Review: 3/15 – 3/22 Whisper Caribbean cruise w/Seabourn comparison

[AllisonJames]

Hi all – Since I have obsessed over this board for the better part of a year in preparation for this trip, I thought I would express my appreciation to all the wonderful folks who provided reviews and answered my many questions and post my own review in the hope that it might prove useful to someone. I apologize for the length, I will probably break it into parts and I guess you can always stop reading if you are bored!

 

First, a little bit about ourselves and our travel style – I’m 50, my husband is soon-to-be 50, and we have been married 25 years. Once a year we take a winter vacation without our children to the Caribbean or Mexico. We don’t take cruises often as we really enjoy beach/golf vacations, out last luxury cruise was several years ago on the Seabourn Legend, our first cruise in that category. (When we cruise with our two teenagers we cruise RCCL because it is great for them – we’d never take them on SB or SS, they’d be bored). We seek relaxation, sunshine, peace and quiet on our vacations, with a little bit of activity thrown in! We are not well off by any means (currently paying college tuition) so look for value and a relatively high-end experience and do a lot of planning and research to achieve that goal. Travel is always our first priority for our discretionary dollars. I don’t think we are particularly high-maintenance travelers but of course like most everyone else we always hope the experience ends up “worth” the expense.

 

I’ll offer some general comparisons to SB but keep in mind that cruise was several years ago.

 

Summary – Overall, we loved Silversea, it was a great itinerary, the staff and service was wonderful, the food was good. We loved the Whisper and some fears we had about size and number of people were unfounded (SB Legend has capacity for 208 guests and is 10K tons, Whisper has 388 guests and is 28K tons – since we had really enjoyed the Legend we were worried we’d feel Whisper was too big or crowded). We are now Silversea converts and not sure we’d look to sail SB again because the Whisper felt like the perfect size and the SB triplets might now feel too small and the SB new ships might be too big/too many people. I celebrated my big 5-0 on board and was well feted and it was a very special day. Enjoyed the Butler concept (we had Ivy from the Philippines who was great) which we did not have on the Legend. Overall do not have much negative to report except for our original suite assignment which was not SS’s fault.

 

Ship – Just wonderful except for the location of our forward Vista suite (too noisy). There was an obvious difference in the space/passenger ratio between the Legend and the Whisper with the Whisper public spaces much more spacious and with more public dining choices for dinner, 4 compared to 2 on the Legend. Also, pool and deck area larger, hallways, everywhere more space with the exception of the suites. I thought the Whisper looked a bit more upscale than the Legend, especially on the pool deck which had nicer furniture. We had the lowest category suites on both cruises (window, no balcony) and they are very similar in size and amenities but the layout is a bit different and that made the SB suite seem a bit more spacious. Definitely felt much more motion on the Legend due to its smaller size. A few niggles in the Whisper suite such as there didn’t seem to be enough outlets in convenient places and the clock on the desk rather than bedside which drove me crazy because I like to know what time it is when I wake up in the middle of the night! Next time I would take a travel alarm clock. We did have an Ipod dock.

 

Suite location – as mentioned in my other post on the “Music on Whisper?” thread, we initially had the suite location from h**l and did not get much sleep the first two nights on the cruise due to noise and vibrations. We had Suite 410, the most forward suite and the reason we chose this was because of a mistake by us and our travel agent in reading the Whisper deck plan. We thought the Restaurant was at the end of an open hallway of our forward suites and that there would be lots of people congregating and it would be noisy, so we moved as far forward as possible, but in reality, it is one of those “you can’t get there from here” situations where it is located there but there’s a wall so you have to go up to the next deck and then to another stairway so our reason for choosing that suite in the first place turned out to be a non-issue. It can be hard to understand the deck plans if you haven’t been on the ship. We also had the Legend size in mind and underestimated how lengthy the Whisper halls would be so in reality most things weren’t as close to each other as they looked on the deck plan. Later pre-cruise we changed to Suite 428 but somehow that change never went through – if it had we wouldn’t have had a problem. Anyway, I would avoid the 4-6 most forward Vista suites on either side. The first night wasn’t too bad but the second had our bed vibrating and a loud slamming noise every 30 seconds or so and the anchor noise was really loud.

