Review of Wind Caribbean Cruise (San Juan-San Juan)

While I fully intend to write a full day-by-day review, it will be in pieces as I am trying to recover from vacation!!!

My husband and I were aboard the Wind from February 22nd until March 7th. We had a lovely time and enjoyed ourselves so much we booked a Back to Back for next year aboard the same ship.

It was my husbands first ever cruise, and my first time on Silversea. I have cruised Royal Caribbean and Celebrity before. There was NO comparison and we will probably never cruise a mainstream line ever again.

We spent 3 days in Old San Juan, pre-cruise. We love the town and prefer this to be our cruise port from which to sail.

We boarded the ship around 1:00pm. Embarkation was smooth, pleasant, and timely. Our suite (a mid-ship veranda suite) was ready shortly after we embarked. We had lunch at the Pool Grill which was very good. Our room felt much larger than the regular cabins on the other lines. We enjoyed in-suite dining quite a bit, especially for breakfast. Our butler, Sumit, was absolutely fabulous. My husband was trying to figure out how to convince him to leave the ship and come work for us at home! :D

We had a bit of a concern after being in our suite. We lost power for a few minutes and had no water for about 20 minutes. It was quickly fixed and we had no other issues throughout the cruise. The air conditioning worked GREAT!

We had no days at sea on his 11 night port-intensive cruise. I prefer it that way, and considering the rough seas we endured every night, I am thankful that we did not have sea days. I am not prone to seasickness, at least I have never been on previous cruises, but the seas were ROUGH. I was sick the first night and we missed dinner in La Terraza. They were kind enough to accommodated us the next night. After I started taking the provided medicine, I was fine. However, it was difficult to walk on board some nights. I don't know if this is typical of the smaller ships or if we just got unlucky with seas. The saving grace was that we stayed in port late most nights, and we had finished dinner most nights before sail-away.

Overall impressions:

Food: Most was excellent, some was good, only one dish was not to our liking. We preferred La Terraza, and will likely book that most every night on our next cruise.

Suite: Exceeded our expectations. However, we hardly used our veranda. Partly because of the time spent in port, partly because of late sail-aways, and partly because of the rough seas. We booked a LARGE Vista suite for the next cruise.

Alcohol on board: Wonderful, everything we wanted was on board. We found the wines to be very good, and we did not feel the need to order from the paid list. If there was something we did not like, the staff was happy to find us something to suite our tastes.

Service: Above and beyond was what we experienced every day. We felt like family, but treated better than! I have never had such a wonderful service experience on any vacation ever.

Excursions: Our only complaint. We had one BAD (VERY VERY BAD) excursion experience, and one good experience. We canceled other cruise sponsored tours after the first bad experience. I will post more detail as I go through the days, but we will never book a ship sponsored tour again, regardless of the cruise line. I expected more from Silversea in this area. I also expected the response to be better when we complained, but more on that later. We didn't let it ruin our cruise.

More later! Feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to answer.

1st Port: Gustiva, St. Barth's

We did not have an excursion planned at this port as we were planning to walk around the town and visit Shell Beach. Having been pretty sick the night before, it was nice to get to relax. We had breakfast in the suite, then took the tender boat into port. The town was lovely, but as others have mentioned, very expensive. We walked to Shell beach, about a 15 minute leisurely stroll. The beach was nice, but rocky and full of shells. We sat for a while to people watch. For those shy American's, lots of nudity at this beach.

We walked back to town and had a burger, fries, and beer at Le Select, AKA: Cheeseburger in Paradise. The food was okay, beer was not too terribly expensive. We enjoyed people watching. We got back on the ship later in the afternoon and enjoyed a nap.

Dinner was at La Terraza. I was impressed with the food and the quality of the pasta. We did not go to the show this night, as we were still recovering from the sea sickness from the previous night. The ship left port at 11:00pm, and we were fast asleep by that time!

Le Select is a good value with nice people. I have never ordered a burger since they have lovely French dishes. The goat cheese salad with warm lardon dressing is making me want to go to the kitchen and eat goat cheese![emoji4][emoji238][emoji241][emoji486][emoji485]. We were on the Wind over the holidays. It made me remember how much I like the 2 smaller Grand Dames.

