A late report on an August dawn cruise.

[drron29]

A couple of things outside the gate.

 

We were going to have a woman sing some Croatian folk songs outside the northern gate. so I wandered off and took some more photos.

 

I don't think I would class this as Croatian street food.

 

Got back to the group and no singer. suggested we might move along. guide put it to a vote and all voted to get going as we already were well over time.

 

 

[drron29]

A more lively but commercial area of the Palace.

 

But a few renovations going on.

[drron29]

The last of the Palace.

 

We now left the palace and walked back to the bus.

 

[drron29]

The tour had run over time so we were hungry and went straight to Kaiseki. I hadn't posted the lunch time menu so here is is.

 

And my first plate.

 

The ship was now underway to Venice. That night it was the Captain's Farewell party. the voices of Silversea put on a short show with favorites from musical productions.

[drron29]

 

The last pictures are of the Ukrainian Opera singer. He got a big hand.

The best thing about the farewell is that you get to say thanks to representatives of all the crew Some that you basically don't see.

 

[drron29]

Our final dinner.

 

Rojaan had the tuna tartare and a veal chop.

 

I had the mushroom soup and the fillet steak again.

 

We both had the dessert special.

 

 

[drron29]

I will now give a brief recap of our last day from arriving in Venice until our flight to London. We do our own air travel and transfers. just to give an idea of how things are different now we flew to London on BA. We booked 11 months out and the only flight with 2 business class flights was the 8pm flight.

It is exactly the same for our BA flight from Rome to london in May 23 after our next SS cruise.

 

Must be all those SS pax getting business class upgrades through the Silver Air program.😁

 

So we arrived in Venice. Unfortunately larger ships are no longer allowed into Venice and at 600 person capacity ours is a large ship. However the authorities outdid themselves providing us with the best car,truck and bus park views in Italy.

 

Magnificent. unfortunately our flight to LHR wasn't until after 2000. SS did offer a late arrival at the airport with a prosecco tasting and lunch but advertised at $US 250 each. So we got a private transfer to the Courtyard by Marriott for E50 and a room there for E100. Able to have a little snooze,a small lunch and a shower before we went to the airport. The room

 

And lunch. just shared a mushroom pizza.

 

 

[drron29]

We arrived at the airport just over 3 hours before advertised departure and could check in but they would only accept checked baggage 2 hours before departure. so an hour sitting in the airport. Finally through security and went to the Marco polo lounge for our BA flight.

 

Views of Venice a bit hazy though.

 

Good spot for watching planes. This plane arrived but unfortunately not ours.

 

 

[drron29]

Then the bad news our plane was going to be late. Started off at 30 minutes late but eventually nearly 2 hours. So some more plane spotting then checking out the food offerings. We were already drinking the wine! Here is the food available at the lounge.

 

Immigration is after the lounge went a little early and of course the delay got longer when we reached the gate. A real scrum bparding But I pushed my way through as it was announced group 1 first which was business class. About 20 boarded before of of whom 1 was in J. A few of the overheads already full.
So Row 2 of J. yes just the normal Y seat with the middle seat empty.

 

And the meal. much better than expected.

 

The crew was very good. An absolutely full flight and many were not very happy people but the crew handled them well and the J service was good.
But a quite late arrival into LHR which meant straight through Immigration. but only got to our room at the Sofitel after midnight.
 

I will come back in a little while with my thoughts.

The quick summary - has Silversea lost it's lustre? Well not for us. We enjoyed this cruise as much as pre covid cruises.

 

[drron29]

Now to some more thoughts on our cruise. First of all the boarding experience as it has been mentioned several times as a real problem. We were a little hesitant as to how it would go. As it turned out no problems at all. Sure it was different to pre covid but that was inevitable.

We had no problems getting our RAT test that morning at our hotel and 40 minutes after it was done we had the print outs of our negative test. No problems with our vaccination certificates as we both had had our 4th dose 19 days before boarding.

A quick taxi ride to the dock. Before entering the terminal there were 3 lines which as there were only 7 passengers there at the time was fine. All your documents were checked and your luggage taken.