 

Okay, this is getting long, I think I will break here for now, feel free to ask questions, Part II coming up (if you are still reading!)

[Travelcat2]

I am reading every word! We will be on the Whisper next month. We have done many Regent cruises and were interested in trying Silversea. We sailed on the Silver Spirit in November - the service and food on the Spirit were wonderful, but, the ship was a bit strange. Everyone we talk indicates that the Whisper is the best of the SS ships.

 

Looking forward to your next report:)

[AllisonJames]

Hi TravelCat, I am glad to know someone's reading this! I feel I know you from another site -- do you post on Fodors Caribbean board? I guess your cruise on the Whisper will be the transatlantic one? That will be a different feel than the Caribbean one I assume but I think the Whisper is a nice ship for days at sea due to its size and amenities and number of dining options. You mention that you thought the Spirit was "strange" -- can you elaborate please?

[heidik]

Fabulous, thoughtful review -- I am on the Whisper leaving out of Barbardos next week for 20 days!!! How was the coffee? Temp in your cabin?

[AllisonJames]

Hi Heidi -- I am not exactly a coffee connoisseur but I thought the coffee was good. Regarding the temp in the suite, each suite has its own temperature control and I am one of those people who is either too cold or too hot but I was always comfortable. The public areas were also very comfortable, not too freezing like some places with AC. But I would bring a sweater, shawl or wrap, especially for on deck. At sailaway I would usually need one.

[ging466]

Keep it coming AllisonJames:)

 

Whisper was my first SS cruise and got me hooked on SS. I had suite 411 but only had anchor noise.

 

I'm really enjoying your review.

 

Cheers

Jennifer

[Travelcat2]

Wow -- you have a lot of people interested in your review. In terms of the Spirit, we do recognize that it was built when the economy in the U.S. was at it's worst. The first thing we noticed on the Spirit was that almost everything that appeared to be wood was actually plastic. Plastic was everywhere.. . . walls, furniture in the Silver Suites, tables in The Bar, etc.

 

We had a Silver Suite. It was a good size and we loved the bathroom that had a separation that made the suite appear to have two bathrooms (a toilet and sink in one half and a toilet, sink, bathtub and shower in the other. The closet was really strange. It had three entrances. You needed to close one door in order to open the drawers. The first night, after a red-eye flight, we kept walking into the closet by mistake. Not a big deal I guess. There were no drawers on the desk or area where women would typically put on their make-up. The worst were the sinks in the bathroom. Water tended to splash everywhere and there was no room to store anything.

 

Still, we loved the cruise and found the staff exemplary. The only other thing I can think of to criticize is the contribution to the cause that the owner believes in. This should be voluntary rather than mandatory (unless you let them know that you are not interested).

 

Regent is going through some difficult changes which only makes Silversea that much more enticing. We were also thinking about trying Seabourn next year. . . . . however, if you do not feel it is a big step above Silversea, I think we will stick with Silversea.

[AllisonJames]

Regarding SS vs. Regent we have never sailed Regent but we got to know some folks on the cruise who sailed Regent a lot and this was their first time on SS and they really liked it but said they'd go back and forth between the two based on itinerary and price. Regarding SB vs. SS, I can't compare with the new larger SB ships but can tell you I much preferred the Whisper over the smaller SB triplets and I think the overall service on SB/SS is very, very similar and the food was also relatively equal. So I guess overall right now I give the nod to SS for better itineraries and a nicer ship because I loved the Whisper. But I also have to say I have seen more competitive pricing on SB (for the triplets especially) recently. SS seems to be promoting higher prices but more onboard credits and we are more about the price!

