Should we splurge on Silversea?

[newtotheseas]

My husband and I have never been on a cruise and we are considering cruising on Silver Wind Voyage 2017 Monte Carlo to Athens embarking on May 25, 2010. My expectations are to get a taste of what Monaco, Italy and the Greek Isles have to offer by exploring the ports by day and having a cabin to relax in during the evening. We have never been to Europe previously and rather than guess at what cities we may like we thought a cruise would give us an overview without having to pack and unpack numerous times. We don't drink alcohol and my husband has no desire to wear anything other than shorts or khakis so formal nights with wine would be of no interest to us. We enjoy room service but didn't know if we would be allowed to walk around the ship at night unless we were dressed formally. Additionally, our hope was to have a spacious suite but when I looked at the configuration of the Wind, I noticed the bigger cabins are at the bow of the ship, where the motion of the ship is the greatest. Seasickness is an issue with me so I looked at the middle of the ship and it appears only smaller cabins are located there. We are looking for a quiet atmosphere with a spacious and well appointed cabin with a balcony that we can sit on and enjoy our meals and time between ports. Does Silversea sound right for us or do you have any other recommendations?

[DebbieH103]

You might look at Regent where some of their Med cruises have no formal nights and also Sea Dream where this is not an issue.

 

On formal nights on SS, generally, you are supposed to change by 6 pm. Sometimes I am still hot tubbing then but try to get out at 6:30 even though they keep the hot tubs open till 10 (bar closes).

 

Sometimes on formal night, some of the gents remove their jacket, losen or remove tie before the show, but they are still dressed up. At no time, are there shorts at dinner, and people don't run around in shorts at night.

 

There are plenty of yummy non-alcholic drinks - smoothies, fruity stuff, whatever you can think of.

[dwelsh]

Try Oceania, they have the itineraries, no formalities, great food, incredible service. Best for 1st timers!!

[flag fan]

You might look at Regent where some of their Med cruises have no formal nights and also Sea Dream where this is not an issue.

 

If seasickness is an issue, Sea Dream may not be a good option. Their ships are very small so (I assume) have more motion than larger ships.

[newtotheseas]

flag fan is right--Sea Dream yachts look a bit small for my (stomach) comfort. You all bring up valid points and I am kind of bummed because I really did want to try Silversea but am researching Oceania and Regent per your advice. Thank you!!

[DebbieH103]

If you don't find a Regent cruise w/o formal nights then treat SS and Silversea as the same. You don't have to do a tux and gown to be dressy. Get a sequined cocktail top and some silky pants, and hubby can wear a dark suit and tie. There are a lot of comfy things you can do and still fit in. Don't rule this out. They don't go overboard on formal nights. Some of these sailings have one. It is just you mentioned shorts and sounded like you wanted really casual.

[LaPaloma]

I would lean toward oceania--on silversea part of the all inclusive charge is to pay for booze you won't be drinking. We have friends who sail oceania for that reason--the food is great, and the most formal thing is what they call country club casual--whatever that is! Don

[dwelsh]

Don:

 

Country club casual on "O" as far as men are concerned is a pair of dress slacks and an open necked shirt. I took a blazer with me at the insistance of DW but only wore it once, that was because the DR was rather cool that evening. Hawaiian shirts with white pants were very popular on tropical routes.

We are going to be cruising French Polynesia aboard SS in February and hoping that the dress code will not be strictly imposed in the humid weather conditions which prevail there. Does anyone on the board have the experience of cruising SS in the tropics?

