Silver Cloud Expedition general questions

[sparty1]

Hi all. This is our first cruise with SS, and we are taking an expedition. I do have a few general questions about expedition procedure.

 

1.  Do you suggest booking early (pre cruise) for excursions(even included)?  They say some are limited, but if they are included, wouldn't there be room for all passengers to participate?

2.  Do you suggest booking early( pre cruise) for restaurants, especially the additional cost restaurants?

3.  Do photographers sell photos onboard that they take? Even though I take my own, there will undoubtedly be photos that I'd like better than mine.

 

Thank you so much in advance for any info or suggestions you may offer from your experiences!

[scottjeanne]

Where are you going?  We were on an Antarctic cruise and everyone could do every activity, including kayaking.  The photographer did not sell any pictures (much to our dismay).  They did include a USB with a short video on it of included photos which was great.  We had very small numbers of passengers, so reservations for any restaurant was not necessary.

[FauxNom]

I've done 3 expedition cruises and never booked in advance for excursions. The routine is to listen to the expedition leader's presentation the day before and pick what you're in the mood for. Of course you can reserve one if you see something you really want to do; you can always cancel it later.

 

I didn't get the sense that restaurant reservations would have been needed in advance for the additional cost venues. You can definitely get into the main Restaurant any time, and the Grill and Terazza day-of.

 

The one photographer is very focused on shooting a video, which I thought was really impressive on all three cruises. 

 

Hope you have a great time!

[highplanesdrifters]

We are on the Wind in October.  There are 2-3 expeditions offered each day. I was rather impressed with their offerings.  I would suggest booking those that you would like sooner rather than later.   You can always switch once you are on the ship, assuming there is space.

[Mountain Traveler]

We were on Cloud in Antarctica in November.  The kayaks were allocated via a lottery system, but all others were zodiac rides and zodiac landings and there was room for everyone.  There is only one extra charge restaurant. We dined there twice, mainly to use OBC.  We made reservations but I don't know if they were really needed.

 

Our sailing had 2 photographers on board.  They produced a very nice about 10 minute video of the voyage.  They were also taking stills.  A few of the better ones are included along with video on the USB drive they give you.  Two days before the trip ended, you could go to the photo studio and get copies of all photos they took that included you or your cabin mate.  They used facial recognition for this, so when you entered your cabin number into their computer, all your photos appeared.  The photographer actually will sit with you and cleanup the photos.  In one photo, an orange boundary marker was very obvious in the pic, so he erased it.  Then you can copy all your photos to your own storage device (I used an SD card).  All of this at no extra charge.

[RachelG]

In Antarctica, you can’t precook excursions as you never know the plan for the day till the evening before.  Other places, we did precook them.  And I did precook dinner reservations for the specialty restaurants, but never had any issue getting more onboard.  

[sparty1]

Thank you all for responding!

We will be going in July to Norway, Svalbard.

We are very excited!