[clkc86]

You had to know I would be stalking you on your review! I tried to get a start on one but haven't managed to get very far, so I will tag along on yours! You were on 1 week before me, but same itinerary. We are a couple of birthdays behind you, but only a couple. What a way to celebrate your big day!

 

We were in 434, which we liked. Our butler was Oki, which was funny for us as we ARE Okies! We enjoyed Whisper very much. When we first saw her, I was surprised at her size, bigger than I expected. The layout did take some getting used to. It seemed odd to have to go up 1 floor to get to the restaurant on the same floor as our suite, but we quickly got used to it. We did have to figure that out for ourselves however.

 

Sadly our first night, our 25th anniversary, found us in rougher seas than I had expected, so we had to hastily cancel our reservation for Le Champagne and I ended up with ginger ale and crackers for my first meal! A couple of dramamine later I was OK, thank goodness. Our later day in Le Champagne, Italian night was much better!

 

This was our first luxury cruise and the first cruise in 15 years. Our interest in upscale travel seems to match yours, splurge, but splurge wisely. I found this was true for this trip. If I wanted to do another cruise, I would certainly put Silversea at the top of the list! I liked the Italian touches we found throughout the ship.

 

Now, please continue so I can continue to relive my trip through your eyes!

[lincslady]

Allison James - we have tried Silversea a few times, and have to agree about the forward suites in Vista; we asked to be moved.

 

I feel you might like the new SB ships - a big improvement in many ways on Legend etc., and really do not feel too full of people - 450 max. and heaps of room for everyone. We definitely prefer SB larger ships overall to SS - some things of course a bit better and others not, but to us SB has the prize in this type of ship, mainly the character and personalities of the staff, and the feeling of how the ship is 'run'.

[AllisonJames]

Hi everyone -- thanks for your comments and thanks for reading :)

 

Part II

 

Thankfully, a plea to our Virtuoso host onboard and to SS guest relations ended up with a very satisfactory result and we were moved after our second night, as all Vista Suites were full we ended up with a handicapped Terrace Suite so that was extra nice, lots more space and the terrace as well, a great birthday present after two poor sleep nights. Have to say, though, that I don’t think I would spend the extra money for a Terrace Suite unless it was a very good deal -- although it is nice to be able to step outside, there isn’t any furniture on the terrace and it is shared by about 6-8 suites. The terrace can also be reached from the main deck so we wouldn’t really feel comfortable sleeping with the door propped open. So, all’s well that ends well on the suite issue and thanks to Virtuoso and SS for “saving” our cruise.

 

Food – now many folks may disagree with me on this next statement, but we thought the food was good but not excellent. Nothing we ate was really memorable and we are not sitting here now saying “Boy, that ______ was really good.” We did think dinner at Le Champagne was worth the extra price (we did the $30pp option and purchased a bottle of wine, I can’t imagine the experience being worth $400 because I couldn’t drink all that wine) but since we used onboard credits we really weren’t paying anything extra. Had dinner at Le Champagne on my birthday and there was only one other couple there, it was like a private experience and the Maitre D Szaby from Hungary was so charming and personable we really enjoyed talking with him and the waiter (whose name escapes me), two wonderful, handsome young men who really enhanced the overall experience. We liked this dinner so much we chose to eat there again on our last night. We were given the complimentary champagne to start the meal, ordered a bottle of wine, and on the last night were offered some very delicious Sauterne after the meal, compliments of SS. I mention all these details because there have been a lot of questions about Le Champagne, the wines, etc. For some reason, Le Champagne was hardly utilized on our cruise, which was a shame, it’s a very worthwhile experience.

 

Hot Rocks – It was nice to eat out on deck but I wouldn’t do this again it was not really our thing, the food was too plain. It was fun cooking our own food but kind of a one-time experience for us. This is the only dining venue where I thought there was a shortage of servers, they were so busy they actually left the bottle of wine on our table which was fine with us!

