The Trip Begins- Cartagena-Lima- Fort Lauderdale on the Nova

[ronrick1943]

We left home via private car service Rancho Mirage, California to LAX about a 3 hour drive.  We arrived at the American Airlines Terminal, we booked first class with 5 Star Service (the add on service is a bit pricey), they greet curbside, take your luggage, check you in, front of the TSA line, take you to the Flagship Lounge, afterwards escort to the your seat on the plane.  We flew LAX to MIA and spend the night at the Airport Hotel inside Terminal E, staff was great and you would never stay at this hotel again except for the location.  Next day check in again for Cartagena on American Airlines. ave to say the service and the food was really good on American.  Arriving in Cartagena we cleared immigration really fast because we filled out the forms on line before we left.  We cleaned in about 15 minutes, and believe it or not all 3 bags and 1 box arrived with us.  The car we used was waiting and took us to are hotel, The Bastion Hotel in the old city.  This is a super luxury hotel with really great service and nice suites.  The restaurant at the hotel was outstanding both food and service.

 

We’ll be here for 3 nights before we board the Nova.  We’re both looking forward to this cruise.  When we board 12/11.2023 will be in a Silver Suite and more to a different Suite in Lima, the reason being we booked the Cartagena to Lima at a different time (much later) and the Suite we wanted wasn’t available.  

 

When we book a cruise the suite is important to us as we spend time on the ship, touring isn’t that important to us.  Yes we booked a few tours, maybe 5 total for the whole cruise.  We enjoy getting off the ship, wonder around the city, have lunch, people watch and enjoy a relaxing day.  So this review will be about the ship/cruise itself.  This review will be the way we see it, you may not agree and that’s OK-everyone see’s it differently.

 

We’ve cruised about 35 to 40 cruises in our lifetime, so main line and in the last 20 years luxury lines.  I’ll write more once on the ship.

[taxatty]

Looking forward to your next post. The MIA Hotel has been awful for many years--there are several better choices within 10 minutes of MIA--sorry you had to endure it.

[LAL Cruiser]

Gents, it sounds like you are off to a good start.  I am glad to hear it  Enjoy Cartagena, you can advise us of the hot spots for the the return journey.

We are still sorting out packing and baggage - we will just end up taking everything, so many cruises and vacations over the years and we still cannot pack effectively even with free laundry - whatever, luxurious problems.  We depart for Lima (from Miami) on Thursday afternoon.

Keep us updated, and we will see you onboard on 19 December; who knows what time with the messy check-in procedure discussed above (our Lima agent cannot find a way to gain entry to the port and the port authority has not returned any emails.)  As mentioned, we are in Medallion 9026, leave a note and we will contact you once we are onboard and settled.  ENJOY!!

5 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

 

We’ve cruised about 35 to 40 cruises in our lifetime, so main line and in the last 20 years luxury lines.  I’ll write more once on the ship.

 

We are about the same as to the number of cruises, mostly Silversea since 2001, and we too have a very unique viewpoint as to the ship, cruiseline and product.  We will compare notes.  

[ronrick1943]

2 hours ago, LAL Cruiser said:

Gents, it sounds like you are off to a good start.  I am glad to hear it  Enjoy Cartagena, you can advise us of the hot spots for the the return journey.

We are still sorting out packing and baggage - we will just end up taking everything, so many cruises and vacations over the years and we still cannot pack effectively even with free laundry - whatever, luxurious problems.  We depart for Lima (from Miami) on Thursday afternoon.

Keep us updated, and we will see you onboard on 19 December; who knows what time with the messy check-in procedure discussed above (our Lima agent cannot find a way to gain entry to the port and the port authority has not returned any emails.)  As mentioned, we are in Medallion 9026, leave a note and we will contact you once we are onboard and settled.  ENJOY!!

 

We are about the same as to the number of cruises, mostly Silversea since 2001, and we too have a very unique viewpoint as to the ship, cruiseline and product.  We will compare notes.  

You say you brought a lot of luggage?  Check this out, not only did we bring everything we “may” need—but the box in the photo leaving are Condo is a Christmas Tree for the suite, believe it or not.  It arrived with all the luggage.  PS: Cartagena is really, really hot and humid.

[LAL Cruiser]

6 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

You say you brought a lot of luggage?  Check this out, not only did we bring everything we “may” need—but the box in the photo leaving are Condo is a Christmas Tree for the suite, believe it or not.  It arrived with all the luggage.  PS: Cartagena is really, really hot and humid.

 

We are NOT impressed with your luggage - LOL!!  😀 We will likely have more (3 very big suitcases, trying to avoid suit case number 4, Roller Board, Lap Top Bag and a brief case.)  And my partner Ron is bringing formal wear and does not care about the relaxed dress code. No Christmas tree however, you get bonus points for that.  Give me strength.  I see  friendship among us in the making.   Best, Larry

[QueSeraSera]

Bon Voyage to you all!

