Luggage allowance

[brimary]

Steve,

Which airline are you quoting from, as they are not all the same with allowances.

If you are a serious cruiser then Business is the only option if you are going for a long time,or sending the luggage ahead is a great alternative.

 

Agree send luggage to pre cruise hotel or ship then travel light in Business class. Fedex service is great and efficient - no failures in 36 cruises on Silversea

[rojaan19]

Agree send luggage to pre cruise hotel or ship then travel light in Business class. Fedex service is great and efficient - no failures in 36 cruises on Silversea

 

 

I looked into this for our cruise in August on the PA II - as we are then travelling on to Oslo, Moscow, Budapest, before spending 3 weeks in the US. So to ship one 20kg suitcase home to Australia with Fedex from Oslo was going to cost $ 554. !!!!!!!! I would dearly love to be able to send one case home (as we will have another 2 - we are travelling for a total of 2 months)

 

We always travel business class so having the 3 cases is OK I just didnt want to schlep all our thermal gear around the US !!!

 

Any ideas ?

 

Ann

[stan01]

At the risk of getting thrown overboard, as I start laying out our clothes for our 7 day Copenhagen to Stockholm cruise later this month I've decided to leave my tuxedo in the closet and go with a nice dark suit. No point in schlepping a tuxedo with a special shirt and shoes across the continent and the Atlantic for one night. Likewise for my other half. You say we shouldn't be on SS? You are probably right, but we wanted a small ship with good food/service, 3 days in St. Petersburg, and a chance to spend extra time in Copenhagen and Stockholm. We'll definitely enjoy the trip.

[Emtbsam]

At the risk of getting thrown overboard, as I start laying out our clothes for our 7 day Copenhagen to Stockholm cruise later this month I've decided to leave my tuxedo in the closet and go with a nice dark suit. No point in schlepping a tuxedo with a special shirt and shoes across the continent and the Atlantic for one night. Likewise for my other half. You say we shouldn't be on SS? You are probably right, but we wanted a small ship with good food/service, 3 days in St. Petersburg, and a chance to spend extra time in Copenhagen and Stockholm. We'll definitely enjoy the trip.

For a one week cruise, IMHO, you have made the right choice. Have a wonderful time!

[writer100]

Well said SFL. Actually I like the formal nights and I don't have a problem with the charity charge; but if $50 is no problem, $40 shouldn't be either. After all it's SS that is causing both.

I do hope I'm not too late to pour some gasoline on this fire. I would very much like to try SS, but I draw the line at mandatory formal clothes. (At these price points, I also think having a specialty restaurant with a high fee is price gouging.) We don't go to Europe just for a cruise. It is always with some land experience attached, and the more luggage you are encumbered with, the more of an impediment to easy travel you have created. Yes, we own formal clothes. Yes, we used to attend business and diplomatic dinners in the U.S. and overseas and now (locally) weddings and even the occasional pretentious party at which black-tie is specified. Alas, people don't become wittier or more interesting when the (men) at least all look like penguins. I fear that being at sea will not contradict that experience.

[oregon50]

yikes, posted on a good day.

[writer100]

yikes, posted on a good day.

You betcha. Try me when I'm really cranky.

[lord of the seas]

You betcha. Try me when I'm really cranky.

 

Yes,that medication has definately calmed you down.

[Sweetpea711423]

I do hope I'm not too late to pour some gasoline on this fire. I would very much like to try SS, but I draw the line at mandatory formal clothes. (At these price points, I also think having a specialty restaurant with a high fee is price gouging.) We don't go to Europe just for a cruise. It is always with some land experience attached, and the more luggage you are encumbered with, the more of an impediment to easy travel you have created. Yes, we own formal clothes. Yes, we used to attend business and diplomatic dinners in the U.S. and overseas and now (locally) weddings and even the occasional pretentious party at which black-tie is specified. Alas, people don't become wittier or more interesting when the (men) at least all look like penguins. I fear that being at sea will not contradict that experience.

 

 

Well, although you might like to try Silversea, it is not for you. It does have formal nights, and that is appealing for many of us, my husband and me included, who enjoy this and choose Silversea in large measure because of this. You could choose to have dinner in your cabin on formal nights, or ship some luggage home before or after the cruise for your land trip. But otherwise it is perhaps best to leave Silversea to those who enjoy the product it provides, rather than seeking to change it for the few who don't.