 

La Terrazza – We really liked this restaurant, much better than the MDR in our opinion and thought the menu was more interesting. Very good pastas. As the week went on, it got very difficult to get reservations for La Terrazza as everyone caught on to how good it was. Make your reservations early in your trip!

 

MDR – It was just okay, I think we had a situation where we made a couple of bad menu choices initially and that turned us a bit negative on the MDR, also, with two other great choices in Le Champagne and La Terrazza we just didn’t feel the need to go to the MDR much.

 

Service in all venues was very good, all our courses came very quickly (almost too quickly) and were hot and I can’t think of a single instance of receiving an incorrect item or something missing, etc. One small complaint I have is the wine service seemed very modest, by this I mean they filled our glasses perhaps 1/3 full and did not really come around to refill, perhaps because the next course they would ask if we were having something different. But there were times I did not have any wine, which was in contrast to our experience on SB where I felt they were very liberal in pouring and refilled often. I also one time asked if there was a different chardonnay I could have because I did not like what they were serving and the server seemed not to know anything about the wine so I was basically refused. I asked this because I had learned from this board that if you didn’t like the wine they would get you a different one. Don’t want to sound too high maintenance, these are pretty minor issues to me. I certainly had access to enough alcohol this trip!

 

Breakfast/lunch – We utilized room service about 5 – 6 times throughout the trip, for breakfast, lunch and hors d’oeuvres. All room service was delivered by our Butler and it was very prompt with no mistakes on the order. She was so timely that we used breakfast room service as our wake-up call. Very, very impressive and nice with setting up a full dining table. On my birthday she came in with breakfast and cards and gifts from my family which was a nice surprise. We did not eat breakfast or lunch in the MDR so can’t comment, we had a number of lunches off the ship and at the pool grill and liked the breakfast and lunch buffets at La Terrazza especially because we could sit outside. One complaint I have is that I wish La Terrazza would stay open for lunch later than 2 p.m. – several times we returned to the ship from shore excursions around 2:30 and our only choice was the pool grill, where the food was just okay.

 

One comment about the desserts as I have a sweet tooth – the desserts leaned heavily toward the mousse/ice cream variety, perhaps because it is easier to serve those things to so many people? We had one cannoli dessert which was really good, but I was looking for desserts of the cake/pie variety and there just wasn’t much of that on the menu. The best desserts I had were at La Terrazza lunch buffet the first day where there were cakes, cookies, pies. But didn’t get back there again for lunch – perhaps SS serves more traditional desserts at lunch and the “fancier” type desserts at dinner? I guess I could have made a special request but frankly, I didn’t need the calories! Even my birthday cake was made of mousse, no cake at all.

 

Okay, I went on really long about the food, sorry. The food was good and service excellent, it’s just that we are used to a lot of really great restaurants in Philadelphia and I did not think it approached that level, with the exception of Le Champagne.

 

I think the food on SB and SS is very comparable; but I definitely enjoyed the greater choice of dining options on the Whisper and the increased variety in menu choices as a result. There are, however, a few items from our SB cruise that I still think of years later – the breadsticks and the crème brulee!

[clkc86]

Glad to know your thoughts on the Terrace suites. I had wondered if it would be worth it.

 

We had very few misses in the Restaurant. We found the mains and desserts lacking a bit. We never had the wine problem you mention, we were always kept filled. We had most breakfasts and lunches in the Restaurant and enjoyed them thoroughly. Very few people were ever there for either service, so we got unlimited attention, but not intrusive. Agree that dessert selections seemed weak. We were back late on an excursion and they did keep La Terrazza open for us, we had to hurry but it beat a pool lunch! We wished for longer hours for both breakfast and lunch. We also thought the 30 dollar option a good deal in Le Champagne; the food here is that much better. We did do the pairings and found it to be a good value for the wines as there were some pricey bottles opened! Wish we had missed the poolside bbq.

 

Anxious to know if you did any shows. We did not. We loved the duo in the bar and went there every night. Until the last couple of nights we usually had the bar almost completely to ourselves as well.