[Rally]

My husband and I have never been on a cruise and we are considering cruising on Silver Wind Voyage 2017 Monte Carlo to Athens embarking on May 25, 2010. My expectations are to get a taste of what Monaco, Italy and the Greek Isles have to offer by exploring the ports by day and having a cabin to relax in during the evening. We have never been to Europe previously and rather than guess at what cities we may like we thought a cruise would give us an overview without having to pack and unpack numerous times. We don't drink alcohol and my husband has no desire to wear anything other than shorts or khakis so formal nights with wine would be of no interest to us. We enjoy room service but didn't know if we would be allowed to walk around the ship at night unless we were dressed formally. Additionally, our hope was to have a spacious suite but when I looked at the configuration of the Wind, I noticed the bigger cabins are at the bow of the ship, where the motion of the ship is the greatest. Seasickness is an issue with me so I looked at the middle of the ship and it appears only smaller cabins are located there. We are looking for a quiet atmosphere with a spacious and well appointed cabin with a balcony that we can sit on and enjoy our meals and time between ports. Does Silversea sound right for us or do you have any other recommendations?

 

This sounds more like Regent than Silversea/

[chicagogal]

My husband and I have never been on a cruise and we are considering cruising on Silver Wind Voyage 2017 Monte Carlo to Athens embarking on May 25, 2010. My expectations are to get a taste of what Monaco, Italy and the Greek Isles have to offer by exploring the ports by day and having a cabin to relax in during the evening. We have never been to Europe previously and rather than guess at what cities we may like we thought a cruise would give us an overview without having to pack and unpack numerous times. We don't drink alcohol and my husband has no desire to wear anything other than shorts or khakis so formal nights with wine would be of no interest to us. We enjoy room service but didn't know if we would be allowed to walk around the ship at night unless we were dressed formally. Additionally, our hope was to have a spacious suite but when I looked at the configuration of the Wind, I noticed the bigger cabins are at the bow of the ship, where the motion of the ship is the greatest. Seasickness is an issue with me so I looked at the middle of the ship and it appears only smaller cabins are located there. We are looking for a quiet atmosphere with a spacious and well appointed cabin with a balcony that we can sit on and enjoy our meals and time between ports. Does Silversea sound right for us or do you have any other recommendations?

 

Hello Newtotheseas,

 

We have been on many cruise lines including Silversea but not Regent. I honestly think from what you are describing, you might enjoy Oceania, or even Windstar, better than Silversea. Both have lovely Mediterranean itineraries and nice food and people. Either one would be more casual than Silversea while still being upscale. You could probably do 2 back to back cruise weeks on Windstar for the price of 7-10 days on one of the others. On either of these, your husband could dress as he would like to, and you won't be paying for alcohol that you do not choose to drink.

 

The good news is that you really can't go wrong with any of these lines! I hope you and your husband really enjoy your first cruise! Let us know what you decide to do.

[seagirl2002]

@dwelsh, concerning your question about the dress code in the tropics....we've experienced that the dress code does not change with the location but with the crowd. We did 2 Silversea cruises in the Caribbean and both time the dress code was the same as elsewhere. Tux or dark suit for the gents on formal nights, lots of them even wore a tie on the informal nights. Due to the airconditioning you sometimes don't even feel that you are in a tropic area.

[Keith1010]

I have read all of the posts and the biggest recommendation I can give you is the following.

 

- Find a good Travel Specialist, particularly one who specializes in Luxury Cruise Lines. I think you will have a lot of questions and a good Travel Specialist can help you with them. I don't think you will find a cruise line that will necessarily meet each and every expectation that you have so decide on what's most important to you after you have narrowed down your choices.

 

-Pick up the book by Douglas Ward and published by Berlitz called Guide to Cruising. It is very informative about cruise lines and each cruise ship.

 

-As you narrow down the list of possible cruises, go to the internet web sites for each cruise line and get a copy of their brochure. As you have done with Silversea, study the itineraries and the ships diagram.

 

-And then go to the respective cruise critic sites just to get a sense of what say around 80% of the people tend to say are the up-side and the down-side of each line.

 

If you are concerned about sea sickness, I would try to find a cabin towards the middle of the ship. The most forward ones can be a problem for motion.

 

Size of the ship can play a role along with its stabilizers. For someone concerned about sea sickness I would avoid Sea Dream although I would have recommended it as a plus for some of the other items you mentioned.

 

Take a look at all of the luxury cruise lines and a few of the premium ones.

 

Good luck.