 

[ronrick1943]

8 minutes ago, LAL Cruiser said:

 

We are NOT impressed with your luggage - LOL!!  😀 We will likely have more (3 very big suitcases, trying to avoid suit case number 4, Roller Board, Lap Top Bag and a brief case.)  And my partner Ron is bringing formal wear and does not care about the relaxed dress code. No Christmas tree however, you get bonus points for that.  Give me strength.  I see  friendship among us in the making.   Best, Larry

I think you are wrong🤣, those 3 case’s you see are big weighing in at 59 and 64 pounds at the airport with 3 carry on’s,  We like the relaxed code, but Ron did bring formal dress for the holidays-Me just a dark suite.  Looking forward to me you.

Rick

[ronrick1943]

Just a short update on are Cartagena stay.  It’s Saturday night now (we’ve been here for 2 nights, one more and we board the Nova),  I have to say this is a beautiful city, everyplace we’ve eaten has been excellent.  The fish outstanding, the service is the best.  The only bad thing are the street vendors, you really have to say no, no and no—and keep walking.  Another thing it’s really hot and humid, however on the pool floor of the hotel it has a nice cool breeze- but street level forget it-it’s HOT!

We have one more full day in Cartagena before we board the ship.  At that time I’ll write about checking in to board and first impressions of the ship.

Please remember this report will be as we see it, will talk about the very good, the good and maybe the not so good.  But we’ll be honest about what we say and feel about the Nova.

[tulok]

I am looking forward to reading your honest reviews. That cruise was on our radar but the timing didn’t work out. Maybe next year. 

[ronrick1943]

Just a quick note:  Everything in Cartagena has been a great experience.  The seafood is really fresh and very good. We’ve packed up everything and waiting the car service to pick us up and take us to the port, then we’ll board the Nova.  So in about a few hours I’ll be able to post about check in for the cruise and a little about the ship itself this evening.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Looking forward to your ongoing reports.  Hope the wifi permits!

[fdnycruiser]

Bon voyage !  Have a great time 

[Archipelago]

Will be on the Nova ..Cartagena to Fort Lauderdale in April ...what car hire service did you use from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the ship ? I'm not sure who to use and I am traveling solo . Thank You !

[ronrick1943]

13 hours ago, Archipelago said:

Will be on the Nova ..Cartagena to Fort Lauderdale in April ...what car hire service did you use from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the ship ? I'm not sure who to use and I am traveling solo . Thank You !

We used Alondra Express.  They were very good, friendly, and waiting for us when we came out of baggage.  

[ronrick1943]

I’m a day late, we left the hotel Bastion in the Walled City-it’s about a 45 minute ride with traffic.  You drive through the major market so it’s stop and go.  Got to the port and Silversea had people with signs to guide you.  Luggage was taken, we arrived about two hours before boarding time.

The port area for check-in was air-condition (and much nicer than the airport).  Check-in was fast as only 3 other people checking in.  Turns out only 40 people boarded in Cartagena.  Boarded the ship really early and in our Suite shortly after that.  Went to lunch at Kaiseki, the service was outstanding-but the food just so-so at best.  Later that evening we had dinner La Terrazza.  Service again was  outstanding and the food not just good but was presented very nicely.  After that off to the Salt Bar, again outstanding service (we don’t drink alcohol and the bartender made super nice non alcohol drinks that tasted like a cocktail and not fruit punch.

The only problems we had were miner ones.  The first we asked for the non-alcohol white wine, was told they are only serving Rose or Champagne.  I asked why, was told it’s on the ship put they can’t service it until tomorrow.  What do you think would happen if they told someone  that drinks regular white wine that????.  We also were asked if we want fruit in the room early in the day, we said yes (all other cruise’s fruit is in the room).  After dinner we came back and no fruit, no big deal.  Next morning was told that fruit will be available later in the day because they didn’t have any fruit (odd because the next day is a sea day).

All in all a great cruise so far, for the first day.  Oh, we started this morning with breakfast at the Marquee, yes small portions and very healthy.  But very good, service also very good.  Not busy at all so you’ll get a table easy.

Someone wrote the Nova doesn’t have Christmas decorations, wrong they do and are still decorating the ship which looks really nice.  But we did bring with us a Christmas tree for our suite.  

We are in a Silver Suite at this time, in Lima we’ll be moving to a different suite.  The Silver suite is nice, don’t worry about storage - you’ve got lots of room for what ever you bring.  Don’t care for the control of the air-conditioner, you can’t tell what temperature you’re at—you just hit up or down until you figure out what you like-after a few try’s (maybe more) you finely get it right.

Until later—I’m going out to enjoy the ship (I guess you like the design or you don’t, we really do like the design of the Nova).  One thing, it seems like everything is far-you walk a lot-but that is a good thing.