Port #2: St. John's, Antigua

I was really looking forward to our excursion that I booked independently with Adventure Antigua, but it was cancelled due to lack of participation. We were the only ship in port. We went with Plan B, and hired a taxi driver for an island tour. Since this was the hubby's first time in the Caribbean, it was nice to see the islands. We went to Nelson's Dockyard and walked around, admiring the mega sailing yachts. The history is wonderful to see as well. We then went up to Shirley Heights and took pictures of the beautiful view.

Finally, we ended up at a quiet beach for a few hours. We went to Fry's beach, which was practically deserted. We enjoyed the white sand and calm water, and of course a few Carib beers. Our driver took us back to the ship.

We had a great time, but our driver was not very good. He was a young kid, whose father was a taxi driver. He was not engaging and did not show or explain things to us. It was a Sunday, and he told us he does this as a second job to make extra money on the weekends.

Most of the shops in port were closed, so we headed back to the ship after our beach time and enjoyed another nap. It was formal night that night. I was surprised and to be honest, a bit disappointed that few people dressed up. In fact, we saw numerous men turned away from the Restaurant or taken aside and given a tie to wear. We were prepared, with DH in a beautiful bespoke suit and me in a ball gown. Most women were in causal dresses, not even cocktail dresses, and the men in sport coats with ties. Maybe it was because it was the Caribbean itinerary, but we were prepared for FORMAL night. Oh well, I felt like a princess and we had a blast.

Thanks for doing your review.... couldn't have come at a better time. We board in 6 days. (Leave the UK in 4)

We have used our on board credit to book tours, so would be good if you could give the low down on the problem tour... so we can cancel if we've booked and chose something else. Time is running out for that option.

Don't want to hijack your review for that (always nice to read uninterrupted).... so if not too much trouble could you email me?

cruise-trip@europe.com

Hopefully as your ports are similar you can give a few tips and things to do or avoid.

Many thanks

Les

Sorry for the delay in posting, I have come down with a terrible "after vacation cold".

Port #3: Dominica

We were supposed to dock here and be in port until 11:00pm, but somewhere along the way, things changed. We were tendered and scheduled to leave at 7:00pm. This did not change our plans too much. We were in port during Carinival, and it was LOUD and crowded. Not exactly our cup of tea, so we found a taxi driver who was working and arranged a tour to the "Carib Territory" and Emerald Falls. I wanted to see Mr. Nice and his fruit stand, but do to everything else going on, he was not there that day. The driver charged us quite a bit for the tour, however, he was pleasant and it was just the 2 of us. He waited while we walked around each of the stops.

The island is beautiful, and we enjoyed the breathtaking views as our taxi climbed the steep hills with curvy roads and switchbacks. We made a stop for local beer on the way.

We were dropped off in town, and the parades had stopped for the afternoon. We found a local vendor who cut open 3 coconuts for us, each at a different stage of ripeness, and we drank the coconut water right out of the hole.

The ship provided free transportation vans for travel back and forth into down. We took one of these back to the tender point and enjoyed a casual dinner on the Pool Deck with Hot Rocks. We have a restaurant with the same concept here at home, so the novelty was probably lost on us. The food was good, the service was great, but we did not chose to return here for dinner.

Port #4 Bequai, St. Vincent

Once again we were tendered. We had arranged the ship tour titled: Bequai Sailing Tour. Keep that in mind, this tour was NAMED a sailing tour. We started off in a very large catamaran. Large, but not luxurious by any means. There were 28 people on this tour, which I thought was a bit much for a luxury line. The weather was awful, cold rain and lots of wind. I know SS can't control the weather, but it wasn't pleasant for that type of tour. They could have delayed it a bit for when the sun came out. The 3 "boys" running the tour were more interested in fishing off of the back of the boat than interacting and helping guests. When the ladder was dropped for snorkeling, there was no assistance down. It was metal, no tape for slippage, very steep, and unsafe. I am 32 years old and in good shape. I ride horses and exercise. I was a competitive swimmer in high school and coached swim teams in college. I fell down the ladder and was hurt quite bad. There was no crew to assist, and no one even came to check on me.

I had major bruising all over my back, butt, hips and thighs the rest of the cruise.

The snorkeling was not good, and we didn't do more than 10 minutes of "sailing" despite what the tour title was listed.

We complained to Silversea, and other than giving a complementary visit to the ship doctor, who did nothing but tell me only my husband would see my bruises (not true due to bathing suits.... people commented the rest of the cruise) the line seemed unconcerned. I would expect that quality of tour on Carnival, never Silversea.