[dusababy]

Well, although you might like to try Silversea, it is not for you. It does have formal nights, and that is appealing for many of us, my husband and me included, who enjoy this and choose Silversea in large measure because of this. You could choose to have dinner in your cabin on formal nights, or ship some luggage home before or after the cruise for your land trip. But otherwise it is perhaps best to leave Silversea to those who enjoy the product it provides, rather than seeking to change it for the few who don't.

 

Well said Sweetpea -- my sentiments exactly.

[Emtbsam]

Well, although you might like to try Silversea, it is not for you. It does have formal nights, and that is appealing for many of us, my husband and me included, who enjoy this and choose Silversea in large measure because of this. You could choose to have dinner in your cabin on formal nights, or ship some luggage home before or after the cruise for your land trip. But otherwise it is perhaps best to leave Silversea to those who enjoy the product it provides, rather than seeking to change it for the few who don't.

 

You said it better than I ever could! Thank you.

[writer100]

Well, although you might like to try Silversea, it is not for you. It does have formal nights, and that is appealing for many of us, my husband and me included, who enjoy this and choose Silversea in large measure because of this. You could choose to have dinner in your cabin on formal nights, or ship some luggage home before or after the cruise for your land trip. But otherwise it is perhaps best to leave Silversea to those who enjoy the product it provides, rather than seeking to change it for the few who don't.

My dear Sweetpea. I am delighted that you and your husband enjoy the the artificial froth of "dress up." No, seriously, I quite agree that Silversea isn't for me. Though judging by the heavily discounted fares currently being offered, SS may well have to modify its product to attract a sufficiently large customer base. As Seabourn already has. (No formal nights in the Caribbean; no formal nights on 7-night Med cruises including B2B.) In truth, I am interested in what attracts people to different cruise lines. As you declare, you enjoy the formal nights "and choose Silversea in large measure because of this." To me, that seems a tad extreme, given all the other factors that might have been singled out as reasons "in large measure" to choose SS--food, service, itinerary, size of ship, spa, casino protocol and no doubt others. So, the formal nights clearly have some extraordinary appeal for you that simply escapes me.My loss, I am certain.

[CanadianKate]

Not retired yet so my cruising is combined with work (thus work sometimes pays for the airfare!)

 

First cruise was NYC-England, 17 days. Three or four formal nights.

 

BUT, I started in NYC for 10 days on business, then the cruise, then a day in England, then a week in Finland before flying home. Inter-Europe, our limit was 2 bags, 20 kg each plus our carry-on. Total time away from home was 34 days.

 

We left home with three suitcases, one for each of us plus one for the formal clothes. I bought an extra dress in NYC.

 

One port of call was Halifax. We have family there so the first formal gown was left there to be picked up during a later vacation. In Plymouth we stopped by the post office and mailed home all the papers from the ship (seriously all the info we wanted to save weighed about 1.5 kg.) When we got to Heathrow we went to left baggage and left our 'formal' suitcase behind. It was over 23kg. It cost us per Kg and I think the total was 35 GBP.

 

We purposefully booked a long layover in London on the way home in order leave security, pickup the suitcase from left baggage and check all our bags in for the flight home (we had a separate flight for the Helsinki portion of the trip since that was cheaper.) We were in business class for the TATL flight so the extra bag was within the allowance and we repacked the three bags so that no bag was over the 23kg limit.

 

The money for left baggage was less than the extra baggage fee but more importantly, we didn't have to schlep the bag around Helsinki. We were also able to take transit instead of a taxi to/from the airport as well so extra savings there. (And yes, I'm cheap and every penny I scrimp through the year goes to travel.)

 

I'd never give up SilverSea cruising even if I did have to pay the extra fee but I think you'll find that a lot of passengers are a frugal/tight/cheap as I am and that is how they came up with the money to indulge on SilverSea. For heavens sake, I could go twice as far for twice as long on Princess but I would hate that. Seriously. After my first cruise, on Norwegian, I swore I would never get on a ship again. Luckily, we were given a cruise in exchange for teaching at a shipboard conference and discovered that cruising may be for us. The SilverSea experience (open seating at dinner, very interesting group of guests, small ships, exceptional service) convinced us to make SilverSea cruising our vacation goal.

[Sweetpea711423]

My dear Sweetpea. I am delighted that you and your husband enjoy the the artificial froth of "dress up." No, seriously, I quite agree that Silversea isn't for me. Though judging by the heavily discounted fares currently being offered, SS may well have to modify its product to attract a sufficiently large customer base. As Seabourn already has. (No formal nights in the Caribbean; no formal nights on 7-night Med cruises including B2B.) In truth, I am interested in what attracts people to different cruise lines. As you declare, you enjoy the formal nights "and choose Silversea in large measure because of this." To me, that seems a tad extreme, given all the other factors that might have been singled out as reasons "in large measure" to choose SS--food, service, itinerary, size of ship, spa, casino protocol and no doubt others. So, the formal nights clearly have some extraordinary appeal for you that simply escapes me.My loss, I am certain.