[ronrick1943]

14 hours ago, Archipelago said:

Will be on the Nova ..Cartagena to Fort Lauderdale in April ...what car hire service did you use from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the ship ? I'm not sure who to use and I am traveling solo . Thank You !

Just found the web page——www.alondraexpress.com   I booked direct , however if you’re spending a night at a hotel, they can book them for you.  Hope this helps.

[FiFiR]

@LAL Cruiser Do you have your Lima instructions now? We do, there is a rendez-vous point for a Silversea shuttle...

[LAL Cruiser]

12 minutes ago, FiFiR said:

@LAL Cruiser Do you have your Lima instructions now? We do, there is a rendez-vous point for a Silversea shuttle...

 

I do have the Lima instructions, thank you!!!

 

I also contacted the port authority in Lima requesting access to the port for our group of 5 and they actually responded today.  (I honestly never expected to hear back from them.)   Their email stated that as of tomorrow, the Port Authority will know the exact position of the Silver Nova in the Callao port and, depending on that position, they may be able to arrange port access.  I will keep you updated.

[FiFiR]

oohh!  Lets see. I am hoping that its stress free, I am counting down to my first glass of fizz!

[ronrick1943]

2 hours ago, LAL Cruiser said:

 

I do have the Lima instructions, thank you!!!

 

I also contacted the port authority in Lima requesting access to the port for our group of 5 and they actually responded today.  (I honestly never expected to hear back from them.)   Their email stated that as of tomorrow, the Port Authority will know the exact position of the Silver Nova in the Callao port and, depending on that position, they may be able to arrange port access.  I will keep you updated.

Hate to say this, but Cartagena was so so easy.  Pulled up to a door, they took the luggage, escorted us inside the building, waited about 15 minutes inside an air-condition waiting area with chairs, taken to check-in, put on a small bus to the ship, boarded ship in minutes, suite ready, dropped of hand bags, lunch on ship, all luggage inside suite, butler asking if we needed anything.  I really don’t hate saying it😂…..See you on the ship.

[FiFiR]

Nobody likes a show off…….🤣

Edited December 12, 2023 by FiFiR

[LAL Cruiser]

5 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

Hate to say this, but Cartagena was so so easy.  Pulled up to a door, they took the luggage, escorted us inside the building, waited about 15 minutes inside an air-condition waiting area with chairs, taken to check-in, put on a small bus to the ship, boarded ship in minutes, suite ready, dropped of hand bags, lunch on ship, all luggage inside suite, butler asking if we needed anything.  I really don’t hate saying it😂…..See you on the ship.

 

Sounds lovely, and I will be standing on a street corner in a so-so neighborhood of Lima looking for a run-down hot bus that will take me on a 25 minute ride into the port while loaded down with luggage.  Can't wait!!   Yes, see you onboard.  Project packing complete, 3 mega cases, one rollerboard, one lap top carrier plus brief case.  Done.  Bon Voyage.....

[Archipelago]

Thank You for the information . I will definitely be using them . I am at the Nacar Hotel Cartagena ( Hilton Curio )unless I change my mind but the reviews are stellar . I will only be there one day though and then board the Nova . Have a wonderful voyage and Thank You very much ! My last cruise was on the Shadow which was stranded in Recife Brazil so anticipating this one very much. Love Silversea !!

[ronrick1943]

The ship at sea really hasn’t been that bad, but when you are near the front of the ship it’s a little rolling side to side.  Entertainment around the ship is pretty good, we enjoy the back ground music at the SALT bar.  Tonight is formal/optional night, I’ll let you known what the dress around the ship is, last night was elegant casual.  From last night you saw most people more on the casual dress.  However it didn’t seem like a problem, people dressed how they wanted and mingle together has it should be.

We had lunch today at Atlantide, again service was good.  Food tasted good, however depending on what you ordered the portion size was small to very small.  I really don’t get it, Ron ordered a luncheon Cobb Salad.  It came in a dinner size starter bowl (small) and didn’t look anything like a Cobb salad.  Sorry didn’t get a picture.  Being so small Ron ordered an Egg Salad sandwich, well you got 90% bread, 6% lettuce and 4% egg salad.  They really do need to work on portion size.  Picture included on this.  I had the swordfish and it was pretty good and the right portion size and plated proper.

We stopped at the Art’s Cafe for a coffee and a dessert, service again excellent and the carrot pound cake and the orange pound cake was very good.  They also had chocolate cover grapes and strawberry’s - you really have to try the grapes.  It’s true, they close at 6 PM, why I don’t know-it truly is a nice place to go late in the evening.  Silversea needs to change this.

Tonight we eat at the Grill, looking forward to eating outside, we are having nice weather.

If you have any questions please ask, or if you want me to stop say so………Talk to you tomorrow.

 

 

[LAL Cruiser]

Is the ship fully booked on the Cartagena to Lima segment?