Live from Silver Dawn June 15 to 29

[gnome12]

Well, I’m on board. Just after registration on board, I got into the elevator to head to the grill for lunch when the woman next to me said “Do I know you?” It was @late2cruisin who recognized me from my picture here. That was a bit of a surprise. 
 

Anyway, I have spent the last 2 hours or so getting acquainted with the ship and where things are. Other than the fact that I haven’t entirely got fore and aft totally figured out, I think I have a reasonable idea of what is where. 
 

Don’t expect a lot of commentary; that isn’t my style, but I will post occasionally. 

[Lois R]

Hope you have a wonderful cruise😃. Dawn is one of my favorite ships😃

[gnome12]

I’d like to point out that the champagne in my Vista suite is Duval-Leroy. It means nothing to me, but I think it was being discussed as a premium champagne. I note I have zero status; this is my first SilverSea cruise, and I have never sailed with RCG either. 

[Gourmet Gal]

It will be interesting to read your perspective.  Which lines do you usually cruise with?

[gnome12]

As to excursions, they had no issue honouring the no charge for an excursion that was included when I booked, but showed up as a hybrid with zero unit cost but a total of $159. That has been wiped out. I had no luck however with the Næroyfjord Cruise which had been included, but the boat has changed to a non-polluting one and they made it select. I’m not thrilled, but I can accept this one. 

[gnome12]

3 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

It will be interesting to read your perspective.  Which lines do you usually cruise with?

I don’t. This is only my second ocean cruise, the other with a now defunct Voyages to Antiquity. I have also done 4 river cruises, 2 on Uniworld and one each on AMA and Avalon.

Edited June 15 by Host Jazzbeau
fixed math

[gnome12]

For those that were involved in the discussion of a keycard lanyard that morphed into a phone and keycard one, the one I posted about works great. Especially since I managed to leave my ereader on the plane on the flight between Copenhagen and Oslo, so all my reading will be done on my phone. 

[vistaman]

Duval Leroy is not a premium champagne     - a very average medium level brut !

[gnome12]

23 minutes ago, vistaman said:

Duval Leroy is not a premium champagne     - a very average medium level brut !

As I said, I know nothing. 

[Hlitner]

18 minutes ago, vistaman said:

Duval Leroy is not a premium champagne     - a very average medium level brut !

A friend, who is an avowed champagne lover, tells me that the best champagne is always the one you do not have :).  I actually prefer Monopole to David Leroy, but that is just a matter of personal taste.  When we cruised on Explora Journeys, they had multiple kinds of Moet and Chandon and I quickly became a fan of their Rose Brut Imperial!  But one evening, sitting at the bar, a fellow cruiser told me she preferred Monopole (Blue Top) to Moet products!  go figure.  Seabourn uses Montaudon, which like Monopole, is a controversial choice.

 

Hank

[vistaman]

13 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

A friend, who is an avowed champagne lover, tells me that the best champagne is always the one you do not have :).  I actually prefer Monopole to David Leroy, but that is just a matter of personal taste.  When we cruised on Explora Journeys, they had multiple kinds of Moet and Chandon and I quickly became a fan of their Rose Brut Imperial!  But one evening, sitting at the bar, a fellow cruiser told me she preferred Monopole (Blue Top) to Moet products!  go figure.  Seabourn uses Montaudon, which like Monopole, is a controversial choice.

 

Hank

it is duval leroy not "david leroy"

Duval Leroy simply is producing too much it used to be better

[vistaman]

15 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

As I said, I know nothing. 

premium Champagnes  are  Roederer , Bollinger , Veuve Clicquot , Ruinart , Gosset , and maybe Taittinger  and Philipponat  , Deutz . 

[lincslady]

not Krug?  

[nowornever]

The new-ish premium champagne for guests with over 350 days is "Barons De Rothchild" Rose which replaced the Perrier- Jouet, at least on the Dawn a month ago.  Monopole was still served in dining rooms.

[vistaman]

11 hours ago, lincslady said:

not Krug?  

that is very true but Krug is in another price level .... 

[drron29]

Though on last years flight in JAL first class I was served Rare Millesime 2013. No one else was drinking it except for Rojaan who had one glass. I may or may not of had the rest of the bottle.

Now that is what luxury means.

Edited June 16 by drron29

[vistaman]

19 minutes ago, drron29 said:

Though on last years flight in JAL first class I was served Rare Millesime 2013. No one else was drinking it except for Rojaan who had one glass. I may or may not of had the rest of the bottle.

Now that is what luxury means.

Not everybody is liking the Piper H Rare   -  sometimes you must have luck on First Class 

I do fly on the Lufthansa group First with miles   -  once Laurent Perrier Alexandra Rosé was served  at 300 €   a month later after the holidays   Duval Leroy Blnc de Blans Millsime at 75 €🤑

[claranda]

It depends how much you want to spend, I guess. Bollinger, Roederer, Veuve Cliquot all very reliable and affordable at the entry level. For a splurge, for me, Pol Roger perhaps, Billecart-Salmon certainly.

[twangster]

I was booked on this sailing but had to cancel due to personal events.  I’m looking forward to  following.  Enjoy!   

[Dolcevita Diva]

@gnome12  Hope you have a marvelous time! 

I'll be on the Dawn in August in Denmark and Norway with many of the same ports, so would appreciate hearing your thoughts on any of the excursions you take. 

[gnome12]

2 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

@gnome12  Hope you have a marvelous time! 

I'll be on the Dawn in August in Denmark and Norway with many of the same ports, so would appreciate hearing your thoughts on any of the excursions you take. 

In Kristiansand I did the Lillesand Old Charm excursion. The drive there was through some very twisty roads which made me realize that I should have taken some Gravol. Lillesand itself was quite cute, but it was Sunday and virtually everything was closed. I skipped the refreshment stop to stay out in the fresh air. The buildings are almost all painted white and it looked quite pretty especially in the 2 minutes the sun came out. But the bus ride was more than I would have liked. 
 

Tomorrow I’m doing Panoramic Mt Dalsnibba and Eagle Road; I’ll let you know how it goes. 

[RachelG]

Have a great cruise.  Glad your excursion thing worked out.

[cruiserj12]

Excited to follow along. We will be on Silver Dawn on her next voyage on June 29th. The next week and a half are going to be very long indeed. Hopefully for you they also seem long so you enjoy your trip!

[QueSeraSera]

Hope your cruise is wonderful!

Also hope the Mt Dalsinibba & Eagle Road excursion works out well.

We found the village charming.  The seven sisters waterfall is close by, the ship will cruise by.

On 6/15/2024 at 9:00 AM, gnome12 said:

Don’t expect a lot of commentary; that isn’t my style, but I will post occasionally

Understood, have fun and be glad you're missing some weird kind of heat wave here in North America. 

 

[gnome12]

I got up at 5 to watch the spectacular sail-in to Geiranger. The weather was pretty good, some sun, some cloud, no rain. The mountains on either side with some mist and some snow on the highest peaks. All those pictures are on my second camera; I’ll try to remember to take a picture or two on my phone when we get to Mt Dalsnibba so I can post it here.