the seats are staggered and you don't actually sit next to your spouse.

 

They did not give us a meal in Santiago but there was a floor of the hotel where they have an evening sort of happy hour with snacks and wine and they included that. There is a meal on the charter flight and they served beverages. It was a sandwich type lunch....LATAM is the airline. It's a very long plane with a 3-3 seat configuration that Silversea charters for the cruise passengers.

 

We are anxious to do the Galapagos one of these days!

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On the Seabourn Quest you get the video of the trip given to you. Another nit-picky instance of Silversea nickel and diming its passengers. Nice report, though, and thanks for posting it.

 

Fortunately we had some OBC which paid for the video....but glad I got it and love watching it! I think it's a big money maker as I am sure the majority purchased it.

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Thank you for your report, Carol. We have 3 cruises booked on Cloud, which is a leap of faith since we have never been on her. But it sounds wonderful. We have been on both Explorer several times and Galapagos once. This sounds like a step up, even though we loved both those ships. Kara is our favorite expedition leader.

 

I am sure you will love the Cloud. Kara was fantastic as was the entire expedition team. They really made the trip special. They are all so passionate about what they do and it makes the experience wonderful for everyone!

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Glad to see you posting again Rachel. We have a B2B booked on the Cloud starting in Capetown in mid March 2019 to Tema, Ghana and then the next cruise from there to Lisbon. Have been to Capetown and Lisbon before, but nothing in between. We haven’t been on the Cloud before either, but after it’s refurbishment I here that it is fantastic.

 

Which trips do you have booked on the Cloud?

 

Rich

 

 

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We are doing Dublin to London in May 2019, the circumnavigation of Iceland in August 2019 then the Antarctica cruise that includes South Georgia Island in January 2020. Really hope we like this ship!

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Rachel: Sounds like you have some special trips coming up. Hope you enjoy Antarctica as much as we did. LLOOOOTTTSSS of penguins and other wildlife and scenery was spectacular. I read a book about Shackleton and his exploits; fascinating. Since we will have been on the Cloud for over a month and getting off on May 1st of 2019 we should be able to give you a heads up about the ship.

 

 

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Appreciate this great review and these many details from your Antarctica "adventure". Sounds like wonderful, interesting fun!!! Having done four sailings on the "old" Silver Cloud, glad to know that this ship is doing well in its current "life". We would like to do this sailing in the future. It's on our "future dream" list. Just need more money and time.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

AFRICA?!!?: Lots of interesting, dramatic pictures can be seen from this live/blog at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2310337

Now at 37,590 views for this visual sharing including Cape Town, along South Africa’s coast, Mozambique, Victoria Falls/Zambia and Botswana's famed Okavango Delta area.

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Thank you for the review Carol. We are booked on the 15-night cruise in December 2018.

 

We plan to take our boots and poles. Are the boots washed clean enough to put back into the luggage? Or should we plan to bring lawn trash bags?

 

What was the dress code at dinner in the main dining room? Does hubby need a dark suit? What did most men wear at dinner.

 

I plan to take dress pants and switch out the tops. Is this ok, or were more women in dresses and gowns?

Being such a cold weather destination we need to pack wisely.

 

How much was the cruise video?

 

Is tipping expected onboard?

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Thank you for the review Carol. We are booked on the 15-night cruise in December 2018.

 

We plan to take our boots and poles. Are the boots washed clean enough to put back into the luggage? Or should we plan to bring lawn trash bags?

 

What was the dress code at dinner in the main dining room? Does hubby need a dark suit? What did most men wear at dinner.

 

I plan to take dress pants and switch out the tops. Is this ok, or were more women in dresses and gowns?

Being such a cold weather destination we need to pack wisely.

 

How much was the cruise video?

 

Is tipping expected onboard?

 

Yes, your boots will be super clean. You have to go through the machine each time you get back on the ship, and they will be dry by the time you get back to Ushuaia. We packed them no problem. We stuffed them with the socks and gloves to save space in the suitcases. As for the poles, I'm glad we bought them (as opposed to renting them) as we will definitely use them again. We were under the weight allowance of 50 pounds each in our main suitcases. On the way back we were a little over because we packed the Silversea jackets and some additional items we bought, but they did not check weights on the charter flights...in fact Silversea checked them all in together in Ushuaia and we retrieved our bags in Santiago. We had to leave the bags out the night before disembarkation. The only reason I knew we were over 50 pounds was when we checked in for the United flights (where we would be okay with up to 70 pounds in business class) we found out we were a little over.

 

The dress code in the restaurants did not seem to be enforced. We saw people dressed up and others in jeans. You will be fine with dressy pants and switching out the tops. Did not see any gowns. My husband packed a jacket and only wore it once. Certainly do not need a dark suite IMO. On the night we went to La Dame for dinner I even saw someone in jeans in there! I think because it is an expedition cruise they do not enforce the dress code which I was very happy about. We are used to Regent, Oceania and Viking which have a more relaxed dress code. The Grill (Hot Rocks) on the top deck is always casual.

 

Cruise video was $150 and included the video as well as photos.

 

Gratuities are included and I don't think you need to give any additional.

 

Any more questions please ask away, or email me.

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Great review! So much matches our trip (upgrade from 4 to 5, we were in 524 but had a different butler than you did, Scott and Allan in the buffet, etc). A few different stops from ours but I'm sure they were just as great.

 

No Adelie penguins? I hope you just forgot to mention them, they were so much fun!

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Great review! So much matches our trip (upgrade from 4 to 5, we were in 524 but had a different butler than you did, Scott and Allan in the buffet, etc). A few different stops from ours but I'm sure they were just as great.

 

No Adelie penguins? I hope you just forgot to mention them, they were so much fun!

 

Sorry to say we did not see Adelie penguins! Did you see the whales? We saw both humpback and orca whales. Was told that previous trips did not see.

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