 

 

Well, one person's "artificial froth of 'dress up'" is another person's enjoyable experience. To each his or her own. The other items you mention - food, service, itinerary, size of ship, etc. - are already outstanding on Silversea. So it is not as though I am sacrificing anything by choosing this line. Quite the contrary. I might also add that I have been noticing with interest the lower fares on Seabourn lately, so, using your reasoning, apparently its change in formal nights policy has been having an adverse impact on it.

[CanadianKate]

So, the formal nights clearly have some extraordinary appeal for you that simply escapes me.My loss, I am certain.

 

Not a loss but perhaps different priorities in life.

 

I think, for me, it is a Cinderella thing. I don't have any opportunity to dress to the nines in 'real' life. The last time I did it was for my daughter's wedding. My son doesn't even have a girlfriend so that kind of opportunity won't come by again for a while!

 

When I attend the theater in New York, I don't see people in gowns.

 

I work for myself so the company Christmas Party isn't an opportunity to dress up.

 

There are occasional 'galas' in our city but I'm not in those social circles (nor do I want to be) so I don't get invitations.

 

I can't think of one restaurant in this city where a gown would not be out of place.

 

Even on SilverSea, my collection of ladies' dinner gloves goes unworn.

 

I'm blessed to have a husband that loves to play 'Prince Charming' to my Cinderella. He already had a tux but now he has an Ivory dinner jacket and is itching to enter the dining room in his custom made mandarin jacket from Hong Kong. It's a bright green - you won't miss him (he brought me back a bright green sari from India so I'll something green to wear when he has on his new jacket.)

 

It is hard to believe the guy in our home office who wears wrinkled flannel shirts with baggy jeans 8 months of the year and wrinkled Hawaiian shirts with baggy shorts the remainder of the year wants to dress up but for him, his holiday is his total escape from our already extraordinary life.

 

We travel six months of the year, 5 of that for business so travel (even in Business and first class) is ordinary to us. But on SilverSea nothing is like our ordinary life and it is the only place he's found that he can shut off from running the company, relax and play, including playing dress-up.

[ging466]

I'd never give up SilverSea cruising even if I did have to pay the extra fee but I think you'll find that a lot of passengers are a frugal/tight/cheap as I am and that is how they came up with the money to indulge on SilverSea.

 

I can't agree with u more CanadianKate.

 

Pls don't flame me for my next comment:), frankly what is the big deal about dressing in formal wear for dinner. If u don't like doing it then don't...u can have dinner in your suite or on your balcony or go to La Terraza. The option is there for u to do whatever u like.

 

I think the formal dinners are lovely - everyone looks so beautiful/debonair when they are dressed up.

 

For my next trip, I'm travelling for 6 weeks (from Australia). I cannot afford to ship extra luggage all around the world from Australia. I will be taking 1 formal dress which I will have to wear a number of times because I just don't have the room in my case for heaps of formal outfits. But I will be dressing up in my same formal dress for each formal night...and loving it!:D

 

Cheers

Jennifer

[rojaan19]

 

For my next trip, I'm travelling for 6 weeks (from Australia). I cannot afford to ship extra luggage all around the world from Australia.

 

Cheers

Jennifer

 

 

I am with you on this one Jennifer ! We are travelling for 8 weeks - so I looked at shipping all our thermals + after our PA II arctic cruise back home. Fedex wanted $A 554 to ship one suitcase home. My husband said for that price we will be schlepping it around with us :mad: !!

 

Ann

[Keith1010]

At the risk of getting thrown overboard, as I start laying out our clothes for our 7 day Copenhagen to Stockholm cruise later this month I've decided to leave my tuxedo in the closet and go with a nice dark suit. No point in schlepping a tuxedo with a special shirt and shoes across the continent and the Atlantic for one night. Likewise for my other half. You say we shouldn't be on SS? You are probably right, but we wanted a small ship with good food/service, 3 days in St. Petersburg, and a chance to spend extra time in Copenhagen and Stockholm. We'll definitely enjoy the trip.

 

While I prefer a tuxedo over a dark suit, a dark suit is perfectly fine for a formal night so I would not worry about that.