 

Keith

[duct tape]

dwelch, I agree with Miriam. We are frequent floaters on SS and the dress code does not change with the weather. The ship is AC (sometimes extremely so) and the uniform of the day has never been uncomfortable. Enjoy your cruise!

[dwelsh]

Duct Tape and Seagirl:

 

Thanks for your information. After carefully re-reading the information i am sure there won't be a problem and we are very much looking forward to our cruise.

[Dreps]

I agree with Keith. Find a good TA. That said, you have mentioned a "spacious cabin," and I don't think Oceania's cabins would be considered spacious unless you move up to a Penthouse. Once you do that, the other lines become much more competitive. Even if you're not interested in alcoholic beverages, the fact that Regent's cruises now include "free" excursions, should be a factor in your choice. Excursions can add significantly to the overall cost of a cruise. Also, Regent's all-suite, all balcony (except for a few cabins on the Navigator) "standard" cabins are hard to beat.

[wripro]

Included excursions should only be a factor if one uses them. Personally, I prefer private tours or doing things on my own to being herded into a bus with thirty or forty other people.

[DebbieH103]

Good point, but then one doesn't always know how many will be herded. If a group on Regent is that large, they will be separated into at least two groups, as they would on SS. This is the case a lot of the time.

[DebbieH103]

...and in that vein, we are booked on something at every port for Barcelona to Lisbon @ a cost of $1124 - seeing monkeys, doing a wine tour, doing a foodie tour, a river cruise, and a Flamingo dancing thing, among other things. I believe there are 7 ports.

[newtotheseas]

Thank you for your thoughtful suggestions and for sharing your experiences. I have begun to research Regent and the prices seemed very steep until I noticed they are running a 2 for 1 sale with free air and free excursions. I will check with my TA on how long that is applicable toward 2010 cruises. Once again, much appreciation to all who have helped to make our first embarkation a good match for us.

Rebecca

[MHF]

Rebecca, Take a look at the Grill levels on Cunard. We very much enjoyed our Queens Grill on QM2 in the Carribbean. You pay for alcholic drinks separately so yes, you have to sign bar chits. But you do have a separate Grill bar, dining room, and sundeck for a more personalized experience on the huge ship.

 

Melissa

[duct tape]

On SS tours, there are never any more than 30/32 to a bus...(single) seats for all!!

[chicagogal]

I agree with Keith. Find a good TA. That said, you have mentioned a "spacious cabin," and I don't think Oceania's cabins would be considered spacious unless you move up to a Penthouse. Once you do that, the other lines become much more competitive. Even if you're not interested in alcoholic beverages, the fact that Regent's cruises now include "free" excursions, should be a factor in your choice. Excursions can add significantly to the overall cost of a cruise. Also, Regent's all-suite, all balcony (except for a few cabins on the Navigator) "standard" cabins are hard to beat.

 

You make some good points, Dreps.

[wripro]

Re: QM2 just remember that the Queen's Grill is just one part of a huge, huge ship with 2600 passengers who need to disembark and reembark at each port. I would only consider that ship for a TA. A cruise, imo, would be a nightmare.

[umtali]

Re dress code Silversea would depend on whether it is going to be enforced or not. On a recent cruise we found that "informal dress" ie women, dresses or trouser suits, men, slacks, jacket, tie optional, was completely superceded by courderoy pants, or denim for woman, and jeans and revolting polo shirts, (complete with logoes), for men. So I would assume that if you tell the Maitre de, "this is as good as it gets sunshine!!", you are in.

[Keith1010]

Re dress code Silversea would depend on whether it is going to be enforced or not. On a recent cruise we found that "informal dress" ie women, dresses or trouser suits, men, slacks, jacket, tie optional, was completely superceded by courderoy pants, or denim for woman, and jeans and revolting polo shirts, (complete with logoes), for men. So I would assume that if you tell the Maitre de, "this is as good as it gets sunshine!!", you are in.

 

Thank goodness this was not the norm on our first cruise with Silversea last month. In general most people (maybe one or two exceptions) were kind enough to follow the recommended dress for each evening.

 

Keith