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

[Lookingtocruise42]

21 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

Today is a bust day for the crew as it’s debarkation day for about 100 plus cruisers.  We’ll be docking at 1PM this afternoon.  They say they have about the same amount boarding today.  We’ll be leaving the ship about 2:00PM as we have a cooking class in Cartagena at the Sky Kitchen School.  It’s a half day evening class, so we cook are own dinner at the school (has nothing to do with Silversea).  We overnight here in Cartagena.  We’ll come back to the ship late this evening.  They say we were full this last section of the cruise, but Silversea crew did a good job, because it didn’t fill full and you didn’t have any wait times.  The weather has been holing up pretty good, no rain but warm to hot.  And the sea has been smooth since we got on the ship on December 11.  Now we’ll have to see how it is during the crossing home.

That brings up a question:

you mentioned you added a short jaunt ahead on yours in a silver suite. Was it a regular bookable leg, or did you need your agent to price it out?

 

With our Alaska cruise, we realized that the ship hits San Francisco 3 days before we start, and since we live in SF we are asking them to price out adding that leg. (oddly that leg seems to only exist on a 21 day cruise and a 30 day cruise…)

 

 

[Abuckett]

It will probably be smooth on your return to FL. Maybe a bit windy sometimes. We just came from Barbados and will be in Cartagena tomorrow. We have friends on the Nova and are hoping to meet up with them. Enjoying reading your report

[sea bright]

Pre-covid we joined the ship mid- cruise in NY a couple of times. Once it shortened the cruise - Silversea reduced the cost by exactly the per diem amount. I think we also joined in NY toward the end of a first leg and sailed all of the next leg. As  I recall, that was a better deal  - perhaps because the partial leg wasn't very full?  In both cases they were very accommodating. 

 

[ronrick1943]

11 hours ago, Lookingtocruise42 said:

That brings up a question:

you mentioned you added a short jaunt ahead on yours in a silver suite. Was it a regular bookable leg, or did you need your agent to price it out?

 

With our Alaska cruise, we realized that the ship hits San Francisco 3 days before we start, and since we live in SF we are asking them to price out adding that leg. (oddly that leg seems to only exist on a 21 day cruise and a 30 day cruise…)

 

 

It was  a cruise listed on Silversea website and priced.  We decided about two months before leaving on the trip.  But we did book though are TA for the add on.  Worked out well for us.

[ronrick1943]

10 hours ago, Abuckett said:

It will probably be smooth on your return to FL. Maybe a bit windy sometimes. We just came from Barbados and will be in Cartagena tomorrow. We have friends on the Nova and are hoping to meet up with them. Enjoying reading your report

Thanks, you’ll enjoy Cartagena, the people are truly friendly and want to help.  The food is really good.  The only thing bad is the traffic-so plan again if going someplace.  Taxi’s and car service cheap in price.

[ronrick1943]

7 hours ago, sea bright said:

Pre-covid we joined the ship mid- cruise in NY a couple of times. Once it shortened the cruise - Silversea reduced the cost by exactly the per diem amount. I think we also joined in NY toward the end of a first leg and sailed all of the next leg. As  I recall, that was a better deal  - perhaps because the partial leg wasn't very full?  In both cases they were very accommodating. 

 

It was real easy for us, plus we got the b2b discount for the cruises.

[Abuckett]

We have a classic car tour with lunch and a short walking tour so hopefully no problems

[ronrick1943]

Let’s talk laundry, inside the wardrobe closet you’ll find a compartment that hold a laundry bag.  So simple but a great idea, keeps the area neat and clean.  If you send laundry out it’s already in the bag, you just fill out the laundry ticket,  They leave you extra to replace each time.  And if you do laundry yourself, just take the bag to the laundry room.  It sounds like a small thing but it really a great idea.  A place for everything.

[ronrick1943]

2 minutes ago, Abuckett said:

We have a classic car tour with lunch and a short walking tour so hopefully no problems

If it’s a Silversea tour you won’t have a problems.  Even if you’re on your own you’ll be good.  It is hot here and humidity is high.  All though we when out on are own this evening and it was really not hot and a breeze.  We booked a cooking class, odd again we paid to cook are own dinner, but fun.

[ronrick1943]

This is an odd item of no real importance:  You know how you get a little treat of candy on the bed tray each night of your cruise.  Well on the Nova you don’t, it’s a hit and miss.  Some nights you get something some nights you don’t.  You’ll get a little box of candy on some nights, or maybe a bigger bar nugget, or a holiday bread.  You never know……….like said it isn’t important, but it’s a little information.