Then into the terminal and a slightly longer line to fill out your health questionnaire, temperature taken then your health documents checked again.

Next set of desks was Spanish Immigration with a perfunctory check of your passport. Then on to the Silverseas staff who once again checked your documents,kept your passport and took your picture. Rather than an extra step this was basically the same that was done pre covid just after you stepped on board.

 

We certainly had had a couple of worse experiences pre covid.

Didn't miss the glass of champagne as on boarding no queue to have photo and passport taken so straight into La Terraza for lunch and if one was really hanging out for champagne you could get one there but we preferred table wine. More of that later.

 

And when we got to our room there was a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket with 2 champagne glasses. I can remember the times before RCCL when that would have been a bottle of Prosecco.

 

So we were happy with our experience and I wonder if those times that boarding was a shambles whether it really was Silversea at fault or local port authorities and Immigration services. They would have had very little practice in dealing with tourists for nearly 2 years.

 

Don't worry I have my flame proof uniform on.😉

[drron29]

Next was our suite and the staff.

Obviously Covid did not change the suites. We go for a superior verandah as they are higher decks than the classic verandah. they are more towards the bow but as we don't get sea sick that is not a problem.

 

As everyone knows you have a butler and room attendant who look after several suites. We have only had 1 butler who was not up to scratch. The irony was her husband was als a butler who on the cruise after was our butler and he was one of the best.

On this cruise our butler was an Indian woman. She did everything that was needed but we are fairly low maintenance so nothing too hard for her to do.

 

Our Room attendant was from Kenya. He was brilliant. Always waited until we went out to do the room. But it was spotless. When we ran into him in the corridor he was friendly and very interesting. Found out a lot about Kenya.

 

We had cruised with several of the staff before. One of the waiters in Atlantide had been on 5 previous cruises with us.

 

Sure there are a lot of new staff as many after spending nearly 2 years with their families no longer want to be away so long. There are also sad stories. One of the deck crew I chatted to knew of 46 colleagues who had died of covid.

 

I actually appreciated the new diversity in the crew. There were more from Eastern Europe,many African countries including Zimbabwe and South Africa. Some of the new recruits performed very well and may well become fantastic at their job with good prospects of promotion.

 

Have the Silversea crew lost their lustre? Not with us anyway.

 

Next I will look at our experience with food and wine.

[drron29]

Now to a topic that is sure to cause a bit of discussion -food and wine. The problem is that these things are subject to an individuals taste so there will naturally be different opinions on what is good and what isn't. but to those that have travelled a lot we know there are foods that swe can't stomach but in their countries of origin are considered delicacies. Andouille, Hakarl, surstomming and insects such as grasshoppers,spiders and witchetty grubs but I have eaten all those insects.

 

So to Silverseas food. I have in this report supplied menus from 5 of the restaurants. the choices are many and up there with fine dining restaurants. Being able to have caviar,lobster and foie gras on the everyday menu is relly good. We found the quality of the food quite good. In particular I found the quality of the beef excellent on this cruise. I was told they had just changed suppliers for their beef and it now comes from Texas. Of course different kitchens may cook it differently as terms rare,medium and well done are interpreted differently around the world.

 

Variety was not a problem with Atlantide, SALT and La Terraza all having a changing daily menu as well as their everyday menus. The everyday menu for Atlantide and SALT also changed for the second 9 days of our cruise.

 

Now where the real arguments come. The wine. I consider that the everyday list of wines in the SS restaurants is consistent with restaurant wine lists. It is wrong to criticise a wine because it can be bought at a store for $10-20. Restaurants also buy for that price or less but it appears on the wine list for a lot more. I have done a little research since the cruise. I had a wine at a Michelin starred restaurant in the UK. I liked it. It was 50GBP on the wine list but in Tescos it was just over 10GBP.