 

Keep it coming!

[newlondon]

Hi Allison, We are happy to see someone who enjoyed Whisper as much as we did. We were in a midship veranda 824 which was great because it was easily accessible to outdoors. Our cruise was the 12/3 trip from Valpo-BA.

We thought the Whisper was fantastic. Despite a storm of 120mph winds our cruise/trip was not to be missed.

We think the Butler experience works; we had every breakfast in our suite and it was hot and on time!!

The food was excellent and we did take advantage of the ability to order off the menu in the Restaurant. They made an Indian meal for us; and my favorite sweetbreads twice-there's something to be remembered.

The entertainment was great-a pianist Jason Ridgeway who couldn't get off the ship because of the weather-Yea!

We couldn't agree more that the service was great and they tried hard to please.

BTW was Natalie still at the shore excusion desk? We love her from now doing two cruises with her!

[Stevanb]

We are sailing on the Whisper April 17 and have a question . Do they serve either raw oysters or clams ???

 

We have sailed on every line this is our first luxury cruise we are taking

 

We have never had them except on this will sound strange NCL at the Martini Bar

 

THXS Steve

[AllisonJames]

Hi, I did not see any raw oysters or clams on any menu. We were given shrimp with the heads on to cook at Hot Rocks and there was lobster but that's all I can recall for shellfish.

[Travelcat2]

Do you know how full the ship was? I wondered about that because of the difficulty in getting reservations in La Terrazza. It may be a good idea for us to make reservations when we get on board.

 

Reading about the dining venues makes me hungry. We enjoyed the food very much on our last cruise. Did you notice if they had sushi on the lunch buffet? This was a regular item on the Spirit, but, they have a Japanese restaurant.

 

Continuing to enjoy every tidbit on this thread:)

[AllisonJames]

Hi, I believe they did have sushi at the lunch buffet at La Terrazza.

 

The cruise was close to capacity. But despite this fact, many times we were wondering where all the people were! Hardly ever saw anyone on our shared terrace or in the hallways. Even on the day at sea had no trouble getting a lounge chair on deck. Only time we saw a crowd was in the MDR or La Terrazza. I can only assume that many people liked to hang out on their balconies . . . the demographics of our cruise were a little different due to a large group which I will elaborate on in the next part of my review. Thanks for reading!

[KaraokeQueen]

Allison, I am really enjoying the review of your cruise. I am very interested and waiting anxiously to hear why the demographics were changed and how a group affected your cruise.

 

We are the same age and your review provides great insite as to how I would perceive my voyage. It will be my first on Silversea. Can you elaborate what there is to do during the evening after dinner? Is there Karaoke? Dancing with current music?

 

Thanks for your input. I appreciate the time it takes to write a review. It is invaluable to those of us traveling in your foot steps.

 

Christie

[AllisonJames]

Guests/Demographics - There was a very large group of alumni from at least 6 – 8 universities on board this cruise, apparently 200 or more. Many of the staff commented that this altered the atmosphere of the typical Caribbean cruise. If I had known about this group ahead of time I would have been absolutely panicked about the thought of huge groups congregating all over the Whisper but thankfully I can report that the presence of this group did not negatively impact our experience much although I think they might have been why dinner reservations in La Terrazza were so difficult to get and why Le Champagne was underutilized. Frankly, I don’t know where these folks were most of the time – perhaps they had their own group events and shore excursions. The way the cruise was different is the fact that these folks were well up into the senior citizen age range, which probably increased the age demographic because the shorter SB and SS Caribbean cruises tend to be the ones that attract a younger age range. At least that was our experience on SB. Probably not related in any way to the average age but these folks either were not partiers and liked to turn in early or they were in some secret location partying the night away because the evenings were very very quiet on this cruise. Very few people in the bars and the casino was the only place that had any life at all after 10 p.m. and that wasn’t much. We really didn’t mind this much although it would have been nice to have some activity in the bars after 10 p.m. We liked to eat dinner a little later than most guests (8 or 8:30) so we did not attend any of the shows so cannot comment on those. I do wish there had been some dancing after dinner, that would have been fun.