I truly expected the service and experience on the ship to be matched on the excursions. It wasn't. My husband intends to write to Silversea about this. The end of the tour was to literally be dropped at a beach that one could walk to from the tender port. The "boys" said they would be back in an hour. We asked to skip the beach and be taken back to the tender port. They did that for us as well as a few other guests. I was hurting too bad at that point to want to see the island, so I guess we will have to save it for another time. I wanted nothing but ice and ibuprofen at that point.

Back on board, we asked our butler for some ice, and he continually brought me large bags of ice for my injury.

We dined in Le Champagne that night. The food was amazing. I enjoyed the lobster bisque very much. We asked if we could make another reservation, and they managed to fit us in for later in the cruise. I found the cover charge to be very reasonable for the quality of the food presented.

That night we had terrible seas headed to Barbados. The ship was crashing down pretty bad throughout the night.

A general comment regarding port times and activities on the ship:

This was a VERY port intensive cruise, with leaving port very late at night most nights. While that was great, especially given the sea conditions, it made activities difficult on board. For example, the ships boutiques and casino could not open until we had left port due to customs regulations (like every other ship), however most people could not even walk around the ship due to the rough seas after we set sail. I spoke to one of the staff that worked in the shops, and she said this was one of their slowest cruises ever.

ShotsnCruises, enjoying your review. We haven't been to the Caribbean in about 15 years. Where is your next cruise going?

That excursion sounds miserable. Glad it was only bruises and not a closed head injury. Way to put a damper on the day for sure, though. Chris got a nice bruise on the bus at Delhi airport; it was so crowded that she couldn't see where she was moving, and rammed into a seat armrest. It's finally fading.

Lucky you, going on SS at such a young age. We didn't take our first until we were about 40. The downside (as you said) is that you may never want to go back to big ships and/or mainstream cruise lines again. It's a great problem to have though, so it's a good thing the new job pays more! You will need it... :D We are definitely hooked and we're off on our 10th SS cruise in October.

Though you can most often do better booking excursions on your own, don't entirely write off every SS excursion from now to eternity. They are only as good as the available local providers. In some parts of the world, they can be very good; in others, sketchy. Though we rarely use the ship's tours nowadays, we aren't afraid to when it's too difficult to plan things independently, or if we want to be lazy.

Good luck with the new job tomorrow, and looking forward to the continuation of your review.

@duct tape, you have just ruined my appetite for anything else today by mentioning lardons...thanks! Bacon...yum! :hearteyes:

Shots...

That episode on the Cat was truly horrific. Since it was so unsafe and you suffered an injury, surely there should be something done by Silversea. In the past excursions I have gone on had a Silversea crew member aboard, I am surprised none were aboard the Cat when you experienced your mishap. I hope you are feeling better!

Eagerly looking forward to the rest of your review.

Enjoy the new job, and remember to ask for all you need to do your work in the first two weeks, afterwards, the honeymoon is over!

😀

Spins, there was a SS crew on board, one of the female singers. She was already in the water snorkeling at the time of my fall.... I'm still a bit perplexed at SS's response....

I second JP's advice to not write off Silversea excursions altogether. The one you were on sounds awful, but we have been on many that were quite nice. I will say that the Caribbean seems to have to most variety in quality of excursions--from awful to great--that I have encountered anywhere.

Thanks for the advice.

SORRY for not posting the rest of my review. I had started it, and then it was deleted. Also, I have been really sick and basically in bed while not training for the new job. I will try to finish it up tomorrow.

I promise, more to come.

Speedy recovery Shots

Hope you feel better soon!!

ShotsnCruises, feel better soon. Finish when you can. We will wait, no worries!

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

Port #5: Bridgetown, Barbados

After the difficult day we had before, we were more than ready for what was planned at Barbados.

We got off the ship pretty early, and there were buses available to take Silversea guests up to the port shopping area. It was about a 2 minute walk, so we just walked, but it was a nice service to be offered.

We walked through the shopping center at the port (which is very nice), and waited at the gait for our tour transportation. I had booked us a private tour through Silvermoon Barbados. I have sailed with them numerous times in the past, and they never disappoint.