 

Similiarly last week we ate in a fine dining restaurant in Melbourne. I noted that the current vintage of Penfolds St. Henri shiraz was $A450. In the wine stores it is $A100 if bought in a 6 pack but $A 117 if bought by the single bottle. Yet you can get it on the Silversea Connoisseurs wine list for $US130. A ridiculously low mark up for a fine dining establishment.

 

As to the comment that the wines are bad I disagree. bad wines are faulty badly produced wines that do not appear on Silversea. There are wines that I have tasted on Silversea that I don't like but there have always been others that are quite agreeable.

However if you only like premier cru French wines then you won't find anything you like on an SS everyday wine list. But elsewhere you will pay a lot for the experience. And some of them are on the SS Connoisseurs list. Now I have drunk complimentary  Dom Pérignon Brut Champagne 2009,Krug Brut Champagne 2004 and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2007 in Singapore airlines First class flights or lounges. But you will pay as much for a flight as a SS cruise. Fortunately I was on award flights.

 

So that's my 2 bobs worth.

 

Next Excursions.

[mysty]

11 minutes ago, drron29 said:

Now to a topic that is sure to cause a bit of discussion -food and wine. The problem is that these things are subject to an individuals taste so there will naturally be different opinions on what is good and what isn't. but to those that have travelled a lot we know there are foods that swe can't stomach but in their countries of origin are considered delicacies. Andouille, Hakarl, surstomming and insects such as grasshoppers,spiders and witchetty grubs but I have eaten all those insects.

 

So to Silverseas food. I have in this report supplied menus from 5 of the restaurants. the choices are many and up there with fine dining restaurants. Being able to have caviar,lobster and foie gras on the everyday menu is relly good. We found the quality of the food quite good. In particular I found the quality of the beef excellent on this cruise. I was told they had just changed suppliers for their beef and it now comes from Texas. Of course different kitchens may cook it differently as terms rare,medium and well done are interpreted differently around the world.

 

Variety was not a problem with Atlantide, SALT and La Terraza all having a changing daily menu as well as their everyday menus. The everyday menu for Atlantide and SALT also changed for the second 9 days of our cruise.

 

Now where the real arguments come. The wine. I consider that the everyday list of wines in the SS restaurants is consistent with restaurant wine lists. It is wrong to criticise a wine because it can be bought at a store for $10-20. Restaurants also buy for that price or less but it appears on the wine list for a lot more. I have done a little research since the cruise. I had a wine at a Michelin starred restaurant in the UK. I liked it. It was 50GBP on the wine list but in Tescos it was just over 10GBP.

 

Similiarly last week we ate in a fine dining restaurant in Melbourne. I noted that the current vintage of Penfolds St. Henri shiraz was $A450. In the wine stores it is $A100 if bought in a 6 pack but $A 117 if bought by the single bottle. Yet you can get it on the Silversea Connoisseurs wine list for $US130. A ridiculously low mark up for a fine dining establishment.

 

As to the comment that the wines are bad I disagree. bad wines are faulty badly produced wines that do not appear on Silversea. There are wines that I have tasted on Silversea that I don't like but there have always been others that are quite agreeable.

However if you only like premier cru French wines then you won't find anything you like on an SS everyday wine list. But elsewhere you will pay a lot for the experience. And some of them are on the SS Connoisseurs list. Now I have drunk complimentary  Dom Pérignon Brut Champagne 2009,Krug Brut Champagne 2004 and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2007 in Singapore airlines First class flights or lounges. But you will pay as much for a flight as a SS cruise. Fortunately I was on award flights.

 

So that's my 2 bobs worth.

 

Next Excursions.

 

Thank you drron!  Your down-to-earth, reasonable, and well-written colour commentary and after-thoughts are most appreciated!  🥰

[lincslady]

Being a bit landlocked at present, I have loved looking at all your photos,  drron.

 

One small comment on included wines, and this applies to all the small 'luxury'  lines - they all insist on describing them as 'fine wines', when they are obviously not.  On your first cruise on one of these ships you do tend to feel a bit cheated, when you are drinking the  mostly pleasant but comparatively basic offerings.  Generally in the £6 to £9 price range in UK supermarkets, and what many of us drink at home.   I do enjoy NZ sauvignon blancs, for instance, at lunchtime, and the  best ones will be Oyster Bay or Villa Maria -  nice drinking but not 'fine'.  I think this is why many people complain about them until they realise that this is just how it is.