 

We met some very nice people and everyone was very friendly. We are not the type of people who want to have dinner with a group every night but we did have dinner with some friends we met and hang out from time to time with some folks which was a nice mix for us of solitude and socialization. We’ve been to some Caribbean resorts where no one but the staff talked to us for the entire week, certainly not the case on SS. A very gracious, personable, attractive crowd. Almost entirely American which was different from our SB cruise as that had more European guests. Only two children, around age 8 – 10, who were part of a family group and very well behaved and thankfully no toddlers or infants, which we had a few of on our SB cruise. We did laugh about the fact that on every cruise there seems to be the people who claim their seats at the pool bar the first day and never seem to leave and the people who monopolize the hot tub to the extent that it seems like no one else gets to use it. There was a couple on this cruise that are on the Whisper for three months! We joked that maybe they are mad at their children and are intent on spending all their money and not leave an inheritance but it must be nice to be able to afford a stay of that length! Some people spent so much time drinking at the pool bar that we had no idea how they were able to stay on the stools without falling off in a drunken stupor! We were a little in awe.

 

Shore Excursions – We only did one organized excursion which was “Dominica’s Favorites.” We saw all the main sights but it was too much time in the bus and at 5 hours, about 1 ½ hours too long. But I definitely recommend a shore excursion in Dominica because it’s not a place where it is easy to do things on your own unless you just hire a taxi for some hours. In St. Barts we rented a car and drove around to the beaches and although the roads are very narrow and hilly, the driving is on the left and the island is so small that it is pretty easy. St. Barts is very, very expensive ($18 margaritas at the hotels and $45 to rent beach chairs/umbrella for the day and taxis very costly) but the beaches are free and we bought a lunch at a deli to take to the beach so you can spend time in St. Barts and not spend a fortune. In Antigua, St. Kitts and Grenada I went to the beach and my husband played golf and later joined me. In Grenada it was very easy to just take a water taxi from the port to Grand Anse beach and there were lots of places to rent 2 chairs/umbrella for only $15 – 20 for the day and the craft market and restaurants are right there along the beach, all very convenient. We’d been to St. Kitts and Antigua previously so got day passes at resorts we’d visited on other trips.

 

Embarkation/Debarkation – Gosh, can’t really think of what I haven’t covered in this review so if you are still reading, thanks for taking the time! I guess I will end with getting on and off the ship. We had stayed elsewhere in PR for three nights so got to the ship nice and early, around 12:30 and were able to avoid any lines and walk right on. Checked in at the pier, got our welcome champagne, directed right to reception to take our photo and turn in our credit card and that entire process took less than 15 minutes. Suites weren’t ready so we were told we could have lunch, tour the ship, etc. We took this opportunity to visit Le Champagne to look at the menus, talk with the Maitre D about how to celebrate my birthday and basically get our bearings on the ship. Had lunch and went to our suite around 2:30 and it was ready. Very, very smooth and efficient.

 

Debarkation was as efficient as they could make it but I still really dislike the process and it’s always a rude awakening after a wonderful cruise. I hate the fact that you have to pack the night before and put your luggage outside and then wait the next day until your color is called. We had a SS transfer to the airport and if we had to do it again we would just get a cab on our own because there were hordes of people all going on two big buses to the airport at the same time and it was kind of chaotic and took a lot of time to get all the luggage and people on the bus. And as a result a huge group gets to the airport at the same time and the lines are long. The hassle was really not worth saving the $25 taxi fare. Would love, love, love it if SS somehow found a way to improve the process.

 

Well, I guess that’s it, happy to answer your questions and thanks for joining me. Loved the Whisper, loved the staff, liked the food and drink, loved the Caribbean as always. Will definitely sail SS again and would most likely choose it over SB, would prefer to cruise the Whisper again since we now know her and it would be like visiting an old friend and would like to experience a longer cruise but have to get our pesky teenagers off on their own :) before that can happen – but we’ll very happily take another 7-day until that time comes!