We had a private taxi driver take us around the port to where the catamarans are docked. We were paid in full, so we were quickly asked to remove our shoes and welcomed aboard. Silvermoon catamarans are luxurious, spacious, and beautiful. There are never more than 12 booked on the private tour, and that day we had 10 passengers and 3 staff. We were welcomed with a beverage of our choice, and it was not long before we were motoring out of the port. Once we hit wind, the sails were lifted. We sailed to an area where we snorkeled with sea turtles, and then moved to another location to snorkel 2 shipwrecks. The staff was very helpful and guided us through each stop. My husband was shown a trick of putting vaseline on his mustache to help his mask seal, something that was causing him trouble the day before. He decided after that day that he LOVES snorkeling, and couldn't wait for more.

After snorkeling, we were able to use the freshwater shower on board, and lunch was served. We had FRESH grilled fish, barbecued chicken, various salads, rolls, and wine. Rum punch and other drinks were also available throughout the trip. After lunch, we were anchored pretty close to a beautiful beach, and we opted to swim for a while and walk the beach. Then it was back on board for our leisurely sail back. We sat on the nets at the front of the cat, and enjoyed rum punch, fresh made pina coladas, and warm fresh banana bread. It was the tour highlight of our cruise. I am a bit disappointed that we will not be returning to Barbados on our next cruise.

After the catamaran docked, we were taken by private taxi back to the cruise port. I always buy vanilla while I am in Barbados. We did some other "shopping" and looking around. The hubby bought a tube of vaseline for other snorkel trips.

There just happened to be a Silversea bus waiting for us when we walked through the cruise terminal, so we hopped aboard and were drive to the ship.

We did our usual relaxing in the room before heading to dinner. We were in the Restaurant that night, and found the food to be good, but not nearly as good as the other restaurants. We met a lovely couple from London, and enjoyed chatting at dinner.

That night we watched the production show. It was a tribute to the music from the James Bond 007 movies. My husband, being a James Bond fan, and avid reader/collector of the Ian Flemming novels, enjoyed the show very much. I have to admit, I miss the LIVE music from the larger ships. The singing was live, but there was no band/orchestra supporting them.

Port 6: Georgetown, Grenada

We had scheduled ourselves a leisurely day for Grenada. We had a full breakfast in our room, which we loved. Every morning we would have coffee and pastry, however this morning we had a full breakfast. We loved the spacious suite and the ability to dine in room and not feel like we had to eat in bed!

We were docked with a large ship in port, so the port felt more crowded than previous ports. We made our way to the spice market outside of the shopping area. I purchased some spices and of course, the required spice necklaces. They smell wonderful and make great gifts.

We found a nice taxi driver and asked to be taken to Aquarium Restaurant (Magazine Beach). The drive there takes you through the airport, which is interesting to see.

I have been to this beach many times, and it was wonderful to see that the deck, dining, and bar area has been expanded and improved. We rented chairs (2 for $10), and laid on the beach for awhile. The surf here can be rough, and today it was moderate. We decided to just watch others enjoy the water, and avoid getting sand "everywhere". The bar here is pretty reasonable, so we started a tab. Everything is in Eastern Caribbean Dollars, which is about a third US. $1US= $2.7EC So, $10EC bought 2 beers. We decided to have lunch. We ordered spicy chicken wings, Calaloo soup (A local favorite), and the Caribbean Spiny Lobster. We had probably 3 beers each and a rum punch, and our total came to $105 US. The food was very good and the portions were more than enough for 2 to share.

The vendors on the beach were not too bad, but much more expensive than buying at the port.

Late afternoon a tour group from one of the ships came to the beach. I don't think they were from our ship. We had arranged for our driver to pick us up around that time, so we were not bothered by a crowd.

We did a bit more shopping in the port area this time. We found the quality of t-shirts and hats to be somewhat better than other islands.

Dinner was back in La Terazza that night, and we somehow found our way into the karaoke bar after. We enjoyed a few libations and I even joined in with the singing.... ;p

Ship left port at 10:00pm, and I was pretty glad to be in bed when the rocking started. It was another rough sea night.

Port #7: Castries, St. Lucia

We bravely decided to go with a ship tour for this island. I have toured most of it on previous cruises, and I had been looking for a private sailing tour to take us to the Pitons, but I could not find a reputable tour company that would return my email.