[ronrick1943]

This morning we slept in, we woke up to the Dawn parked next to us.  It’s a nice looking ship not sure how long it will be here-we leave tonight at eight.  This photo was taken from our deck/balcony.  It’s still really hot in Cartagena.  When you get off the ship they a bus that takes to the Port Terminal.  At the terminal they have a bird reserve, really interesting.  It’s an open area the birds are free to fly, but are well taken care of so they stay.  Like most ports they have a gift store and nice coffee cafe.  You have to walk through it all to get out to the city.

[Abuckett]

I watched our ship come in and park next to yours. Very cool arrival. Our friends can come on our ship from yours. We could go over there but we were on it in September. They haven’t been on the Dawn. Classic car excursion was phenomenal.

[Lookingtocruise42]

25 minutes ago, Abuckett said:

I watched our ship come in and park next to yours. Very cool arrival. Our friends can come on our ship from yours. We could go over there but we were on it in September. They haven’t been on the Dawn. Classic car excursion was phenomenal.

They are allowing you to look at the other ships?

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, Abuckett said:

Classic car excursion was phenomenal.

We will be there an another cruise line next year.  Did you notice any details of the local provider?

[Abuckett]

42 minutes ago, Lookingtocruise42 said:

They are allowing you to look at the other ships?

Yes they are

[Abuckett]

14 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

We will be there an another cruise line next year.  Did you notice any details of the local provider?

No I didn’t but I’m sure you can Google it or look on Trip Advisor. They were classic American cars. Ours was a 1956 Chevrolet Belair. Pictures

[Host Jazzbeau]

16 minutes ago, Abuckett said:

No I didn’t but I’m sure you can Google it or look on Trip Advisor. They were classic American cars. Ours was a 1956 Chevrolet Belair. Pictures 

My DW would love that!  A heavy Chevy!  But all google shows is various cruise lines offering this tour.  Maybe the vendor doesn't sell retail.  I'll have to suggest it to Windstar for my cruise.   Thanks for the idea.

[ronrick1943]

6 hours ago, Abuckett said:

I watched our ship come in and park next to yours. Very cool arrival. Our friends can come on our ship from yours. We could go over there but we were on it in September. They haven’t been on the Dawn. Classic car excursion was phenomenal.

Sounds great, when they opened up Cuba we took a cruise around Cuba.  We hired a car and driver to take us around Havana in the old classic cars.  It was not only fun but we learned a lot from the driver/guide.  You see things from a different perspective in car.

[Host Jazzbeau]

10 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

Sounds great, when they opened up Cuba we took a cruise around Cuba.  We hired a car and driver to take us around Havana in the old classic cars.  It was not only fun but we learned a lot from the driver/guide.  You see things from a different perspective in car.

And depending on the car, the world sees you in a different perspective.  We took a 2CV [Citroen 'deux chevaux'] tour of Paris, and we now feature in many tourists' photos...  Our guide told us that he is in more photos than the Pope!

[ronrick1943]

Tonight after dinner we got treats, none last night.  So I guess as a cut back, you none get treat every so often. To night we got Hazelnut Truffles, one is missing because it was really good—others well be gone later this evening.

[ronrick1943]

1 minute ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

And depending on the car, the world sees you in a different perspective.  We took a 2CV [Citroen 'deux chevaux'] tour of Paris, and we now feature in many tourists' photos...  Our guide told us that he is in more photos than the Pope!

Last year in Rome we took a golf cart private tour of food, and we when on major streets beside the small unknown streets,  It was fun and a little bit scary.

[Host Jazzbeau]

8 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

Last year in Rome we took a golf cart private tour of food, and we when on major streets beside the small unknown streets,  It was fun and a little bit scary.

I asked DW if she would like a Vespa tour of Rome [two Vespas, each of us riding pillion].  She said that was a bridge too far, even if her driver looks like Gregory Peck...

 

[mixed movie metaphors, but you gotta do what you gotta do...]

[Abuckett]

12 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

Tonight after dinner we got treats, none last night.  So I guess as a cut back, you none get treat every so often. To night we got Hazelnut Truffles, one is missing because it was really good—others well be gone later this evening.

Sorry to say we have got something every night and tonight the hazelnut truffles which sadly David can’t eat so I had to eat them all!

[Abuckett]

33 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

Sounds great, when they opened up Cuba we took a cruise around Cuba.  We hired a car and driver to take us around Havana in the old classic cars.  It was not only fun but we learned a lot from the driver/guide.  You see things from a different perspective in car.

We were booked on a Silversea cruise of Cuba some years ago but then someone (not to be mentioned here) said we couldn’t do that!

[Host Jazzbeau]

10 minutes ago, Abuckett said:

Sorry to say we have got something every night and tonight the hazelnut truffles which sadly David can’t eat so I had to eat them all!

So you owe David a drink too!  😉