 

Keith

[writer100]

Well, one person's "artificial froth of 'dress up'" is another person's enjoyable experience. To each his or her own. The other items you mention - food, service, itinerary, size of ship, etc. - are already outstanding on Silversea. So it is not as though I am sacrificing anything by choosing this line. Quite the contrary. I might also add that I have been noticing with interest the lower fares on Seabourn lately, so, using your reasoning, apparently its change in formal nights policy has been having an adverse impact on it.

Sweetpea, you are correct that Seabourn has been lowering its prices, though not by as great a percentage as Silversea--which now promotes fare cuts of 60%. One difference is that Seabourn has vastly increased their number of berths, so price cutting was inevitable. Silversea, by contrast, has added a far fewer number of berths, though its fare cuts are greater than those on SB. I think the Stines review captures a quality--or at least hints at a quality--that does distinguish Seabourn from Silversea. Stines describes the atmosphere on SS as "stoic." Maybe "reserved" is more accurate. Since I haven't experienced it myself, I can't be sure. But no question, a cruise is a social experience, and whether armed with evening gloves or not, we each seek something as singular as we are.

[flag fan]

Although I like the novelty of "dressing up" (in full tux) every now and then on a cruise, I do not think it is essential to enjoyment of a cruise and lately have preferred a more toned-down experience. I am glad that there is now a choice among the formal lines as to level of dress, with formal not required on two of the lines (Seabourn (at least for the 7-day cruises I go on) and SeaDream) and two (or three) that emphasize the formal, full-dress-up experience to create a special evening ambiance (Crystal, SilverSea, and Cunard). I've just finished my packing list for a 6-night Transatlantic crossing on Cunard, which has 3 formal nights--talk about overkill--and I decided to ship one bag ahead to avoid the need to lug it around Europe for my pre-cruise time in Paris and London; expensive but probably worth the cost.

 

The bottom line for me is I like the variety among the different lines and think the current mix of those that require formal dress and those that don't is pretty good.

[chicagogal]

At the risk of getting thrown overboard, as I start laying out our clothes for our 7 day Copenhagen to Stockholm cruise later this month I've decided to leave my tuxedo in the closet and go with a nice dark suit. No point in schlepping a tuxedo with a special shirt and shoes across the continent and the Atlantic for one night. Likewise for my other half. You say we shouldn't be on SS? You are probably right, but we wanted a small ship with good food/service, 3 days in St. Petersburg, and a chance to spend extra time in Copenhagen and Stockholm. We'll definitely enjoy the trip.

 

This seems logical and practical to me. One formal night is challenging. Two or three is easier in some ways. Enjoy your cruise!

[conchyjoe]

Not a loss but perhaps different priorities in life.

 

I think, for me, it is a Cinderella thing. I don't have any opportunity to dress to the nines in 'real' life. The last time I did it was for my daughter's wedding. My son doesn't even have a girlfriend so that kind of opportunity won't come by again for a while!

 

When I attend the theater in New York, I don't see people in gowns.

 

I work for myself so the company Christmas Party isn't an opportunity to dress up.

 

There are occasional 'galas' in our city but I'm not in those social circles (nor do I want to be) so I don't get invitations.

 

I can't think of one restaurant in this city where a gown would not be out of place.

 

Even on SilverSea, my collection of ladies' dinner gloves goes unworn.

 

I'm blessed to have a husband that loves to play 'Prince Charming' to my Cinderella. He already had a tux but now he has an Ivory dinner jacket and is itching to enter the dining room in his custom made mandarin jacket from Hong Kong. It's a bright green - you won't miss him (he brought me back a bright green sari from India so I'll something green to wear when he has on his new jacket.)

 

It is hard to believe the guy in our home office who wears wrinkled flannel shirts with baggy jeans 8 months of the year and wrinkled Hawaiian shirts with baggy shorts the remainder of the year wants to dress up but for him, his holiday is his total escape from our already extraordinary life.

 

We travel six months of the year, 5 of that for business so travel (even in Business and first class) is ordinary to us. But on SilverSea nothing is like our ordinary life and it is the only place he's found that he can shut off from running the company, relax and play, including playing dress-up.

 

CanadianKate, you hit it right on the head here as only somebody from the True North (strong & free) truly could.

 

My DW and I have a love/hate relationship with formal nights, but once I have made the effort and and dressed up, we truly enjoy it. It's also one of the few opportunites DW gets to wear the "Imperial Diamond Suite" too !

 

That said, when faced with four formal nights on our cruises, we normally give at least one a miss and do a dark suit for another in an alternative restaurant. It makes the special formal nights seem even more special.

 

Thank you for your input.