We booked the Sailing and Snorkel tour. I was relieved to see more attentive staff and a nicer experience. We met our tour group port side and walked a short ways to a dock where we boarded a nicely appointed catamaran. We were given instructions about safety and then set sail along the coast. The staff pointed out landmarks of interest along the way. The weather was nice and the sun was out. We came to our snorkel point about 30 minutes after boarding. We did not go far enough South to see the Pitons. The snorkeling area is a protected marine park, and the snorkeling was very good. Our staff was in the water with us to help guide, and pointed out an eel that we would have missed. He also dove down and pulled up different sea creatures and shells for us to see. There were a few vendors in kayaks there. They were not obnoxious and even helped some of the snorkelers who were struggling with swimming. We saw a barracuda, cuddle fish, parrot fish, and many beautiful corals.

Once we were all back on board, the rum punch started to flow and the music was turned up. It was fun, not rowdy. The staff was getting everyone involved doing the YMCA, and other dances. We sailed back to port much closer to the shore and pulled into Marigot Bay for pictures.

It was a pleasant day and pleasant tour. However, I will still be cautious when booking ship tours in the future.

We got back on board the ship to shower and grab a bite of lunch. Then we went back out to the nice shopping are next to the port. We went to a bar and had a couple of the local Piton beer. It briefly rained, but as always in the Caribbean: It is quick, it is warm, and it is liquid sunshine.

We purchased some of the Chairmans Reserve rum at the rum shop. I had some ideas of purchasing some jewelry, but I remember the prices being lower and the quality being higher. We have much nicer jewelry stores at home and the prices are not as outrageous.

Our ship was set to sail earlier this night, and we dined in the Restaurant. It was rocking pretty good about mid-way through the dinner service. Even the staff was having difficulty walking and serving people. I believe we skipped the show this night and headed to bed early.

We did take advantage of the ship's library and checked out a few movies. It was nice to relax with a movie when we wanted to go to bed early and avoid the rocking and rolling the ship was doing.

Port #8: Les Saintes, Guadeloupe

This was my favorite port. It was so small, less than 2 square miles. We were tendered, and after the short tender ride it felt like we were in a small sea-side village in France. The water was so perfectly clear, and I regret not snorkeling somewhere. We did not have a tour planned, as we simply intended to explore the town and eat some wonderful food.

We felt slightly disadvantaged here as we do not speak French. We loved wondering the streets at this very authentic port. There were few signs of tourism. The French cafes were lovely, and we dined on gelato, panni, and the local specialty, fried balls of codfish. The whole place smelled like a french bakery, with people walking around with baguettes.

We had thought of walking to a beach, but it was a long walk, with lots of up and down hills, and my feet just weren't up to it. There are not many taxi's here, and most people are on scooters or electric golf-carts. We did not rent one, but there were rental places everywhere.

After spending the day simply enjoying this wonderful gem, we took the tender back on board. I was feeling pretty worn out and the husband suggested a foot and ankle massage for myself at the spa. It was WONDERFUL, and I ended up booking a full-body massage right after. Two massages in one day. My spa experience was better than any other ship I had been on, and I found the prices to be reasonable for the experience.

We dined in La Terazza again, for what would be our last time. Food was beyond our expectations, as was the service.

There was a tribute to Broadway show that night, and once again I found myself missing the live music. The talent was good, but it was missing the WOW factor.

Rough Seas again, seemed to be a theme.

So much enjoying your detailed posts, Shots. I visualize myself basking in the sun and embraced by the soft breezes of the Caribbean. Wish I were there!

Port #9: St. Kitts

We were the only ship in port this day, and it was a Sunday. EVERYTHING WAS CLOSED. There was very little to do and very little activity around the port area. We were lucky to find a taxi driver who was working and we paid a little more than what I would normally expect for a tour to the Brimstone Fortress and then to see the Southern tip of the island where the resorts and beaches are. I was okay with paying more due to the circumstances and the fact that it was private for just the two of us.

Our driver, Johnathan, was amazing. He narrated everything and took us to many different places on the way to the fortress. We told him we had time, and he was more than willing to show us his island. He was very proud of St. Kitts. The fortress was nice to tour, although it was $10 pp to enter. We paid $4 for 2 cold bottles of water, which we were grateful for because it was hot, and there was a lot of uphill walking. We took some pretty cool pictures, as the views are spectacular. I recommend anyone take the time to tour here.