 

Lola

[drron29]

1 hour ago, lincslady said:

Being a bit landlocked at present, I have loved looking at all your photos,  drron.

 

One small comment on included wines, and this applies to all the small 'luxury'  lines - they all insist on describing them as 'fine wines', when they are obviously not.  On your first cruise on one of these ships you do tend to feel a bit cheated, when you are drinking the  mostly pleasant but comparatively basic offerings.  Generally in the £6 to £9 price range in UK supermarkets, and what many of us drink at home.   I do enjoy NZ sauvignon blancs, for instance, at lunchtime, and the  best ones will be Oyster Bay or Villa Maria -  nice drinking but not 'fine'.  I think this is why many people complain about them until they realise that this is just how it is.

 

Lola

I agree completely. I feel the same at restaurants that say they are fine dining and here in Australia it is often the Oyster Bay Sav blanc on the wine list and it is also not the cheapest on the list.

[drron29]

So to the subject of excursions. I have never been in favour of excluded excursions though I am a bit of a hypocrite having done more days on the Silver Explorer which of course had included excursions. But then in most of the places we went there was no chance of a private excursion.

So for this Dawn cruise.

Majorca. Soller and train ride. We liked this excursion. I researched private tours for 2 people which is what we have done in the past. We do dislike bus tours but at least on Silversea there are usually some that you know.

So looking at some sites we have used before the exact same tour for 2 would be $US 751. So I would rate the SS tour better value.

 

Palermo. We would have done the Dali museum and Gala's castle anyway. A tour for 2 was Euro 350. line ball.

 

Marseille. Avignon on your own. Again we would have done this. I found a private tour that would have been better as entrance to the papal museum included. Lunch on your own dime. It was E600 for 2. Another line ball.

 

St.Tropez. Found the same tour with Pt. Grimaud and the mountain village for $A900. SS wins.

 

Menton Villa d'ephrussi . Didn't bother looking this one up as I was quite happy with our choice. Besides I was beginning to suffer sticker shock. SS fares aren't the only thing to have gone up substantially.

 

Livorno. This was a SALT excursion to a vineyard with lunch so we didn't use the included excursion.

 

Olbia. We enjoyed the first half of the tour to the ancient civilisation ruins but not the second. A better tour for us was a private tour but then an inland village with lunch. Cost $US550.

 

Citavecchia. A tour without the olive oil tasting was $US420. A bus tour from the port to do the olive oil tasting was $US56 a head. Win to SS.

 

Sorrento. Quattro Pasti wine tasing privately $US590. Win for SS.

                  Pompei. Private walking tour. $US407. Win for SS.

 

Catania. Ancient Syracusa. Private tour $US770. We had a good guide so win to SS.

 

Malta Same tour for 2 was $US144. Would prefer that.

 

Kotor. Another place we didn't use the included tour as we used the Virtuoso excursion which was excellent. For us the Effective price was $US150 as we gave up their OBC. Win for virtuoso.

 

Dubrovnik walk the old town plus countryside with wine tasting at lunch. Similiar tour for 2 $US810 but it did not sound as good as ours as you paid extra for the wine tasting and lunch. Win to SS.

 

Split. Trogir and tnhe Palace. Same tour for 2 $US500. Win for SS.

 

So overall we liked the SS excursions. However we would obviously like to go on a private tour some times or simply stay on the ship or walk or shuttle into town. So we are paying unnecessarily. Much better if the excursions were as previously and we could make up our own minds whether it was value or not compared to what we could arrange. Or decide to have a day off which we find essential as we age.

 

So although generally we felt the excursions were usually well run we would like to make our own decisions. Having included tours takes away that choice.

We would hope Port to Port fares were bought back so we could make an informed choice. We take annual travel insurance which we would hope covered the deposit on the Port to Port fares.