 

All the best and pleasant sailing!

 

Eileen (my screen name is the names of our children)

[PaulaJK]

Christie,

 

I hope that you will write of your experiences upon your return because I will be most interested to hear of them.

 

After a long hiatus, we sailed SS Spirit over New Year's. We found the accomodations, service and dining to be very good. I agree that the cuisine wasn't memorable but it was satisfying.

 

The evening entertainment was on the weak side. But as I recall, a DJ took over in the [?] Observation Lounge in the evenings and there was karaoke. The Bar is the main gathering place for before dinner libations. A pianist plays there but there is no dance floor.

 

Paula

[heidik]

Thank you so much Eileen - your review has been extremely interesting and helpful! :)

[KaraokeQueen]

Christie,

 

I hope that you will write of your experiences upon your return because I will be most interested to hear of them.

 

After a long hiatus, we sailed SS Spirit over New Year's. We found the accomodations, service and dining to be very good. I agree that the cuisine wasn't memorable but it was satisfying.

 

The evening entertainment was on the weak side. But as I recall, a DJ took over in the [?] Observation Lounge in the evenings and there was karaoke. The Bar is the main gathering place for before dinner libations. A pianist plays there but there is no dance floor.

 

Paula

 

Yes, Paula, I will put something together upon my return. After cruising 23 in a row on Crystal, I feel like a student going to a new school for the first time. I do have an open mind going in. I am looking forward to a big cabin :) Fortunately for me, 10 days after my return home, I head to the West Coast to board Symphony.

 

Thanks to both you and Eileen for the information.

[Stevanb]

AllisonJames

 

Have a question for you

 

What resort in St. Kitts did you get a day pass for We have been there before a few times and really wanted to just chill out on this cruise.

 

When we go to Antigua we go to Sandals but our cruise does not stop there this time

 

We also have a car reserved in St Barts did you have to go to airport to get it >> We know them so there are coming to the port to pick us up

 

St Barts in pricey BUT the Euro is at 1.44 so it makes it worse

 

THXS Steve

 

 

[AllisonJames]

Hi, we went to the Marriott -- my husband plays the golf course there and we have stayed there previously. It's only about 15 minutes from the port (about $12 taxi fare) and the day pass was $35. We like the beach at the Marriott, nice and wide with a pretty view of the SE peninsula of St. Kitts and you can walk the beach a long distance, once you get beyond the Marriott the beach is deserted. In St. Barts, we rented a car from Alamo and we arranged by email for them to meet us where the tender comes in, when we arrived no one was there but there's a tourism desk and they kindly called Alamo and they came right down with the car. It was about $65 for the day and when we came back we just left it in a parking spot at the dock and there's a box to drop the keys off. Very easy and the car had GPS which was very helpful in finding our way around.

[Stevanb]

Hi, we went to the Marriott -- my husband plays the golf course there and we have stayed there previously. It's only about 15 minutes from the port (about $12 taxi fare) and the day pass was $35. We like the beach at the Marriott, nice and wide with a pretty view of the SE peninsula of St. Kitts and you can walk the beach a long distance, once you get beyond the Marriott the beach is deserted. In St. Barts, we rented a car from Alamo and we arranged by email for them to meet us where the tender comes in, when we arrived no one was there but there's a tourism desk and they kindly called Alamo and they came right down with the car. It was about $65 for the day and when we came back we just left it in a parking spot at the dock and there's a box to drop the keys off. Very easy and the car had GPS which was very helpful in finding our way around.

 

 

We though you meant the Marriott BUT maybe somewhere else . Wife knows someone at Avis so they are doing it for us.

Our ports are call seem to a bit different from yours . This is the first time on Silver Sea We hope it will better that Oceania we did over Christmas and New Years