After spending about an hour at the fortress, we drove back down the coast and to the southern most tip of St. Kitts. There were lovely stops to take pictures. We stopped at two beaches, one was a beach club and the facilities were amazing. The second was Cockleshell beach. I was less impressed with the beach, but we enjoyed some cod fritters at the beach bar and restaurant. Finally, we headed back to town. I was disappointed that the main bar at the port was closed, because I had been talking up the "drunken monkey" drink that they advertised. We did find one shop that was open and serving cheap beer. There were a few other cruise people who happened to find the same spot, and we shared a laugh before getting back on board.

If going here on a Sunday, if you are the only ship in port, don't expect much at the port!

I scheduled a pedicure in the spa for later that afternoon, and I experienced the same wonderful service at before. I did find that the polish wore off much quicker than the pedicure I had at home before I left.

We dined in Le Champagne for this night, which was also formal night. I tried the Venison this night, which was good, but I did not enjoy the pickled cabbage. The hubby had the pigeon, which he said was awful. He did not tell me it was awful until we had left, but he is too polite to complain. Everything else was amazing. The first time we dined there I had the lobster thermadore and he had the dover sole. We agreed that we only needed to eat at this restaurant once per cruise because it was so rich and the menu doesn't change. I still recommend it to all Silversea cruisers to try at least once. It is worth the charge.

We had a fairwell show early in the lounge that night. We still had one more port, but they wanted to make sure people would be packing and getting ready to go home that final night. The show was "Don't stop the music" and again, missing the wow factor. It is not a deciding factor when I pick a cruise, but a change to get used to with Silversea.

We were touched by the Captains message and the staff recognition. We happened to be on a sailing where they were giving out employee of the month awards and we enjoyed seeing how staff is appreciated on board.

Port #10: Roadtown, Tortola

This was our last port, and we originally had planned to get on Speedys Ferry and head to Virgin Gorda for the baths. However, the hubby woke up not feeling well (he was blaming the pigeon from dinner), and I was feeling pretty tired from the port intensive cruise. We had a leisurely breakfast and spent some time walking around the port. It was apparently a local holiday, so like the day before, there was not much going on. We found a bar and had some food and drinks for lunch. I don't know why, but other than the bad tour experience, this was my least favorite stop. Nothing bad really happened, but I just did not like the feel of the island. Maybe I will change my mind, as we stop there twice on our back to back consecutive cruise next year.

We spent some time back on board talking with the cruise consultant and booked our cruise for next year!!!

We dined in the restaurant that final night, and the food was good. We were kind of "fooded out" if that makes sense. I went for the lighter dishes. We finished packing and found a lounge with live music to enjoy.

We set our luggage out about 10:00pm, and our butler was right there to take it away for us. We know tipping is not expected, but we tipped bother our butler and cabin steward because they were so amazing.

We did wander into the boutiques that final night, however, we did not find anything that interested us. I was hoping for something like a Silversea polo shirt, or a visor, something like that. However, there was nothing like that to purchase. If anyone knows where I can get some logo things from Silversea, let me know. They also advertised a cookbook that I would have liked to purchase, but we could never find where it was available.

Disembarkation:

We were one of the last groups off of the ship, so we exited our suite after a light breakfast and coffee. We finalized our next cruise plans, because there were some communication issues getting us officially booked the night before. We sat in the theater lounge while we waited for our group to be called off the ship. We did not arrange anything through the ship the last day, as we thought the options were limited and the prices outrageous.

We exited the ship quite easily, found our luggage, and were through customs in about 10 minutes. We found a taxi waiting nearby the port and headed to the airport. We had a later flight, but not so late that we could spend a lot of time in Old San Juan.

It was one of the fastest and easiest disembarkations I have experienced.

Overall, a wonderful cruise experience with a few slight hiccups.

I am already looking forward to next year and searching these boards for tour information.

Please feel free to ask questions. I will do my best to answer.

Thanks for posting! Even in the throes of illness...

I enjoyed reading it!

Shots, Our first cruise was also on the Wind many years ago to the Norwegian fjords. We were hooked forever. Please do not give up on SS excursions. In addition to the wonderful ones in Northern Europe we loved almost all on our Valparaiso to BA South American cruise on Whisper.

We will be back on Whisper NY/MTR in Oct. and are excited.

It is interesting, many posters complain about cruise line excursions. Our experience has been different. We sail SS & Regent with an occasional Oceania; in general rarely disappointed. You may spend more money than a shared private tour but we can't say the quality of either is markedly different.